Military Girl

Chapter 20

I groaned. Oh god. Why was I so god damn tired now? I opened my eyes, squinting against the bright light. My clock ticked and buzzed as the long hand hit the hour. Hit the hour? Well that meant I was up way too early or way too late. I was meant to be up at half past five. I sat up, rubbing my head. It wasn't too bad, only four fucking o'clock. I grumbled and grabbed my phone. Why the hell was I awake? There wasn't any notifications from my phone that could have woken me up and my radio wasn't calling either. Rolling my eyes, I pulled myself off my bed. "Might as well get some extra training in then." I muttered to myself. I pulled on my uniform, grabbed my radio, rubbed my eyes again and left my room. Everywhere was dead. Why was I woken up if everything was so quiet? I set the alarm and softly shut the door behind me. As I walked through the corridors, I became more and more aware of just how loud I was compared to my silent surroundings. My footsteps echoed against the walls. My breathing was deafening. Every rustle of my clothing sounded like a volcano erupting next to my ear. When I got outside, it was better. The birds where already singing to the sunrise and the wind blew the grass to create waves of green at my feet. I smiled. Moments like this remind me why I loved being in the countryside. I felt myself breaking into a run towards the climbing wall. A climb, then zip wire down, then the high course, then breakfast once everyone else has come out, then possibly go down to the shooting range. That was my plan.

I was up the wall in seconds, it didn't challenge me anymore. The hand holds were small, yes, and they were very far apart but I didn't even need them to do it. Well, that's not exactly true, I mean, you have to have the hand holds but I could sometimes do it using the misplaced planks of wood. The zip wire was hanging slightly looser than it was meant to. I grabbed the wire and hooked it further into its pulley so that I could easily get down. I clipped on the handle and jumped down. For a moment, I felt like I was almost weightless. That was until the wire suddenly pulled up and I started to head forwards instead of straight down.

Once my feet hit the ground, I was instantly running into the trees for the high ropes course. There was a net that was about 1.5 meters long that I had to climb to reach the actual course. It was slippery with morning dew. My hands were soon covered in water as I reached the top. Now came the ropes and planks of wood that would also be unsafe. Slippery wood was really not a good idea. They normally didn't allow people on this until after lunch but, as long as I was careful, they were generally ok with it.

I was half way. My foot slipped and I felt myself falling forwards. Panicking, I flung my arms out in front of me to grab the rope. My hands snapped into fists as they felt the rope connect with them. I sighed and pulled myself back onto it. I ran forward onto the balcony before me. I sunk to the wooden floor, breathing ragged. Thank god I had good reactions now. I looked down to the forest floor. There was a safety net about half way between the course and the floor. Unfortunately, parts of it had large holes in, including the bit that I almost fell from. Under that rope, were about 15, large holes. Even more thank god. Not long ago I would have fallen through and smacked down to the floor. I sighed then pushed myself up and finished it. After that one fall, it was pretty smooth going, even when it did get a bit harder. My senses had sharpened after the scared so I didn't place a foot or hand at all wrong.

"Hey! What are you thinking? It's way too early to be out!" I heard someone shout. I rolled my eyes and carried on walking. I was starving. "Oi! Don't ignore me!" I turned around. There was no one there that I really needed to talk to so I turned back around. I reached the doors to the canteen. My sense of myself rose by about five hundred. I was suddenly very aware of every part of me. In a normal situation, you don't really notice your breathing or your footsteps but I noticed everything. My heels made the sound of a rumbling volcano, ready to erupt. My breaths where the strongest, north wind imaginable. My eyelids clicked every time I blinked slightly. My uniform were leaves on a blustery, autumn day as it rubbed together. I grimaced.

"Hey Cassi! This is very early, even for you. Normal?" Jessy beamed her usual, giant smile from the counter, as I entered the canteen.

As I walked up to her, I replied with, "Uh, yeah please. I woke up really early so thought I'd get a round in before everyone else did."

"Makes sense. Miss the crowds as well. Strawberries or blackberries?"

"Strawberries, please. Yeah, it always gets really busy in here. I don't know how you deal with it." We both laughed. Somehow, Jessy had always been my friend. I've known her ever since I came to the Lunkorc household.

"Yeah. Neither do I actually. It amazes even me sometimes." She chuckled and handed me my breakfast. "Mind if I sit with you?"

"Sure. Come sit." We went over to a nearby table and slumped into the chairs. If it is possible to slump into a hard, plastic chair. Which, I don't believe it probably is. I shut my eyes, fatigue from getting up so early taking over me. I heard Jessy laugh and I opened my eyes again.

"Tired?" She joked.

"Yup. I woke up at four this morning." I said, popping the 'p'. She drew breath at the time. I bent over as I brought a spoon full of my breakfast to my mouth. "Perfect, as always Jessy. Thanks."

"No problem. How's things with you and Jay?"

Jessy always asked about my relationship. At one point I thought that she had a crush on one of us, but I quickly ignored that. "It's good. I haven't seen him yet today, obviously." She smiled. "What 'bout you? Any crushes I should know about girl?"

She shook her head, "No way in Hell! No one here is good enough for me." I laughed as I continued eating. "There's no decent guys here other than yours. Everyone else are assholes." I snorted with laughter. It was probably the truest thing that I had heard in a long time. Most of the boys here were horrible or just plain obnoxious. None of them would ever be good enough for Jessy.

"You'll get yourself a good guy one day. You just need to wait for your Prince Charming." She smiled and turned to look at the door that had just swung open.

"I'll be back after this." I nodded. She pushed her chair back and made her way over to her station. The Captain had stormed into the canteen, face bright red and eyes bulging. Someone had pissed him off apparently. He didn't get this angry too often. He walked over to Jessy and got breakfast before slamming his tray down on a table in the far corner. Jessy and I looked over at him, then at each other then at the door. When we were both sure that no one else was coming in, Jessy came and sat back down with me.

"What's got his knickers in a twist?" She shrugged. "Best not to get involved, right?" She nodded then lay back on her chair.

"Back to our conversation, there is a cute guy in your cadet class at the moment."

"Seriously? Who?" My brows furrowed as I pushed my bowl away, across the table.

"That little Grassi kid."

"My brother?" I shouted, "oh god no!" I hadn't even realised what I had said until I saw Jessy's face. "Um..." I stammered. "You didn't hear that!"

"Yes I did! Explain girl!!"

"Ok but I can't here. You'll have to swing by my room later on, ok?" She nodded and got up to serve those who were just coming in. I also pushed my chair away from the table, grabbed my bowl, put it to be washed and then left the canteen.

"Cassi?" I spun around to stand face to face with Kirstie.

"Yes, Maldonado?" I snapped.

"Why were you up so early? Are you ok?" I softened slightly at the pure concern in her voice.

"Yeah. I just randomly woke up really early. You go get to breakfast Cadet." She nodded and shoved the canteen door open. I sighed and went outside. I smiled gently at the, now, warmer, air. The shooting range was the other side to the training grounds. I had no reason to rush about so I took a leisurely stroll down to the small building. Pretty much everyone was out of the dorms now so I had to weave my way in and out of various ranks of people. People nodded their hellos or good mornings to me as I went.

Extra long chapter!! There's going to be some cool stuff coming up!!

~Kyaz