Chapter 3: Teenage Confrontation

At long last, it was break time. I stood in the canteen, dialling my father's number and lifting my mobile phone up to my ear. I waited patiently, thinking about what I had to say. "Alright..."

After a while, he answered with a "Hello?" and I giggled. "Hey Dad, it's me."

"How's it going kiddo?"

I grinned. Judging by his tone, Dad seemed pretty happy that I was on the other end. "Everything's ... going okay over here, thank you. Mum told me this morning that you were going to ring, so I thought I'd ring you myself."

"I see. At least you didn't forget."

I laughed. "Yeah, I am pretty forgetful, sometimes."

Hearing this, Dad chuckled and it seemed like he was about to change the subject, before I ended up beating him to it. "So, how's it going at your workplace? Everyhing going well over there?"

"It's been quite busy here. But my boss isn't screaming at one of us right now, so that's a plus."

"I agree, definetly." I replied with a chuckle, relieved knowing that things were going well. There were two seconds of silence, before Dad said something that really surprised me. "I take it you're still thinking about that hedgehog, right?"

Quickly shutting my eyes and opening them again, I realised that I had to accept the fact that my cheeks had turned to a really bright red. And I mean, really bright. "Congratulations, Dad. Because guess what? I'm blushing now!" I said, trying hard to stifle an amused laugh.

"That was what I was aiming for Megan!"

I have to admit, deep down, I was smiling at the idea. But Sonic had Amy with him so regardless, nothing was going to happen because they weren't real. Like I said before, I would imagine and dream about meeting Sonic, Tails, Amy, Knuckles and the others. I knew it was impossible, but... if they were out there, living in the real world and walking among us humans, it would be like...mine and the other fans' dreams were becoming a reality. I didn't realise that I had remained quiet for about nearly ten seconds until Dad spoke up.

"Hey, are you okay?"

I shook my head quickly and pulled myself together. "Yeah, I'm fine... Just got lost in my own world, I guess..."

"Oh right. I got a little worried there..."

"You don't need to worry about me." I said. "I'm a tough cookie!"

Dad let out an amused chuckle, after those words left my mouth. "Unfortunately I have to go now, as work is harassing me again. Tell your mum that I said to say Hello, when you see her. Love you kiddo."

"Okay I will, I love you too Dad."

As soon as the phone call ended, I instantly put my phone back in my jean pocket and headed straight outside to enjoy the fresh air, going through a different entrance into the main building. My destination was the library which happened to be close to the staircase I went up a few hours earlier. As I weaved my way through the crowds of teenagers; my eyes darted all around the long corridor as I took in my surroundings. Girls and boys were in their separate friendship groups, chatting about their daily lives. Meanwhile, others were making their ways to their destinations and looking at their diaries. I went through the large double-door which waited for me at the end, and caught sight of a notice board showing an image of a latin teenage girl who looked about 13 or 14 years old. Her hair was a dark brown and was swept up in a bun, revealing her golden-brown skin and bright revealing outfit. A caption was put underneath her picture, written in a bold-black font:

In Memory of:

Cynthia Velasquez

1985 - 2015

R.I.P

I couldn't help but stare at it for a while. I suddenly got a flashback of the female ghost with the long black hair from South Ashfield Station, and an unsettling thought hit me like a punch in the face. It didn't seem possible, but what if ... What if she was the ghost I saw in my vision? No. It couldn't be possible, as they didn't look like they had similarites from what I saw in the vision and the girl's picture. But ... I swore that something was telling me that-

I didn't want to think about the topic any further, so I ended up shrugging my thoughts away. Less thinking about the vision I had, more thinking about my college schedule. Just as I was about to turn away from the image ... a series of excited voices greeted my ears. Oh no...

"It's them!"

"Let's get out of their way!"

"Who are they gonna go for this time?!

"Hopefully it's going to be someone who deserves it!"

Knowing very well who was coming, I quickly dashed into the library, making absolute sure that they didn't see me. No one wanted to be their target and some of my classmates happened to be a group of their victims. The library had a wide space, which was filled with a large desk and chair on the right side and a set of grey desks and black chairs on the left. Black computers were also seated on the desks and the large amount of bookshelfs were painted in a light brown colour. I hid behind the nearest tall shelf of books and set my backpack down quietly onto the floor at my feet. Suddenly, the door was swung open with a loud bang and a voice rang out.

