Chapter Four
I snap another picture, grinning as I capture the bird just in time before it flies away from its nest in the cherry tree. I turn the small dial on the disposable camera that each of us had been given. For our photography class, Miss Lancaster gave us a disposable camera, saying that children took true pictures. Children, of course, used disposable cameras and they couldn’t see what they had taken, so it was all by “the eye”.
I think Miss Lancaster is on crack. Pictures are about being lucky and getting the perfect shot, none of this children crap.
Miss Lancaster – speak of the devil – comes up behind me and drapes her arm across my shoulder. I tense immediately, I’m not one for touchy-touchy with random people that I’ve just met. She gives an overly dramatic sigh filled with something that sounds like a giddy vibe and her voice starts gushing with joy, “Oh, I can’t wait until you see your pictures developed. They will be so magical.”
I inch away from her arm slightly and give a nervous nod. She studies where the bird had just flown away and pulls me closer to her, “You know Echo,” she glances at me, placing a hand on her hip, “you are magical too.”
Biting the inside of my cheek I kind of give a half nod, not sure what else I could do. She continues on too, “We are each magical in our own ways, aren’t we? Not to say that we are all unique, because that means that no one is unique. But we each have our own mystical ability that no one else can copy exactly. Do you know your mystical ability?”
She waits a few moments while I just stand there. I finally manage out, “Sure, I guess.”
She finds this satisfactory as she continues on, she’s on a roll here, “and yet each of us have our own destinies. Some of our destinies are not as pretty as other people’s. Think about people who die of car accidents, teenagers your age. Their destiny is set out for them when they are still in the womb.”
I cringe away from Miss Lancaster and her arm falls. I really don’t want to be standing here talking to her.
“So I say that you have to live your life to the fullest every day. Tomorrow could be your last day, Echo. Tomorrow could be my last day. But if tomorrow is your last day, and no one knows for sure because beings beyond us set the destinies, then I want you to hear this from an adult figure.” She grasps both my shoulders, turning me towards her. Miss Lancaster’s eyes are wide as she says, “You are a unique and special snowflake. I do not want you to ever forget that. Your name screams that you have something that is dying to get out and show the world your full potential. Your name also screams that great tragedy is coming.”
I laugh hesitantly, “Miss Lancaster, I don’t believe that for a moment.”
Please go away.
“Well you should.” She straightens and dusts her skirt, “I just told you, didn’t I?”
“This is all lovely, ma’am. But may I continue taking photos? You said we needed fifteen today and I only have eight.”
Miss Lancaster smiles, “Hard at work. You’re so bright and intelligent. You are aware of your surroundings.” She backs away from me, “Unique and special snowflake Echo, remember that.”
Right, sounds like something you’d find in a fortune cookie from a cheapo Chinese take-out place. Anyway, I turn back to the flowers that line the outside of the Tulip dorms and snap a couple pictures. Fingers curl around my shoulder and for some reason I can already tell it’s not Miss Lancaster.
I glance at the fingers on my shoulder, a perfectly French manicured hand greats me. I look up at a girl who’s staring at the flowers I just took pictures of. Her hair is a gorgeous red, lying straight around her shoulders in layers. Side bangs almost cover her right eye, and her eyes are a dark chocolate brown. Her skin has a slight tint of tan, although being a ginger she naturally has pale skin. Freckles line her cheeks and her thin nose. She wears jean shorts that are just a tad too short, and a yellow and white striped halter-top that screams ‘cleavage’.
“Can I help you?” I ask her, looping the strap of the camera around my neck.
“Yes, you can,” she looks at me, her gaze hard. The corners of her mouth tug into a sly smirk and I can already tell I’m facing someone dangerous.
I wrench my shoulder out of her grasp; I’m done with people spontaneously grabbing my shoulders for the day, “And how can I do that?”
“By staying out of my way, and my boyfriend’s way.” She steps in front of me so I’m almost forced to look her in the eye.
“Look princess,” Okay, now I’m annoyed. I don’t even know this chick, “I don’t know you, or your boyfriend, so back off. I’m trying to work here.”
“What? You’re trying to work? This class is a joke. And you do actually know my boyfriend, because I saw you two just a touch too close to each other last night.” She pushes her bangs out of her eye; where they fall back with no prevail, “Nate Johnson.”
The Nate I know never told me his last name, but I can only assume he’s the one she’s talking about, “Fine, whatever.”
“Good.” She smirks, “I’m Iris by the way.”
“Echo.”
“What a…” she pauses, “weird name. Who names their child after something that repeats and copies? Iris is unique.”
“Yeah, because I want to be named after a body part.” I snort, “Bye, bye Iris.”
She flips her hair over her shoulder and struts away, her pink ballet flats silent against the concrete sidewalk. I think she’s gone before she turns again and says, “Echo. If I ever catch you with Nate, I can make your life a living hell. I own this school.”
I ignore her and place the camera to my eye to take another photo.
