I waited, tapping my foot nervously. It was unusual for me to be anything but confident and cocky, but this was different. I wasn't worried about Shadow. No doubt he could handle himself. What worried me was the fact that Bonnie wouldn't stop following me around like a leech! It was rousing the nightmares of Amy's full day chasing when she was younger. Those are thoughts I'd prefer to burn. Not to mention she called me Soniku in front of Shadow and Tails. If either of them told Amy, I'd probably be murdered in my sleep!
Tails nudged me to get my attention. I glanced at him. He'd given me a single contact lens to see through his invisibility tech. Currently, he was pointing at the school at two people walking toward us. One of them broke into a sprint towards me, squealing and calling my name.
"What's she doing here?!" I whispered to Tails. "No one was supposed to know I come back here but Kim and Ron."
"She might have overheard you," he whispered back, his tails brushing my leg. "She was staring at you when you were talking with them—much like Amy used to," he added in an undertone.
"Please don't compare the two," I whispered sharply, just before Bonnie flung her arms around my neck.
"Soniku!" she squealed loudly, squeezing.
I threw my arms out sideways to keep my balance awkwardly. "Hey, Bonnie. What are you doing here?" I asked gently, carefully removing her arms, pretending to be pleased to see her. Oh, I really wanted to get away. I can't take a repeat of the horrors.
She yanked her phone out of her pocket and started tapping around on the screen. "We need to go shopping! And, we can go eat something together. How does that sound?" she asked enthusiastically.
"Uhhh—I—" I stuttered, not knowing what to do. I really didn't want to go anywhere with Bonnie. She was nice, but it was too nostalgic. The bad kind of nostalgia. My gaze flicked to my side where Tails stood, smirking furiously, hand over his mouth to stop his laughter. I almost glared at him. "Well—I—"
A pink rodent ran across the grass toward us at high speed. Okay, not high, high speed, but fast for something so small. I stiffened slightly as it clung to my pants and ran up my shirt to sit on my shoulder. Internally, I sighed, relieved.
"Hey, Rufus," I said cheerily, utterly thankful that that conversation was more or less over. I lifted a finger for him to high-five. "What's up?"
Now, let me say this. Rufus is a normal naked mole rat. I recognized this instantly when I saw him with Ron. He's pretty chill, like me. But, at the same time, he's different than any other animal I've known. Here's why.
"Ew!" Bonnie cried, swatting at Rufus in disgust. "Get out of here, you little naked pest!"
Rufus rolled his eyes and glared at Bonnie. "Ron's gonna be late. He got detention again," he squeaked. "No thanks to her." He shook his tiny fist in Bonnie's direction angrily. He flopped down onto my open palm and crossed his arms. "Kim's waiting it out."
Yes. Yes, he talks. Apparently, only Tails and I can understand him. I don't know about Shadow, but we can. Probably because we're technically animals as well. I don't know. It's really weird. I didn't know what to say when I met Kim and Ron because Rufus just started shooting his mouth off about me being suspicious. It was shocking, and I'm still not used to it, as chill as I always am.
But, Kim was waiting out Ron's detention.
"You mean, I have to—" I started, directing this to Rufus, who held up his paw to stop me and pointed at Bonnie, annoyed. "Fine, fine. How long?" I asked anyway, ignoring Bonnie's confused looks.
"Two hours," Rufus responded in a whiny tone. "At least, it'll be a nice nap in his pocket. By the way, your friend—standing right there, right?"
"Dude!" I scolded, glancing where Rufus had gestured. Tails was standing exactly there.
"Relax," he said, standing up in my palm and climbing back down my pants to the grass. He glared at Bonnie one last time. "Have fun with her." Rufus bounded back toward the school and disappeared.
I slapped a hand to my face. Really, dude? You're just gonna leave me here?!
"Who were you talking to?" Bonnie asked, her tone changing slightly from the normal cheery to suspicious.
I didn't answer her question directly, fearing what Tails might hit me with. He'd already flicked my ear, which wasn't pleasant. Even as a human, my ears are still as sensitive as they were as a hedgehog. "I guess I can go shopping with you. My afternoon just got freed up."
Her expression changed, and she squealed in delight, grabbing me by the arm. "I'll drive!"
What am I even doing?! I thought desperately, wondering if there was any way out of this. Suddenly, I got an idea. I glanced around to see if anyone was watching and pulled Bonnie behind a tree and reached into my pocket. The chaos emerald residing there seemed to pulse gently at my touch. Taking another careful look around, I pulled it out and held it at eye level.
"I need you to keep a secret," I whispered to her, whose gaze had caught onto the beautiful gem.
"What is that?" she asked, awed. "It's gorgeous!" She put out her hand to touch it. The emerald glowed a little brighter when her fingers made contact.
