It was 3:45 am when Sonic forced himself awake. He looked over at Shadow to see him still sleeping. He smiled and gently rubbed Shadow's ear, causing him to make a soft groan as he rolled over. Sonic smiled more as he watched Shadow's chest rise and fall with each breath. He sighed, knowing that he had to leave if he didn't want to get in trouble. Sonic stretched and then bolted up the flight of stairs to the attic room where he tucked himself into his rock soild bed, laid his head on his ice cold pillow, and closed his eyes to hopefully get at least ten more minutes of sleep before he got ready for the day. Although, he only got three minutes of sleep before he was awakened.
Sonic groaned when he felt someone shaking him. He opened his eyes to find Nicole.
"Sonic, you don't want to be late, right?"
Sonic slowly got out of bed. He desperately didn't want to go to work today. He looked around for his shoes and socks, then remembered, he'd left them in Shadow's room! He couldn't risk going to get them from fear of never seeing Shadow again. So, he decided to get them later. He walked to the kitchen with Nicole and the others, trying to ignore the smell of pancakes.
"Slaves," Mr. Lemon Grab spoke, "So glad to see you ready for the day. Especially you Runt." Sonic winced but tried to ignore him. "Here is a list of your chores today." Sonic was handed a list that seemed to travel all the way to Kentucky when unraveled. He groaned in frustration and went to work.
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"Hey Shadow," Milan said when he sat down at their table for breakfast. "Have you found your date yet?" Shadow chocked on his pancakes. James slapped him on the back until he could breathe again.
"No!" Shadow squeaked.
"Well, you should be expect that question to be asked three times a day Shadow. We're all going with a date. BTW, the prom's on Saturday."
Shadow chocked on his pancakes again!
Three days?! How the ?&^% am I suppose to find a date within that time limit?!
"Don't worry," Shadow assured his friends. "I'll find a date." The bell rang and the group packed up their things and went to class.
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An ear-splitting scream was heard coming down the hall from Mr. Meen's room. All heads turned toward the door.
"Ignore it students," Mr. Meen said, "It's probably just that unfortunate runt of the slaves."
Sonic?!
For the rest of the day, Shadow focused on seeing Sonic as soon as he could.
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It was late that afternoon when Shadow tended to Sonic's wounds. Sonic drew a sharp breath as the ointment that Shadow was putting on his cuts stung his back. When Shadow was done, Sonic sighed.
"Thank you Shadow," Sonic said and sat up. That was when Shadow noticed an interesting jagged scar at the base of Sonic's throat.
"What is this?" Shadow asked and reached out for it. Sonic grabbed his wrist, restraining him.
"Don't touch. It still hurts...even after all this time..."
"How did you get this?"
"It was my first day here, and I remembered I was crying because I would never see my mom again. Principal Hydron took the leather whip beside the door--I'm sure you've seen it--and he whipped me across the throat. I wasn't able to speak for two years."
Shadow's eyes grew wide.
"I'm so sorry that happened to you."
Sonic and Shadow hugged. Shadow looked at the alarm clock on the nightstand.
"Wanna watch a movie?"
Sonic whispered back, "What's a moo-vie?" Shadow looked at him, bewildered. How could he not know what a movie was?
"Well, if you wanna watch one, I'll show you."
"Okay."
Shadow took a VHS off the shelf beside the TV.
"This one is called Aladdin 2: The Return of Jafar."
"Sounds interesting," Sonic replied. Shadow nodded and put the movie in.
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"Come out Sonic!" Shadow said.
"No!" Sonic screamed his reply and trembled beneath the bedsheets. Shadow felt bad for not warning Sonic about Jafar's death.
"Don't worry Sonic. I'll protect you from Jafar." Sonic peeked out from his hiding place and asked, "You will?" Shadow nodded and said, "C'mon. I'll take you back to the attic." Sonic nervously swallowed at the thought of the attic. At night. Being dark. He pulled the bedsheets over himself and said, "Can I stay here?"
"Sure," Shadow said. He put on his pajamas and then gave Sonic a pair. He laughed when Sonic tried to put his head in the sleeve of the shirt.
"You wear it like this, silly."
Shadow helped Sonic pull the shirt on correctly and watched as Sonic pulled the pants on. Sonic pulled the covers over himself as Shadow said, "Sonic?"
"Yeah?"
"Good night."
"You too."
Soon enough, Sonic was fast asleep. Shadow stared at Sonic for a while. He is going to be my date to the prom, Shadow thought. As he laid down to sleep, his next thought was, How do I ask?