Chapter 4: School Rumors

As morning arrived the ever common sound of knocking came once again to his door. Sonic inhaled deeply, slowly opening his eyes, glaring daggers at the evil light that was filling his room from the window. Too bright…

"Sonic!" Maddie called in before gently knocking again. "Sonic, it's time to get up."

"I'm awake!" Sonic groggily called as he pushed himself up in his bed, stretching out his back and sore legs. "I'm up, don't worry," he yawned widely.

"Good! Tom is making your special breakfast. Get ready for school and meet us downstairs, no running!" She warned. Sonic grinned, trying not to roll his eyes at the request. Telling him not to run, as if. Still, he stayed still as he listened to her retreating footsteps.

Once the peaceful silence returned to his room Sonic kicked the covers off of himself and dropped out of the tall bed. He turned off his nightlight on the way to the bathroom to start his normal routine. Some of his belongings were in boxes, but they were all labeled so he found his fur brush and quill brush with ease.

The fur brush was nice and soft, meant for his belly, sides, and face while the quill brush was attached to a long grabber stick.

After dropping his PJs on the floor- which were covered with quills on the inside Sonic started to brush his long quills with the comb. With every stroke of the toothed comb, more quills were dropping to the floor. He'll sweep those up later, he was starving!

He took a speedy shower once he was all brushed out, then just ran in a circle really fast to dry off.

Once all poofy and clean Sonic happily jogged back into his room, ignoring his sore legs and feet. As if he would go slow over something so minor.

He pulled out his green and white school uniform. He didn't mind it too much, it was just a pain to get new ones constantly because of his quills ripping them. The uniform was required by the school, which was rather nice. Made him feel like he was just another student instead of a random blue hedgehog hanging out in class.

In a quick spin Sonic put on his white buttoned-down shirt that had his school emblem, a red G and H with a golden border stitched onto the chest pocket. His dark green khakis were next, they were plain but the entire costume was customized for Sonic to put on easily without ruffling his quills up and a nice little tail hole cut in the back for obvious reasons.

He then hurried over to his bed where he grabbed his red shoes off of the floor. Every time he looked at them he couldn't help but to fondly remember JoJo and her kindness. He loved these shoes! Sonic put them on- after socks of course. He couldn't afford to get blisters after all.

After one last quick look in the bathroom mirror, Sonic turned to leave the room- but froze. He was right beside the door, about to waltz right out when the chilling memory returned.

The strange voices from the vent…

Sonic turned towards the vent, his eyes narrowing in distrust. What could have upset Ozzy so much last night... There was no way there were actual voices from the vents, Tom said it had to be rats.

Sonic cautiously walked over to the vent and dropped to his knees. He leaned close, staring through the gaps of the cover into the dark vent. There wasn't a thing in sight, so he turned his head and pressed his ear against it.

No sound from the vent either. Rats were most active at night anyway, so it made sense. Sonic sighed and got back up, dusting off his uniform. Silly Ozzy, freaking out over something so minor. Rats were nothing compared to a blue speedy hedgehog. That dog needed to get his priorities straight.

"Sonic!" Maddie called up the stairs.

"Coming!" Sonic quickly turned and ran out of his room in a flash, eager to head downstairs for his special breakfast.

When he got to the dining hall Maddie and Tom were already waiting for him. They were sitting in their respective seats, their plates in front of them. Sonic zipped over to his seat, nearly toppling it over as he leaped into it. He grinned, resisting the urge to bounce in his chair as he looked at the carefully prepared breakfast.

Homemade chocolate chip waffles, with extra chips, covered in powdered sugar, and then topped with strawberries and blueberry sauce.

"This looks amazing!" Sonic beamed, looking to Maddie and Tom with the biggest smile he could muster.

"You're welcome." Tom softly laughed as he set his tablet down. There was a general rule for the odd family- no work at the table when everyone was gathered. So Tom's morning report had to wait. "Try not to get anything onto your uniform like last time, okay? Your spares are still packed away in some box."

Sonic sheepishly smiled and continued to eat, making sure to be extra careful not to get anything on his uniform, even the powder. Whenever something would fall off his fork he would zip all the way across the room, just to make sure he avoided it. Better safe than sorry.

The family ate in silence like this, Maddie and Tom easily ignoring Sonic zipping around every now and then until his entire plate was cleared.

"So Sonic, did you get all of your homework done?" Maddie smiled and reached over with a napkin, playfully cleaning Sonic's snout of the blueberry jam. "I was afraid you forgot to do it while we moved."

