Watched: Orange Is The New Black

      September 16th, 2009

September 16th, 2009

"Aren't you hungry, baby?"

Echo shrugged her tiny shoulders, pudgy fingers wrapped around the silver end of the fork, guiding it to make mismatched patterns with her mashed potatoes.

Arianna sat next to her, happily indulged in her own food, kicking her legs back and forth beneath the kitchen table.

"What's wrong?" her mom gently questioned, sliding into the seat next to her.

"There were some girls at school today… saying some things…" she trailed off, refusing to look at her mother.

"What were they saying?" her mother affectionately pushed a lone strand of dark hair behind her daughters ear.

"They were talking about the father daughter dance the school has every year. They started going on about how they were going to wear corsa-shes and their dads ties would match the color."

Her mother held her breath, knowing exactly what question she was about to be asked.

"Why don't I have a daddy?"

At the question, even Arianna stilled in stuffing food down , big round eyes focusing on her mother, waiting for an answer to a question she would never blatantly ask.

"Baby, you do have a father. He just… he just doesn't live with us."

"Why? Katie and Colleen's daddies live with them, why doesn’t my daddy live here?"

"It's very… complicated," her mother released a deep breath. "He loves you very much sweetheart. He's just in a difficult place at the moment, he can't be with us right now."

"Do you think you can ask him to bring me to the father daughter dance?" the brunette perked up.

Her mother hesitated, letting out a half-hearted, "Sure."

"Thanks mom! I love you!"

RING RING

Brown, red rimmed, eyes popped open, irritation shown through her glassy gaze. A pale hand reluctantly emerged from the thick blanket, lightly grasping the buzzing phone, only to click it into silent mode when she saw the name.

With a swift look around the room, Echo realized she was alone.

Placing her head back on her pillow, she blankly stared at the beige wall.

Today was an important day for Echo's career. She was going to the script reading of her latest drama. She wasn't the lead, but she was close. She would be in practically every episode, and she was happy with that. The idol doesn’t think she has enough experience to just be handed a lead role, like this one. The excitement of a new chapter in her life was enough to wake her drowsy mind, and make her jump out of bed with renewed energy.

She happily hummed to herself, thinking of all the possibilities and outcomes of this drama. She hoped with all her heart that fans would love it, and potentially bring Girls' Generation new fans in the process. However, after reading over the script, she was afraid it would reinforce a negative image on herself. She was surprised SM would even contemplate such a role for their beloved girl group.

But that wasn't up to her. All she had to do now was do her job, and be damn great at it. This role was more than just a role.

It was hope.

It was thanks to this role she can potentially make a name of herself, and be able to support her sisters needs that weren't covered by the company. She could care less about herself as a person. All Echo cares about, at the moment, is her sister's well being, Girls' Generation, and her image.

Her eyes wandered through the living room, noticing Sunny and Sooyoung sitting on opposite ends of the couch, neither speaking to the other.

She pursed her lips in contemplation, sighing, when she realized she didn't want to gain either's attention. There was a weird tension in the air, and it was sadly becoming permanent in the Girls' Generation household.

With misguided hands, Echo pulled random ingredients from the cabinets and fridge in an attempt to make American-styled pancakes. Maybe some homemade food can up the mood?

Trying to think back to watching her mom, and sometimes Tiffany, Echo began throwing ingredients into a large clear bowl. Carelessly mixing the dry and wet ingredients, sending small batter splatters onto the previously clean counter tops.

With a jolly whistle, Echo pulled out a pan, pouring uneven amounts of batter into sloppy circles. She wrinkled her nose at the unappealing smell wafting from the dark pan.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Echo whirled around to be faced with Sooyoung, who was currently clutching her nose between two chipped polish fingers.

"Making breakfast," she softly replied, shoulders dropping at the clear failure.

"You know you're not allowed anywhere near the stove," Sooyoung chided, turning the burner off and disposing of the half-burnt half-raw pancakes to scrub the pan's bottom.

"I was just trying to do something nice…"

"You just need to focus on learning your lines for the script reading today," the taller explained, placing the newly cleaned pan back onto the burner and proceeding to make pancakes with the left over batter. "Don't tell the managers I helped you make these."

Echo knew very well the carb filled disks were nowhere close to meeting their diet restrictions, but the girls would occasionally splurge on something to give themselves a little boost.

"It's been so quiet here lately…" Echo mumbled, eyes zoned in on the sizzling pan.

"A lot of us have been having solo schedules," Sooyoung simply pointed out, flipping the fluffy pancakes onto a paper plate and handing it to the younger girl. "Good luck at your script reading." And she walked back into the living room, sitting down in her previous seat.

"Thanks," Echo whispered, eyes downcast.

"Hello, I'm Girls' Generation's Echo, please take care of me," Echo had her perfect idol smile on her lips as she greeted the staff and her fellow co-stars. Hajoon followed behind the idol, giving her a silent reassurance and squishing down the want to run away.

The director gestured for her to take a seat at the front long table next to Park Shinhye while he discussed something with her manager. The idol sent the man a look that screamed not to leave her alone, but he gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

With a deep, calming breath, Echo took her seat, smiling at the older actress.

"It's nice to finally meet you, I'm a big fan," Shinhye said in her trademark soft spoken voice.

"You as well sunbaenim," the Girls' Generation member graciously bowed.

Shinhye waved her hands to stop the girl. "Please, call me unnie. We're going to be working together for awhile and I want a good relationship."

"Thank you, unnie," Echo widely smiled. Maybe she would get more than just something to add to her profile from this drama.

There's a rumor going around that Echo is in a drama, I wonder if it's true?

If she gets in a drama at least it'll give her something to prove she has talent.

I just want to watch her crash and burn honestly.

As a small gift, for dealing with me, I updated before Friday.

I know this is a bit unorthodox (and I really hate when authors do this...) however, due to my own lack of certain ideas, are there any kinds of scenes you guys would be interested in reading about? I have the main plot mapped out, the problem is smaller scenes. As you can tell, I have a bad habit of putting a lot of filler chapters that seem to not go well with the rest of the story. I would really appreciate your thoughts and ideas.