CHAPTER 54
SHUT UP AND FAKE A GODDAMN SMILE
"Damn, I knew it!" Angie sighed when they reached the training space after lunch, realizing that most of their teachers were waiting for them and none of them was wearing training clothes.
Firstly, training twice in one day was pointless. Everyone ran, in their spare time, so it would be stupid to put two trainings together, which was what their Sunday schedule looked like currently.
Secondly, Angie had her suspicions since she saw Amanda leave the restaurant and walk to the field early.
"Well, I guess it was bound to happen." Bryan shrugged.
Dan stood in front of the line of teachers, holding a folder in his hands.
"In case you haven't figure it out yet – Hello, this is potentially your last day here at the Academy." He spoke up.
"Whatever happens – remember we are awesome and we will do amazing things in life. Here or elsewhere!" Bryan said while holding Angie's hand.
"I'd rather do them here, than elsewhere. Thank you." She said sarcastically and he let it go. She was clearly under pressure and letting her anger out on him.
"For the past three weeks you have been tested both physically and mentally, both when you knew it and when you didn't." Dan started his speech. "The Academy has the aim to find the best talents, nationwide, and then to form them into the best Agents they could possibly be. Needless to say, not everyone that makes it into the Academy, makes it out. Most of you will fall out by the end of your 21-week training program. That would not mean that you are not valuable, but rather that we do not believe you are up to the Bureau standards just yet. We encourage all of you to keep pursuing a career in criminology, be it criminal justice, forensics, or even just simply joining the police force. We believe that, if you made it into the Academy, there is potential in you. However, we need to cut down to only the best of you. And that process starts now…"
Dan paused, giving them a moment to take it all in.
"Those of you who already know what to do…" Dan pointed to an empty area, to his right, and literally half of the Trainees stepped to fill that void space.
"I would like to thank you for volunteering." Dan said to them.
"Wait, what?" Bryan was confused.
"Trainees…" Dan then looked at the other half, where Angie and Bryan were standing. "You already know those people – they are your roommates. What you don't know, however, is that each one of you had been paired up with an actual working Agent, to test you and challenge you every second of the day and night. So, if you've been slacking lately, sleeping in, leaving your extra reading for later, well, it is now the time to be sorry."
"Oh shit…" Angie bit her bottom lip.
"What are you so worried about? You literally bust your ass 24/7." Bryan whispered to her.
"Oh, I know. I'm worried about everyone else." She said, with her chin held high and her confidence boosting, as usual.
"I have here a final evaluation paper for each one of you, Trainees, signed by all of your teachers and trainers, plus, your roommates." Dan said, holding the folder up.
"Wait…does that mean…?" Angie scanned the crowd and did not find Amanda anywhere.
"Yes, Miss Hunter." Dan nodded in her direction, as he already knew what she meant.
Angie's eyes then fell on Amanda, who was lost in the middle of the crowd of teachers.
"I'm sorry." Amanda mouthed to Angie.
"Amanda graduated top in the Academy, last year. She has since then done some brilliant work undercover and has worked with diverse Units, gaining valuable expertise, one which she would be transferring to you in the classroom, as she is your new Undercover Training Officer, from tomorrow." Dan announced.
Angie's jaw dropped. She hadn't expected that, not even through her suspicions of Amanda being involved in the scheme somehow.
"In fact, she was signed off to a case and we had to hurry our little experiment with the staged crime in the woods. And you were given subconscious suggestions by your various teachers, that would lead you to investigate that mystery. Only two of you did that." Dan pointed at Angie and Bryan. "And having an eye for possible crime staging is a thing that, despite our best efforts, we cannot teach you. It has to be an instinct. We were expecting more of you to have it, but we are glad that at least two of you stepped up their game and closed this case successfully."
"Yeah, I still feel nothing when I'm being complimented." Angie frowned, upset that she wasn't able to enjoy this moment.
"Shut up and fake a Goddamn smile." Bryan nudged her.
Dan looked at the Trainees and they seemed happy that half of the people were now cut and they were still standing in front of Dan. Clearly, they were misreading the situation.
"Now that half of you are removed from the Academy and can go back to your Units and resume your normal jobs…" Dan pointed at the ones who had posed as undercover.
