SonAdow - Romance in Highschool?

Sonic: Closer to My Crush

~~~~~~~~~Sonic: Lunch?~~~~~~~~~

I am so, so, tired... I moan inwardly, rubbing my eyes as I peer down at the worksheet I'm supposed to be doing. The amount of focus it demands is far too much for me, tired as I am from this morning. A shuffling sound comes from behind and to the left, and I look back to see Shadow flipping over his paper.

Leave it to him to be the first person on the back... How does he work so quickly, anyways? I groan quietly as I try and get my mind into a useable state. I force myself to complete several questions so that I appear to have been working during math, but it's mind-numbingly boring. Casting my gaze to my right, I see Knuckles sitting only one chair over from me, pencil bending dangerously far as he clenches his fist. He seems a bit frustrated with the problems... I sigh as I realize I don't have much clue what to do myself.

I've done all of the easy problems, but this? "Find the constant k so the quadratic equation 7x2 + 2x - k = 0 has two real solutions"? Is that even possible? I basically end up sitting through the whole class, the only time I felt even remotely comfortable with the subject having long since passed when Mrs.Goldencoat had been demonstrating a problem. I hate Algebra III so much... Mrs. Goldencoat is great, but this is impossible! The bell rings, and I sigh again when I realize I now have 4 minutes to trudge over to English 11. Can't there be time for a break? My mood lifts slightly when I see Shadow get yanked out of the room by Rouge, her happily anticipating the conversations that could be had in the back of English with her friends, him looking like he'd rather stay in Algebra III.

"Sorry, hun!" Rouge waves at me as she nearly clips me with her heavy bag. Shadow meets my eyes momentarily, and my heart flutters at the sight of his beautiful crimson eyes. So vibrant... I have another thrill when the hallway crowd causes us to bump into one another. Shadow doesn't seem to have lost his balance, so I--unfortunately--don't get the chance to steady him with my arm. My brain fires up, becoming giddy at the idea of escorting him to class with my arm through his. That would be so amazing...

"Hey! Watch where you're going if you know what's good for you!" I whirl around to see the over-reigning asshole of the school, the infamous Scourge the Hedgehog with his red sunglasses, fanged smirk, and stupid-looking flame-embroidered leather jacket. I didn't even touch him. Asshat. I glare at him, but ignore his comment and continue on my way. I notice that Shadow seems to have picked up the pace, and attribute it to Scourge's arrival. Leave it to Scourge to come along and ruin my moment with Shadow. Hurrying around the corner, an impulse to shout after Shadow slams into my mind.

"Hey, Shadow! Wait up!" I call, the noise having left my mouth before my brain could register it. Both Rouge and Shadow look back at me, and Shadow seems confused as to why I'm talking to him. At first I roll with it, a friendly smile lighting up on my face as I think of how cute he looks. Then I freeze.

Why, oh why, did I call his name?! Now he's going to think I'm weird or something; as far as he--and everyone else--knows, I'm just the new kid who sits next to him in chemistry. Dagnabbit, it's so easy to forget he doesn't think of me like I do him! The situation is set, though, and I jog forward to catch up with my crush. Pulling even with him and Rouge, I slow my pace and start walking next to Shadow. Time to improvise...

"Hey, so I was wondering, do you happen to know what...um...what...uh...what electron affinity is?" Mentally, I slap myself for asking such a stupid question, as I already knew the answer from listening to Tails' enthusiastic ramblings about chemistry camp over the summer, and I'm sure that Shadow will assume I'm an idiot. Despite my extremely forced reason for talking to him, Shadow just blinks and nods.

"Yes, I do. Electron affinity is the energy change accompanying the addition of an electron to a neutral gaseous atom, which forms a negative ion. Why do you ask? We're not covering it right now, you know." Shadow's deep tenor voice crashes over me like a waterfall, and I wonder vaguely if it could be described as a high bass. I'm so entranced by his soft-spoken tone that I take several seconds to register the fact he actually answered my question.