Vamp: Anyone else want to do the disclaimer today?
Selena: Oooh! I will! Vampiric Dragonrider does not own YGO GX or anything else that she might use in the story. She only owns her OCs, including me, and her plot, and if you use us without her knowledge, she will hunt you down and crush you in a Children's Card Game. There! How'd I do?
Echo:… Good…I guess.
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" I wanna swim away but don't know how!
Sometimes it feels just like I'm fallin' in the Ocean.
Let the waves up, take me down!
Let the hurricane set in motion.
Let the rain of what I feel right now come down.
Let the rain come down!"
Selena groaned and threw a pillow down to Echo below her to shut off the alarm clock. She had wanted the top bunk, but Blaire had already claimed that, so Selena was stuck with the middle.
She watched, eagle-eyed, as Echo's black head peeked out and slammed on the clock. Then she flipped onto her back and smiled up at Selena.
"Good morning, Sunshine. Ready for breakfast?"
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Chazz sat at his normal table, eyes closed in annoyance. He was finished with watching Jaden and Jesse inhale their food. Who knew Jaden had a food opponent? He heard the scuffle of a chair as someone sat across from him.
Without opening his eyes, he said, "This is the Princeton Table. Go away!"
Only to get the reply of, "Well, I am a Princeton, so I can sit here if I want."
"Oh. H'lo, Echo."
"Good morning, sweetie."
"God, not to name names, or anything, but someone is a morning person!" Chazz said, opening his eyes to stare at his cousin.
"Nah, I'm just excited. The first day of class always does that to me. Not to name names, or anything, but I do think someone got up on the wrong side of the bed today."
"Yeah, he always gets up on the wrong side of the bed!" Blaire intruded, going to sit diagonally across from Chazz. Selena, who was trailing behind Blaire, was forced to sit next to him. Chazz was growing more and more horrified as the girls sat down as comfortably as though he wasn't there.
Chazz was just about to butt in and tell them to go away when he felt something touch his hand. He glanced down and saw a note. Opening it, he read it to himself.
I'm bored out of my mind. Want to duel after class?
Selena
Chazz looked up and nodded at Selena, who smiled timidly back. Anything to get out of this hell hole.
"Hey, did you realize that to spell 'hello' right, you have to spell 'hell'?" Echo asked suddenly.
"That's stupid!" Chazz retorted. "No one would ever think-"
"Yeah!" Selena cut in. "And also, you have to spell demonstration with demon!"
"Dorks," Chazz muttered to himself. The girls continued to ramble on about how if you took a letter or changed a letter in a word, you get a completely different word, like "Friend" and "Fiend," "Word" and "Work," "Red" and "Read," they went on and on…
"I'm outta here," Chazz announced, standing up and striding out of the cafeteria. Once he was outside, he quickened his pace to get to his favourite thinking spot: The cliff.
He breathed deeply as the breeze made his jacket float behind him and his hair flew around his face. The cliff faced west, so the sun was behind him. He stared at the dark waters, lost in thought…
Back at the Cafeteria…
Jim had come and joined Echo's table, since Jaden's was full. Jim and Selena were comparing schedules.
"My first class is with Dr. Crowler," Selena started.
"Oi! Me too! How 'bout your second class?" Jim replied.
Selena was silent for a second as she looked at her PDA. "Umm, I have Professor Alos, it looks like."
"That's too bad, sheila. I have Professor Bonaparte."
"That's OK! We have P.E. the next period together." Selena wasn't flirting. She was just glad that someone she knew was in her classes, and she became friends with Jim after their encounter on the boat.
Bring bring!!!!
"What's that, Blaire?" Echo asked.
"That's the class bell. C'mon! You and I have Professor Alos right now!" Blaire said. Jim and the girls rushed out of the cafeteria, grabbing their bags of books on their way. Jaden and co. weren't too far behind. Well, mainly co. 'cause Jaden wanted to finish his rice. Finally, Jesse and Syrus got him to move.
Jim and Selena walked side by side silently. However, soon the hallway became crowded and Selena just wanted out of there. She tried to push through the crowd, but it was too dense. But it wasn't too long until she bumped into Chazz...
Nearby but out of sight, Echo and Jaden had gotten split up from the group, but managed to stick together somehow. The jostling of the throng had Echo feeling suppressed by all the frantic auras surrounding her. She managed to keep her mind, however, thanks to Jaden's always relaxed one.
A pair of rambunctious boys was running through the crowd, though. They were racing each other to their next class, and were pushing people aside rather harshly. Selena got thrown into Chazz, and she ended up with her arms around him.
Echo felt them before she even heard them. Their dashing was disturbing all the people and she could sense it. Unfortunately, she and Jaden had no time to escape, and the crowd wouldn't part.
