Freshman: Chapter 3

Shadow's POV

"Am I glad that class is over!" Amy half groaned, half shouted as we left the classroom after two hours of math.

"I didn't think it was all that bad." I answered. It was just math. What was so bad about a class of numbers?

Amy didn't seem to like my answer.

"Of course, you don't think it's all that bad! You were raised by a scientist who made the Ark, the Eclipse Cannon and you! Of course, Math isn't difficult for you!" She responded. I guess I can understand Amy's dislike for this class.

When I was done with the questions our Mathematics teacher, a sour looking older woman, I killed the time by looking around the classroom until I was given another task. And as I had glanced at Amy a couple of time, it was obvious to me that she was struggling with this particular subject. Maybe she didn't like Math because it was so difficult to her?

I huffed as I heard her reason behind why Math wasn't such a problem for me.

"Me being raised by a scientist has nothing to do with it, Rose. And if Math really is such a problem for you than why don't you just ask someone to help you?" I asked.

I woud've offered my help, but it had become clear to me in the beginning of that class that the teacher wouldn't allow a single word to be uttered. When class had started, a couple of classmates had attempted to converse with one another, which the Math teacher had quickly put an end to with the help of more homework for the whole class. The simultaneous complaint of our class had nearly given us more extra work.

I did find the punishment the teacher gave us was a little too exagerated, though. Why punish a whole class when the fault lied in just a few? And no, I did not think that because I got punished on my very first day of school. Okay, maybe I was a little bit angry. How was I going to explain to Rouge that I got so much homework? Surely she would notice the abnormaly large heap of homework! How was I too explain that it wasn't my fault?!

"Anyway, we should probably get to the cafeteria. Sonic and Tails are probably already there waiting for us." Amy said as she walked down the now nearly empty hallways. I followed her quietly, thankful that she didn't drag me to our destination like she had done twice before earlier today.

It was surprising to see how closely the school resembled G.U.N just because it was lunch. Whenever lunch break had arrived back at the Headquarters, practically everyone raced to the cafeteria. Some did it to get the best seats while others did it in order to get a plate of food that was still warm. Rouge and I just mainly shared our meal in the peace and silence of our office.

The reason behind that was actually me.

Along with what Rouge had called 'social awkwardness', I had anoter problem. After spending nearly all my life in the laboratories onboard the Ark and later down in the lower levels of G.U.N bases ever since birth, it was quite overwhelming to be let loose into the world and be welcomed by such a big crowd. As I had mainly spend time in silence alone or with very few people around, I didn't exactly like crowds and loud noises.

Rouge soon came to learn about it somewhere after we began to work together for Abraham. And soon after she suggested that we could eat our lunch in our office. I appreciated that. I really did. And I had let her know that! Even though she often said she suggested it because the ruckus our colleagues made was an absolute nightmare for her sensitive hearing.

As Amy and I walked into the cafeteria and I found this place to be very similar to G.U.N's cafeteria, although I've only been there once or twice.

I followed her to stand in line while I took a look around the room. Just as I had expected, it was busy and incredibly noisy in here. Although, not as bad as I'm used too. The blame was most likely to be found with the fact that teachers were around. I think these students would be much noisier if they weren't present.

But from all the noisemakers in this cafeteria, only one table bothered me.

"Oh, there is Sonic!" Amy stated as she lead me to their usual table. Well, their usual table if it wasn't already taken.

Amy took a seat next to Sonic while I took the one opposite to him. Tails was here aswell, he was sitting on Sonic's other side.

As soon as the two of us had taken a seat, the three of them began to talk about their past classes. I would've let them if there wasn't something bothering me.

"Who are they over there?" I asked, refering to a table a little away from us. It was occupied by this red fox, a green hedgehog and who I assume to be their friends.

Sonic looked up to see who I was talking about before concentrating back on his lunch. Suddenly he seemed a bit annoyed that I brought them up. He stayed silent, though.

"No comment?" I asked.

"No comment." He repeated.

That was weird.

I shot Amy a questioning look.

"That fox's name is Fiona and the hedgehog's name is Scourge. They are kind of the troublemakers in school." She said.

"Scourge is actually just as fast as Sonic!" Tails decided to add.

Ah, is that true? Maybe that was the reason why Sonic was so dismissive towards them?

"No kidding? So Sonic isn't the only one who's fast. Is that why you're so upset?" I teased. It was just a harmless tease. We were rivals so it was fine.

