"Sonny, wake up, your brother and sister are waiting for you downstairs!" Aleena Hedgehog called out, banging on her youngest son Sonny's bedroom door. Immediately, Sonny Hedgehog, a brown anthropomorphic hedgehog, jolted awake, running his eyes before reaching for his phone to see the time.
"8:15am, really mom? It's not that urgent, but yeah, I'm coming!" he replied upon reading the time, climbing out of bed. He kneeled down to grab his white sneakers from under the bed, before sliding them on, and grabbing his backpack with all his books inside. He quickly opened the door, before running down the stairs to see his mother standing at the table with his breakfast drink, and his older sister Sonia, and older brother Manic, standing near the door, waiting for him.
"Go on, Sonny, hurry up, you don't wanna be late to school," Aleena ordered as she hugged Sonny goodbye.
"Bye, mom!" Sonny said as he followed Sonia and Manic out the door, emerging onto the main residential district for anthropomorphs in Central Mobotropolis.
"Why do you never set an alarm, Sonny?" Sonia, a purple hedgehog with pink quills fronted by a pink tuft of hair, in her pink uniform and black skirt, said, annoyed at Sonny for his late rising, "You're always up after everyone else, and it gets really annoying sometimes."
"I'm sorry, sis, I just get sick of having to wake up early in the morning for another boring day at school," Sonny replied, rolling his eyes, before Manic, their older brother, a green hedgehog with blue shoes and a punk-style haircut with his quills, punched him in the shoulder.
"Listen to your sister, bro, it is a little annoying now, especially when I have to be at school early for my last year, and you hold us both back since mom won't let us leave without you," Manic added, "I'm a little sick of your late rising making me get in trouble on occasion. I've gotta get good grades if I wanna go to college for my music degree, remember, so it's not all about you."
"Yeah, I know, sorry Manic, sorry Sonia," Sonny replied, as suddenly, they heard footsteps coming from behind them.
"Hey, guys!" a feminine voice called out, prompting the three hedgehogs to turn around to see two of their friends. One was Sonny's best friend, Miles "Tails" Prower, a yellow fox and child prodigy in Sonny's class, born with a genetic mutation giving him two functional tails. The other was the popular girl Mobotropolis High and daughter of Delina Rose, world famous news reporter, Amy Rose, a pink hedgehog wearing a red school uniform and a dark red skirt, Sonia's best friend. Seeing Amy, Sonny stood still, his heart beating at the sight of her. They'd known each other for a long time, but nonetheless Sonny had developed a crush on the girl since middle school, and unfortunately for him, he'd been left as the social outcast, Tails his only real consistent friend, while Amy had risen to easy popularity because of her mother's fame. The boys at school, jocks and nerds alike would try their hand frequently at asking her on a date, and would just as frequently get turned away. Suddenly, Tails tapped him on the shoulder, snapping him out of his trance on her.
"You can be a real creep with the way you just stare at her sometimes, Sonny, and yet you've never asked her out yourself," Tails commented, as Sonny punched him in the shoulder playfully.
"Shut up, Tails, she'd never want me with how stupid and weak I am," Sonny replied as they started walking ahead of Sonia and Amy, Manic having left ahead of them all, "Besides, I don't see you asking her out either."
"That's because unlike every other guy in the school, I don't have my eyes on Amy," Tails responded, grabbing his own phone out of his backpack which was filled with high tech gadgets of his own invention, "Not to say she's not attractive, though. I just don't look for a girl just for her fame like all the jocks, or the looks like the other nerds do. I do know one thing though, you're not looking at her for either of those things, I just can't seem to figure out what that is."
"I don't know what you're talking about, Tails," Sonny replied, trying to deflect the question.
"I mean, you've known her longer than you've known me, dude, since you two were kids," Tails elaborated as Mobotropolis High School came into view in the distance, "I might be wrong, but I don't think fame has anything to do with your feelings, and I think looks might just be part of the equation."
"What are you trying to say, Tails?" Sonny asked, confused but curious.
"It's not a crush with you like it is with everyone else, Sonny…it's actually love," Tails answered, "You're not after the name, fame, or a quick brag. You just simply want her to be happy, and I think that's the difference here. You don't see her as someone that benefits you, you see yourself as being someone that'll benefit her. You wanna care for her, not use her."
