Aaaand I'm back! Sorry for the wait.(*dodges rotten food*) This ended up taking way longer than it should have. It was a difficult chapter for me to do, as I'm still getting used to Sonic's character in this fic from the writing perspective, so him readjusting to school life took a long time to figure out.

TWO FAVORITES AND FOLLOWS?!

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY! THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH :D:D:D:D:D:D

DISCLAIMER(sorta): I've been homeschooled all my life. I got little idea of what public school is like. Bear with me dangit. Plis.

On another note, I'm uploading this on July 18th, which is my birthday :D (*eats cake*)

Review resposes!

Shadowtigs – First off, thanks for the kind words! I've thought about the point you brought up for a while, as it is a very valid one, and I think I have figured out that I was most likely trying to keep the story flowing and prevent it from stagnating, but went a bit too far and ended up missing out on details that could have improved it. I can, however, promise you that the completion did NOT take precedence over the contents. ;) I'm grateful that you brought this up to be quite honest, because now I will probably go back and make some changes to Chapter 13(Though I may publish it seperately to the original) and I will be able to make this chapter that much better. You get a digital cookie for being the first reviewer! *steals one from Shidesu-San's stash*

Huh, only one. Oh well, I've never gotten a review, so it's exciting anyway!

I'd also like to mention that my response to Shadowtigs was indeed correct, I will be publishing a redo of Chapter 13, there are a few things I didn't pay enough attention to, one of which is Sonic donned his sunglasses before heading off to school, so NO MOANING ABOUT CONTINUITY THERE! Have a cookie for listening. *goes back to Shidesu-San's stash*

DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own the characters, Sega does. Shidesu-San owns the plot leading up to Chapter 13. I own any O.C.s that I introduce.

CHAPTER 14

"Miles, wait!"

Sonic's call fell on deaf ears, as Miles was already gone. A few of the other kids looked in the blue hedgehog's direction, including Knuckles. Embarrassed, he sat back down and slowly finished his chilidog, vowing to find Miles and apologize after school. Sonic finished his lunch after most of the others, then went to class, thinking of what to say to the timid fox.

After school let out, Sonic hurried through the hallways, looking for Miles. It was difficult to see much of anything due to the all the students rushing for the exits.

"Watch where you're going!" one called out.

"No running in the halls young man!" the principal yelled after him. Sonic slowed his pace, then quickened it once he had put a distance he deemed large enoguh between him and the principal. He burst out the doors, frantically looking for the kitsune. He saw Miles walking away from the school and called to him. "Wait, Miles!" Miles looked back at Sonic, and only quickened his pace. Sonic ran after him, making sure not to use his full speed in front of the hundreds of kids from the school. Eventually he caught up with Miles.

"Wait!"

Miles hesitantly stopped and looked at Sonic.

Sonic gathered his thoughts and spoke the carefully decided assortment of words he had thought of.

"Look, Miles, I'm really sorry for asking about your tails," Miles winced slightly at the mention of his two tails, "but I didn't mean anything by it. In fact, I think they're cool. I mean, I'm sort of in the same boat aswell." Sonic removed his sunglasses, revealing his bi-colored eyes. Miles' eyes widened at the sight, causing Sonic was slightly embarassed, though did his best to hide it from the young kistune. Worried that someone else might notice his eyes, Sonic quickly replaced the sunglasses. Miles tried to wipe the surprised expression from his face.

"Apology accepted." Miles smiled at Sonic, who returned the gesture.

"You wanna walk home together?"

"Sure."

The two friends walked together, talking amongst themselves until Miles interrupted. "That's my house."

"Alright, see you tomorrow Miles."

The fox waved as he walked up the steps to a small, rather weathered, one-story house and went inside.

Sonic continued on until he reached his own house. He went inside and made a bee-line for his room, tossing his backpack on the floor and flopping down on the bed. He let out a sigh of relief so loud Shadow could hear it across the hall. The ebony hedgehog chuckled quietly, and walked across the hall to Sonic's room. He knocked on the door.

"Come in." Sonic sounded tired.

Shadow opened the door and entered his son's room.

"So, how did it go?"

Sonic shrugged.

"Knuckles bother you again?"

"Not really..."

Silence descended over the room. Shadow eventually took the teenager's silence as a hint and left the room, shutting the door behind him. Sonic watched him go.

Shadow sighed, wishing Sonic would tell him what was wrong. It was clear to him that not all was well in the blue hedgehog's world. He went downstairs, thinking back to his own days in school.

The young black hedgehog walked into the cafeteria, wearing a hoodie to hide his black and red fur along with a pair of sunglasses to hide his red eyes.

"Hey, the emo's here!"

Shadow winced, wanting nothing more than to dissapear. A group of tough-looking kids ran over to where he was. One of them, a dark red Echidna, grabbed him and slammed him against the wall, knocking the wind out of him and knocking his sunglasses to the floor, which one of the other kids promptly crushed beneath his foot. Shadow watched helplessly, struggling against the Echidna holding him to the wall.

Shadow tried to break free, but the echidna only strengthened his grip. "You're not going anywhere, freak." Shadow opened his mouth, yet no words came out. Frozen with fear, he could do nothing against the echidna that held him to the wall. A green hedgehog came forward from the group and kicked Shadow – hard. The ebony hedgehog couldn't help letting out a cry of pain, but everyone in the cafeteria only laughed. A few looked on in silence, some payed no attention, and some just played along.

