A/N: I'm not sure how many followers/fans I've lost due to the lack of updates for any of my stories… But for those of you who are still here and reading my fics, your loyalty will now be rewarded in the form of a new chapter :)

Chapter 4 (Megan's POV)

It's been a few weeks since we found out about Drake joining the Marines. He had his briefing session a couple of weeks ago. The time has gone so fast since we found out about all this.

It's now just 2 days before Drake leaves for his 13 week training course. We still haven't told Mom and Walter yet, but today's the day. The day went pretty quick, I went to school, Josh went to college and Drake went to the local pool to try and beat his current record for swimming a mile. I'm not quite sure exactly how fast it was but it made Josh gasp when Drake told him, so I assume it's very fast.

When I finished school, I went outside to find Drake sitting in the driver's side of his and Josh's shared red roadster, with the roof down, while Josh sat in the passenger's seat. Drake's hair was still a little damp from his swim, so I guess he came straight here afterwards, picking Josh up on the way.

I smiled slightly as they smiled back at me. Though their smiles were ones of worry, mine was simply trying to make them feel better. They were worried about telling Mom and Walter that Drake was joining the Marines. Drake had become a fearless soldier since the start of the year, yet he was still afraid of our Mom's anger, it made me giggle a little.

"What's so funny?" Josh asked me, quite confused, as I approached the car.

"Nothing." I replied, smiling to myself, throwing my backpack in the car and climbing in after it.

"Got any ideas on how to break this to Mom?" Drake jumped in, looking in his rear-view mirror as he started the car.

"Not really," I answered honestly, "leaving it till the last minute probably wasn't the best idea."

Drake just grumbled in response and drove away from the school.

"Not helping Megan!" Josh exclaimed, turning his body to face me from the front seat.

"Shut up boob!" I retorted.

"See this is why Drake didn't tell you about this before, because you're so childish and immature!" Josh shouted back at me.

"I don't see you helping the situation!" I screamed.

That was the last straw. Drake swerved the car onto the sidewalk with a thud and slammed his handbrake on. He quickly turned to face us in his seat and bellowed at the top of his lungs…

"BE QUIET! …BOTH OF YOU! …or I'll make you get out and walk!"

He'd never shouted like that before, it scared me a bit, and it nearly made Josh crap himself. His face was twisted into a look of pure rage and it was getting redder by the second.

"Neither of you are helping at all!" He shouted, a little less forcefully this time, but still with immense authority.

People who were passing by were looking at us but Drake didn't care. He was too furious with us to care. He turned back to face the front, putting his left hand on the steering wheel and his right hand on the handbrake.

"If you have nothing constructive to say, don't say it at all… Both of you!" he said quietly but angrily, as he pulled out, back into the road.

The remainder of the journey home was in silence. Drake didn't even put the radio on… he was seriously pissed off. I just sat with my chin on the edge of the door and watched the traffic pass on the opposite side of the road. Josh did the same; leaning on the door with his elbow and leaning his chin on is hand.

When we eventually got home, Drake quickly got out of the car and headed towards the house while Josh and I gathered our stuff. We watched him open the door and head towards the kitchen, before the door slammed, blocking our view. We looked at each other before Josh broke the silence.

"I'm sorry for calling you childish and immature Megs." Josh said sorrowfully.

"I'm sorry for being irritating." I replied.

We both smiled at each other. I like to think that, in the days since we found out about Drake leaving, both Josh and I had grown up a little bit. We both realized that this was a serious situation, and that being childish wasn't going to help at all.

"Hug?" Josh asked grinning.

"Don't push it Josh!" I said raising my eyebrows and pointing my finger at him.

"Sorry." He said, clearing his throat and trying to act all manly.

We walked into the house side by side as Drake came out the kitchen drinking orange juice out of the carton.

"Drake!" came a voice from the kitchen, "Don't drink out of the carton!"

Drake just sighed and removed the carton from his lips, shaking it to make sure its contents were empty before doing a 360 degree spin and throwing it backwards over his shoulder. Judging by the thud and slight rattle that followed, it had ended up in the bin.

"Lucky shot." Josh muttered, a little jealous.

"What was that?!" Drake frowned.

"Are we going to tell Mom then?" I whispered, butting in before Josh made any other stupid comments.

"Are you two going to be a bit more mature?" Drake questioned.

"Yes." We both said, looking down slightly at the floor.

"Good." he replied, putting his arm round me, and looking down a bit, in my direction, "follow my lead."

"Wait!" Josh stopped us before we could go into the kitchen, "What should I do?"

Drake thought it over for a moment.

"You throw out some helpful facts if it starts to go wrong!" Drake exclaimed.

Satisfied with his answer, Drake and I then made our second attempt to get to the kitchen.

"Wait!" Josh said again.

"Ugh, what now?!" Drake groaned.

"Shouldn't we wait tell Mom and Dad at the same time?" Josh asked.

"He's gonna do the weather in a few minutes!" Drake answered, checking his imaginary watch, "he's a bad enough weatherman as it is, this'll put him right off his swing!"

I giggled, slightly muffled by Drake's arm round my face.

"Hey, stop that, it tickles!" Drake laughed, beginning to tickle my ribs.

"Uh, guys!" Josh called out, causing Drake to stop and look up at him, "I meant wait until he gets home before we tell them!"

"Tell them what?" A voice came from behind us.

My face dropped.

"Uh oh!" I exclaimed.

"Too late!" Drake said, a little worried, as we turned to face our Mom, standing in the kitchen doorway.

"How much did you hear?" Josh cringed.

"Enough to warrant suspicion!" Mom said, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.

"Alright… best get this over with…" Drake said, taking a deep breath.

"Mom…" he took another breath.

"…I…"

"For god's sake Drake, spit it out!" She ordered, getting a bit impatient.

"…I'm joining the Marines…" Drake blurted out.

Mom just stood, rooted to the spot, too shocked for words. She stared at Drake. She opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't find the words.

"Mom…?" Josh asked, trying to urge her to respond.

Still she stood silently. Until her legs gave way and she passed out.

"MOM!" We all shouted.

A/N: Hhhhhhhhmmmm… that didn't quite go as planned did it? Did you think that was gonna happen? I certainly didn't and I'm writin the damn thing! :)

Hope guys liked my first update in a while. R&R :)