"I got it all done, no worries." Sonic puffed out his chest proudly and didn't even mind Maddie babying him a bit. He was never a fan of homework, but after several days of ignoring it and dreading every second- he realized it actually wasn't that bad. If he just focused and got it done he had more free time to do whatever he wanted, within reason.

"I got all subjects done, I even did my math homework first."

"That's good to hear," Tom chuckled lightly. "I noticed that you've been struggling with math a bit lately." Due to laws and rules, Sonic was of course entered into the school, listed as Tom and Maddie's child. Made the paperwork easier that way- but sometimes Sonic swore Tom took it too far. He was always looking at the grades online and checking in on Sonic. It drove him insane honestly.

"Stop worrying already! I've been asking my friends to help me- mostly Kevin honestly. He's a good tutor actually," Sonic grumbled as he grabbed his glass of milk before sinking back in his seat, trying to grump while sipping on the cold beverage. "So, any plans today Donut Lord? Huh Huh?" He tried to get back at Tom. He had been so focused on studies he really didn't have time to follow Tom around while he worked anymore. "Still sitting on that old dusty road seeing how fast turtles walk?"

Tom rolled his eyes, suppressing a grin. Nothing slipped by Sonic, he saw it!

"Nothing major today. Just your normal duck crossing patrol I suppose. I might pop in during lunch to check on the exterminator."

"What exterminator?" Maddie turned to Tom. "Nothing like that was in my schedule."

"I called one while I was cooking, sorry I forgot to mention it." Tom made a brief motion towards Sonic. "Last night the reason he was running around like a maniac is apparently because Ozzy was losing his damn mind, growling at the air vent. Sonic thought there were voices from it, but I'm pretty sure it's just rats skittering around. To be safe I called an exterminator, we can't have rats in our new home."

"Ah, I see- well that's fine then. Oh, maybe they can make sure there's no way for bugs to get in. Ants get bad around this time of year."

"Hey wait, where's Ozzy?" Sonic glanced around the kitchen. Ozzy's food dish and water bowl were in its new spot, but there was no sign of their friendly dog. Weird, Ozzy was always attracted to them when they gathered.

"He wouldn't stop growling and trying to get back to your room, so I had to put him outside for the night- just in the backyard," Tom quickly explained as Sonic's eyes narrowed. "I set up a nice spot with several blankets and a big pillow, okay? He was fine. I even gave him a few treats when he calmed down. I was thinking I'll bring him in once we've all had a nice peaceful morning. Anyways, you got 30 minutes to walk to school so you should be getting ready to go if you actually want to make it on time."

"Oh come on, you guys know I can make that run in five seconds flat," Sonic scoffed and set his empty glass of milk back on the table. "You act like it's some big deal-"

"Put your money where your mouth is, Sonic." Maddie smiled ever so sweetly. "The bell rings at 8:00, right? Well, it's 7:57 now."

She was no angel, she was a devil!

Sonic's quills stood on end, buzzing with energy as he hyped himself up. Tom, seeing this got up from his chair, coffee in hand and walked his butt over to the front door and opened it wide.

"Clear," he muttered before downing half of his coffee.

"You should have told me what time it was sooner, why wake me up so late?! I won't have time for my friends!" Sonic was running around the house, panic packing his backpack until it was filled to the brim. He couldn't remember everything he needed today- so better grab everything.

"See you, Maddie!" He called sweetly. "Donut Lord you suck for making breakfast so late, I could have missed part of my class if I slowed down!"

"I thought the mighty Sonic was never slow," Tom grinned, earning a glare from the hedgehog.

Sonic huffed, and in a blur of blue light he dashed out the door.

Tom stood still momentarily, sighing.

"My face feels wet. Did he use a marker?"

"Looks like paint," Maddie hummed, trying not to grin as she got up from the table and walked over to Tom, leaning against him as she looked out the door. From the top of the hill where their manor was perched, she could see the nearby town, and from this spot, she could see the huge dust trail that followed Sonic wherever he ran. "He's going really fast today."

"If he actually felt rushed he wouldn't have painted on my face!" Tom shut the door and glanced at his watch. "Maddie, it's only 7:50..."

"Oh, I know."

"...Traitor. Why do I suffer for your jokes?"

Sonic reached Green Hill High in about 10 seconds because he took a bit of time to paint Tom's face of course. Revenge was needed after the Donut Lord was going to make him... late?

As Sonic reached the school grounds he gradually slowed down, doing a few laps around the yard until he was going at an actual normal pace. Stopping in an instant was actually rather annoying- plus it tore up the grass and after the first week of school he got chewed out for that, so now he needed to take 3 laps to slow down his running before actually stopping.

He looked up at the big clock as he half jogged at a normal speed towards the normal tree he liked to chill under before school started. That clock was only reading 7:51... Traitors.