The green hedgehog moved closer and landed a right hook to Shadow's jaw, eliciting another cry of pain. He repeated the move, this time sending a few drops of blood flying. "Let me go!" the terrified black and red hedgehog yelled. The others only responded with laughter.

Someday they would be sorry.

Shadow shook himself out of his daydream. He hadn't thought about his school days for a very long time, and for good reason. Glancing at the clock, he saw that it was around 4:30.

Meanwhile, Sonic had pulled the "stolen" guitar out from under his bed and began to play, getting annoyed at himself every time he missed a note. Shadow had heard and was now listening from the hallway, impressed at the young hedgehog's musical ability. Eventually the music stopped, and Sonic opened the door to see Shadow standing there.

"Were you listening..?"

Shadow nodded.

Sonic sighed and went downstairs, hoping the ebony hedgehog hadn't noticed his screwups.

THE NEXT DAY

At 7:00 AM, Sonic's alarm went off, waking him up. The blue hedgehog groaned, slamming his fist on the snooze button. He reluctantly dragged himself out of bed, hastily throwing his shoes on and going downstairs, where Shadow was finishing making breakfast.

"Morning sleepyhead," the ebony hedgehog said jokingly. Sonic rolled his eyes and sat at the table, eating quickly.

When he had finished, the blue hedgehog grabbed his backpack and opened the front door. He said bye to Shadow as he walked out the door, shutting it behind him.

Sonic started walking towards the school, still not fully rested from the day before. As he approached Miles' house he noticed the orange fox come out of the door and wave at him. Sonic waved back, and Miles ran down the steps to join him.

"Hey Miles," the blue hedgehog said to Miles.

"Hi Sonic." Miles smiled at his friend, who returned the gesture followed by a yawn.

"Did you get much sleep last night?"

Sonic shrugged. "I was thinking about that echidna all night..."

"Knuckles?"

"Yeah, that guy's a jerk."

"He's always giving me a hard time about my tails..."

Sonic sighed. He wished there was something they could do about the red echidna. Most of the kids at school followed Knuckles, but without him picking on the two, things would be a lot easier to handle. He decided to say what he knew they were both thinking.

"Maybe we should get someone else involved..?"

Miles sighed. "I don't want to admit I'm weak..."

"I guess..." Sonic felt conflicted. On one hand he desperately wanted the abuse to stop, though on the other hand he didn't know what anyone else could do about it; Knuckles and the rest would simply come after them at a time when nobody would know. Would he ever be able to escape the abuse that came with his dual-colored eyes? Sonic tried to clear his mind of the problem for the time. The hedgehog glanced up, and was surprised to see that they had already arrived at the school. The two friends walked up the steps towards the front door. Sonic noticed the door he had previously broken was now covered by a sheet of plywood. Miles noticed this too. "I wonder what happened." Sonic looked around, and sheepishly responded, "I… sort of… did it..."

Miles looked back at him, confused. Meanwhile, the principal had approached them, and heard every word. "So, it was you?" Sonic's eyes widened. "Um..." The principal looked at the blue hedgehog sternly, then turned, motioning for Sonic to follow. He gulped. Miles watched Sonic follow the principal, who said to the kitsune, "Get to your class, young man." Miles quickly did so, running off to his first class of the day. The principal led Sonic to her office and opened the door, motioning for him to sit down. Sonic sat in one of the two chairs, sinking down in it.

"Now then, Sonic." Sonic looked at the principal, afraid of what her next sentence would be.

"Let's talk."

"Class dismissed. See you tomorrow everyone."

Sonic picked up his books, dejectedly exiting the classroom and heading toward his locker. He saw Knuckles in the distance, luckily the echidna was far enough away that he wouldn't bother Sonic. The blue hedgehog made his way to his locker and unlocked it, then placing his books inside and pulling his backpack out. He then began to walk towards the exit, the kids around him bumping into him. As he exited the building, the group beginning to thin, he saw Miles once again, waiting for him down at the bottom of the stairs. Seeing Sonic, the fox waved, Sonic returning the gesture and running over to Miles, feeling a bit better.

"Hey Sonic!"

"Hi Miles..."

The two were silent for a while, and began to walk home. Eventually, Miles broke the silence.

"So… What happened?"

Sonic sighed. "I have to pay for the damage, and my dad's probably gonna kill me..."

"That sucks..."

Sonic didn't respond.

"Uhh… Sonic?"

"Yeah?"

Miles pointed forward, a look of worry on his face. Sonic looked in the direction the kitsune was pointing in, his eyes widening.

"Hey guys..."

Miles stared at the source of the voice in fear. "H-hi, Knuckles..."

T.B.C

CLIFFHANGEEEEEEER. Sorry if the chappie sucked ;-; The next one should be better, I'm past the difficult bits in the story. XP

Always appreciate reviews, be brutally honest. (well, maybe not brutally… ;-; dun be meeeeen)

I tried to make this one less rushed. I hope it turned out ok, so…. Stay tuned.

And yeah, today I turn 16 ;u; *eats more cake*

Alsoooo… Yes, i'm giving Shads some backstory! Now you get two things to look forward to ;u;