Chapter 7 - A Stroke of Bad Luck

The next morning, they noticed that Epiphany and Cain were absent from breakfast.
They figured Penders gave them detention. But they arrived at the table soon enough.
"You're here!" Tails said.
"We were worried," Cream added.
"How'd it go?" Sonic asked.
"Not so good," Cain replied.
"We tried talking to him, but we walked in on him bandaging his mangled leg and he yelled at us to get out and subtracted points from our respected houses," Epiphany said.
"Bummer," said Sonic with a frown.
"And worse," Cain said, "Coach Kahn caught up with Penders first. We tried explaining to him about his real identity to Penders, but he just joked his way out of that one."
"Chao, chao!" Cheese exclaimed.
"Does your little friend have a plan?" Epiphany asked.
"Well, no," Cream said, "I think he's saying Caterina Diff is coming this way."

And sure enough, Caterina came walking to their table with a big, smug smile on her face.
"Hiya, losers! I have a message from Coach Kahn", Caterina said, "He says you are to meet him after dinner tonight in Penders' office. Now that you've got your message, how's about you give me a tip? It's customary, you know."
"You'll get lumps, and not in oatmeal if you don't stop bothering us," Epiphany threatened.
"Ugh," Caterina scoffed, "you're just jealous that Coach Kahn prefers me over you."
"We actually couldn't care less about Coach Kahn," Cain said, "now if you'll kindly shove off."
"I wonder what he wants to talk to us about?" Cream asked.
"Let's have a word with old Coach Kahn about it now," Sonic said.
As they stood up to leave the table, a bowl magically appeared over Sonic's head and poured a red liquid on him. The Grand hall filled with laughs as they witnessed what happened.
Sonic then touched the top of his head with his fingers, inspected the red liquid, then tasted it. "Corn syrup," he said.
As the Demontails continued to laugh at him, he smiled and said "I know. Red really isn't my color," make it appear they were laughing with him.
Caterina smirked at the scene from a distance, signifying it was her who poured the red corn syrup over Sonic's head. Amy caught her smirking and gave her an angry look.
"What was that about?" Amy demanded.
"I'm keeping up the order here," Caterina said, approaching the pink hedgehog. She then whispered into Amy's ear, "and to do that, I have to subtract popularity points from other people so I remain most popular, the reason I'm telling you is because I think you might be a good addition to my group,"
"What?" Amy said.
"Ditch the other furry dopes and I might let you have a shot," Caterina continued, "and maybe you can transfer to Demontail and get a magical makeover."
"Never!" Amy was quick to decline.
"Fine," Caterina said, "enjoy being a freak for the rest of your life."
When the mean girl walked off in a fake huff, Cain decided to share an idea.

"Maybe we can just wait in front of the office just in case. Caterina's made me lose my appetite, anyway."

"We appreciate your efforts," said Amy, "but we don't want anything happening to you on account of us."
"Think nothing of it," Cain reassured them, "we love helping friends in need, and you are in need right now." 
"Even if we risk losing our house points, we've got your backs," Epiphany said.
"Wonder what he wants with us?" Amy wondered.
"Maybe he's discovered Coach Kahn's intentions on his own," Epiphany suggested.
They knew this wasn't likely, but they admired their friends' hope.
After handing their barely eaten lunches to the cafeteria ladies, they walked to the administrative office and trudged up the stairs to Penders’ office.

“I thank you for taking some time out of your busy furry schedule to see me,” Deputy Headmaster Penders said, pulling his door open before they had a chance to knock.
“Well, hurry it up. Each minute I spend talking to you is one I could spend practicing my clarinet and as a musical genius, I can’t afford to waste any.”
“We understand, sir,” Amy said.
“Good!” said Penders, “There are two things I wanted to discuss with you. Do you know what they are?’
“No, sir,” Amy replied.
“Well, that’s a shock,” Penders mocked, “a studious girl like you, not knowing? Lucky for you, I'm in the mood to explain. The first thing I'd like to discuss is your cheating at that game."
"Cheating?!"
"Yes, that's right," Penders continued, "since your friend here caught the wiff in his ear, our new coach here called foul play."
"But that's not fair!" Cream says.
"Besides, a coach can't call the shots, he's not a referee," Knuckles added.
"Who do you expect me to believe?" Penders asked in a condescending tone, "a small child or a sports official? Either way, Coach Kahn wants you to meet him in the quad tomorrow morning to quiz you on what you've been studying, and if you fail, you're expelled. And Coach Kahn says he has a homeschooling program designed for you. I expect you to come prepared tomorrow. Arrivederci."
And after his use of gratuous Italian, he turned around and closed the door behind him.

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