"Okay, okay, Tails…I get it, you can stop trying to give me an ego boost now," Sonny finished, as they arrived at the school, "Let's get to class." Sonny and Tails started walking towards one side of the school campus, with Sonia and Amy behind them, heading to the opposite side, Sonia spotting Amy taking a quick glance at Sonny.
"I don't get why you look at him like that, Amy," Sonia commented as they walked towards the entrance of the school building.
"I don't know what it is, Sonia, but if Sonny asked me out, I'd probably say yes," Amy replied, "He's gotten more shy around me since middle school, just because more people, especially the boys, started clinging onto me like a bad smell, expecting to use me as a key to my mother's fortunes. Meanwhile, Sonny just ends up sitting in the corner, thinking that if he did want to ask me out, I wouldn't even see him as a friend anymore, which just isn't true."
"You certainly seem to give him that impression by not even trying to approach him during lunch breaks or making time outside of school to hang out with him, it's always just me," Sonia explained to Amy, who lowered her face in guilt as they walked through the halls of the school, "You two rarely talk anymore, unless it's important or has something to do with me, and it's only gotten worse since they put you up into my grade. I mean, if you like him, why not ask him out yourself. You turned down every guy on the football team, and every other sports team for that matter, you turned down the nerds for obvious reasons, but it looks like you never once stopped to think about the impression that gives to Sonny. It makes him think that if you turn down the jocks, with all their talent and muscles, how could he ever even have a chance to get any closer to you than you get to me."
"You've got a point there, Sonia, maybe I should at least try to include him in something," Amy resolved, "Give him a bit of courage at the very least."
In the classroom destination of Amy and Sonia for English class, Knuckles Glidar, a red echidna with his spikes hanging down like dreadlocks and a dominant six-pack engraved in his abdomen, entered, approaching the teacher's desk at the front of the room, where Rouge Gothix, a white bat who was one of the school's English teachers, sat behind in a white t-shirt and black sweatpants, marking papers. She looked up at Knuckles, crossing her arms as he stood in front of her desk.
"Hey, Rouge, another day on the grind, aye?" Knuckles started, grabbing a chair from one of the desks and sitting across the desk from Rouge, "Need some relief?"
"Knux, you know we can't do this stuff in school, okay, remember how much trouble I can get into for just flirting let alone everything else, so can we actually act like we're in school, please?" Rouge responded urgently, before sitting back in her chair, "Now, do you have your assignment for submission today?" Knuckles sighed, exhaling with a nervous expression on his face.
"Well, I didn't really understand a lot of the stuff we covered in class, plus I've been busy with the football team," Knuckles explained, "So, in short, no, I haven't. I'm sorry." Rouge sighed, shaking her head, unsurprised.
"Well, it'll take me a few days to mark everyone else's assignments anyway, so if you want, I can extend it until tomorrow, and I'll drive you home tonight, since your parents are still away, and I'll help you work on it if you want," Rouge offered, before looking at him slightly seductively, "Then maybe we can have some fun after that, 'k?" Knuckles blushed slightly, before footsteps were heard from down the hall. Knuckles immediately stood up, taking his chair back to the desk he took it from as Amy and Sonia entered the classroom in front of the other students, Rouge regaining her composure as they handed her their assignments, before moving to their desks. Rouge then stood up to begin class.
"Alright, everyone, thank you for your assignments, I've given Knuckles an exemption for tonight only to give him a hand after school today," she started, "So today we're going to begin our next unit for this subject." In the back of the class, Sonia sat next to Amy, sighing in annoyance at Knuckles' exemption.
"I get a bit sick of Knuckles getting special treatment from Ms Gothix, just because they're always flirting with each other," she whispered to Amy next to her, "You always wonder why Knuckles is the only player on the football team that never asked you out. It's because he's always getting led on by Ms Gothix. Like, seriously, he's literally on a first name basis with her at this point. It's frustrating now."
"I mean, at least it means he'll never ask me out, he's probably the biggest meathead on the team. He's strong and knows how to handle himself, but he's not a high achiever," Amy replied as they started their schoolwork.
In another classroom on the opposite side of the school, Sonny and Tails sat in Maths class, their teacher a human woman in her mid-70s, Beverly Tower, one of the school's oldest and longest-serving teachers.
