An Echo in the Wind

Chapter 19

"Hey," Nik yells at Kevin like he's scolding a dog, "Get away from the curtains. We don't want you to burn the house down!"

I burst out laughing, then cover my mouth with my hand to conceal it at Kevin's scowl. He narrows his eyes at Nik, "Enough ginger jokes! You're such a poop head!"

I giggle, "Have you been talking to Austin? It sounds like he taught you the good insults."

Nik high fives me and we both laugh, and after a minute, Kevin joins in. I can tell he's pretty wasted by the hazy look in his eyes. So is Nik. It's hot in the basement. 

"I'm going upstairs to get some water," I say to them. 

I don't even know if they hear me as I move upstairs to the main floor. I grab a glass of water and move through the living room, trying to go upstairs. Hopefully I can find an empty bedroom and just go lay down for a few minutes. I'm tired. 

As I'm about to go up the stairs, I see a boy cornering a small girl. She has tears falling down her face and she's trying to push him away. My instincts tell me it's a bad idea to get involved, but I can't just leave her there if he's trying to rape her. I'm probably the only sober one here, no one else will do anything. 

I go over to them, "Hey, something wrong over here?"

"We're fine," the boy says without looking up at me. 

"I wasn't asking you," I snap. 

The girl shakes her head, "He's making fun of my body. He said I shouldn't be wearing this outfit because I don't have the body for it."

The girl is average looking, not ugly, but not necessarily pretty. She had bird like features and has long thin hair, pulling behind her head. She has a small frame, small breasts, small butt, small stomach. But that doesn't mean she isn't beautiful. Beauty isn't so superficial. 

"You're an asshole," I say to the boy, "If you don't look like a Calvin Klein model, which you don't, do not expect girls to look like Victoria's Secret angels."

He lets go of the girl and turns to me. She moves away from him and stands next to me. His eyes, filled with anger, dissolves into lust, "Well hey there pretty thing. Come dance with daddy."

I want to throw up. I suddenly wish I had drunken, just to be able to puke on him right now. "You're disgusting."

He grabs my arm with his large hand and smirks at me, "Come on, just one dance. I want to feel that waist under my hands and that ass against me."

He tries to pull me with him but I stomp on his foot with the heel of my shoe. At least these came in handy for something. 

He winces and looks at me angrily. He lifts his red solo cup up quickly and dumps it over my head. I gasp as the cold orange liquid runs down my hair and over my dress, dripping down my cleavage and back. 

He smiles, "Oops. Come to the bathroom with me, I'll clean you up."

I punch him hard on the side of his head and he falls over, unconscious onto the ground. No one even looks up at the thud. Douchebag. 

I'm so sick of men thinking they can treat women however they want and get away with it. People always make excuses for them, saying boys will be boys. How about we teach our boys how to be gentlemen and be respectful instead of making excuses for them, letting them off the hook because it's in their nature to act like assholes because of their gender. 

It isn't. So people need to stop feeding into it. Boys need to learn how to be nice to women and treat them with respect. That's what I try to do with Austin. God help me if Austin turns out to be an asshole like this dude. I won't let that happen. I won't. Over my dead body will I have another brother who mistreats girls. 

"I'm sorry about your dress. And your hair," the girl says in her mousy voice. 

I smile at her, "It's alright. I was kinda done partying anyone."

"It was really pretty. I saw you come in, you're really gorgeous. Even covered in beer, you still look beautiful," she says quietly. 

"Thank you, that's really nice of you to say. I really like your outfit, and I think it looks great on you. Don't let men like him tell you any differently."

"Really?" She lights up. 

I nod reassuringly. "Hey, your name is Amara, right?"

"You know my name?" She asks, sounding surprised.

"Yeah, I've seen you around school. I'm new this year, you probably don't know who I am but my name's Echo. I think we have math together." I say.

She laughs shyly, "Of course I know who you are. You're like the most popular girl in school."

"Excuse me?" I ask, confused. 

She nods, "Yeah. Everyone knows who you are. You and your group. Sophie. Carly. Kevin. Shade. Nik. You're the popular kids. Didn't you know?"

I blink at her. Is that really what people thought? I shake my head, "Um, no. I didn't. We really just keep to ourselves, I don't know why people think that."

She shrugs, "Huh, I never thought that the popular kids didn't know they were popular. You're all really pretty though, and I guess that's why. High schoolers are superficial. That's all they care about."

I laugh, "I guess so. Well, I'll see you around school. I'm gonna go clean up."

I walk off and make my way upstairs, finding peace in the quietness of the second floor. I can still hear the music, but it's muted now, covered by the walls and floors. I know better than to go into any of the rooms with the doors closed and lights off. 

I find a room with the door closed, light peeking out from underneath it. I put my ear against it, trying to see if it was safe to go in or not. After a minute of silence, I decide it's probably safe. 

I push the door open, closing it again behind me. I expected it to be empty. But it isn't. There's someone else in here. 

Shade. 

***

Second update of the day for you all! Sorry about the break again. 

QOTD: Any questions for me?