CARTER'S RECRUITER: OUR LITTLE SECRET
Carter is contemplating joining the military right out of high school. Take a stab at who her recruiter is.
Samantha Carter and Janet Frasier were happily skipping down the halls of their school.
"Senior year! Can you believe it? Janet asked, linking arms with her best friend in the whole wide world.
"No, it went by so fast."
"And your still the awkward blonde with no life."
"I like to read, alright?"
"And stay home and do nothing all day?"
"I don't do nothing, Janet" Sam started and glanced at the shorter girl. She meant to say more but the bell rang. Janet unlinked her arms with Sam.
"I'll see you at lunch." Janet said.
Sam stood rooted to her place when she found the annoying kid Makepeace laughing at her. She shook her head and went to chemistry.
Her classes between her first hour and lunch were boring and easy, but would make the average mind explode. Chemistry, Astronomy, Intro to Astrophysics. Finally the bell for lunch rang and she made her way to meet Janet at the table they usually sat at, only to see her talking to a few recruiters for the marine corps. She was flirting with them big time.
She shook her head at her friend and proceeded to walk down the stairs. Her large pile of books in her hands threatening to spill over when Makepeace pushed them down. "Better luck next time, nerd." Sam only stared at him. She had nothing to say but her jaw was set defiantly on her face.
"What going to get dad to come and kill me!" Makepeace pushed everyone out of his way to get to the desk of the Marine corps recruiters, sparing glances in Janet's direction, who had yet to notice that Sam hand entered the room.
"I can fight my own battles." She mumbled under her breath, as she picked up her books, pushed her glasses up her nose, and walked less then gracefully down the stairs, taking a firm grip of the railing leading down the stairs.
Then she noticed an older man sitting lazily on his seat with his cap pulled over his face and feet propped up on the table. He was in blue fatigues and he had a lean and toned figure. But Sam couldn't see his face. There was no one by his table, which read 'Air Force', they were all gathered around the Marine Corps table, watching the recruiters do pushups and pull ups, but the lanky man didn't seem to care. He just sat, seemingly fast asleep.
One of the marines called out to him, "Hey flyboy! Where are your recruits?" taunting him.
'No wonder Makepeace wants to be a marine. His mannerism are already half way there.' Sam thought. 'Arg. I don't know what Janet see's in him.'
The older man had pushed his cap up his head.
"Only the best and brightest join the Air Force, Jarhead."
The marine shut up real good and turned back to his recruits, but still glaring at the Air Force officer out of the corner of his eye.
Sam smiled at the ground but had noticed out of her peripheral vision that he had sat up straight and taken his cap off. He had dark brown eyes with brown hair slightly graying to match. She thought that he was the most handsome man she had ever seen. But then again looking at the ground while walking means she doesn't see much.
He caught her stressed smile.
"Something I can do for you, Superstar?" He asked casually.
Sam furrowed her eyebrows and thought about talking to the guy. He waved a finger over to her, indicating for her to come to him.
"I saw what happened on those stairs."
She looked surprised. Sam felt her heart skip a beat. "Oh. That was nothing."
"That don't look like nothing to me."
She closed her eyes and tugged at her scarf. "Makepeace."
"What?"
"Makepeace. His first name is Jason. But he goes by his last name. Makepeace."
"He wouldn't make it in the Air Force." He looked down at the table and leaned forward. He pointed his finger at Sam and she pushed her glasses up her nose. "But you might."
For once, Sam looked up at his face and bore into his eyes. "What makes you say that?"
He looked at her books and indicated for her to give them to him. She place them on the table and he looked at them. "Above the Sky; Intro to Astronomy," he read the title of one of her books, "Quantum forces; an Intro to Quantum Physics," he read again, Sam cast her eyes to the ground and nodded. "Well, your certainly smart enough. Have you ever really considered the Air Force?" He sat back and looked at her face which was still thrown to the ground. "I won't get mad if you say no. Promise." He said.
Sam violently shook her head. "I'm sorry, I just get nervous in front of people." She smiled awkwardly and shook her head, gripping her hair for dear life and wondering if she had said too much. "Yes, Sir. I have. I just don't know if I can do it."
"You called me, 'Sir'." He stated. He narrowed his eyes at her, wanting more answers.
Now Sam had been found out. "Well that's what they call you, isn't it? Because you're a captain?" Now she was really nervous.
"I am, but here's one question for you, how did you know that?" He asked knowingly. Sam scrunched her face up in frustration and leaned in to him.
"What you going to do now, Girl? Kiss him?" Everyone laughed, except him. Who took one glance at the kid they called Makepeace, and then looked back at the girl in front of him.
"The truth is, Sir, I have thought about it and I don't know if I have what it takes but that's not the whole story. What I really want to do is get into the Academy in Washington. But I want to do it on my own merits."
"Meaning?" He prompted.
"Have you heard of General Jacob Carter, Sir?"
