My Girl

3: He looked at me and I looked back at him.

When I open my eyes the next morning I am not entirely aware of where I am. As I wake up I still have some memory of the dream that I had last night. I was back at home with my family. And Thomas was there. Clearly, I didn't want to wake up. Reality was brutal. 

I sit up and see everyone storming through the room as if it was on fire. I look to my right. Chandra is putting on some clothes in a hurried manner.
"What's going on?" I ask her. She looks at me with her eyes popped. 

"We ought to be in front of the facility in five minutes!" she exclaims and comes back to what she was doing a second before. I sit there still, not being able to grasp the situation. "I tried to wake you up, but just you wouldn't!  Hurry!" 

And that's when it hits me. If I don't move my ass in the next two minutes I will never make it to the spot and I won't pass the training.
I somehow manage to get up from the bed and find something to wear. Only later do I realize that those were the clothes from the previous day. 
I also grab a hair band and put my hair up in a messy bun as I am nervously following the crowd when we are leaving the room.
In the main hall I bump into Eric. He and the rest of the men's group were also told to be outside at a specific time.
"You look nice," he says. I know he is lying. There is not a single person who looks nice under such circumstances.
"I do not. I had two minutes to get ready," I complain.
"It's military, not a Victoria's Secret fashion show," he laughs at me.
"Well, so I figured, thanks."
When we pass the entrance, I spot Captain James waiting for us. Some of the future soldiers are already there, standing to attention in one, straight line. We join them.
"Relax, guys," Captain James says. We do as we are told. "Today is the first day of your personal hell on earth. You've got two choices here. You either push through it all or give up and go home," he explains. "Today you're going to prove how fast, strong and clever you are. We will test you to your furthest limits. Trust me, if you don't want to go home yet, you soon will."
Eric pokes me in the stomach. I flinch. I hate when people touch me. Especially if they are not Thomas.
"Stop it," I whisper. For a moment, Eric pretends that he is deeply offended, but when he sticks his tongue out at me, I'm certain that everything is all right.
"I will divide you into small teams. Each team will have to prove itself through our 'field of misery' as we like to call it. You'll find all kinds of traps there. What's more, you have to get through the field as fast as you can, before the opposite team has a chance to do so. The first team with all its participants at the finish line wins. The other team will have to participate once more, but with a different team. At the end of the day, you'll see scores of all teams at the board hung there," he explains, pointing at the board. "I think we will send some of you home today. That's why you need to give the best you've got. Is that understood?"
"Yes, sir!" we all answer in a consistent manner.
"Good. See I got a very enthusiastic group this year, which really gets my hopes up," he says and looks at me. My cheeks flash red. I look down, not knowing why. Maybe it is simply because I know what he sees when he looks at me. He sees what everyone else had seen for the last months. A ghost.
His eyes then move to a list he has in his hands. He starts reading our surnames and informs us of our teams. When I hear my last name I move with the crowd, but before I can reach my team someone slaps me in my ass. I jump in place and turn on my hill to catch the guy responsible by his arm and twist it so hard he almost cries in pain. It is one of the things Thomas taught me. I just never thought it'd be useful.
"What the hell is wrong with you?!" I scream at him. He just laughs. What's worse, it seems as though he really enjoyed this. I can tell by the way he looks at me. "You can't just come up to girls and do such things, you prick!"
"Language, miss Bennett," I hear a voice behind me before Captain James shows up next to us. To be honest I don't  give a crap about my language. I think I should be excused considering the situation.
"What happened?" Eric's voice can now be heard, as he emerges from the crowd. I discreetly tell him to walk away from all this.
"Lady got angry," says the idiot who grabbed my butt.
"Oh, you wanna see angry?!" I start to walk towards him, but Captain James stops me by getting in my way.
"I will not tolerate such behavior here," he simply says.
"You serious?! He just..." I start, but am interrupted.
"I was talking to mr Wright," he explains which calms me down a little bit. "You will apologize," he adds, now facing him. No, that cannot be enough. Any bloody idiot can apologize. 
"I don't want his apologies," I say. A smirk appears on Wright's face. I am sad I can't punch him right there so that he can't feel his face anymore. "My team is going to run against his." I don't even wait for Captain James' approval. I just know this is the only way it can, or even should, go.
"If that's what you want Bennett," Captain James sighs. It surprises me a bit that he agreed to it so fast. I realize it's already decided upon when I see everyone walking towards the field. I can tell they are excited of what is about to happen.
Not much time passes until I realize I am left alone with Captain James.
"You don't have to prove anything, you know that, right?" he asks me.
"I do know that," I simply sat, "but I want to," I add, moving towards the crowd and hearing Captain James' steps behind me. He grasps my arm and pulls me back. He does it quite firmly but delicately at the same time. His touch on my skin does not seem weird which is new to me. That's why I don't yank my arm as he keeps holding me, standing still.
He looks above me, as if he wanted to check if anyone was listening to our conversation.
"After the first obstacle take the turn right, not left," he says, his eyes now piercing through mine. He looks at me and I look back at him. It was the first time in months I have actually seen someone and someone saw right through me. The real me.
I nod. That's all. I am afraid to use my voice.
He lets go of my arm and walks pass me. I take a deep breath before I join him at the beginning of the field.
He gives me one more look before he says:
"It's team Bennett vs Wright. I feel it should only be fair after I said that if you lose Wright... you're out."
"What?!" Wright screams. Look who's smirking now, you dick. It's me. "What if I win?" he asks. Yeeez, he has one hell of a nerve.
"You win, you stay," Captain James says. "Good luck. To both of you."
I look at Captain James and thank him, though I don't say a word. He must have known that it is what I have in mind.
I look to my left as I prepare myself for the run. Wright stares at me and I swear, his look could kill. Fortunately, I look away just in time. My eyes are fixed at the first obstacle.
Take the turn right, not left
I remind myself of Captain James' words. And that's exactly what I intend on doing when I hear Captain James' scream: "Ready. Steady. Go!"