Chapter 3
2200 Words
~Christa~
I walk out the front door of the building and find the two guys waiting for me outside.
Miller: “So? What did he want?”
Christa: “He told me to be careful of you two idiots!”
I smack Freddie upside the head, making Miller laugh.
Freddie: “No, come on. What did he say? Are we going to do extra drills tomorrow... The squad is going to hate us! F…”
He is about to swear again when Miller punches him on his shoulder.
Freddie: “OUCH, what did you do that for?”
He grabs hold of his shoulder, rubbing the muscle.
Christa: “To see if he could knock off a word other than frack! I’m starving, aren’t you two hungry?”
I divert their attention to something I know they would be interested in.
***
The first week is brutal! I didn’t realize that I was this unfit. Here I was thinking I was this mega fit athlete because I did track in school… I think it took them all of an hour to prove me wrong. Run there, carry that, sit up, crawl under that, run this way, put that down, jump over this.
All the while he is shouting at us as if we are deaf, dumb, and stupid. Fine, so it looks as if some of us are. Chante hasn’t said one word to me since that day, and Daniella transferred to a different squad.
I had a feeling that the girl had other plans from day one. That leaves only me and Chante in a twenty-bed room… The silence is deafening! Luckily, I have my two trusted buddies to keep me company with who I can share a secret drink and smoke, in which has now become our moonlight spot.
By week two we know the drill and when Cappie shouts “Line up!!” we are ready to rock and roll.”
Cappie: “Tank… Do you think this bunch of mutts deserves a reward for their good work this week?”
Tank: “I don’t know Cappie. If you reward them so soon, they might just think they are good and come back arrogant. Then we will have to start all over again! I don’t feel like starting all over again.”
Tank throws his arms in the air and rolls his eyes. Something you would never think you would see him do. It’s Thursday afternoon, and I know for a fact we are getting the weekend off to go home. They can’t take that away from us, can they?
Cappie: “Maybe you’re right. If we give them a weekend pass, they might just come back all hungover and arrogant on Monday morning at FIVE AM! I don’t want to deal with that either.”
He turns around and starts walking away with Tank following him. We have learned not to move until he tells us that we are dismissed, even if it means missing dinner.
Halfway to the office, they turned back.
Cappie: “If you lot of mutts don’t show up on Monday morning at five am sharp, sober, you can forget about getting a weekend pass at all for the next six months. Got that?!”
Squad: “Yes, Cappie!”
We shout as one unit. Oh, thank the creators of beer, we can go home and drink to our heart's delight!!!
Cappie: “Fine, Squad dismissed.”
Whoops and woohoo's are being shouted out, you just see cadets running for the barracks. We aren’t allowed to leave until nine on Friday morning, but that doesn’t matter to us. We are done for the day, and we are going home for the weekend.
Miller and Freddie are coming to stay over at my parents' place with me because his parents are out of town, and for some reason, Freddie seems to always be staying over at his place.
The way they avoid the subject I have a feeling it’s something I shouldn’t ask about, so I avoid talking about it, and we make our plans for the weekend. My parents weren’t keen on the boys staying over, but when I told them they were poor orphans who didn’t have anywhere else to stay, my mom’s heart melted, and she convinced my dad.
Okay, fine… I told a half-truth. When your parents are out of town, you are sort of an orphan, aren’t you? You can’t go home… They aren’t there to take care of you, do your washing, cook your meals and such…
Yeah, yeah, I know I’m taking chances, but I’m still only nineteen. I can get away with it.
My dad picks us up at the gate at the college, and our bags almost don’t fit into his boot. Two weeks’ worth of uniforms that need washing and ironing for three cadets can sure fill up a boot fast!
Dad: “What do you guys have planned for the weekend?”
Christa: “Not much, some lounging around the pool during the day and maybe going out at night.”
He takes his eyes off the road, which he never does!
Dad: “With whose car are you going to do that?”
He asks sarcastically, and I almost burst out laughing at his angry face, knowing full well he is just trying to scare the living daylights out of the boys.
Christa: “Mine dad, of course. We will be careful. You know I don’t drive drunk or anything. I’m a responsible driver like you taught me to be.”
His eyes back on the road, I see a smile forming in the corner of his lips.
Dad: “You better not drink and drive! I’m not replacing anything if you break it!”
I look at the guys in the back and stick my tongue out at them when I see their utterly terrified faces. I know that my dad knows that I’m not going to follow the rules. But I also know that he knows that I’m going to promise high and low that I will… I just won’t tell him when I eventually will. Who knows, maybe I will become responsible when I’m like forty.
We pull into the driveway at home and mom is waiting for us, walking up to me and hugging me as if I had been gone a lifetime. She greets the boys like they are her own sons and can’t get us “properly” fed fast enough.