"It's true, Faker, I may not be the only one who's fast, but atleast neither one of us faked it." Sonic wasted no time in retorting back. Without a doubt he was refering to my hoverskates, which I lost after our adventure up in space.

"Fair enough." I muttered and focussed back on my lunch. Well, this little teasing match came to a quick end.

I could hear Sonic chuckle quietly.

Well, atleast his mood lightened up again.

I took a bite from my lunch. The taste surprised me. It tasted so bland, but at the same time it tasted like something. That something wasn't exactly good.

"Is this really food?" I muttered to myself.

"Yeah, school food is terrible." Sonic replied as he placed his spoon down.

"The meals are actually made by the students from the cooking classes. They make the meals and we get the leftovers that the cook mixes together in a soup and reheats. That's how I've heard it." Amy explained.

"So this is just one giant mix of all sorts of ingredients that weren't meant to be used together. No wonder it's so bad." I stated as I put my spoon down aswell, my appetite suddenly lost.

Suddenly the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. It felt like I was being watched. I wanted to look around the cafeteria to see why I suddenly had that feeling, but my eyes immediatly settled on that one table. Scourge, I think that was the hedgehog's name according to Amy, was glaring at me with a smirk. He seemed amused about something. And so did that fox girl. Fiona I think her name was?

Tails noticed my staring.

"You better stay out of their way, Shadow. Usually new students don't catch their attention, but they've been staring at you ever since you walked into the cafeteria." He whispered. I don't know why he bothered to whisper. I'm sure they can't hear him.

"Why did I catch their attention? The Ark Incident?" I asked. If it was that, I sure wouldn't blame them. When I first started working at G.U.N, they had given me a hard time for that.

"Eh, no, not the Ark Incident. Believe or not, very little people actually know about you and the whole Ark business." Sonic said.

"Are you sure? My colleagues at G.U.N sure seemed to like reminding me about it." I said as I was a bit uncertain about his words. My ex-colleagues knew about it, so why wouldn't the rest of the world know. Although, I didn't exactly go outside much. Not unless I needed to go to work or when Rouge wanted me to go shopping for groceries.

"Yes, very sure." Sonic seemed very sure of it.

"But what about my classmates? When I walked into the room they stared at me like I was going to kill them or something!" I stated.

"Well... The combination of your fur colours is pretty unusual... And you looked like you were in a really bad mood." Amy decided to butt into the conversation again.

"So... people really don't know?" I asked. I could hardly care about what she had said about my fur colour.

"No, they don't. Why do you think I was charged with your crimes? G.U.N wanted to cover your existence up. By law you didn't exist until a little while ago." This time it was Sonic who answered.

That made me speechless for a good while.

So I technically never existed? That's not what Gerald had made me believe. And to top that off, Abraham Tower, who I've known for a great deal of my life ever since we met as young kids, had tried everything in his power to keep the fact that I was alive a secret.

What would've happened to me if it wasn't Eggman who had found me ever the Ark Incident. Would G.U.N have just locked me away and continued to act like I didn't exist while Eggman and Sonic and his whole gang believed that I was dead? From what I had heard, Sonic had felt incredibly guilty that he couldn't save me. That's what Rouge had told me.

Would G.U.N have really locked me back up to sleep and never see the daylight again while they let Sonic, the hero of this entire planet, wallow in guilt?

That's just cruel.

That actually hurt me.

"Shadow?" The hedgehog I had been thinking about was calling my name. One of his eyebrows were raised in question and slight concern.

I took a look around me as noticed that the students were slowly leaving the cafeteria. Apparently the bell had already gone off. Tails and Amy were nowhere to be found as they were already headed towards their next class. Boy, that was nice of her. I had no idea where I was supposed to be next!

"Excuse me, what're you doing?" I asked when I noticed that Sonic had been reaching for me. As soon as I had spoken, he drew his hand back.

"Well, I don't want to ruin your reputation of being expressionless, but you did look like you were getting a bit emotional after what I said. So I thought I might give you a friendly pat on the shoulder." He anwered with a frown. Having his attempt at comfort rejected didn't sit well with him.

"Thank you, but it's not needed." I thanked him.

"Are you sure? Because it did seem like I hit some strings with what I said." He didn't seem convinced when I told him his comfort wasn't needed.

I sighed. I admire his want to take care of those he considers to be his friends, but that just wasn't something that I wanted.

"Do you know where art class is?" I asked. If Amy didn't want to take me there, maybe Sonic could.