Disclaimer: I own no one (except Charlie)
Chapter 1
Deep breath. Breathe now Charlie. It's going to work. It will work.
Charolette (Charlie) Harper stood in line, waiting to try to enlist in the army. She wanted to follow in her hero's footsteps: her brother. He had died fighting and Charlie wanted to continue fighting for him.
As she stood in line, she checked her hat to make sure her strawberry blonde hair was tucked in it.
She was nervous, but she was pretty sure her plan would work. She was tall for her age and was told she looked 18 years old though she was only 16. Her name also worked. Almost everyone knew her as Charlie instead of Charolette. She also knew how to use a gun since her father took her out hunting sometimes.
She wasn't like other girls she knew. Instead of shopping and gossiping about boys, Charlie preffered to go hiking, fishing, and playing sports with other boys.
Waiting her turn, she heard the enlister talking to the boy two in front of her.
"Are you sure you're 18?"
"Why, do I look older?"
She recognized the voice at once. It was Edmund Pevensie, one of her best friends. She had had a huge crush on him since she first met him years ago. But she had convinced herself that he would never like her that way and would only ever see as his best girl friend.
Right after Edmund spoke, she heard girl, who she recognized as Edmund's little sister Lucy, speak.
"Edmund, you're supposed to be helping me with the groceries."
The truth came out.
"Better luck next time, eh squirt?" an older boy teased, ruffling his hair as Edmund walked away.
Charlie felt so bad for Edmund. He was no "squirt." He had really grown over the past few years; in more ways than one. He wasn't a "squirt." If anything, he was an adult in a teenagers body.
While she was thinking about Edmund, the boy in front of her had been quickly checked in, and it was her turn.
"Name?" the enlister asked.
"Charlie Harper," she told him, lowering her voice.
She didn't know it but, since he and Lucy hadn't left yet, Edmund had heard her and turned around.
The enlister must've believed her fake voice because he continued the questioning.
"Age?"
"18." She said this without hesitation so he wouldn't get suspicious.
"Any experience with shooting a gun?"
"Yes."
"Any medical concerns?"
"No."
He looked her over. Charlie's heart was pounding so hard she wouldn't have been surprised if the last person in line could hear it.
Finally he spoke, "Alright. Go back and get fitted for your uniform."
"Thank you, sir," Charlie repeated, trying to keep her excitement down.
When she walked away, she didn't notice that one board was slightly raised , and she tripped over it and fell.
When she fell, she immediately put her hand to her heard to feel for her hat. She didn't feel the courdaroy hat, but her/ She saw that her hat had fallen and off, and had landed in front of her. All of her hair had fallen out, and everyone saw.
"Young lady, you're not supposed to be here," the enlister told her sternly.
She grabbed her hat and stood up.
She started yelling, "Why does it matter if I'm a girl? Gender? Age? It shouldn't matter as long as you're willing to fight!"
"Miss," the enlister continued, "you need to leave. Now!" She started to walk away and he called to her, "And start acting like a proper young lady!"
She started walking a little faster with some tears forming in her eyes.
She looked up and stopped when she saw that Edmund was still there. She was even more humiliated knowing that he had seen what had happened.
He looked like he was about to say something. But before he could, she ran past him and Lucy, not wanting to talk or hear what he had to say.
Edmund watched her run off, wanting to comfort his friend.
"A friend of yours squirt?" the boy who had mocked him earlier teased again.
After that, he and Lucy walked out and Edmund helped her tie the groceries to their bicycles.
"Squirt? I'm a king!" Edmund argued.
"Not in this world," Lucy replied.
He sighed and said, "I know."
He'd been trying to watch his attitude towards people. He didn't want to be like his brother Peter had been one year before.
On the way home, Edmund and Lucy were talking.
"Can you believe that Charlie tried to do that?" Lucy asked him.
"I can actually," Edmund replied. "It's just the kind of thing she would do. I just can't believe she almost got away with it. I never took her for an actress." They both laughed.
"She looked so devastated when she was found out," Lucy stated.
"Yeah. She was," Edmund replied, remembering her running past them, on the verge of crying. "I just wish I had been able to talk to her and comfort her."
"Yeah, I'm sure you could," Lucy said to him with a smug smile on her face.
He looked after at her and saw that she still had on that smile.
"What?" he asked.
"Nothing," she replied, facing forward.
"What?" he pressed even more.
'Nothing," she told him. "I just think you ought to tell her."
"Tell her what?" Edmund asked.
"Oh, Edmund," was all Lucy said, moving ahead.
"Tell her what?" Edmund questioned again; even though he knew exactly what she was talking about.
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