I do apologise for the long wait. I didn't have the motivation to work on this story, nor did I have inspiration for actual interesting events or the build up to such events. But the next chapter is here now!
And yes, I do know the previous chapter wasn't a 'date' date, but more an opportunity for Sonic to learn more about Shadow and vice versa.
Also, I'd like to thank the guest who showed me his/her good heart to warn me that my story was stolen by someone on Wattpad, but you honestly don't have to worry. If the person you're referring to is SonadowKokoro100 on Wattpad, that's me.
Freshman: Chapter 10
Shadow's POV
When I came home that evening, Rouge insisted that I tell her everything as soon as I walked in through the front door and I was more than willing to tell her all about it. From beginning to end. Every little detail because she insisted I tell her 'every dirty little detail'.
I told her about the awkward start first. Sonic and Tails' weird behaviour, Tails accusing me of friendzoning Sonic, after which Rouge nearly spit out her drink. I told her about the tour, which ended in Sonic's bedroom. A fact that had made Rouge very eager to know what happened next.
And then I told her about the guitar solos Sonic had performed for me. Rouge found that especially amusing, commenting about how I really knew how to pick the right one out of the crowd. She wasn't really keen on elaborating on her statement as she favoured telling me how naive I could be when I asked her what she meant.
The next few days I found myself often looking back at that day. Ever since I started going to high school, I've been having more and more of these fun and relaxing days. Sure, there could be days of piles and piles of homework and Scourge being a douche, but that did little to deter my good mood.
Didn't stop him from trying, though.
It was Monday about a week after my Saturday spend with Sonic and Tails. English had gone well and during math we had just saved ourselves from a whole new heap of homework to finish before Thursday and now we had lunch.
Amy and I entered the canteen and quickly stood in line, grabbing a platter and utensils on the way. My eyes glided over the many heads of both mobians and humans alike before I finally spotted Sonic and Tails in the crowd, the former waving at me to make sure I noticed him sitting there.
Strange, he and Tails weren't sitting at our usual table. Instead Scourge and Fiona were sitting there. Tails and Sonic were sitting a table away from them. I had to pass those troublemakers in order to get to where I was supposed to be.
Amy grabbed her soup and so did I before following her to our table. I ignored Scourge's glaring, the bruise I had created on his muzzle a week prior still very much present on his face, as I passed him by.
And then I found myself falling.
It wasn't just a fall, it was an embarrassing one. In the blink of eye I suddenly fell face first on the floor, dropping my food all over the floor and myself, I didn't even have the time to grunt or yelp in surprise or something.
Ignoring the numb aching my body was in from falling on top of something so uncomfortable I sat up on my knees and took a look at myself, noticing that my shirt and a little bit of my jeans were soaked in, what was according to the cook, tomato soup. It was lukewarm, but still uncomfortable.
The soft and suppressed giggling and chuckling in the canteen that wasn't just from Scourge and his henchmen was something a little too hard to ignore.
I stood up and glared at Scourge, knowing for sure that he was the one childish enough to trip me, my fists clenching. I was vaguely aware of Sonic watching me in shock, obviously he had not foreseen this would happen.
The teachers were watching, but I didn't care.
I just grabbed Scourge's bowl of soup and slammed it right into his face, the hedgehog shouting in surprise as his face and clothes suddenly met with the lukewarm liquid. I placed the bowl back down on the platter when I was satisfied and met his glare with an amused one of my own.
I was about to make a comment about what the soup tasted like, but Scourge beat me to it.
"What's your problem?!" The green hedgehog shouted as he shot up from his seat.
"What's my problem?! What's your problem?!" I shouted back, my hands practically slamming on the table as I drew closer. Sonic watched us intently, torn between getting up and seperate us or waiting a little longer and see if we would resolve this peacefully ourselves.
Fortunatly, he didn't need to wait and see. A teacher came in between us.
"what's going on here?!" The strict math teacher demanded to know, her hands resting on her hips as she glared at the two of us.
