Echo [11] (ON HIATUS)

Chapter 12

"Tessa and Ellie, may I speak to you after class?" Coulson asked, and we nodded. Between periods, Ellie and I headed into his office, where he was sat at his desk.

 "Excellent. I need to speak to both of you about a test you must pass in order to go up a rank. It will test your knowledge in math, science, English, history, physics, and health. When do the two of you want to take it?" He asked. 

"Um...would next Friday be good?" I asked, and he nodded. 

"What about you, Ellie?" He asked. 

"Next Friday works for me as well," She said. 

"Alright, I'll write you down for 3 o'clock next Friday," He said, writing our names down. We stepped out of the office, and she looked at me. 

"I'm screwed. I dropped out of school in 8th grade," She said.

 "I as well. I was supposed to start 11th grade, but you know how that turned out," I said.

"Maybe Bruce, Hank, Stephen, Peter, or Tony could help us out. They're all overly intelligent," She suggested.

 "For now, let's get to class," I said, so we headed to math class. 

After school, Carol and I were in our dorms, doing homework given to us by Mr. Fitz.

 "What was that about, in history?" She asked.

 "The test I have to pass, apparently," I said.

"Oh. Eesh. It's easy if you understand everything to a point," She said

. "I can't to physics for crap. I was thinking one of the brainiacs could help us," I said. 

"Us?" She asked.

 "Ellie and I. She has to take it too," I said.

 "Well, I doubt Hank, Bruce, or Stephen could help you. They explain it on a very sciency level. Your best bet is either Peter or Tony," She said.

"Okay. I'll see tomorrow when we don't have class," I said.

 "You could go ask now," She suggested.

 "I don't know where their dorms are," I said.

 "I'll show you," She said, standing up.

 "No. Tomorrow, when I don't have a small mountain of homework to get through," I said, and she sat back down.

"What time is it?" I asked.

 "5:30 PM," She answered. 

"30 more minutes. Then we can eat," I said wistfully.

 "Hungry?" She asked.

 "Very," I said.

"We ate 6 hours ago," She pointed out.

 "I missed lunch, I was in the library," I admitted.

 "Well, we do have dinner in 30 minutes. We're allowed to leave campus today like we can once a month. You ever had Five Guys?" She asked, and I shook my head. 

"I never get fast food. My parents wouldn't let me. I haven't even had McDonald's," I admitted.

 "What?! Okay, we're getting you McDonald's. We'll see if anyone else wants to tag along," She said. There was a knock on the door, and I leaned back in my chair.

 "We're congregating in the library to figure out who wants to go where," Tony stuck his head after I told him the door was unlocked. 

"Lemme finish my homework," I said, and he came over, scribbled down some work, and dropped the pencil. 

"There, come on," He said, and my jaw dropped.

 "Just copy it down later! I'm hungry!" He called, stepping out of the room.

Carol and I looked at each other, shrugged, and followed him down to the library. When we got there, Daisy, Yo-Yo, Mack, Bucky, Asya, Tanya, Rue, Nat, Clint, Wanda, Peter, Tony, Sam, and Ellie were all there. 

"So...any suggestions?" Sam asked. 

"Tess hasn't had McDonald's before," Carol blurted out.

 "Okay, we're going to McDonald's!" Tony declared.

"First root beer, now McDonald's?! Were you raised in a barn?" Sam asked.

 "No, I was raised in a mansion. My parents are Arschlöcher," I said. 

"Understandable," Asya shrugged. 

"How many languages do you speak?" Tanya asked. 

"Like, 8 or something," She said.

"Can you give us an example?" Mack asked. 

"Нет, I amœbien Überlegen 一世 volere. Bạn là autem," She said, smirking. 

"Well, she did say think, I know that," I said. 

"You speak a second language?" Clint asked.

 "Deutsch, Vogelhirn," I replied, and Nat, Asya, and Bucky all grinned.

"Wait, what did she call me?" He asked, staring at Nat. 

"I'm not telling you," She said, smirking.

 "Okay, after your annoying display of linguism, let's go eat!" Tony whined, so we left the building and started walking. After an hour, we finally arrived in a small town. 

"I know all your preferred orders, 'cept you, freshie. What d'you want?" Tony asked.

"I dunno," I shrugged.

 "Okay, I'll pick. I'll be back in a few minutes, go find us somewhere to eat," He said, waving us off. We found an outdoor eating area, everyone taking a seat. I was with Carol, Asya, and Tanya. Soon enough, Tony appeared with several bags in his arms.

 He passed out all the food, giving me my food last. I opened up the carton first, pulling out the burger inside and starting to eat. 

"It's good, right?" Carol asked, popping a chicken nugget in her mouth. I nodded vigorously, continuing to eat. Soon enough, my food had vanished, to the surprise of my tablemates.

"What? I was hungry," I said.

 "You inhaled it," Tanya said.

 "Tanya, do you not understand the concept of hunger?" I asked.

 "Oh, I do, very well. But I don't eat that fast," She said, eating her fries. We fell silent, everyone too distracted with their food.

"It's getting late, we should start heading back," Mack said, and there were sounds of agreement. We all shuffled back, arriving at about 9:30. 

"Well, I've got homework to finish," I said, shuffling up to my dorm and pushing the door open. I located the sheet Stark had written down, copying the work down and tucking the work away. 

I was pretty tired from all the walking, so I just flopped down on my bed and I was asleep before Carol even made it back.