Hedgehog Tales (one-shots, short stories, comics & art)

ML: New Friends & Old Enemies Chapter.1

(Note: this isn't some of my best work since I wrote it back in 2019. Simply copying stories from my deviantart. Enjoy regardless!)

Ugh. Oh, how she loathed middle school. The hormones making assholes out of the kids you once thought were angels. You had to walk from class to class which was somewhat of a bummer. Though, she wouldn't mind the lockers if it weren't for the jocks trying to shove her into one every few weeks. No. The thing she loathed the most was how certain people thought being popular was so important they would break off their friendships. That's what happened to her.

She stared at the small polaroid in her fingers. It was a picture of herself with two other girls; an aqua-colored bird and a light brown monkey named Celie and Hari. She was fed up with crying and lying that everything was fine, all because it wasn't.
Those two other girls were her only friends in elementary school. For them to ditch her the way they did because she once (or twice) threatened the whole school about screwing with her family, was soul-crushing to her. Sure. Maybe she was in the wrong. But she has felt so outcasted since grade 6, her cousin Ruby was her only pal.

"Damnit, middle school," Maria-Lee said as she wiped away stray tears. The young, pink-and-red hedgehog has been using her sadness to fuel her rage during this past year, and the last step was going to be carried out tonight. Or so she thought.

"M.L dear! It's supper time!" Maria's mother called out from the kitchen.
M.L lightly sighed, finished drying her eyes and put the polaroid back into a box along with other polaroids, make-up kits, boyband albums, and all her most girly clothes either gifted to her or borrowed from her ex-friends, that she labeled burn. "I'll be back for you later." She said to the box before leaving her room.

When she walked into the dining room, all of a sudden, "SURPRISE! Happy birthday, Maria!" the whole family was there joining them. The uncles and aunts; Sonic, Silver, Knuckles, Tails, Rouge and Blaze were even there.
Cousin Ruby gave M.L a squeeze "Hey girl! How've you been?"
"Ruby! Great! W-What's going on? My birthday isn't for a few more days."
On cue, Maria's mother knelt down to her "We got a call from G.U.N for a mission. We have to leave tonight and we won't be back for at least a week." Oh, no. She knew what this meant.
"Great! Babysat by the agents of 'F.U.N'!" With how sarcastic she spoke, it seemed her mother didn't pick up on it at all.
Ruby responded with a shrug of the shoulders and a look that said: "that won't be a problem for us!"

Maria, Ruby, and Chaos have to live at G.U.N headquarters whenever their parents are sent on missions around the world. They're never allowed to leave except for school, or if it's crucial like; working on a group project at a friend's house, they must request leave and must be accompanied by a squad of G.U.N guards. Luckily, guards that are stationed to watch over the children's quarters are rookies. So, Ruby and Maria can come up with plans to trick them and escape for some fresh air and real fun.

"Well, look on the bright side." Uncle Silver points out, "You can open your gifts sooner!" He holds up a few present bags in pride and M.L gives him a grin.
They proceed to the dinner table and enjoy some of Gecko delivery's pepperoni pizza, some cake and began opening gifts.

She received a bunch of cool things like; new running shoes from Uncle Sonic, a baseball bat from Uncle Silver and Aunt Blaze, and black leggings with a long purple tank top along with matching sleeves from Ruby and her parents. Last was mom and dad's gift. Maria opened to find a black jacket that looked somewhat like her parents' G.U.N jackets that she saw in the store once. She immediately put the jacket on, gave her parents a big hug and thanked everyone.
When the party was over, M.L collected her things, hid her burn box in the closet, and left for G.U.N with the others.