Military Girl

Chapter 5

Cassi's POV

"Leave her alone!" I heard the young voice of Cadet Grassi behind me. Why was he coming and getting involved? I stood sharply up, turned on my heel and punched the soldiers who stood before me. They walked away sheepishly before I turned on Mitch.
"What the hell?" I screamed. "Do you want to get into trouble?" He looked down at the floor. I noticed a couple of other cadets watching. "Those boys are in their fifth year. You mess with them, you end up dead. Literally. They killed someone, that's why they're here." Looks of shock spread across the faces of those watching. "Eat. You have five minutes cadets!" I spun on my heel and stormed from the room. No one is that stupid. Surely, no one can be that stupid. I walked into the master room. My timetable, along with the other cadet masters were pinned up on the wall.
"What's got my little Cassi all wound up then?" I smiled. Jay - Soldier Salons. I ran into his open arms and buried my head in his shoulder. I shook my head. "Why?" He said, knowing that I didn't want to tell.
"I can't babe. I'm sorry." He pushed me up so I was looking at him. I felt my vision go blurry and my cheeks became wet. I hid my face again.
"Hey. Hey. It's okay hun." His voice was smooth. I was so glad I had Jay. He was someone I could be me about. "Is it those boys again? Do I need to kick some nuts?" I giggled slightly and nodded. "Ok. I'll give them one later. Now you better get your timetable quick."
"Yeah. Are you part of this meeting later?" I asked pulling my sheet from the wallet and taking a picture. Our radios were amazing. They had a built in camera especially for timetable stuff and prospectus pictures.
"Yeah. The training guy came and asked me."
"Good." I said laughing, "I don't want to be in a room with only my cadets. They'll be a lot as usual." He nodded as he had just been signaled. We held hands as we walked out to the training grounds again. He was going with the other soldiers so gave me a quick kiss before running off.
"Lunkorc." The Master called from behind me. I saluted. "Take the cadets through the drill."
"Yes, sir."

TIME SKIP

I fell down onto my bed. Three hours. I had three hours until night training. I should sleep. I should do but I also need to go to the meeting. I sighed and rolled back off the comfort of my bed.
"Grassi, Hoying, Maldonado. Come here!" I screamed when I had reached the corridor. I stood waiting until all three ran out of the boys room. They stood in positions in front of me. I nodded, "Well remembered cadets. Maybe I have picked the right people. Drop positions." They did so, "Right, I'll explain on the way." I marched off.

I stopped abruptly outside the Captain's office. Mitch, Scott and Kirstie stood waiting to be told what to do. I had explained that they would be part of a procession in November that they would get training for as we all needed to do something extra for this year. I also explained that behind this door, there were some of the highest ranking officials who would be watching them to make sure they were up to scratch.
"Cadets. I won't be standing with you. I'll be with the other soldiers. For the procession at least. I might help with you lot for a bit whilst training." I sighed. That meant I had over eleven hours of training every day. Six with the cadets, four with the 'midnight crew' and at least an hour with this. "Follow me. But be presentable please." I opened the door and walked in. There were very few people in there. The Captain came up and stood in front of me. I didn't even have to think about it any more, I immediately was in position.
"Lunkorc?"
"Yes, sir?"
"Take your cadets over to the Master then go stand with the General."
"Yes, sir." The General, my father. He was here? He never came to the school unless he was desperately needed. And he hated the November procession, said it was a waste of good training time.
"Cadets Grassi, Hoying and Maldonado, sir!" I said as I reached the Master. He nodded and I saluted. The General stood in the far corner counting off soldiers. They must be really short on staff if he was doing that. I went and stood in the queue to be signed.
"Hey beautiful." Jay said behind me. I rested my head on his shoulder.
"Hey."
"So the General decided to show his face. Weird, no?" I nodded in reply as I reached the table. The General looked up expecting me to say my name and year. I saw him relax.
"Cassi. Can you do this and give your old man a break?" He chuckled.
"I can't do that dad. I'll help though."
"Thanks pumpkin." He lifted my hat off my head and ruffled my hair. I squealed before diving under the table and coming out the other side. When I looked over to write my boyfriend's name down when I noticed his expression. Instead of his usual soft expression, his eyes glared and he looked directly at me. I knew what this was about. It happened quite a lot. When people find out that I was the daughter of the General, they freak out and ask why I didn't tell them. Then they get all pissy when I say that I didn't think it was important.

I went and stood against the back wall. The room was packed. No doubt they would move us to the lecture hall at some point instead of keeping us in here. I felt a hand on my shoulder. The Cadet Master nodded over to my brother. He was shaking and his face bright red.
"I know you know what's up." I forgot that he knew about my past. "Go help him." I nodded. The Captain was talking so we were whispering. I took a quick glance around the room to make sure no one was looking before heading to Mitch. I put a hand on his shoulder, similar to the Cadet Master to me.
"Hey. Come on. We're not going to be here for much longer. Don't sit down. Stay with Hoying and Maldonado. Listen to what they're saying. Focus on what you're being told to do. Focus only on the Captain." I reached into my pocket and brought out a hair tie. "Fiddle with it. It helps." He looked up at me. I put the hair tie in his hand, smiled then headed back to the other wall. It was five minutes before I realised what I had done. I had recreated something that had happened at school once. That was the only time I couldn't count on Mitch. He was claustrophobic and hated large crowds. We were in the school canteen and Mitch started to have an attack so I took my hair down and gave him my hair tie to fiddle with. I think I was probably about eight when I did that. Now I was in the habit of keeping a hair tie on me, just in case. Some people found it weird seeing as I have short hair. We found our seats in the lecture room, depending on what rank we were. Apart from me. I didn't know what or why but I was going to do something with the General. He was the youngest ever General, I was the youngest soldier; there was some kind of link and they were going to play with that for definite. I had sat down before my dad so was looking around the room to check on the cadets. I noticed that the Captain was standing right next to them but wasn't saying, nor doing anything towards them. I stood back up and walked over. He was watching them; seeing what they would do. Mitch wasn't in a state to remember that well. If he wasn't perfect, the Captain would throw him out the meeting.
"Grassi?" He spun around in surprise and made to stand. "Don't bother. Drop position." I added hastily, noticing the Captain now watching me. "Listen. And listen very, very carefully. I need you to remember to stand when the General enters the room. Follow everyone else. If you don't, you might get thrown out the procession. Keep the hair tie. Don't let go." I nodded. Walking back I noticed the Captain smiling. I sighed, he hadn't minded and was even happy (or was it proud?) of it. As I sat down, I heard the door fly open. I, along with everyone else in the room, jumped to my feet and stood to position. We turned to follow him as he walked through the crowd until we stood in the same position but facing the front of the hall.