"He said what?"

"I know, right? That's what I said too! I couldn't believe he'd ever talk to me like that!"

Blaze was eating lunch with her best friend Amy and retelling the story of her encounter with Shadow. While Blaze was excited, she also fully understood the risk of discussing it. She kept a damper on her mood, something she as an introvert had a natural talent for. Amy, on the other hand, was peppy, extroverted, and (most importantly at the moment) loud. Blaze was all smiles, but Amy took it a step further and was practically squealing with excitement

"Oh my god Blaze, I'm so happy for you! He's really gonna t—"

"Shhhhhh! Amy!" Blaze frantically hissed. She lowered her voice to a whisper. "I don't want them to hear! Or anyone else for that matter."

"Oh my god, sorry!" Amy gasped. She lowered her head and finished her previous statement in a hushed voice. "He's really gonna take you home, oh my god!"

"I. KNOW!" Blaze loudly whispered. The two girls broke out into giggles.

"What are you two giggly fools talking about today?" asked a cheery voice.

Amy and Blaze looked up to see a fairly tall redhead squirrel with a short haircut and bright blue eyes, a sleek outfit composed of designer pieces, and a monkey from the wrestling team on her arm. Following closely behind them was a tall hedgehog with short blue quills, wearing a varsity letter jacket. The hedgehog waved to Amy, and she perked up even more.

"Sonic! Come over here babe!" she cajoled in a joking manner.

Sonic rolled his eyes and smiled. "I thought I told you to stop calling me 'babe.'"

Amy grinned. "I know, but I just couldn't resist this time around."

Sonic slid into the seat next to Amy, and let her head rest against his shoulder. "I can tell, you seem extra flirty today. You can never resist my charms when you're like that." Amy giggled and scooted closer to Sonic.

The tall redhead loudly cleared her throat. Amy glanced up and replied, "Oh hey Sally, sorry 'bout that. You gonna sit with us today?"

The boy on Sally's arm glanced at the group, specifically at Blaze, and turned to Sally. "You're gonna eat lunch with them instead of us and your other friends?"

Sally gave the boy a knowing look. "Yes Ken, you know I do regularly. Stop acting surprised about it."

Ken shrugged. "Alright Sally. I'll be with our other friends if you wanna chat." He gave Sally a quick peck on the cheek and left.

Sally smiled and took a seat at the table. "Anyway, before these lovebirds started interrupting things . . ." she glanced teasingly at Amy and Sonic. ". . . I wanted to ask what these two were snickering about this time." she gestured to the two teen girls.

"Oh!" exclaimed Blaze. She frantically gestured for Sally to come in closer, and Sally leaned in. "Shadow the Hedgehog talked to me in the hallway and said he was gonna take me home in his truck."

"Wait girl, for real? Like, he really talked to you?" Sally asked, her tone shifting from fairly mature to excited.

"Well, I mean, he's talked to me before this, but it was different this time. He's going to take me home! I'm so excited Sally, you have no idea!" Blaze gushed.

"So am I! Girl, you have to tell me what happens and what he's like outside of school! This is your chance to get to know him." She shook her head. "I can't believe you didn't even try to talk with him over the summer. Still mad about that."

Blaze sighed. "I didn't have a good opportunity too, I promise." When Sally's only response was a disbelieving and mildly disappointed look, Blaze quickly continued. "But that's in the past now! This is a golden opportunity. I just hope he's gonna be friendly on the ride back . . . What if he's different from how he is in school?"

"Don't worry about it Blaze," Sonic chimed in. "I'm pretty close to Shadow. He's a cool dude. He already treats you nice enough to offer you a ride home. That's not normal for him. You're in good hands."

Blaze felt her smile grow. "Oh my God Sonic, you have no idea how happy that makes me."

A sudden chair scrape near their table snapped all of them out of their conversation. A gray hedgehog wearing an anime T-Shirt and jeans sat down next to Blaze.

"Oh hey Silver, good to see you." Sonic greeted the teen.

"Yeah," said Blaze "I thought you weren't gonna join us."

"Oh," said Silver. "Nah, that was a part of my plan." He gave Blaze a small smile.

Silver silently opened a bottle of water and took a sip out of it as the others returned to their conversation about Shadow. While Silver was happy to see Blaze, and enjoyed seeing her talk about something that made her happy . . . He couldn't stand hearing Blaze talk about her crush.

Shit, I shouldn't be thinking like that, he thought to himself. But . . . Fuck man, I wish she didn't have a crush on anyone. It hurts hearing her talk about him. It's selfish, but . . . I really, really wish she talked about me with the same enthusiasm.

Silver quietly sighed. This crush on Blaze was getting out of hand. The two of them were very close friends, almost on the same level as Amy and Blaze's friendship. But Silver hadn't told Blaze that he liked her as more than a friend. He didn't want to ruin the good thing they had. They played a wide variety of PC games together and sometimes just voice chatted about a variety of stuff. He liked that she was interested in science fiction and anime, and he was excited he had a close friend that loved to play video games. And yes, he did find her attractive. She didn't believe she was, but he never felt like he could correct her about it. He didn't want to make things awkward.

Silver continued to ruminate on his predicament, when all of sudden he heard Amy stop chattering and groan, "Oh no. We've got trouble ahead."

Silver looked up and saw Selena storming over to their table, closely flanked by Alysha and Fiona.

⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤ END ⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