Hey guys, long time no see! I have to say a couple things before I start this chapter.
Sorry about not updating in a long while. I recently had a tour with my band, which rocked! And I'm not gonna lie, I totally forgot about fanfiction. If it weren't for Facebook, I wouldn't have been reminded about this website. You see, the other day I typed in 'fa' on my search bar and the first thing that came up was . Now you see, instead of pressing the down arrow key to go to it, I accidently pressed the up arrow key, and ended up here. Then I was like 'Woah...'
As you all know, I am the biggest procrastinator when it comes to updating the Shame Game. I'm sorry, but I've been working on this series since 2006, and to be quite honest, I am growing a little sick of it. What I enjoyed writing about back when I was in grade 8 compared to what I enjoy writing about now that I'm in grade 12 are two different things, but I can say that I'm straining myself to complete this series, even if it takes a month or two between each chapter. What I am saying basically is not to give up hope, because I am still trying to update, even though it's taking a hell of a long time to do so. Don't lose hope!
On a lighter note, how were all of your guys' holidays? Good, bad, ugly? Well, regardless of how they were I'd like to hear about it! I'm very excited to see reviews from some of my favourite reviewers to see how they think about this story so far.
Anyways, enjoy!
-x-
Tails' POV
Pretty soon I was walking the halls of Station Square high once again. But in all honesty, it felt a little bit good to be back. I was surprised that I hadn't been booted out of the school, mind you; I wasn't the greatest student in the first semester of this year. I was seeing a lot of familiar faces that I had totally forgotten about. And a lot of people were approaching me asking if I was okay.
The second semester of this year was starting off pretty good, aside from the fact that I haven't quit smoking yet, even though I promised Amy that I would. But whatever, what she doesn't know won't hurt her, right?
"Yo, Tails!" I heard as I was walking down the hall on the way to the gym class. I turned around and saw Sonic running at me, his fist extended so I could do a fist bump. When he was in my general radius, I bumped my fist on his. He chuckled a bit and ruffled my hair, "Good to have you back, buddy."
"Good to be back, Sonic. What class do you have right now?" I asked, swinging at his hand in attempt to get him to stop ruffling my hair.
"Gym," Sonic said, chuckling when he realized why I was swinging my hand around. He seized the friendly gesture and stuffed his hand in his jean pocket, "You?"
"Same here," I replied, laughing at the nice coincidence.
Sonic pumped his fist into the air and laughed a bit, "Sweet, then that's all of us. You, me, Shadow, Silver and Knuckles all have this class. Pretty cool, huh?"
I laughed at Sonic's optimistic attitude. That was something that was hopefully never gonna change about him. We were closing in on the gym when we saw the lead cheerleader, Sally Acorn and her little partner in crime, Bunny, come out of the change rooms. The second that Sally noticed Sonic, she seductively bent herself over the water fountain. To the naked eye, she was just getting a drink of water, but to my eyes, I knew what she was doing. She was trying to lure Sonic into her trap by sticking her perky little ass in his direction.
After she filled herself up with the water, she stood up and looked over at Sonic. I decided to do the same and when I did, I wished I hadn't. Sonic was completely mesmerized.
"Hey Sonic," Sally said. Her voice was dripping with seductiveness, and she pulled it off so well that even I got turned on, "Are you in Gym class, too?"
"Yeah," Sonic replied. He sounded like he had just smoked the biggest amount of marijuana that anyone had ever even dared to touch. Sonic sounded high out of his mind.
"Sweet, it sounds like we're going to be together the whole semester, then," Sally said. Damn, she was being suave as hell, because Sonic was unconditionally falling into her trap.
"Sonic, we should go get changed," I started, trying to save my friend. I had heard stories about Sally Acorn before, and according to those stories, she has been around the block if you know what I mean. I was going to continue my statement, but Sonic put his hand on my back and pushed me into the change room. I was feeling a little pissed off when I walked into the room, but I saw Knuckles, Shadow and Silver getting changed already for gym class. It was nice to see Shadow at school for once, because he had dropped out due to the baby that was expected shortly.
"Tails, what's up?" Knuckles said. He had his shirt off and was spraying under arm deodorant on, to protect himself from the body odour that was guaranteed to make itself known due to gym. "You look pretty pissed off."
"It's nothing really," I started. I was already regaining my cool head. I took off my pants and replaced them with basketball shorts. I just slipped off my top and wore my muscle shirt that was neatly on underneath, "Sonic just kind of ditched me for Sally Acorn."
Knuckles chuckled along with Silver. Shadow stayed quiet, his eyes filling up with false concern.
"Sonic should steer clear of that one," Shadow started, his voice sounding playful; "I got with that years ago. When I went down on her, I came right back up."
