Well I have good news and bad news. The good news is that the next chapter is here and it's pretty long, so enjoy. The bad news is that I'm going back to college in two days and that will greatly restrict writing time. I will update when I can, but it will most likely be a chapter every week or 10 days. Sorry, but I will make sure to keep the story going, don't worry. Now enjoy! Oh quick note, remember Millie is 16 almost 17 in this story, you'll understand as you read.
Odd and the others were woken up by a loud truck horn blasting outside. The squad all assembled their bags and tossed them on the truck and then one by one hopped on.
"I guess we aren't eating breakfast for a while huh?" Odd said looking a little ragged without eating his normal five eggs, and six pieces of bacon.
As the truck pulled out of the base and turned on to the main road that led back to Kadic, Chance began digging through his bag.
"What are you looking for?" Ulrich asked.
"Wait…Wait…Ah here we go!" Chance said pulling out one of the small grills they used in the field for cooking. "Now if you would all tell me how you like your eggs." He said reaching in and pulling out a carton of two dozen eggs.
"You deserve a medal and a promotion!" Odd said excitedly.
The others were pretty happy to have something to eat and they expressed their thanks.
"No problem, couldn't have the squad arriving hungry and in a bad mood, I mean what kind of entrance is that?"
Jesse rolled his eyes and the others laughed. Suddenly the truck stopped and the driver got out and walked to the back where the guys were sitting.
"I have some bad news, we'll be delayed for about thirty minutes, another soldier is going the same way and they're driving him out here to save a second trip. We have to wait."
With that the driver jumped into the back of the truck and got a few eggs for himself and promptly shared some of the coffee he had with the others.
"So who is it that we are waiting on?" Ulrich asked.
"Oh they said it's some guy who works in one of the tech units."
"Oh my gosh, Odd I bet it's Jeremy, I forgot he wasn't with us."
Sure enough twenty minutes later a jeep appeared speeding towards the road. It slid to a stop and the blonde headed computer whiz jumped out and tossed his bag up to the others. Ivan reached down and pulled the scrawny teen up with one arm.
"Welcome friend, we have breakfast." Ivan laughed and Jeremy's eyes lit up at the sight of the little buffet that had formed in the truck.
"Well you guys sure know how to travel."
The driver jumped back behind the wheel and they were soon on the road again.
At Kadic things were not so calm.
"How do I look, do I look ok?" Kasey was asking Yumi desperately trying to fix her hair in the mirror.
Yumi grabbed Kasey's shoulders, "Listen, you need to relax girl, Odd loves you to death, he thinks you're the most beautiful woman ever, besides, you look find."
"Thanks, I'm just…I don't know why, I'm nervous."
"Me too, now let's go see how the others are doing."
Yumi entered Sissy's room to find an even more chaotic situation. Millie was desperately trying to calm the older girl down.
"Seriously you look find Sissy?"
"But Millie I haven't got a manicure and my hair is a little too long and…"
Yumi walked over and shook Sissy lightly, "Why are you so nervous?"
"I…I don't know…well I want to look good for Nicolas."
The other three girls giggled and smiled. Millie let out a sigh, "That's so cool!"
"I…I just hope he's glad to see me." Sissy said with worried eyes.
"I'm sure he will be." Kasey said
They looked out the window and saw an army truck slowly pulling in.
"Oh my gosh their here, how do I look?"
The three girls looked at Yumi and laughed.
"What?" Yumi asked offended.
"It's just you were the one saying to relax it'll be fine, nothing to worry about."
Yumi was quiet for a moment and then started laughing, and the others joined her as they ran down the stairs to meet the boys.
The army truck pulled up in front of the dorms and the squad piled out tossing their gear on the ground.
"So where is everyone?" Jesse asked, looking at Odd and Ulrich.
"Umm…I." Ulrich never finished, because the door to the dorm opened and Yumi rushed the twenty yards to Ulrich and wrapped him up in a hug and kissed him.
Kasey and Sissy were close behind and Kasey almost tackled Odd.
"It's good to see you too." Odd laughed as he held Kasey close.
Sissy walked over to Nic and gave him a hug, "It's good to see you Nicolas, how are you?"
Nic smiled, "I'm doing good." He grabbed Sissy's hand and led her away from the group so they could have some time to talk.
Aelita ran over to Jeremy and kissed him on the cheek.
"Wow! Now why couldn't we have gone to a school like this?" Chance asked Jesse.
"Cause you got both of us thrown into the correctional school with that prank."
"Oh…yeah, my bad, I didn't know the principal was allergic to bees." Chance muttered and then looked up to see another beautiful girl walking their way.
"I'm Millie, welcome to Kadic, I'll show you to your rooms if you like." Millie said as she walked over to the five soldiers standing off to the side.
"Why thank you, we'd love to get cleaned up and get some rest." Chance said answering before anyone else could say anything.
Millie turned away, both to head back to the dorm and to hide her blushing. The five followed her into the dorms and she pointed them to their rooms. Each had his own room since there were plenty to spare.
Millie led Chance to his room last, "Umm…if you need anything, I and the others are down the hall."
Chance smiled, "Thanks again, maybe I'll see you around?"
Millie smiled, "Maybe." And with that she walked to her room leaving Chance to his thoughts.
'She's cute.' Chance thought. 'I always wanted to meet a girl on this trip, but…oh shut up Chance you're thinking too much.' With those thoughts Chance entered his room and plopped on the bed.
Ivan jumped at the knock at his door. He opened it to find an older man about his size standing at the door.
