Keeping Fantasia: The Third Book of the Fantasia Series

Chapter 58: Poop Sandwich

Chapter 58: Poop Sandwich

"Cadets!" Admiral Triton rapped his clipboard, "Warm ups are over. Assemble into standing formation at the starting line, on the double! And officers..."

Triton motioned to the three officers beside him. "Ready for inspection."

Jak's fingers twitched behind his back. He didn't care for cadet training, but that was the downside of being promoted: with higher ranking came higher responsibilities. Unfortunately, those responsibilities were always boring.

Jak preferred his old life.

When he first joined the Marine Corps, every day was one of discipline. Marines were expected to be clean-shaven, well-spoken, and always battle-ready. Jak's daily routine had revolved around physical training and combat training. Nothing else. He would wake up, work out, and then learn how to kill bad guys with big guns.

"You eat or get eaten!" General Philoctetes had taught Jak's platoon, "You kill or get killed! Kapeesh?"

It was a grueling life. Mistakes were not optional. Uncleanliness was a sin. And laziness was punishable by death.

Jak loved it. Absolutely loved it. There were clear-cut rules, there were clear-cut consequences, and people always stuck to their word.

It was awesome being a marine.

But then Jak became a hero. And his awesome life ended.

He got famous. He got promoted. He got more "leadership responsibilities."

And his only way out was to become one of King Arthur's knights.

But for now, he was stuck on cadet duty. 

Withholding a sigh, Jak consented to his grandfather's wishes.

The other two officers were not so discrete.

"Ugh. Cadets." Titania Bell, Senior Airwoman of the Airforce, angled a perfect eyebrow. "Look at these ass wipes...they're not even enlisted. Most of them are academic majors. Eggheads."

"Now, now, now," countered Aelius Fitzherbert, Corporal of the Army, "Be fair Titania. There are also Vikings in the mix. So that makes it a combination of eggheads and egg farts."

"They're so basic." Titania scrutinized the last of the warm ups. Purposefully, she opened her wings, forcing a red-haired girl to swerve out of the way. "I can't believe we have to waste time babysitting these fuktards."

"At least the view doesn't suck." said Aelius, boxing his hands so he could focus on the red-head's bottom, "I could watch that run for miles. Pretty as a picture. What do you think Jak?"

Jak was thinking of many things but he kept them all to himself. Although he trained frequently with Titania and Aelius (all three wanted to be knights), Jak found them exhausting. Aelius was the class clown of the army and Titania was...well she was a pixie. Enough said.

"Cadet training is important." Jak replied, watching the redhead girl sprint the remainder of her warm-up.  Speaking to his counterparts, Jak frowned at the redhead with newfound interest. "Aelius, you were a cadet when you went to university. And Titania, you were a private when you enlisted, right? I think both of you need to take a bite of the poop sandwich."

Aelius smirked. "Poop sandwich?"

"It means life if tough," said Jak. Still watching the redhead, he strode to his grandfather. "Sometimes you just have to suck it up and take a bite."

Aelius chuckled.

"Deep," he said, rubbing his pencil mustache. Boxing his hands again, he focused them around Jak's bottom. "Take a good look Titania. With morals like that, this is all of Jak Triton you are ever going to get!"