“Vacuum packed,” Catie replied, which got everyone laughing.
“Then what would you call a Marine?”
“I would call a Marine whatever they told me to call them,” Catie said.
“Hey, she’s smarter than I thought,” the first-class cadet said.
“That was good,” Joanie said. “But, you know they’re going to keep riding you.”
“That’s what I would do in their place,” Catie said.
Chapter 8Finally, A Break
“Hey, we survived the Beast!” Joanie said as she and Catie made it to their room to pack for the weekend.
All the cadets got a two-day break between the first phase of Basic and the advanced training in Guatemala. They would get to spend the weekend with their families, or if their families lived too far away, their Academy family, locals who had offered to sponsor a cadet so they would be able to enjoy some family life during their years at the Academy.
“I’m looking forward to the break,” Catie said. “Are you staying in Delphi City?”
“Yes, I’ve been assigned to a family here,” Joanie said. “I hope they’re fun.”
“Hey, at least they won’t be yelling at you every minute.”
“That’s true. You know, I could sleep the whole two days.”
“Sounds nice,” Catie said as she checked to see who she’d been assigned to. To her amazement, she had been assigned Dr. Sharmila as her Academy family.
“Hey, ADI, is this right? Dr. Sharmila and the twins are going to be my Academy family?” Catie messaged ADI.
“Yes, Cer Catie. She and your father discussed it and felt that the risk was minimal. Your mother and father wanted you to have someone familiar to spend the time with,” ADI replied.
“Alex, what’s up?” Joanie asked as Catie dropped out of their conversation.
“I was just checking out my Academy family. It’s a doctor, and she has two young daughters.”
“That might be fun. I’m packed, so I’m out of here!”
“See you Sunday night.”
“Definitely! Bye.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Hello,” Catie called out as she knocked on the door to Dr. Sharmila’s condo. She’d texted her as soon as she was packed and on her way out of the dorm.
“Catie!” she heard one of the twins squeal through the door.
“No! It’s Alex, dummy!” the other twin said.
“Oh right! Hey Alex!” Prisha and Aisha said as they opened the door.
“Hey you two. I’ve missed you!” Catie pulled them both into a hug.
“We’ve missed you too. You have to tell us all about the Academy!”
“Well, I don’t know that much about the Academy, but I do know a lot about basic training.”
“Like what?”
“Like you get yelled at a lot,” Catie said.
“Catie, come on in,” Dr. Sharmila said. “You’re staying in Aisha’s room. They sleep together most nights anyway,” Dr. Sharmila said from the kitchen. “Let me put this in the oven, then I’ll join you and the girls.”
Catie let the twins drag her to the other side of the condo, where their rooms were. “You’re in here,” Aisha said. “I cleaned it up for you.”
“That’s nice,” Catie said. “Don’t you normally clean it up?”
“Once in a while,” Prisha said. “But usually we’re too busy.”
“Doing what?”
“Going to school, studying, exercising!”
“Exercising?”
“Yeah, we have to stay in shape. Kal counts on us to do microgravity tag with his guys.”
“Has anyone caught you yet?”
“Nope!” they said. One of them did a backflip to demonstrate the type of exercises they did.
“Well, I’ve been doing lots of exercise at the Academy,” Catie said.
“What kinds of exercises?”
“Running, and this thing they call the Engine,” Catie said as she demonstrated the Engine for the girls.
“That looks easy!”
“Yes, but they want you to do it perfectly,” Catie said.
“Like this?” the twins said as they started doing the Engine.
“Oh, no! You can’t bend your arm toward your knee; they have to stay parallel to the ground. Nope, keep those arms perpendicular to your chest. Now, shoulders back,” Catie corrected.
“Really, I think I’m doing them right!”
“You might be, but I’m still going to yell at you and tell you to fix your form anyway.” Catie started laughing.
“Why?!”
“I think they do it so you learn how to perform under stress, but sometimes I think they just like to be mean.”
“Well, then I would just ignore them.”
“No, that would make them mad,” Catie said. “You have to make a little adjustment to let them know you heard them, or they’ll just keep yelling at you.”
“That doesn’t sound like fun!”
“It’s not really, but if you think about it like you’re performing in front of a big crowd and they’re yelling for you, it’s easier to take,” Catie said while thinking, “at least that’s what I told myself.”
Catie and the twins walked back into the family area of the condo.
“Catie, is it alright if your mother comes over?” Dr. Sharmila asked. “Since we’re colleagues, I don’t think anyone will take notice, and she would like to see you.”
“Of course, it’s alright,” Catie said. She wondered if her mother had cooled off from reading Sophia’s book.
“Good, she’ll be here in about an hour since she’ll be getting off from work soon.”
Catie and the twins spent the time playing a video game. Each of them had a Fox; it was supposed to be a free-for-all, but as usual, the twins joined forces and attacked the other player, Catie.
◆ ◆ ◆
“Girls, go do your homework,” Dr. Sharmila said when Linda messaged that she was on her way.
“We’re playing with Catie.”
“Her mother is on her way. So you need to go do homework so that Catie and her mother can spend some time together.”
“Are you in trouble?” the twins asked Catie.
“I hope not.”
“Girls!”
The twins got up and headed to Prisha’s room, moaning the whole way.
“Hi, Mommy,” Catie greeted her mother as she opened the door.
“Hi, Sweetie,” Linda said as she pulled Catie into a hug. “How is the Academy?”
“Hard.”
“Hard?”
“There’s always someone yelling at you,” Catie said. “It really wears on you.”
“I’m sure it would,” Linda said. “But as I recall, that gets better once classes start.”
“As you recall?”
“Yes, I was dating your father when Blake went to the Academy. He had a hard
