The Soldier

CHAPTER SEVEN JACOB

The two girls that giggle when I show off my target practice skills cannot compare to her. Both girls are tall, curvy, slender, and fair-skinned, their almond-shaped, brown eyes glowing. They're the attractive kind of girls my brother would like. Don't get me wrong. They are attractive, but the girl I hurt is just right- beautiful, brown skin, gold eyes that shine bright, and small hints of gray around her irises. Only one girl have I ever loved. I bet she doesn't even know how beautiful she is.

"Ooh, Officer Jacob, you're so cool!" one of the girls giggles.

At the sound of her squeal, the perfect girl curls her lips in disgust. I guess she either doesn't like those girls who are so bubbly, or that she's jealous. No, definitely not because she's jealous of them. Why would she be? I choked her, scared and threatened her. She deserves the right to scorn me. I hurt the girl that used to kiss me on the cheek at school every day before she moved. Ever since she left, I'd hoped she'd remember me. I guess her feelings for me have changed.

I curse being drunk from the pain from the Soldier Simulation serum. I curse looking like my brother, and most of all, I curse myself. No one is to blame but me. I have ruined everything.

The next tree I shoot, I hit the tree's middle. The perky girls giggle, and I realize the rest of the new cadet troops have climbed up the hill.

"Alright, girls, show's over." I say, putting my gun on silence, then sitting at the table where the cadets will register themselves full as a trainee of Camp One. Then I turn to them. "In single file just like everyone else, soldiers." I demand.

As every person obeys, the girls from before shove each other in a competition to be registered first. I raise my eyebrows as the taller girl finally wins. Handing her a paper form and pen, I tell her and her friend to only fill out the front of the registration form.

"So, Officer Jacob, are you tricking us to get our phone numbers?" the first girl flirts.

"Actually, no, now I've had enough of you. Fill out the forms and stand along to the side. The both of you." I finally snap.

The second girl opens up her mouth, but then decides to keep it shut. "Fine," she gives me a cat growl instead. Pretty sure just to annoy me.

My eyes grow cold when I'm mad. These girls have them freezing. "Go do what I just said, or that's a penalty for the both of you." I scowl, my voice low.

Silently, the girls both leave, and the rest of my cadets fill out their forms. The girl I choked is just ten people away. She's really the only one I'm focusing on. Everyone else is just a blur. I only tell the people to don't feel out the back, and bite the inside of my cheeks to keep from impatiently moving the cadets away. Eight more people until I get to her. Six. Four. Two. Now she is in front of me, avoiding the eye contact I give her as I hand her the form.

I forgot the other Cadets are here. "All they have been signed in, may leave. There is lunch being served in the cafeteria as I speak. Eat up, today is going to be a very long day."

They all salute in unison, leaving in a single file line.

When I turn back around, my heart skips a beat. "Name, please?" I ask, hoping my careless look hides my true, feelings. My hand holds the pen. The pen I'm ready to use to write down the name that I already know.

If I hadn't choked her, I bet she would've made a smart remark; for me to know that she still remembers me. I remember she's been known to do that. Instead, she tells me her name, her voice low for a girl, and her jaw strutted out. Not a stubborn motion, but using a stubborn motion to hide that she's cared.

"June Castor." she says.

I'm running my spindly fingers on her neck before I know it... She winces, bites her lips, gasps, then puts her hand on mine.

"It doesn't hurt." she says, her hand swiftly moving away from mine, and her brown eyes still avoiding me.

"Don't tell me it doesn't hurt, I know it does." I say worriedly, examining her neck. "I'm really sorry for what I did. I didn't... I was drunk from the needle injections they give officers from vaccinations against new plagues, and I just snapped when you called me Commander Blue; my twin brother." As I say this, I want to hurt myself. Those words are not going to make her feel better.

I write down her name on the tablet, then draw a speck of blood from her left finger. From there, I then place the blood sample onto the pen. The pen beeps, transferring the information to the Lab Division centers.

"No, really, it's fine." June Castor reassures me. "You didn't kill me, did you? No, Officer, you didn't. Officer, you were just telling me to show respect." She's angry. Her hands are trembling. Her brown eyes piercing, and I know I've made the biggest mistake.

"I'm serious, Soldier, are you okay?" I frown.

She nods, then fills out the rest of her registration forms. The signs that I know she remembers me is that I'm the boy who choked her. The boy who's twice her size in muscle and height. The boy who could've just snapped a helpless, small, girl in half with just a flick of the wrist. When she leaves, I watch her walk up the hill to the mess hall. Alone and afraid.