Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark

Friend's Comfort

Sonic couldn't focus on classes, not to the level he wanted. His mind kept drifting back to his friends’ words and worry filled his chest. His teachers seemed to notice something was off. A few were gentle with their approach, while one called Sonic out in the middle of class- yelling at him... So Sonic used his speed and put a paper on his back saying he was a dumb diaper baby- and so far he hadn't noticed one bit.

The second the class was over Sonic quickly walked out, even if there was no real way to prove it was him.

Normally he would be laughing about the ordeal, but even with the small prank, it didn't bring much joy. He just couldn't get it out of his head, so he was more than eager for lunchtime.

Sonic walked to the lunchroom, grabbing his normal lunch then headed for their normal spot in the courtside courtyard. Getting some fresh air sounded pretty nice, and after being forced to sit so still in all his classes he normally spent most of his lunches running off the excess energy.

Sonic set his tray down at one of the outsides tables, smiling as one by one his friends found their way to their meeting place. Their backpacks were all tossed under the table in the pile of protection. Now, worry-free the group started to eat at their leisure, except for Sonic. He, as fast as ever finished his entire meal as if it was some sort of contest, then popped up and did a few quick laps around the perimeter of the courtyard. It used to be all grass out here, but since Sonic popped up they added some gravel because the grass was dying- and they couldn't deny a student trying to be healthy during lunch after being stuffed inside all day- especially since Sonic wasn't even trying to run his full speed at all.

As Sonic did his hundredth lap he noticed Sam was tossing grapes into Alan's mouth. Oh please~.

Sonic dashed over, and as Sam tossed another grape he jumped up, catching it in his own mouth.

"Too slow Alan! You have to be quicker," Sonic skidded to a stop a few feet away, grinning confidently. Sam laughed, plucking another grape off her tray and tossed it towards Sonic, who caught it in his mouth again.

"Yea whatever Sonic. Everything has to be fast with you," the redhead scoffed. "You ruined my streak, I was about to beat my record at that... Anyways, with all that speed, when are you going to try out for baseball?"

"Oh you know I would love to," Sonic zipped right over, sitting between Jerry and Kevin, his feet once against dangling off of the seat. Nothing was sized to what he needed!

"If you would love to, why not?" Kevin sighed, putting his math book down.

"Well, it's clear why," Jerry looked at them plainly. "Sonic would clearly feel like he's cheating because he's a one-man team and no one can really defeat him so playing with our team would make him the star player instantly, but also if he joined he'll have to go out of town for baseball games, therefore, other schools will find out we have a talking hedgehog on our team. Correct?"

"... Yes," Sonic sighed.

"Quill," Jerry said plainly as he reached over, removing a loose quill that was barely hanging onto Sonic's uniform. "Didn't you brush them out this morning?”

"Hey I did, but you know... I kinda lose a lot in the fall and running around so much loosens them."

"Oh seriously? Let me help!" Alan grinned.

"Hey, wait-" and just like that Sonic was sitting on the ground with his friends around him. They helped groom his quills, pulling out the loose ones and making a small pile on the ground for Sonic to take home.

"... Guys, I wanted to talk."

"Oh, is it about you spacing out so much during class?" Jerry dully asked. "Because I'm trying to figure out why someone as energized as you could be so slow in class."