04/08/2020 UPDATE:

I have officially started posting the re-write on Ao3, under the title Time To Grow Up (a more fitting title imo) the section to put after the regular ao3 website name is this, if you want: /works/23549008 (since ff won't let me link it)

Once the re-write is caught up to this version I will be posting the updates here as well, but in the meantime they'll be on Ao3. I will be updating there tuesday evenings.

04/04/2020 UPDATE:

I have been working on a re-write of this fic over the past year, since I've been working on this on and off since 2011 (didn't start posting until 2013) and a lot of it is no longer up to my standards. I currently have all 17 of the current chapters re-written and expanded upon, along with the entirety of the next chapter. Unfortunately, my editors are very busy and it may take a while to be able to post anything here. I'd just update the chapters as they're done, but I've added a lot of scenes, changed a lot of details, and re-paced the entire thing. For example, I added two entire chapters of new content and still managed to finish the current 17 chapters in just 16, though what I have so far is 112,332 words already. I've also determined that the entire fic will be 20 chapters once it's done.

Currently my plan is to start posting the updated chapters on Ao3 within the month (I will update this once it's up), and then whenever my editors catch up with this version I'll switch it out and post the next chapter. And, for existing fans, I will be making a google doc of the current version as is for posterity.

Pairing: ShadAmy, one-sided SonAmy in the beginning
This story will not have Sonic bashing or a love triangle

Warnings: Angst, Character death, Mild language
(I, ah, I think that's it.)

This is a human AU, so if you're wondering why characters who can typically fly can't, that'd be it. That being said, if you want to visualize everyone as they are in the games, that's fine by me.

Temporary cover image made with the Mega Anime Couple Maker on RinmaruGames, with art by VeggieStudio.

The Sonic universe and all of it's characters do not belong to me.

Fingers crossed, Amy waited fearfully for her test results. This test was worth 30% of her grade, she couldn't afford to have failed it, she was just scraping by as it was. If she failed this, her parents would be pissed, which would mean she wouldn't be able to go out with Sonic this weekend after all. Sonic… Just thinking about him made Amy blush. With his thick blue hair, and green contacts… Sonic was dreamy, and ever since middle school Amy had wanted nothing more than to be noticed by him, and now? After years of trying, he had finally agreed to go out with her!

But she was getting sidetracked again, and quickly refocused her mind on the current problem she faced. When the teacher got to her she couldn't bring herself to meet his eyes, and he quietly slipped the results onto her desk. No words of praise, no comments. Just slid it onto her desk and walked on. Bracing herself Amy peaked at the cause of her concern, and whimpered when she saw it. Below a big red D were the words "See me after school."

Slumping in her chair, Amy could barely pay attention for the rest of class. Eventually the bell rang for lunch, and Amy found herself making her way to the cafeteria with everyone else. Once there she perked up a bit—it was, after all, Tuesday. If Sonic was here, and a quick scan revealed that he was, that meant that he would be practising track after eating. Thinking of Sonic running picked Amy up and by the time she had gotten her food and joined her friends, she had forgotten all about her D.

"Uh oh, I recognize that face," a purple haired girl with yellow eyes teased as Amy approached. "We're watching Mr. Cool run again, aren't we?" Amy smiled, she'd met the girl, Blaze, last year when they were partnered up in science, she hadn't been very talkative at first, but eventually the two became friends. Nowadays they talked about anything and everything. Blaze's seriousness was a good contrast to Amy's excitable nature.

"Well if you insist, Blaze." Amy replied, chuckling at Blaze's expression. The two girls ate together for a bit, before being joined by a strawberry blond girl with child-like features. Cream was Amy's best friend, and next door neighbour; the two had grown up together. Cream had always been a really shy, quiet kid, and that was no different now. Amy knew she was also very kind though, and could be brave when the need arose. Cream was fourteen, only a year younger than Amy, but she could have easily been mistaken for a twelve year old. Keeping her hair in pigtails probably didn't help.

Only moments later Sonia and Rouge joined them. Sonia had grown up with Amy and Cream, and had spent a lot of time at Amy's with them, rather than staying home with her two brothers. One of those brothers being Sonic. Like her brother, Sonia was pretty athletic, though nowhere near as agile as Sonic. Over the years Sonia's interests had drifted towards fashion and boys, but that was fine.

Rouge was one of Sonia's classmates, the two had become friends in ninth grade. Amy didn't know Rouge very well, but they got on well enough. Rouge was sassy, and had a tendency to tease. She was also gorgeous, with a super curvy figure and hair white as snow. A lot of male students seemed to fall all over themselves for her, and Amy wished she were half as good with boys.

Eventually the five girls finished their lunches and headed out to watch Sonic and the other members of the track team practice.

