Chapter Two

‘You’re pushing and pulling me down, to you.’

The weekend had gone as smoothly as it could have. Angus went to work on Saturday morning; although he was back before I even got out of bed. I lounged around the house, not bothering to get out of my flannel pajamas or even brush my teeth. Sunday seemed to go the same except Philip, my dad’s best friend, and his son Nathan came over to watch football for the majority of the afternoon. Nathan was okay, he was around my age, my dad said we used to be diaper buddies. Whatever that is. They were still watching TV when I took my shower and got ready for bed and still there when I got under the old quilt my dad had taken out of the attic. It still faintly smelt like mothballs, I would have to remind myself to wash it. I lay there, staring at the ceiling, tomorrow was my first day at school and I couldn’t be less thrilled. I had already refused to drive Angus’ van to school, so I would have to get up an hour earlier in order to make the two mile hike into town. I flipped my pillow over to get the cool side and buried my head in it letting out a muffled scream. My mom said it helps, sometimes. It didn’t. I turned on my side to face the window and watched the raindrops race down the glass until sleep over came me and I was soon blissfully unaware of my dad tucking the quilt under my chin and patting my head goodnight.

Breakfast was a lonely affair. Angus took advantage of me not taking his van and left early for work. I pushed the cornflakes aimlessly around the lip of my bowl until the clouds dominated the sky outside the kitchen window. I pushed myself up from the table and placed my dishes in the sink, washing them twice before stuffing them in the dishwasher. I went upstairs and changed into a pair of faded jeans and an over sized hoodie, I really didn’t feel like making an effort this morning. My mother would have had a fit. I checked the clock, it was seven and school started at eight thirty. I walked across the hall to the bathroom, ran the faucet and placed my face under the cold water until I couldn’t feel the right side of my cheek. I wiped my face with the sleeve of my hoodie and proceeded to brush my teeth vigorously, twice. I stared at my reflection in the mirror, sallow, pale, depressed and tired. I sighed tugging my quills into a ponytail that now reached the middle of my back as my mother refused to let me cut them. I grabbed my trench coat from on top of my desk chair and pulled on my Uggs, which were still wet from yesterday’s journey. I ran down the stairs, grabbed my backpack and headed outside, locking the door behind me and placing the key under the doormat. A fresh layer of snow covered the ground and Angus’ footprints could still be seen etched in the snow. I walked to the end of the driveway put in my IPod and let Bob Dylan walk with me to school.

The school was a lot smaller than what I thought passing it yesterday in the cab. In fact, it seemed like just one big long one story building from the outside. There was no shape to it, hardly any windows and the parking was minimal. One building just to the left was labeled the Cafeteria, which was still in the same red bricked rectangular fashion as the main building. Pulling out the map I’d received from the school in the mail, I memorized the floor plan, which wasn’t that difficult. There were twenty four rooms, marked one through twenty four, simple enough. The main office was at the front of the building, although both the front and back looked exactly the same, if it wasn’t for the blatant sign, it wouldn’t have been obvious.

The receptionist was a slender porcupine with a pale blue chiffon dress. She eyed me suspiciously as I walked through the glass doors and approached her desk.

“Good morning, may I help you?” She scanned her eyes over my face and then the rest of my body before returning to the paperwork she was aimlessly scribbling on.

“My name is Amy Stenthouse. My dad enrolled me.”

Her eyes immediately flooded with recognition as she fumbled with a file stacked amongst a bunch of colorful fliers and posters. She pulled out a class schedule and handed it to me before asking me to sign a waiver and then gave me a name tag, which I would remove as soon as I was out of her sight.

“Gus has said a lot about you, I hope you enjoy your time here at Quillayute High.”

I nodded and fell into file among the bustling halls that had now become over crowded with children. I glanced at my schedule, and a wave of relief rested upon me, Physics was first and I was a complete geek when it came to sciences. It was in room twelve and that is where I stood, the door was open and students were pouring in. I thought I would wait for the teacher that way I could spare myself any embarrassment. No such luck, apparently ‘Gus’ had done me a favor and made sure every Mobian in Quillayute knew who I was. The teacher announced my name in class; I flushed and practically collapsed in my assigned seat. I hadn’t noticed the blue hedgehog trying to get my attention; my forehead was still glued to the desktop. He coughed.

“My name’s Sonic, you must be Amy?”

I didn’t look at him, I was sure my face was still a nice cherry red, no need to draw extra attention to myself.

