1: First Meeting

Sitting at her desk, hands clasped before her, Amy awaited her first "patient" with eager anticipation. Today she was beginning her job as Station Square High's new school counselor and she was more than ready to get started. Years of studying complex psychology had prepared her for this exact moment. Though many had doubted if she had the smarts for such a field, she pressed onwards even when the goings got tough. Now here she was, fully equipped with a Specialist degree and all the knowledge that came with it. She was going to transform this low performing, gang and drug ridden school one delinquent at a time.

A knock sounded at the door and the pink hedgehog almost jumped in excitement. Instead, she mentally calmed herself, taking a deep breath and then releasing it. Once she was sure she had her emotions in check, she sat up as straight as possible and plastered a cheerful smile on her face.

"Come in please." she said. A moment passed before the person complied.

Into the sunny room stepped a green furred hedgehog with cold, crystal blue eyes partially hidden behind red rimmed shades. He wore a ratty, black leather jacket, a white tank top that looked like it desperately needed a washing, some baggy blue jeans that hung low off his slender hips, and a pair of green and black sneakers which appeared to be new. At first his expression was impassive, but after catching sight of Amy, a devilish grin broke out across the teenager's muzzle.

"Hello, Mizz Shrink." he spoke in a guttural drawl. "You sure you're supposed to be here and not with the cheerleaders, coz you sure are the sexiest psycho nut I've ever seen."

His comment initially surprised her, but Amy regained her composure quickly and gave him a pleasant smile.

"That's very nice of you to say, but I am certain that I'm in the correct room. You are Mr. Scourge I presume?" she inquired.

"The one and only, babe."

"Good. I've been expecting you. Why don't you close the door and we can get started."

"Whatever you say..."

After shutting the door, Scourge shoved his hands inside his pants pockets and sauntered over to a plush chair positioned at the front of Amy's desk. He then plopped himself down and fixed his bored gaze upon a wall.

"Okay, then." Amy began. "The school has given me quite a lot of information regarding you, Scourge, and though I've read through all the reports, I want to learn about you from you, so why don't you tell me a little about yourself?"

"How long did you practice rehearsing that?" he asked her.

"Excuse me?"

"You said that entire line without a single damn pause or mistake." he elaborated, still not making eye contact with her. "Must've took some time to get it down that perfect."

Amy opened her mouth, but closed it before a sound could escape her. She was at a lost for words.

"Oops, my bad, did I mess up your script?" Scourge continued, his half-lidded eyes finally traveling to her face as a sly smile played on his lips. "Sorry, but this might have gone better if you had of given me my lines too so I wouldn't hafta ad-lib. But seriously, you psycho nuts are all the same. Predictable."

It required a great deal of willpower for Amy to suppress the urge to narrow her eyes at the impudent boy. Barely five minutes had passed since she met Scourge, yet his insufferably arrogant smirk was already causing her quite a bit of irritation. She had to put her own feelings aside, however. That was the nature of her job.

So straightening her posture, she feigned a calm smile. "I'm sorry, but I believe we're getting off topic, Mr. Scourge."

"Oh really?" he asked mockingly.

"Yes, you're supposed to be telling me about yourself, remember?"

"Eh, what's to learn about me that's not already known? I'm drop-dead gorgeous, I happen to be the most intelligent person you'll find in this shithole, and I'm one hell of a badass kisser." His blue orbs gleamed and his smirk went from obnoxious to downright lewd. "If you don't believe that last one, I'll be happy to prove it."

"I'll just take you at your word." was Amy's polite response, though she inwardly grimaced. She had encountered plenty of forward males throughout her twenty-five years, but the perverseness of this presumptuous boy made them all look relatively decent. And if it wasn't enough for his actions to thoroughly disgust her, they also successfully killed her earlier enthusiasm. She felt like a burst balloon that had been jabbed by a sharp object and the chances of her situation getting any better were low.

It was going to be a long thirty minutes.

...

After being unable to overcome my writer's block on Sheer Frost, I took a break and wrote this up. I quite like it, but I'll only continue if my readers feel the same, so please give me some feedback.