"Good morning, students, please open your textbooks to page 263 as we're going to continue our work on algebra today," Beverly started, grabbing a market from below the whiteboard at the front of the room and began writing algebraic formulas on the board for the class to copy, "There will be homework at the end of the class today, so be ready is all I'll say." At the mention of homework, all the students groaned under their breaths, except for Tails.
"Tails, what's with you and enjoying homework?" Sonny asked in the seat next to him, annoyed about the homework.
"It's not that I enjoy it, Sonny, it's more that it's so easy for me that I just don't need to care about it," Tails responded, as Sonny sighed and continued writing down the formulas on the board.
After the second session of the day, the bell rang to signal the beginning of the first recess of the day. Leaving separate classes, Sonny and Tails, and Sonia and Amy all headed to the cafeteria to collect lunch. Sonny and Tails sat together, alone at a table in the far back corner of the lunchroom, while Amy headed to her group of friends, including musical talent Mina Mongoose, and budding fashion designer and artist Honey Florina the Cat, with Sonia in tow.
"Hey, Amy!" Mina and Honey exclaimed, happy to see Amy as always. The two hugged her one at a time, before the four of them sat down to eat.
"Amy, I've been working on your portrait for a week now, it's almost done, just gotta do some last detailing, but I'll show you what I've done so far," Honey announced, grabbing a canvas out of the backpack, handing it to Amy. Honey had sketched and almost fully finished a portrait of her from the waist up, with the sketched version of herself wearing a long dress with a rose gold colour, and a matching crown, standing atop a mountain of gold in a peaceful valley, "What do you think, Amy?" Honey smiled, as Amy handed the canvas back with a smile on her face.
"Why do I look so rich and powerful? My mom doesn't make that much, Honey," she criticized sarcastically, as Honey put the canvas back into her backpack, "My mom's an anthropomorph for one, so her salary is enough for us to live comfortably, but not enough to live the rich life or have a mountain of gold like that. But I mean, I do appreciate the effort, I'd love to hang it up at home when it's done if you want." Honey smiled cheerfully as Sonia subtly elbowed Amy lightly.
"Yeah, Sonia?" Amy asked as Sonia moved up to her ear.
"Amy…remember, go and see Sonny?" Sonia whispered into her ear, reminding Amy about their earlier conversation. Amy stood up, getting her friends' attention.
"Okay, I'm gonna go and invite Sonny to sit with us," Amy announced in a regular tone to her group. Mina then stood up as well, smiling.
"I wanna come with you, to see Miles," Mina added, before she followed Amy and Sonia over to the table to Sonny and Tails. As they left, Honey reached into her bag, grabbing out her phone, and opening up a photo of three tarot cards, the first and leftmost showing a warzone, the second showing a knife, and the third and rightmost a crown.
"What does it mean, Amy?" she whispered to herself, a look of curious distress, "The psychic had something appear to her, and the look of fear that crossed her face for a second must've meant something. War, a knife and a crown…I don't get it…"
Over at Sonny's table, Amy walked over with Sonia and Mina, prompting the attention of Sonny and Tails, who looked nervously at them as Mina sat next to Tails eagerly, wrapping her arm around his, as Amy and Sonia stood at the table.
"Hey, Amy, what brings you here?" Sonny asked, trying hard to keep his rampant emotions in check as he tried to contemplate her reasoning.
"Did you two boys wanna come to our table today, I've got some plans I wanna share with you for this weekend," Amy replied, as Sonny's eyes lit up suddenly, "So?"
"You go, Sonny, I'll stay here, I'm busy this weekend anyway," Tails agreed, seeing the look on Sonny's face. Suddenly, Tails felt Mina tug on his backpack, and turned to see her grinning at him.
"No you don't, Miles, you're coming with us, that's that," Mina ordered, as she grabbed Tails' arm, forcing him to follow, grabbing his bag as he followed Mina behind Sonny, Amy and Sonia back to their table, other students watching in dismay as they watched the most popular girl in the school take the outcast back to her table, the jocks on the football team especially surprised and jealous. As Amy, Sonny, Sonia, Mina and Tails arrived at the table, Honey quickly put her phone back in her bag as they all sat down.
"Okay, Sonny, Tails...me and Sonia were thinking of inviting everyone to a concert in South-western Mobotropolis on Saturday to see The Acorn Revolters," Amy announced as Sonny, Tails and Honey nodded in agreement, with Mina being noticeable more cheerful, the smile on her face wide and ecstatic, "My mom said she has enough for some backstage passes for a couple of us as well. The band's website apparently says there's gonna be a big surprise announcement as well, probably just a new album or something."
