Read Online Battle Dress by Amy Efaw - Free Book Online

female’s roommate never showed.” He thumped Cadet Daily on the back. “So, Dude, you have the only females in the platoon. Here’s your opportunity to excel, my man!”
    I bit the inside of my lip. That’s it? Just two girls in the entire platoon? Just me and her? After Cadet Daily released us back to our rooms, the first thing Gabrielle did was make her bed. Flawlessly. Then she helped me with mine. “My brother graduated from the Naval Academy two years ago,” she said as we crammed my black-and-white-striped mattress into a white mattress cover. “He taught me how to do all this stuff.” We heaved the mattress back onto the springs and sat down on the bed to rest. “He just made first lieutenant in the Marines.”
    I ran my hand along the metal footboard of my bed. I could sense her looking at me, waiting for a response, but I didn’t have one. I had no idea what a “first lieutenant” was.
    “That’s a pretty high rank, you know.” She grabbed my pillow and shoved it into a pillowcase. “He told me, ‘Gab, keep a sense of humor. It’s all a game. Play it the best you can.’” She tossed the pillow on my chair. “I don’t know about you, but I’ve seen nothing, absolutely nothing funny about this place.” She untied, then retied her shoe. “All day, all I could think of was my mom and dad.” She turned to look at me. “You know what they said to me, right before I left? ‘You can always come home, you know!’”
    I smiled. “That’s exactly what my brother said to me, but he didn’t really mean it.” Oh, that sounds really pathetic. “I mean, he knows I could never do that. You know, go back home.” Okay, you can stop now. You’ve said enough. Because I knew myself. If I said one thing more, I’d blurt out my whole life’s story, tainting myself forever in her eyes like I’d been tainted in everyone’s eyes at school. This is a new place with new people. I wanted her to like me. I didn’t want her—or anyone—to know what I had left back home.
    So I shut my mouth and let her do the talking.
    Luckily, Gabrielle was very good at talking, and since she was so engrossed in her own story, I didn’t think she’d heard a word I’d said anyway. “They really didn’t want me to come here. Oh, they never actually came out and said it or anything. But I could just tell.” She shrugged. “I guess they were a little disappointed I didn’t decide on Penn. They’ve had this huge college fund set up for me for years.” She walked over to her desk and stood on tiptoes to pull the B.A.G. — Barracks Arrangement Guide —off her bookshelf. She leafed through it and said more to herself than to me, “Yeah. And today I almost took them up on it.”
    I was glad she hadn’t. That would’ve left me the only female in the platoon.
    We both stuffed a barracks bag with three sets of Gym Alpha—West Point’s P.T. uniform of gray T-shirts and long black shorts—socks, a swimming suit, towel, and running shoes. We were just about to ping down the hall to the bathroom to arrange our athletic lockers when someone’s fist hammered on our door three loud times.
    “Enter, sir!” we yelled, and stood in the position of attention, dropping our bags at our feet.
    The door flew open and Cadet Daily stomped inside.
    “WHAT HAVE YOU LADIES BEEN DOING FOR THE PAST HOUR?” he roared, taking the room in with one ferocious glance. Army equipment still littered the floor. Underwear, socks, undershirts, and toiletries were piled all over the place. “WHAT DO YOU THINK THIS IS, A SIX-WEEK SLUMBER PARTY?” He disappeared and returned seconds later, dragging New Cadet Ping with him. “It is now 2145,” Cadet Daily said, looking at his watch. “That gives you exactly fifteen minutes till Lights Out. This room better be squared away by then, Boneheads.” After he was gone, his voice drifted in from the hallway: “And leave the door open ninety degrees when a male is in the room, Davis. I’m keeping