*Tails' POV*
"So you did get stuck with Shadow after all?" I asked as we walked out of the building after the final bell rang, signaling for us to go home. Sonic and Sonia had invited me over for dinner, so I was walking beside them.

"Yeah. But I wouldn't say 'stuck' with him. I've been trying to get Shadow to talk to me since day one. I'll break him, especially now that we have to be alone working together." Sonic laughed softly, but it quickly stopped when he looked up.

I looked up as well to see what made his mood change, only to see his brother standing at the gates of the school. Manic was waving at us and smiling happily as if he hadn't just skipped a whole day of school. We walked towards him quietly, I didn't dare say anything since Sonia looked like she was about to kill her own brother.

"Where were you? You left me alone with the principal, and he was very... weird." Sonic crossed his arms.

"You know I'll never get caught in the principals office. I went home and slept all day. Perks of having a mom who's a principal, she's never home during school hours." Manic wrapped his arms around me and Sonic as he laughed softly. "Let's go home. I bought us pizza and chili dogs for you, bro."

"You're forgiven." Sonic quickly answered with a chuckled.

"What's this about a group project with Shadow?" Manic asked as we walked to their house. I had been going over a lot lately, really making me feel like part of their family, Sonic mostly.

"I have a science project to do with Shadow. We agreed to meet up tomorrow at the park." Sonic explained, making my ears perk up.

"You're meeting with Shadow on a Saturday? Alone? At the park? Alone?" I repeated the last part. Shadow had never been seen outside of school by anyone before, so Sonic saying this was crazy to me.

"Yeah. I kind of forced him to, actually." He laughed and opened the door to his house. "Why is it bad? I figured it would be better than the library, I'll be able to talk without worrying, and without getting in trouble."

"Not necessarily bad, just shocking. He only ever goes out with Rouge, is all." I explained, and he nodded slowly with a smile.

"I guess we will see what happens tomorrow."

*Sonic's POV*
"No time! I'm late!" My voice was muffled as I had a slice of toast in my mouth while I put on my shoes.

"Wait. Sonic!" My mother shouted as I ran to the door where my backpack hung at the side of it.

"What?" I shouted as I picked up my backpack.

"You're forgetting a shirt!" She shouted, I looked down at myself and nervously laughed, then dashed off to my room and grabbed a t-shirt, quickly putting it on. I was wearing my running shoes, grey sweat pants, and a baggy t shirt, I hadn't woken up on time to even worry about it, so I put the first thing I saw.

"Bye!" I dashed off before they could stop me again. The park was about 15 minutes away if walking. Only a few seconds for me if I was running, so I made it on time.

"You're la-" Shadow spoke and cut himself off when he saw me. "Late. You're late." He rolled his eyes. "Did you just wake up, Hedgehog?"

"Yes. Sorry." I grabbed the toast from my mouth and took a bite of it. "I snoozed my alarm one too many times." I chuckled.

"Whatever. Let's get to work." Shadow sat down on a picnic table and put his backpack beside him. I sat in front of him and started placing our notes and books on the table.

"Right. How did you get that?" I asked when I noticed he had different notes than me. "What? When was this?"

"Personal notes, I read the book." Shadow said calmly, looking down at the journal, turning it around so I could read it properly. "Take a picture. You're going to need it."

"Say less." I took out my phone and took a picture of Shadow as a joke, but he growled at me and snatched my phone away.

"Not the time for jokes, Faker." He narrowed his eyes at me.

"Faker?" I laughed and grabbed my phone back from him after he deleted the picture. I quickly took another one of him, his scrunched up nose as he growled and glared at me was pretty cute. Wait. What?

Ah, whatever.

"Your speed." Shadow explained the nickname.

"Me the Faker? I bet I am faster than you. If we had a race, I would beat you." I grinned, closing my journal.

"Not the time." Shadow opened the journal again. "Chaos, do you ever focus. Unlike you, I need the grade. So. Focus."

"Right. Right. Fine." I sighed and gave in, looking at our notes. "What if we make this?"

"Too simple." He answered flatly as he tapped his pencil against the table. "But you're on the right track."

Shadow and I spent the rest of the afternoon talking and working on our project and only on our project. Every time I tried to change the subject, he would snap his fingers as in a way to tell me to focus again. I was bored and wanted to go home, I was starting to think I should stay away from Shadow. Until he got a phone call.

"What?" He answered coldly. "No." He closed his journal, hisbtine instantly softened. "But -" He put the journal in his backpack and then glanced up at me. "I'm working on something. But Cream is Fine." Shadow hung up and sighed, then pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Is that it for today?" I asked, putting my stuff away.

"For today." He nodded, putting the rest of his stuff away and getting up. I looked down to put the rest of my stuff away, but by the time I looked up, he was gone.

Who is Cream?