If We Have Each Other

Chapter 9

"Who were you talking to?" his dad asked.

"I was talking to my FBLA partner. We're friends now," Logan responded.

"Oh, cool," his dad responded. Logan made himself a taco with meat, cheese, salsa, and sour cream and took a bite.

"How are they?" his dad asked with a mouth full. Logan chewed his food before responding.

"Good," he said, taking another bite of taco. Logan was trying to eat fast so he could go back to chatting with Dallas. Unfortunately, his dad saw how fast he was eating.

"What's the rush?" he asked.

"Uh, we were working together on a project, and I hate to leave him alone like this," Logan said. Another example of 'not the whole truth but not a complete lie.'

"Oh, if you're working on homework then you can take your plate to your room," his dad said.

"I can?" Logan asked in both disbelief and excitement.

"Yeah, sure," his dad said nonchalantly. "Just try not to spill and make a mess."

"Ok, thanks dad," Logan said, concealing his excitement. Taking his plate and walking back to his room, he repeated what his dad had said.

"If you're working on homework....try not to spill and make a mess." Logan stopped dead in his tracks.

"Wait does he mean—" Logan shook his head. "What did I expect?" He muttered as he returned to his room and closed the door. He hated to give his dad the suspicion that he was indeed doing that, but he didn't want him to eavesdrop on their conversation either. He checked if Dallas was still in the facetime, and sure enough, he was there, waiting for him. Logan joined back into the facetime.

"Hi Dallas, I'm back," Logan said.

"Oh, that was quick," Dallas pointed out.

"Yeah, my dad let me take my food to my room," Logan responded.

"You're lucky, my parents don't let me take food to my room," Dallas said.

"My mom probably would say no, but I'm at my dad's house for tonight, and he's pretty chill," Logan said.

"My dad would probably let me, but my mom vetoes it. I guess moms are always thinking about cleaning," Dallas said.

"Maybe it's just mom instinct," Logan replied. He opened his computer to continue his AP Euro project, knowing he wouldn't make much progress.

"What else is in your project?" Dallas asked.

"I have some things about the Swiss economy, and how high the rent prices are compared to other major cities in neighboring countries, like Milan, Lyon, Strasbourg, and Munich. Switzerland also requires males to be in the military for a base 18 weeks of boot camp, and another 245 days minimum of actual service," Logan said, reading off of his presentation.

"Wait, they require military service? Even the US has gone away from that. Unless you get drafted, I guess," Dallas said. "Can you get out of it somehow?" he asked.

"Maybe if you leave and become a citizen of another country, or be in community service full time for twice as long. You can also push it back by 4 years by studying abroad," Logan said.

"I don't know if Croatia has compulsory military service or not, I haven't looked. Lemme Google it real quick," Dallas said. A few seconds later, he said, "They removed it in the beginning of 2008. Switzerland is over 13 years behind."

"Wow, I would never guess it was that far off," Logan said.

"With our luck, World War 3 is gonna start when we graduate and we'll get drafted," Dallas said.