"Surely I can have a backstage pass, Amy? I mean, I'm probably one of their biggest fans. It's the whole reason I love to sing. Their melodic rock sound is amazing, not to mention Sandra Acorn's voice, the female melody on top of the hard instruments, I can't get over it," Mina suggested, eager to see her favourite band backstage in person.
"Okay, well Mina, you do have a point there, my mom said she can afford backstage passes for only three of us, the rest will get standard tickets. I already called dibs on one of them, so who should get the third?" Amy agreed, sneaking a glance at Sonny quickly, before turning to Sonia, who nudged her again.
"Amy, you and I need to talk, now, let's duck to the bathrooms quickly," Sonia whispered into her ear again, to the curiosity of everyone else, as she and Amy stood up, "Me and Amy are having a quick talk. We'll be back soon." Sonny, Tails, Mina and Honey looked at Amy and Sonia, confused as they walked towards the ladies bathroom, closing the door behind them as they entered.
Upon entering, Sonia looked at Amy sternly.
"You wanted to give that third backstage pass to Sonny straight away, didn't you?" Sonia asked immediately, "I could see your eyes when you looked at Sonny, you wanted him back there with you, to see if he'd get the hint." Amy, backed into a corner by the firm question, responded with a subtle nod.
"I dunno, I figured maybe spending some time with him would give him some courage…" Amy answered, "What you said this morning just struck a nerve a bit, Sonia." Sonia sighed in understanding disbelief, grabbing Amy's shoulder.
"You know neither of those boys are fans of The Acorn Revolters, and besides, I've got a better idea," Sonia began, "I know my little brother better than anyone, and I can tell you, while I can see the merit in what you're doing, Sonny might find himself caught off guard and more nervous than necessary going backstage with you. As in, too much too quickly. I know you like him, and I know he likes you, but you need to take things slow, especially if you're just waiting for him to ask you out rather than asking him."
"So, what are you suggesting? I give the third to you or Honey?" Amy asked for clarification, as Sonia sighed.
"Thing is, sure you could give me or Honey the third, but maybe give it to Tails, you know how much Mina has a crush on him for whatever reason, give Mina the backstage opportunity, since she loves that band more than the rest of us," Sonia suggested, "And I know you'd say that would just pull you and Sonny apart when things go backstage, so what if you give Honey your pass, and just hang with Sonny in one of the restaurants and I can just do my own thing while Mina and Tails stick together with Honey." Amy thought about the plan for a moment, certainly bummed about giving up her backstage pass, but ultimately open to it if it meant spending some time with Sonny, and making Mina happier.
"Okay, let's do that, I'll get my mom to book a table at the steakhouse for me and Sonny, and Mina and Tails can go backstage with Honey, but what would you do?" Amy agreed with some hesitancy, as Sonia smiled.
"I've got money, I can just check out a few of the food stands, and see what happens from there. I'm not too concerned after the concert," she answered as Amy followed her back to the table.
"Okay, so Mina, your getting a backstage pass, and so is Honey, but I've decided I'm not going backstage, so I asked Sonia if she wanted the last pass, but we decided to give the last one to Tails," Amy explained, leaving Tails shocked and nervous, and Sonny equally confused.
"Amy, why are you giving me a backstage pass, I don't even listen to The Acorn Revolters?" Tails asked, panicking, as Mina cheered, grabbing Tails' arm again, ecstatic.
"That's why I'm giving you the pass, Tails," Amy answered, grinning as Tails realised he'd been duped, and groaning in frustration, "Keep your chin up, Tails, you'll be okay." Next to Tails, Sonny struggled to stop himself from laughing hysterically at Tails' predicament.
"You'll be okay, dude, just stay strong," Sonny added, lightly elbowing Tails' other shoulder.
Suddenly, Sonny saw Knuckles walking towards the table, an angry expression on his face.
"So this is your boyfriend, now, Rose, is it?!" Knuckles yelled in a stern tone, getting the attention of most of the students in the cafeteria and shocking Amy and the others, before grabbing Sonny by the arm and pulling him away from the table and onto the floor, "Causing my team heartbreak and drama for the weak little wimp, I'll fix that!" Knuckles grabbed Sonny and pinned him against the wall by his throat.
