Field Day by Katy Did

The Rifle Shoot

Field Day

- Sang-

I was so jittery and excited my knees kept bouncing. I tried to control it, but I'd never done anything like this before and couldn't wait. The competitive side of me was taking over.

"Sang, you're going to use up all your energy before we even get on the field if you don't relax," Kayli said with a grin.

"I know. I'm trying," I replied. Then a big smile split across my face. "You think the boys will be surprised?"

Kayli shielded her eyes with her hand and looked down from the bleachers at the guys in question. "Oh, I think so." She chuckled.

It was a beautiful spring morning. Perfect weather for the annual field day. The temperature was already pretty warm and would be hot by lunchtime. I looked around at the people sitting on the bleachers surrounding us and those down on the field. I was surprised how many people there were.

All members of the Academy.

Every year all the teams got together for what Mr. Blackbourne called a "friendly competition."

Although, with the way the boys acted, their manhood apparently was on the line. Kota had them doing exercise drills every day for the past month. I only saw them at school, and at night one of them would come over, but would immediately collapse and sleep.

There was a lot of "smack talk" too, as Luke called it, between my boys and Kayli's. The worst offenders being him, Meanie and Raven.

"Like the Doctor said when you were born, it's going to get ugly."

"Why don't you go outside and play hide and go **** yourself."

"You sit down when you pee."


And so it went, on and on.

I hardly saw them while they were in training for this and so was grateful when Kayli asked if I wanted to hang out with her each day after school and on weekends, since Marc and his team were also doing drills every day. The boys were happy with this arrangement, too.

Kayli immediately had the idea that we should enter as a pair for one of the competitions. She called Dr. Roberts (apparently she knew him pretty well) and asked him if we would be allowed to enter.

He said that although we technically weren't part of the Academy yet, they would make an exception since we had been on a couple missions each and our teams had adopted us.

After some deliberation, we decided to go for it and signed up for the obstacle course, unbeknownst to all the boys of course. Dr. Roberts said he was looking forward to watching this.

So, each day while the boys were out doing their training... we were doing ours.

There was a loud squealing noise as a microphone was turned on. I looked over to where a booth was set up with five people sitting behind it.

Mr. Blackbourne and Axel were sitting next to each other on one end. In the middle was an older gentleman I'd never seen before, holding the microphone. He was mostly bald with wispy white hair and kind eyes. Next to him was Dr. Roberts and on the other end was a no nonsense looking woman with a severe bun and sunglasses.

"Alright everyone. Listen up," boomed the kind looking man with the mic.

I was shocked at the level of authority in his voice. It made Mr. Blackbourne's sound sweet in comparison.

Everyone immediately quieted and gave their full attention.

"First off, welcome to the Academy's annual field day!" A loud applause thundered through the crowd.

"We all work very hard and it's beneficial to have a day off for friendly competition. Good sportsmanship is expected. Anyone caught cheating, in any manner, will accrue debt for their team and will not qualify for next year's event."

There was some grumbling from the crowd. Not because they disagreed, but they seemed a bit insulted they would even be reminded not to cheat.

"First up, we have the rifle target shoot."

I looked over at the boys to see who would participate in it. Victor, Meanie, Honey, Luke and North walked toward us to sit down. As did Corey, Kevin, and Marc.

"When I call your name, take your place with a rifle."

"Kota... Raven... Brandon... Silas... Chris... Julie... Sara... and Dr. Roberts."

They each walked to a station where a rifle and ear protection were lying on a small table. Their backs were toward us and faced targets that were set up on the opposite end of the field far away.

"Oy, Trouble!" Meanie said as he sat next to me. Kayli was on my other side. "You going to be my cheerleader today?"

"Of course! I'll cheer for all of you." Unless you're my competition I thought to myself, and gave a big smile. I looked around at the boys. "Where's Sean?"

"He's down on the field to be on hand in case anyone gets hurt or sick Trouble."

"So how does the target shooting work?" I asked. I had a general idea, but had never seen it before.

Honey leaned forward next to Meanie. "Each person has six shots. Whoever hits closest to their target's center the most times wins."

"Who do you think will win?" I asked.

"Raven's the best shot," chimed in Marc, overhearing my question.

"No way!" said Luke "Silas has got this."

"I think Brandon could take it," Kevin spoke up. Wow. He never talked very much.

"Don't underestimate Kota," warned Nathan.

"What about the others down there and Dr. Roberts?" I couldn't imagine Dr. Roberts holding a gun. I had no idea who the other three were.

"I've never seen Dr. Roberts shoot before, Baby," replied North from behind me. "The others are pretty good but have never won."

"Oh." I turned to North. "Who won last year?"

"Raven," he growled.

Once they were ready and the command was given, they repeatedly fired their rifles. When the final shot went out they put the guns down and removed their ear muffs.

Three guys went out on four wheelers to retrieve the targets.

I looked at the competitors to try to gauge how they felt they did.

One woman looked angry. Probably didn't do well.

The other woman looked pleased as did the man I didn't know.

Raven and Silas had smug looks on their faces.

Kota looked focused and Brandon was serious.

Dr. Roberts had a poker face.

The targets were brought up to the booth. They were laid out, and Axel stood with a camcorder and panned over the targets. A large screen that was next to the booth turned on, showing the targets as Axel recorded them. Each target had the name of whom it belonged to on the top.

Yeah, that woman didn't do well.

The other man and woman nicked the centers.

Kota and Brandon both had hit the middle but off to the side a bit.

Silas and Raven each had a shot dead center and the others just outside the center.

There were gasps and cheers as Dr. Robert's target came on screen. He completely shot out the center of the target!


- Dr. Roberts -


I cracked a small smile when I saw my target on the screen in all its glory. God it felt good.

I looked at the young pups that had been trash talking to each other ever since we got to our stations.

They didn't do that with me while we got ready. It irritated me, I would admit. In my day I dished it out each year, but apparently they weren't threatened by me.

Ha! That would teach them.

Raven and Silas looked like they were catching flies.

I could see new found respect in the eyes of Brandon and Kota.

"Well boys," I drawled, acting all serious and s***. "This dog may be old, but he already knows his tricks."

Then I swung the rifle over my shoulder and sauntered off like some freakin' cowboy in the movies.