Meeting
The act of coming together.
"Is she alright? Did you check her temperature? Maybe she passed out or got mugged or beaten or-"
"Ssh, she's waking up."
Amy's eyes fluttered open at the sound of unfamiliar voices.
She groaned, shielding her eyes from the brightness of the morning light.
That's when the flood gates opened and memories came pouring back to Amy.
She sat up, craning her head around to see that she was lying in a dorm, not a closet full of towels.
What had happened? How the Hell did she get here?
One of the two girls, the curvy bat from the orientation stand, noticed the panic on Amy's face.
"It's okay," she tried to reassure her. "Don't worry. I'm Rouge and this is Cream. We helped bring you here."
"Where is here?"
As soon as the words left her mouth Amy regretted it.
She sounded so suspicious. Her teachers always told her not to be that way because it made people uncomfortable, which could lead to anger on both ends.
Rouge and Cream didn't seem to think anything of it, though.
It was only natural that she'd be wary.
"This is my room," Rouge answered calmly.
Amy inspected the space a little more closely.
The walls were bare and the furniture was generic. Even the sheets were a typical pale pink to signify a girl's dorm room.
Amy looked over at Cream and blushed.
"Did I take your bed?"
"Oh no," the rabbit shook her head. "I live next door. Rouge's room mate never showed up."
"So I guess she's you," the bat concluded with a sigh. "And here I was thinking I wouldn't have to share this year."
Amy frowned.
"I'm sorry."
Rouge waved it off.
"Not your fault. It was stupid of me to think."
Amy kicked the covers off herself.
Beneath, her uniform was askew and looked slept in.
That's just perfect.
"I don't have another uniform," Amy whimpered to no one in particular.
"It was stolen, right?" Cream asked.
"How did you know?"
"The guy who found you said you didn't have any luggage," Rouge explained. "So we put two and two together."
Amy's face turned a bright shade of pink when she heard Rouge's words.
"What's wrong?"
"A...a boy found me?"
Rouge raised an eyebrow, confused. "Yeah, he's the one who carried you here too. Why?"
Amy could just imagine some boy finding her, picking her up, carrying her. It was such a strange thought. It was such a bad thought for her to have.
Cream smiled knowingly at the new girl.
"I'm from Piko too," Cream chimed in. "I know how hard it can be to adjust to the idea of mingling genders."
It wasn't just that. Amy didn't just attend a gender separated school in Piko, she was also educated away from the girls. Plus the fact that even outside of school she wasn't allowed much contact with the other kids.
She scratched the back of her head and smiled nervously.
"I was just worried," Amy fibbed. "You know how boys are."
Rouge crossed her legs and sat back in the desk chair.
"You're still lucky it was Sonic, though. He's a good guy. He'd never lay a hand on you."
Amy blushed. Others would?
Well, she'd have to thank him for finding her then.
A knock echoed through the room and Rouge popped up from her seat to get the door.
A purple cat stood at the other end.
"Are we going or not?" The girl got straight to the point.
"Alright, alright! We're coming, Blaze. Keep your tail on."
Cream smiled brightly.
"We're going to the activities fair," the rabbit gushed to Amy. "Would you like to come?"
Amy gave a little smile and nodded, much to the joy of the rabbit.
"Then come on. I have a spare uniform that will fit you and after you change we'll get going."
"Why did we come to the girls' dorms again?" Knuckles asked, looking at the Den Mothers in the lobby who were shooting the group of boys death glares.
Sonic stayed mute.
He couldn't answer because, honestly, he wasn't exactly sure why. He suspected that it had something to do with moral obligation, though.
All he was really certain of was that he needed to see that girl, if only once. He was sure it would put his mind at ease.
"We came to pick up some hot girls," Silver cut in. "Duh!"
If looks could kill the Den Mothers would have burned a hole through Silver.
He didn't seem to notice, or care.
Sonic couldn't help but smile at the scene.
Silver was always getting himself into trouble yet he never seemed to notice.
Watching Silver was like watching a train wreck, it was awful but you just couldn't take your eyes away.
"You have a girlfriend," Knuckles countered. "So do I! Even Tails has one!"
The fox blushed. "We're not-"
"Why would we need to be here to pick up girls?"
"We're obviously Sonic's wing men, Knux. Don't be so inconsiderate! You're not the only one who needs to be in someone's pants."
Sonic didn't find it nearly as funny when the glares were directed towards him.
He pinned his ears back and gave the Den Moms a nervous smile.