"You know, if I wanted to watch my brother run, I'd spend more time with him at home." Sonia commented, as she did every Tuesday. Amy smiled, she and her friends had a routine.

Still, they watched. Watching Sonic run was breathtaking, as always. He was fast, and managed to look powerful and graceful all at once. None of the other boys could compare.

"So, Amy, how did your test go?" Cream finally asked.

Amy hung her head at the reminder. "I have to see Mr. Daniels after class," she replied.

"That bad, huh?" Blaze enquired sympathetically.

"I got a D."

"Damn, girl, history is not for you."

"Thanks, Rouge. That is exactly what I wanted to hear."

"Sorry, sorry," the white-haired girl placated. "But seriously, we need to do something about this."

"You don't think?"

"Sarcasm does not become you, Miss Rose," Rouge teased.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry. I'm just really bummed, you know?"

After a moments silence, Amy grinned. "No big deal, I'll figure it out," Amy knew that her fake optimism wasn't fooling anybody, but thankfully her friends took the hint and the subject was changed. The girls sat there talking about their weekend plans and watching Sonic run until the bell rang, prompting them to head to their respective classes. Amy had English with Blaze next, so the two girls gathered their things and headed off together.

"Do you think your parents will still let you see Sonic on Friday?" Blaze asked softly.

Amy sighed, "I don't know. I hope so, I guess we'll see."

"Offer to do all of your homework Saturday and spend all of Sunday studying?" the purple haired girl suggested.

"Ugh, I guess that's a good idea."

The conversation died as the girls arrived in class and took their seats at the front of the room, settling in for today's poetry lesson. Blaze never liked to speak in class, so Amy was left to her thoughts mostly. There was one point maybe twenty minutes after lunch where Amy heard a ruckus down the hall, but other than that, the class passed by eventlessly.

After English was Home Economics, which Amy always looked forwards to. Today, they were making croissants. After Home Ec. was homeroom, and after that was the dreaded meeting with Mr. Daniels.

Amy made her way back to her History classroom, wringing her hands as she did so. "You wanted to see me, sir?" she squeaked, upon entering the classroom.

"Ahh, Amy. Come in, come in. Take a seat." As Mr. Daniels said this he beckoned her over and gestured to the seat next to his desk. Amy hastened to be seated; the quicker she could be done with this, the better. "Amy, the reason I asked to see you is because your mark was, well, less than satisfactory. At this rate, I'm afraid you may fail my course completely. You're a bright girl Amy, and I do not believe you want to be held back a year."

"No, sir," Amy responded, hanging her head as she did so.

"That's why I was wondering if you would like a tutor?"

Amy looked back up with a start, "a tutor, sir?"

"Yes, an older student who did well in this course who would go to your house twice a week and help you out. What do you think?"

Amy perked right up, "Could we really do that, sir?"

"If we couldn't do you think I'd be mentioning it?" the teacher replied with a good natured smile. And so it was decided that Amy would be tutored in History.

...

That evening, Mr. and Mrs. Rose were quite disappointed by Amy's grade, and told her she had to stay in for the weekend. But, following Blaze's advice, she convinced her father to let her go out with Sonic anyway, on the condition that she would do all her homework on Saturday and spend all of Sunday studying.

EARLIER THAT DAY

Shadow stared out the classroom window, a bored sigh escaping his lips. He knew all this, he shouldn't have to deal with reviewing subjects he already knew. All his courses were like that, though. They were all too easy, boring really. What Shadow wanted was a challenge. Something new to stimulate his brain. He knew he could just switch to a higher level course, but that didn't really appeal to him either. He liked his courses, as much as Shadow really liked anything, at least. They were familiar, easy, comfortable. Plus, new classes meant new people. New people meant someone might try to befriend him.

It wasn't that Shadow didn't want friends, he even had a person he considered a friend, and he enjoyed her company well enough. It was more that he didn't want to let anyone in. If he cared about anyone, he could get hurt. If he told them about himself, they could use the information to their advantage. In Shadow's experience, very few people were worth caring about, and so it was easier to just not get to know anyone. Was he missing out? Probably. Did he care? No. Though, to be fair, it was unlikely that anyone would approach him. Even some of the teachers were wary of him. In the past he had been prone to angry outbursts that could end violently. When he was 11, he had broken some kid's wrist for calling him gay. Sure, Shadow had calmed down considerably since then, with the help of his friend, but no one had dared try and find out. Well, except Manic, but Shadow didn't really know what to think of Manic.

When the lunch bell rang, Shadow made his way to the cafeteria to buy lunch, which he ate outside behind the gym with Manic. Manic had spikey green hair and was almost a friend. Manic would talk and Shadow would grunt his acknowledgement. Today Manic was talking about some CD or something he had stolen from the mall. Shadow didn't really care, honestly he didn't even know why Manic spoke to him. He never did anything to encourage it, he never so much as replied. Shadow knew Manic had other friends, but still the snarky thief insisted on talking to him.

