Military Girl

Chapter 3

Mitch's POV

This girl. I know that she is helping the master and she needs to be strict but I think she was going a little too far. Sometimes it seems like she is meaner that the actual master. She shouted at Scott and a load of others, and I could almost hear her saying 'Get your shit together'. I know she didn't but I could tell that was what she was getting at. I'm just glad it wasn't me she shouted at.

I felt my stomach growl. It must be almost lunch. I had no watch and there was no clock in the lecture room so what the time was exactly, I had no idea. Lunkorc stood up. What was she doing? She had told us that interrupting someone of a higher ranking was one of the worst things you can do, yet here she was, interrupting. I sat there as she strode up to the master. She whispered something to him. He nodded and turned to us.

"Right cadets. Follow Soldier Lunkorc and she shall take you to lunch." I sighed. Thank God. "She will then take you to the dorms and assign you all rooms." I noticed Cassi glare at the master. She nodded and, walking up between our row of chairs, called for us to follow her.

*TIME SKIP*

Lunch was interesting, to say the least. I'm used to Mom's cooking or canteen slop. This was worse than that. It was nothing more than a bowl of porridge and a bag of semi-stale crisps. "Is this it?" I turned to Scott, he had the same look of disgust that I had spread across my face.

"Well, that's all you're getting. So, yes. That's it." A voice said behind me. Cassi had come up and stood looking over my shoulder. "But, if you're hungry, you can have some of mine." She held out her plate. Instead of the slop we had,  her plate was full of a chicken breast and veg. I stared greedily at it. "Take it. I'm not that hungry any way." She sat it down in front of me then took my bowl. I quickly ate what was there before realizing that Scoot and Kirstie hadn't got anything else. I smiled weakly. I noticed Cassi was still sat with us and had finished the slop. "You know, if you crush the crisps into the gloop it tastes better." I watched as my best friends followed the girls advice.

"Why are you being nice to us? Are we special or something?"

She shook her head, "Nope. I just," she paused, "I just think you need some kindness here. I'm not normally like this. You just look like you won't last a day without it." She glanced at me. There was something in those eyes that reminded me of someone. I don't know quite who but someone. I looked at Scott's watch. It had almost been the hour.

"Don't we need to go soon?" I hadn't directed the question to anyone in particular. Scott and Kirstie shrugged. Why couldn't my friends know about these things? Why did we have to rely on her?

Cassi stood up. "Yup. Come on." We followed her out of the canteen and back towards the lecture hall.

There was a gaggle of cadets gathered around the door when we got there. When they noticed Cassi, they all fell silent. "Great. We're last." Scott whispered.

"As usual." I replied. He laughed but stopped himself quickly.

"Cadets." Cassi's voice filled the corridor. She was shouting despite the lack of noise. "We need not enter the lecture hall. Follow me and we'll head to the dorms. Your bags are already there." She marched off.

Cassi's POV

I marched off, the cadets following close behind me. I think Mitch had recognized something in me, he kept staring at me. I hope he didn't, it would be better for us. Why did I have to pick them to be nice to? Why couldn't I just keep to myself for once? He isn't really my brother anymore anyway.

The corridors were pretty much empty because most people were already in lessons or training.

"Soldier?" I spun around. The Captain was walking up behind me.

"Yes?" I then noticed that the cadets hadn't followed me into positions. "Cadets. Positions." They all were very quick at that point.

"Lunkorc. Can you meet me in my office at free time tomorrow?"

"Yes, sir." I glanced over at my brother. When we were younger, I would always look to him for help but I didn't know him now. I couldn't know him anymore. I was my own person, a soldier. I wasn't that shy nine year old anymore.

"Can you also bring three cadets? It's for the procession in November." I knew exactly who I would pick. Normally, you would pick the best cadets but as this was only the first day, that wasn't possible. I nodded and he turned to leave. I got ready to drop position. He then stopped, "Good work, cadets." I smiled. My work was being praised by no other than the captain.

The dorms were small. There was a corridor with four rooms on each side. All of the rooms were identical, well, all but one. The room closest to the entrance was mine and looked slightly different. The rooms had room for four people: two bunk beds, two chests of draws, two built-in wardrobes and a little desk by the window. My job was now to get everybody into their rooms. Luckily, it was made simpler by the fact we only had four girls. "Right, girls, into  the far room. Get your bags and stay in there until I say." I watched as Kirstie, along with three others ran up the corridor. "Right, as for the rest of you, get into pairs with someone
you can stand to live with." I walked around pairing one pair with another. Until I was left with Mitch, Scott and another gay looking guy. "You three take the room across from mine." They nodded and walked away. I addressed the, now empty, corridor. "You have half an hour to settle in. Make sure to unpack and get to know each other. You will be living in these rooms for the year whether you like it or not." I smiled. I didn't have to share with anyone. I grabbed my holdall from the floor and pulled my room key out of my top pocket. My room had a window looking out into the woods, a nice bed with dark purple sheets, a huge desk and mirror, a wardrobe, a giant chest of drawers and fairy lights hanging from the ceiling. I shoved a wedge underneath the door so that I could hear if anything was going on. Unzipping my bag, I switched my fairy lights on. They flashed pink, purple and blue. I started hanging up my outfits. I had brought some hangers that meant I could put the outfits into sets so that I could use the drawers for other things. There was a little gasp from outside my room. I turned to see Scott standing by my door.