Freshman: Chapter 9
Shadow's POV
The weekend came and so did the day Sonic expected me at his home this afternoon.
Friday evening I had told Rouge of this and she went out of her way to wake me up very early in the morning to drag my ass into the bathroom and practically demanded that I take a shower. It was strange since I had scrubbed my upper body clean in the shower yesterday because the filthy feeling of the spare gym shirt just refused to leave, but Rouge left me little choice.
Her excuse?
I had to look good for Sonic.
An odd excuse. I kept telling her that I was simply going over to Sonic's place to hang out, but the bat just kept replying with a laugh and a statement about how naive I was. I told her to back her claim up, but she didn't. Instead she let the shower run and left me in the bathroom wearing only the shorts and shirt I slept in.
I decided to do as she wanted and took a shower.
Atleast this visit to the bathroom earned me one thing. I noticed my bruise was gone.
After the shower, Rouge continuesly pestered me about questions if I had brushed my teeth, if my quills were taken care off, all sorts of things. And not only did she pester me with all these questions, but she also insisted that I wear one of my better clothes.
For some reason, she wanted this to be perfect and nothing I said would convince her that this was just a regular visit.
Ever since I became a student, the people in our little tight circle of friends have gone out of their way to make this a real high school experience these past weeks, Sonic and Rouge in particular. Teens often hung out after school, Sonic probably just wanted to complete the experience.
But once everything was said and done and I was ready, it didn't take much longer for me to stand on Sonic's porch. I would've liked to Chaos Control there and nearly did, but Rouge stopped me. My Chaos powers were forbidden even during the weekend and school holidays, much to my everlasting dismay.
Using my Chaos abilities was like breathing for me, I was much too accustomed to them. But I had to show some restraint.
For three and a half damn years!
Anyway, I stood on the porch of Sonic's abode and rang the doorbell. It barely took a second for the door to open. One advantage to having incredible speed.
"Hello, Sonic." I greeted the cobalt hedgehog as soon as I saw him, he was still wearing the same attire as yesterday.
"Hey, Shad! You showed up." The hedgehog greeted me, seemingly a little surprised.
"Yes, of course I showed up. If I say I'll be there, I'll be there." I said, crossing my arms in front of my chest, almost offended.
"Yeah, I know, but... Nevermind. Come on in!" Sonic said as he stepped aside to let me in, waving at Rouge before closing the front door and following me to the livingroom, where I was already conversing with Tails.
"I found the homework for chemistry to be surprisingly easy after all the build up the teacher gave us." I said as the kitsune was answering the last question of his homework. We got on the topic of our chemistry homework as Amy, Sonic, Tails and I shared the same teacher despites being in two different classes. Because of this, we had the same homework too.
"Yeah, me too! Sonic has some trouble with it, though." The kitsune responded, finishing up the assignment for school and sitting back in the couch.
"I'm not having that much trouble." We could hear Sonic mutter, looking away.
"Anyway, do you want anything to drink, Shad." He asked, offering to get me some sort of beverage. But it was only shortly after lunch and I didn't feel like having anything yet, so I refused. But Tails felt like drinking something, so Sonic got him something to quench his thirst, the kitsune getting up to stretch his limbs.
"You're having trouble with your homework?" I asked, not at all minding to help the cobalt hedgehog.
"Yeah, just having trouble remembering what is supposed to go with what and what abbreviation means what." Sonic shortly explained, rubbing the back of his head. He wasn't easily embarrassed for something, nor was he embarrassed in this situation, but he did have to admit not being able to finish his homework just yet in front of the intelligent Ultimate Lifeform and his little brother, the boy genius.
Of course, chemistry wasn't for everyone. It was a very complicated and difficult class.
"So what did you have in mind for today?" I decided to ask, curious to know what Sonic was planning.
"Good question!" Sonic responded, which didn't suit all that well with me.
"You don't have anything planned at all, do you?" I asked, placing my hands on my hips. I had the nagging suspicion Sonic had no idea what to do for today.
"I don't think he actually thought that far." Tails laughed, amused with his older brother's inability, or refusal, to think ahead.
"Don't be ridiculous, Tails, of course I've thought that far!" Sonic said, chuckling at his own joke. Of course, he hadn't thought that far. Sonic was known for his improvisation, not for his ability to think things through.
He had to take a while to think, though. For once he was uncertain of what to do.
