Dagger walked out the door of Central City High, eager to get out of there. The day had gone on pretty poorly since lunch. The guys were easily-impressed suck ups, and the girls were even worse. Not to mention all the questions from the guys about him sitting with those seven girls at lunch. He didn’t understand why it was such a big deal. Suddenly, Dagger froze. “I… have to go through with them again…” He realized, slapping his forehead. “I told them I’d ‘hang out’, and now they’re—” “Hey!” he heard 7 voices call in unison. Dagger grimised, then turned to face them. “You didn’t forget about us, did you?” Harper interrogated. “What? Me? …Maybe,” Dagger told them without much enthusiasm. “Look, this might be hard to believe, but I’ve got to go look after a nine-year-old who’s out on the street.” “Why is he on the street?” Zoey asked. “Doesn’t he have a home?” Dagger sighed. “His name is Nutty, and he’s the kid that was with me during the attack yesterday. We didn’t come here until then, and only remain because I’m being forced to get an education. So curently, he and I are homeless.” “That’s awful!” Zoey and her identical twin sister, Lucy, exclaimed. Dagger shrugged. “It’s not like he would be better off without me. I found him when his house was on fire. He still wouldn’t have a roof over his head.” “You have got to come stay with me!” Hazel insisted. “We can have so much fun together! That, and you won’t have to worry about rain.” A babble of protest rose from the other 6 girls. Dagger lowered his head as they all threw out meaningless arguments about why he should bunk with them. It ranged from “you don’t have any spare beds” to “why would he want to live with someone as ugly as you?”. They, again, started to raise their volume, calling attention to themselves. Dagger realized he had a chance to slip away, and started silently off towards the road. A couple of kids held out their hands for high-fives, and Dagger responded with light taps of his hand as to not let the girls know he’d left. When he had crossed the road, he heard one of them cry “Hey! Where'd he go?” Laughing, Dagger took off full sprint. The group looked over to see his dust kicking up. Dagger heard cries for him to come back from behind him, and others encouraging him to keep going. He noted that they were impressed by his speed, which was understandable. The fastest guy in his grade before he came only ran about as fast as you could ride an ordinary bike. Dagger continued to scan the streets. For all he knew, Nutty was on the other side of the country. He darted down the longest streets in seconds, jumping over cars and side-stepping bikes. He had been going for nearly 10 minutes before he ran into Nutty at the town park. “Hey Dagger!” he called as his friend approached. “I’m hungry!” Dagger laughed. “I’d assume so. You would not believe the day I had.” “To be honest, pal, I don’t care.” Nutty said. “All I want is to start big-backing!” Dagger rolled his eyes. “I see you’re familiar with the ‘slang’ of this place.” He pointed out. “Hate to break it to you, but we don’t really have an inlet for that sort of thing at the moment.” Nutty grinned. “While you were boring yourself to death, I was out getting those big rings outside the city. If I counted correctly, I should have around 500. That should be enough for more of that fast-food.” Dagger grinned. “Nice job!” he congratulated him, “Now we can eat!” . . . Dagger and Nutty were just wrapping up their at a local Mc. Donalds. Again, Nutty had cleared his plate in seconds. He was whining that he was still hungry as Dagger finished up. “I get it!” Dagger yelled finally. “You’re hungry! I’m not all satisfied either, but we can’t get anything without more money!” “Rings,” Nutty corrected. “Whatever.” Suddenly, Dagger heard his name. His eyes darted down the road, where he could see the 7 girls searching for him. They must have been looking since he left, which was at least half an hour ago. Dagger grabbed Nutty. “We’ve got to go!” He exclaimed hastily. Nutty gripped the table firmly. “Not until you feed me!” “We just talked about this! We have no more ‘rings’! We can’t get anything!” “Hey! There he is!” Dagger heard. His face took on a panicked expression. The girls were sprinting down the street now. They had obviously overheard his struggle and had their eyes drawn to the scene. Dagger let go of Nutty to pound his fist on the table. “You know,” Harper gasped, “It’s not so nice to walk away when someone’s talking to you.” (continue to N&C)
Nutty looked at Dagger. “You know these gals?” Dagger nodded forlornly. Nutty then proceeded to go around introducing himself. “Now, what’s all y'all's names?” “Harper” “Hazel” “Zoey, and this is Lucy” “Grace,” called the arctic fox. “Mackenzie,” introduced the purple dog. “Aurora,” said the panther “Cool,” Nutty exclaimed. “Now, what’s your deal?” “We’re all on a date with Dagger,” Grace supplied. “He agreed to see us after school.” “I said ‘hang out’ and you know it,” Dagger corrected. “I would never ask 7 girls out at the same time.” “Same thing,” Aurora insisted. “Now, back to the issue of you two being on the street.” Nutty glared at Dagger again. “You told them about that?” “Well—” Dagger began. “You still haven’t told us who you;re going to stay with!” Mackenzie interrupted. “You’ve got to make up your mind before it gets dark.” Dagger groaned. “You do realize that I—” “Choose!” All 7 girls demanded him. “Well Nutty, what do you think?” Nutty scratched his chin. “I can’t help but notice,” he pointed out, “that the one hedgehog you saved yesterday isn’t here. What happened to her?” Dagger shrugged. “She hates me. I can’t even tell you how many times she punched me in the shoulder just in the first period. Of course, she’s not in any of my other classes, but you get the point.” Nutty frowned. “So I have to pick from one of these gals that you’re not perfect for?” “See?” Harper enthused. “Even that kid knows it!” At his questioning glance, she added “He refuses to hang out with her, and she absolutely insists on keeping distance from him. Not that I’m complaining. Now he’s up for grabs.” Dagger sighed as yet again the girls began to talk at the same time. Sensing his distraught, Nutty patted Dagger on the shoulder. Dagger looked at Nutty, then managed a small smile. The noise of the girls got louder. “Are you girls going to buy anything?” An employee cut into their chatter. “We’re just here for him,” Harper told him with her kindest smile. “They happen to have just finished, so if you’re not going to be doing any more eating, I’ll have to ask you to leave.” With a grin of triumph, Dagger grabbed Nutty and started towards the door. This time, however, Hazel managed to grab him by the arm. The other girls grabbed her, and Dagger pulled all of them in a chain through the doorway. Dagger sighed once they were outside. “Since it’s getting late, how about you guys just draw straws?” “Sure,” Lucy said. “Got any straws?” Nutty produced 7 straws he had cut to different lengths in his hand. He then made them look as to be the same length in his grasp, and gestured for them each to take one. All the girls eagerly grabbed their straws. After some complaining, however, it was decided that Zoey and Lucy couldn’t both have straws because they lived in the same house. After Zoey and Lucy talked, Lucy gave up her straw. It was the straw Nutty had originally cut the shortest. Dagger looked in the hands of the other 6. The longest straw, uncut, was in the hands of Aurora. She grinned in triumph as they all gave their straws to Nutty so they could draw again tomorrow. Dagger and Nutty walked with Aurora two blocks down. The house was small, but there was a guest room. Aurora was an only child, so the whole house was quiet. Dagger put Nutty to work inflating an air mattress while he searched for clean sheets. Aurora kept coming down to ask Dagger questions and stall to keep him awake. By the time they Dagger drifted off, it was midnight, and Nutty had been fast asleep for the past 4 hours. To Be Continued... Song: City Escape from Sonic Generations