"This bastard threw soup-" "That jerk tripped-" We started arguing at almost the exact same time, our words nearly impossible to understand. So I gave up, crossed my arms and glared at Scourge instead, waiting for the moment I could finally have my say.
"Silence! Both of you go to the principal's office right this instant!" The teacher ordered, getting even more annoyed by our bickering.
Scourge shot to his feet, intentionally pushed past me in a rough manner, and left the cafeteria. The teacher glared down at me and pointed towards the double doors and with a huff I followed, nearly every eye in the room on me until I was no longer in sight.
That bastard. Not even at G.U.N did I get treated this way.
We both arrived at the principal's office at nearly the exact same time. All we did was glare at eachother in silence from opposite ends of the room until the principal showed himself, obviously dissapointed.
"And what are you two doing here?" The principal asked, looking down at us. The first thing he had noticed was the mess that were our clothes.
"Scourge tripped me and made me drop my meal. So I retaliated by pushing his bowl of soup in his face." I admitted, crossing my arms. No use lying, especially if you were terrible at it like me. I could hear Scourge grumble in dismay, just barely keeping himself from kicking me in the shin like a five year old.
The principal sighed and squeezed the bridge of his nose.
"Mr. Hedgehog and Mr. Robotnik, I'm afraid you'll have to spend some time in detention today. Three hours, both of you, right after school." He said, catching me off guard.
"Detention? I have detention?" I stated looking at the man as he turned around to dissapear back into his office.
"But, sir, Scourge was the one who instigated the-" I tried to defend myself and tell him that I was only acting out in my defence, but he wouldn't listen.
"Mr. Robotnik, my decision is final. And unless you want to have detention this Wednesday aswell, you'll return to class without another word." The principal interrupted me and entered his office, leaving me and Scourge to stand here.
"Nice work, Stripes." Scourge spat at me and roughly pushed his shoulder against mine in a sign of spite before walking back to class.
My eyes rolled at him as I suppressed a sigh and made my way back to class aswell. I wasn't looking forward to Art class, but I didn't have much choice. Getting into more trouble wouldn't do me so good.
Despites the art teacher once again reminding me that Art class was just as important as any other class and telling me that this was my first warning, I tried to contain my temper and plopped down on my seat, arms crossing.
Amy looked over her shoulder at me. She could just guess from my expression that I had been punished.
School ended and thus detention came.
I walked towards the principal's office as soon as the bell had rung after history class, telling my goodbyes to Amy. Unfortunatly, it didn't take me very long to arrive, but I noticed that at least Scourge wasn't here yet. I took a seat as I waited, dropping my bag on the floor and crossing my legs. I looked around the little waiting room as I waited, my gaze constantly returning to the ticking clock on the wall.
It took about five minutes before I saw someone. It was the headmaster's secretary.
"Shadow Robotnik?" She asked.
"Yes, that's me." I simply replied, getting up from my seat.
"I see that Mr. Hedgehog didn't bother to come. Do you know where he ran off to?" The human woman asked.
I shrugged. Why would I waste my time worrying over his whereabouts? I was much more busy mulling over detention and being a general grump.
"I'm sure he'll come later. In the meantime I'll show you your classroom for today's detention." The secretary told me as she showed me the way. It was a classroom I haven't been to before. It looked normal enough.
I choose a seat and the secretary told me to wait here in silence while she went out to look for Scourge. I had taken the moment of peace to check my texts as my phone had been buzzing all the way from the headmaster's office to this classroom.
They were all from Rouge. Seems like she's heard of my detention and scolded me fervently for it while also threatening me with a lecture for when I got home. One text was from Amy, leading me to believe that it was through her that Rouge found out.
I was about to send her a text and tell her I'd be home in an hour, but the secretary came walking back inside with Scourge in tow.
"Put that phone away, Mr. Robotnik. This is detention." She scolded me and so I stuffed my phone back in my pocket. Rouge is not going to like not getting an answer from me.
Scourge smirked over at me when I had been scolded and sat down on the other side of the classroom in the very back.
The secretary went to stand at the very front of the classroom and clasped her hands in front of her lap before speaking to us.
