AN: Forgot to mention last chapter, reviews and messages are greatly appreciated! Just saying... :) hope you're enjoying! Bit more drama entering in this chapter...

Rythian simply stared at the girl, Echo, as she glanced at the ground. "Not to rush you or anything but this is high up and I kind of want to get inside now... Please?" She added, a spark of worry in her eyes as she held onto the drainpipe and heard it creak slightly. Rythian was momentarily stunned; for a second he had thought he was looking at Kim, they looked so similar... Different styling of accessories though, and slightly different hair colour. Instantly, Rythian thrust his hand through the window, reaching out for her. She placed a hand in his and smiled uncertainly.

"You're strong enough to pull me up, right?" She questioned as Rythian smiled and nodded in response; not that she could see his smile. However, she seemed reassured and counted down before letting go of the drainpipe as Rythian pulled her towards the window, her other hand grabbing the windowsill as she hurled herself through the window, landing on Rythian awkwardly.

"Ouch!" Rythian complained as his head hit the floor, hard, as his hoodie flew off his head, revealing the upper half of his face. Echo leapt off him in concern, pulling him to his feet.

"I am so sorry, I thought there might have been a desk or something under the window..." She apologised, oblivious the the stares the class was giving them. Rythian, now used to it, recognised the uneasy feeling of being watched and realised he had broken character... Dramatically. He merely nodded to Echo as he sat back down in his place, pulled his hoodie back over his head and sitting down, leaving Echo to turn around and look at the class.

"Hi! I'm Echo!" She smiled happily as Kim gave a joking applause which the class joined in with. Echo gave a mock bow before making her way over to Kim as the class surrounded her, bubbling with questions.

"Mind telling us how you got on the side of the building...cousin?" Kim asked curiously as Echo paused in her introductions to the class. Kim frowned at the school tie that was far too small and thick around her neck and the wristbands on her wrists, which were banned in school. Echo had insisted on wearing her old uniform, despite the sixth form having special privileges to wear what they wanted.

"I was bored...cousin. Seriously Kim, I haven't even sat down yet, save me the lecture. Although you're usually right..." She admitted before smiling teasingly at Kim. The Hat Films trio exchanged excited glances. Cousins? This would be fun.

"Bit of a daredevil are we?" Alex asked suggestively as Echo turned to him.

"It depends; who's daring?" She asked in response, titling her head to one side in a questioning, yet obviously teasing manner. Alex laughed along with the majority of people as Chris and Ross whooped loudly.

"She put you in your place Smithy!" Ross yelled over the roaring of the class.

"She's a feisty one!" Chris added through gritted teeth.

"Feisty!" Alex shouted in agreement as Echo went slightly red whilst continuing to laugh as Kim facepalmed and Hannah shook her head slowly.

"Ignore them..." Hannah advised her as Echo nodded, wiping tears from her eyes. Echo glanced around at the class before noticing Rythian hadn't moved from his spot as the others started to question why Kim hadn't mentioned her cousin was transferring. Her smile faded slightly.

"What's his name?" She asked Kim as she motioned over her shoulder towards Rythian, Kim's smile disappeared.

"Ask him yourself." Duncan's voice was low and curt as he looked at Echo, who looked slightly taken back. She raised an eyebrow which Duncan mimicked as she looked over at Rythian, who had not looked up. Squaring her shoulders, she marched purposefully towards him as the class died down in noise. Rythian didn't look up until she was right by his desk, where it was impossible to ignore her.

"Hi! Thanks for helping me into here" Echo smiled at him as Rythian nodded as sign of welcome. She looked at him carefully, taking in his scruffy and dark clothing, the careful scarf around his face and hoodie around his head. "What's your name?" She asked politely, curiosity overcoming her as the guy in front of her paused, looking at her straight in the eyes. There was something off about him; she could sense some conflict behind those dark eyes of his as he took too long in considering an answer to what should have been a quick and simple response. Eventually, he took a pencil and wrote something on a piece of paper, holding it out to her when he was finished. Once Echo had taken the paper, he turned his head away and opened one of his books, starting to copy out some notes.

Completely bemused, Echo turned away and walked slowly back towards Kim and Hannah, who were waiting rather impatiently.

"So?" Duncan asked as Echo opened it carefully. Leaning behind her, Hannah read out:

Hello. I am Rythian. This is probably not a good time to know me and whilst I appreciate the introduction, it would be better if you stayed away from me. Duncan and co. will tell you why, I am sure.

P.S. Take care in climbing the drains; the ones near the gymnasium are badly rusted.

Everyone looked over at Rythian, who was working on his notes, ignoring the world. Lewis drew up a chair for Echo and Kim sighed heavily in relief.

"First contact in months; we're finally getting somewhere!" Kim smiled at the others, who were lost in thought.

