*Guarding The Girl* (Title TBC)

Chapter 2

Toby sat in the recreation room, his nose deep in a tank manual, his hand holding up his head as he flipped through the pages. Suddenly his head was pushed forward sending him actually head first into the book.

“Oi!” He huffed and pulled a glare at Fergus who was now in fits of laughter. He came round and sat opposite Toby at the table, followed by Damon.

“You should have seen your face!” Fergus carried on, his hands banging on the table as he struggled to get a hold of himself.

Damon rolled his eyes, but let out a chuckled, “What a loser” He indicated at Fergus, “So, what you reading there champ?” He asked leaning forward for a better look.

“Tank Manual, a guide to the battle tank essentials. Wow, easy reading right there” He said sarcastically, “Seriously man, this is free time” He groaned.

Fergus stopped laughed, “Whhaaa…why would you do that!” He shook his head.

Toby sighed, “I’ve got my exam tomorrow. Special orders” He shrugged.

Damon looked shocked, “What! Seriously man! I thought we were covering this stuff till training after graduation.

Toby shrugged, “I’ve been moved. I’m being put on fast track because I’m qualified to take the pass out examinations.”

“It’s because he’s a goody too shoes!” Jett yelled from across the room, others stopped what they were doing and joined in.

Blaze looked round, “Geez, who are you!” He shook his head, “This civvi to military training is killing me. To be fair, I haven’t seen you break a sweat once” He frowned, suspicion moving into all of their faces.

“It’s because he’s not a civilian” A voice from the doorway boomed making all of the men quickly stand to attention. “Woolf, my office, NOW!” He barked swiftly turning and marching off.

Toby groaned and got up moving out of the room after the commander to a chorus of ‘oooo’s’ from his comrades. He just rolled his eyes, so childish.

He rapped on the door and was called to enter. He stepped in. “Sir, Private Tobias Woolf recruit number 469 of 194 troop reporting.” He stood to attention.

“At ease!” The officer replied. “Now Woolf, I’ll get to the point. You seem to have excelled at every task so far. It has been decided it will hold you back if you are to continue training with the group you are with. This week you are going to be joining 184 troop which are leaving training imminently. You will be conducting their final examinations with them at the end of this week, but also the intermediary examinations you will have skipped from today.”

Toby stood there blinking at his commanding officer, “But sir..” He said shocked.

“I don’t want to hear it. I don’t like it, but this order has come from above. Seems you have friends in high places ‘mister’” he looked at Toby suspiciously, “There is a new specialised branch of the military, that is all I know so don’t ask me further, they are requesting the best recruits and you have been chosen.” Toby could have sworn the officer said this with distain in his voice.

“IF…and only if you pass out of here by the end of the week you will be based with this new group. Your assault course examination is this afternoon and tank exam is tomorrow morning, go and make sure you’re prepared. DISMISSED!” He barked.

Toby quickly left the room. He stood outside the door for a moment letting this all sink in. ‘Special branch? Pass out this week?’ He sighed and started for the dorms to get ready for the assault course. He hated how the commander had looked at him as if he was getting special treatment. The truth was, he was already a soldier, but that was a whole other story.

~*~

Christina looked out of the window as her teacher blabbed on about history. Who cared if this person killed that person which turned into a civil war? All this military stuff was so dull and all they ended up doing was destroying the land or cutting off food supplies, or whatever. She chewed on her pencil watching as the clouds passed by. What she would give to be on a trip away somewhere right now.

A loud bang in front of her made her jump causing her to fall off her chair. The classroom erupted into laughter and a stern looking teacher stood glaring over her. “Miss Taylor,” He huffed as she picked herself up, “If you actually want to pass this class at all, I suggest you stop daydreaming!” He scolded before marching off to the front of the class.

Soon the bell rang signalling lunchtime. Christina lent back in her chair and groaned. Something cold touching her cheek made her jump to see her friend standing there with her bottle of water.

“Oh Ali, stop it!” She groaned.

“Come on loser, we’re going for lunch” Ali smiled pulling at Christina’s hand. The others were congregating in the doorway.

Christina was just normal, sure there were the girls who were popular with the boys, then there were the quiet ones, but apart from that the others just didn’t bother with the clichéd ‘groups’ in school. Christina was a friendly girl, most of the time, so she had had no trouble making friends when she had arrived at the school slightly behind the others.  

Christina had missed the beginning of the new school due to the sudden disappearance of her parents. All she knew was that, age 11 she had gone on a trip with a friend and when she got back, there was no one there.

Weeks of missing person reports had been filed and the surrounding area screened for clues. However, it was like they had never even existed.

6 years on Christina had finally moved out of her guardian’s house and into her own flat. A distant memory, Christina was now looking towards her future.

As she walked outside into the grounds she was talking animatedly with her friends around. They posed for photos and continued sharing news about their holidays and catching up on various gossip.

Suddenly the sun caught something and it shone in her eyes. Looking up for the culprit she just saw the glimpse of someone moving away from the edge of the roof. She frowned and had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach, but as she was then distracted by Ali she put it down to hunger.

Had she of known what would happen in the months to come, she might have taken a bit more of a warning from the stranger on the roof.

So, now you know a bit more about them, what do you think? Who do you think Christina might be? Who were her parents who just disappeared in mystery. And as for Toby, who on earth is this strange boy who seems to live, eat and breath the military? All answers to come... :D

I hope you enjoy. If you have any thoughts about the title, whether you like it or if you have suggestions please feel free to leave a message.

Best wishes, MillaB