"Knuckles, what are you doing?! Let him go!" Amy pleaded desperately as Sonia got out of her seat.
"Let go of my brother, you sick bastard!" Sonia yelled as she tried to drag Knuckles away, the muscular echidna pushing her out of the way and to the ground with his free hand as members of the football team got out of their seats and headed to stop Knuckles, a group of humans of anthropomorphs alike.
"Knuckles, stop it, you dickhead, you'll get kicked off the team!" the human captain of the team pleaded as Knuckles threw Sonny across the floor, prompting Tails to get out of his seat and head for Knuckles.
"Leave my friend alone, Knuckles!" Tails cried as he swung at the echidna, hitting him in the rib. Knuckles suddenly turned around, grabbing Tails by one of his twin tails, before throwing him into Sonny as he tried to get up, knocking him back down onto the floor with Tails.
"You think you can do anything, you little fox freak! You're asking for it!" Knuckles roared as the principal entered with two teachers, Rouge with them, "I'll bash both you kids right now just for being cocky if that's what you want!"
"Knuckles, stop it!" Rouge cried out as she ran over to the scene, standing in front of Knuckles, blocking his path to Sonny and Tails, allowing them to stand back up, Sonny grasping his neck in pain, as Tails looked at the situation, "What do you think you're doing, Knuckles, get to the principal's office, now! I'll be having a chat with you about this later!" As Knuckles followed the principal, Rouge and the other teacher out of the cafeteria, Amy, Sonia and Mina rushed over to Sonny and Tails as the football team stood around, telling everyone else to return to their seats.
"Sonny, are you okay?!" Amy cried as she and Sonia checked on Sonny, checking for any injuries as Mina checked on Tails, "I'm so sorry, Sonny."
"You okay, Miles, he didn't hurt you, did he?" Mina asked Tails, distressed and panicked from the fight, "What did he do that for, Amy?"
"I don't know, Mina, it sounded like he had beef with me being around Sonny," Amy replied, distressed as Sonia helped Sonny back to the table, as the captain of the football team stepped forward, "What is it, Chad? What the hell was that about?"
"I have no idea, Amy, he hasn't even been here with us today, I saw him walk into Ms Gothix's classroom on the way here, though," Chad explained to Amy, who immediately stopped and faced Chad, angered at the mention of Rouge, "Sounded like it had something to do with you rejecting us, but I swear none of us told him to do this, I promise you."
"Then why would he start carrying on about Sonny being my boyfriend, then, huh? Unless one of you meatheads gave him that idea!" Amy retaliated, holding herself back from whacking Chad, "Don't think I don't know who your father is, Mr Robotnik, or the type of sadistic bastard he is! I've known Sonny for longer than anyone else in this whole damn school, and if you meatheads really wanna know the truth, I'd rather date Sonny than literally any of you jocks or nerds, or any of you senseless dimwits who just wanna date me because of my mother! So how about all of you just get lost instead of standing around, so I can help my friend!" Chad stood back in shock, before everyone returned to their seats, as Amy, Sonia and the others headed to the nurse's office with Sonny and Tails to check on them for any injuries.
Later in the day, for the last session of the day, Amy and Sonia headed to science class, where their teacher, Vector Chaotix the Crocodile, was preparing for the class. As everyone took their seats, Vector turned to the class.
"You ready for some sick experiments today, students?" he announced, as he walked over to a cabinet filled with chemicals and solutions, along with equipment for the experiments, "We're gonna do some mixing today to kick off our next report assignment, so yeah, today will be the exciting day before the grinding."
"I hope Knuckles' doesn't cross me again, because I'll bash him for having a go at my brother like that," Sonia warned to Amy, who placed her hand on Sonia's shoulder, "Who knows what could've happened to Sonny if Ms Gothix hadn't walked in when she did...speaking of Ms Gothix, I'm gonna call her out for this crap she's doing with Knuckles."
"What do you mean, Sonia?" Amy asked, curious but concerned.
"You heard what Chad said, he'd gone into Ms Gothix's classroom before coming to the cafeteria, so she had something to do with it, direct or indirect, and I'm gonna call her out, because I've had enough of whatever her and Knuckles are doing, because it's starting to cause trouble for a lot of people," Sonia elaborated as Vector brought the two of them the equipment to their table, "Anyway, I'm sorry, let's just work, enjoy the experiments for today." Amy hesitantly looked back to the equipment, slightly concerned.