Echoes by Marissa Lete (best books for students to read txt) 📕

softer set of footsteps. Two pairs, however, linger by the door, trailing slowly behind.

“I’m Maverick,” the guy’s voice says, and though I still don’t remember who he is or what he might look like, I can distinctly hear the smile in it.

“I heard,” comes the sound of my voice, then a bit of an awkward pause. “I’m Laura.”

“Laura,” Maverick’s echo repeats softly, like he’s tasting the name in his mouth for the first time, trying to decide if he likes it. “It’s nice to meet you—”

“Laura?” Grace’s voice rings out from the top of the stairs, dragging my focus from the echoes. “Are you coming with those snacks, or what?”

My thoughts scatter, flashes of questions and confusion. Who were these people, claiming to be our neighbors in an echo of the past that I don’t remember? Sure, I might not remember every moment of the day we moved in exactly, but wouldn’t I have recalled something about our neighbors stopping by and offering to help us move our stuff in?

“Laura, are you alive?” Grace’s voice grows louder, halting any further thoughts in my mind.

“Sorry, I just forgot something in the car!” I call back to Grace.

Apparently, what I really forgot about was meeting Annie and Maverick from across the street last year.

 

 

 

Chapter 2

At the same time the popcorn starts popping in the microwave, the sound of the intro music to a movie floats down the stairs from my room. Strangely, though, I find myself attempting to tune out the present noise and focus on the past. Normally, it’s the other way around.

But even as I stand in the kitchen, listening to the echoes happening in the adjacent living room, I don’t catch anything that gives away more information about the neighbors I don’t remember meeting. It’s just Mom explaining where she wanted the couch moved, and then the sounds of people moving it. The front door opens and closes a few times, too, but I don’t hear any more talking.

By the time the popcorn is done, I’m getting antsy. These neighbors—the ones who claimed to live in the house that no one lives in—had helped my family move our stuff in, and yet, I can’t seem to picture their faces, or recall meeting them at all. Would I have remembered them, though? Maybe because I never saw them again, I just forgot about them.

But still, I find myself wanting to listen to the echoes downstairs, wanting to know more about Annie and Maverick.

“Grace?” I call up the stairs.

The movie pauses. “I’ll take some kettle corn if you have it,” she calls back to me.

“Actually, I…” I hesitate, wondering if Grace will think it’s weird for me to ask this, but then I do it anyway. “I was wondering if you wanted to watch the movie downstairs instead?”

There’s a pause, and then, “I guess so. If you want to?”

Sighing in relief, I reply, “It’s a bigger screen, so it might be better.”

“I’ll bring the movie down, then!”

Grateful, I head back to the kitchen, where the popcorn has finished popping in the microwave.

“So where are y’all from? What brings you to Shorewick?” Annie’s voice from behind me almost startles me; I hadn’t heard her echo come into the kitchen.

“Pendleton! We just needed a change, I guess. Got tired of the big city,” Mom’s echo responds from the dining room.

“Well, you certainly got one! That is quite the change in scenery, I bet!”

“It really is. Have you—” Mom’s voice begins, but then Grace enters the room and I force myself to snap back into the present.

“This is what I chose,” Grace holds up a DVD case of the movie she chose, and I half-heartedly pretend to look at it while focusing back on the echoes.

“We moved from another small town not too far from here, right after Maverick turned eleven, and we’ve been here ever since.” Annie’s echo answers.

But then there’s a scoff from across the living room. “Which is far too long, if you ask me,” Maverick adds.

“Why is that? Are the schools okay?” Mom’s voice becomes instantly etched with concern.

“Excuse me?” Grace says, slightly annoyed. I snap my head around to where she’s standing by the microwave. “I thought I asked for kettle corn.”

“Oh, sorry,” I hurry towards her, reaching for the bag, but she pulls it just out of reach, grinning.

“I’m just kidding, this is fine, honestly.” Grace snatches the movie from my hands and goes over to the living room, turning on the TV. “But you better pop another, because I’m definitely going to eat this entire bag.”

I roll my eyes and sigh, glad that she’s preoccupied for a minute so I can keep listening to the echoes. I grab another bag of popcorn from the cupboard and put it in the microwave, using the two and a half minutes I have to stand there, listening.

“—though Maverick only went there for two years before he started the early college program. But, I assure you, St. Martin is a great school, and Laura will be just fine,” Annie finishes saying. I try to fill in the gaps of the conversation, hating the fact that I keep getting distracted from it, but hating that I don’t remember any of it even more.

“Well, that’s good to hear. What’s wrong with Shorewick, then?” Mom’s echo is clearly relieved, but still contains a bit of hesitancy.

“Nothing—” Annie begins.

“It’s just—” Maverick starts at the same time. “It’s boring,” he continues when his mom pauses, “Small. Too quiet.”

Mom’s laughter fills the air. “I think quiet is exactly what we were looking for.”

Annie chuckles, too. “Then you’ll love it here. Don’t mind Maverick, he’s just tired of living in this town where everybody knows everybody. We’re grateful for