Marine Life

Chapter 1: Beginning

A/N: Hi everyone, I know it's been way too long. I'm thinking about rewriting this. And if I were to rewrite this, this is basically the first chaper. If you want me to continue writing the way I wrote this chapter, commet and let me know. If not, i'll just continue the story from where it stands now:) Thank you for the support!!

“I understand you’re all seniors now and it’s second semester. You all got into college you wanted to and now you’re biggest problem is how you’re going to do your hair for prom or what kind of alcohol you’re going to spike into the punch,” Miss Crawford walked around the room as the students laughed. “But I don’t have any of that to worry about,” Miss Crawford was a young teacher. It was her first year teaching. She had short light brown hair with chocolate eyes. All the guys at school drooled over her because she was smart, pretty, and only about five years older than they were. “My biggest worry is trying to get you guys to pass my class. And you know what happens if you fail,” She gave us a devilish grin, “Ya’ll are gonna see me again next year.”

“Can you just get to the assignment?” A kid in the back row asked.

“Someone’s eager,” She said as she wrote on the blackboard. She had perfect handwriting.

On the board was written a pen pal.

“Miss Crawford, you’re not talking about pen pals from Spain are you? I dropped Spanish sophomore year cause I failed freshmen year,” The class laughed.

“Only for you Derek,” The laughed chuckled again. “We are going to write a letter to our soldiers. This assignment will go on until the end of the school year. Everything between you and your soldier is between you two. The grade is based your journals. So as you write back and forth, you’ll have a journal and you’re going to tell me about your soldier, and what he/ she likes to do or whatever you want me to know. The amount of detail provided will determine your grade. It seems like an easy grade because you think you can bullshit your way through, and maybe you can but it’ll require a lot of work. It’s probably easier to just do the assignment than to bullshit it.”

For Maddie, it was like going back to elementary school when they wrote cards. The cards would be decorated with red and blue markers. She’d thank them for their service and all that jazz and then sign her name on the bottom.

By the end of the class, each student got a sheet of paper with a picture of the soldier, name, age, and the address it would be mailed to.

Maddie got Mr. Bryce Williams. He was 20, from Texas, and a Marine.

Dear Mr. Bryce Williams,

I’m Madeline Georgiadis. I get the pleasure of being your pen pal for the next three months.

My mission is to bring a smile to your day and to be a pair of ears. So anything you want to say and feel, free to write it down and send it to me.

I guess I’ll tell you about myself. Like I said, I’m Madeline Georgiadis and I’m 18. I’m a senior in high school and I just got accept into Carnegie Mellon for architecture. I’m from New York and I have that lovely New York accent. My favorite color is mint green and I have a piece of chocolate every single day. My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving and my favorite show is Grey’s Anatomy. If I had to pick between Coke and Pepsi, I’d pick Pepsi cause it’s sweeter. I have a big sweet tooth.

You probably get this a lot, but I want to thank you for your service. The least I can do is bring a smile at least once a week.

Be safe,

Madeline Georgiadis

Dear Miss Madeline Georgiadis,

It’s a pleasure to hear from you. I’m Bryce Williams, I’m 20 and I’m from England. I moved to Texas when I was 13 years old. And from what my brother says, we moved to New York about three months ago.

Chocolate sounds so good right now. The food here isn’t the best. I get everything I need here from my mum and girlfriend, but no one has every sent me chocolate. They only think of the things I need instead of things I want. And sometimes what I want is what I need.

Is Grey’s Anatomy still on? Is Meredith still in love with Derek? It’s my mum’s favorite show, but she never talks about it anymore. All she wants to write about is about her. Don’t get me wrong, I love hearing from her, but I do expect other things like how my brother’s doing, and what the weather is like. Ya know?

I don’t have much to say. I’m not quite the talker, but maybe you can get me to talk. Thank you for taking part in this, it really does mean a lot.

I’m glad I have a lady as my penpal. Nothing kinky, I promise. It’s just women are more affectionate, easy to talk to- well not easy to talk to. But they are able to understand easily.

So tell me more about yourself. Favorite food, favorite movie, what you’re most afraid of, religious views, political views, and whatever else that comes to mind. It gets boring here sometimes, and I’d like something to look forward to. I hope we continue to exchange mails.

Sincerely,

Bryce Williams

After reading his letter, Maddie felt a sense of pity towards him. She was a complete stranger and he looked forward to her mails. They continued to exchange letters. The letters started off as being one page, to two pages, and one day it turned into 10 pages. The envelope required two stamps whenever they wrote over 8 pages.

Was it possible to have feelings for someone who you’ve never met? Because whenever Maddie came home, she’d open the mailbox, hoping to find a dirty yellow envelope written in messy handwriting on the front To Miss Madeline Georgiadis. And on those days, nothing could ruin her day. Her heart fluttered and a smile spread from ear to ear. She sat in her car and read the letter over and over again.

Bryce wrote beautifully. Bryce didn’t know how talent he was at writing. There were many times when his letters made her cry in the car. The way he described things… She felt it in herself. If she had to describe what it felt like, it felt like a car had hit her chest. She’d forget to breathe for a second.

But Bryce had a girlfriend and Madeline wasn’t a boyfriend stealer.