Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, they belong to Disney.

"So, are you going to go to the winter break dance?" Carla asked me. We sat in our barracks polishing our boots for opening parade in the morning as she lay on her bed talking to me.

"No, I don't think so," I told her. I pouted before spitting on my boot and rubbing it in with a cloth.

"Why not? You have to go! Brad is going to be there and…"

"Just because Brad's going to be there doesn't mean he's going to be there with me," I interrupted her. She really believed that I still liked him. I haven't been able to explain it, but ever since he started to date Captain Stone, I've kind of hated Rigby. "Besides, why would he go with me when he's with Jennifer?"

"Jennifer?"

"Uh…I mean, Captain Stone," I corrected myself.

"Look, this is the last dance before the Christmas break, and the second last of the school year. What are you going to do, stay here all night?"

"Well, I guess so. And do you think that Stone is really going to let me go? You know how she is when it comes to school functions. There's always some sort of emergency spill, or something like that, that always comes along, conveniently enough, right before I can go and have some fun. What's the point of paying for a ticket if she's just going to find some reason for me to stay back?"

"Kelly…"

"No, I'm not going!" I told her.

"But you have to go," she said.

"And why is that?"

"Because…I already bought you a ticket. I…I didn't think you'd mind." Carla waved the blue piece of paper in front of me."

I fell back on my bed as I sighed. "Why must you do this to me?"

"Because, I'm your friend," she smirked.

"Well, a real…"

"What's going on in here?" Captain Stone burst through the door. My heart felt as if it were going to break out if my chest. Why did she always have to make her entrances like that?"

She walked down the path before stopping at my cluttered bunk bed. "Cadet Collins, why am I not surprised that you are the only one who's not ready for inspection?"

"I…I…" If I could have spoken in that moment, I would have, but it was like I forgot how to. Her presence frightened me and now I looked like an idiot in front of the female half of my platoon. Somehow, though, what made me feel really stupid was the fact that I was embarrassing myself in front of her.

"Don't like talking, huh? Fine, we'll see if you like marching instead. Report to the drill deck, immediately!" she yelled.

I tightened up the laces on my boots and made my way out. The clunk-clunking of her boots walking behind me was almost enough to make me start running.

'Does this girl ever sleep?' I asked myself once I heard the alarm go off on her wrist watch for the second time. We must have been marching for two hours now. It was starting to snow heavily. My legs were way past cramped, and I was praying on the inside that she wouldn't call another about face. My heels couldn't take it

"Cadet…"

'Please don't call it,' I prayed.

"About face!"

I winced as I pivoted on the same leg for what seemed like the hundredth time in a row.

Maybe she felt sorry for me? I have no idea, but, for some reason, she let me stop and take a breather, which I was thankful for.

"Good work, Maggot," she said with a smile. I took it, seeing as to how it was probably the nicest the she'd ever say to me. "I had no clue you could last for so long."

"Neither did I," I told her.

"I hoped you learned your lesson."

"I did," I lied. I actually forgot why I was being punished this time.

"And what is your lesson?"

I looked stumped I never actually thought that she would ask me that. "Um…it was…"

"Yes?"

"It was…wait a second. Do you even know?" I asked, turning it around on her and hoping that she wouldn't scream my ears off.

I watched her as she thought about it. I couldn't believe it. I caught her. She didn't even know why she had brought me out there.

"Not a clue," she said after almost a minute of thinking about it. I was stunned. It's not as if she was being a saint, but Stone, for once, didn't look at me like I completely pissed her off. Taking that to heart, I decided to just tell her what I thought she might have wanted to hear.

"I guess, my lesson is to not piss you off," I said with a nervous smile.

To my surprise, she actually laughed. "Yeah, you're right, Kelly." For a moment, we were both laughing, before Stone realized that she was being nice to me. She cleared her throat. "I mean…Maggot. You're dismissed," she said, with a straight look on her face.

I began to walk, but stopped when I realized she wasn't walking behind me this time.

"Aren't you coming?" I asked her.

"I said, dismissed, Maggot. Get out of here, already!"

I should have known it wouldn't last.