Chapter 17: Trouble
A week later, the teacher brought in a new student before Sonny and Amelia's class started. She was about average height, with shoulder-length ash-blonde hair, turquoise-blue eyes covered in light-blue eyeshadow, lightly tanned skin, a small nose, and a coy smile. She wore a tight-fitting white T-shirt with a giant pink heart in the center, a leather mini-skirt, white stockings trailing down from her thighs, and pink heeled shoes.
"Hi," the girl said in a deep seductive voice that made all the boys shiver a little. "My name's Rouge Baxter, and I hope to get to know every single of you."
While all the boys gawked as she searched for a seat, the girls glared at her. Rouge in turn met everyone's gaze until her eyes turned to Sonny, who was the only boy in the room who didn't gawk at her. She approached him slowly and then leaned over his desk.
"Hey, boy," Rouge said, getting Sonny's attention. "Is the seat behind you taken?"
"It is now," Amelia said, getting up from her desk which was located across from Sonny's and moving all her stuff to the empty one behind Sonny.
"Oh, well," Rouge sighed. "Then I'll take the seat across from you."
Before Amelia could protest, Rouge occupied the desk across from Sonny and set down her leather shoulder-bag next to it. Once the teacher started the lesson, Rouge pulled a pink notebook and matching pen out of her bag. While she took notes, all the boys except Sonny kept staring at her.
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"So you ran into Eggman too?" Sonny said to Chuck later that day on his way home from school.
"Yeah, he was stealing the Silver Chaos Emerald just after I obtained some more Master Emerald shards. I tried to stop him, but then that same creature I saw on Angel Island appeared, only it looked bigger than before. Then Dr. Eggman gave it the Chaos Emerald, and the thing grew even bigger."
"Did you try fighting it?"
Chuck clenched his fists. "I did, but I barely won."
"That's what I was afraid of. It seems that the monster, which Dr. Eggman called 'Chaos', gets stronger with every Emerald it absorbs."
"He also said that Chaos came from the Master Emerald, right?"
Sonny nodded. "Did your parents ever mention such a creature in the stories they told you?"
"I don't remember, but last night I had a weird dream where I was at the altar on Angel Island. The thing is, though, it looked brand-new and Tia was there."
"Who's Tia?" Miles said, startling Sonny and Chuck.
"Miles, where did you come from?" Sonny asked.
"Over there," Miles said, nodding over his shoulder at an alley where a bulky teenager with short purple hair, big black eyes, wearing a white undershirt and purple trousers was slouched over. "That guy was bugging me about his missing frog."
"Weird," Sonny said, looking in Miles' direction. "Doesn't he go to our school?"
"Yeah," Miles answered. "His name is Biggs Cater. Not the brightest guy I know, but he's honest and gentle. That's why he gets picked on a lot."
"Maybe you should be friends with him," Sonny suggested.
"I thought about that. He kind of reminds me of myself before I met you, Sonny." Miles sighed. "Well, anyway, I wanted to show you guys something I've been working on for a while."
"What is it?" Chuck asked.
"I'm going to let you be surprised," Miles said, and ran ahead of Sonny and Chuck.
###
Back at the school, Amelia was just heading out when she felt something brush against her shoulder. It was Rouge, and she was soon followed by a group of four guys who followed behind her. Irritated, Amelia tried to walk ahead of them.
"Hey, pinkie," Rouge called, forcing Amelia to turn around.
"What do you want?" Amelia asked, trying to hide the irritation in her voice.
"Do you know where Sonny went?"
Amelia gripped her textbook tighter. "No, I don't."
"Well, if you see him, tell him I said, 'hi.'"
Then as Rouge and her posse of boys walked away, Amelia glared at them. She then took out her pink cellphone and dialed Sonny's number. At the other end, the phone rang for a few seconds, followed by Sonny's voicemail, which made Amelia curse. Once the beep went off, Amelia said, "Hi, Sonny, it's Amelia. I was just wondering where you were, and if you could call me back to let me know that would be great. Bye!"
After she hung up, Amelia crossed the street and headed in the direction of the apartment where Sonny and Miles lived together. She figured Chuck might be there since he decided to stay the night before. As she passed by the same alley Miles went through, Biggs got up from his slouched position and approached her.
"Excuse me," Biggs asked. "Have you seen a frog with a tail lately?"
"No," Amelia responded. "Why do you ask?"
"Because he's mine and his name is Froggy. He went missing yesterday, and now I can't find him."
"Well, I'm sorry to hear that, but haven't seen your frog."
Amelia was just about to walk past Biggs when he blocked her path.
"If you do see him, let me know."
"Okay. I will."
Biggs then smiled and stepped out of Amelia's way. Once she came to the end of the block, Amelia noticed a baby bird pecking at something underneath a hedge that ran alongside the sidewalk. She knelt down and parted the hedge slightly, beholding the Blue Chaos Emerald.
"Wow, what a lucky find!" Amelia exclaimed as she picked up the Blue Chaos Emerald and put it in her pocket. She was just about to get up when the baby bird caught her attention. "Now what should I do about you?"
"Chaos Emerald detected!"
Amelia looked up at the hedge and saw a green and red robot emerging from the other side.
To be continued…