Echo’s POV
I was sitting at my desk when my brothers burst into the room with red capes around the necks. (Max and Theo are their names. I think I messed up somewhere in the book and gave them other names as well but I’m sticking with these names. Sorry :$) Max pointed at Theo with tear in his eyes.
“HE SAID I”M AFOPTED!” (see picture to the side or at the top of the beginning of the chapter if you're reading in the app. ;D)
I had to laugh at that. I picked him up and placed him on my lap wiping away his tears.
“Its called adopted and trust me your not. Do you even know what adopted means?”
Both boys shook their heads staring up at me with big brown eyes.
“Its when a mommy and a daddy can’t ke-“ I began explaining but something caught Max’s interest and he raced out the room. A fraction of a second later Theo was out the door as well. I had to smile as I heard them pestering my mom with a new topic. So much about being adopted. I plugged my ear buds in and finished the paper I had to write for school.
* * *
“I am on the verge of starvation, I’m not kidding. I think my stomach is eating itself”, I groaned quietly to Archer as out Math teacher droned on about a simple topic. It was only a mere ten minutes until lunchtime but it could have easily been ten decades. I was slumped low in my chair and played with small ball of sticky tack (prestick whatever you call it). Sanchez had once again smiled overly sweetly at me and graced us with a hello this morning but then disappearing before Math class. The teacher hadn’t questioned her absence and I scoffed at the fact because of her parents’ name she was free to do whatever she wanted to. I watched Ryder and Jimmy throw paper balls at each other and teddy doodling in her text book, no one particularly interested in what was going on. When the amazing sound of the bell finally resonated through the school it was a stampeded of wild people pushing and shoving each other to get out and into the cafeteria. I strolled out hand in hand with Archer with the rest of the guys trailing behind. When we rounded the corner of the crowded hallway I stopped dead in my tracks pulling Archer to an abrupt halt next to me. In the middle of the sea of students stood Sanchez. Our fellow pupils were avoiding her, parting around her like Moses and the red sea. But she wasn’t alone. Apart from her posse of brainwashed minions she had my brothers wrists in a vice like grip. They looked terrified by all the people around them, and their hands bent at a painful angle due to Sanchez clutches. An animalistic growl left my throat as I released Archers hand.
I made my way towards her but she stuck out her foot like I was a dog.
“An inch closer and theses two have casts around their arms” she snarled at me, he eyes cold and she shot me glares.
I bit the inside of my cheek to prevent from punching her right there, and stopped. The other guys came up behind me and Archer made a lunge forward but I pulled him back.
“What the hell is your problem?”, I said pronouncing every word slowly, hate lacing each syllable.
“The fact that you come in this school like you own it. You f*ck up a hierarchy which was in prefect balance, and you snoop around my private life like its public knowledge.” She snarled again. Suddenly my brothers let out a painful whimper
“Echo make her let go” they said unshed tears glistering in their eyes, “She’s hurting us” Max said sniffling
I closed my briefly, taking a deep breath.
“Let my brothers go and tell me what you want. I’ll do it” Nobody messed with my family. My brothers would not get hurt because of me.
She let out a high-pitched laugh before shaking her head
“No no no. That’s not how it works.”
The halls were slowly emptying as the students streamed into he cafeteria. The occasional teenager passing us by gave us curious glances before hurrying away again.
“What you’re doing is kidnapping Sanchez. You could get arrested for taking two minors with you without permission from their guardian”
“But I’m not taking any minors against they’re will if I’m the babysitter” she said with a smug grin on her face.
I felt the muscles in my jaw tick as I thought about my next move. I had to get my brothers away from her before anything could happen.
I was still one meter away from her, as per her command but that was no longer something I could work with. With one swift movement I stepped forward and pinched her shoulder hard enough to make her screech like a banshee on crack and release my brothers for a second. They immediately ran towards me and hugged my legs. Before Sanchez could touch them again I grabbed them both and handed them to Archer. I turned back just in time to see her swinging at my head in a right hook. Deflecting the hit with a block I stepped back out of hitting range. She was growling at me.
“Why the hell did you come into my life? You messed everything up, snooping around stuff that really isn’t your business, helping people you shouldn’t help, ruining my life! I don’t understand how you’re always so happy, why people respect you. You’re the new kid for crying out loud, you’re the one who’s supposed to be eating lunch in the bathroom!” she yelled at me now, rambling useless stuff while turning red in her face.
“It’s a horrible feeling when your own parents forget you isn’t it?” I asked suddenly. She stilled her back becoming stiff.
“What” she said so lowly I had to strain my ears to hear it.
My words had achieved the desired effect.
“When they aren’t home, probably forget important dates, aren’t there for you while you grow up” I continued.
Before she should say something I stepped forward, close enough so I could smell her obnoxious perfume, and see the make up plastered on her face.
“It sucks. So what I don’t understand is why you of all people go around school torturing, and that’s what it is, other people when you know what it feels like to be hurt by someone. Not physically, but mentally and emotionally. You experienced your whole childhood, your parents being CEO’s of a worldwide company. You’re insecure, afraid of other people, probably really shy maybe even funny girl, who hides herself behind a front, a mask.”