"Well played," he softly muttered to himself. Well, this just meant he needed to get revenge on them too! Sonic crossed his arms over his chest, trying not to grin as he tapped his foot impatiently. There were so many things he could do for revenge.

While his mind was racing over his evil ideas, he didn't notice the person sneaking up on him, until that person roared as they jumped right onto his back- knocking them both to the ground. Sonic laughed, trying to get away from the teenager.

"Hey, cut it out, Alan!"

"How'd you know it was me?" Alan asked as he got off of Sonic's back, grinning goofily as he sat on the grass beside Sonic. His freckled cheeks looked even more covered when he grinned so wide, the sun making him look as pale as a ghost in the morning light while his blue eyes gleamed with joy. His red hair was all fluffed up and unkept, clearly, someone was actually running late this morning.

"Who else would be so totally obnoxious to sneak up on me like that," the hedgehog laughed. "Only the one and only Alan- plus, no one is crazy enough to try it with my quills and all." Sonic hopped up to his feet, then held his hand out. Alan took it- but instead of pulling himself up, he yanked Sonic back down into the grass. "Gah, you jerk!"

"Sonic seriously, fix your grammar!" A fellow teenager walked over, looking mildly annoyed at the two as if he was watching toddlers eat sand. "You didn't need the first only, you should have said 'The one and only, Alan'. It's not that hard." He adjusted his glasses, his brown eyes looking over Sonic and Alan. "Plus if you two keep rolling around like that you'll mess up your uniforms before homeroom even begins."

"Hey Jerry," Alan briefly waved before Sonic jumped onto him, officially pinning Alan down to the ground.

"Yea yea," Jerry rolled his eyes and brushed back his black hair, making sure it was away from his face. Sonic couldn't help but notice Jerry did that a lot- always fidgeting and trying to fix his appearance.

"Hello Alan," Jerry raised an unimpressed brow, then looked to Sonic. "I'm surprised you're here so early. You always wait until the last second- I'm almost impressed."

"Maddie and Tom tricked me!" Sonic huffed and hopped off of Alan's back, and this time didn't offer his hand to help the redhead back up. "Honestly they made it sound like I was going to be late for once."

"Maybe they just wanted you out of the way so that they could spend some 'quality' time together without you butting in," Alan grinned, and in response Sonic promptly took his heavy backpack off of his back- and dropped it on Alan.

"Do not talk about my... 'parents' that way, ew," Sonic huffed and smoothed out his uniform.

"Don't hate me for sayin' the truth! Where do you think babies come from?"

"Human babies come from humans, and they're totally not ready for a human baby... and anyways shut up, that's the end of this!" Sonic placed his foot on Alan's head, playfully shoving him down. Alan was just cackling away as if he was telling the funniest joke in the world.

"It's so easy to get under your skin!" Alan grinned.

"Hey hey Sonic, show some mercy!"

Sonic turned around, grinning when Kevin walked on up. His naturally curly black hair had his favorite red toothpick comb sticking out of it- like always. He wore his uniform properly- to the last button.

"Honestly Blue, what did he do to deserve such treatment- oh wait that's Alan. Yea, whatever you're doing he deserves it." Kevin smirked and seemed satisfied because even when he 'backed off' to let Sonic do what he wanted, the hedgehog hurried over to his side to leave Alan alone.

"Glad to see you. Hey- thanks for the help with my homework last Friday. I was seriously worried I wasn't going to finish it during the move."

"No problem, moving in one weekend is no small feat. I doubt many would have finished all the homework and move at the same time- they're just not fast enough, am I right?"

Sonic grinned widely as he grabbed his backpack off of Alan and finally released the freckled redhead, slinging it over his shoulder lazily. "Totally, no one is as fast as me. Not even that dumb... Eggbutt?" Sonic's voice trailed off as he turned on the spot, looking at each boy before looking around the schoolyard, his brows furrowed.

Alan sat up, grinning his big toothy grin as he watched Sonic. "Uh oh, Sonic is doing it again."

"Huh?" Sonic glanced back, doing his best to look completely confused at the common. "What are you talking about."

"You always do this," Jerry sighed. "You noticed Sam is late again and you're probably thinking you can run all the way to her house to make sure she's actually coming today. You know she has never missed a day of school, she just runs late."

"I am not! It's just..." Sonic crossed his arms over his chest, tapping his foot as he tried to think of a proper answer. "It's annoying how she's late is all. I would be annoyed if any of you guys were late."

