Echo

During dinner, the din around the table was slightly amusing. Hailey was talking to whoever would listen (mind you, only Annie did), Stephanie and Maddison and I were talking, and Dakota just ate her food silently, but I could tell the gears in her head were turning.

"Kyle was asking about you," Stephanie suddenly said. I nearly dropped my fork in surprise.

"Seriously?" I asked in disbelief.

She nodded with a knowing grin. "He seemed quite concerned."

Maddison looked from me to Stephanie a few times before blurting, "Who's Kyle? How come I don't know about him?"

I rolled my eyes as Stephanie took the liberty to tell her. "Only the hottest guy in our science class!" With this, all talk around the table stopped, and each one of the girls except Dakota, and I, swooned with a soft sigh and dreamy eyes.

I felt like hiding under the table. Every girl in school was obsessed with Kyle, for the reasons Stephanie expressed. He was tall, handsome, intelligent, and quarterback on the school football team. He was also my lab partner, and the envy of the class.

Kyle and I were friends, sure. And, yes, I did have a small crush on him. But not for those reasons. Kyle was kind, generous, thoughtful, smart, and talked to me like I was the most intelligent and important thing in the room. He always treated me as guys should treat girls. Sometimes I wondered where in the hell he'd come from, because every guy I'd ever known was a doorknob.

"Miranda," Dakota was suddenly behind me, whispering in my ear. Bewildered, I looked around and found everyone had drifted off to do their own things. Dakota and I were alone in the kitchen. She jerked her head towards the back door. I followed her outside into the hot, muggy air, completely baffled.

She turned to face me, her hands shoved into her jean pockets, and her eyes fixed on the ground. She seemed to fight for words, which was extremely odd for Dakota to do. Finally, she spoke. "I've been doing some extensive research," she began, "and I believe I know what you're dreams are."