Spooky

Chapter 34

{Author's Note: A short break from the depressing bits; here's a little oasis of sweetness plus a song that I feel is well-suited to their relationship~ Enjoy! And happy holidays and whatnot; Christmas will pass before my next update, so I thought it'd be best to leave off with something sweet and lovely before getting back to the darker bits.
I hope you all have a great holiday season regardless of what holiday you do/don't celebrate!}

-Scourge's POV-

The Thursday before winter break, our little squad gathers in the courtyard between dorms outside. We've all just taken our foreign language finals, and decided to meet up in order to study for our history finals together. Naturally since I took no notes all year long, and Shadow's notes are messy, filled with odd doodles, and contain no information of value, both of us spring at the chance to piggyback off our friends' notes. Rouge's notes are all fancy and colour-coded, well-organized and written in easy-to-read handwriting. Steel's notes are somewhere between Shadow's and hers; he has little bits Rouge missed, but also lots of little zentangle patterns all over the place.

Shadow and I are sitting on the ground in front of Steel and Rouge, each of us copying down their notes while we four chat casually. Steel is leaning back, left arm behind the back of the bench, right arm resting on the armrest, both legs splayed out and taking up a lot of room. Rouge, by contrast, sits with her legs crossed, reclining in the little corner formed by the opposite armrest. Shadow and I are cross-legged, with him in something that resembles the Lotus position, and me being more basic and far less flexible.

"I will say," Shadow comments, "one good thing about finals week is my backpack isn't so damn heavy."

Rouge snorts. "Well, if you actually used your damn locker instead of hauling all your schoolbooks around twenty-four-seven, maybe it wouldn't be so heavy!"

A question suddenly pops into my mind. "How do we even know what locker is ours?" I ask. "Where did they put that information?"

Steel raises an eyebrow at me. "Dude, it was on your schedule right below your name."

I blink, surprised, then grin. "Oh, I lost that on like," I try not to laugh, "the second day of school, dude."

"It's probably lost in the fuckin' abyss of your backpack," Shadow snorts, turning a page in his notebook.

"What do you mean, 'probably'?" I quip, "That's absolutely where it went and it's dead now."

The four of us break into laughter, and I feel a bit proud of myself, looking over at Shadow as he tries to keep from laughing, one hand covering his muzzle as he giggles, not looking at anyone.

"Hey, guys!" I hear Sonic's voice suddenly interrupt us, and we all look up in relative unison. He's trotting towards us, waving cheerfully, with an oddly red-faced Knuckles in tow close behind him. "Group study session?"

"Yeah," Rouge answers with a friendly smile. "Say, how d'you think you did today?"

"Terribly!" He beams. "But also, I don't care. How did you do?"

"Ehhh," Rouge waves a hand, shrugging, and Shadow nods sagely.

I snort. "Same."

"I think I did okay," Steel pipes up a bit quietly. "Passing grade at least."

For a little bit we make small talk, and I feel oddly...comfortable. It's been a long time since Sonic and I could just exist in the same space without the air feeling tense. It's never been a secret that we don't get along, least of all to ourselves, and yet there isn't any tension in the air between us right now. That in and of itself almost makes me uncomfortable, but I force myself to brush it away. He's trying to make amends in his own way, I know that, and it's probably going to be awkward for a time. If anyone else sees it, they neglect to speak on it; only Knuckles seems to still be a little out-of-sorts. He hangs back, not joining in on our conversation, eyes skating to Sonic every now and then. Something in his eyes is a little familiar, though I can't place it.