Anatomy • Eddie's daughter

A Frustrated Girl and a Trying Father

2

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"One minute, I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me"
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The next day of school for Josephine was not any better, it was actually worse. Her worst nightmare was coming true.

Popular, city and pretty girls were noticing her, and for all the wrong reasons. They noticed her old Converse and her favorite old jeans that she has had forever. They noticed the bags under her eyes from the countless nights of jet lag that she was still slightly facing. They noticed how she ate peanut butter and jelly and lunch with strawberries, while they ate close to nothing with maybe a small granola bar or a piece of gum.

But while they were noticing things on the outside, Jo was noticing things about her on the inside. The biggest one was how jealous she felt when she looked at the girl's bodies. I mean they were perfect.

Perfect.

She just wishes she could see that within herself. She pushed away the half-eaten sandwich and shoved it in the light gray lunchbox which fit perfectly in her black backpack, jumped up from the table, and made her way to her anatomy class.

Which, was just slightly better.

"You must be the new student! Welcome to John Marshall High School. I'm Ms. Marlowe, but you can call me Ms. M, Ms. Mar, or Ms. Lowe, but then I feel like Rob Lowe's wife, and then I think I'm cheating on my husband. So maybe not Ms. Lowe. But anything else, I'll respond to." The teacher walks her into the long empty classroom and to where her desk is. Jo follows a few feet behind, admiring all the diagrams on the walls, and projects sitting up on high shelves.

"Okay, sweetheart, what's your last name?" The teacher plops down into her rolling chair and picks up a piece of paper with multiple names on it.

"Diaz," Jo responds as she looks at a heart diagram on her desk.

Ms. Marlowe goes through the list of names on the chart until her eyes stop on the last name Diaz. She smiles up at the girl as she finally matches the name to the face. "Josephine Louise Diaz. Welcome!"

The blonde teacher's excitement spreads to Jo, causing her to smile and nod thankfully at the teacher. "Thank you."

"Okay, pull up a chair and tell me everything about you. Like nicknames, siblings, parents, favorite singers, actors, and artists. Whatever."

Josephine pulls up a chair next to the teacher's desk and slips her backpack on the floor next to it as she sits down.

"Jo, I go by Jo."

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"Yup. There she is." Eddie, Bobby, and Buck all stood around the bomb squad Captain as he showed a small video of Charlie's butchered leg.

Bobby breathed out a frustrated sigh while shaking his head. "He's got a live round embedded in his thigh."

"Uh, I thought this thing already went off." Buck turned to ask the Captain but Eddie responded.

"The launch grenade has two components: gunpowder which makes it travel and an explosive charge that makes it go boom." The brunette talked with his hands to show an explosion.

"Okay, so why didn't this one go boom?"

Eddie sighed, he wasn't the biggest fan of showing off his Military knowledge especially cause it reminded him of the worst moments of his life. "It's fitted with a proximity fuse. It's a little smart sensor that tells the cap it's traveled a safe enough distance from the shooter to explode. From his hand to his leg probably wasn't far enough."