Tuesday morning arrives and so begins another swing of many changes. For starters, Shadow is returning to school and Maria is going to begin Earth school! She is very excited about this and was absolutely thrilled when Shadow told her yesterday while they were at Emerald Coast. For Maria, this means she gets to do things that normal people of Earth do and would mean she could fit in more with everyone. In addition to living her dream, she`s getting many bonuses.

The night before, Shadow emptied out his messenger bag and put school supplies back in. He has decided that he would carry his and Maria`s school stuff since she isn`t strong enough to carry her own materials. A few doctor`s notes to give to each teacher and they are ready to go.

Shadow is carrying Maria to the school. Not only is it too long of a distance for her to try in her current condition but they are running a little late. Shadow is in a jog, not running at high speed. He wants to be sure that they will be at least on time for the first class but he wants to avoid meeting up with everyone in the Sonic Gang this morning, as what is usual for them to do.

In the school, the hallways are getting quite empty of people. The bell will ring at any moment. Luckily their first class is on the first floor. Shadow heads straight for this class and comes to a stop at the door to the classroom. He sets Maria down on the floor.

Inside the classroom, everyone is standing with their friends in groups, yammering away as they wait for class to begin. As what the decor of the room shows, this class is an English class. The teacher is up at her desk in the front of the room, waiting for the bell ring to ring. In the meantime, she is reading the newspaper.

Jet and his group of people are in the back of the classroom. They usually take the back seats in every class. This allows for them to do little things during class without getting caught too easily or so much. Jet is sitting in his chair at his desk. Wave is standing beside him, Storm behind him, and the others are scattered around. They seem to be engaged in a conversation about a new gear race that`s happening this weekend.

As for the Sonic Gang, their conversation fluctuates all over. Amy is talking to Sonic about the new chao movie that has come out and she wants to see it this weekend with him. When Sonic remarks that it`d be a good idea because Tails wants to see it, too, Amy huffs. She wants it to be a date, just her and Sonic. But Sonic seems to be a little oblivious to that.

In the middle of the conversation Sonic is having with Amy about the movie situation, Silver interrupts them. He taps Sonic on the shoulder,"Hey, Sonic, look."

"Huh?"

Sonic turns his head to the door of the classroom as it`s opening. Shadow enters. It seems as though it has been forever since he set foot in this building. But his return isn`t alone. Holding her by the hand, Shadow walks Maria into the classroom. They go to the teacher`s desk and Shadow hands her one of the doctor`s notes, which is to inform the teachers of Maria`s condition. Luckily she is also wearing her medical bracelet.

From his seat, Jet sets his elbow on his desk and lays his head on his hand. With a smirk at seeing Shadow with a girl, it clicks to him. He decides to be forward and speaks up loudly from his position,"Well well well, Ultimate BadAss decided to grace us with his presence again."

This nickname is one that usually just the high school students call Shadow. It`s half mockery of his title of Ultimate Lifeform while half-acknowledging how tough of a person he is. As the Babylonians all laugh with Jet over the comment, Amy looks back at the group and then back at Shadow. He is ignoring Jet`s remarks and is just concentrating on talking with the teacher about Maria`s condition. No one can really hear what they are saying but the nod from the teacher indicates that she has an understanding of what`s going on.

With that taken care of, Shadow heads to the desk that had been empty for a few weeks now. This was his usual spot. Luckily the desk beside him had no one to claim it. This seat is where Maria will be sitting, beside Shadow. As he and Maria take their seats, the bell rings.

Needless to say, everyone is curious. Who is this girl? Where did she come from? Why is Shadow with her? How do they know each other? The Sonic Gang particularly are curious. But something is bugging Rouge. She stares at Maria, tapping her pen to the side of her face. This girl looks familiar...

Everyone decides to give Shadow his peace for the day, not pestering him or approaching him during school. Even lunch time they give him his space with the girl. They will ask him about her though when school is over for the day, that would allow them plenty of time since they are sure a lot of it will be needed.

Each class at the beginning, Shadow passes along one of the doctor`s notes to the teacher about Maria`s condition. Most of them take to the news sympathetically and give an understanding. It will complicate gym class for her as all she can do is sit on the sidelines and watch everyone else mobilize. A little depressing but she accepts it as this is just how her life will be. Long as she changes into the gym uniform she will get her A for the day.

In addition to getting things settled for Maria, Shadow has his own issues to deal with. He`s missed out on a lot of school. Granted doing homework is out of the question as the teachers know, they just have him make up the missed tests right there that day in class. They know he knows the material so he can just leap right in with the test. The tests are the only reason why he has a passing grade in the classes as he had waved off doing any other of the work. He still views school as pointless but he might as well finish up this remaining year he`s in. But now that Maria is present, he might try a little harder now...

