*Sonic's POV*
It was hard avoiding my siblings and the rest of my friends after the last bell rang. Luckily, they weren't able to catch me. Unluckily, I had to carry Sally from the school to the park so no one would find us.

"Put me down!" Sally gasped, and I did as she asked when we finally reached the park. I sat down on the bench, dodging the kiss she was leaning for.

"What did you want to talk about?" I asked in a hurry. It was 3:30 and I was in a hurry to go to see Cream and Shadow.

"Well. About us. Don't you?" She sat down beside me. I stood up and sat on the other side of the bench. "Honey, is everything okay? Didn't you miss me?"

"Sally, I told you over text many times that I don't want to get back together. I am tired." I rubbed my face.

"Who gave you that bracelet?" Her tone instantly changed to a more serious one, covered in jealousy. 

"What bracelet? Oh. This one?" I smiled when I looked at it. "Why does it matter? Sally, we aren't together. And even if we were, you cannot tell me who I can or can't talk to, what I am 'allowed' to do or can't do, and you can't just expect me to drop everything just to see you or help you."

"You're seeing someone else already, aren't you? Who is it?" She was mad, and I knew better than to continue this conversation when she was mad.

"Look, I'm just going to go. I don't need this." I stood up, but she grabbed my hand and then reached for the bracelet. My ears perked up, and I quickly snatched my hand away. "What are you doing?" I took a step back.

"You and I belong together, Sonic. Don't you see that?" She stood up and took a step closer to me. "Our parents sure thought so when they introduced us, our friends know we are the perfect couple. Just accept it. I will take you back. You know no one else will love you the way I do." My heart skipped a beat, and I took yet another step back.

"Stop that. I already told you we aren't getting back together." I took another step back, trying to create some distance, but she kept closing in on me.

"You want to be all alone again? No one understands you the way I do. I know everything about you, your favorite food, your favorite candy, favorite movie, flower, show. I know about your nightmares, about what you want to be. I know everything about you, Sonic. I know your flaws. And I love you even if you're weak. Do you think someone else will?" My ears lowered slightly. "No one will love you the way that I do."

My back touched a pole, and my steps had slowed, I was too deep into her trance to realize that at some point, I stopped backing away fast enough, and the distance between us was gone.

"That's not true." I tried to speak, but it came out barely as a whisper.

"I've loved you even after what happened. I can help you. I was there, remember? The night you couldn't help them. You weren't fast enough to help that family from falling off that bridge." Sally looked down at my hands and held them. I realized that they were shaking now. "You've had nightmares of them ever since. But I still love you." She leaned closer to me, whispering in my ear.

"I -" I stuttered, a knot on my throat forming as I remembered that day. There had been an accident, the foundation of the bridge had broken, and there was a family who managed to get out of their vehicle. I saw them and they asked for help so I ran, and they tried to run to me but the floor was falling under them. The mother jumped, holding her daughter in her arms as she reached for my hand, but I didn't get there on time. I couldn't catch her, I watched as she fell.

"Do you really think anyone else is going to love you after they learn what you did?" Sally hummed, she let go of my hands and cupped my face to make me look at her in the eyes. "When they learn the fastest hedgehog alive wasn't fast enough, what do you think it's going to happen? They're going to leave you. One. By. One." She glanced down at my lips, I couldn't break eye contact, I couldn't move. I couldn't speak. "But I will always love you, so the best thing to do here is?"

"G-Get back together..." I whispered. This was wrong, and I knew it, but she was right.

"Good boy." She smiled and leaned closer, a tear rolled down my muzzle, and I couldn't move away. I just accepted this. I let her lean in for a kiss, but it never arrived.

"Enough." My wrist was grabbed, and I was pulled away in less than a second. I gasped and looked up to see Shadow standing between Sally and me. "I've heard enough. I thought you were stronger than that, Hedgehog." Shadow said in a serious tone as he growled furiously, but the growl wasn't directed at me this time but at Sally. His words hurt.

"Who the hell are you?" Sally gasped and took a step back.

"Are you seriously going to let this brat try and manipulate you? You really think something like that will cause your friends to hate you? If so, you're dumber than I thought." I looked down, feeling stupid now. And then I realized Shadow was not holding my wrist. He was holding my hand and was squeezing it.

"Are you going to listen to someone you JUST met? Sonic, I've known you for YEARS." Sally shouted, trying to reach me. "Is this seriously the one you're dating now? This is who you swapped me for? He's trash. He's clearly not right for you."

"Shadow isn't -" I was cut off when Shadow pushed me even farther away from Sally and interrupted me.

"You want to say that one more time? I'm not the one trying to put him down in order to be with me." I was speechless.

"I don't like you. Sonic isn't going to be with someone like you." She crossed her arms.

"With someone trying to protect him from a toxic relationship? Right. Well, I'd like to see what you're going to do about that. But right now, he's busy. With me." He turned around, dragging me away with him and leaving Sally speechless.

What just happened?

******
So....
How much do you guys hate Sally right now?
Scale of 1 to 10. Leave a comment. I'd like to know.