Chapter 3:
Chapter 3, "Starting School":
Sonic woke up when he heard knocking on the bedroom door. Tails entered and watched as Sonic sleepily rubbed his eyes, then said, "Rise and shine, sleepy head. You have to get up and get ready for school." Sonic looked at Tails, still half asleep and confused, and asked, "School?" Tails smirked, "Yeah, Janet already set you up with the public school. You start today in 3 hours, and the bus leaves in..." He glanced at his watch, "1 1/2 hours or so, so you'd better hurry up if you don't want to be late!" Tails walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.
Upon hearing the words 'don't be late', Sonic quickly got up and looked to see if Shadow was awake. He wasn't in the bed, however. 'That's strange,' he thought, 'Why would he get up and not wake me up?' Sonic shook his head, deciding he would find out later, then got dressed as quickly as he could. He then rushed downstairs to find everyone else eating breakfast in the kitchen. Janet smiled, "Morning dear! How did you sleep Sonic?" She pointed to a bowl of cereal, already made for him, sitting on the counter. Sonic picked it up and found a spot at the table to sit at. Shadow was sitting on the opposite side, and he looked at Sonic and smiled when he sat down, but then went back to eating.
"I slept fine, Mrs. Janet, thanks. I didn't realize I was starting school already, so I had to rush," Sonic said. Janet smiled cheerfully, then said, "Just call me Janet dear, everyone else does, but you can call me Mrs. Janet or mom if you like. Whatever makes you feel comfortable, dear." Sonic nodded and, finishing his bowl of cereal, rushed it to the sink and headed upstairs to get his backpack ready. 5 minutes later, he came downstairs and found that everyone else was already done eating. Janet said, "They all went outside hon, they're waiting for the bus to come, it should be here any minute." "Shadow will explain everything else you need to know, now hurry up so you're not late!" Janet smiled at Sonic, and Sonic nodded, then went out the front door.
Sonic closed the door behind them, and turned around to see Shadow standing and waiting for him. He had a smirk on his face, and carried a black backpack with him. He wore dark blue jeans and a plain black shirt. He also wore some plain black sneakers, a pair of black and red leather gloves, and a silver chain around his neck. He spoke when Sonic came out, "It's about time, what took you so long to get up?" Sonic smirked back, "Well I didn't know I had to get up, and you apparantly didn't get me up, so I slept a little late." Sonic followed Shadow around the curb to the bus stop, where the others were waiting also. Knuckles waved at them, "Hey, there you guys are. We're waiting on you, the bus should be here any minute." Rogue interrupted, "Speaking of the bus..." Rogue pointed down the street where a school bus was driving twoards them.
Shadow nudges Sonic, "Sit next to me so I can explain everything to you." Sonic nodded and smiled, but in his head, he thought, 'Is that the ONLY reason you want me to sit next to you?' Sonic shook his head, 'What am I thinking? I need to snap out of it before I say something I'll regret later. Besides, why would I want him to sit next to me? Like I said earlier, he's a boy, and i'm not gay.... am I? I mean, I don't like him..... I don't think I do at least.' The bus pulled up and everyone got on the bus. Shadow and Sonic got on last so they could sit togeather. They found a seat and Sonic sat next to the window. Shadow sat next to him.
"So.... We ride this bus every day to the school. If you miss it, you have to walk. At school, you'll take the same classes as me since we're both in the 9th grade, so just follow me when we get there," Shadow said, "We start off going to health and gym since we need to have I quarter of both. Then we have algebra, then english, then history, then science, and after that we go to sort of a "study hall" where we can work on homework and study, all of those things. We take this same bus home after that, and if you miss it at the end of the day,-" Sonic interrupted, "You're walking instead, right?" Shadow nodded, "That's pretty much it. By the way, how good are you at algebra?" Sonic shrugged, "Pretty good, I guess. I make B's." "Good," Shadow said, "Because I ... well... I suck at algebra, and I could use your help." Shadow paused before adding, "That is, if you don't mind." Sonic smiled, "Sure, i'd be glad to help."
