_: Chapter Thirteen:_
There was only one thing on Sonic's mind, and that was winning at this game of high striker. He grasped the mallet that was handed to him and gazed at the bell that was located on the top.
"Go, Sonic!" Cheered Amy from the sideline with a cheeky smile.
He gave her a thumbs up, grinning, he had to impress her.
He'd made it clear that she came before everything else and she could be a real part of his life. If he couldn't prove to her before, and even though he wanted to, this was his time to shine.
"Ready, boy?" asked the man in stripes, pushing thoughts of determination to his mind.
"Ready," Sonic said, leading toward the lever in the front of the tower. "I can do it."
"Are you a man out of the boys?" The operator raised an eyebrow.
Someone laughed historically from behind the crowd, making the rest shake and join, making Sonic tremble. Normally others would be supportive, but to Sonic's unfortunate luck they weren't.
"Just ignore them, kid," The operator said as he walked over to the game.
"I know, I can get it," He said.
If he could hit the lever hard enough to make the crowd gasp, he would prove them wrong. He took a deep breathe, and raised the mallet over his head.
"I can do this," he said to himself firmly and swung the hammer.
BANG
"Amazing!" Sonic pulled myself from having his eyes closed and opened them slowly, he had hit the bell.
That sounded silly, since he was supposed to only get it midway, but he was more powerful than he had portrayed himself to be. He was really only meant to get it higher than average, but I this was way better than that.
A blast of warmth struck him, but it died down almost instantly. Amy ran and given him a hug of rejoice, so as soon as she pulled away, Sonic felt saddened.
A figure stood before us, bracing himself with his hands on either side of a large plush. He was smiling, "Congratulations, no one has been able to hit it in a while. Here you go."
"Thank you, sir." Sonic said.
"No problem," he said, and as soon as he said those words, he turned away.
Sonic turned to the girl her praised so much and flashed her a boyish smile and held the plush out to her shyly.
"For me?" she gasped.
"Who else but you?" Sonic rubbed the back of his neck unsure if she liked it.
Amy smiled crookedly, but her smile had its bravado. Her green eyes looked glistening and prosperous, and she had a fading blush on her cheeks. Despite all that, she was still just as gorgeous as he had remembered her, and his breath caught in my throat.
"Do you like it?" He asked with hopeful eyes. "I can win you another one if you don't."
"Oh, no, Sonic," she said, her smile already widening. "It's perfect because it came from you…" She swallowed something back, and her hands gripped tighter on the plush.
Sonic stopped rubbing his head and couldn't hide how happy he felt by her words and showed it with a grin spread across his face, "Amy?"
"Yeah?" Amy started to speak, but her knees gave out when she stepped on sand. She pitched forward, and Sonic rushed to catch her. She fell into his shoulder, and he steadied her to her feet.
"Easy there, Ames." He brushed the hair back from her eyes, and they fluttered open.
"Thanks." She smiled up at him, but the smile was weak. "That's embarrassing, I didn't even realize we ended up walking all the way to the beach."
"Don't be," he insisted with a smile. "It's cute." Sure, they used to spend full days together and she would even remotely count him as a friend, but something about this moment seemed different from the rest.
Amy shook her head as if unable to decide what to make of all this. She knew a large part of her didn't trust her heart and wanted to throw it out of her chest, she admired him all the more than she would have imagined.
"I wish you would be more open with me like how you were in the hospital," he said.
"I am being the same." She argued.
"No, you're not," Sonic commented as he looked around the beach.
That was true. She couldn't help herself, but she felt suddenly shy around him. Sonic was able to speak now so it wasn't a one sided conversation anymore.
She didn't want that, but the beach being without a crowd made her anxious. This felt like a date, it wasn't her fault that Silver had disappeared, but the neon lights that brightened behind them created the feeling of dreamland which wasn't helping at all.
"You already told me how you cheated death," I said and stood up. "How about you tell me the after story of that miracle?"
"Uh, I don't know." Sonic seemed a bit startled by her suggestion. Even though he hadn't thought about it, his mind began reflecting harsh memories of recent chaos.
"We have time, and I want to know."
"Oh." Sonic was clearly against the idea, but he knew he was afraid that if he told her, she would probably lose her respect towards him. "Amy, I don't really feel comfortable with that."
"Come on, pretty please?" she begged with a pout.
Sonic released a defeated sigh. "Fine," he said, then his green eyes went hard. "But just… don't think bad about me after this."
I pushed Knuckles out of the way, and Rouge was instantly tapping wildly onto her phone screen. I wrapped my arms around her before she could call Shadow, who was probably sleeping and oblivious to the current situation.
The way she wriggled made it impossible to hold her in my arms. She turned her head and nearly bit my shoulder, but I grabbed a clump of her hair on the back of her head.
She twisted around, pulling out chunks of her hair, and I had to take more drastic measures. I slammed her head down onto the wall, pressing her face to the wall.
