Chapter 4

Cassie


"Ugh!" Angelica yelled, viciously shutting the door to our barracks room. She walked further in, ripping her cover from her head and tossing it onto her bed. I stood, watching her overly dramatic display. She got out of her cammies, leaving her green t-shirt on while throwing on a pair of gym shorts. I started to walk back to the bathroom when she stopped me.

"Yeah, thanks a ton, Cassie. Thanks to you, we'll practically have no life while we're stuck in this shit hole town for the next six weeks."

I was already frustrated enough with the way things had panned out, and her shit wasn't making things any easier.

"Excuse me?' I asked, deeply annoyed while moving closer to her. She had her arms folded across her chest, glaring at me. "If I remember correctly, that could have very easily been you in my shoes since you had no problem throwing yourself all over Sgt. Cruz that night to begin with."

"Yeah, well it wasn't me. And now, thanks to you, we get to be treated like kids while we sit around and do nothing here in this hot ass desert. Why'd you have to kiss him anyway?"

"I didn't kiss him. He kissed me. And besides, that's really none of your fucking business."

"It is now. Now that my life is being directly affected because of it." She pulled her ponytail holder out of her hair and undid her bun, roughly running her fingers through her lustrously long brown hair. "No one in that class knows why all of our club and bar privileges have been suddenly revoked except for me-- oh, and Sgt. Jensen-- since he practically threatened me and all." She rolled her eyes as she brushed past me into the bathroom to retrieve her hair brush.

"Threatened you?" I asked, moving closer into the bathroom.

"Yes. Threatened me." She stopped brushing her hair and looked at me through the mirror. "Basically, my baby career in the Marine Corps could be wrecked if I run my mouth." She started brushing her hair again. "He's hot as shit, but he's a dick. And I have a feeling Cruz is too."

Cruz being a dick had not crossed my mind.

"Whatever. There isn't anything to tell. We didn't know who the other was when we made out. Now that we know, it's nothing more than an awkward situation that we've acknowledged and moved on from."

"I sure hope so."

"It is," I bluntly responded with finality.

I brushed past her, moving to my wall locker to pull out some shorts and a t-shirt.

"Are you going to Dalton's room?" I asked while undressing.

"Yeah. I'll meet you over there."

Throwing my shirt over my head and stepping into my sandals, I walked out of the room, leaving Angelica to stew over whatever it was that Jensen had said to her. By the sound of things, he had come across much worse than Cruz had with me. He was an intense man, so I had no doubt that whatever he said, and however he said it, it was surely meant to scare her into submission.

I could only hope that it would work.

Music playing, Mortal Kombat flashing on the TV screen, and about six other Marines hooting, hollering, and laughing was the scene that I walked into as I gently knocked and let myself into Dalton's barrack's room. He shared the room with another Private First Class from his Data class, and even though I didn't know the guy, he was friendly and welcomed me into the room while shoving a piece of pizza in my face.

"We've been waiting on you," Dalton yelled out, looking over his shoulder at me. That brief move caused him to lose focus on his game, and he lost with one quick move from his opponent.

He threw down the controller and hopped out of his chair.

"How are you?"

"I'm okay.

"Do you play? You want a turn?" he asked, grinning at me, obviously hoping I would take him up on the offer.

"No. I'm good. I came to watch."

"Alright. That's cool." He stopped and looked around the room. "Where is Ruiz?"

"She said she'd meet me here," I answered, shrugging my shoulders.

Dalton led me over to the TV area, moving one of the guys, and making room for me to sit down. The Mortal Kombat tournament was in full swing when one of the guys threw the controller to the ground and started shouting at the guy who had just beat him. I recognized him from our class--Private Allen.  He was a large, burly guy with light brown hair and matching eyes. Even with my height he towered over me, and had the bulging muscles to complete his overly large and intimidating frame.

"Fuck this game. Fuck this school. Fuck those shitty ass instructors," he yelled, making the rest of us turn and look at him. "What?" he asked, looking unaware that he had said anything wrong.

"Cut him off, Pete," Dalton called out, making me turn my head in his direction. He looked at me as if I should have been aware.

"Is he drunk?"

"Yeah. He's been mixing, but I think he may have gotten started before he even got here."

I nodded my head, knowing full well that alcohol consumption or possession in the barracks was definitely not allowed. Dalton's roommate, who I learned was, in fact, Pete, took Allen, sat him down on one of the beds, and put a large jug of water in his hands, helping him gulp it down. It looked almost comical to find this overly large man sitting on the bed, being nursed back to sobriety by such a small and nerdy looking guy.

I stopped focusing on them and went back to the Mortal Kombat tournament, rooting on Dalton before having the controller shoved into my hands. I never played video games as a kid. I never owned anything like that, so I felt a bit out of place with all of the video game aficionados knowing every move, trick, and cheat that there was. Dalton instructed me on what to do, and before long I was holding my own in the tournament.

"Let me take on the pretty little girl," a half sober Allen barked as he made his way back over to where we were. He snatched the controller from the guy I was playing against and sat down in one of the empty chairs. The sinister look in his light brown eyes sent chills down my spine, but I straightened up, not wanting to show him that he was making me completely uncomfortable.