He nodded. "I am his daughter. I don't want him pulling strings for me to get in." She stood back up and waited for his response.
"Your his daughter?" He asked exasperatedly.
"Don't tell anyone."
"It will be our little secret."
She nodded and laughed a little bit throwing her head back and sticking out her tongue. He reminded him of a little girl. "Well it's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Carter."
"Sam." She smiled.
"Sam." He smiled back.
Janet pulled her friend by the arm to get away from the mesmerizing recruiter with a goofy grin on her face. "Did you kiss the marine or are my eyes playing tricks on me, Janet?" Sam asked.
Janet let out a giggle and covered her mouth. "I am not laughing because I was flirting Sam. I was laughing because of you!"
"Me?" she asked surprised, "What did I do?"
Janet pulled her friend into a dark corner close to the man that had turned her best friend into a giddy schoolgirl. "You like older men!" She smiled.
Sam's face fell and she blushed a bright shade of scarlet. "Do not."
"Whatever. You're in denial." her friend continued laughing and Sam ran away from the Cafeteria and into the Library as fast as she could, without looking at the strange man dressed in blue.
-
Before she knew it, school was over. Sam slumped back to the Cafeteria to sit at one of the abandoned tables. She brought out a pen and a piece of paper and began writing her first paper of the semester for English.
"Hey there, Superstar." It was the strange man from earlier.
"Hey there." She blushed.
"Is this seat taken by anyone?" He asked indicating to the bench directly in front of her.
"Yeah, by you." She smiled teasingly.
He sat less down at her table and made a huge dragging noise in doing so, but then noticed red puffy eyes from Sam and the smile that had been plastered on his face, had been turned upside down.
"Something wrong, Superstar?" He asked.
She shook her head. "It's nothing really." She looked downward.
Then he bowed down to the ground. "Look I may not know you too well, but you're the daughter of a United States Air Force General. You don't strike me as the type to cry over nothing."
"Who said I was crying?" The girls defenses coming up.
The strange man decided not to listen to that. "Tell me, what's going on."
Then her eyes started tearing up. She wiped them away hastily before she completely embarrassed herself. "That kid, Makepeace. He tried to take by books off of me and threatened to burn them over the Bunsen burner. Then I walked into the Library and he was there again telling me I wasn't good enough for the military and that I should quit while I am ahead. Then he made up some story that went all over the school saying that I slept with my friend Daniel!"
He looked over at either side of himself to see if anyone was coming and whispered, "We have a name for those kind of people in the military."
She looked up at him, "What?"
"Marines." He said quite seriously.
She scoffed at him and turned her gaze briefly at the wall that was by her. "Oh, not all marines are bad."
"No, they aren't. And not all Air Force officers are good. But if you tell anyone I said so, I'll deny it."
Sam pantomimed locking her lips and throwing away the key. "It will be our little secret." She said.
A moment of silence passed between them. Sam had forgotten all about her homework. Then he said, "So General Carter's Kid?" He asked, changing the topic in an attempt to cheer her up.
"Yeah." She replied shyly.
"What's that like?"
"He's tough on me and my brother but he knows what's best, I s'pose. He had us remember the insignia of all the ranks. That's how I could tell that you were a Captain. He taught us some hand to hand combat training too." She said proudly. "Makepeace still thinks I am weak though, despite the fact that he doesn't know that my dad's in the Air Force." She added, crestfallen.
The stranger looked confused. "But he said when you were on the stairs that your dad would come and get you if you are in trouble. Wouldn't he be scared?"
Sam sighed. "Dad comes in often because that's who I go running to when I need help. He thinks I am a wimp."
The stranger in blue had had enough of this Makepeace person. The fact that he would pick on a girl like Sam said a lot about his character. Sly, Immature and classless among other things that he wasn't going to think about. "Officially, I can't do this. If your dad asks, just say I'm your recruiter looking for a spunky young space-buff." He winked at her and she felt herself blush. He took out a small white card and a pen, a lopsided smile forming on his face. Sam saw that he was scribbling numbers down. "I know you don't think that you have what it takes, Superstar, but if that kid Makepeace decides to make war with you again, and you don't want your dad showing up at school, give me a call instead." He handed her a card with his cell phone number on it. "I'm not s'pose to give it out to anyone while I am on the job but for you, I think I'll make an exception." She smiled gratefully.
"Thank-you, Sir." She got up from her seat and gave him a warm hug. He was shocked, but kindly returned the gesture. She looked up at him with astonishment and realisation, "I'm sorry. I still don't know your name." She said.
"Call me Jack."
"Jack?" She cocked her head to the side.
"Okay, my real name is Johnathan. But don't tell anyone." He smiled again. "And don't tell dad that I called you Superstar."
"As long as you don't tell anyone that I hugged you." She said shyly.
He pantomimed sealing his mouth shut and throwing away the key, the same way that she had done earlier.
"It will be out little secret."