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Marines & Make It Up

Marines

Tuesday continued 

The bell rang and I slowly got up.

"Rachel!" called Miss Myacoff. "I need to talk to you."

"See ya," said Calvin and he was the second to last to leave.

What have I done now? I wondered.

I walked over to Miss Myacoff's desk. "Yep?" I popped the 'p'.

"I know you well enough to know you'd skip the school play," she began.

Great, it's going to be one of her "helpful" lectures, I thought sarcastically. She had a tendency of telling school secrets and stuff that could seem petty but would effect the students or an individual student somehow. Yeah, real nice, except when she thinks it's her duty to do what she was doing now:

"You've already missed so many classes-too many," she continued, "And...what about college? You need to make them? What about the school play? I may be one of the science teachers, but I know that play is going to be a big part of your grade."

Do I tell her? I've been contemplating it for so long and only finally decided to last night. If I tell her, who else would she tell? But at the same time, she'd get off my back, I thought, pausing for a moment to do so.

"I've already decided to join the marines as soon as I turn 18 and graduate."

Miss Myacoff looked surprised. I would be too if I was her. People would think of me as the last person to join.

"Uh...That's good. I'm really happy. My nephew joined the Air Force and my niece joined the Army. But, you want to graduate too? Use the play. You still need your grades. I don't know a whole lot about joining but I'm sure they look at your grades too," she told me.

I didn't know a lot about joining either. I just knew that's what I'd finalized the night before. If my grades would count, would I be willing to try to work harder in school?

~

Calvin leaned against the wall next to the door, eavesdropping.

"...but I know the play is going to be a big part of your grade," finished Miss Myacoff.

Damn, I'll just be a tree or something in the end. Why do they think we don't join the fucking drama team? Calvin thought, knowing all outsiders would have a job like a tree.

There was a pause and the classroom was engulfed into silence for a few moments. Calvin leaned closer to the door, sliding his back against the wall. He was trying to remain inconspicuous by sitting on the ground next to the door. Some students were still bustling around, but most just wanted to get to the beach and boardwalk as soon as possible and they would leave practically as soon as the bell rang.

"I've already decided to join the Marines as soon as I turn 18 and graduate."

Calvin froze. He didn't hear for Miss Myacoff's reply, and truthfully didn't care. Light footsteps closing in the distance between Rachel and the classroom door snapped Calvin out of his state. He left school.

He walked in the direction of Sienna's Animal Shelter, not caring he'd be late at the slow pace he was walking. As always, his uniform was in his backpack. He did homework during class and so rarely had to bring home any books, unless he felt like studying-another rare thing. But he had a pretty good memory and got a B- or more on tests.

And now he was really hating his good memory. He wanted to forget what Rachel had said. She was known for escaping, but this was the Marines not fucking high school she had been talking about. And these weren't exactly the best times to join the military if you thought there wouldn't be a war soon. Hopefully, there wouldn't, but the tension between nations made it so unclear.

A man bumped into his shoulder roughly, knocking away Calvin's thoughts. Calvin looked up from the ground to find himself staring at a drunk man. It wasn't his father, but no matter what the excuse, he found all drunks the same. They'd had a choice and were stupid enough to choose to drink more.

The man looked angrily at Calvin with a furrowed brow. He staggered all around Calvin. Calvin scowled.

No words were said. None needed to be. The man slapped Calvin. That's when Calvin broke. That's when he threw the punch. 

~

Strange, I thought around the time Calvin usually came.

Caroline noticed ten minutes later and started questioning me. Twenty more minutes later, the door bell rang. I opened it to a beaten Calvin. My eyebrows raised and Carrie came racing up. She didn't care he want bleeding until she was in his arms.

"Calvin, was it Daddy?" she asked.

"No, but someone just like him," Calvin answered honestly.

"Come on in. You know where the bathroom is," I said and Calvin walked in as Mom came out of the kitchen.

Mom eyed Calvin before mouthing to me, 'What happened?'

I shrugged. I never told her the truth about Calvin Eaton, but I was pretty sure she knew because she never questioned me when he came over like she sometimes did when Jesse would come over. I was glad she didn't ask about it. For once, I was glad she was a little different.

~

Make It Up

The door bell rang and Carrie was already pulling open the door by the time I had walked into the living room. Calvin leaned against the door frame. Carrie squeezed him, but he didn't pick her up no matter how much more tighter her hug got. 

He looked too weak to. His arms just hung down at his sides with one shoulder pressed against my front door's frame. He didn't hug even hug Carrie, or pat her on the back. His knees were buckled. He panted. When I looked at his face, I thought he'd gotten into it with his dad again. 

Carrie whimpered and stretched her arms up. "Calvin." She sounded annoyed. "Ray doesn't pick me up-now you?" 

"Later," he murmured and fell forward onto Carrie. 

Carrie let out a loud squeal as she tried to catch her older brother that was probably like three times her weight. I dove forward. Calvin was heavy for me. He would have squashed little Carrie, but nevertheless, she still tried to hold him. 

I set Calvin on the couch. Carrie attempted to help, which was nice, but she wasn't that strong yet. I suppressed a laugh when I realized Calvin would be too big for the couch. His feet and ankles hung off the edge of the opposite couch arm his head rested on. 

"God, Calvin what the fu-freak were you thinking?" I asked. 

"Calvin says it all the time. You don't have to stop in front of me," stated Carrie. 

"Spill it Calvin. This is as much help as you're getting until you explain," I said stubbornly.

"Carrie, get me water," Calvin murmured. Caroline left to my irritation.

Traitor, I thought bitterly. 

"I got in a fight with some moron in the streets and that's all," Calvin said. 

I teasingly pinched his nose. "'That's all' you say?" 

"Mother-fudger! That hurt!" Calvin squealed and my mom came into the living room to see what was going on. 

Oops, I thought as Carrie walked in with the water and handed it to her brother. 

"High school," my mom muttered when she saw Calvin and she walked back into her room. 

"What the fuck is wrong with you? Do not pinch my nose or my cheek ever-especially after I fight" Calvin growled to me, resting his head back onto the couch's arm. He shut his eyes. He let out a sigh. 

"What'd you do?" Carrie asked me and I waved my hand away to tell her to dismiss it. 

"Carrie, go make yourself a sandwich," Calvin said, and Carrie skipped into my kitchen. 

"Alright, I'm sorry, is that what you want?" I said.

Calvin's laugh turned into coughing, but I wasn't one to pat his back. Still, I got an idea of what it felt like to have an urge to pat his back. That's as close as it got with Calvin and I. 

Then Calvin turned grave, and a little pale. "Why would you join the Marines when you could die? You know it's already tense with the rumors of some of the other countries secretly having bombs and missiles and gases and stuff...And I don't care. I just want to know why someone so puny things they can live through something so profound." 

"Ha-ha," I replied sarcastically and had an urge to slap him, but didn't act on it. "And if you don't care, then I don't have to tell you. Mind your own bee's wax, Callie."

"And if I said I did care?" Calvin's question caught my off guard. 

I furrowed my brow and tried to hide how he had caught me off guard by attempting to reply smart. When I spoke, it didn't sound venomous as I had hoped it would. "Then I'd say I want to save lives. I'd say my dad took many, and I guess I was hoping doing this would maybe make it up somehow for what he did."

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