We all started laughing and Knuckled tossed me his deodorant so I could apply it. I sprayed it on quickly and walked with the rest of them out of the change room and into the gym.
When we got to the gym, we saw the rest of the students shooting basketballs at the hoops randomly. Silver looked really pleased, because the second we saw all the basket balls, he bolted to the cage to go and retrieve one. Knuckles and Shadow laughed and we walked to the cage to get the basket balls. Basketball wasn't Knuckles or Shadow's favourite sport, that was football. But when it came to dunking the balls through the net, they still could stand up and face the challenge.
I picked up a basketball and joined Shadow, Silver and Knuckles, who were discussing something.
"You guys wanna play a game of 2 on 2?" Shadow asked, smiling.
"Sure," Silver said.
"I'm down," Knuckles added.
"Count me in," I replied.
"Sweet. So it'll be Knuckles and I versus you and Silver," Shadow said to me. We all nodded. It sounded pretty fair. I wasn't all that good at basketball, but Silver was the best player on our school's team. And Knuckles and Shadow are just average. So it was pretty rounded off as an even match.
-x-
Lunch time came around just on schedule. I was walking to the cafeteria from Biology. Sonic ended up coming into gym class late with Sally, a big hickey across his neck. The rest of us just laughed at him as he did his push ups, which is the penalty for being late to gym.
When I got to the cafeteria, the familiar smell filled my nostrils. I got in line to purchase a chicken burger for lunch while scanning the room to see if I could see any familiar faces. I saw Silver, Knuckles and Shadow sitting at a far table and Skye was with them. They saw me in line and waved me over, so I smiled back and stuck my index finger up to signal them that I'd be there in a minute.
After purchasing my chicken burger, I walked over to their table and sat down with them.
"Hey guys, where's Sonic?" I asked, taking a nice big bite of the burger.
"Right there," Knuckles said and pointed behind me. I turned around and saw that a few tables down, Sonic was sitting with Sally and her friends. Knuckles and I made a joke last year about that, we used to call them the ditzy crew. Sonic looked over at us and saw that we were staring and he waved, mouthing a 'sorry'. We shrugged and turned back to each other. Knuckles was making a disgusted face.
"Tails, wanna come outside with me for a smoke?" Shadow asked after he swallowed the last bite of the slice of pizza that he had. I looked down at my chicken burger and realized that I only took one bite out of it so far.
"Uh... Sure," I replied, quickly scarfing down the burger. It may have looked insulting to people who would have been staring at me, but oh well. After I finished my burger, I pulled my coat on and got up with Shadow.
"I'll be back in a few, baby." Shadow said, leaning over Skye and kissing her nose. Skye smiled and nodded.
Shadow and I walked out of the cafeteria and out of the school, walking past the football field to get off of school property, so that we could avoid any possible suspensions that we may face.
"Need a smoke?" Shadow asked, holding his pack out to me. I nodded and took one from the pack. I held it to my lips and lit it, the deliciously dangerous smoke filling my lungs. I exhaled deeply after taking it in, feeling any stress in my body flow out with the smoke.
"Feels good, huh?" Shadow chuckled, lighting his own cigarette. He must have seen my body movements, or else he wouldn't have picked up on my rapidly decreasing stress levels.
"Yeah, it does," I replied as I exhaled the cigarette.
"So, have you talked to Amy recently?" Shadow asked.
I had to recall recent events to answer that question. Amy was with Rouge and Mina on some ski trip up north in the mountains. She left a couple days ago and wasn't due back for a couple more days. It was a great chance to catch up on my own personal stuff without having to worry about the girlfriend, or whatever she was.
"Nope. She's up north on that ski trip thing." I replied. I flicked the ashes off of my cigarette and looked Shadow straight in the eye, "I think Rouge is with her, too. I'm not one hundred percent about it though, but I haven't seen her today."
Shadow nodded and took another drag from his cigarette. It was more than half way done now. He smiled and flicked the ashes off of his. "You know, me and Skye had a fight the other day."
"Really?" I asked, taking in what he was saying to me. I flicked the remainder of my cigarette to the floor; I didn't really want much of it anymore.
"Yeah," Shadow replied, taking another drag and turning back to me. We started walking back toward the school, "It was about the baby."
"What happened?" I asked, "I mean, what started the fight?"
"I don't really feel like explaining it right now. Ask me later or something." Shadow stated.
Shadow and I walked back to the school in silence after that. It was obvious to me that whatever he and Skye fought about was bothering him, but if there was one thing that I learned about Shadow while living with him, it was not to prod him about what was on his mind. He would eventually tell me when he wanted to, so I left well enough alone.
We walked through the main doors of the school, and I turned away from the cafeteria.
"I'm going to my locker. Gotta get my text book, catch you later," I explained. Shadow just nodded and half smiled at me and we were on our way.
