“Sonic! Hurry up so you can eat breakfast!” Sonia yells up the stairs to get her brother’s attention.

“I’ll be down in a minute!” The blue hedgehog shouts back, trying to be heard over the sound of his hairdryer. He quickly finishes blow-drying his quills and removes the towel from around his chest. He slips on some underwear and a tank top and goes over to his closet. He picks out a pair of dark jeans, a long-sleeve black shirt, and his favorite sleeveless red hoodie. He slips on some ankle socks before going downstairs.

Sonic enters the kitchen just as Sonia sets a plate of breakfast down on the table. He sits and begins eating his food as he listens to the twins chatting.

“I told you, Sonia, there’s nothing to be worried about.” Manic leans against the counter with his arms crossed.

Sonia looks a little peeved. “Manic, you can barely ride a hoverbike, let alone a motorcycle! I just don’t get why you want one in the first place.” She puts her hands on her hips with a huff. “Besides, we have a car in perfect condition that works just fine.”

The green hedgehog shakes his head. “Yeah, but motorcycles are cool. Plus, how am I supposed to impress anyone with that old piece of junk?”

“It’s not junk! It’s a classic car.” The magenta hedgehog argues.

“Junk.” Manic smirks as Sonia glares at him.

“Ugh, you’re unbelievable sometimes,” Sonia says with a sigh.

Sonic rolls his eyes. They do this almost every day it seems. Argue over the smallest of things. Manic tends to get his way most of the time though.

Sonic finishes his breakfast and gets up from his seat. “I’m heading to school guys.” He speaks a bit loudly to be heard over the still bickering twins.

Sonia looks over at him as if just noticing he was there. “You sure you don’t want one of us to drive you?”

The blue hedgehog looks back at his sister as he’s slipping on his red sneakers and grabs his backpack. “It’s okay, Knuckles said he’d walk with me.”

Sonia sighs. “Okay.” She places a hand on his head, running her fingers through his quills. “Be safe alright?”

“I will.”

When Sonic gets outside, Knuckles is already waiting for him.

“Took you long enough, what happened to being the fastest thing alive?” The echidna smirks.

“Hush. It takes time to look this good.” Sonic tilts his nose up at him in a mockingly snobbish way.

Knuckles rolls his eyes. “Yeah, whatever. Let’s get going.”

Sonic follows behind the other as they make their way to school, meeting Tails and Amy on the way, and tunning them out as they start talking about some advanced math class they both take. Sonic doesn’t really follow and Knuckles is clueless. He’s not the brightest crayon in the box after all. Sonic may be quite good with academics, but he’s only taking standard classes.

They reach the school grounds in fifteen minutes.

Tails looks over at Sonic excitedly. “Ready for your first day of public school, Sonic?”

Sonic sighs, staring at the large school building. This is going to be different than having a private tutor. “As ready as I’ll ever be…”

Amy gives him a sympathetic look. “Don’t worry, Sonic. It’ll be okay. That’s what you got us for, remember?”

“Mm-hm.” Though he doesn’t look very convinced.

“Come on, I’ll take you to the main office.” Amy takes him by the hand, leading him away from the other two as they head to class.

When they get to the main office, the place looks empty. Amy rings the bell sitting on the desk.

A female rabbit in a navy blue uniform rushes out of one of the rooms in the back. Her name tag displays ‘Mrs. Kendall.’

“Ah, Hello Ms. Rose. What can I do for you today?” She pats down her short blond hair to get it back in order.

“My friend here is the new student we were getting, remember?”

Her face lights up in realization. “Ah, that’s right! You must be Maurice.”

Sonic grimaces at the sound of his real name. “Just call me Sonic please…”

The lady rabbit gives him a small smile. “Alright then, Sonic.” She goes through a file on her desk and pulls out a couple of papers. She bounces them on the desk to get them in order before handing them to Sonic. “Here is your class schedule, Ms. Rose requested for you to have a few classes with some of your friends to help you get better settled. It also has your locker number and the combination. There’s a list of the textbooks you’ll need. You can get them from the library. Miss Elisa knows you’re coming so be sure to swing by before heading to class.” She goes into her desk again and pulls out a little ID card. “Here’s your student card, be sure not to lose it.” She hands him the card and clasps her hands together with a gentle smile on her face. “That should be all for now. I hope you have a wonderful first day.”