"We can get to the important part." Dan stated, opening his folder.
People gasped, realizing that cuts were just about to start.
Dan called out a few names and they stepped to the front of the line.
"The five of you have been performing way under the Academy standards and we are afraid we no longer have a place for you here." He stated coldly.
He called one more name and a guy stood in front of him, looking guilty.
"You have dared tell your roommate that you find a few of the books stupid and useless. Well, we don't find your presence here useful to us anymore." Dan sounded a bit pissed. "We do not appreciate people diminishing the efforts of our Agents, who have generously offered to be here and to train you, for no reward this year. And yes, budget cuts did not just hit your training supplies, but the whole Bureau altogether, and that includes all of their salaries for the classes they are teaching you. And some of those books they have suggested you to read, are actually written by them, after twenty years on the job. So for anyone to say that it is useless to know the things that they are willing to teach you, is a disgrace to the Academy."
Three more people then stood in front of Dan.
"One of you has cut classes without any valid medical reason for it. We now know you were sleeping in and being lazy. Nothing can excuse that behavior. The other one had been taking substances to help them perform better in PFT, which is a vile violation of the Academy rules and leads to immediate suspension. And the third one has failed their psychological evaluation, and also failed to inform us that they had been on heavy medications before the Academy, which makes them non-eligible for training." Dan pointed at each one of them individually.
"And here's my personal favorite – the one who thought they could cheat a polygraph test!" Dan was now looking at a much smaller group of people in front of him and it chilled even him to realize how huge this cut had been.
"This specific person answered more than one question wrong, and thought they could get away with it. But, as you all know, we run background checks on all of our Trainees, so the truth was bound to come out. Now, would you like to step forward or should I say your name out loud?" He challenged the person, because if Dan hated one thing – it was a liar.
Silence followed. A few people shrugged nervously, even though they knew they were not the culprit.
Angie stood still, with her head held high as usual. Not a single muscle on her face moved and her posture did not change. She was as solid as a rock.
And so was Bryan, standing right next to her.
Finally, a guy came forward and Dan just eyed him up and down before the guy silently walked over to the bunch of people who were already cut.
"Alright. Once again – thank you to the Agents who volunteered to supervise these first three weeks. Thank you to all the teachers who do this for free this year. Thank you to the Trainees who remain in the Academy and good luck to you in the following weeks. Now, while I give instructions to the ones who were cut, our teachers have expressed their wish to talk to some of you, so please wait for them to invite you for a discussion group." Dan summed up before he walked over to the less fortunate ones and told them they had to pack their belongings and leave by the end of the day.
Angie got pulled from the group, by different teachers. She found it weird to hear their positive feedback now, since they had given her three weeks of constant judgment and harsh criticism. She still had some negative feedback on things that she absolutely needed to work on if she wanted to survive the Academy, but most of it had been positive.
Bryan got pulled by two people less, compared to Angie, which was still really good. He had amazing feedback on his stamina and performance at PFT, tactical driving and ballistics. SWAT, unfortunately, had no representative that day, so he did not get the chance to hear back from the person who had taught their few lessons by now.
"Still not feeling anything?" He smirked when he re-joined Angie after the roundups were done.
"About compliments?" She eyed him, while in deep thought before answering. "No. Not really. I think the Academy has stripped my soul and now I am unable to feel anything."
He laughed so hard. "I can relate."
"Actually…" Dan's voice came from behind them.
He had just finished his instructions with the people who were cut and was ready to give his remaining Trainees his undivided attention, whether they wanted it or not.
"It's not the time and place for this talk…" Dan continued. "But when you hear everything I have to say to you two, you will definitely feel something."
"You think he'll be pissed if I tell him I don't get his cryptic message?" Angie whispered to Bryan, obviously knowing that Dan would be listening. It was her own way of toying with the guy.
"Miss Hunter, have a little more patience and you will be in the loop." Dan smirked at her. He loved the fact that this girl had the balls to stand up to him whenever she believed necessary.
"In the meantime, will you be drugging me again? Because, I can't say I didn't enjoy losing a few pounds in the process of being unable to hold food down." She laughed, because there was no way she would ever admit how much it sucked running to the bathroom and sitting on the cold tiles, numerous times at night, leaning over the toilet. She wouldn't admit that chalkboard white on her face was not a color that went well with her favorite lipstick. She would not admit a damn thing.