I raised my hands and ran my finger down her cheek leaving a clear lane on her cheek where I removed the blush and foundation.
“Behind your make up and your snotty bitchy attitude.” I said rubbing my finger on my shorts to get rid of the make up.
Sanchez raised her hand to slap my face but I grabbed her wrist before it contacted with my face. Behind her I saw the rest of her sidekicks finally snap into action and attempt to take a threatening step towards me.
“Don’t you dare” It was my turn to snarl at them and they stayed put flinching away from my tone.
I saw Sanchez raise her other hand to try to slap me again but I grabbed hold of her other wrist as well.
“You think people respect you?” I stated my rhetorical question.
“You think they don’t say anything to you, try to stop you, suspend you, expel you, because you’re you?” I asked
“They scared of your name, and that’s all there is to be scared of. None of those girls would ever stand up for you or they would have tried pying me off you already. If it ever came to it, they would never choose you over one of they’re other friends. Those girls aren’t you’re friends Natalie” I addressed her with her first name for the first time in a long time.
“They’re scared of you just as much as everyone else. They follow you around like lost puppies because they think they’re safe from your wrath. If you want people to respect you, if you want people to like you, if you don’t want people to pity you like they’re doing it now behind your back, if you want real friends, then drop the façade. Scrub all that gruesome paint off your face, show people you’re real qualities because I’m sure they’re there. If you have so much pent up pain, hatred or anger then go do some sports. Let out your anger playing something you’re good at, or draw something, or sing. Find a stress reliever but please for the love of god don’t be cruel to people who did nothing to you. If you know what it feels like to be hurt, then don’t go hurting others. I honestly think there’s a really good person in you Natalie I haven’t seen that person yet but you’ve got the rest of high school to make a good name for yourself. But you have to change.”
I released both her hands and stepped back.
“And we’re all here if you’re willing to change” I finished. I turned around and took my brothers into my arms before passing by Natalie and heading to the bathroom. I pushed open the door to the restroom and set Max and Theo down inspecting their wrists and the rest of their bodies for further injuries.
“Are you guys okay? She didn’t hurt you?” I asked washing their small hands
“No, they told the lady at the kindergarten that she was the baby sitter. But she wasn’t the baby sitter, because mommy usually picks us up. But she said that Mommy told her to pick us up so we went with her. But then she was really mean to us and told us to stay quiet, and then she took us inside.” Max and Theo stuttered their way through the story filling each other in.
I shook my head still bewildered that Natalie was willing to go as far as kidnapping. I took out my phone from my pocket and rang up my mom, explaining the whole situation. She was close to calling the police, but said that she wanted to first see her babies before she did anything. So the rest of lunch was spent outside the lunch on the steps in the sun, waiting for my mom to come. When our car pulled up, she flew out the door and embraced us all in a bone crushing hug.
“OH MY GOD I CAN’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED IN THE LAST HALF HOUR!” she yelled.
“Neither can I” I muttered as I handed over the twins.
I explained the entire story again, explaining our stand of to the very last detail and when I finished I gave her a questioning look.
She was grumbling and severally pissed off but I hoped she went along with the plan.
“Fine, but I hear one more thing from this girl and she’s in court. I swear to everything that’s holy, if she sets one more finger on my family I am suing her family into oblivion.” She said pressing a kiss to our foreheads.
I hugged again thanking her. She had agreed on not calling the police because of Natalie’s kidnapping act, if she managed to change to the better. If however she failed to do so and continued bullying or pestering anyone, especially me she wouldn’t hesitate to go to the station. It seemed fair enough, I wanted to give Sanchez a chance to show that she was better than a bully.
After the tears which were inevitable on my mothers side had fallen and dried she tucked my brothers away into the car and hugged me one last time before driving off. I sighed a heavy breath before turning around. All the others were leaning in the entrance of the school waiting for me.
I gave them a smile and walked to Archer who pulled me close to his chest, only to be ripped away seconds later and crushed by Teddies hug.
“I can’t believe you said all those things. I can’t believe I’m even allowed to be friends with you. I LOVE YOU” she exclaimed all in one breath.
I let out a laugh as I hugged her back.
“I just said what everyone else has been to scared to say. It was time she was knocked off her post as queen bee and bully of this school. A school is a learning rich environment and should make the students feel comfortable and happy” I said the last sentence with pouted lips and a fake low male voice quoting one of the many slogans hung in our hallways.
The other laughed before all giving me a hug. Just when I returned to Archer the bell rang signaling the end of lunch. I groaned in frustration.
“And if there’s is one thing she doesn’t like apart from bullying, its when someone comes between her food and her” Ryder and Jimmy said in synchronization. I had to grin at them and my stomach let out a loud rumble just in time, causing another round of laughter from everyone.
“Ah well I’ll fee the beast when I get home” I muttered before heading back into the school building.