#ekou

When Echo Grant walked into her own homeroom class that morning, she was taken aback to see that an extra desk had been unceremoniously shoved in front of hers.  Her homeroom class had always had exactly thirty students.  No one had been stupid enough to drop out.  But now, the neat order of the desks had been rudely disrupted. She was one of the first people here, so she guessed all she could do was sit and wait.  She hoped that the new student would at least be interesting.  Maybe it would be a cute guy...maybe he would even be the soulmate she was looking for. She caught herself and blushed slightly.  It wouldn't do to set herself up for disappointment yet again.  Between gymnastics and helper duties, she was really too busy for a serious relationship. More people were filtering in by now.  Of course, David clomped in as noisily as possible, put his feet on the desk in front of him, and started playing his PSP.  Echo ignored him.  Best to let bygones be bygones. And then...just about the tallest person that Echo had ever seen walked in the room.  Seriously...he was probably at least six-four, and his hair added another couple of inches.  This had to be the new student. She definitely knew she'd never seen him before...he was pretty memorable.  This school was very prestigious; most of the students came from well-known families in the community.  Therefore, she supposed that this guy must be here on a scholarship.  The school only gave out four of them each year, so he'd have to be very intelligent to have gotten in. Echo found herself  drawn to him immediately.  He definitely wasn't handsome in the conventional sense, but he looked...intriguing.  His red hair and angular features reminded her of a fox.  He also wasn't wearing the school uniform, which was definitely unusual.   Even after he sat down, Echo kept staring at the back of his head without really realizing it.  Finally, he turned around to glare at her, and she started.  She mumbled an apology and glanced down at her manual. Well, she guessed that she hadn't made a very good first impression.  Nevertheless, she was determined to get to know more about this stranger. During lunch, Echo ate as quickly as possible and then scouted the grounds for the new guy.  She thought that it would be easy to find him, but he proved elusive.  Finally, she found him sitting against the back wall of the science building, far away from the main commons.  He was reading a thick book in some sort of foreign script...possibly Greek or Russian.  She stood there, not knowing what to say, for several moments.  Then, he finally looked up. "Yes?" he asked in a polite yet slightly bored tone. Echo knew she was blushing yet again. "Uh...hi," she managed to stammer out, "I'm Echo Grant.  We have the same homeroom class." The guy glanced back down at his book, then finally answered with, "Amon Garam." It took Echo a few seconds to realize that this was his name.   Now...what could she say?  She'd never been good at small talk, and she guessed maybe Amon wasn't either. "So...are you going to be introduced at the assembly this afternoon?" she asked. His only answer was, "I doubt it." It was rather awkward carrying on a conversation with one person standing and one sitting, so Echo sat down next to Amon.  He seemed to have no objections. "What's that you're reading?" she inquired. "Crime and Punishment.  I'm teaching myself Russian," was the answer. "Wouldn't that be difficult?  I have trouble just with Spanish class!" "It's not so bad." "Oh." Then, Echo couldn't help but to ask, "Do you know Spanish?" "Of course," he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Do you think...you could help me with it some time?  I want to get off to a good start this year." At this, Amon finally closed his book.  Finally, he sighed and said, "Well, it's not like I have anything else to do." Echo couldn't believe her good luck! "S...so...what time would be best for..." The warning bell for the end of lunch chose that moment to rudely interrupt her.  And just when they were getting somewhere, too! They both stood up.  Echo noticed that, even with her hat and boots, she barely reached his shoulder.  This thrilled her immensely.  She was used to people all being taller than her, but not by this much. "Will you be here tomorrow?" she asked Amon. "I don't see why not." "Great!  We can work out a time then!" But Amon was already leaving. That had actually turned out pretty well.  Echo just hoped that her friend would be okay with this.  Reggie tended to get mad when she was inconvenienced. Echo had to go to the orientation meeting for gymnastics right after the assembly, and then went straight to her dorm,  so she missed the scene on the quad.  When she opened the door to her room, she was quite surprised to see Reggie sitting cross-legged on her bed, reading a book. Technically, she and Reggie were roommates.  But usually Reggie preferred to stay at home, so Echo had the room to herself.  She didn't mind sharing, though.  She was glad that Reggie could use this room as an emergency retreat.  What made her happy also made Echo happy. Echo sat down on the other bed and said, "Hi!" cheerfully, just like this happened every day.  Truth be told, she was relieved to finally see Reggie.  They hadn't spoken much since her surgery. Reggie regarded her coolly and then said, "Come here." Echo did as she was told. "See this?" she asked, pointing to her book.  Echo nodded obediently. "Is this Japanese?" she asked Reggie. "No, this is Quechua." Echo must have looked confused, because after a moment Reggie snapped, "Of course it's Japanese!" Oh.  Right.  Why was she always so slow to get Reggie's sarcasm? Reggie continued as if nothing had happened, "Anyway, this," pointing to the page, "is called hiragana.  And I have to memorize it by tomorrow, so I came here to get some peace and quiet.  He'll know if I don't do the memorizing." Echo knew who he was...Reggie's father.  She felt her upper lip curl. Reggie looked at her sharply and asked, "Are you making faces at me?!" "N...no, of course not!  Well, not at you." "Fine.  Fair enough. Now get me out of these clothes." She did look rather uncomfortable, so Echo helped her out of her jacket and hat as quickly as possible.  She waited for further instruction, and Reggie gestured that she wanted the shirt off as well.  After that was divested of, Reggie turned her back to Echo out of modesty.  Echo winced when she saw how her bra straps were digging into her shoulders.  An awkward pause followed. Finally, Echo asked as discreetly as she could, "So...do you want all of it off?" Reggie answered in the affirmative, but so quietly that Echo could barely hear her.  She sighed in relief as the torturous article of clothing was finally off her.  Then, as Echo was folding the clothes, Reggie buried her face in her hands.  Her back was still turned, but she seemed to be near tears. It was very unlike her to show emotions like this.  Echo hesitated before inquiring, "Are you okay?" "No, I'm not okay, Echo.  I'll never be okay.  Why can't you understand?" Then, unexpectedly, she turned around.  Echo politely looked away, but Reggie said, "No, I want you to see this." Echo was reluctant to do this, but she couldn't disobey a request from Reggie.  So she looked, only to cover her mouth in horror as Reggie lifted up her breasts to show the angry-looking scars underneath. "It's been a month and they're still not completely healed.  Fucking Mexican doctors," she spat. Echo couldn't think of anything to say other than, "I'm sorry..." "It's just...I wish I could just tear these things out...I didn't want this..." Reggie had always had a thin, girlish voice, but now she sounded like she was a scared eight-year-old all over again.  Echo felt close to crying herself.  She hugged Reggie carefully, so as not to hurt her.  Reggie stiffened, but let Echo do it.  Then, she turned away again. "Get my summer robe from the cardboard box," she commanded in her normal controlled tone.  It appeared that Girl-Talk time was already over. 'Which one?" asked Echo as she rummaged through the clothes in the box. "The pink satin one." She wished she could do more to help.  How could Reggie stand it?  She had shown no signs of being in pain until right now.  If this had happened to Echo, she'd probably be constantly screaming. Echo handed over the robe.  Once Reggie put it on and was properly covered, she went back to her hiragana memorization.  Echo just waited quietly in the background until Reggie needed her again. No matter how mean Reggie could be to her, it was still her job to help and protect her.  Echo had promised her all those years ago, after all.