Chapt. 11
The bell rang for the end of lessons but not the end of the nightmarish day for Tori.
Out of the five classes she had gone to, Tori was only allowed to wear her hat in English, as Cloris seemed to be the only sympathetic teacher in the school.
After school was, of course, JROTC training. Out of everything throughout the day, Tori was least looking forward to this.
Tori's hair camouflaged so well against her green uniform and the green hat she was made to wear that she looked like a short moss-ridden tree. The only thing that kept Tori in good spirits was the fact that the pink on the boys' uniforms hadn't faded either.
When she got there, Tori saw that the ground was covered in pugil sticks, long sticks that were heavily padded on each end. There was also padded armour laid alongside the sticks.
Just as Tori wondered what they were, the boys walked towards the equipment and each picked up a stick and put on the safety equipment. After grabbing their own things each cadet grouped themselves into pairs.
Tori went and grabbed the first stick she saw and put on the equipment. When she put everything on Tori looked up to see she was standing next to Alex. He didn't have a partner as Deak had gone with Cadet Fox, the deaf boy.
'This is gonna be fun.' Tori smirked to herself when she saw what the other cadets were doing.
Each pair used the padded ends of their chosen sticks to beat up their opponent.
Tori smiled until she turned around, when she felt something smack into her helmet.
Keeping herself from falling to the ground, Tori spun on her heel quickly and swung her stick, smacking Alex right on the centre of his helmet and causing his knees to buckle forward.
Quickly regaining himself Alex belted Tori around the side causing her to fall to the wet grass. Having dropped the stick, Tori swung her legs around Alex's, tripping him over and making him fall on his back.
Instead of standing up, Tori crawled over Alex, up to the height of his face, and smashed the padded end of the stick into his helmet.
Alex, ignoring the pain in his nose, chucked Tori off of him and kneeled on top of her. He then swung the stick around the side of Tori's face.
"Hey!" Payne yelled when he saw that things were getting out of control.
Alex felt a couple of hands pulling him up and off of Tori.
Tori struggled to get up as she felt a dizzy spell go through her head.
"When someone falls to the ground that should be enough of a signal to stop." Payne said, ignoring the fact that the two cadets almost beat each other to a bloody pulp.
"He started it." Tori made an excuse as she tried to catch her breath.
"I don't care who started it…" Payne spoke until Alex interrupted.
"Yeah, it looks like I finished it too." He said as he took off his helmet.
"Oh, I'll finish it." Tori said and before long she swung the stick towards Alex.
Alex ducked just in time as the stick swung over his head. Tori swung it too quickly that she couldn't stop it from hitting the person behind Alex.
The padded ending of the stick hit Major Payne squarely on the left cheek.
Tori gasped, dropping the stick to the ground as she clasped her hands over her mouth. Her eyes were widened to an extreme height as she couldn't figure out what to say.
"I'm sor…" she rapidly tried to apologise when Payne put his hand up to signal silence.
"This is getting very annoying." Payne said moving his jaw up and down. "I know that this isn't going to be solved in a day." Payne looked to be thinking for a moment.
'I'm getting it this time.' Tori thought when a smile crept onto Payne's face.
"Miss Lockhart…" he spoke slowly, "you will come back here for training every night, six to nine, for two weeks. Starting tomorrow night."
Tori's arms dropped disappointingly. 'I could've gotten worse.'
"Stone," Payne said and Alex looked up. "You're going to be coaching her."
"What?" Tori and Alex said at the exact same time.
"You heard me." Payne spoke with a tone no one would dare argue with. "If still can't get along after those two weeks the time will be extended."
Payne walked off without another word. Everyone, except for a stunned Alex and Tori, went back to what they were doing.
*
When they got back to the barracks, Tori and Alex didn't speak a word until they got inside.
"This is your fault, you know." Alex blamed Tori.
"My fault?" Tori laughed humourlessly. "What about you? Mr I hit people when they're not looking. Not just people, girls. I can get you arrested for that you know."
"Good. Then I won't have to deal with you." Alex said.
"Just shut up." Deak intervened. "Didn't you hear what Payne said? If you two don't start getting along he'll extend the time."
Tori didn't say anything. After a moment of just staring, she turned and went to take a shower.
*
Tori got dressed into her uniform and left the barracks as soon as morning came.
She felt good walking through the halls at such an early time as there was no one to gawk and giggle at her green hair. She also had time to think to herself.
When she strolled past a noticeboard Tori saw something and stopped to have a read.
The notice said Parent's Day in big colourful letters. It said that Parent's Day was on in about a week's time.
It was only then that Tori actually realised how long it had been since she'd spoken to her father.
Tori walked to the school office. The office was a small cluttered room with computers everywhere. Right beside the door was what looked to be the reception desk. A lady dressed in a black pant suit that had her hair pulled into a tight bun sat at the desk touch typing onto her computer.
"Excuse me," Tori spoke in a soft monotone.
The lady pulled her attention from her computer screen and looked up at Tori over her thin glasses that were just hanging on the tip of her nose. "Yes?" she spoke with a very nasal voice.
"Um, may I please use your phone?" Tori asked, speaking as kindly as she could manage without cracking a smile.
"What for?"
"I want to call my father." Tori answered.
The lady nodded. "You can use the phone in that cubicle just over there." She pointed forward.
"Thank you." Tori walked between the desks as she made her way to the small cubicle.
Finding a small white, yellowing, phone Tori picked it up and checked if the dial tone was working before dialling her home phone.
The phone rang about six times before it was picked up.
"Hello?" Tori heard her father's familiar voice.
"Hi dad. It's Tori." Tori spoke quietly.
"What happened?" Her father asked probably thinking Tori had done something.
"Nothing." Tori lied. She couldn't be bothered telling him what's been happening. She especially did not want to tell him what had happened yesterday.
"Then why are you calling? I'm not taking you out of that school if that's…"
"No. Dad, can you just listen?" Tori raised her voice. She rolled her eyes thinking this was useless. "I was just calling to tell you that Parent's day is coming up next Saturday."
"Yeah, I don't know if I can make it." Tori's father huffed; Tori could tell he was lying. He probably though she just wanted him there to bring her home.
"I knew it." Tori growled. "Don't worry about it dad. Forget I said anything." Tori spoke with an annoyed tone so that her father could tell that she was angry.
Before he could say anything Tori hung up the phone.
She walked straight out of the office, mumbling thanks to the receptionist before passing through the door.