Maria and Shadow both have all the same classes at the same time; she was placed in the same year as Shadow, him wanting her to graduate with him and plus he is confident that she is pretty knowledged in the material as he is. She was the one who was teaching him all that stuff, after all. The only class she doesn`t share with Shadow is the mechanics class where he does have an excellent score in, next to gym class. It`s a little difficult to fail gym for anyone; long as he participates in the activities, he gets an A. As for the mechanics class, he uses this to his personal advantage of maintaining his bike himself so in this class he actually tries. While Shadow is in his mechanics class, the last class of the day, Maria`s class is art.

The end of the schooly day, as they leave the building together, Maria is quite happy. It was an adventurous day and since no one has singled her out it would seem that she has managed to fit right in and appear to be like any other student. She expresses her joy to Shadow about participating in "Earth school" as they are leaving the school hand-in-hand. Shadow quietly listens to Maria`s happy speech as he usually did with her, listening more than speaking. This time it is Maria who makes the two of them stop walking. She turns to Shadow and throws her arms around him while expressing her thanks and appreciation for making it possible for her to be here. Happy to know that she is happy with what he`s done, Shadow wraps his own arms around Maria and seems to forget that other people are around and could be watching them. He couldn`t care about that right now, Maria is happy and that`s what matters.

Their moment is interrupted by the crew of the Sonic Gang approaching them. All of them bear friendly smiles towards the two of them. Ending the hug with Maria and preparing himself to answer a lot of questions, Shadow is hoping they hadn`t caught his little intimate moment with Maria though he knew they had. Never having seen Shadow interact with anyone, Maria is curious as to who these people are. They seem friendly enough though. She takes a hold of Shadow`s hand as she stands beside him shyly. She is used to dealing with doctors and nurses so it`s easy for her to open up to them. But regular people are another story for her, especially with such a large amount of strangers coming for introductions all at once. Luckily Shadow is with her this time so she has him at least.

Sonic stands in front as per usual, being the leader of the group. He lifts up a hand while the other is set on his hip. His smile is just as friendly as the others in the group,"Hey there, Shadow. Long time no see."

Shadow continues his usual policy of silence and just gives Sonic a small, single nod in response. Rouge is the first to ask about Maria. She pushes her way to the front and speaks up, preventing anyone else from getting a greeting or question out,"So, Shadow, who`s your new little friend?"

Rouge was always the more nosy one of the bunch. Looking at Maria, Rouge is drawing her own perceived conclusions. To her, Maria looks quite young, almost like she is just barely old enough to be in high school with the rest of the group. She is quite petite compared to Shadow. Also, in Rouge`s opinion, Maria is painfully thin and something seems to be a little off in the way she stands. But the way she holds Shadow`s hand and he holds hers back, it would suggest that maybe they weren`t just friends.

Shadow slowly turns his head to look down to Maria, who is in turn looking up at him. It wouldn`t be possible to tell everything about them. As far as Shadow is concerned, their past is their business and no one else`s. But a few small bits of information wouldn`t hurt. Shadow turns back to everyone who eagerly await the answer,"This is Maria."

Maria gives everyone a smile as she thinks that all of these people must be friends of Shadow`s. She gently gives everyone a greeting and collectively everyone else give their own unique greeting back to her. But upon hearing her name, both Amy and Rouge have a deja vu. Where have they heard the name "Maria" before? Familiar yet they can`t put their finger on it. Neither one voices it out though.

Among the top of the most friendly and outgoing of the gang, Amy tries to break ground with Maria,"So how old are you Maria?"

Maria begins to feel a little more comfortable as Amy is showing interest in learning more about her. She smiles and softly answers,"Fifteen."

Not surprising, she does look quite young. Amy furthers the conversation,"Ah, so then, you must be a sophomore student here."

"Oh no. I`m a senior student."

Awkward silence falls among the gang. Their smiles dropping as they stare at Maria with shock and disbelief. What? A 15 year old girl in the senior year? While they are taking a moment to soak in the information, Maria looks at them with concern. Feeling like she has said something wrong, she looks to Shadow, worried,"Did I say something wrong?"

Unlike everyone else, Shadow has a smirk on his face at seeing their reactions to hearing Maria`s age and what school year she is in. They are all either overwhelmed by how intelligent Maria is or they all feel stupid, perhaps even a mixture of the two. Shadow responds to Maria,"Not at all. You`re telling the truth. They just didn`t expect it."

Sonic scratches the top of his head and gives a crooked smile to Maria,"Did we make you feel bad? Sorry about that. Yeah, we just don`t hear of seniors being 15, or 16 for that matter. Usually seniors are 17 or 18."

Silver is among those that are the most impressed with this,"You must be really smart to be a senior at your age."

Shadow wants to so badly say how Maria is intelligent since she is the one who taught him what he knows academically. But he holds himself back. That would reveal too much about their past. That part he wants to keep locked up in safety.

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