"How the hell did you get here before us?" the short teen asked.

"Guess we work better as a team," Grace said.

"You cheated," Sally accused, slamming her fists on her hips. "You had to."

"Right," Jan scoffed. "We cheated with Scary watching us the entire time. Get a life, Dawson."

Grace spotted Instructor Gage heading their way. "You'd better walk away, Dawson."

"Fuck you, Waters," Sally said, completely unaware of Gage's approach. "Either you guys cheated or that fucking bitch made your course easier than ours."

"Ten hut!" It took all of Grace's strength not to smirk at the shocked look on Dawson's face. "Is there a problem here, Dawson?"

"No problem, ma'am."

"Really? Well, why don't we just go see if Instructor Carey thinks there might be a problem with the way you like to disrespect her." Gage took hold of Dawson's arm. "Let's go."

Jan waited until Gage and Dawson were out of earshot before speaking. "Bye Toadie. Have fun."

"Make sure you tell Carey how you think she helped her squad cheat to win," Grace added. She nudged Jan with her elbow. "Here comes Delta."

"And Charlie," Latisha said, pointing at the trail where Instructor Mitchell appeared. "Guess our break is over."

"Oh well," Grace said, rising to her feet. "Guess we'll go find out when we're going to get our ice cream."

"As soon as Scary's through with Toadie," Jan said, standing up at the same time Latisha did.

"Serves Dawson right," Grace said. "She shouldn't have accused Carey of cheating." The trio began walking over to where another cluster of Bravo Squad teens was standing.

"All right, girls, line up with your squad," Instructor Gage said, a folded-up piece of paper in her hand. Grace took position where she could keep an eye on Dawson's continued berating by Carey. The petite woman began pacing back and forth in front of the squads. "The race for the flags was won by Bravo Squad. The water barrel, Bravo." She looked down at the paper. "Log pile by Alpha and the cargo net was won by Delta Squad."

"Thanks, Waters," Mo mumbled from behind Grace.

"Charlie Squad took the belly crawl and Bravo won the dead heat," Gage continued as Dawson rejoined her squad. "Overall winner is Bravo Squad. Congratulations."

Jan nudged Grace with her elbow. "So where's the ice cream?" she whispered.

"All right, girls," Instructor Gage said. "We're going to give you the rest of PT to get yourselves cleaned up and ready for the rest of the day. Dismissed." Dirty, dusty, and tired girls began tramping down the hill toward the barracks.

"Go on ahead," Grace said to Jan. "I'll catch you at lunch."

"Okay." Jan bumped against Latisha. "So, which flavor?" she asked as they walked away.

Seeing Carey speaking with Instructor Mitchell, Grace waited near the edge of the clearing. The two women spoke at length, making the teen wonder if she should wait until later to ask, but then Carey looked over, spotted her, and held up one finger to indicate Grace should wait.

The instructors exchanged a few more words, then walked over to where she was standing.

"Yes?" Carey asked as Instructor Mitchell kept walking down the trail.

"What do I do about my shirt, ma'am?" Grace asked.

"You waited to ask me that?" She put her hand on Grace's shoulder and pointed her in the direction of the trail. "I don't think it's bad enough to warrant a new shirt, but it does need to be patched," she said as she removed her hand and they began walking. "I have some camouflage patches in my sewing kit."

Grace fingered the button dangling by a thread. "I gotta fix this too.


ma'am."

"Actually I see at least three buttons that could use some tightening up," Carey said. "Remind me tonight and I'll take care of it."

"I know how to use a needle and thread," Grace said. "Ma'am."

"Glad to hear it," Carey said. "However, a needle falls under the same rules as razors and there's nothing more boring than sitting there watching someone sew. I'd rather do it myself." She snapped her fingers. "Oh wait. I'm pulling night tour so I won't be back until after nine."

"I won't do anything with the needle but fix my shirt, ma'am."

"I'd love to say yes but I can't," Carey said. "You won't need your BDU shirt tomorrow anyway so it can wait."

"Okay."

Carey stopped. "Three...two...

"Ma'am," Grace said quickly.

"You're lucky I'm in a good mood today," Carey said as she resumed walking.

"Would you have really dropped me, ma'am?"

"What do you think?"

