*Rouge's POV*
"So, how was your weekend with Blue?" I asked Shadow after I walked him out of our homeroom classroom.

"Annoying." Shadow crossed his arms as he walked. He looked ahead of him and kept his usual serious composure.

"We went to the park on Sunday to visit the two of you, but you weren't there." I said, causing him to stay quiet for a moment. "Where were you?"

"My home." He answered rather annoyed. "Vanilla had a meeting and needed me to take care of Cream."

"And Blue is alive. You didn't kill him, of course with Cream around, you couldn't." I smiled at him. It was hard for him to make any friends since he always pushed everyone away. After what happened with Maria and Eggman, I didn't blame him, but I was worried.

I could tell Sonic would break him, though. I knew Sonic was trying to break down his walls and help him get out of his shell. However, I also knew the way Shadow was, he was stubborn, hard-headed, and he was mean and rude sometimes. It wasn't what Maria would have wanted, and he knew that, but he wasn't good with showing emotions even when she was around.

I believe Sonic could help him, but that mean they needed to be alone more often. It had taken me a while to get Shadow to trust me, I hadn't given up and that made Shadow realize that he would never be able to shake me off so he gave in to me and accepted me. I was his closest and only friend now, that he accepted at least, the rest of the group considered him a friend, but Shadow didn't want anything to do with them.

"What's that?" I asked as Shadow opened his locker and took out a shirt which was not his style at all. It was a white t-shirt with some logos in it. Shadow usually wore a simple plain shirt, and it was usually dark tones.

"His shirt." He answered, and I quickly turned to look up at him. He tensed up and shoved the shirt towards me. "He spilled something on it, and I washed it, geez, Rouge." He growled, then slammed his locker shut and walked to his classroom without saying anything else. I assumed he wanted me to give it to him.

"Whose is that?" I turned to look at Knuckles.

"Sonic's. I need to return it." Something snapped inside his head when I said whose shirt it was, and without even letting me explain, Knuckles started walking away looking absolutely furious.

Knuckles walked towards Sonic , grabbed his shirt, and then slammed him against a locker. I gasped and tensed up, causing Shadow to take a peek out of the class.

"Really, Bat? You know how stupid your boyfriend is." Shadow snatched the shirt away from me again, then used his chaos control to appear beside the two of them. A crowd had instantly gathered around the drama.

*Sonic's POV*
"Knuckles! Wait!" I heard Rouge shout as she flew above everyone else. I raised my arms, confused and trying to defend myself. I wasn't sure what was going on.

Shadow had appeared beside us and quickly kicked Knuckles away from me, launching him across the hall and slamming into some lockers. My ears perked up, and I looked at Shadow confused. He remained quiet and gave me my shirt back, which I had left at his house the day before.

"I'm so sorry, Blue. Knuckles saw me with your shirt and immediately jumped to conclusions." Rouge landed in front of me and explained then turned to looked at Shadow. "Why did you do that? You're going to have to see him now, and you're not supposed to-." But Shadow didn't answer her.

"What's going on here?" Mr. Vector came in running beside Ms. Vanilla, carrying some vanilla folders filled with their students' work. Some papers falling and spilling all over the hallway.

"Knuckles and I got into a fight over something stupid." I quickly said once I saw Shadow and Rouge were about to start talking. They both looked at me surprised, but I didn't look at them. My attention was on the teachers. "He slammed me against the lockers, so I kicked him away. I'm sorry." I apologized as I handed Shadow back my shirt, knowing I would end up forgetting it somewhere if I got dragged to the principals office. He could return it again later.

"Is that true?" He asked me and everyone else around, and most of the students stayed quiet while others started to pile different stories of the events that happened. Vector grew annoyed , grabbed my arm, and then started dragging me to the principals office.

I finally looked up at Shadow and Rouge, Rouge looked worried while Shadow looked... surprised? Shocked? Confused? I wasn't sure. His serious expression was gone, and his eyes showed a hint of softness. I grinned at the two of them and gave them a salute goodbye with two fingers, making Rouge crack a smile and quietly laugh. She mouthed a thank you at me, then flew to Amy and Blaze, who were left confused about the situation.

Shadow, however, looked down at his hand where he held my shirt and then clenched it tightly. Vector and I finally reached Knuckles, and he escorted us to Eggmans office. It's not a place where I ever wanted to be again but a place where I must be for Shadow to stay away from him.

I wasn't sure why Shadow and Eggman weren't supposed to see each other or why Shadow wanted me to stay away from him. But whatever it was, if it meant Shadow was okay, then I guess I'll take the hit this time.