Chapter 5 - Back 2 school...

The story that Sonic told us last evening made a deep impact on me. Everyone acts so happy that made me forgot that there once was a war. Seeing him telling about how most of his friends died during the war was very touching… And now I realized Blain had that too… Except that he was part of it… And to be honest, he’s still an asshole…



Gaah… 7:00 am… The very first day of school… I smashed my alarmclock and I heard something crack. I took a glare at it and noticed there was a crack in it…

But for some reason, I was excited about going to school. I was wondering how Blain is gonna hold up against it. Maybe it’s cruel, but I don’t care. After all the stuff he said and did towards me, it’s payback time…



Cody and I waited for the others to arrive. Then Rouge and Blain arrived…



Rouge: You sure you got everything?
Blain: Look, I told you a million times that I got everything!!
Rouge: Aw… Wittle Bwain is all gwoing up! It’s his fiwst day of school! *pinches cheeks*

Blain: … Do that again and I’ll shove a cap up your @$$…
Rouge: Geez, don’t act so dogy…

On the way to school, no one said anything… I guess everyone was a bit nervous but Blain and Shadow were stressed. Once we got there, at around 8:20, we still had 10 minutes left before class would start. Eventually, Sonic saw that bunny from yesterday again and they hang out somewhere else.



Blain: Look at all these people Rouge…
Rouge: Yeah, scary aren’t they?
Blain: Yeah- I mean-
Rouge: Dude, chill out.

Blain: But-

At that same point, the bell rang for first class… Which was maths… Which I hated… And of course, there’s always an asshole or a dog teaching it… As soon as I saw the look on teachers face, I knew I wasn’t gonna like him… Then he wrote this strange symbol on the blackboard. π, or PI…



Teacher: How many of you know this symbol?

Apparently, no one did…



Teacher: I see… Pi is one of the most important mathematical constants, approximately equal to 3.14159. It represents the ratio of any circle's circumference to its diameter in Euclidean geometry, which is the same as the ratio of a circle's area to the square of its radius. Many other formulas from mathematics, science, and engineering include PI… It is an irrational number, which means that its decimal expansion never ends or repeats. Indeed: beyond being irrational, it is a transcendental number, which means that no finite sequence of algebraic operations on integers, like powers, roots, sums, etcetera, could ever produce it. Throughout the history of mathematics, much effort has been made to determine PI more accurately and understand its nature; fascination with the number has even carried over into culture at large.

Then he drew a perfect circle with a template on the blackboard, and wrote “π=C/D”…



Teacher: Note that the ratio c/d does not depend on the size of the circle. For example, if a circle has twice the diameter D of another circle it will also have twice the circumference C, preserving the ratio c/d. This fact is a consequence of the similarity of all circles. Area of the circle = π × area of the shaded square. Alternatively PI can be also defined as the ratio of a circle's area to the area A of a square whose side is equal to the radius.

No one really understood a word of what he’s saying… Like no one cared or something… Perfect, I couldn’t care either.



Teacher: Another example.

Then he wrote down a lot of stuff…



Teacher: The formula is remarkable because it allows extracting any individual hexadecimal or binary digit of PI without calculating all the preceding ones. Most formulae used for calculating the value of π have desirable mathematical-

This guy just doesn’t shut up… I looked at the time and only 15 minutes passed away… I almost fell down of my chair because I was amazed of how slow the time went… I told myself that this couldn’t possibly be happening, but it was… Slowly… Very slowly… Until the bell rang at ten and it was recess… Then we walked outside…



Rouge: See, that wasn’t so bad…
Blain: No, it was worse. Honestly, did you understand a word of what he was saying?

Rouge: Of course I didn’t. Did you?
Blain: Nope… Guess I’m not the only one.
Nicole: Same here…
Blain: Whatever happened to the days where you shot someone that you didn’t liked?

Rouge: Their over now.

Then he smiled…



Blain: So, what’s next?
Rouge: Social studies…
Blain: What’s it about?
Rouge: Honestly, I have no idea…
Nicole: It’s about economics, geography, government, cultures and all that.
Blain: … Ooh…

So next up, social studies… Blain, Rouge and I went to the classroom as soon as the bell rang… This time, the teacher was an old woman who was very friendly… As with the math teacher, she too wrote something on the blackboard first before she said anything… “Democracy”… She wrote…



Teacher: Democracy… A word we haven’t heard in quite some years… Who can tell me what the definition is of democracy?