I felt guilty about it because this was my friend and a girl that I was fighting, but it felt a lot more like pinning down a piranha.
"Not cool, Silver!" Knuckles jumped on me and yanked me away from the wicked bitch, but other than being freaked out, Knuckles looked alright.
"What the hell are you doing?" Rouge shouted and threw kicks at my body. It was much harder than she needed to, and I went falling into the arms of Knuckles.
"You don't know what you're doing!" I said. She held her arms up to slow the clouded confusion in her head.
"Are you crazy!" Rouge shouted. A cold glare that sent chills down my spine. "She's cheating on my best friend!"
"She is not," I said. "She only catching up with a friend!"
"Oh, she's just thirsty." Knuckles brushed it off. "And I thought you were Shadow's friend and here you are helping her make moves on someone else."
"I'm not betraying anyone!" I shouted. "What would you have done if your friend though she lost another friend?" Rouge shook her head, unwilling to look at me.
"I'm calling Shadow, those to hugging and running off like that was anything but friendly." That's all Rouge said on the subject, then turned and walked away.
"This is so ridiculous," I sighed, running a hand through my quills with anxiety.
Knuckles shook his head. "If Rouge hadn't lost them in the crowd, I'm sure she would have started a fight."
I watched him walk off with Rouge and couldn't help but feel overwhelmed with fear, this was sure to cause some drama.
"And that was that," I said stiffly. I wasn't the best at interacting with girls, especially this girl after my dark confession not mentioning certain details. "I had nothing left to lose."
"I had no idea that would happen." Amy informed me in a trance of shock as she started blankly at the ocean as we sat by the shore.
I didn't tell her the part about Sally, the thought made me feel ashamed, if I had, she would have looked worse. Awesome.
"I'm a burden," I muttered.
"Do you really believe that?" Amy looked sadly at me with her green-colored eyes.
"I do because it's the truth." I didn't want to seem so weak in front of her, but I couldn't help myself. She had been the only one I had been open about my feeling with, but she didn't seem to agree with my beliefs. "Don't tell me I'm wrong?"
"You are." She turned my face so our eyes connected and I could already feel tears swelling and tried to turn away. "Sonic, look at me."
I forced myself to stare back at her and the tears came flooding out without a warning.
"How can you say that after what I just told you?" I cried at her. "I ruin everything, the weight of all of this is unbearable. I want to disappear, I don't want to hurt anymore."
"You're wrong."
"You can't convince that everything will be fine when it isn't." I rubbed my arms and hid my face with my palms, I didn't want her to see this side of me.
"This is just some bruising." Amy sounded sincere and stared off for a second, then went back to looking at me. "You're just confused. Pain doesn't last forever and fear is only an illusion."
I watched her from peaking from my hands and was silent, thoughtful.
"What does it feel like?" Amy asked solemnly.
I lowered my hands from my face and my gazed drifted to the ocean. "Like drowning, but you can see everyone breathing."
"Life goes on," Amy replied, her sweet voice sounding sadder than normal. She lowered her eyelids and followed my gaze. She wiped forming tears away from her eyes. "whether you choose to move on and take a chance in the unknown. Or stay behind, locked in the past, thinking of what should have been."
"How could you know?" I glanced at her. "It's not like you know how it feels like."
"But I do." Amy glanced up at me, and her smile dissolved. She looked back down and sight. "I know what it feels like to feel all alone because I lost my parents."
"What?" I couldn't hide my shock. Amy always seemed so alive. Nothing like a girl who was hurting inside. "Why didn't you tell me before?"
"There was no reason," Amy shook her head. "I need to be strong. If I just whine and cry nothing will come from it." She looked up at me. "Life is beautiful, and so everyone who has the chance to experience should live it. Everyone is born to be happy."
I wasn't sure what to think. Her words had made an effect on me because she was right, I had a lot to fix.
I noticed a cold breeze pass and saw her shiver.
Amy's eyes widened when I pulled her between my legs and pushed her head to my chest so she could lean herself on me and I covered her with my jacket. I placed my arms around her petite figure and leaned my head on her shoulder. She finally relaxed and snuggled close to me and so I smiled.
She was right, we're all born to be happy, and she was a real angel that came down to help me achieve that happiness.
AUTHOR'S COMMENTARY:
Well, I have a whole lot of explaining to do… so pretty much what happened was this; the chapter was supposed to be posed two days after chapter twelve but the day I was to post it, it was deleted somehow. When I tried to re-write it, I accidentally deleted it on my own stupidity and I lost the feeling and inspiration. Then I had personal issues to take care of and finals came and I felt even more unmotivated to continue until recently that I read over the story and summer came. So here it is but the original was much better and more sentimental unlike this one and longer I have to admit, I'm still slightly unmotivated but I'm sure with reviews from those who were patient will change that. : ) Again, sorry and never will you have to wait that long for another chapter, hope you all have a nice day and bye!