Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu or any of its characters. I do however own Echo, Alex, Lucas, Zoey, Nancy, and Caleb. Tove belongs to Madi (madi51000), Lillie belongs to Bryanna (BubblyMahomie), and Vanessa belongs to Alyson (she doesn't have an account).

We have entered the second chapter in Echo's life. I hope you enjoy.

It's been two months since I first arrived at the Bounty, discovered my powers, fought a group of serpentine single handedly, found my real family, and joined the ninja. Thank goodness it wasn't all in one day! Well, as of last month I started going back to school regularly. The ninja had me on go on certain days to start out, in case the serpentine decided to attack me on my way to or from school. I'm trained well enough now that if that does happen, I could easily escape and make it back to the Bounty.

Alex, who'd sworn to my best—and at the time only—friend that she'd protect me with her life, argued that I should've been homeschooled so I could focus on my training as well. I wanted to go to a regular school though. I wasn't as shy as I was when I lived in the orphanage. I was ready to actually start talking to people. So in the end it was decided I'd continue school at Ninjago Elementary School. Though, because of my extent knowledge, I've been moved up a grade. Gosh I love my mom!

I walked into the classroom, like I've done only a few times before. I was still getting use to going down the third and fourth grade hall and not the first and second grade hall. I sat down in my seat and put my backpack on the back of it, waiting for class to start.

"Ooh, Echo!" Nancy, a friend who lives in the orphanage, squealed when she saw me. She ran over and sat down next to me. "Guess who got adopted yesterday!"

I shrugged. She's always telling me all about who gets adopted and when. "Was it you?" I guessed.

"No," Nancy frowned. "I'm not getting adopted, remember?"

Nancy believed that since she had insomnia that she was never getting adopted. She can't ever go to sleep until four in the morning and she can't wake up until seven. Anyone who had a job or wanted to do something in the morning wouldn't be able to go until Nancy was awake. She's told me that when she's older then she could walk to school by herself, but then there was the thirteen thing. No one gets adopted after they become a teenager, so Nancy just accepted the fact that she won't ever get adopted.

"Okay, who got adopted?" I pressed.

"Caleb!" Nancy exclaimed with a small squeal of delight.

"Really?" I asked. "That's great! I guess they can read sign language then."

"Well of course!" Nancy agreed. "That or be a mind reader."

See, Caleb was a mute in our grade. He had a special helper that had to be with him in some classes. He was really nice, and after learning sign language, we became close friends. He didn't have a lot of friends because of it, and since I knew how it felt to be treated like no one noticed me, I decided to learn sign language to be his friend. That... and I thought Caleb was kind of cute. His hair was dirty blond and a little shaggy and his green eyes...

I felt someone tap my shoulder. I turned to see the green eyed mute. Hello, Echo, he signed. How are you today?

"I'm great," I smiled to him. "And how are you? I heard you got adopted."

Caleb nodded and signed, It was hard to adjust sleeping in a different bed and room.

"Yeah, I noticed that too when I got adopted... Well before that when... You know..." I looked down at my desk. Caleb and Nancy were the two of the few people that knew I lived with the ninja. It was to dangerous to tell people, but I trusted them.

"Speaking of which!" Nancy said. "Have you been on any... missions lately." She whispered the last part.

"No," I told her. "The others think I'm not ready and that I should stay on the Bounty."

I am sure you are an excellent fighter, Caleb signed after snapping his fingers next to me to get my attention. I have seen you on the jungle gym. He smiled at me, which was his version of a laugh.

I decided to humor it and said, "Well I am pretty good at the monkey bars too."

Nancy busted out laughing. "Monkey bars!" she laughed. "Yeah because that shows you're a true ninja!"

I giggled. "And you have to admit, climbing the slide is a breeze for me."

Caleb smiled even bigger. Definitely, he signed. So the ninja should definately not worry. The teacher came in and class started.

I walked out to the playground and sat down on the bench for a moment. Nancy and Caleb were still eating when we were dismissed. Caleb can't exactly communicate and eat at the same time, so when he's a little behind us we take turns staying with him until we're done. Today happened to be Nancy's turn.

"Hey, Geeko," a voice said.

I felt myself tense up. While there are a few people who like me and a few that don't even know me—there's only one elementary school in Ninjago City so you can imagine a lot of kids go there—a couple don't like me. They tease me because one month I'm a second grader and the next I'm a third grader. Geeko is a nickname some girl gave me. Her name is Samantha and she's failed third grade twice. No wonder she picks on me!

I stood up and turned around. "Hi, Samantha," I said sweetly. "How are you today?"

"Not good," she said, pretending to be upset. "I don't have my homework done. So I need yours."

"Uh, but then I won't have homework to turn in," I told her, then quickly added, "Plus I wrote my name in pen. It would be pretty suspicious if they noticed a name scribbled out."

"Then I'll just copy your answers," Samantha said. "You'll let me do that, right?"

I shook my head. "I'd get in trouble for letting you copy my homework." She's done it before, that and taking it. I was glad this was happening outside and not during our free time before the teacher starts class. She couldn't just swipe it from me.

"Geeko, I don't want to have to hurt you," Samantha said. "But if you don't give me your homework, things could get messy."

"Messy's my middle name," I mumbled. I wasn't allowed to bring my kunai to school, school policy prohibited weapons, but I was allowed to use my ninja skills in self defense.

The two fourth graders behind Samantha snickered. "Right, little Geeko can fight. I forgot all about those rumors," one of them said.

"If you can really fight, why haven't you before?" the other asked.

"I'm not allowed to pick fights," I replied softly.

"Pity," Samantha said. "Now about homework..."

"You're not getting my homework," I said sternly.

Samantha huffed and pushed me down. Her and the fourth graders laughed. A couple other kids nearby that were watching laughed too. I felt my blood boil. What was so funny about it? So she pushed me! It's not a big deal! I've been knocked down more times by the ninja during training.

I pushed myself up and glared at Samantha. "That wasn't funny," I growled. I hadn't noticed the dark clouds until it was too late. They grew bigger and blocked out the sun, and that's when everyone noticed.

"I didn't realize it was suppose to rain today," someone said.

"It's not!" another kid shouted.

Samantha stared at me. "Forget the nickname Geeko, you're Freako!" she yelled. Everyone took off away from me.

The clouds vanished as Nancy and Caleb ran over to me. "Echo, what was that?" Nancy gasped. "You can make clouds?" Okay, they knew I was a ninja but they never knew about my powers.

"I don't want to talk about it," I mumbled, turning to head inside.

Caleb caught my arm and I looked to him. Tell us, he signed. Please. We will not judge you.

I sighed. "I've had them for a few months. That's how I found the ninja, leading to them adopting me."

"So... Now what?" Nancy asked. "Everyone knows about your powers."

"Now my mom will probably ground me," I said. "Or my dad will make me train to control my powers."

Or both, Caleb suggested. I glared at him. Sorry.

"Let's just go inside," I said. "I should be fine." The two exchanged a glance before nodding and we headed back inside.

So how's that for an introduction? Review, don't flame, live long, laugh a lot, love everyone, be happy, be healthy... and I'll stop ranting...