"Faaaaaaaaaallll in!!" First Sergeant Mendes yells.
Every cadet in the classroom rushes to their positions in their platoons.
Me? I rush to my 2nd squad leader , first platoon position.
My squad falls in the left of me and snaps into the position of attention just as you do when falling into a formation.
"Report!" First Sergeant Mendes commands.
Both of the platoon Sergeants salute and about face to face their platoons.
"Report." My platoon sergeant Thomson, commands.
First squad leader , Ebony, looks down at her squad, present arms, and says "All present."
Thomson salutes and looks at me. I do the same thing , with every gesture. She moves on to third and fourth squad leaders. When finished , she about faces to face Mendes again.
"Report!" Mendes yells again.
Both of the platoon sergeants salute and say "All present , first sergeant."
Mendes salutes back to them and calls the company to at ease.
I just stand there. Although, at "at ease" you can talk and laugh and smile and act foolish,I wasn't in the mood. I had a boatload of mixed emotions weighing me down making me feel like I couldn't bare. Like I couldn't stand and I was so ready to collapse and cry out although I was standing perfectly straight and not saying a word. Nikko, the boy standing next to me in my squad ,noticed.
"Da'Costa? You alright?" I looked at him and smiled the realest smile I could present.
"Yes, ugly." He smiled and we laughed in agreement that i was going to be fine.
Nikko and I had only been talking a couple weeks. Its not like we knew each other that well but I wore my heart on my sleeve. Therefore, everybody knew when something was wrong ,but not everyone cared. So I didn't talk about my feelings much. Nikko knew a whole lot about my ex, Wesley ,but he never knew the things he would do or the way I felt . It wasn't until homecoming when I went with Sarah that he found out I was bisexual. You see ? Nikko didn't know me that well.
"Company atten-HUH!" Mendes called the company to attention and everyone snapped to it in a heartbeat.
My company officer, Walters, walked to the front of the class. Mendes positioned her self turning around away from us and scooting backwards to create room for Walters . Walters walked and stopped right in front of her facing us. He saluted and she did the same.
"Post!" He yells.
The platoon sergeants in the front trade places with the ones in the back.
"STAND AT EASE!" He calls .
The company goes back to at ease except "stand at ease" meant all attention on the person who called it therefore all of our attention was on Walters.
"Good morning guys. Umm, today I think we are doing our run shops so make sure you know what shop you're in . If you don't,choose one. If you do, go to it obviously. But yes, that's pretty much it." Walters looked at Colonel Ramone and Sergeant Boyd.
"Is there anything you want to say Colonel?" He asked.
"Yes , Walters. Raiders we have practice today now if you don't come, you're off the team unless you have a good excuse. Now don't come up in here telling me 'Oh, my mom wanted me to buy her some milk and cookies' or 'Oh the new Jordans was coming out and I just had to get them'."
The class laughed, I didn't. I didn't care enough to even smile. I wasn't in the mood for nobody.
"We have a raider meet this weekend raiders. I need you there. The team needs you and if you're going to leave for some milk and cookies or the new Burgundy 12's or what not then don't bother being on the team. Is that understood raiders?"
"Yes,sir." We say.
Colonel leaves and Walters falls us out. I go to my run shop, S4 with Sarah. Our S4 leader , Lidion, tells us how to organize the ACUs and Bates.
During the period, Sarah and I laughed and played and threw shoes.
The bell rung and I knew it was time for advisement with Giselle.
It was Tuesday and we always had advisement every Tuesday. I had it with Colonel so I didn't really have to be on time considering the fact that he already had a period with me.
So of course, I arrived late. But colonel didn't mind. I sat in my seat next to Giselle.
"Hey Autumn!" She says.
I smile .
"Its Da'Costa." I reply.
In JROTC, we always called each other by everyone's last names. Therefore I made everyone outside of JROTC call me Da'Costa.
"Oh right. Da'Costa." She said.
We didn't do much in advisement. Colonel didn't have a subject to present so everyone just had separate conversations except me. I listened to music on my iPhone 6s. I had just gotten it the day before.
I noticed Giselle staring so I looked at her and said "Yes?"
She smiled.
"Whatchu listening to?" She asked.
"The weeknd." I said.
"Ughh. I love him."
I didn't really care so I didn't respond , but Giselle kept the conversation going.
"What song?"
"House of Balloons."
"Hmm.I haven't heard that one."
"Yea, its actually pretty old."
I turned away and continued minding my own business , but apparently Giselle had something she wanted to say but wouldn't speak up.
She cleared her throat and tapped me on my left shoulder . I turned around to face her. Her hair was so long and straight , her hazel eyes were mad gorgeous , and her caramel skin shined with coconut oil.
"So about you and Wesley," she said ,"I heard you guys sort of have a problem."
I gave her a stern look on purpose. How dare she bring him up especially knowing everything that went down.
"What about him?" I asked.
"I heard you guys have some sort of beef. And that you got your dad coming up here ."
I let out a slight chuckle and took my ear buds out of my ear.
"Nobody cares about him anymore. Me and him talk only when he starts the conversation. I hardly think about the nigga."
Giselle raised her eyebrows.
"OK? Well I just heard you were after him so I wanted to stop it before it escalated to that point."
"There is no point . Nobody wants your little boyfriend. Please." I turned back around and for the rest of the period we didn't talk. She was talking to her friends and I was listening to music.
The bell rung and I got up to leave. Just then Giselle stops me again.
"Well, just don't bother him okay? He's really annoyed by you so just try not to start nothing."
I didn't smile and say "Okay."
I didn't frown.
I didn't give her the finger and I didn't punch the shit out of her.
I simply said "Bye Giselle." And went to my 2nd period class.
