Alright, here's chapter one! Hope you like it! This whole story will be told from Nick's POV!

This Chapter is dedicated to meredithsays! You rock chica!

I was at school when I first head the news, the government was now allowing anyone thirteen and up to join the military. As soon as I found out, I really wanted to go help out the war in the Middle East. I had always been fascinated by anything military, and had contemplated joining up when I hit eighteen, but now I could join right away. My older brother Kevin had been in the military for two years. He hadn't chosen to go, he had been drafted, but still, he seemed to think it was a good experience, not fun, but he said it built character. My dad had died in the war when I was younger, and now I lived with my mom and my younger brother Frankie. I had another older brother, Joe, but after we lost dad, my mom couldn't raise us all, and Joe was too much of a handful as it was, so he lived with my aunt Kelly.

It was only 10:00 AM, and school ended at 3:00 PM, so I had all day to decide if this was what I really wanted to do. I heard a few upperclassmen discussing it, but it seemed like I was the only freshman considering joining up as of now. By the time final bell rang, I had my heart set on going overseas. I lived in a small town barely anyone had heard of called Wyckoff. In our town everyone knew everyone and news spread fast. Here we didn't lock our doors, because crime just wasn't a factor for us. In such a small town it didn't seem like the war had an effect on us, but the truth was, if we failed over there, we would be invaded here.

I walked into my house and tossed my backpack down on the floor. "mom!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.

"I'm right in here Nicholas!" she replied from the living room. She was sitting in our overstuffed armchair watching Frankie play videogames. Our house was poorly decorated with mis-matched furniture, but it felt like home.

"Mom," I said in as serious of voice as I could muster, "I was to join the army." She turned to look at me, studying me closely. I don't remember much of what she was like before dad died, but she seemed to get more stressed as the years passed. It had become increasingly harder for her to support the family, as of now we were just getting by. She had brown hair that was streaked with grew, and light brown eyes lined with stress. People say I look like her, but I think they're wrong. I may have the same brown curls, but I have deep brown eyes, and there was one big factor that set us apart. I still looked young and carefree, like life was treating me well. She on the other hand, looked like she had seen all the sides of life, good and bad. It was obvious she had gone through hardships, like losing the man she loved most, then having to give up her son, because she couldn't handle it all, and that set us far apart.

"you want to what?" She asked, making sure she heard correctly.

"Join the army and go over to Iraq and the middle east." I said, elaborating on my earlier statement. She looked into my eyes for a minute, as though trying to read my mind.

"No, you need to stay in school, and you're too young for me to send you to war!" she said with finality.

I wanted to stop my feet, yell and have a hissy fit like I did when I was younger, but I knew that would kill my chances before I even got a chance to argue. "Mom, the government will take care of anyone who join's schooling for free, so I won't fall behind, I'll just be fighting for my country when I have spare time." I replied.

She continued to stare at me and I started to get uncomfortable. "I can't send a fifteen year old over to get himself killed!" She tried to reason.

"Look, they need anyone they can get over there, and I'll be taken care of. If you take this opportunity away from me, I'll never forgive you. I want to follow in dad's footsteps!" At my last words the fight seemed to drain out of her right before my eyes. She actually appeared to grow older and more tired in a span of a few seconds, and I seriously regretted being so harsh and adding that last line.

"How do we get you signed up?" she asked me.

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