"Where is she?!"

Peeking out a little from my hiding place, I saw who the voice belonged to. A group of girls (known as the Princesses of North Ashfield High) sauntered in, being lead by a girl my age referred to as the 'Queen'. They usually bully weaker students and are mostly well known for that. Whenever she was around boys, the leader was a little too seductive for their liking, making them fall under her temporary spell.

"Where is that weird kid?!"

Oh no! Nononono! She means me! How do I get out of this?! ... Screw this, I'm not going to let them get me, I gotta get out of here.

Racking my brains, I had to think of an escape plan and a plan B. Maybe I could distract them long enough for me to grab my backpack and make a run of it, or I could wait until they get distracted by something and bolt for the door. The second option seemed better in my opinion, as I didn't want to get into a fight with the girls.

"Okay..." I whispered in my head. I prepared myself to run, making sure that my footsteps weren't too loud for the girls to hear. Having heard a lot about them, I knew they would make their victims suffer if they caught them. I hoped that it wasn't going to happen to me or any other students; some whom were watching the scene unfold through the clear glass windows sitting on both sides of the door.

"There she is!"

"Oooooh no, you're not walking out on me you b*tch! C'mere!"

I swore quietly with panic surging through me, sprinting for the door as fast as I could go ... until I was suddenly jumped on and pinned to the ground, just seconds before I reached the door! F*ck, I was so close! I was then violently turned round, so that I was forced to stare at the leader. Clad in a revealing blue tank top, a pair of ripped shorts and black boots which travelled up to her knees, the brown haired girl's blue eyes narrowed in slits as she glared down at me. Her hands were wrapped tightly around my throat, threatening to cut off my air supply. I began thrasing, twisting and turning frantically in an attempt to escape, but she was too f*cking strong! "Let me go, please let me go!" I managed to yell out, trying hard not to end up suffocating.

"Where do you think you're going, freak?" She sneered, tightening her grip. I grunted, struggled and squirmed in an effort to escape, but my attempts to do so were complete failures. "God, what the hell do you want from me?!"

Her answer was enough to send me into hysterics. "We all want you to leave this place and never come back."

Really? That's what everyone wants me to do?!

I stood my ground, refusing to give up whilst I stared into the girl's icy eyes with a pleading and frantic look, desperate to get out of the situation. "L-L-Look, I'm not weird, okay?! What I have is a condition which is really tough to handle sometimes! Other than that, I'm perfectly normal! Honest to god, I am!"

The leader leaned a little closer towards me and glowered dangerously, letting out a chuckle. "You are so wrong, freak. You don't belong here and you never will, get the f*ck out of our lives now!"

With a scream, I thrashed even harder and she began wrestling with me, intent on keeping me down and sending hurtful insults in my direction. The other girls watched and cheered their leader as she bullied me. I felt so bad for all of their victims and for their possibly planned next target. The fight went on for a while, I attempted to shove her off but she started delivering brutal blows to my face and stomach, forcing a series of pained screams to come out. I was even more frantic as I struggled to free myself but she ended it by punching me on the nose, so hard that I felt a painful throb and heard a loud crack. She then pulled herself up to her feet and turned to face her mates with pride. "Let's get outta here, girls. I'm done with this weird little b*tch."

"Yeah, we'll be super glad when she's gone!" One of the others agreed, turning to send a hateful glare in my direction.

And with that, they exited the library, leaving me curled in a fetal position on the floor. I had a quick look at my hands and already, they were covered in blood from my now broken nose. My lips were puffy, due to the large number of times she punched me and I knew that I'd get bruises soon. Unfortunately, my white t-shirt was also now stained with a tiny portion dripping from my nose and to make things worse, more blood began to slowly gush out of my nose, influencing me to cover it with my hands again quickly. I groaned in pain as I struggled to get up on my feet, blinking back the tears that threatened to fall.

Sonic... If only you, your friends and the Herd were real...