Echo [Sequel to MATW]

Chapter Two - School

Danny's POV

I walked into the school building, nervous about the prospect of going back to school after all this. I could hardly even remember the last thing I had learned in school. I could clearly remember what I had learned in the other world, like how to kill a Hollow with one sword-stroke and how to shadow-travel using one of Astro's wild inventions. If there was a "Psychotic Puppet Fighting" Class, I would get all A's!

I sat down at an empty cafeteria table after getting my breakfast from the lunch line, the cafeteria lady having started at me like I was a ghost. A few moments later, Trevor and Lana, my only friends in this world, came and sat down hurriedly next to me. "Where have you been?" Trevor asked incredulously, an astonished look on his face. "We all thought you had ran away, took the next train out of town!"

"We were worried about you." Lana said quietly. "I know we hadn't exactly been the best friends to you back then, but we still care about you."

I was a bit shocked that they had been so concerned. I had figured no-one would've noticed my three day hiatus. "Well, I'm back now, so no need to be worried, I guess." I assured them, taking a bite out of my breakfast sandwich.

"Didn't your mom wonder about where you went?" Lana asked, with a curious look on her gentle face. The look she was giving me appeared to be a mixture of concern and awe, that I would be so nonchalant.

"Nah. She's on a work trip in Ada." I lied, even though I actually had no idea where my mom was. I hadn't seen her since I came home.

"Ada? I thought her work trips didn't take her that far, just to Oklahoma City, Midwest City and Norman." Remarked Trevor. "I guess she's pretty busy, providing for both of you guys by herself."

"......Yeah, you're right." I agreed. The bell for 1st period rang, and Trevor and Lana shot up out of their seat, with me on their heels. They started heading off to their first class, but then I realized I had no idea what class to go  to next. "Wait! What's your first class?" I asked them in a panic.

"I'm heading to art." Lana said, continuing "You and Trevor have P.E. first period, then band."

"Thanks, Lana!" I said, following Trevor down the hall to where I guessed the locker room was, while Lana went the opposite way towards the Art room. I heard her muttering to herself, "Wow, he's really out of it, isn't he..."

In the locker room, I had several problems. The first was that I didn't know my combination, so I had to ask Trevor for it, and the second was that my P.E. uniform wasn't even in the locker. I ended up having to borrow a 10th grader's extra (More like extra large) uniform, which was huge and baggy on me.

After I got my uniform problems sorted out, we started our warm-up and I heard from someone we were gonna be running the mile. The whole time I was running, I imagined the terror I had felt confronted by a horde of Hollows, and I ran so fast that I left Trevor and the rest of the class behind.

The rest of the school day went much the same way, with me excelling at anything that I could apply my experiences in Camara to, and being horrible at everything else. In math, I had trouble working on simple equations, but whenever there was a story problem that could be translated to a problem I had experienced in Camara, I aced it. Finding the hypotenuse of a right triangle turned into finding the quickest possible route through the streets of industrial Camara, estimating the volume of a cylinder turned into the sandy battlefield where Andrea, Sam and I had fallen into a deep pit.

In Band class, I couldn't even remember how to read simple sheet music. I was a percussionist, and if you've ever looked at a piece of Snare Drum music, you'll see that it's pretty simple, because there's basically no wrong notes, but I still got lots of glares from fellow band students, frustrated that I was messing up their rhythm. Among the glarers was Natalie, the girl I used to have a massive crush on. Now, I compared her dusky brown hair to Astro's blonde curls, her narrow green eyes to Astro's vibrant blue ones, her unpleaseant expression full of scorn to Astro's carefree smile, and I realized the girl I had once liked paled in comparison. 

I could see Lana looking at me with confusion from the trumpet section. I could see why she was confused, I used to be the best percussionist in class, but now I sucked.

At lunch after Math class, Lana and Trevor had already sat down at a table near the lunch line, happily munching away, occasionally feeding each other bites of spagetti. I almost wanted to blow them off and sit somewhere else, but looking around the cafeteria, I saw that I had no other friends. Reluctantly, I plopped my tray down at on the table, climbing into a seat across from Trevor. They both started and looked up guiltily, avoiding eye contact. "What's up, Danny?" Trevor asked me, a not of thinly veiled concern in his voice. 

"Nothing much, just trying to re-adjust to school life again." I told him, opening up my juice and noisily slurping through a straw.  "You have been acting a bit weird today..." Hazarded Lana, with an uneasy smile. "Wanna tell us what's going on?"