The Next Warrior

Proving Grounds - Part 5

It was all to impress a girl. In hindsight, it had all been to impress a girl.

Two years ago, Nathaniel Romero was just an average and unremarkable kid in his last year of high school; just another nobody with no plan and no real idea of what to do with his life. Closer pursuits occupied his mind.

On one unassuming day, a girl called him asking for a ride to the mall. He wanted desperately. She was a flirt, the kind of girl who smiled at everyone and especially the boys. She laughed at all their jokes and then called them for rides and the little things some girls often feel they need to get by. She was the kind who owned thirty shades of lipstick from the subtle enticement of her Nearly Nudes to the vibrancy and voluptuousness of a Fire Engine Red. Though you'd never hear her say it, she loved when the boys centered their attention only on her and she would never turn down a compliment. On that day, she was teasingly wearing a miniskirt, showcasing long, toned legs Nathaniel fought hard not to gawk at every time she wasn't looking. He was absorbed by her grace and beauty, and hopelessly enthralled by her charms... as were so many others. When she asked for a ride to the mall, he was all too eager to answer her the request.

As the two entered the mall, they passed the wall of recruiting offices. A group of boys wearing Marine Corps tee shirts stood beside a large pull-up bar, painted red and wrapped in white tape outside one of the offices. They were rooting and cheering as the boys each tried to do their pull-ups. The recruiter, wearing a tan shirt and blue pants with a red stripe down the side, marked with dozens of other official looking military regalia watched and counted out. His voice echoed throughout the corridors as he projected far louder than was needed if the goal was only to he heard by the few boys immediately in front of him. It was hard to miss the spectacle.

"Twelve... Thirteen... Fourt-... Nope, kipping."

"Freakin' morons." Romero said to the girl, laughably mocking what, to him, was a Neanderthal sort of machismo. "Like pull-ups are going to help them fight a war with guns and robots."

The girl in the pleated skirt didn't seem to agree. She looked over at the boys, watching their show. After she had an eyeful for herself, she dismissed Romero's comment with a, "Humph."

Indignantly and with a bit of surprise, "What?" Romero asked.

"I think it's hot to see guys like that. I like big arms." She said. The girl watched another boy, this one also about their age, mount the bar. His arm muscles flexed a little more than what seemed necessary for someone still in high school. After an admittedly impressive go at the bar, the recruiter yelled "Twenty!" The boy dropped to the floor, chest out - like he had just personally won the war on body fat. The other boys clapped, congratulated him, and cheered him on like a returning war hero.

The girl in the mini-skirt bit her lip, hinting at less than subtle thoughts.
"Did you see that? That's so hot..." she said to Nathaniel, her excitement, only just barely contained, eroded his manhood. He was taken for a moment by her flippant callousness. Jealously, Nathaniel wondered if she even remembered he was there. She had, but in truth, she gave little more thought to him than she would give to her phone or her purse.

From across the hall, the recruiter's focused eyes zeroed on the lingering stare of the two overlooking his potential recruits.

"Hey!" he said, calling out to Nathaniel.

Awkwardly, Nathaniel looked around, searching for someone else who the recruiter may have been talking to. He saw no one, and pointed uncertainly to himself.

"Yeah you." Replied the recruiter. "You think you're up to it? Want to give it a try?"

Everyone was looking at him then. He looked at the girl who gave him a look that implied, "Go on. Impress me."