Chapter 5
With 15 minutes left until the end of the school day and the beginning of his week of freedom, Greg could barely concentrate on his lesson. "Ressha wa nijū-bu no ha." The train leaves in 20 minutes, Greg translated in his head as he parroted the sentence back to the teacher with the rest of the class. Even though Greg had only been studying first level Japanese for a few weeks, Declan had been helping him catch up to the other students, to the point that he almost felt as though he was slightly further along than everyone else. It helped that he enjoyed languages. They were interesting, and kept his brain engaged. The downside, of course, was that he frequently found himself distracted. This was one of those times, and it was all Greg could do not to come up with some kind of plausible excuse to get out of class early. He had done it before, on days when he was so apathetic about the whole thing it was about the only way to keep from having to pay a visit to the headmaster.
Watching the clock didn't help matters either, but it was the only thing other than the teacher himself that seemed to be moving - even if it was at a snail's pace. He wished the class wasn't being held in one of the interior classrooms of the school; there were times when it felt like being trapped in a box with a dozen other people, none of whom he really cared to spend much time with beyond the required 45 minute lesson.
When the bell finally rang, cheers could be heard filtering out from virtually every classroom in the building. The hallways were filled to capacity, students all moving with a single mind toward the exits. The going was slow, but finally Greg crossed the threshold into daylight and freedom. Declan was waiting for him at the bike racks and together they raced away from the campus as fast as they could pedal.
20 minutes later the boys arrived at the gates of the US Embassy. Two Marines in their dress blues stood guard on either side of the gate, their weapons held across their chest at port arms. Greg had to admit it looked pretty cool. Declan had to show an ID to get through the gates, much like Greg had to show his in order to get on base. Once Declan was on the other side of the wrought iron fence, with a promise to call him later to figure out what supplies they'd need the next day, Greg started his own ride toward home.