Chapter One: Roommates

~Amy~

I took a long look around as the cab driver got my bags out of the trunk.

"Wow!" I breathed, "So this is Mobius."

Mobius was a huge city, but I didn't expect it to be this big. The Rose Kingdom's territory is about twice the size of this city. The city surrounding the castle is a little smaller than Mobius.

I'd only ever seen small cities. I guess I expected Mobius to be smaller. I had never seen a city this size before. It reminded me of home.

The place where I grew up. The place where I had my lessons, where I learned to be a good leader. Remembering my home brought tears to my eyes.

No, I scolded myself, You do not cry. Princesses don't cry.

I sigh and wipe away a tear that had escaped.

I'll miss you Mother...

As if she had really heard me, my phone started to ring, playing the song Big Girls Don't Cry by Fergie. I checked the caller ID anyways and sure enough, it was Mother.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Amy, darling, how are you? Did you make it into the city alright?"

"I'm fine Mother, I'm in the city. You never told me that Mobius was bigger than Lithonia."

"I didn't want to scare you sweetheart. Although, things don't scare you easily, do they? Anyways, have you found the apartment yet? It's a little ways from the school so you can walk there."

I sigh again, "No, but I'm on my way to the building. A is it? And room fourteen right?"

"Yes. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that you have two roommates."

"Roommates?" I ask through tight lips.

"I know you don't like the idea of sharing a home, especially one so small, but you'll get through it. They're lovely girls! Oh I know you'll just love them! They've been looking for a new addition anyways, and I thought you'd be perfect!"

"I hope I do like them. Are they nice?"

"You'll find out soon."

"Alright then, I think I found the building, so I'll call you later."

"Promise?"

"I promise. Now I really must go."

"I love you Amy."

"I love you too Lesa." I hang up the phone.

I made my way into the building carrying all of my luggage. The lobby wasn't anything fancy, just eggshell-colored walls and some shaggy brown carpets. I went up to the front desk and asked the clerk if I could have the keys to my room.

"State your name please," she tells me.

"Amy Rose."

"You are in room fourteen, it is on the second floor, the last door to the right," she says as she hands me the keys.

"Thank you very much," I tell her, making my way to the elevator. As I was walking, I saw the familiar figure of a red-and-black hedgehog across the lobby. The figure yelled, "See Maria! I told you you couldn't keep up." Then it ran to the stairs.

"Shadow!" a yellow hedgehog, who I'm assuming is Maria, calls while running past me to the elevator.

"When I catch you..."

"If you catch me!" the black hedgehog, who I think is Shadow, yells back while running up the stairwell.

"Just you wait!" Maria yells and steps into the only elevator.

I sigh. I'll just wait. I see the numbers climb up until they reach level five. It stops and begins to come back down.

I really hope it's empty...

Of course, when the elevator comes back down, a green hedgehog steps out of it. He's wearing shades, and he has a scar on his chest.

He takes off the shades and looks me over. He whistles.

"Well, well, well, are you having a tough time with all of those bags? Sweetheart? Do you need some help or what?

I didn't like the way he was looking at me. It sent chills down my spine.

So I simply said, "No thank you. I'll manage," and I tried walking past him and into the elevator. He grabbed my shoulder and held me in place. My bags were weighing me down already, so I couldn't shake myself free.

"Listen here, Sweetheart," he says slowly while putting his shades back on, "when I offer to help you, I expect you to accept my offer. Not to blow me off like you're some 'tough girl'.

"Now, are you going to hand me a bag, or are we going to stand here all day?"

Just who is this creep? Why does he keep calling me sweetheart? How does he expect me to hand over my stuff when he's being such a jerk? What type of person demands someone to do something they already said no to? But he won't let me go, so what choice do I have?

"Fine!" I say through gritted teeth.

"Now that's more like it," he says and takes two suitcases from my hands. He walks into the elevator, and I follow. He sets the suitcases down and looks at me.

"What floor?" he asks.

"Um, second," I tell him. He presses button number two, and the doors close.