"Umm…can I help you?" Ivan asked a little cautiously.
"Yes you can, I'm Jim, I was wondering if you wanted to get your brothers and play some two on two basketball."
Ivan shook hands with Jim and called his brothers out of their rooms. The four went down to the gym and played basketball for a few hours.
Yumi sat next to Ulrich on a bench in the park. Ulrich had his armed wrapped around her and he leaned in for another kiss. They broke the kiss after a while and Yumi smiled with sad eyes up at her love.
"So do you think you will see much fighting?"
Ulrich sighed, he knew he couldn't avoid the question forever so he hugged Yumi tighter and answered. "I think we will see a lot of fighting before the war is over, I mean we didn't even get out of training before we fought our first skirmish."
Yumi cringed at the answer. She was desperately worried about losing Ulrich. It was the same fear that had crept over her the numerous times that one of them had almost been killed over the years fighting Xana.
"I'm scared for you Ulrich, I'm worried I may lose you."
Ulrich gently wiped the tear from her eye, "Don't worry, we are the best squad there is and Odd and I'll look after each other. We will make it back fine, I promise."
"Don't break that promise." Yumi said on the verge of tears.
"I won't, now lets talk about something a little more pleasant ok?"
Yumi nodded and Yumi told Ulrich of the few Xana attacks since he'd been gone and about Hiroki and Millie joining the team. It soon grew dark and they headed in for dinner.
Kasey and Odd were sitting under a tree on the other side of the park from Yumi and Ulrich. Odd gently stroked Kasey's hair as she laid with her head on his leg, staring up at him.
"So do you think you'll be ok? I mean make it through the war and all."
Odd gave a curious look at Kasey and bent down to kiss her. "Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere, well except to battle and then I'll not go anywhere and come back………. What I'm trying to say is I'll be fine." Odd finally spat out.
Kasey laughed, "You don't sound too confident for the one always trying to save the world."
"I'm always nervous around you, it's your beauty that throws my mind off." Odd said smiling.
"Oh don't use that charm on me." Kasey laughed. "Odd, seriously do think you will be ok?"
"Listen, nothing will stop me from coming back to you. I love you too much to let anything stop me from seeing you again."
Odd's answer seemed to sit well with Kasey and they continued sitting there until they had to go in because Odd's stomach was growling way too loudly for it to be a romantic peaceful spot any longer.
"I…I have something to tell you, I think I love you."
Nicolas stared in shock at Sissy as they sat by a fountain in the middle of campus.
"Mmmmm….me?" Nicolas asked looking around to make sure Ulrich or someone else hadn't walked up behind them.
"Yes, Nic, I love you. I finally realized that you have been the only true friend to me over the years and I…I love you now."
Nic just sat in silence letting the truth wash over him like a refreshing breeze.
"Nic? I'm sorry I didn't mean too…"
Nic cut Sissy off, "No no no, I'm not mad, I'm just shocked beyond words, and I'm extremely happy, cause I love you too, always have, even when you tried to run me and Herb off."
The two hugged and eventually headed in for dinner.
"I'm so worried about you." Aelita cried as she clung to Jeremy as if she was scared to let him go.
"Aelita…I'm…I'm going to be ok." Jeremy stuttered, shocked at how worried Aelita was. "Trust me, I'm more worried about you fighting Xana than I am about me going to war, I'm usually farther behind the battle than most, I should be safe."
"I'm just worried. I love you and don't want anything to happen."
"All you can do is pray for us, we will be fine don't worry, I can't stand to think about you upset. Now let's go get something to eat before Odd eats everything."
Aelita laughed and soon was her usual cheerful self, much to Jeremy's relief.
Chance heard a knock at his door and jumped up to open it, but was disappointed to see Jesse.
"Oh now don't be mad, because I'm not this high with red hair and live down the hall, not next door." Jesse said holding his hand about the height of Millie.
"Shut up! Are you crazy!" Chance said dragging Jesse inside. "Why'd you knock, I was asleep."
"I knocked because it's time for dinner, come on."
"Go ahead, I'll be there in a minute."
"Waiting on someone?" Jesse teased.
Chance rolled his eyes and shut the door. He threw on a nicer shirt and checked his hair in the mirror. 'Ok I'm ready.'
Chance walked out the door and headed to what he thought was the cafeteria.
"Hey…" Millie struggled to remember the guys name, "…Chance, the cafeteria is this way?" She yelled seeing Chance walking off towards the science labs.
Chance turned around a little embarrassed and walked over to Millie. "Thanks, so where was I trying to eat at?"
"The science labs, you would have been sorely disappointed with the menu." Millie laughed.
The two walked to the cafeteria talking idly about their pasts and getting acquainted. When they walked in Jesse gave Chance a, 'I told you' look, but Chance chose to ignore it. He took a seat between Jesse and Millie. Chance and Millie were the last to arrive. Chance looked around, all the couples were seated together and it seemed like Ivan and Jim were still arguing with Artur and Vladimir about the final score of the basketball game.
"And here we go!" The cafeteria lady said bringing out the food.
"Oh spaghetti and meatballs! I owe you big!" Odd cheered.
Everyone ate, swapping stories and enjoying the moment when Kasey's cell phone started beeping. Yumi looked at her and she mouthed 'Xana' to her. 'Oh great!' thought Yumi, 'how are we going to get away without everyone knowing?'
Well I hope you liked this chapter. Let me know what you think. Remeber the next update may be a little longer due to college and baseball practice, but don't despair, it will come.