“Yeah, just a fucking coward."
"Ten hut," Instructor Donaldson said as she came around the corner.
"Waters and Bowen, get back here. Someone want to tell me what all the shouting is about?"
"They started it," Dawson said, pointing at Grace and Jan. "We didn't do nothing, ma'am."
The blonde instructor shook her head. "I believe that as much as I believe little green men live on Mars. Jones, what happened?”
"I don't know, ma'am," Latisha said. "I was in the barracks."
"Bowen?"
"Grace and I were playing ping pong when those two came in and started making trouble," Jan said. "We left to avoid a fight and they followed us out, ma'am."
"Waters?"
"Yes, ma'am," Grace said. "Just like Jan said, ma'am."
Donaldson looked at Grenner and Dawson. "And if I asked you two I'd get a completely different version, right?"
"We just went in to play a game and they started harassing us, ma'am," Grenner said, doing her best to look innocent.
"And so when they left the situation you just had to come out after them, right?" the blonde instructor asked. "You two are on restriction until Sunday. Bowen and Waters, you two were headed somewhere so get going. As for the rest of you, I think twenty pushups should help remind you that proper young ladies don't cluster around like a bunch of hooligans hoping for a fight. Now drop!"
Together Jan and Grace walked toward the trail that led to the cabins.
"How the hell did we get away without having to do pushups?" Jan asked.
"Guess Viking decided we were telling the truth," Grace said. "And we were walking away rather than getting ready to fight."
"Yeah, there's a switch, eh?" Jan shook her head and gave a little laugh. "This place is getting to me, Grace. Next thing you know I'll be taking tests and trying to get into college too." They stopped, looked at each other, and began laughing. "Not," they said in unison.
"But it is good not to be in trouble," Grace said. "We could be back there doing pushups or even stuck on restriction."
"Short Shit will drop dead of shock," Jan said. "Bet I can get an extra hour of TV out of this."
They stopped where the trail split apart. "Lucky you," Grace said. "Carey's working late tonight but I bet tomorrow I can talk her into playing cards."
"Ooh, fun city," Jan said, taking the left side of the fork. "Night."
"See you tomorrow," Grace said, going to the right and heading for the cabin. It was starting to get dark, the trees becoming nothing more than silhouettes on either side of the trail. How does Carey find her way at night without a flashlight? The cabin came into view, the motion detector turning on the outside light once she was close enough. Wonder how long it'll take Viking to tell Carey what happened. Kneeling down next to the steps, she felt around for the false rock, then retrieved the key hidden within.
Once inside, Grace went to the refrigerator in search of the leftover pork chop Carey had told her earlier she could have. She had just put the plate in the microwave when the phone rang. "Guess it didn't take long," she said as she walked over to the phone. On the fourth ring the answering machine picked up.
"Grace, pick up the phone."
She put the receiver to her ear. "I didn't start it."
"So I've heard."
"I didn't fight," Grace said, leaning against the counter. "I walked away."
"I heard that too. You did well, Grace. I'm proud of you for keeping your cool."
Hearing the approval in Carey's voice, Grace smiled. "Thanks."
"So what are you doing right now?"
"Waiting for the pork chop to heat up. Can I have a soda?"
"May I have a soda, and yes."
Grace made a beeline to the refrigerator. "Thanks."
"Only one, and make sure there's grape left for me."
"You have two left. I'm taking a root beer."
"All right. I’ll be home around nine thirty. Try to leave some food in my fridge."
"I will," Grace said, pressing the cancel button just as the microwave started to beep. "So you're proud of me?"
"Yes, Grace. You saw a situation starting and walked away. You wouldn't have done that a month ago. You acted like a mature young lady instead of a juvenile delinquent."
"Are you very proud of me?"
She heard the chuckle on the other end of the line. "Don't push it. What do you want?"
"Well there are five ice cream bars in the freezer…"
"And I wonder why my grocery bill's jumped twenty bucks a week. One, and you'd better wipe out the microwave this time. I know you didn't put a paper towel over your plate to keep the splatter down."
"Whoops. I forgot."
"Just like you forgot to replace the roll of toilet paper after you used up the last sheet."
"I said I was sorry about that."
"That didn't help me when I was sitting there with nothing to dry myself with. Go eat and I'll see you when I get home." They said their good-byes and Grace hung up the phone.
"I knew you'd be proud of me," she said aloud to herself as she took the plate from the microwave. While it bothered her that Grenner had gotten away with calling her a coward in front of the others, Grace took a certain amount of satisfaction in not being the one on restriction. "Besides," she added with a smirk as she began cutting up her meat. "I'm the one getting soda and ice cream."
The morning sun beat down on the group while Instructor Gage paced back and forth in front of the two squads. "Last chance, girls."
Grace looked around, knowing full well that no one would admit to vandalizing the equipment. She spotted Grenner and Dawson sharing knowing smirks. You want to know who stabbed the basketballs, ask them.
"Fine, if that's the way you want it," Gage said. "Everyone drop for twenty."
Oh great, Grace thought as she hit the ground. Gage woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, didn't she? She glanced over at Jan, who mouthed the letters PMS. Figures. Not bad enough she's pissed about the balls. She's gonna work our asses off and make today suck.
"When you finish those, you can do twenty sit-ups, then stretch and get ready for your morning run," the petite instructor said. "And for those of you that think you can just jog along at a leisurely pace, I'm going to be running at the back of the pack and I expect to see some hustle today." She clapped her hands impatiently. "Let's go, girls. We don't have all day."
"No, just four hours for you to squeeze as much hell in as you can," Grenner said under her breath.
"Did I ask for a commentary, Grenner?" Gage yelled.
"No, ma'am."
"So why did I hear your mouth?"
"Sorry, ma'am."
"You're always sorry, Grenner. Four months and you don't know enough to keep your mouth shut."
Grace smirked as the instructor continued to berate Grenner. Maybe today won't be so bad after all.
Grace was sitting on the couch happily munching on a cookie when Carey entered the cabin. "Hi," the teen said around a mouthful of cookie.
"Hi, Grace," Carey said, kneeling down to unlace her boots. "How many of those have you had?"
"Just two."
"Two or two dozen?"
Grace smiled. "Just two. I'm saving the others for later."
"Others? I said you could have three cookies, so where do you get others?"
"Well...you usually let me have more than three," Grace said hopefully. "And it is a new box."
"There was a time when a box lasted me all week," Carey said, putting her boots neatly next to Grace's sneakers on the newspaper near the door. "You sure you're not related to Cookie Monster?"
Grace pretended to check her skin tone. "Nope, not turning blue yet."
"Could have fooled me," Carey said. "What are you doing there?"