Children's Draft

Chapter 5 (Part One)

(Matteo's PoV)

    Sgt. Blake came storming into the barracks shouting, "Recruits." It was all a big mess trying to get in a straight line and salute. Logan and Will even ran into each other.

    Sgt. Blake rolled his eyes and muttered something to himself. "At ease," he told us.

    Our line quickly turned into a half circle shaped thing. Will, who was clutching his forehead, came over and stood by me. "What do you think is going on?" he whispered.

    "Matteo, what did you do?" Trevor asked.

    "What do you mean, what did I do?" I retorted.

    Clayton shrugged. "We figured Sgt. Blake came in here cuz he was mad at you. You know, since you're always in trouble."

    "I am not always in troub-"

    "Matteo shut up," Sgt. Blake shouted. "You're cleaning lockers tomorrow night. "

    I scowled at Clayton, Trevor, and Logan, who were trying to suppress their laughter.

    "Sorry, it's not funny," Logan apologized, still smiling. "It's just..."

    "Ironic," Trevor guessed.

    "Bad timing," Clayton tried.

    "A set of unfortunate occurrences controlled by a man who does not enjoy your presence," Logan decided.

Daniel kept his voice low. "Cleaning lockers isn't all that bad," he told me. "And all of you, shhh."

I folded my arms, extremely annoyed by the fact that Sgt. Blake even came in here in the first place.

"We're going to have a new workout," he announced.

The room went tense. No one had any idea what it was, or if it was better or worse than running laps and lifting weights.

"Tomorrow morning we are going to start our swimming unit."

My heart nearly jumped out of my chest. Finally we were going to do something that I was good at. I had been on swim team since I was nine. It's actually where I had met Emmy. But swimming was something I was very good at. I took third in state for the 100 free and 2nd for the 100 back last year. I couldn't wait to see Sgt. Blake's reaction to me being able to handle everything he threw at me.

Connor and Aaron exchanged nervous glances. They were probably worried that I could beat them at something.

"You'll pick up your swimsuits tomorrow morning at 0545," Sgt. Blake told us before leaving.

"Wow, you sure are smiling," Will observed.

"I love swimming," I gushed. "It's my favorite activity. I'm finally gonna like something about Basic Training."

"That's great," Will said. "I'm not particularly great at it, but at least I know how."

"Well yeah," I replied. "What idiot doesn't know how to swim?"

    Connor glared at me and I felt pride at the thought that he was scared to race me.

    I was unable to contain myself. I had to write to Emmy before lights out. I grabbed a pencil and paper from the bag underneath my bed.

    Dear Emmy,

        I'm in trouble again, but not even that can kill my mood. I just found out that we're gonna start swimming tomorrow. I'm actually gonna be good at Basic Training for once. I'm really excited, not just for the actual swimming though. A lot of the guys here think I'm this fuck-up who's always causing trouble and can never do anything right. Being good at something might not change their minds, but it might help me not listen to them. I really miss you.