Shadow was talking with his friends in the cafeteria until he saw Miles sit down at a lonely table. His gaze was fixed on the fox as he started to eat. The fox spotted him, and he quickly looked away. "So, Shadow, will you join us for bowling after practice today?" Sonic asked before taking a bite out of his lunch.
"Maybe I've got a paper to do for Robtinic," Shadow replied.
"Oh, come on, sweetie, it's Friday. You'll have plenty of time to do it over the weekend." Rouge countered. Shadow grumbled in response. As the group contented to talk, from the corner of his eye, he saw the fox was also looking at him. When Miles was spotted he quickly turned his gaze to something else.
A few hours later, Shadow ran laps around the practice track field. "Keep going, Shadow! Just another lap!" Gara, his coach, yelled. He slowed down a bit when he saw Miles on the bleachers. When Shadow found out Miles was staring at him, Miles quickly grabbed a book from his backpack and started to read it.
When Shadow finally finished the last lap, he stood there awhile, out of breath, dripping with sweat, and with his hands on his knees. "Good work out there. You were slipping at the last leg, but you pushed through." The coach said. "Get some water." He said, giving Shadow a pat on the back.
Shadow then walked over to the bench and chugged down his water bottle. Then Sonic sat down next to him. "Yo, Shadow, I've never seen you do that. What happened?"
"It's nothing. I think you are up." Shadow said, pointing to their coach before resuming his water chug.
"Nah, I did my laps already." He said, waving his hand. Then Sonic spotted Miles' twin tails in the bleachers. Sonic knew that only a handful of people watched practice, and they were all regulars. So, seeing anyone new, it would stick out like a sore thumb. "Oh! I think what is going on." Sonic said with a sly grin. Shadow, in response, blushed hard. Shadow was widely known to be gay, so he knew what Sonic was getting at.
"I mean, he is handsome," Shadow mumbled. Then Sonic gave him an encouraging jab with his elbow.
"See! Why don't you go up to him and ask him out?" Sonic asked.
"Another time," Shadow responded. Sonic rolled his eyes before getting up.
"So, are you going bowling?" The hedgehog paused for a moment before responding.
"Sure, I'll go. I got a good start on my paper."
Hours later, Rouge, Knuckles, Amy, Sonic, and Shadow walked into the bowling alley. The sound of pins being knocked over and cheers of people echoed throughout the building. They walked up to the desk, and as they did so, they saw Miles, who looked defeated. This caused most of them to give him a sympathetic look.
Miles was at the bottom of the totem pole in popularity. Despite that, he wasn't bullied that much, primarily thanks to his non-reactions when getting bullied. He barely even emoted, mainly giving a blank face and a flat, monotone voice. Whenever he did emote, it was barely noticeable. So, seeing him with a reaction that they might provide surprised them, to say the least. Then Sonic spoke up, "Hey Miles, is everything alright?"
"No," He replied in his trademark monotone voice. "My only friend abandoned me." The group then looked at each other before walking back a bit.
"I say we let him join our game," Sonic said.
"Agreed," Amy replied. Knuckles' response was only a shrug. That only left Rouge and Shadow, which they all turn to.
"I don't mind, Shadow?" Rouge said, turning over to the ebony hedgehog.
"Sure," Shadow shrugged. Then, the group walked over back to the fox.
"Hey, Miles, want to join us for a game?" Sonic asked. The fox shrugged.
"Why not," He responded. Then, the group got a lane and their shoes. As they were changing shoes, Amy spoke up.
"I'm going to get a pizza for us. Does anyone want anything else?" She asked as she put on her last shoe. Everyone, except for Miles, shook their heads.
"Fries, please," Miles responded. Then everyone gave her some cash for the food and walked to order it.
"So, Miles, have you ever played before?" Knuckles asked.
"Yep," He responded in his trademark voice. Then Amy walked back to the group with a ticket in hand.
"Ok, guys, it should be about twenty minutes," Amy said, sitting down.
"Perfect timing, Ames," Sonic said, tying in the last name. The group looked at the board and saw Sonic's order: Sonic, Amy, Knuckles, Rouge, Shadow, and Miles. With that, he went over and grabbed a bowling ball and started to bowl.
"Hey," Miles said, sitting down near Shadow.
"Hey," Shadow responded. "So, I saw you on the bleachers earlier today."
"Oh, sorry if I distracted you." Tails rubbed the back of his neck.
"It's fine. I just thought someone like you wouldn't watch track practice." The fox shrugged.
"I was bored and thought watching you run would be interesting."
"Really? The smartest person in the school thinks track and field would be interesting?" Shadow said cocking one of his eyebrows. That comment caused the fox to blush hard.
"Thanks," the fox said, rubbing the back of his neck. "And ya, I thought watching the fastest person in the school would be interesting," Miles responded, causing the hedgehog to blush. The two did some more small talk intertwined with their turns going up to bowl.
Once they finished the game, they were all surprised at how good Miles was at the game. They all agreed to another go. As they were about to go again, the pizza and fries arrived. So, they put a pin on doing another game and decided to have dinner.
"So, Miles, if you don't mind me asking, why did Wave abandon you?" Shadow asked before taking a bite of pizza. The group then looked at Shadow, almost asking 'who is Wave.' "Wave is in the advanced classes with the two of us," Shadow responded.
"Oh, that... I mean, we are friends in the loosest of terms. We always do her things, but she just abandons me whenever I want to do something."
"Then she isn't your friend then," Shadow said flatly.
"Exactly, friendship is a two-way street," Sonic added. Tails hummed in response. "So, do you and Shadow ever hang out? I mean, you two share most of the same classes."
"Kind of." The two said.
"We hang out at our houses sometimes and just study together silently." Tails explained.
"Or just read books in the library," Shadow said.
"Well, you two introverts can find something else to do," Amy said with a smile.
About an hour later, the group walked outside of the Bowling alley. "Thanks," Miles said.
"No problem," Sonic chirped. They were about to leave before Shadow spoke up. "Hey, Miles?"
"Hmm?" He responded.
"You look handsome," Shadow responded, blushing. Upon hearing this, Tails blushed too.
"Uh... You look handsome, too." Tails said.
"So, you want to hang out sometime? Like, at a restaurant or something?" Shadow said, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Sure," Tails answered. Then, he wrote his number before handing it over to Shadow. Then he made his way back to his house. Shadow then turned to his friends. All of them looked proud.
"What?" He asked, shoving the number deep into his pocket.
"We are just happy for you, dude," Sonic said, patting Shadow on the back. Shadow only rolled his eyes as they walked back home.
