AN: this is just their kinda, background stuff.

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San Dominique High School-Football Stands:

Vasquez sighed and looked at her cheep six dollar watch. Drake was running late for a first. She could have gone by now.

Oh well, it's not like she was in a hurry to go anywhere for there was no where to go.

Drake came walking up from the side of the school to the field with some kind of paper in his hand.

"What's that, your weapon?" Vasquez yelled out.

He didn't say anything, but his face was grim and different.

"I…uh. Look um….Vasquez. I don't much feel like joyriding today."

He said with a bit of humility in his voice.

"What the Fuck?" She asked him.

"I've been thinkin' and all this is pretty stupid really. I'm tired of getting a black eye just before the swim meet. I'm tired of finding new ways to tell the teachers that it was just an accident instread of covering for my scrumbag dad...I wanna leave this place and not ever come back, you know?"

Vazquez couldn't believe her friend was being honest for once to her. They were never serious about anything and never talked about their home lives.

Drake flung a brochure in the palm of her hands.

"I talked with one of the hall monitors today. I know it's not my business but I saw you at the McDonalds last night. You looked pretty worn. They said you had run away again from your father and well, look, I was at a recruiter's office the other day and it said uh, well the colonel marines offer full service benefits. They offer training, housing dorms and three square meals a day with spending money on the side…..I was thinking on signing up, you know."

He looked down at his feet.

"And I told the recruiter that I know someone who would make a pretty tough fighting bitch-war machine, so uhh."

All this time, she stood there, not knowing whether to be disgusted or relieved that one of her favorite people to hate was showing her a way out of her dead end life. He was truly reaching out a hand like a real friend, the same hand that used to deliver a mean punch to her face a lot during sophomore year, before she learned how to dodge his wicked right hook.

Vasquez opened up the glorious looking brochure, showing men and women in sharp uniforms and cool combat scenery on alien worlds, and for once that day, she was excited to go home to tell her father what she planned on doing.