"But you worry about Sam the most," Alan cooed as he hopped up, playfully taking Sonic's backpack and holding it up high. Sonic was a lot shorter than all his friends, and everyone knew they could use that to get on Sonic's nerves. "Like it happens every day I swear, you're looking for her! You got to like her."

"I do not! She's a good friend, but there's absolutely nothing. I'm always looking for her because she's always late!"

Sonic's quills started to light up and in a flash, Alan was face first on the ground again and the hedgehog was wearing his backpack. All over Alan's back were big footprints from Sonic's shoes- it looked like Alan got completely trampled.

"And stop taking my bag. If I can run up buildings you bet I'll run up your back... Besides," Sonic continued calmly as if he didn't just rekt Alan. "She's human and I'm a hedgehog. Do you know how not well that works together? Me dating a human? Ew no- never. That has as much chance as you and Jessica getting together."

Alan pouted, lifting his head from the dirt. Jerry, the ever calm and patient soul he was, helped Alan back up to his feet and started to brush off his jacket as Alan looked longingly across the schoolyard at a large group. The cheerleaders were meeting together to compare the new cheerleading outfits that arrived, their names printed in pretty silver glitter across the backs.

Among those girls was Jessica.

Alan sighed dreamily, nearly swooning on the spot while Sonic tried not to gag. He already knew what Alan was thinking.

"Oh, there she is, the most beautiful girl on all the campus, Jessica. With her pretty blue eyes and flawless skin," Sonic playfully teased, watching as Alan's normally white as snow face turned into a tomato.

"Oh, quiet Sonic! Besides, it's not like any of those things aren't true," he muttered, then nodded to Jerry once his uniform was spiffed up. They would be all lost without Jerry honestly. "I can't believe she got to school early. Well, I'm going to talk to the dear maiden of the school, Jessica Simmons."

Sonic quickly continued acting like a love-struck teen that he knew Alan was on the inside. "Oh, fair Jessica Simmons, the most popular girl in the whole school, head of the cheerleading squad and junior even-" Sonic easily ducked under Alan's playful swing, standing a good 5 feet back with his hands rested on his hips. "Don't tell me you're actually going to try to talk to her again. Last time was a complete failure- gah just thinking about all this reminds me of some sappy movie I'm forced to watch with Maddie when she's all pouty Tom is off at work."

"Oh, whatever you Blue Devil, I'm heading in." Alan pulled his sunglasses out of his pocket and put them on, trying to act cool when in truth, Sonic wanted to bury himself deep in a hole just out of embarrassment for Alan. "I'm going over."

Sonic winced, watching as Alan started to walk across the schoolyard.

"He's just going to embarrass himself."

"Totally," Kevin shrugged as he leaned back against the tree, watching as if this was all some big show. "I wonder how bad it's going to go this time."

"Honestly," Jerry sighed heavily as he adjusted his jacket again. "I don't understand how I manage to put up with you all."

"Because we're amazing?" Sonic curiously peered up, and after a long moment, Jerry nodded.

"Okay, but that's beside the point."

Sonic playfully nudged Jerry, then watched the disaster unfold in front of him. Alan was trying to act 'cool' or something, but it only reminded Sonic of that silly show, Johnny Bravo where the guy thought he was all slick but was honestly just a heaping mess.

"Honestly, he's just... I don't think he even realizes what he's doing."

"Who?"

Sonic looked up and grinned. A girl with long braided auburn hair and green eyes was sitting in the tree above them. Clearly she snuck up behind them and wanted to give them a bit of a fight, but nothing could scare Sonic! Still, he was... surprised she had made it up there without making a sound.

"Hey Sam," Kevin waved. "We're talking about Alan. He's being a disaster and trying to talk to Jessica."

Sam looked across the courtyard and winced.

"Oof, she's looking pretty disgusted with him." Sam easily climbed down from the tree, allowing herself to drop the last bit and landed with a soft thud on the grass.

"You got hay in your hair," Kevin motioned with a quick wave of his hand before he looked back to Alan, seeming more interested in the 'show'.

"Ah dang it... Jerry, mind helping?" Sam stepped closer to Jerry and bowed her head down. Sonic ran around the tree, picked up Sam's 'hidden' bag she left behind it and returned it back to her side in a single second. This was high school, best not to leave any bags unattended unless you wanted some awful prank to happen.

"Why am I constantly taking care of you guys?" Jerry started to look through her hair, removing the hay spotted, then finding several more pieces somehow weaved into the actual braid. "Honestly, did you even try to get yourself cleaned up this morning?"

"The horses needed attention… Also you clearly take care of us because you love us, right?" Sam lifted her head and smirked at Jerry, who after a long moment just nodded and plucked yet another strand of hay from her hair.