As they’re walking to the library to retrieve Sonic’s needed textbooks, the blue hedgehog stares at his class schedule. His brow furrows as he reads it. 

“Amy, some of these classes are unnecessary. I learned French last year, I don’t need a class for it…”

The pink hedgehog shrugs. “I don’t know, maybe it’s just for credits. At least it will be an easy class.” They got to the library and an elderly dog sat at the front desk with a short stack of books. “Plus you can help me out. You know French is difficult for me.”

Sonic gives his friend a skeptical look. “Why do I get the feeling you have something to do with it?”

Amy looks away innocently. “I have no idea what you’re talking about…”

“Mm.” Sonic rolls his eyes and grabs his books from the librarian. He thanks the lady and they make their way to the lockers.

The halls still had a couple of students milling about as it wasn’t time for the first period yet.

They find Sonic’s locker easily as it was just a few lockers down from Amy’s.

“Okay, my first class is English. I don’t have a book for that though…” Sonic hefts the textbooks onto the shelf of his locker and closes the door.

“Mr. Louis keeps the books in his classroom. So you don’t have to worry about it.”

They hear the warning bell ring. Everyone starts heading to their classes and Sonic and Amy do the same.

“I can ask the teacher to move some seats around so you can sit by me if you want?” Amy supplies helpfully.

Sonic shakes his head. “That’s okay, Amy. You don’t have to baby me, I can sit by myself…”

Amy pats him on the shoulder and smiles at him. “Alright, then.”

Amy goes to her seat next to a purple cat and they start chatting before class starts. 

Sonic sighs and makes his way to the teacher’s desk. The teacher is a black lynx, a look of annoyance on his face. Either he always looks like that or he just really hates his job.

“Excuse me?” Sonic piped up.

The teacher, Mr. Louis, flicks his blue eyes up from his book. His eyes light up with realization when he notices that Sonic isn’t one of his usual students. He puts down the book and sits back in his chair.

“I take you’re my new student, then?” He doesn’t wait for the hedgehog to answer as he goes into his file cabinet and hands Sonic a stack of papers. “Here, take these and read over them. If you have any questions, ask me at the end of class.” He points to an empty seat in the middle row next to a similar-looking lynx. “Take that seat over there.” He goes back to reading his book as a sign that the conversation was over.

The blue hedgehog takes his seat and sets down the papers he was given. A second later the lynx he’s sitting next to turns to him with a large grin.

“Heya, I’m Mason! What’s your name?” Mason’s red eyes seem to sparkle with excitement.

“Uh, I’m Sonic.” Sonic answers, giving Mason a confused look.

“Sonic? That’s a great name! If you need any help, don’t hesitate to ask me, okay?”

Sonic looks away. “Yeah, … thanks, I guess?”

Mason thankfully doesn’t say anything more after that. It gives Sonic a chance to look around the room. He’s never been in a classroom before so he wasn’t sure what to expect. It looks like the room of an English teacher if he had to guess. But there were some French things around the room too. So Mr. Louis must be the French teacher too. Great.

The bell rings, signaling the start of class. The students all immediately quiet down and pay attention to the teacher.

“How was your first ever classroom experience?” Amy asks, grinning cheekily. They’re going back to their lockers to prepare for the next class.

Sonic lets out a little sigh. “To be honest? A little underwhelming.”He opens his locker to put his workbook away.

“Well, it was just English. It tends to not be a very exciting class. Plus Mr. Louis has a no-nonsense attitude so…” the pink hedgehog trails off, but Sonic can get what she means. “What’s your next class?”

The blue hedgehog takes out his schedule to see. “Uh… algebra? With someone named Mr. Taiga?”

“Ooh! I think you’ll like this class. Mr. Taiga is nice too. I had him last year.” Any opens her locker to grab what looks like a Government textbook.

“If you say so…” Sonic grabs his book for algebra. Amy leads him to where Mr. Taiga's room is.

“Okay, I’ll see you at lunch. I think Knuckles is in your next two classes so he should be here after class to help.” Amy fixes her bag on her shoulder.

“Alright, later than.” Sonic watches Amy leave down the hallway before entering the classroom.