"You're welcome," Grace said, her heart rate rising at the smile given to her. "I'm glad I could help."
Carey rubbed the back of her neck. "I think I pulled something."
"Would you like me to rub it for you?" Grace offered, trying hard to hold back her excitement at the possibility of touching the older woman's skin.
"Ah, no." Carey grimaced. "I don't think it would look good to have you sitting here rubbing my neck. I'll put some deep heating rub on it."
"I don't mind," Grace said, feeling her chance slipping away.
"No," Carey said, unknowingly crushing the teen's hopes. "Thanks for the offer, though."
"Urn, you know the pulsating head on the shower might help," Grace
said, looking at the washing machine instead of the object of her lust. "It'd be like a massage."
"I never thought of that," Carey said. "Is that what you've been using it for?"
"Huh?" Grace froze, unable to think. How did she know?
"I've gone in a couple of times and found it set on the pulsing one," Carey said.
"Oh, yeah. I um...well, my back sometimes from PT." Oh, please buy that.
Carey rubbed her neck again. "Maybe I'll give that a try first," she said.
"I'll get it," Carey said, rising from the recliner to answer the door.
"What's up?"
Instructor Gage stood in the doorway holding the two broken ends of rope. "Take a look."
From her vantage Grace could not see but whatever Carey saw, it made the dark-haired woman bright red with anger. "Waters, take your books and report to the barracks until I come get you," Carey said without looking at her.
"Yes, ma'am," Grace said, quickly gathering her papers. The instructors were silent as she left.
"Hey, girl," Latisha said as Grace entered the barracks. "What are you doing here?"
"Carey and Gage wanted to talk about something so I got booted," Grace said, flopping down on her friend's cot.
"Hey, Waters."
"Hey, Jennings," Grace said, motioning the girl to join them. "You did great on the obstacle course yesterday."
"Thanks. You know I lost another five pounds?"
"I thought you looked thinner," Grace said.
"Yeah, now we don't have to strap 'wide load' to her ass anymore," Latisha teased, then dodged a playful swat from Jennings.
"Keep it up and I'll use those dreadlocks to mop the floor," Jennings bantered. "I'm still bigger than you."
"Not by much," Grace joined in. "Your ass is going to need a sign soon."
"Oh no, you didn't say anything about my ass, girlfriend," Latisha said, giving Grace a light shove.
"Well look who's here," Grenner said as she and Dawson approached the trio. "If it isn't Scary's little bitch."
"Go to hell, Lauren," Grace said, aware of how quiet the barracks suddenly became.
"You gonna make me or are you going to sic your pet Scary on me instead?"
"Fuck you."
"Naw," Grenner said. "I wouldn't want to make Scary jealous."
"Ignore her," Christine said. "She's just trying to cause trouble."
"Stay out of it, fat ass."
"Leave her alone," Grace said. "You got a problem with me, deal with me. You got a problem with Instructor Carey, take it up with her."
Grenner hopped up on her toes and pretended to tinkle a pair of bells. "Oh, it's Instructor Carey, is it? Is that what she makes you call her when you're down on your knees in front of her?"
"She probably calls her Mistress Carey," Dawson chimed in.
"You got something to say, Shorty?" Jan said as she entered the barracks, moving between the pair and Grace.
"Leave her alone, Bowen," Grenner said.
"Make me," Jan said.
"Ten hut!" The girls scrambled to positions, Grace moving to the foot
of her old cot frame as Instructor Donaldson entered the barracks. "Formation. Now!"
"What's going on?" Grace asked in a low whisper after standing there for ten minutes with no sign of an instructor.
"Don't know, but Scary Carey is pissed as hell," one of the girls behind her answered. "I saw her and Gage a few minutes ago heading for-uh-oh. Here they come."
The group immediately silenced as Gage and Carey entered the formation area. Grace noted that Carey was wearing the mirrored sunglasses, making it impossible for her to see the instructor's eyes. Still, even with the distance between them, Grace could see the tightness in Carey's jaw. "She's really pissed," she whispered, catching Latisha's slight nod with her peripheral vision.
"Obviously we, as your instructors, have failed," Carey said, throwing the two pieces of swing rope on the ground in front of the group. "We have spent over four months teaching you about responsibility and consideration for your fellow human beings. But you haven't learned a damn thing, have you?" She picked up the short end of the rope and held it up in the air. "I was on this when it broke." Grace saw that while there were a few strands that appeared frayed, the rest appeared to be neatly cut. "Someone deliberately rigged this rope to break," Carey continued. "I want that person front and center right now." Grace looked around, seeing others also wondering who the culprit was. "Fine," Carey said after a few seconds. "You are a team, the actions of one affect the whole. Since no one wants to come forward and take responsibility, everyone will pay."
"You think we've been rough on you so far?" Gage added. "You're going to be crying for your mommas by the time we're through. Now drop for forty!"
"They're trying to kill us," Grace said, bringing her elbows up to touch her knees.
“Stop the chatter, Waters," Gage said as she passed. "This isn't social hour."
"Yes, ma'am," Grace said, exchanging a look with Latisha.
"Carey, I think these girls could use a good long run, don't you?" Gage asked.
"Give them time to think about what it means to respect other people's property," Carey said. "Ten hut." The girls all jumped to attention, though not as fast as usual, fatigue slowing them down. "Are you having fun yet?"
"No, ma'am," came a chorus of teenage voices.
"Do you like that one of you is making the rest of you suffer?"
"No, ma'am."
"If you don't like it now, let's see how you feel after a nice five-mile run. Move it!"
"Just kill me and get it over with," Grace said as she collapsed on the grass, joining the half-dozen others that had finished the run.
"I would but I'm too tired," Jan said from her prone position. "You tell me who fucked with that rope though and I'll find the energy."
"Make that two," one of the other girls chimed in.
"Wha...what do you think they're gonna do to us next?" Grace asked.
"Call ambulances to haul our lifeless bodies away," someone said as she joined the group. "It's gotta be after eleven."
"They'll let us go to bed soon, I bet," Grace said. "They can't keep us up much longer."
"I heard some of the other girls talking," Latisha said. "They think Dawson did it."
"Why?"
"She took a hit from Scary yesterday during barracks inspection, snuck some food back from the mess hall."
"Yeah but everyone's been caught at some point doing that," Grace said. "Carey could have really been hurt in that fall. Personally, I bet Grenner had something to do with it. I still say she's the one that sliced up the bunks."
"Can't prove it," Latisha said. "I can't tell you how many times her bunk's been ripped apart. If she has a knife, she's got it hid real good."
"Please tell me you're letting us sleep in tomorrow," Grace said as she trudged up the steps to the cabin.
"You can sleep in," Carey said, opening the door. "I'll get you up before I leave. You'll still have half an hour before formation."
Grace sat down on the couch and grabbed her pant leg to pull her left foot up over her right knee. "But it's almost one thirty," she said, tugging at her boot lace, which stubbornly refused to come free. "I'll never make it on four and a half hours' sleep."