I turned into one of the hallways and opened up my locker, which wasn't so clean inside. I hadn't gotten the chance to clean it out yet. I hadn't even opened the locker since before I went to the hospital. Regardless, it was dirty, and it smelled pretty bad. I located the source of the stench, which was an old, rotting sandwich, and chucked it in the garbage can that was a couple feet away. Then I turned back to my locker to locate the textbook that I had forgotten to hand back in to the office.
After a while of searching, I finally found the textbook. I shoved it in my bag and started closing the locker, until I felt somebody shove me aside with their shoulder.
I turned to see who the culprit was, and unsurprisingly, it was Scourge and his group of goons. I rolled my eyes and zipped up my bag, slamming my locker shut.
"Pussy," I mumbled in their direction. Scourge must have heard what I said, because he came to a sudden halt. He turned on his heal and looked at me, his little group backing him up.
"What was that? Didn't quite hear you," Scourge stated.
"You sure did hear me," I started, feeling just a bit intimidated at his size. I mentally reminded myself that Scourge was the guy that stabbed me not too long ago. So I was quite scared, and knew that I had to be cautious when it came to him. I didn't dare show it, though, "You pussy."
Scourge stalked up to me rapidly and picked me up by my collar. He pressed me against the locker and got right in my face.
"Listen, you little punk," Scourge started, "In case if the last few beatings of your life hadn't gotten through your thick skull already, we run this place."
"You tell him, boss!" Bark, the buff, yet mentally slow, polar bear stated from behind Scourge. I looked over Scourge to see who was there. Bean, Bark and Fiona were there, along with a purple weasel that went by the name of Fang. The three guys looked very entertained by my seriously hazardous state, while Fiona didn't look too pleased with it. She noticed that I was looking at her and smiled at me.
"Like I was saying," Scourge said, aggressively turning my face to look at him. He must have noticed that Fiona and I were staring at each other, "I really don't appreciate you talking shit to me. I'm the king, baby!"
I let a laugh go, and Scourge didn't look happy at all. Bark stalked closer to me and I could tell that he was one hundred and ten percent ready to back his friend up.
"Do you take back what you said?" Bark asked in his very deep and challenging voice.
I looked at Scourge; he had his aviators perched on his forehead. Then I looked at Fang and Bark, who both looked pretty intimidating. Then I looked down at Bean. He was playing his game boy, and by the sounds coming from it, he was probably playing Pokemon. He was probably the only one out of the four guys that wasn't intimidating at all. I didn't even get why Scourge chose him to be in his petty little gang. What really bothered me, though, was the fact that they depend on each other to fight.
"I don't take back anything I said." I declared, "In fact, you're all pussies."
"Well, that was the wrong answer, fox boy," Scourge said. He pushed me tighter against the locker and put on a menacing looking face. If I was going to get beat up, I was going to piss him off a little bit more. So I spat in his face. Scourge growled and wiped it off, then pulled his fist back in attempt to punch me. I was bracing myself for the hit, until...
"What are you kids doing?"
Scourge dropped me and looked in the direction of the voice. When I looked too, I saw the principle staring at us.
"Uh, nothing, just brushing the dirt off my friend's shirt over here," Scourge said, putting an arm around my shoulders. I did the same and put on the fakest smile that I could manage.
"Yeah, sir," I said, giving Scourge a smile, "Nothing's happening."
"Kids, this is a warning. I want to see no foul play within the walls of this school, do you understand?"
"Yes, sir!" Scourge and I simultaneously shouted. The principle nodded and walked off. The second he was gone, Scourge shoved me away.
"You're lucky, fox boy," Scourge stated, "We're not fighting here. Be at the town park at 6 o'clock tonight. We'll settle this there."
"I'll look forward to seeing you and your pussy crew tonight!" I shouted at Scourge as he walked off. Scourge ignored what I said and kept walking. Fiona trailed behind him and looked at me, batting her eyelashes.
"See you later, Tails. If you win this fight, maybe I'll reward you."
I smiled at the thought. Amy and I weren't really together anymore, so what was stopping me?
"See ya, Fiona." I replied, winking at her. Her face turned red and she jogged to catch up with Scourge and her crew.
I brushed off my now wrinkled plaid shirt and huffed as I walked away from the scene. What was a simple, beautiful girl doing – hanging around those jerks? Yes, might I admit, she wasn't at the top of our classes like Amy.
Wait, what? Why do I have to bring her into everything I do. She's not even with me anymore!
-x-
I walked into Shadow's house after school. Why do I keep calling it Shadow's house? It's as much my house as it is his now, even if I had only been living with him for around a month. Shadow wasn't home yet so I just hung out and ate some food. Then I walked upstairs to my room to change my clothes.