What a rude way of meeting someone. I hope my roommates are not like him.

I look at the buttons again and see one labeled B. The one above that is labeled L. After that, it goes up from number one to six. This place is huge, I think to myself. The last button is right above the six. It is labeled R. The B probably stands for Basement, the L for Lobby, and the R for Roof.

"So, what brings you to this place?" he asks me. So now he's being civil...

"Well..." I hesitate, remembering how rude he was earlier.

"Look, about what I said... sorry. I just don't uh, take rejection very well..." he looks down and rubs the back of his head.

"Here," he says while holding out his right hand, "the name's Scourge. What's yours?"

"Amy," I say as I shake his hand. The elevator dings, and the doors pop open.

"Well, Amy," Scourge says as he picks up the suitcases, "what number?"

"Fourteen."

He leads the way and sets both suitcase down in front of an opened door.

Really, it was opened just a tiny bit. I guess I should thank him for helping, since he did apologize...

"Um, thank you, for helping Scourge."

"Anytime Any, anytime." He walks off without another word. He's an... interesting person.

I can hear voices coming from the room. I take a deep breath, pick up my bags, and open the door all the way.

~Blaze~

"Hey Blaze? When do you think she'll arrive?" Cream asks me for about the hundredth time.

"Who knows? We got the news three days ago," I told her.

Geez, I thought, how many times do I have to hear her ask that question? Please get here today Amy! For my sanity's sake!

"Well, I hope she comes today. We've got school tomorrow morning!"

"I hope so too Cream, I really do. Though I'm sure she'll be he-" I stopped as the door opened and our new roommate, Amy, steps into the doorway. She's a pink hedgehog with long pink hair to match. She's carrying a lot of bags.

"Umm... Hello?" Amy says in a quiet and unsure voice.

Cream pops up from her spot on the couch and says, "OMG Blaze! She's here!"

"No!" I say, my voice practically dripping with sarcasm, "I thought she was on the moon!"

"Hi!" Cream says to Amy, "I'm Cream, and this," she points to me and I wave, "is Blaze. You must be Amy! It's great to finally meet you!"

"Yes... that's me."

"Well," I add because I'm tired and embarrassed by Cream scaring our new roommate, "are you going to stand there all night, or are you going to come inside?"

"What Blaze means is, will you please come inside?" Cream asks while giving me a sharp look over her shoulder. "I'll show you to your room.

Cream lead the way to Amy's room. Amy looks around the place, looking at everything. Taking in every tiny detail. I just hope she doesn't notice the stain on the wall from where I spilled some of my strawberry smoothie last week.

By the time we make it to her room, Amy is smiling, I don't know why, but she is.

"You two have a lovely home," she comments.

"Cream's the one who decorates," I tell her with a shrug.

"Well someone has to..." Cream says with a shrug of her own.

"Thank you both for letting me stay here," Amy says politely.

"Don't mention it, it gets kind of boring having only Cream to hang out with."

"Blaze!" Cream gasps.

"What? I'm just kidding."

"You'd better be..." she mumbles while going to sit on Amy's bed.

"Well, I think it's time to go to bed." It was almost ten and we have to get up early for school.

Amy rubs her eyes and sits next to Cream saying, "I think you might be right."

"Yeah," Cream agrees, "we've got a big day tomorrow!"

"Alright then," Amy yawns, "goodnight!"

"Nighty-night!" Cream replies while getting up from the bed.

"Night." I say and close the door behind me.

We walk down the hall to go to our rooms. When we get to Cream's door she stops and says, "That went well, don't you think?"

"If you think she likes being surrounded by eagerness, then I'd say it went perfectly."

"Hey, it wasn't that bad," she says while hitting me lightly in the shoulder.

"I guess not..."

"Well, goodnight!"

"Night..."

I watched as Cream opened the door to her cream and orange colored room. I walk down the hall to my own and open the door. I step inside my room and see the lavender-painted walls.

I crawl into bed thinking, I wonder what Amy thinks of us.

Somehow, my eyelids got heavy and I fell asleep.