Finally Manic said something that caught Shadow's attention. "We should totally go out some time." Manic had said, grinning impishly.

Shadow spluttered for a moment before turning to frown at his green haired almost-companion. "Beg pardon, I think I misheard." Disapproval was laced heavily through his voice.

"Relax dude, I was just seeing if you were listening to me." Manic soothed with a chuckle.

Shadow laughed awkwardly, "Not really," he admitted.

"Didn't think so. You never do. I like it, I can tell you anything and not have to worry about someone finding out."

"Like what?" Shadow enquired, curiosity piqued.

"No way, if you didn't hear anything I've told you over the past two years, it's not my fault." Shadow grunted. The boy had a point. But this time when Manic went back to talking, he actually paid attention to what was being said. He couldn't help himself.

...

After lunch was math. Oh joy. Shadow sat there, bored. He wasn't learning anything new, he never did. This was a waste of time. Shadow had better things he could be doing. Like actually better. At least at home he could do something productive. So why bother being here? He was wasting his time. With a frown Shadow stood up and headed to the door.

A throat cleared behind him, causing him to glance over his shoulder. "And where do you think you're going, young man?" his teacher wanted to know.

"Home." Shadow replied shortly, already turning to head out again.

"And why are you going home?" Mr. Jenkins prompted.

"Because you're boring me," was Shadow's reply.

"Get back to your seat." the teacher ordered, with an exasperated tone.

"Why?"

"Because if you don't I'm going to give you detention."

"Which I won't be here for."

"Then I'll suspend you." His heart didn't seem all that into it today, in fact his voice had an all too familiar resonance to it. Shadow recognized that tone, it was the tone of someone who no longer cared.

"Awesome, I won't have to come back," Shadow snarled, knowing it was unreasonable for him to be offended over something he could have easily prevented had he actually wanted to.

"In school suspension." Mr. Jenkins didn't even seem remotely bothered by Shadow's tone.

"So I can waste more time that could be spent actually being productive? I won't come." The sentence had started in an almost mocking tone, but by the end it had turned cold.

"Shadow, if you leave this room your parents will hear about this," the teacher sighed, rubbing his temples.

"My mum's going to know the second I get home, so what does it matter?"

"Fine," and just like that he went back to teaching his lecture, without another glance at Shadow. Shadow was stunned, that was it? He wasn't going to say anything else? Mr. Jenkins had never given in so easily. The sound of murmuring caught his attention and he turned to the rest of the class, they seemed to be whispering about him, a few even seemed to be laughing. Shadow was taken aback, this wasn't right...

"Class," Mr. Jenkins cleared his throat. "Simmer down. Shadow, I thought you were leaving?"

"Whatever," he muttered, hoping his cheeks weren't as flushed as they felt. With one final glare at his classmates, Shadow left.

...

When Shadow got home his mum was on the phone, so he quietly kissed her coppery cheek, before heading to his room. He knew it was the school she was talking too. He wasn't worried, Azizi wanted her son to be happy, and wanted him to be able to make his own mistakes.

By the time there was a knock at Shadow's door, he had calmed down considerably. "Come in," he called, prompting Azizi to poke her head in.

"Hayaati, the school called. Your teachers were very mad with you."

"It's not my fault they don't have anything new to offer me," Shadow shrugged.

"Maybe so, but if you could at least pretend to be interested. They are thinking of expelling you. I want you to have a good future, and if you are expelled…" Shadow smiled up at his mum for a moment before pulling her down to sit next to him.

"I'll be fine, mum, you'll see. I'll finish high school, go to med school, and be a doctor."

"You can be whatever you want, and I will be proud of you," she replied automatically. After a moment she sighed. "You are not going to be very happy, but since it might get you more chances…"

Shadow stiffened, "What did the school ask?"

"You are smart, Shadow, they have asked if you could tutor as a punishment. I agreed to it, so tomorrow, you need to go down to the main office and find out who your student is going to be. They will give you a name, address, and the days and times you will be tutoring for." Shadow opened his mouth to protest, but his mum cut him off. "Please son, I do not ask much of you. Please, just do this for me." There was a moment of strained silence.

"Okay mum," Shadow finally sighed. "If it will make you feel better, I'll tutor someone."

Some notes

After doing some research, I've been lead to believe that hayaati is an Arabic term of endearment meaning "my life", apologies if I am mistaken.

I hope you enjoyed this, and please if you have any notes, tell me. I'd love to hear what you guys did and did not like for future reference. If I never get criticism, how will I improve as a writer?