Strange, but I didn't question it.
"How about a video game?" He suggested, after which he received a swift kick to the back of his leg from Tails, who still occasionally sipped from his glass. One of my eyebrows raised as it wasn't like Tails to do such a thing, but neither of them said a word, so I didn't say anything myself.
"A board game?"
Kick.
"Homework!"
Kick.
"A race?"
Another kick.
"What the hell is going on?" I demanded to know, the duo's weird behaviour finally getting on my nerves.
"I told you kicks wouldn't be subtle." The kitsune told the hedgehog.
"Don't put this on me, you didn't exactly try to make it subtle." The hedgehog retorted in return.
I crossed my arms, not appreciating having my question ignored like this.
"Sonic didn't want to make any mistakes today, so he told me to stop him from making them. We tried to agree on a subtle way to do so, but we ended up chosing the old 'kick in the leg' routine." Tails explained, which Sonic backed up.
"Trying not to make mistakes is stupid, Sonic. Focussing solely on not making mistakes guarantees them. And besides, I'm just here to hang out as friends. I'm not easily offended, despites what most people think." I told them. Well, I wouldn't be easily offended unless you kick a ball in my face, that is.
I don't know what it is that I had said, but they just seem to stare at me for some reason.
It was making me uncomfortable.
The silence continued to drag on until Tails decided to speak again.
"Sonic, I'm not an expert, but did you just get friendzoned?" The kitsune asked, looking up to his selfproclaimed older brother.
Friendzoned? What? Is that another one of those teen terms I have yet to learn about? It sounds stupid. Of course Sonic and I are friends. The two of us being friends is what got me in trouble with Scourge to begin with.
The hedgehog shushed the boy next to him.
"So, who feels like having a drink?" He asked, despites my refusal not long before.
Not long after, I was standing in the hedgehog's bedroom, now jacketless.
"I don't know why, but I had always imagined your room to be more... Blue?" I stated as I looked around the hedgehog's room. Just like the rest of the house, which he had showed me after my second refusal for a beverage, his room looked quite appealing.
Nice furnitures, nice colour on the wall, nice view outside. His room kind of looked like mine. More adult than teen. I remember the matter of my room being one of the subjects Rouge complained about before I started school. Something about my room not looking 'teen' enough in case I would have friends over.
Apparently a friend's room is something teenagers criticise. As Rouge put it, "A room like yours just screams childhood issues."
"Yeah, well, that's what alot of fanfic writers apparently share that thought." Sonic huffed, seemingly not so keen on talking about these fanfics. I didn't dare ask why.
"Your muzzle is looking good, by the way." He noted that my muzzle was now bruise-free, much unlike yesterday.
"Accelerated healing took care of that for me." I responded. Had Gerald not upgraded my healing before birth, that painful bruise would've still been there.
I let my gaze wander all over the place again. There was something that caught my eye that Sonic's room had that mine lacked, though.
A guitar.
"I didn't know you played guitar." I stated as I kneeled in front of the instrument, my eyes going over every little detail intently.
It was obviously an old one by now. A good model and clearly well taken care off, but the occasional miniscule scratch made it clear this guitar couldn't be much older than its owner.
"Yeah, I do, I love my guitar. It's literally the only thing I've had ever since I was a kid." The guitar's owner said as he picked the instrument up and hung the strap over his shoulder. I stood up and watched him as he sat down on his bed and tugged on the strings in a random order, seemingly checking the sound they make. It sounded a little off key.
"It's been a while since I last played. I need to tune this thing." He said as he played around with the strings, trying to get the right note. It was clear that speed wasn't the only thing he was skilled at.
"How about you? Ever played an instrument before?" He asked as he looked up to me from his position on the bed, taking a small break from tuning.
"No, I haven't." I said, after which Sonic went back to tuning for a little while until he finally got all the strings in the right tone.
"You want me to play something? Like a favourite song!" He suggested, smiling now that his guitar was tuned again.
"I don't exactly have a favourite song since I don't really listen to music all that often, but I would like to hear you play." I replied, which just seemed to brighten up the cobalt's day.
As Sonic began to play, I took a seat at the foot end of the bed and listened as he, not only played his guitar, but began to sing aswell. I was surprised to hear what a great singing voice he had. He was one hedgehog with many surprises.
So as this visit had a rocky start, this would be one of those days I would never forget.