The boys got closer, unceremoniously throwing Echo into Jaden. Their lips touched as they were tossed to the wall…
Time stopped as the mass around them gasped. Camera phones clicked as Jaden and Echo quickly stepped away from each other. Both of the teens turned a deep, deep scarlet.
"ECHO!" Chazz roared. He had seen them! Echo could sense that. His aura was so strong that she could practically see it. And boy, was he angry.
"Oh no, Chazz-y! It was an accident!" Echo pleaded, still red. Then she saw Selena trailing after Chazz. Her aura felt…strange. Like something else happened to them? It felt different than before. Kind of sheepish.
"Echo, you are in major trouble!" Chazz continued to shout. Finally, Echo couldn't bear the weight of the atmosphere.
She retorted, "Well, I'd like to know what happened between you and Selena!" Echo had snapped, but did not calm down when she saw Selena's expression. She knew she had hit the jackpot.
"No-nothing happened!" Selena stuttered.
"I dare to think not!" Echo replied. "I can read your face like a book! Something happened, and you're going to tell me now!" she got no answer, but she heard a guy say something. She recognized the voice as Ignatius'.
"I saw them. They were inseparable," He said. Echo didn't think it was possible, but Chazz turned pink and Selena blushed the reddest she'd ever seen. Redder than Ignatius' hair, she thought.
"It was nothing!" Chazz snapped. Oh boy, he can be a nightmare when he's embarrassed!
"Oh really?" Ignatius continued coolly. "I saw the way you two looked at each other! It wasn't like 'Oops, sorry,' but more like 'Sorry, love,' if you know what I mean."
"But we hardly know each other!" Selena said back.
"What interest would I have in her!?" Chazz spat. Echo was losing it. Now she really couldn't take it! The air was heavy in anger.
"All of you, SHUT UP!" Echo screamed, as she dashed out of there as fast as she could. The crowd parted in silence.
"Echo…" Chazz trailed uselessly.
"Happy, Princeton?" Ignatius said hotly as he raced after her. Chazz just looked on in confusion.
"It's okay, Chazz," Selena said, trying to be comforting. "No one got hurt too bad." She touched his arm and followed Ignatius.
"It really was an accident," Jaden whispered as he passed Chazz to get to his next class. I know, Chazz thought, unable to respond. I was revolted…for no good reason.
Ignatius' POV
I ran to catch up, but Echo had disappeared. I peeked into a variety of rooms and finally gave up and went to class.
After all of my classes, in which I had not seen Echo anywhere, I continued searching. I was well aware that Selena was following me on my searches, but I said nothing. Finally, after about an hour, I heard sobs emitting from the girls' bathroom.
"Selena," I said in a hushed tone. She jumped and rounded the corner she was hiding behind. "Go in there and bring her out."
Selena ducked in the bathroom, and after a few whispered words, finally dragged Echo out. Echo looked terrible. Her eyes were red and her face was wet. Her hair also was messed up, probably from holding it in her hands for so long.
"Echo," I said in a warm voice. "Tell us what happened back there."
"Well, the crowd pushed me into-" She started.
"No! What made you run for the hills?"
"Oh," was all she said. Her face fell as if she had a big secret that no one was supposed to figure out. Which, I guessed, she probably did.
"It's okay, Echo, you can tell us. We promise we won't tell!" Selena protested. Echo sighed and relented.
Taking a deep breath, Echo started to speak. "Ever since I was a little girl, I could sense the auras and moods of other people. That's why I was the only one to understand Chazz, and we lived on each others street, so we played often. He really wasn't so bad when he was small, but I don't know what happened to him. Next time I saw him, 5 years later, he clammed up. But that is irrelevant. I never told Chazz this, but the reason we moved was because they discovered my power. Also, they thought he was a bad influence, with the way his brothers treated him. They never gave him a chance." Echo's voice started to falter, but she swallowed. She kept drifting over to the aspect of Chazz. "They threw me into a lackluster and ancient boarding school to try and dull my powers. It didn't work, but everyone there was boring and so I started to grow boring. That is, until the only person not mind-numbing showed me duel monsters. Then, I snuck away to an academy with her. My parents still think I go to that boarding school."
I had a feeling that she would've started crying again, but was out of tears. The crowd must have been horrible.
I cleared my throat. "Since you just gave away your biggest secret, I suppose I should say mine." Both of the girls looked at me, curious.
"All of your faces practically scream your emotions at me. I can read even the most stoic of faces. I guess that's not really a gift like Echo's but I can almost always fell the emotion a person emits. Kind of like Echo's also, but more focused on emotions. I have a feeling it's still growing, but I have no proof." I stopped, because all of a sudden, Echo threw her arms around my neck, almost dragging me completely to the floor.
"Thank you, Iggy! Thank you so much for making me feel better!" She said into my shoulder.
"I, uh, you're welcome?" I replied awkwardly.
"Love to stay, and all," Selena started. "But I've got a duel with a guy. Later." And with that, I watched her walk around that corner and disappear.