Nicole: … Freedom of speech?
Teacher: Yes, good. That is a very important aspect of democracy.
Guy: The eh… Right to protest?
Teacher: Yes… Good. Bascially, the definition of democracy is “by the people, for the people”. Take a look at the map. For this example, we’ll use Angel Island. It has come to be recognized as the oldest democracy on Mobius. Yes?

Girl: If it’s a democracy, how come the map says Republic of Angel Island?
Teacher: That’s a very good question. Does anyone have the answer to that? You, in the front.

Then I looked at my left and noticed Blain raised his hand… Which was… Awkward…



Blain: Because eh… The echidnas didn’t believe in a monarchy unlike most of the cultures on Mobius?

Teacher: Almost, but not quite. Yes, you in the back.
Girl: Because the citizens elect representatives to make laws and decisions?
Teacher: Very good! What is your name again?
Girl: Riki-Le ma’am.

Then Blain looked at us and smiled. It was actually a fun class to follow, seeing her being so nice and explaining everything. But, with everything, it came to an end. And then we had lunch break. Rouge and I took a coffee.



Blain: Where’s everyone else?
Rouge: I don’t know… Maybe their still in class or something.
Nicole: Probably.
Rouge: I’ll go take a look outside where the others are.

And before I could tag along with her, she left. Before she disappeared in the crowd, she looked at me and winked, then walked off outside… Why the hell did she winked? Now here I am, all alone with… Blain…



Nicole: So…
Blain: I keep seeing people walking by with food. Where the hell did they get that?

Nicole: Cafeteria… But you need to pay for it.
Blain: … Aint that a dog…

Then this guy bumped into Blain from behind, spilling his drink all over Blain… Blain turned around immediately and pushed the guy… He was an echidna, a bit taller then Blain and looked buffed…



Blain: Watch it!!
Echidna: So sorry about that. Hey, I know you… You’re from the RRTS are you?

Blain: What’s your problem?

Then that echidna steps up to him…



Echidna: You know, most of us agree that you don’t belong here. So why don’t you just go away and run along with your friends? Oh wait their all dead. Sorry, my bad…

Oooh, this could get ugly… I drank the rest of my coffee and stared at Blain and that echidna… Everyone could see Blain was boiling on the inside, and now that everyone knows he’s from the RRTS, everyone that looked at us backed up a little… Except for that echidna… So I decided to step in between and act like a… Peace keeper or something…



Nicole: Come on, leave him alone Blain. He’s not worth it.

Then that bastard acted out on me!



Echidna: Listen to your dog before it gets nasty…
Nicole: What?!! First of, I’m no one’s dog!!
Echidna: You could be my dog!! *laughs*

Nicole: Hey frack you!!

Blain all of a sudden pushed that echidna again, and 3 other guys stood up to help that echidna. As soon as Blain turned his head to face one of the others, he received a fist in his face. And Blain punched back… And he received a punch from one of the other guys. He was only slightly taken back as he felt the bruise on his cheek and then cracked his knuckles…



Blain: How about a truce to get this over with…?
Nicole: Works for me…


And as soon one was about to punch me, I kicked him in the face. Then Blain and I went all out on these guys. I kicked one of them against the vending machine by leaning back on my tail and gave a kangaroo kick at the chest as Blain received another punch. So he punched him back. The fight kept on going and I received some punches as well. Who the hell would hit a girl like that? The fight kept on going until we got broken up by other people, and we were send straight away to the principal…



Now, at the principal’s office, they didn’t make a big deal out of it. We got away with a warning and they held an entire speech, as Blain had an icepack on his face and my stomach and legs hurt. We explained everything and all, and Blain gave a brief description about his past. Surely, there are others who had a rough past as well, but it seem like these guys were after him for some reason. After we got dismissed, we went back to the cafeteria again, while the other four are still at the principal… As we walked passed them, they all glared at us, and we glared back...



Then we head back to the cafeteria. We both sat down and sighed… It stayed quiet for a while…



Nicole: I still got 50 cents… Which… Is enough for a coffee…
Blain: You’re offering me a coffee?
Nicole: You want it or not?
Blain: No, I’m good, thanks.
Nicole: Alright…

So I took another coffee… Poured cream and sugar in it and stirred…



Nicole: You did pretty well back there…
Blain: Like what, knowing how to start a fight?
Nicole: Well you didn’t start it.
Blain: I know.
Nicole: You even came up for me.
Blain: I didn’t.
Nicole: You pushed him as soon as he called me a dog!
Blain: So? Just because I hate your guts doesn’t mean I can’t come up for you.
Nicole: Well it’s still a sweet thing to do…

Then he looked at me with a frown. He stared at me for a moment, shrugged and looked outside the window.