“Yeah.”

I didn’t feel like talking and thankfully the teacher called on him for an answer, which he got wrong and didn’t speak to me for the remainder of the lesson. The rest of the day went in similar form, the blue hedgehog, whose name I had forgotten walked me to each of my classes, but was only in two, English and physics. I also met a small rabbit, she was in my Art class and she was who I was with now, she said no one should spend their first lunch at a new school alone. I had to admit, I was grateful. She lead me to a table with a few familiar faces, the blue hedgehog was there, as well as a fox and a red echidna. I sat my tray down next to the rabbits as everyone included me in there dismal conversations about exams and the upcoming prom. I scanned the cafeteria, peeling the skin off my apple. It seemed like a normal school, there were the obvious jocks, cheerleaders, geeks and so on. In the far right hand corner was a group of kids I couldn’t bear to take my eyes off of, they were exquisitely beautiful and obviously only a part of their own. I tapped on my neighbor’s shoulder that was identified as Cream; she placed her carrot back on her plate and turned towards me with curious eyes.

“Wh-who are they?”

I nodded towards the back table and she met my gaze and blushed slightly.

“That’s the Avarys. They just moved here from overseas. There all pretty much gorgeous, but they keep to themselves. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them talk to anyone but their kind.”

Their kind? She seemed almost apathetic as she spoke about them. I bit my lip as I turned to face them once again, a pair of crimson eyes caught my gaze and I broke away flushing a deep crimson. His stare seemed aggravated, maybe even angry but I didn’t dare look again.

“The one that’s giving you daggers, his name is Shadow. I wouldn’t waste your time though, he doesn’t date. ”

I couldn’t help but take one more look, but it was in vain, they had all vanished. I immediately relaxed and tried to join in a conversation or two as the lunch edged on. To be honest I wasn’t really interested in anything they talked about, I couldn’t get his hostile presence out of my mind, his eyes flashed across my eyelids every time I blinked. Hopefully we wouldn’t cross paths again, but maybe, I was just lying to myself. My next class was Algebra and of course I couldn’t shake Sonic so he happily did the talking for both of us, I threw in a few ‘mhmm’s’ and ‘ok’s’ when necessary but for the most part he didn’t pay attention to my replies. Okay, so any normal teenager would have hated algebra to begin with but the second I walked in Mr. Hayes greeted me with a large hello and demanded me introduce myself to the class, Sonic escaped behind me. Of course, I blushed and fumbled with my words never making eye contact with any one person, that was until I noticed those blood red eyes staring at me from the back seat. Mr. Hayes handed me a textbook and pointed to the only vacant seat, the one next to the cold stare. I didn’t look to him as I passed and shuffled behind his seat to reach my own, I only noticed his back suddenly stiffen as I sat down next to him. His quills started to rise and I scooted my chair as far away from him as possible. He had one hand over his mouth as if he were about to throw up and the other on the edge of the table, his knuckles peaking through his gloves. I couldn’t help it, I had to look and I immediately regretted it. He was staring at me with such antagonism I felt as if I had committed some terrible crime, but I could not look away and his gaze never broke mine. Reality came crashing down as he spoke;

“Fifty seven, Mr. Hayes.”

I hadn’t even realized he’d been called on as he tore his gaze from mine as he spoke. I let out a gasp of air, I wasn’t aware of a lot of things it seemed. But his voice, like slick velvet, the purest silk. It soothed my anxious karma but thrilled me with an unmistakable fear. I tried to preoccupy myself with my studies, taking meaningless notes and doodling nonchalantly on my notepad. I felt his interrogating gaze on me at the corner of my eye but I ignored it and carried on. The bell rang and startled me from my listlessness almost not noticing him lurch out of his seat and run for the door. I felt somewhat offended. Sonic was by my side in a second, I was beginning to feel a habit coming on.

“Did you spit on Avary’s textbook or something? I’ve never seen him that pissed.”

So it was me.

“The guy I was sitting next to? No.”

He laughed, “he’s a strange guy, no one gets him. He could have been nice enough to talk to you at least. So what’s your next class?”

I pulled my schedule from my pocket and let out a deep groan… Gym. Sonic, was of course, ecstatic. Nothing could dampen his spirits; he was also in the same class and had asked to be my partner. Sports is not a good idea for the uncoordinated, he’d have to learn that the hard way. Who knows, maybe it would help me get my mind off that Avary kid. God knows I needed a distraction.