The boys are told to stay in the spare room, and I stay in my very girly old room, which kind of feels weird now. I drop my bag in the middle of the floor, and the first thing I notice is the picture of me and Blake stuck to my mirror.
Christa: “I guess that’s over.”
Taking it off, I crumble it up and dump it in the trash, closing my door so I can change into my bathing suit… Which also feels really girly all of a sudden!
When I open my bedroom door, the boys are both waiting outside my door, leaning against the door frame on each side of the door.
Miller: “When did you become such a girl?”
Freddie: “Yeah, we’ve been waiting forever!”
I step out with my towel wrapped around me, very self-conscious about how I look.
Christa: “Hey! Perfection takes time! Are we going to go take a dip or are you two goofballs going to hang around my door all day?”
I pinch each of them and make a run for it.
Miller: “Oh, you are so going to pay for that!”
Running down the passage behind me at full speed, Freddie just misses running right over my mom and stops to apologize and promises to never run in the house ever again.
I laugh at him knowing my mom is used to kids coming down the passage like bullets out of a gun and grab a lounger to pull closer to the pool. They each grab one, and I realize that I can’t swim with my towel around me, meaning it’s time for the big reveal…
I take my towel off and within a millisecond both of them wolf whistle.
Freddie: “Damn, Bradley!”
Miller: “How did you hide that underneath your uni?”
On my back, there is a butterfly tattoo that covers my entire back, and my bikini is almost too small for a porn star. I was one of the popular girls in school… I didn’t care what people thought of me.
Now things seem different with two boys as my new best friends.
Christa: “Oh, shut up! And don’t you dare tell anyone, or I’ll tell Cappie on Monday that the two of you are hungover!”
I shouldn’t have said that. They both charge me, and we all land in the pool at the same time.
The water is great, and we spend an hour splashing each other and playing around like kids before mom comes outside with some cold drinks and hot dogs.
Miller: “I love your mom.”
He grins and both of them jump out, rushing to the food as if they haven’t eaten in weeks. I climb out and walk over to the lounger, using my towel to dry my hair a little before lying down to soak up some rays.
They join me, each with food in the one hand and a drink in the other, and Miller brings me one as well.
Christa: “Thanks.”
Miller: “Okay girl, now you have to spill. How does a girl like you end up without a boyfriend in the police academy and not engaged to some billionaire and walking the runway?”
The juice nearly goes flying out of my nose at his question with laughter.
Christa: “Okay, I was popular at school, but I’m not modeling material and definitely NOT billionaire fiancé material.”
Freddie: “Excuse me? You clearly aren’t seeing you from this side, girl!”
I clear my throat.
Christa: “Okay, fine. I had a guy. He left me the day I walked into the academy. He broke it off after being together for a couple of years. Now I guess I’m single and chasing my dream job. I want to be that kicking butt and taking names chick you see in movies. The one who takes down the big crime boss and saves the day. I don’t want to be some guy’s arm candy until he gets tired of me, or I become too old, and then my beauty has faded, and I don’t have anything left.”
Miller: “Not just beautiful, but brains as well.”
He nods as if he just found this out for the first time.
Christa: “How about you, guys?”
Miller: “Well, they accepted me as an underwear model, but when they didn’t want to take Freddie, I told them I wouldn’t do it without him, so we chose the next best thing.”
He shrugs as if he was just being serious, and I start giggling. My dad comes walking up to us, and when he sees me, he doesn’t look very pleased. He has always hated this bikini.
Dad: “You had better start your car before you go out tonight to make sure it starts. I don’t want you bugging me at ten o’clock with a flat battery.”
Handing me my car keys, I grin at him.
Christa: “Thank you, Daddy. I’ve decided we are going shopping tomorrow. I need a new swimsuit; this one is getting a bit small.”
Giving him my sweetest daddy’s girl smile. He winked at me and walked away. Good, now he knows that I’m also feeling slightly uncomfortable in this and won’t worry about it any longer.
Miller: “Your boyfriend must have been something.”
Christa: “Why?”
Miller: “Your dad is one really strict guy, and it's hard for a guy to get past him… You have to be perfect!”
Christa: “Nah, my dad is a pussycat. You just need to treat me with respect, that’s all he asks, plus I also have to behave like a lady and not a tramp.”
I can't help but laugh, making the two of them look as if they relax a little.
Later in the afternoon we pack up our stuff and go inside to get ready to go out. I stand in front of my closet and realize that everything I own is so girly… How the hell am I going to go out with these two and not look like a girl?!
If I wear anything other than what I usually wear, my friends are going to think I’ve been kidnapped and brainwashed.
Grabbing the first dress I can get my hands on, I throw it on my bed and start on my make-up. If they are going to my best buds, they will just have to accept all sides of me… Even the girly side.
- Writer