I glanced around again, feeling strangely uncomfortable. And stupid. Was this the wrong move? She was the best chance I had, though.
"Have you seen any other gems like this around here?" I asked quietly, putting it away in my pocket. "I think one of them was around here somewhere, but I don't know where. It's very important."
"I don't think so," she said, pulling her phone out. "Can I take a picture of it?"
Again, my gaze found Tails at her shoulder. He was shaking his head violently 'no'. I shook my head, as well. "It's supposed to stay a secret," I repeated. "So far, you're the only one I've told. Let's try to keep it that way, okay?"
She nodded slowly, lowering her phone, disappointed. "I'm the only one you told?"
I nodded, getting the same uneasy feeling again. "I can't have anyone else knowing. If you see another gem like this, get it to me as fast as you can, okay? I know you see and hear a lot of things, so I really appreciate you doing this for me."
Bonnie dragged me toward her car. I hardly paid any attention to what she was chittering about as she drove toward the downtown Middleton area. I was getting tired of having to keep everything a secret. Why couldn't I just make a show of my speed? My speed is who I am! I can't keep hiding that. It's getting so annoying! I thought, ruffling my hair in frustration. We should be doing everything we can to get those emeralds back, but, by hiding, we aren't doing everything! I side-glanced Bonnie, who was still talking her mouth off. I'd only wanted to tell Kim and Ron since I knew they would work with us on this. I don't know if Bonnie can really hold a secret in. Why keep it a secret though? I could practically feel Tails' eyes on me as I considered blowing our cover completely.
The next 4 hours were spent watching Bonnie try on clothes at a place called Club Banana. The mall we went to was pretty big compared to the ones on Mobius. I can't say much for the volume inside, though.
The trip was pretty enlightening, surprisingly. I discovered just how much I hated clothes shopping. How can girls stand to be in a room with so many different colors and just try different clothes on? It's so boring! What's supposed to be appealing about it? I don't get it. Then, it got me thinking about Amy and clothing shopping. I knew Rouge and Cream were all over clothes shopping and dragged Amy with them everywhere, but I wasn't sure if Amy actually enjoyed it.
By the end of Bonnie's spree, I told her I'd walk home since I really needed a break from her. No, I didn't tell her the reason why. That's borderline cruel. It was already dusk, but I didn't care. As far as I did care, I was free to run wherever I wanted.
As soon as her car's taillights had vanished behind the trees, I took a deep breath of fresh air, feeling rejuvenated. I dropped low and sprinted in a random direction away from the mall. The cool breeze of early evening felt amazing as ever, blowing through my hair and across my face. My worries disappeared with the wind. The entire day and yesterday was forgotten. The darkening sky reminded me of home, and I felt at home by it. The small dripping of a nearby creek came and vanished as I ran by.
It was just me and the wind.
I was free.
Until…
Boom!
The quiet was instantly broken. So, was my concentration. Oops, I thought, skidding to a stop just outside Middleton in the forest. I'd broken the sound barrier again. Car alarms had started going off the moment of the explosion. The entire town's volume immediately went up by several notches. Slowly, after a few minutes, it was quiet again.
However, before it went silent again, I was zipping through town, faster than anyone could see me. There was just a slightly stronger breeze blowing this street and that—toward Middleton High. It was further into the center of town, so the sound explosion didn't set off as many alarms, but it brought most of the late-working staff outside to check out the commotion. It should be easy to get in now.
My carelessness had given me a window to grab the chaos emerald! I keep telling Tails that, sometimes, the best plan is to have no plan! I zipped right in the open front doors and down the hall, stopping at the end of it and listening for anyone. It was absolutely silent.
The principal's office was upstairs. I sprinted to his office and stopped outside the door, putting an ear to it to see if he was still inside. It was quiet in there, too. Was my amazing luck just giving me a helping hand, or what? But, why was the door unlocked?
I'd heard that this principal was a tough one. He was hard on everyone, even fellow teachers. Students like Ron always got it the worst. So, why would his office door be unlocked? I pushed open the door warily, glancing around. When I didn't see anything suspicious, I zipped around the room at high speed, looking for the chaos emerald.
It wasn't there.
I pulled out my own emerald, desperate, and shined it around the room, watching for when it would glow brighter near another emerald. Nothing happened.
I ran a frustrated hand through my hair, ruffling it. I was so sure it was here! It had to be!
I froze at the massive, rough hand that appeared on my shoulder. "Someone's getting a long sentence of detention," Mr. Barkin said loudly, squeezing.
I was too slow to shove away my chaos emerald before he snatched it from me. "Hey! That's private property! Give it back!" I protested, trying to shake off his grip. Surprisingly, I couldn't. That's new, I thought.
Whatever plans I had originally had immediately went down the drain.