"Almost there," Mo yelled. The squad moved faster, hoping each time a bucket was dumped that the water would be high enough to start coming out the hole.

"Get ready to fill your canteens," Grace said, reaching between bucket passes to loosen her belt.

"Clear!"

"Let's go," Jan said, the girls dropped the buckets and raced for the barrel. Water sloshed about as they pushed the canteens underwater and waited for the air bubbles to stop.

"Watch it," Latisha said when someone splashed water on her.

"Don't worry about it," Grace said, bracing her hands on the side of the barrel as the last canteen was filled. "It's so hot you'll dry in no time." Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and dunked her head. Oh that's cold, she thought, staying underwater for several seconds before standing up. "That felt good," she said, running her fingers through her wet blonde hair. She happily let the excess run down her back, soaking her shirt and pants.

"Come on, Grace, let's go," Jan said, waiting for her at the edge of the clearing near the trail.

''I'm coming," she said, running to catch up to the others.

The first obstacle was a pile of logs placed across the trail. It barely slowed them down and soon they were upon the second, and much more challenging, barrier. The squad stopped, unsure of what to do. "How the hell are we supposed to get past this?" Grace asked, staring warily at the wall made of cargo netting.

"Guess we climb," Jan said, grabbing hold and putting her foot on the bottom rung. As soon as she took her weight off the ground, the loose netting began to sway, taking her off balance. "Oh, no way." She jumped off and stood aside as Latisha tried with the same results.

"We have to keep the ropes from moving," Grace said, checking the slack in the netting. "If two of us hold it still, everyone else should be able to go up and over."

"And then what?" Rosetti said. "How are those two gonna get over?"

"Two of the people that make it over hold the net on the other side for them," Grace said.

"Well let's do something," Thompson said. "We're wasting time standing around here."

"Let's go," Grace said, tugging on the cargo netting. Rosetti grabbed the other side, creating the tension needed. There was enough room for two girls to go up at the same time, finding it much easier when the cargo netting didn't move around.

"Go, go," Jan urged, hooking her foot in the net when the first pair was halfway up. "You know they're doing this just to torment us."

"Watch, we'll probably lose by a couple of seconds," Grace said as Jan and Thompson began climbing. Looking further up the trail, she spotted the dark-haired figure leaning against a tree. Brown eyes met her; and Grace swore she saw the barest of smiles directed at her before Carey looked away. "Come on, let's go," she said to her teammates, hoping to raise their enthusiasm. Finally it was she and Rosetti left to conquer the netting. I can do this, she told herself as she grabbed hold. Just don't look down. "You'd better hold it tight, Jan."

"Don't worry, Maribel and I got it," Jan said. "Now climb."

Easy for you to say, she thought as she began to climb. Rosetti was faster than her, over the top and starting to come down the other side by the time Grace was halfway up. Gripping tightly with her hands, she moved her foot and pushed up. The wooden bar that marked the top of the netting wall was getting closer, which meant the ground was getting further away. Don't think about it, just keep climbing.

"Hurry up, Grace," Latisha yelled. "We're losing time."

Grace made the mistake of glancing down at her friend. Oh God, this is really high up. Just keep looking at the bar, she thought, forcing herself to look up. Still, the fear of falling from such a height was too much for her to take a chance, and she continued her slow pace until her hand touched wood. Made it.

“Okay, now-just roll over the bar and scramble down this side," Jan encouraged.

"Come on, Waters, move your ass."

"Bite me, Lopez," Grace snapped, leaning her upper torso over the bar. "I'm working on it." Don't look down. Don't look down. On three just roll over the bar and start going down. One, two...three. Closing her eyes, Grace pushed herself the rest of the way over the bar, then dropped to the ground several feet below, rolling as she landed.

"Jesus, Waters," Rosetti said. "You sure took fucking long enough." Grace stood up, twisting her arm to see the tear in the camouflage shirt and the abrasion on her elbow. "We'd better win," Rosetti said as they headed up the trail. "Or I'll kick your ass."

"Get in line," Grace said, unsnapping the canteen from her belt. "I don't hear them yelling, so it looks like we're running for a while." Grace took several swallows, letting some run down her face and soak her shirt.