Nicole: Although, you gotta remember to put your arms up.
Blain: … What?
Nicole: That’s the reason why you got punched.
Blain: Whaddaya mean?
Nicole: You’re arms. You gotta keep your fists close to your head. It’s better for your defence, plus you can punch harder once you turn your body along with the punch.

Blain: Oooh… Ok… Nicole: Keep that in mind and you’ll be ok.
Blain: How about those kicks you gave?
Nicole: What about it?
Blain: I never saw anyone kicking that high…
Nicole: You can’t kick?
Blain: Well, I can kick someone in the groin, but, that’s basically it. I know how to punch someone, but I’m not some martial arts guy… More of a… Street fighter…

Nicole: You gotta find your balance. Shift your weight on you right leg and throw your left leg up while keeping balance. The energy your building up on your right leg bursts out when you throw your left leg up.

Blain: Ooh… Ok…

And that was the first normal conversation we had in months without calling each other names… This was pretty weird, because I could swear I can hear him say “dog” to me any second… But it didn’t happen. Blain didn’t say anything to me after that conversation, but, it’s a start isn’t it?



Well, some first day of school huh? We already got into a fight… Couldn’t say it was a bad thing though, we beat them with ease. At around 4 o’clock noon, we could finally go home. I haven’t eaten anything the whole day, and I was really starving, so I wanted to go home as quick as I could. And on the hallway, I saw Sonic standing in the doorway of a classroom.



Sonic: Yo Nicole! We’re gonna hang out! Wanna come?
Nicole: Naah, I’ll go home… I’ll see you later…
Sonic: Alright… Shadow!! Stop drawing stupid faces on the blackboard!! Let’s go!!

And after I walked out of the building, I noticed Blain walking on his own… I caught up to him…



Nicole: Hey!
Blain: ‘Lo…
Nicole: Aren’t you gonna hang out with the others?

Blain: Naah… I’m going home.
Nicole: You’re not really someone who hangs out a lot are you?
Blain: Nope… And I don’t see a reason why I should.
Nicole: Having fun is one of the reasons why you should.
Blain: …
Nicole: Also, you get to know each other a whole lot better.
Blain: …

Then he didn’t say anything… He kept staring in front of him… Maybe that conversation was a one time only…



Nicole: Well… I think I’ll run ahead… I’m really starving…
Blain: You…? Running?
Nicole: … Yeah… What’s wrong with that?
Blain: Well I can’t really imagine you would run…
Nicole: So what you’re saying is, I can’t run?
Blain: Well, no, but I can’t really imagine you run with a huge tail like that…
Nicole: Alright… Then let’s have a little race then…
Blain: A race?
Nicole: Wha? You aint backing down now are you?
Blain: Hell, I ran on the beaches of Angel Island while bullets were whizzing by and didn’t get shot once back there. Let’s race…

Nicole: Race ya to the village?
Blain: Aight…

Then he ran away… He took off fast, but… What he seem to forget is, that I’m a kangaroo… So I took my shoes off, took a run up, sprinted and then just hopped… With every hop, I go faster and faster and eventually, I hopped past Blain… I saluted him with a grin and he just looked baffled at me as I hopped past him.



It’s been a long time since I hopped so fast and freely... I enjoyed every second of it… Seeing the trees go by so fast, followed by the beautiful crystal clear lakes with the hills while the mountains stood guard behind it was a beautiful sight, and it made me forgot to look where I was going. Then at some point, I tripped over something, and I rolled in the village. My knee had a small cut on it, and my wrist hurt but I didn’t really care. I was free again… Free of all the worries I ever had, and even though it only was for about 10 minutes, it seemed like an eternity for me. Then I just let myself fall down in the grass, spread my arms and stared at the beautiful summer sky…



Blain: What are you so happy about?

Then I looked up and saw that Blain finally arrived. He looks exhausted and sat down next to me. I put my head down on the grass and just smiled…



Nicole: Thank you…
Blain: … For what?

I just looked at him and smiled. I didn’t explain him why I thanked him… He wouldn’t understand… But I thanked him for making me realize I was alive…

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