Undying Echo {1}

8 | Murderous Looks

It's three weeks until final exams. And with the upcoming soccer match, students had been so engrossed in talking about it that I wondered how they weren't worried or head bent on studying for finals.

Ryan, for example, had been giving me and Kaylee a headache every time he brought up the topic with no intention on studying until after the match, unlike Kaylee, who would study all day at school so she could focus a bit on her photography competition, which was due in three days.

Which left me every minute of every day studying my butt off.

Ethan and I had our last tutoring session two days ago when he finally got me to understand everything and we haven't talked since then.

I would sometimes smile at him when we would lock gazes then go back to studying while he would go back to his phone which I wondered what's that interesting in it that he would look at it all day.

"Shut the hell up, Ryan!" Kaylee groaned, rubbing her temples and I once again looked up from my textbook.

"No," he said stubbornly, and I rolled my eyes.

"No in your face, now go away and talk about your soccer shit to someone else" she shooed at him.

"Fine, you're not fun to talk to anyway" he scoffed, before getting up and stomping away with a scowl on his face.

"Yeah, that's right, now keep walking" Kaylee snorted, rolling her eyes, before pinching the bridge of her nose,

"I need caffeine" she groaned.

"Wanna drive to Sugar Bites? There are still fifteen minutes left from lunch break, we can be quick" I said, in hopes that coffee would lighten up her mood for the day. The girl had enough pressure from finals and the competition that I didn't know how she still managed to deal with her parents' constant bickering.

"Please," she said, almost immediately as the words left my lips, before getting up, grabbing her bag and looking at me like she was ready to go.

I smiled, "Let's go".

"This's nice", I glanced at Kaylee for a second, before focusing back on the road. Her lids were closed, her chest rising with every steady breath she took. She looked peaceful compared to her exhausted self back at school.

"Yeah," I said quietly.

I had asked her if she wanted me to drive and she'd handed me the keys gladly before getting in the passenger seat. It's true that I didn't have a car or a license, but I could still drive. My Dad had taught me how to drive a while ago in case there was an emergency and I needed to drive his car, so here I was, driving to Sugar Bites.

Sugar Bites was mainly a place for sweets and desserts, but it also had pretty much all of the drinks a coffee shop would have, plus, their green tea was the greatest green goodness I've ever tasted, besides their mouthwatering desserts and sweets.

Eventually, the shop was getting bigger as we're getting closer until I was parking in front of it, the grey and light pink colors of the shop greeting my vision as I unbuckled and climbed out, Kaylee following suit.

And written in big cursive white letters was Sugar Bites, at the top of the average sized, cozy-looking sweets' shop.

In the span of a minute, we were ordering our usual tea and coffee, before chatting with Sarah, the one that usually stood at the counter, for a few other minutes then we were out, driving back to school.

Kaylee reached for the radio and started fiddling with it until the melody of one of her favorite songs began playing. She lowered the voice until it became a whisper in the background, before relaxing back in her seat, mouthing the lyrics while sipping her coffee every few seconds.

Halfway through the first song, I was parking in the same earlier spot. Shutting down the car, Kaylee and I climbed out and I threw her the keys, her catching it effortlessly.

Looking at my phone, I noticed it was 6 minutes for the bell when a loud banging sounded and I jumped.

"What's that?" Kaylee asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

"I don't know" I said, worry creeping up my voice.

Slowly, we began walking forward, trying to locate where the sound came from, and with every step we took, we could hear voices of males talking getting closer.

And then we spotted them,

At Ethan's pick-up truck.

Ethan was standing with his hands in his pockets, wearing a blank expression on his face, and I shivered as I saw that the look of playfulness that his warm grey eyes once had, was now replaced with so much coldness that if I hadn't known him, I'd think he didn't have his other mischievous side.

In front of him, was a guy I didn't recognize and he was glaring at Ethan angrily. And to the side, was one from the soccer team that I recognized from the times he chatted with Ryan, and although he was wearing a serious expression, I could just see the slight worry in his eyes.

The guy opposing Ethan was saying incoherent things to my ears because of the ten feet distance between us, as the other one looked like he was trying to talk some sense into him.

I felt like I should do something.

Taking a step forward, I was stopped by Kaylee grabbing my arm. I turned to her, pleading, but she shook her head at me. And at the time I turned back again, the angry looking guy was looking at me, and I froze.

And he smirked,

Before turning back to Ethan and starting to say something, but now with a completely confident and smug look on his face.

I felt my stomach churn as Ethan's eyes suddenly turned into slits as he narrowed them, making the guy's smirk get even bigger as he continued talking.

And just like that, Ethan was grabbing him by the collar with a murderous look and a punch was thrown into his face. Everything was happening so quickly as the third guy tried to break them apart that I didn't feel my body trembling until I locked gazes with Ethan before the bell rang and he walked away.

Feeling the grip of Kaylee's hands on my arms, I turned to her.

What just happened?