"Hey, I hear something," Rosetti said.

"It's them," Grace said. "I hope this is the last obstacle."

"Why? Then we have the dead run to the finish," Rosetti said.

"It's better than climbing that net back there or crawling over logs."

Grace spotted the rest of the squad as soon as they crested the hill.

"Hurry up," Latisha said as the pair approached, the rest of the squad busily scrambling beneath netting staked a few inches off the ground. "Watch your canteens. Everyone's getting stuck by them."

"No problem," Grace said, unsnapping her canteen. "I'll carry it."

She dove to the ground, wiggling her head and arms beneath the netting. I'll bet this one was Carey's idea, she thought as she used her elbows and feet to push herself along. Did it ever occur to them that all this crawling around is going to ruin our clothes? She's gonna kill me already for tearing out the elbow of my camo shirt. She quickly felt to make sure the


loose button was still attached. I'll probably lose that too before this is over. It was slow going but much easier than scaling a rope wall, and soon the trio was on the way with the rest of the squad toward the finish line. Unfortunately the finish line was two miles further down the trail, and not one canteen had water in it by the time they spotted the finish line.

The squeals were loud as Bravo Squad realized they were the first to arrive. "Line up and show me those flags," Carey said, standing just beyond the finish line. "Good job," she said, blowing the whistle and pressing the button on her stopwatch. "Congratulations."

The teens yelped and gave each other high fives, talking excitedly amongst themselves. Grace walked over to Carey. "So now we get ice cream, right ma'am?"

"Yes, you do," Carey said, looking at her. "Your shirt is filthy, not to mention the rest of you."

Grace smiled. "That's what happens when I have to crawl around on my belly, ma'am."

Carey grabbed hold of the teen's arm. "Nice scrape. Any water left in your canteen?"

"No, ma'am."

Carey unhooked her own canteen. "Take that filthy thing off," she


said, unscrewing the plastic cap. "All right, hold your arm out."

"It's not that bad," Grace said, then remembered and added, "Ma'am."

"Good catch," Carey said, giving the teen a knowing smile as she used one hand to hold Grace's arm still and the other to rinse out the abrasion. "What happened to you at the second obstacle?"

"I was holding the net for everyone else, that's why I was last, ma'am," Grace said.

"I watched you," Carey said.

Grace looked at the ground. "I don't like climbing things, ma'am."

"What I saw wasn't a question of like and dislike," Carey said, letting go of the teen's arm and tightening the cap on her canteen. "You were scared."

"I'm afraid of heights," Grace admitted. "That's why I wouldn't go on that rope at the lake, ma'am."

Carey clapped her on the shoulder. "We'll work on that. In the meantime, pass the word I don't want any gloating winners. The others are going to be here any minute and I better not see any taunting or chest thumping, got it?"

"Yes, ma'am. I’ll tell everyone."

"Twenty pushups if I see anything remotely like that," Carey said.

"Yes, ma'am." Grace walked over to where her friends were standing.

"Hey," Jan said. "I didn't see you drop but I bet Scary was pissed that you tore your shirt, huh?"

"Naw, she didn't seem pissed to me," Grace said, buttoning her shirt.

"She did say we'd better be cool around the others when they come in. Said she'd drop us for twenty if anyone razzes them about losing."

"But that's the fun of winning," Latisha protested. "So when do we get the ice cream?"

"Dunno," Grace said. "Hey, I hear them coming. I'd better tell the others to watch what they say." Instructor Gage entered the clearing and walked over to where Carey was standing. Grace warned the others, then joined Jan and Latisha to await Alpha Squad's imminent arrival. As expected, Lauren Grenner and the others were unhappy to see Bravo Squad standing around. “Poor baby," Grace whispered to Jan.

"Yeah, all that work for nothing," Jan whispered back. "Can you imagine that fat ass getting up over the cargo net?"

"Probably had the rest of them pushing from below," Latisha chimed in.

"Hey, keep an eye out for the Goon Squad," Jan said. "I don't want to get dropped for twenty."

"Hell yeah," Grace said. "Especially for picking on Grenner."

"Oh look, here comes the toadie," Jan said as Sally Dawson walked over to them. "You need something, Toadie?"