"Um...out here by ourselves?" Grace shook her head. "I think you'd take pity on me after all the hard work I did on that obstacle course, ma'am."

"Maybe," Carey said. "And maybe I've been getting soft when it comes to you. Just keep an eye on it, Grace. I don't need any instructors telling me I'm letting you get away with something or playing favorites." The trail emptied out near the administration building. "I've got to get some paperwork done before afternoon classes. I'll see you in class."

"Yes, ma'am."

Though lights out was almost an hour before, Grace was still awake and sitting on the couch when Carey came in. "Hi."

"You should be sleeping," Carey said, kneeling to untie her boots. “Then again, why should tonight be any different from every other night I work late duty.”

"Everything okay?" Grace asked. "You're not usually this late."

"I had to catch up on some paperwork in the office," Carey said, setting her boots neatly by the door and heading to her favorite chair. "You girls are going to get a break tomorrow. I'm too tired to write up the test I was planning for SR."

"Cool."

"Don't get too excited," Carey said. "You're only going to get a day's reprieve." She rubbed her face and yawned. "Maybe two."

"Why did you have to work morning PT and the late shift?" Grace asked.

"All four instructors worked morning PT," Carey said. "Two of us still had to cover from dinner to lights out and it happened to be my turn."

"And you're doing PT tomorrow, right?"

"Uh-huh. We're going for a nice long run. Excuse me." Carey covered her mouth as another yawn hit.

"You should go to sleep."

"I am," Carey said. "Right now. Lie down. I'll get the lights."

"Okay, thanks," Grace said, slipping between the covers. "Good night, ma'am."

"Good night, Grace."

"Um..."

"What?" Carey said.

"When you say a nice long run, you mean three miles, right?"

Carey chuckled and made her way through the dark to her bedroom door. "Good night, Grace."

"You know you have an evil laugh, Instructor Carey?"

"Do I? Good. Save your strength for tomorrow. You'll need it."

"All right, girls, enough chatter," Instructor Donaldson said, causing them to come to attention. "You've had a month of three-mile runs. Those days are over!" Blue eyes darted from girl to girl. "You have grown both in body and spirit. I know you can do five miles." Several groans went up from the group. "And after everyone does twenty and stretches we'll get started."

Instructor Carey stepped forward, her eyes hidden behind mirrored glasses. "Now drop!"

Oh sure, Grace thought as she hit the ground. Not bad enough we have to run five miles, let's wear our arms out first.

Since Grace ran faster than Latisha and Jan, they quickly became separated as the line moved up the slight incline. She paid little attention to those behind her, concentrating instead on the tall figure in camouflage leading the pack. Oh sure, it's easy for you. You didn't have to do pushups first. She passed the three-mile mark, the crystal blue lake taunting her as sweat rolled down her face. Two more miles to go. I'll never make it.

Reaching the finish mark, Grace slowed down, then walked around to cool down as the other girls began trickling in. Bit by bit, everyone crossed the mark but one who was still out of sight. "It's Jennings again," Latisha said. "That fat ass ain't gonna make it."

"She's still at least ten minutes away," Grace said, looking down the road and seeing no one.

"Yeah, and every fucking minute we have to wait here is that much less we have once we get back to barracks," one of the girls standing near her said.

Grace turned to face her. "You try running five miles with an extra forty pounds strapped to your ass and see how easy it is, Rosetti."

"Suck my left tit, Waters."

"You gotta get Grenner to let go of it first," she said.

"Are you kidding?" Rosetti snorted. "I'd become an Amazon and cut it off before I'd let her near me. Besides, I'm not into dykes."

"Amen to that," Latisha said.

"I'm going.to go see where she is," Grace said, kneeling down and making sure her laces were tied securely.

"Why bother?" Jan said from her position lying on the ground. "Save your energy. Donaldson will get her here sooner or later."

"Yeah, well..." Grace began running down the trail, finding Jennings half a mile down the road with Instructor Donaldson barking at her heels.

"Hey...Grace," Jennings huffed. "What are you...doing here?"

"Thought you might want some company," Grace said. "The finish line is just over that hill." She ran alongside the overweight girl, slowing her pace to match.

"Let's go, Jennings," the blonde instructor said. "Waters, five miles isn't enough?"

"Just giving Christine a hand, ma'am," Grace said. "Come on, it's just a little more."