Chapter 1 First Meetings (Mobian year: 3225)

On Earth, Aaron Brandt sat at the same table with the same people each and every day at lunch ever since he started going to school there. Something was different about this day; he and one of his best friends had gotten into an argument over a trivial matter such as kids in tenth grade often did. The fight ended with Aaron moving to the end of the table as far away from the friend who fought with him. Aaron rested his head in his arms and cried to himself for a couple minutes out of frustration and anger. His friend had told Aaron previously about this girl that he was going to try to ask out on a date, a girl named Samantha Collen. Unknown to Aaron until he looked up from his arms, she was sitting about two tables away from him and saw him sitting there crying. She made eye contact with Aaron at first; Aaron noticed she had beautiful eyes, but was worried that if his friend caught him talking to the girl he wanted to go out with, he might beat Aaron up for it. After a couple minutes, she came over to where Aaron was sitting and sat down across from him.
"What's wrong?" She asked him.
"My friend down there was making fun of me and picking on me." Aaron said, wiping away his tears.
"Don't let people like him get to you. They do things like that for their personal amusement. Don't pay any attention to them… just ignore them." Samantha said.
"Aren't you the new girl here? I don't remember seeing you around here before." Aaron said, trying to get his mind off the fight with his friend and strike up a conversation with Samantha.
"Yeah, just transferred up here two days ago from New Mexico. It's so much better than New Mexico was… the people are nicer, you have an actual winter up here… no desert. I already like it up here." Samantha said, "I'll run and get my lunch so we can talk some more. Be right back." She said as she quickly walked back over to where she had her lunch tray, grabbed it, and came back over to where Aaron was.
"I've always wanted to see the southern states; never been outside of Minnesota, though someday I hope to. Whose classes are you in, if I can ask?" Aaron asked between bites of the sandwich he had made himself that morning. Samantha dug through her folder trying to find the schedule the school had given her. She found it and let Aaron look at it. Aaron got his schedule out and compared them.
"Cool… you're in my language arts and gym classes! That'll make those two classes go by a little faster… I don't mind the language arts class, but I do wish they'd teach us something that we'll actually use once we get out of school." Aaron said, looking up from the schedules. Samantha glanced at the clock and saw that lunch was almost over with and let Aaron know.
"Darn. I guess I'll see you tomorrow in language." Aaron said as he took the remains of his sandwich and milk carton up to the garbage cans with Samantha.
"Yeah. Until next time I see you, keep in mind what I said. Don't let the small things get you down. I'll see you tomorrow." She said as she switched her folders to her other hand and headed off to her next class with a couple of the girls she had been sitting with. Something struck Aaron about her; she seemed to be someone who was perpetually happy even in the most difficult times. Samantha liked Aaron because he was not like some of the boys she had met down in New Mexico who were all image and no emotions at all. At least Aaron was not afraid to let his true emotions show. Tomorrow, she was hoping to find out a little more about him. To her, he seemed like a friendly, out-going boy and she could not understand how anyone could argue with him about anything. She promised herself that she would do her best to help him with whatever problems he may have.

"Sally, I want you to start keeping a diary of your feelings and thoughts. It will help you keep your thoughts and feelings accessible. Your lessons are done for the day, so go run and play if you like." Julayla said to Sally, daughter of King Acorn of Mobotropolis. Sally grabbed up her books and the diary that Julayla had given her and ran down to her room. Once there, she put her books on her desk and ran outside to play with the rest of the children in the village. Princess Sally Acorn, age five, was running to find the rest of the children in the village when she bumped into a hedgehog.
"Sorry about that. Are you okay?" Sally asked, getting up. She and the hedgehog had fallen down after running into each other.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Say, aren't you Princess Sally?" The hedgehog asked as he dusted off his spines. Sally was a little surprised that the young hedgehog knew who she was.
"Yes I am. What's your name?" Sally asked.
"I'm Sonic Hedgehog. You probably know my Uncle Chuck, the King's royal inventor." Sonic said with a smile, "Where you off to in such a hurry?"
"I was on my way to go play with the others my age from the Village. You can come with if you want." Sally offered, all the time thinking that there was something about Sonic that she liked. He was a little on the brash side, but he was also gentle.
"Yeah, I've got nothing else to do." Sonic exclaimed. Sonic thought that Sally was really cool, ever so slightly overly royal and neat, but she was also the nicest person that Sonic had met. Sonic had just moved to Knothole a few days ago from the other side of the Great Forest and barely knew anyone. They ran off and eventually found the other children that Sally played with and played games and goofed off until everyone else had to go in for dinner. Sally went back to the castle and up to her room to write about her meeting Sonic. Shortly after getting to her room and starting her diary, the King called her down for dinner.
"Dear, what'd you learn today in class?" Queen Alicia Acorn asked. She and King Maximillian Acorn were sitting across from Sally and Julayla.
"I learned a little more about our history and mathematics. Then Julayla gave me a diary so that I could focus more on my feelings and thoughts and then I went outside and played with the children from the village. On the way, I bumped into someone named Sonic Hedgehog. He says that his uncle is your inventor, daddy." Sally said as she ate.
"Ah, yes… Charles Hedgehog. He says he's getting closer to being done with his latest machine, the roboticizer. He says if he can get it to work, it'll solve our major medical problems; broken arms, legs, things like that." King Acorn explained. They had finished dinner and Rosie, Sally's aunt, brought them desert. After desert, the King and Queen went back to the library to read a little bit before going to bed and Sally went back up to her room and went straight to bed.

(End of Chapter 1)