"No, Kim, he's gone and admitted it! He said we would tell Echo why she shouldn't be talking to him! He knows what we think, he's basically telling us to tell her what happened!" Duncan declared, with mutters of agreement from Lewis and Hat Films whilst Simon shook his head.

"No, he's saying it so she doesn't end up being alone like him; he knows anyone in contact with him would be isolated from everyone else!" Hannah argued, Ross now nodding.

"To be fair, that does sound more like the Rythian we know..." Ross suggested, earning him a light hug from Kim which caused him to turn slightly pink.

"See? Rythian's always been thoughtful..." Kim said, speaking loudly over Alex's attempt to cut across her, "...and this proves he hasn't changed! This is evidence that he isn't guilty!"

"Okay, what the hell is going on?!" Echo suddenly demanded loudly as everyone started, having almost entirely forgotten her existence. "I know I've only met you all..." She trailed off, checking the clock on the wall, "... For around 5 minutes but you seem like decent guys and so does this Rythian because he helped me through the window and it feels like there has been a major drama which I don't know about so would someone please care to enlighten me?!" Echo took a deep breath in, looking around at the faces around her as she calmed down. "Sorry, but I feel like I'm being excluded already..." She mumbled as the faces looked at her sympathetically whilst Lewis looked over at Rythian anxiously.

"Okay... But don't go shouting this around, alright?" Lewis whispered as everyone huddled in to hear him. Rythian closed his eyes from where he sat. He had recognised the look that happened when Lewis recounter this story twice, word for word, in the boys toilets across the month. He knew exactly how it started.

Rythjan smiled wryly to himself as he plugged in his headphones and mouthed the words under his scarf as Lewis spoke in a low voice.

"Rythian practically killed a teacher."

Echo's eyes widened as Lewis nodded earnestly.

"He was staying behind school without permission, and he blew up one of the science labs and placed the teacher in a coma. However, there's no evidence and he's neither admitted or denied it. The school and police have listed him a suspect but until they have more evidence or Rythian says what happened, they don't have much to go on." Lewis said this all in a hushed voice. Duncan cleared his throat.

"It therefore came as a bit of a surprise when Rythian started to ignore us. We asked him what had happened but he refused to talk to anyone. I..." Duncan hesitated before Hannah took over.

"Duncan, being his idiotic self, decided to force Rythian to talk to him by accusing him of being guilty, hoping to provoke him into defending himself." Hannah said reluctantly as Hat Films tutted at Duncan.

"Wasn't the best of plans, mate" Chris stated as Alex nodded in agreement.

"It had the opposite effect; everyone believed Duncan, seeing as he was one of Rythian's close friends." Ross said, looking over at Duncan kindly as he put his head in his hands.

"I isolated Rythian..." Duncan mumbled to himself, Kim patting him on the shoulder reassuringly.

"However, this also suggested something to us..." Lewis said as Duncan looked up at him. "If Rythian wasn't talking to us, nor denying the accusations..." Lewis continued, looking expectantly at Simon. Simon however, remained silent.

"...then maybe there was some truth behind it?" Echo guessed, Hannah looking at her in surprise.

Echo pondered for a moment before she smiled. "So basically the only way to prove Rythian is innocent or guilty is by evidence or an explanation from him?" She asked, the others nodding in agreement. Kim instantly froze.

"Whatever you are planning on doing Echo, don't." Kim warned, her voice suddenly low and threatening. Everyone looked at her in surprise as Echo faltered momentarily.

"I'm not going to..." Echo began before Kim cut across her.

"Stop scheming and let us in on it. If it's to help Rythian then I might actually agree with you for once." Kim said stubbornly, folding her arms at the same time as a Echo did, both girls glaring at each other.

Simon smiled for the first time in Echo's presence. "They really are cousins... Although they could be twins..." He said thoughtfully as Echo made a noise of disagreement at the thought, Kim staying silent.

"Fine, how about this: I'm staying at your house anyway Kim so I'll befriend Rythian, write down everything he says, tell you and keep everyone up to date and we'll figure out if he is guilty or not!"

The others looked at each over, confused. Only Simon spoke up, asking hopefully "How are you going to befriend him?" Echo frowned thoughtfully... It was clear Rythian kept himself isolated and wouldn't talk to her...

Immediately upon saying this Ridgedog burst back into the classroom. An idea sprung to Echo's mind as she immediately stood up.

"Sorry sir, I got lost and another student guided me to this room. I don't know their name though." She said loudly as the whole class went silent, Ridgedog visibly relaxing.

"No matter, so long as you're here! I'm assuming you've made introductions already?" Ridgedog asked as Echo nodded earnestly.

"Splendid! Well, seeing as you're new, why don't you go on ahead and choose where you'd like to sit!" Ridgedog beamed, as Echo turned around to face the class. Marching past Kim and he others, she made her way over to Rythian's desk, turning around to face the class and Ridgedogs' shocked faces.

"I'd like to sit here please."