"Also, you should probably be advised that patience is most definitely not a virtue of mine…" She then trailed off. "If I even have any."
"Just keep doing what you two are doing." Dan winked at Angie and walked away. He would be seeing them in the afternoon class anyway.
"Thank you for helping us out." Morgan said, sipping a cup of tea.
Derek Morgan hated tea. He hated it with passion. Something about the oozing warmth of the drink just irked him, so much. He hated the way it burned his tongue, as he considered it one of his most prized bodily organs, both in his playboy days and in marriage. He also hated the smell of it – the damned thing smelled like grass and he could not figure out why someone would enjoy that smell; the disgusting color of the water, combined with the tiny little particles that inevitably floated in it and tickled his throat when ingested. He hated everything about tea, yet the one thing he hated the most was not being able to pretend like he was enjoying a cup of it, in the beautiful company of his BabyGirl. Seeing her that week had made him realize how much he missed her – even more than he thought. It also made him re-consider a lot of aspects of his life and doubt a decision he took a few years ago. Now that things were slowly starting to move in a direction that he no longer had to convince himself that he liked, but he was rather genuinely excited about, there was just that one little thing standing between him and his happiness. One small thing.
"Anything for family." Kristal replied, sitting on the couch, across from him, enjoying her tea like there was no tomorrow.
He put on a brave face and took another sip, mentally swearing as it tasted like freshly cut grass to him.
"I wanted to ask you a favor…" He started off and she could sense that he was feeling a bit uncomfortable.
"I don't want to put you in a weird situation, so feel free to say No." He added.
"Derek…" She said softly, urging him to just come out and say it.
"Uhm, my team doesn't know about my plans." He smiled, realizing that it was just so natural to call them his team. Even if it weren't currently correct and it hadn't been for a long time. It probably was not going to be for a long time to come, too. If ever.
"And I would like to keep it that way. I mean, I'm house searching today and Savannah and the kid are coming over tomorrow evening. But I still have to figure out work and everything. So, until I know that I can surely stay, I would like to keep this on the down low. You know, I don't want to give them any hopes if I cannot guarantee the success of my attempts to…" He trailed off, taking a long moment to formulate an ending to that sentence, one that would make sense.
"Attempts to get your life back? Get back on track?" Krystal suggested and he nodded.
More or less, this was what he had intended to say.
"I don't think you should worry about that. They all love you and would love to have you back. Both Emily and JJ had left already. Just think of how openly you welcomed both of them back when they, inevitably, came back."
"Oh, JJ was forced to leave. We knew we were going to fight for her to come back, eventually." He shrugged.
Suddenly, he felt the need of something burning, taking over his body. He took a large sip of the tea, ignoring the taste of it and concentrating on the sharp pain that his insides were now feeling. He needed it to burn a few memories away, before he could continue speaking.
"As for Emily, that's a whole another story. She left twice. Both times I welcomed her with open hands, wanting nothing more than to wrap my hands around her and to strangle the bitch!" He said, chuckling just a little bit, to mask up the truth behind his words.
Krystal kept quiet. She knew some of what had happened and she never discussed it with anyone, not even her own husband, as it always brought tough memories back.
"Well, you don't have to worry about me. I won't tell Dave about it. I'll store your boxes in the guest room storage space. He wouldn't even notice them. You take your time to figure things out." She said with a smile.
"Seriously, thank you so much." Morgan relaxed back, now that he had confirmation that his secret was safe.
"Alright…" Dan started off, eyeing the Auditorium before the afternoon class would start.
It felt so weird. Less than half the people were there. He had always known the truth, he knew the faces of the actual Agents, working undercover, but those faces were always mixed around the new faces. And now that they were gone, it sent chills down his spine, seeing only the new faces.
"A couple of communications before we proceed with your class…" He cleared his throat, still looking around and seeing nothing but empty seats. At least those were the ones his eyes naturally fell on.
"First of all, now that we only have actual Trainees left, you are finally getting your name stamped on your uniform. We did not do that for the first three weeks, for obvious reasons." He said.