"You'll be staying in this classroom for the next three hours and while you're here, I expect you to work on your studies. Homework, studying, schoolprojects and etcetera. I do not want to see any cellphones, smartphones, iphones or any other electronic devices." Immediatly Scourge let out a deep, audible sigh out of annoyence, which in turn made me roll my eyes.
Chaos, if you didn't want to be here you should've thought twice about messing with me.
The secretary took a seat at the teacher's desk and I pulled out my homework for next week, deciding that ignoring Scourge was the best course of action right now.
Since detention was for three long hours, it took quite a long while for my school day to be officially over and I could finally go home. Most of my homework was done, I re-read the lectures I had today and managed to ignore Scourge's constant glaring while he did nothing but sulk and mope all detention long.
Nevertheless, I didn't let his irrational behaviour get to me and simply bid the secretary goodbye and left.
"Asshole." Scourge insulted me under his breath as he passed me to leave the classroom, without a doubt also telling me that I had not seen the last of him, but I simply shrugged it off. I was just glad that I could go home.
However, someone was not so glad to see me come home.
"Shadow Robotnik!" I had barely even closed the front door behind me when I could hear my housemate's voice all the way from the kitchen. Her sensitive hearing must've picked up the front door opening, though it had been quite inaudible.
Or maybe she had some six sense that I was not aware off.
Knowing what was about to come, I felt a twinge of annoyence. If Scourge wasn't so persistent on picking a fight with me, I wouldn't be in this situation.
I left my backpack in the hallway for now and joined my friend in the kitchen.
Upon arrival a waft of this delicious scent instantly filled my nostrils, tantalising me as my stomach rumbled. I couldn't help but take a long whiff of it.
"Is it something new?" I asked as I walked closer to look over her shoulder. Well, it definitely wasn't something I recognised by sight or smell.
"Yes, it is. Felt like trying something new." Rouge replied abruptly, making it clear that she was angry with me.
I stepped back and leant against the kitchen counter, patiently waiting for her to start talking.
"School called. Apparently you were about to get in a fight with another student." Rouge started talking like I expected she would and it seems that I was proven wrong about my assumption that she knew of my detention through Amy.
I didn't know schools called parents and guardians this quickly.
"Shadow." For some reason I was a bit hesitant to speak up, though my reaction to Scourge's bullying had been deemed justified in my mind.
"I wasn't actually going to fight hi-"
"Don't avoid the question!" My lips pressed together as I was cut off. For some reason I felt really small.
When we went to get me to legally 'exist', birth certificate, citizenship, registered and all that jazz, we needed someone to be my legal guardian. Since she wanted so badly for this to work out for me, Rouge had promptly given herself up as a guardian, but she never felt like one until now.
It was so new, I hardly knew what to do.
"Scourge tripped me in the cafeteria and spilled my food all over me." I stated as I looked down and noticed the dried mess still present on my person.
The white bat in front of me didn't reply, so I figured she wanted to hear the rest of the story aswell.
"And I took revenge by pushing his bowl of soup in his face and that made him angry." I came clean and Rouge sighed, briefly did she stop stirring in the sauce.
"Shadow, hun, I think it's great that you stand up for yourself, but you can't just get into trouble like that and you know it! We can't afford trouble! I'm surprised the principal was being so lenient!" Just like expected, she began her lecture.
I simply stood there and listened. As she lectured me and brought up some pretty valid points, a sense of guilt settled in my heart.
Rouge was right, I suppose. It took quite a while and quite a bit of money in order to make me equal to everyone else, I can't go around picking fights with Scourge left and right, though he was the one dishing them out.
I just can't help myself. I'm not the type to simply walk to the teacher to tattle on him. Should I just take the abuse and try to be the bigger person and walk away? Is that a wise decision?
"You're right, I'm sorry for the trouble. I won't let my temper get the better of me next time." I apologised and Rouge, fortunatly, knew I was telling the truth.
"Apology accepted. Now go and set up the table. Dinner's ready soon." She spoke up again and I did as I was told and left the kitchen.