~
“She irks me.” I growl as I fold my clothes into the small dresser inside the walk-in closet.
“Me too.” Lacey snaps her gum and examines her fingernails, obviously tuning in and out of what I’m telling her.
“I mean, what kind of girl just walks up to innocent new students and tells them she can make their lives hell?”
“You.”
I turn around and lean out of the closet, my eyebrow cocked, “I do?”
“Well at our old school you did. She said she owned this school, you kind of owned the school back in Cali.”
Leaning back into the closet I sigh audibly, “Well…”
The springs on Lacey’s bed creak as she gets off it. A small ping comes from her laptop when it turns on and soon I can hear the clacking of her fingernails on the keys. I fold one shirt, then another…and another before I stand up and walk out of the closet.
“Lacey?” I ask, walking to her. She glances at me, giving me her attention. “She told me to stay away from Nate.”
“Then stay away from him.” Lacey gives me a small smile, her eyes crinkling at the sides.
“He’s already a friend. What if he talks to me? I mean we do sit next to each other in English. Plus he’s been assigned my partner for the fair project in AP History.”
“Babe, I have no idea. Why don’t you go call Jamie about this?”
I gape at her, “I can’t do that! He’d rat on me about that I’m spending too much time with another guy.”
She spins in her chair, leans forward so her elbows are propped on her knees and gives me a long analyzing look, “Echo, you can’t keep coming to me for advice on this stuff. I have my own problems too. I mean, this guy who I don’t even know named Dean or something came up to me and asked me out today.”
“Derek,” I mumble.
“Can you believe this? What guy randomly comes up to girls and asks them out?” Lacey leans back, twirling her raven hair.
“Maybe he thought you were attractive. I mean, you are there’s no denying that fact.” I shrug and sit on her bed.
An audible grunt comes from her lips and she turns back to her computer. I lick my lips and wait for a moment, wondering what I should do. My clothes are all folded and hung in the closet; my toiletries are all packed away, all my pictures and little home items are set up…
Nate walks past the doorway, not even glancing into our room. I chew on the inside of my cheek and look at Lacey. She didn’t even notice him.
“I’m going for a walk,” I decide, wondering where Nate was going.
“Bye, bye Hun.” Lacey says, her voice distracted.
I slip on my flip-flops and head out the door, closing it behind me. I tuck our room key into the back pocket of my black shorts and see Nate’s retreating head through the few people in the hallway. I head after him, my flip-flops making that irritating snapping noise. Walking down the stairs into the common room area of the dorm I see him head out the doors.
Okay, so I already feel like a stalker, but for some reason I need to talk to him about Iris. I’ve only known Nate for about a week, but he already doesn’t seem like the type of guy to want a girl like Iris.
I think Lacey was wrong; I wasn’t that bad back in California. Maybe I was a little defendant of my spot on the cheerleading squad, and a little territorial of Jamie but it’s not like I threatened people. At least not daily. Tricia Cornwall, I might have threatened her once or twice, but that’s all. Also it doesn’t count. It’s Tricia. I suffered constant abuse from her too, you know. It would be a simple snide remark in the hallway to one of her friends like, “Can you believe Echo actually chose to wear that shirt with that headband? I mean the two totally clash.”
And maybe I did take off the headband in my next class because I was self-conscious. So I know what it’s like to be harassed.
I see Nate slide his sandals off and he settles himself on the shore. His toes dig into the sand and his arms rest on his knees. He shuts his eyes and I see him take a deep breath.
Walking up behind him I stand there for a few moments, the air still and no breeze passes by. I look down at him before sitting beside him, my knees tucked into my chest.
“What’s up?” Out of the blue, he speaks. I glance at him, his eyes are still shut and I feel like I had been sitting there for ages.
“I came to talk.”
“So…talk.”
“Do you know a girl named Iris?” I straighten out one leg, letting the water slide over it and I draw circles in the sand with my fingertips.
Nate falls silent, his breathing hushed and he doesn’t move. I wait, my finger tracing the same circle over again.
“Yes.” He answers. I look up at him; his eyes are open and resting on me now. His expression is unreadable, no betrayal of any sign of emotion.
“Is she a sensitive subject?” I look away from under his gaze.
“Yes.”
“Oh,” I stand and dust off the back of my shorts, “Well we don’t have to talk—”
“Echo,” Nate grunts, running his hands over his face, “she’s a sensitive subject but I never said I didn’t want to talk about her. I never even told Derek about what happened between Iris and I, and Derek’s my best friend.”
“Well are you sure you want to talk to her about me? I’m just some random girl who you met, like, a week ago.”
“You’re not random, I know you.” He glanced at me. “Sit. I actually want to tell you ‘bout her.”
I sit back down, my dusted off shorts getting even sandier and wetter than before. I tap my feet against the muddy sand and lean back on my elbows. He leans back too, though all the way lying on the sand with his legs straight out. I study his facial expression..
“Okay, shoot.” I push my hair back.
