Yo! ouo/

Sweet three day weekend is here and got all sorts of plans happening: anime convention Saturday, night market Sunday and a morning trail run / kickboxing session on Monday. Oh yeah forgot to mention that a while ago I bought a boxing bag and began training myself on kickboxing. Reason for it is to develop more of my upper body and add more variety to my cross-fit training for when the outside weather is too hawt or raining in which I won't be able to run for long. I'm having a blast with thing and since it's added cardio it actually shaved off several seconds on my overall times! So yeah I'm having a blast with it and I can soon punch as hard as Knuckles himself hehe.

Anyway here's the second chapter so I hope you enjoy! ^u^

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or locations. They belong to Sega.

Lonely Solitude

Knuckles' POV

I could already tell that today wasn't gonna be a good day.

All the glares and disgusted looks thrown at me were nothing new for me but it looks like they're more intense today. Well makes sense since I yelled at Tails earlier, but I did say sorry nonetheless. Yet stuff like that won't be accepted from someone that's practically hated by almost the entire school.

'Whatever.' I shook my head and continued on towards my locker to grab my stuff for the day. Getting towards the door of it I grimaced: it had graffiti on it with death threats. Don't get why the teachers don't catch the people that do this every time but like I said, not many like me.

Opening my locker I grabbed a math book out of it and shut it afterward.

Almost startled by a batgirl standing behind my locker door.

"W-What the hell?!" I yelled at her, yet she didn't seem fazed by my outburst. If anything she just grinned and looked like she was holding a laugh.

"Relax handsome it's just me. Don't get scared by yours truly, I only wanted to say hi~." she purred. I groaned in annoyance. "Well you could've said hi by talking instead Rouge." I replied.

Rouge rolled her eyes. "What's the fun in that? You should be glad because now you're more wide awake, honestly Knucklehead I always see you show up with a gloomy look on your face."

"Yeeah, I wonder why." I said sarcastically.

"Heh well don't worry hun I'm not like those mean people out there. They don't know what they're missing~."

"Shut it batgirl, now buzz off I gotta head to class." I stated. Rouge smirked in response shaking her head. "See it's stuff like that why nobody likes you Knuckie."

'I HATE it when she calls me that!'

"But don't worry, not everyone hates you." she then got closer and placed a hand on my chest, her teal eyes looking at my own purple ones with a look that I despised and got my insides warmer. "If you say the right words then maybe~."

I pushed her hand away.

"Don't touch me Rouge." I seethed.

Rouge was surprised for a second before that snarky grin came back to her. "Playing hard to get huh handsome?" The batgirl turned around and looked back with half-lidded eyes. "My offer will stay open Knuckie, but you better hurry or otherwise a certain someone might take that offer~."

'Curse that damn bi-' Okay relax don't go too far Knux, she's just being an idiot. But dangit my face is probably all red and bothered from how she acted! My anger kept going up as I saw her walk away, her semi-revealing clothing something that catches nearly every guy's attention along with some girls, but if anything I hate that I fall under the same effect. Just her body and the way she walks like that… damnit!

SLAM!

"Augh!" I heaved feeling a huge force slam me into my locker. I looked up quickly in rage, my gaze falling upon a set of red eyes that glared back the same.

Shadow the Hedgehog. Sonic's true rival and one of the people that makes my life hell.

"Back off echidna, I saw you looking at her." he said quietly as I felt his hand wrap around my throat tighter and shoving me further onto the locker. "Scum like you aren't worth her time."

I gritted my teeth and grabbed his arm trying to push him off.

Well the funny thing is that I can do that easily, but…

"What… makes you… think I… want her." I breathed out. The black hedgehog narrowed his eyes.

"Gaugh!"

I felt a hard punch land into my stomach as he let go and I fell to the floor clutching my torso in pain. I looked up in anger at him but he shot back his own hateful one. "Trash like you belong beneath us. Rouge will never let some idiot such as yourself be a part of her life."

POW!

I felt an equally hard kick land on my face almost slamming my head into the wall from the force. My eyes were clenched shut but my ears picked up footsteps walking away. Heh.

Shaking my head I got up and brushed myself off, the taste of copper coming off my tongue as I wiped off what I had on my face and looked down at it. Figures, but what can I do.

Getting my textbook off the ground beside me I started off walking towards class further ignoring the stares once more. I knew they were watching but from experience I could tell that they weren't willing to intervene or tell any of the faculty about what happened lest they wanna face the wrath of the self-proclaimed 'Ultimate Lifeform'. The dude has such an ego that it makes him a douchebag, but sucks that he's one of the popular guys in the school and a track star just like Sonic. If I were to fight back against him, well… I don't wanna dive further into that.

But like I said before, people don't like me so I just brush it off.

Yet I don't think I'll be able to hold it off for much longer, an ominous feeling in my gut telling me to be careful for some reason.

Math class…

Welp at least the terrible stuff was out of the way… but it left me in an even worse mood.