"Uh...they're just joking."
"Mmmhm."
They didn't believe him.
"So why are we really here?" Tails, spoke just loud enough to be heard over Knuckles and Silver's banter but quiet enough that the Den Moms wouldn't catch a word.
"Remember that girl I told you about last night?"
"The one you found in a closet?"
"Yeah."
Tails smirked. How could he forget? Sonic had come back to the pool drained, completely unlike his usual, lively self.
"Vaguely."
"Well, I just wanted to come see if she was okay." Sonic explained.
"That's all?"
"That's all."
"Alright."
Tails left it at that.
Sonic was thankful for it. There was nothing more to be said after all.
Almost everyone else around him was sure that any girl Sonic so much as looked at must be someone he was interested in.
That wasn't the case and, frankly, that kind of mentality annoyed him.
Boys and girls could be just friends, close friends for that matter. Dating wasn't everything.
Tails was cool about it, though. He'd prod and drop the occasional, 'she seems nice' hint but nothing more.
"Hey."
Sonic's ears perked back up at the sound of Rouge's voice greeting them.
He looked over towards the stairs and saw that she was halfway down, being trailed by Blaze, Cream and Closet Girl.
"What are you guys doing here?" Cream's softer voice asked.
Tails smiled at the sight of her, opening his mouth to answer before he got cut off.
"We're trying to find a girl for Sonic to bang!" Silver announced.
A swift kick to the balls would shut him up. Sonic would do it too...if there weren't so many witnesses.
Rouge laughed and Cream blushed madly.
"I'm sorry I asked."
Tails groaned. "Trust me, we are too."
Sonic's eyes were drawn back to the girl on the stairs.
She stood there, frozen like a deer in the headlights, as Cream, Blaze and Rouge reached the bottom of the stairs and started to mingle.
Sonic swore he could see her chest thud with a fearful heart beat.
Her eyes were wide as she looked through the group. She just seemed so scared.
"Hi," Sonic walked up to the stairs, standing at the bottom and trying to be as non-threatening as possible.
"Um...hi."
She was a shy one. But then again, so was Cream before Rouge got a hold of her.
"I just wanted to check and see if you were okay."
Her eyes widened at his words.
"Wait are you...Sonic?"
"Yeah," he nodded. "I'm the one that found you."
The girl's cheeks turned a brilliant red as she lowered her eyes and clenched her hands into nervous fists.
She was probably embarrassed.
Sonic ran his fingers through his quills, trying to think of something to say when the girl suddenly cut in for him.
"THANK YOU FOR NOT MOLESTING ME!"
Sonic's mind was literally blown to pieces.
Before he could respond he felt that unearthly burning in his back.
He could feel it. The Den Mothers' eyes were ripping into his body and tying his entrails into twisted knots.
Oh! The pain!
"Amy!" Rouge called. "We're going now. You still wanna come?"
Amy nodded, rushing to the other girls and leaving the dorms with them.
The boys lagged behind, looking at their nearly traumatized friend.
"Are...uh...you coming?" Knuckles asked.
"You damn creeper," Silver added under his breath.
Sonic turned around, watching the retreating figure of Closet Girl.
He nodded.
With that he followed along.
Tails placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Don't worry. I'm sure she was just a little flustered."
Amy hid her red face in her hands, totally mortified.
Why had she said that? That's not how she meant it to come out.
With a glance behind her she could see that they were being trailed by the group of boys, Sonic included.
He looked a little unsettled and Amy knew it was all her fault!
Amy felt a warm finger tap her shoulder. She turned to see the purple cat, Blaze, Rouge had called her, giving her a once over look and then a smile.
"Look on the bright side. At least the Den Moms will hate him now."
Amy frowned. "Isn't that bad?"
"For him maybe but it's fun to watch."
Well, that didn't help at all.
After a few more minutes of reflecting on her blunder Amy's attention was pulled towards the stands that lined the campus paths.
She became engrossed in them, reading each club. There was abstract art, equestrian, tennis, book club, media. It was all there.
Amy swore she wanted to stop at each and every stand she came to.
Rouge stopped her.
"Whoa there, Pinkie. It's best to choose just one or two and run with those. You don't want to have a stuffed agenda on your hands."
Amy nodded, reading back over the signs that had caught her attention.
Book club looked like the most interesting of them.
Amy loved to read.
Besides, back in Piko she had a limited selection of what she was allowed to read. They said literature could flare anger easily and therefore she could not invest herself in certain novels.