Once in my room, I closed my door and took my shirt off. I walked over to my bed, but on the way I tripped over the new rug that Skye had put there while I was in the hospital. I fell onto my bed, but felt no pain as all of the pillows cushioned my descent.
I laughed at the irony of the fact that my own rug wanted to beat me up as much as Scourge himself. I turned to fix the rug but stopped in my tracks.
The rug was now folded over itself, and I could clearly see blood stains underneath it. My heart started racing as I remembered what happened to put me in the hospital. I looked closer at the blood stain, and saw that it looked like somebody had tried to clean it from the white carpet, but failed at doing so.
I heard a knock on the door, which quickly brought me out of my thoughts. I quickly covered the stain with the rug to hide it from whoever was at the door.
I threw on a wife beater and a hoody and hopped down the stairs to open the front door. But when I got down the stairs I realized that it was Knuckles who was at the door, as he had already let himself in.
"Hey Knuckles," I said, walking into the kitchen and grabbing an apple. I tossed it at him and he caught it, "What's up?"
"Nothing really," Knuckles replied, "Shadow asked me to stop by the health clinic on the way home and pick up a couple brochures on raising children, so I was just here to drop them off."
Knuckled took a bite out of his apple and dropped the brochures on top of the dinner table. I didn't pay them any attention and grabbed an apple for myself, taking a big bite out of it. I sat on top of the dinner table as well. I felt Knuckles' eyes on me though, which in turn made me look up at him. I was right, he was staring at me.
"Wha..."
"What's wrong, Tails?" Knuckles started, cutting me off a bit, "You look like you just saw a ghost!"
"Nah, I'm just nervous, that's all," I stated. I had to make up a lie, because if I told him about the blood stain, it would destroy the facade of what they thought happened to me. And I couldn't do that.
"Nervous about what?" Knuckles pried. I knew I had to think of something quick. Oh, what happened today? Oh, right! Scourge challenged me to a fight.
"Scourge challenged me to a fight today," I replied, looking at the clock on the stove. It read 3:47. I was lucky Knuckles came by to remind me, because I had totally forgotten about Scourge on account of my rug.
"Oh. Well I have nothing to do today, so I'll back you up. I'm sure Shadow, Silver and Sonic will as well. Don't worry, Tails. And don't be nervous." Knuckles said, ruffling my hair. I was glad that the general feel of this conversation had become more easy going. The previous feel had me nervous and on edge.
I nodded and head to the door and put on my coat and shoes. I looked over at Knuckled and signalled that I was going out for a smoke, and he nodded. I walked outside and lit my cigarette, letting the smoke trail from my nose afterward.
Yeah, I told Amy that I'd quit. But, she wasn't around to see that I'm doing so, so I guessed that during the time she was gone, I would smoke my fill, and when she got back, I would pretend that I hadn't smoked for the duration of that time. It was genius.
I heard the motor of a car and saw Shadow pull in to the driveway. He nodded at me got out of the car, walking over to the trunk. He popped the trunk and pulled out a few bags of groceries. He walked toward me and took off his sun glasses.
"There's a twenty in there for you." Shadow declared. I smiled and ran up to the car, opening the passenger door and locating the money. I closed the door and turned back to Shadow. The groceries were neatly on the ground and he was lighting a cigarette for himself.
"Knuckles is inside," I decided to say. Shadow simply looked at me and nodded.
"Did he bring what I asked him for?" Shadow asked, opening the door, "Knuckles! Come out side, what's up?"
I clearly saw Knuckles sitting on the couch, watching the basketball game that was on. He muted the TV and got up, walking toward us.
"I brought them, Shadow," Knuckles said, giving Shadow a fist pump. "I read them, too."
"True," Shadow said. I finished my cigarette and flicked it away, walking toward the door.
"Did you tell Shadow about your little Scourge issue yet?" Knuckles asked. I turned around and saw Shadow looking at me with a questioning face, and I gulped.
Sometimes, telling Shadow about a fight is not the greatest idea.
-x-
Alright well, finally, here's an update to TSGIII. I really hoped that you all enjoyed it, and I hope to get reviews to this chapter. I'm back to update now that I've been reminded of this website!
So yeah, what do you all think Tails should do next? Should he fight Scourge and risk getting hurt again or should he avoid the fight in general? Your choice makes no difference to the story arc, I just want to know what you guys think!
I want to thank all of you for sticking by me until now. And don't worry, I have in mind where I want this story to go.
And, one last thing, I've started developing a story arc and have the first rough versions of the first chapters for the spinoff of this series that will be published once I'm done TSGIII. The Shame Game: Black and Red will be out once this story is finished.
Anyways, read and review! Your reviews are most important to me!
Anyways...
Ciao!