Military Girl

Chapter 9

"Grassi! Hoying! Maldonado!" I screamed through the halls. Where the hell were they? Today was the day of the procession and we had five minutes to get there. This was one of the events that gives you the most credit but being late basically took the entirety of that credit away. I started to get frustrated. If they were too much longer, I was going to leave without them. Mitch ran up, panting heavily. He had rushed to get here. It was another minutes before all three were there. Finally. "You're late." I stated blankly. "Come on. We'll have to be quick." They all nodded, unable to speak due to rushing. I marched off in a fast step. Partially because we were late, partially to annoy the trio straggling along behind me. The meeting place was the other side of the school which meant that even whilst running it could take three minutes to get there. Or so I thought. Somehow, we managed to make it in good time. We weren't even the last ones to arrive, which, I have to be honest, surprised me greatly. At the door, stood the Captain. He stared down at us and I felt the cadets shy away. I glanced at them. Mitch was fiddling with his fingers; Kirstie played with her hair, wrapping it around her fingers, and Scott kept shuffling his feet.
The Captain cleared his gruff voice, "Ah Lunkorc. Take the Cadets to the far corner."
I saluted and replied, "Yes, sir." I signalled for them to follow me. We were all packed into a tiny lecture hall that was made for half the people that were there. We weaved in and out, attempting not to hit into anyone important. The far corner already had other cadets huddled in. Every person in the room was in their smartest uniform. It was a dark green with stripes running over the shoulder depending on what rank we were in. These were the uniforms that only came out of your closet once or, possibly, twice a year. They had to be kept immaculately pristine. During your first year, in the first couple of days even, you are taught exactly how you are expected to wear it. But, despite the lessons, and I knew that they had been taught it as I was often the one demonstrating for all the quarters, none of them were able to wear it correctly. I sighed. Every section, not just our quarter, was here. I didn't want anything to do with soldiers that were unable to wear a uniform correctly. "All cadets! Listen up!" They jumped and many stared at me in disbelief. Technically, I wasn't meant to command any cadets that weren't in my quarter. But, that was only if I was commanding as a Cadet Master. In most cases I wasn't, I was commanding as a higher ranking soldier than they were. That was allowed, especially in these circumstances. Nothing happened. The Cadets carried on talking and paid no attention.
The Captain shouted from the back of the hall. He had obviously seen and knew what I was doing. "Wipe those disrespectful smirks off of your faces and listen to Soldier Lunkorc." Unsurprisingly, they stopped talking almost immediately. I nodded my thanks and smiled. I received a nod back ad he returned to his work.
I looked back to the Cadets that now looked terrified. "Right. Line up in front of me. Now!" They quickly obeyed and ran into a perfectly straight line. Looking each cadet up and down, I couldn't help but be appalled at their appearances. "Jesus Christ." I muttered. "Better fix you lot up." I went and listed everything they had done wrong: shirts untucked, caps wonky, badges uneven. I made sure that each one of them  had corrected themselves.

"There. Now you lot aren't so much of a disgrace." Ten minutes later and I was finally happy with them. I told them to stay in the corner and left, making my way back into the crowd. There were a few mirrors that had been dotted around the room. Soldiers always needed to check that they looked right and were going to represent the forces well. I looked at myself and cringed. If you only had a quick glance, I looked fine but if you knew my ranking, and looked a little bit more carefully, you would have said otherwise. My stripes were the wrong colour and my badges didn't match. I was in my old uniform, from last year, before I really hit Cadet master. I hated looking like this, I hated looking anything but perfect whilst in uniform. That was how my father had brought me up, right from the start he wanted me to be like him. Everything should have been a lot better than what it really was. Supposedly, the General was bringing new ones with him and was going to present them beforehand. The only problem, he was late. This wasn't right. He hated being late. He always managed to get places at the exact time he was meant to.
I felt an arm wrap around my shoulder. It was Jay, "Hey babe. Where's the General?" I shrugged. I had explained things to Jay just after I had left the infirmary. It had taken a while for him to fully accept it but I didn't expect otherwise. It wasn't easy to tell someone that it was your dad who gave them orders and sent them to war. And, I guessed, it was probably just as hard to take in. I was actually astounded at how well he did take it.
I lent on his shoulder, "I don't know. He should be here by now. Shouldn't you be elsewhere?"
"Nope. I was told to come here and give this to you." He handed me a note and I turned it in my hands. The name on the front, the address, were written in my dad's handwriting but I was confused, why would he be sending something to me?

Hey! Very quickly, I really need a little help with this fic. I know I've asked this before but any ideas would be amazing! Love you and sorry this took a while to get up!
FA <3