Here she could read whatever she wanted. It was a thrilling idea.
"I like that one."
Amy pointed at the stand.
Rouge shrugged, clearly uninterested in it herself.
"Suit yourself."
Amy approached the stand, smiling timidly at the senior girl who was working it.
"Hi! I'm Maia! President of the Union Academy Book Club. You are?"
That was quite the official title the girl had there. Amy wasn't sure she could top it.
"Amy," she answered. "Amy Rose."
The girl smiled at Amy encouragingly.
"Do you like to read?"
"Yes, but I don't get the chance to do it a lot."
"Perfect! Here's your chance. We have a selection of books we'll be reading spread out on the table here. Plus there will be free read weeks where we get to choose our own books from the library. You'll definitely get some reading time here."
Amy smiled.
It was a very appealing thought.
Looking down Amy trailed her hands over the book covers. There was Great Gatsby, Handmaid's Tale, Jane Eyre and a couple more.
As she approached The Oldman and the Sea her hand was stopped. She had met the touch of a much larger hand than hers.
She looked up to get a clear glance of Sonic who was looking right back at her.
She averted her eyes but could still feel his gaze.
"You like to read?" He asked.
Amy nodded, pulling her hand away from his.
She couldn't see it but Sonic smiled warmly at her.
He was beginning to come to the conclusion that she was quite the little clumsy girl. Always saying the wrong thing, doing something questionable but never with bad intentions, like a kitten.
Hmm, yeah, she was sort of like a kitten. The wide eyes that marveled at everything in her path, the curious trailing paws, the shy attitude, she was most definitely a kitten.
"Do you think you'll join?"
"Yeah."
Thinking it over Sonic nodded.
"I will too. You can keep me company."
Taking a pen from Maia, Sonic scribbled his name onto the list before handing it to Amy.
She took it with a shaking hand, shocked when their hands met, but leaned down to write her name anyways, brushing off the strange vibe she got from this boy.
Turning on her heels Amy planned to make a fast retreat but found that nobody else was there.
Where had they went?
"They must have moved on without us," Sonic noted. "I guess we'll stick together then."
Amy's face turned red for the umpteenth time. She'd be alone with a boy? A boy she'd recently offended for that matter.
Amy let out a light squeal of protest as Sonic linked her arm through his but ended up just giving in and going for the ride as usual.
Amy went from being escorted around by one man to being surrounded by ten.
She was clinging for dear life to Sonic's arm when they stopped at the track and field stand.
Sonic didn't mind. He was just glad he was there to cling to if she was this nervous.
Sonic didn't talk to the guy behind the stand or ask any questions. He just grabbed a pen and signed up.
"Ah, look, Blue is here," one of the large, muscular boys pointed out.
"Isn't it kind of cheating since your Chaos power is speed, Sonic."
Sonic's ears perked up at the sound of the second voice.
With the slightest drop of venom in his tone, Sonic answered. "You're one to talk about cheating, Scourge."
Amy looked up at the receiving end of Sonic's wrath.
There stood a green hedgehog with icy blue eyes, emerald green fur and the...kind of smile any girl would swoon to see. Him!
"You stole my luggage!" Amy accused.
Scourge smirked.
"I stole a lot of people's luggage. Don't take it too personally. It was just a prank."
Amy was distruaght.
"Just a prank? I had to sleep in a closet because of you."
Scourge snickered. "Seriously? You mean, you didn't find it. Oh, man! Sonic! You must have a real ditz on your hands."
Sonic ignored Scourge but brought Amy a little bit closer with his linked arm. He didn't want her getting too upset.
Amy could feel something flaring. My God, it had been so long since she had felt this. It felt so damn GOOD!
"Give me my stuff back!" Amy demanded, breaking free from Sonic.
Never make demands, the teachers had told her. It only leads to anger.
"Why should I?"
"Give me my stuff back NOW!"
Raising your voice results in confrontations. Which only leads to anger.
"Ballsy little chica, aren't you?"
"Scourge, just give her the stuff back," Sonic intervened. "Don't be an asshole."
"It is literally in the most obvious place," Scourge answered. "It's not my fault if your little bitch here hasn't found it."
"Don't talk about her like that!"
"Isn't it true, Romeo?"
No anger. No anger! NO anger! NO ANGER!
"HOLY SHIT!"
Holy shit was right, Amy thought. Well, no going back now.
Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed the new update. Thank you to all that have followed and left a review, I really appreciate it. I'm glad that most of you seem to like the story so far.
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