The bright lights and constant ringing of phones irritated Shadow. While lack of sleep was the main cause of his distress, yapping students didn't help much either. Impatiently, he waited by the reception desk; the thought of standing there any longer drove him mad. He watched as the receptionist chatted with another teacher, doing her job painfully slow. He tapped his finger against the desk, trying to hold out through the headache caused by his sleep deprivation.

"Good morning, Miss." A high, cheery tone followed by the chime of a bell interrupted his internal battle.

A short, pink hedgehog stood with a greeting smile. How anyone could be that happy in the morning, confused him greatly.

She looked up at Shadow. After a double take, her smile dropped, her eyes widening in surprise, "Shadow? Hello! What are you doing here?"

"Hi, Amy." He said bluntly, dismissing her question.

Amy brushed aside the fact he ignored her and queried again, "Didn't you graduate last year?" After reading his expression, she moved closer to him, whispering, "You got held back?!" It didn't come out as much of a whisper.

Shadow clenched his jaw, giving her a side-eye. He yet again avoided an answer. He saw the receptionist make her way over from the printer, so he paid her his attention so he could get out of there as soon as possible.

"Here you are," the older woman said, placing a piece of paper down on the desk. "Your homeroom teacher has been notified; he wants you to go see him as soon as possible." She nodded her head towards the door, "Preferably now."

Shadow stayed silent, flipping the page over to reveal his schedule. He scanned over it before rolling his eyes. Even if he had made an audible complaint to the receptionist, she had already moved on to Amy. He pretended to continue to look over his schedule so he could listen in on their conversation. He wasn't going to lie to himself; he was interested to see why she was there too.

"She should be out soon, Amy. Your headmaster is having a quick word. Please give this to her when she comes out." The woman asked, also handing her a piece of paper.

The receptionist made herself busy elsewhere, and Amy immediately struck up a conversation with Shadow again. Much to his displeasure.

"So, welcome back." She teased, sliding his schedule over to her. He frowned, watching her look between the two pages. Her face lit up.

"What?"

She smiled, looking up at Shadow, "This is great!"

"I don't understand." He stated, looking over her shoulder, trying to find the "greatness" in what she was looking at.

"Oh," she remembered he was unaware of her assignment, "My best friend has moved here, and she's starting up at this school. I'm showing her around this morning. This is her schedule." She held up the piece of paper.

"She's a senior, and well, since I'm still a junior, we won't have any classes together." Her smile faded slightly. "I thought she'd be on her own most of the day. But apparently not!" She smiled again. "You're in most of her classes!" She gestured to the schedules again.

Shadow raised a brow. "And?"

Amy narrowed her brows, glaring at him. She folded her arms, looking up at him threateningly, "I want you to get to know her."

Shadow blinked, "No."

Amy groaned, pulling at his arm. "Shadow, please! I want her to have a friendly face so she isn't completely alone!"

"Friendly's a stretch." He mumbled, pulling her hand off his arm. He looked back at Amy as she attempted to give him a pleading look, "No."

She sighed, sliding his schedule back over to him, "Fine. I just want her to feel welcome."

Shadow chose to ignore her. His last priority was to make a girl he doesn't even know feel "welcome" at this school. He was embarrassed enough as it was having to show his face for another year.

Amy quickly made her way over to the headmaster's door once it clicked open. Still curious, Shadow watched to see who this new girl was. He wasn't sure why he was so interested in Amy's friends. He guessed they'd be as annoying and loud as she was. That didn't appear to be so.

She looked to be the opposite. She was a lavender cat, taller and slimmer in build, with a polite posture. The top half of her pin-straight hair was tied up out of her face; she seemed to be very neat, suggesting a possible rich background. Shadow assumed she was stuck up due to that, expecting a snobby statement to come out of her mouth as Amy cheerily greeted her. He was proven wrong when she gave her a small wave and a gentle "Hello."

Shadow realized he was staring once she met his gaze. Amy, too, looked over, her smile getting wider. She nudged the girl's arm to get her attention, "That's Shadow." Amy then winked, "Handsome, huh?" The girl scoffed in amusement at her, glancing at him once more.

Shadow awkwardly looked around, mainly to see if anyone else was watching. Grumbling, he snatched the paper from the desk and headed towards the reception exit.

Just as he passed the two girls, Amy called out, "I thought you were supposed to go see your homeroom teacher?" He could detect the slyness in her voice.

He stopped in his tracks. With a big sigh, he lowered his head in annoyance, then turned to her, "I'll do it tomorrow."

"So you're skipping?" She pondered, "Your first day and you're skipping already? That's not a good start."

"Rose-" he threatened, his teeth gritted.

The lavender cat looked between them, trying to understand the conversation. Amy smirked, linking her arm with the girl, dragging her out of the room. Shadow watched them leave, his curiosity for this new girl still lingering. She had only said a single word to Amy, let alone to himself after Amy's obnoxious introduction. His mind concluded that she was just shy, not wanting to say anything in front of him.

He never took an interest in getting to know people, but he couldn't help but wonder who she was. Considering his decline on befriending her to Amy, only now would she think he was trying to hit on her after he saw that he turned down a possible friendship with a beautiful girl. To Amy's assumption, it would prove her point that "all men are dogs; they only want one thing." Although he did find her attractive, her beauty wasn't exactly why he was drawn to her.