"Bureau doesn't have the money to waste on a few t-shirts that would go to waste?" Someone said sarcastically.
"No, actually, it does not." Dan looked at him sternly. "It was useless for us to prepare uniforms for Agents who were, initially, only supposed to stay in the Academy for a week."
"So, can we have a spare uniform now? It's getting really hard to keep up with washing the few ones we have." Someone pointed out.
"I am aware of the problem. And yes, each one of you is getting two more spare uniforms. The ones you already have would be stamped on Tuesday, so bring them in the afternoon. And yes, that means Tuesday is a No Uniform day for everyone. Come in dressed as you wish." Dan explained.
"Also, now that you are less than half, you guys know what that means…" He added, waiting for someone to continue his statement.
"That literally every single one of us can have a room to themselves!?" Angie said, hope oozing from her voice.
Dan gave her a look, surprised by the fact that her comments still managed to surprise him.
"No, Miss Hunter." He said through gritted teeth. "As far as accommodations are concerned, each one of you will be assigned a new roommate. We are closing the second dorm building and only using the main one now."
"Well, I'm already taken, so…" She shrugged lightly.
There was no way she was getting a roommate that was anyone other than Bryan, who was already fully moved in anyway.
"What I was trying to say earlier is that you guys being less than half now, only means that you will have more than double the attention on you from now on. And with each cut, you would be under more and more observation by everyone. So, if you slack, if you don't give us your 200%, you bes believe you will be the next one packing. Understood?" Dan scanned the room – some of the Trainees seemed very confident, while others were clearly distressed after his words.
"One last thing…" He continued. "You will be starting to have more practical training, rather than theoretical classes. And no, this does not mean that you can stop studying. What changes is that now we need you to be more independent and study on your own free time. PFT continues on being your absolutely obligatory morning routine and you are kindly asked to exercise through the day, as well. However, your class schedule is about to shift. You no longer have the stability of having one long morning class and one long afternoon class. Your new schedule will make it a little more clear."
Dan picked up a pile of papers and handed them over to the class, for everyone to grab their new schedule, the one with their name on top of it.
"What the-…" Bryan commented as he took a glimpse of the upcoming madness.
"Well, look at it from the bright side – they wasted ink and paper on printing the schedules this week. Hey, it's a win!" Angie smirked. She had hated having to write down her schedule last week. In fact, it had been Bryan who had written it down when they saw it hanging by the Auditorium door.
"A win, my ass!" Bryan shook his head, pointing at the seven different activities they had to do, only on Monday.
"What? Did you think it would be breakfast – play – lunch – nap – play – dinner – sleep – repeat?" Angie smirked. "That's called kindergarten, bro. This is the FBI Academy. Hello. And welcome!" She added sarcastically and he wanted to hate her for it, but she was so cute, saying all that.
"Sir, excuse me?" Someone called out. "What's 1-on-1?"
"That's your scheduled time with me, in my office. Some of you have a meeting with me this upcoming week." He said, his eyes chillingly cold.
"Do you?" Bryan asked Angie.
"Haven't even checked my personalized schedule yet, but I bet ya I'm on his list." She smirked, glancing over the paper for the first time. "Oh, there it is. Tomorrow morning, right after PFT. Dude better be buying me breakfast!" She sighed dramatically. Angie loved showering after training. She also loved spraying herself with her favorite perfume before class. Clearly, Monday would go differently for her.
"Wait, Monday at 9:30?" Bryan asked.
When she nodded, he showed her his schedule, with the same appointment - same day, same time.
"Guess we're still going strong on that 'Doing it together' promise?" She grinned.
If Dan wanted to see a selected group of Trainees, in order to yell at them, at least she'd be in good company with Bryan.
"That is all that I needed to tell you. Now, I'm leaving you in the hands of my friend here." Dan pointed at the guy who was now preparing to project his presentation on the big screen.
Their class followed an investigation from years ago, one that had ended badly. They were asked to point out the weak parts of the investigation and to comment with ideas on how things could have gone differently.
The sudden shift of study method was welcomed by the Trainees. So far they had done the standard lecture-style classes, with some laboratory experiments and testing.
From now on – it was less reading, more doing.
And Angie could not be any more excited!