"I swear I have the patience of a monk, a buddha. Anyways class is going to start, Sonic go save that idiot."

"On it!" Sonic dropped his bag and ran across the courtyard- not at full speed more like a nice leisure 'jog' Sonic would call it, but was faster than any human of course. Sonic came to a stop near Alan, who's act had faltered and he was now sputtering a bit as he tried to backtrack.

Jessica and her friends were just… watching in silent contempt.

"OH wow Alan there you are, class is going to start and Kevin totally needs you for like, reviewing his english project and you're amazing at English so come on-" Sonic spat out faster than a rapper before grabbing Alan and zooming back to the other side of the courtyard where he dropped the poor redhead on his butt.

"Hi!" Sam grinned widely and leaned forward, ruffling up Alan's hair affectionately. "There's my favorite ginger cat. You okay?"

"Ugh… whiplash, damn it Sonic you got to go slower!"

"Nope, gotta go fast," Sonic grinned, playfully running in place. "Can't stop won't stop, too hyped!"

"Well can you calm down and tell me how the move went?" Sam hummed, pulling Alan to his feet. "Where'd you guys go?"

"Oh, this awesome manor only thirty minutes away, not even that big of a run for me," Sonic grinned proudly as they started to head into the school as the warning bell rang. "It's an old place too, called BlackWood Manor."

Sonic happily led the way as always, though he stopped when he didn't hear his friends behind him anymore. He looked back, confused to just see them staring at him as if he was some sort of freak of nature- well he kinda was but that wasn't the point.

"Hey, what's wrong guys?" Sonic nervously chuckled, his hands held out to his side.

"BlackWood Manor?" Kevin carefully repeated, giving an uneasy glance to the other humans.

"That's what I said,'' Sonic walked back to his friends, looking between their pale faces. "You guys okay? You're not getting sick, are you?" What were some human illnesses that caused them to go pale? Sonic really couldn't think of anything but blood loss, but that wasn't an illness and none of them were bleeding. "You guys look like you've seen a ghost."

"Have you, um... " Alan stepped to the side of the hall and kneeled down. Sonic followed him and the group stood by Alan, all crouching down to properly talk to the short hedgehog.

"Have I what, you're acting weird."

"I mean, have you seen a ghost?"

"What? Course not. The house is just old. You guys are talking nonsense."

"No, it's true!" Sam nodded quickly, placing a hand on Alan's shoulder as she leaned against his back. "BlackWood Manor used to belong to a painter-"

"I know this. We found his paintings."

"Okay yea, but did you know he died in that house?"

"Oh so what, a lot of people die in their houses. A lot of people die everywhere, things and people just die," Sonic shrugged his shoulders. "He was an old painter, it was bound to happen."

"Yea, but did you know he had a son?"

"... I never heard about a son," Sonic mumbled softly. "Figured BlackWood was a loner guy, being a painter and all."

"No, he had a kid," Jerry nodded. "I read all about this. He had a son, a little nine year old named Jeffery."

Alan leaned closer to Sonic, whispering creepily. "Legend says that Lord BlackWood killed his own son! Murder him and stole his teeth, then stuffed the body in the ashpit."

Sonic frowned, slapping Alan's hands away. Alan pouted, rubbing his hands as if he was actually hurt by it. "There is no ash pit in the house." Sonic made a motion and the group got back up begrudgingly and kept walking with Sonic.

"It's in the basement. They say he died down there after brutally murdering one of his servants and taking her teeth too," Jerry brought up, knowing Sonic wouldn't listen to Alan after the creepy act. "Anyways the ash pit is in the back of the basement."

"Ask Crazy Carl," Kevin chuckled. "He knows all about it."

"Oh yes, let's ask Crazy Carl about the house I just moved into," Sonic rolled his eyes. "Guys, Crazy Carl is called Crazy for many reasons, and not all of them are because of me. He has a lot of conspiracy theories."

"He was right about you, he could be right about this."

"He was right about me because I was real and running around him because it was fun to set off his traps," Sonic sighed as they entered their homeroom.

"A few weeks ago we didn't believe in you, shouldn't that mean anything?" Jerry sighed.

"Just because you don't see it, doesn't mean it isn't real." Sam sat down in her seat and the boys sat around her in their normal seats. Sonic's feet dangled off of the chair, unable to touch the ground once he was in it.

"Listen, I'll believe things when I see them," Sonic said confidently. That seemed to be the end of the conversation because the bell rang just a moment later. Sonic sighed and started to search through his stuffed backpack for what he needed.

Despite his confidence, his mind drifted back to the creepy basement and painting. Was it actually possible? Could there be things like ghosts- and could that be what happened last night with the vents?