God gave me Marines

Just another day in paradise.

I wake up to my alarm blaring. It was a nice break from waking up at 4:30 to go running. The only bad thing that comes with living on a Marine base, you run with Marines. They got use to boot camp and now run with cadence*. I'll admit when I started running with them, it was funny and something new that I liked to do. Now it just annoyed me and I hated it. Hauling myself out of bed, I swung my legs over the side and changed into my running clothes.

"You up?" Dad asked from the doorway.

"Yes sir." I say and pop in a piece of gum. When you're running, it helps to chew gum so your ears don't pop so much. It also helps to keep your throat from drying out too much. Dad and I have been running since I was ten, he felt that I was old enough to run with the big boys. We stretched out our muscles and did some warm ups before the boys rounded the corner. Our warm up is mountain climbers, push ups, leg lifts, and squats. I can hear the boys before I see them. I don't recognize the cadence, must be a new one from boot camp. Lord knows, they come up with a new one every month or so.

"Everywhere we go. People wanna know. who we are. so we tell them. We are the Marine Corps. United States Marine Corps. 1-2-3-4. This is what we asked for. United States Marine Corps. Oh yea. Good for me. Good for you. Hold that guide on, hold it high. Show them who's a passing on by. Lo righta layo, Lefty righta layo, lo right layo, left right layo, lo righta laya, I love to double time. Lo righta layo. lo righta lefty right. Lift your head up and hold it high. The best damn Marines are passing on by. Looking good and feeling fine. Left foot. Oh yea. Here we go. Everyday Marine Corps, Pt* marine Corps."

Dad joined in up front, I panicked and kept beside him. Usually I'd stay with the other kids, but there weren't any. Dad eyed me and I took that as I needed to go to the back. I slowed my pace and let everyone pass me. I hated being in the back, I felt left out.

"Well well well, look what the cat dragged in." I familiar voice sneered. I looked up to see Connors smiling at me.

"Could say the same for you. Do you always look like hell when you get up?"

"Yes, but I'm happy about that. I could look like you." That earned him a laugh from the guy beside him.

"That'd be a step up." I said. The same guy from before laughed again.

"You're a little spit fire aren't you?" The tall guy in front of Connors said.

"That she is." Connors agreed.

"You Hard-ass's kid?" Tall guy asked.

"Yup," I smiled at the nick name, fit him well, despite the language.

"I'm sorry." He went back to cadence. The rest of the run was spent with me and Connors pushing and hitting each other. I got back in time for a quick shower and a change of clothes. I went with a plain black shirt and some light wash jeans.

"Let's go honey, you're going to be late!" Mom called. I slung my bag over my shoulder and hurried down the stairs plucking a green apple and a banana from the fruit bowl.

"How was your run?"

"Great, but Connors was mean. Plus I don't think anyone on the base really likes dad."

"He's not here to make friends sweetie, he's here-"

"To lead and make the best Marines he can." I say dropping my voice a few octaves.

"Alright, let's go." She said hauling me out of the door. At school I walked to my locker and pulled out my books for the first few hours. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I knew someone was behind me. I used the corner of my eye to look at who it was.