First off not only did I come to class late by a minute, by a fricking minute, but the teacher scolded me for getting into a fight with someone hence the bruise I developed on my face and the cut lip. I tried to explain what happened but she wouldn't have none of that and instead sent me towards my desk. While I walked to it which was in the way back I didn't see the foot stick out from under a desk and trip me as the class laughed at me. I looked at the guy in anger yet winced at the teacher's voice telling me to stop messing around; looks like she didn't see what happened and I feel like she does it on purpose. Nonetheless I got to my desk at the far back and looked down at it in which it was in the same condition as my locker.

I would always get the horrible stuff but like I said, I brush it off.

"So can anyone tell me the equation that is needed to solve an unknown side of a right triangle?" the teacher asked us, several hands going up in the air. I didn't raise mine up as I didn't want any further attention, but life is shit for me as she pointed at me. "Knuckles what do we use to solve this unknown side?"

Was so close to rolling my eyes but decided to play it safe. "Pythagorean Theorem." I answered.

"Correct." she turned back and continued writing on the board. Murmurs were heard around me, but they weren't of the good kind.

"Didn't know the idiot could be smart."

"It's a lucky guess dude. Probably someone told him ahead of time so he can act high and mighty."

That's when I rolled my eyes as I just propped up my book and silently took notes.

See here's the thing: I'm actually decently smart. Not smart as Tails but enough that I get good grades in all my classes. Heck the lowest grade I have is a C+ and that's from art which I tend to suck at, everything else is either an A or a B. I keep stuff like that a secret because honestly, I wouldn't get any recognition for it. Already just my existence offends almost everyone and letting people know that I'm good at academics will only put me in an even worse position. But just for you I'll let you know what I got since you don't seem like a bad person:

Math – solid B

History – A+ (I like learning about ancient things)

Science – B-

P.E. – A

Art – C+

English – B+

Yeah ironic right? I'm somewhat good at numbers which not many people know about and just by looking at me would think I'm completely stupid and don't know what 2 + 2 is. Funny that some of those people don't know their multiplication hehe, but I'll hide the fact that I'm somewhat terrible when it comes to using a calculator so I just try to solve math stuff through other methods. The teacher gives me an awkward look when she hands me my homework or tests back but if anything I score decently well on them regardless if my approach to solving math is a bit weird.

Still that doesn't mean that I'll get anything good from my classmates. Heck in every class I don't raise my hand or stand out too much, I just let my writing do the talking and that's it. Some of my teachers understand while others like my math teacher… they're like almost in the middle yet will favor other students over myself even though I'm one of the few that are passing. Almost everyone sees me as the dumb and stupid one in the class, but don't judge a book by its cover as some say. Heck even being seen as that is a double-edged sword because no matter where I'm at I'll still get hated on; Tails has it easy since many like him for how 'cute' he looks and would be asked for help on stuff but for me… I come off as some sort of meathead.

A pencil flicked off my head and I immediately scowled towards the source, my eyes narrowing dangerously.

An edgy green hedgehog looking back at me with a cocky smirk as he gave me the finger. Sitting behind him was a red fox girl who also glared at me with a snicker as she stuck her tongue out.

Of course, I forgot to mention them from my list of people that cause my life hell. If anything I just ignored them and continued listening while taking notes.

Oh yeah I forgot to mention that Sonic and Tails aren't in any of my classes and the two basically share almost all of theirs together. We're in the same grade, Tails being younger than us but because he's a genius he skipped several grades, but we have our classes at separate times. It's good for them though because they're practically best friends while I'm the third wheel in the group.

Well I don't hang out with them much to be considered a third wheel and from what happened this morning, I don't think I'll be part of Sonic Team any longer as what the hedgehog calls our group. Still sounds stupid.

RING!

There's the bell.

"That is all for today everyone. Enjoy the rest of your day!" the teacher said happily. Yeah right, everyone except me.

I didn't get up from my seat yet since I didn't want to get mixed up with the others. It'll only cause trouble if I did.

"!"

A crumbled-up paper silently smacked my head once more and just as before I turned towards the source, the same green hedgehog grinning arrogantly as he drew a finger across his throat as he and the red fox left the classroom. Like that'll intimidate me; I've seen worse, and unfortunately the teacher did not see this.

Once everyone left I silently got up and walked towards the opposite door that nobody uses except me.

The same door at the same location that I used for the rest of my classes, the later first half of the day surprisingly uneventful.

But that same feeling in my gut got stronger as lunch approached and for some reason, I might be one step away from breaking my limit.

End of Chapter 2

That's a wrap for chapter two!

Looks like Knuckles is still having a rough time and judging from the end it might get worse. What will happen?

Also yes I know the narrative is pretty cliche since it's a high school fanfic and there's already a billion of these out there, but for me I never got to dwell much into them in terms of writing so I'll just write on about it haha!

There may be surprises along the way though so keep an eye out! :T

Make sure to check out my other stories as well if you didn't get the chance! Til next time! ouo/