God, I love it when my wifi doesn't work. Sorry for the technical difficulties everybody.

Also, I'm gonna change the every Saturday schedule to every other Saturday, because with sports and SATs and ACTs and concerts and grades in general, I don't have time to write entire chapters each week and keep up with it. Sorry, but I'll try to keep this new schedule as well as I can.

At the top of the hour, we all cleared out of the barrack to head to the mess hall. Apparently everyone had lunch at the same time, because everyone seemed to be pouring out of the barracks at once. I kept my chin up, but wasn't subtle about keeping myself between Toye and Guarnere. As far as I could tell, they were nice guys and I'd gotten along with them so far.

Walking to the mess hall was strange. Everyone we passes seemed to give me a weird look, but it wasn't like I could expect anything else. Thankfully, lunch itself wasn't awful. I was handed a tray of something indistinguishable that had a smell that almost made me a retch and I sat down at a table with my new poker buddies. After a quick explanation and a few glares from myself and Bill, a few of the men introduced themselves with easy smiles. A few were standoffish and even looked at me hatefully, but it wasn't hard to ignore them. Two men, Talbert and Penkala, were especially cheerful and quick to accept me as a member of the company. Tab almost instant declared that we would be good friends whether I wanted it or not. I was grateful that they were so nice, but made it clear I wasn't there to mess around, in any fashion.

The first ten minutes went smooth as butter. After that? Not so much.

"Hey, I heard a rumor E Company was gettin' a broad. Wasn't crazy enough to think it was true," a voice from behind me said as I was finishing off my 'food'. A hand thumped down on my shoulder and the boys around me bristled. "I got some extra room on my bunk, dollface. Whaddya say?"

My hand tightened around the butter knife I'd been given as I worked my jaw and bit down on my tongue until I tasted metal to keep from grinding my teeth.

"I say that if you don't get your hand off me in the next two seconds, I'll cut it off and ship it back to your mother in a bag. Got that, dollface?" I ground out, slowly turning to look up at the man who'd had the nerve to touch me. He was wearing a shit-eating grin, but it died on his face when he met my glare and realized I was serious. He quickly started to glare.

"Hey, bitch, what makes you think you have the right to speak to me like that?" He demanded. I quickly stood up and got in his face. He was only maybe an inch taller than me. Short.

"I don't know, what makes you think you have the right to talk to me like that? Huh, slick?" I shot back, but before anything else could happen, Joe got in between us.

"Alright, that's enough. You," he jabbed a finger at the boy, "treat a woman with respect and go sit down before you get hurt. And you," he turned to me, "cool it. Put the knife down and don't start gettin' in trouble on your first day, that's Bill's job," he said and Bill snorted. I just stared up at him for a moment before taking a deep breath and backing down, tossing the knife onto the table with a clatter.

"Woulda gutted that bastard like a fish," I spat and he shook his head.

"I know, and that ain't somethin' you wanna do. You're in the army now, so sit down and keep your mouth shut." Any other person, I would have throttled for speaking to me like that, but I could tell he wasn't being personal about it. It was the cold hard truth. With a huff, I thumped down back in my seat and looked around the table.

"What?" I demanded, and they all immediately stopped staring.

"Girl, you are either crazy or stupid," Guarnere said from beside me and I raised an eyebrow.

"What's the difference?" I asked him and he grinned.

"I don't know, but either way I might be fallin' in love with ya," he laughed and I rolled my eyes.

"Eat your slop and keep your mushy feelings and shit to yourself," I told him and the guys around us laughed, although a little nervously. I could tell they were still giving me looks, but I ignored it.

I started learning to stand up for myself when I was really little. Especially with the older brothers that I had, in the neighborhood that I lived in.

The comfortable air returned quickly as everyone picked back up their conversations, but I could still feel someone watching me as I spoke with Tab about our Lieutenants and what he though of them. I turned from Tab for a moment and locked eyes with the scrawny man I'd tussled with early, who was watching me already. Liebgott, I think Muck called him. He frowned as I made eye contact and I cocked an eyebrow before turning back to Tab. If he wanted to hate me, he could do whatever the hell he wanted. Not like it was gonna do anything.

The 1st Lieutenant came in a few minutes later to give us another lecture on how he wouldn't tolerate losers in his company - he made a point to look directly at me - and then told us we would be spending the rest of the day in instruction. Joy.

-–-

The lessons themselves weren't hard, they were just boring and tedious and I knew I'd be hearing the same thing for the rest of my stay in the army. Head and eyes straight ahead, feet at a forty-five degree angle, and cup your hands with you thumb pressed to the seam of your pants. And again and again and again. We must have marched across that field a hundred times, and it was made very clear very quickly that my legs were shorter than a lot of the men, although not all, which I thanked god for. After the zillionth time marching across the grass, I found myself missing the constant uphill walk home after work. Maybe it was more grueling than this monotony, but at least it was familiar and I knew when it was going to end.

By the time we finished, my legs were turning to putty and the arm that supported the weight of the rifle I'd been given was numb. Underneath his glare of disappointment and frustration, I could tell Lieutenant Sobel was taking sadistic pleasure in making us march so much. All the companies had started at the same time, but it was getting dark and all the other companies had gone back to their barracks at least an hour ago, if not more. I'd lost track of time.

We came to a halt at the end of the field once more and the 1st Lieutenant began another tangent about how we would keep marching until he was satisfied. I tried to flex my fingers and I could see my thumb shift out of the corner of my eye, but I couldn't feel it. My hand was clamped so hard on the gun to keep it from falling that blister my fingers and knuckles were pale. I could feel blisters forming in my ill-fitting boots, and my hair was pulled back so tightly into my helmet for so long that the pain had graduated from a dull throb up to a splitting headache and back to a dull throb across my skull that pulsed along with my heartbeat.

The man who stood to my right was visibly shaking without even turning my head to look at him. I hadn't been introduced to him, but a small part of me was pretty sure he wouldn't be here for long. All the men seemed tired. The shoulders of the man in front of me were slumped and the man next to him was unsuccessfully trying to hide how hard he was gasping for breath. The inside of my own lip was bloody from where I kept clamping my teeth into it to attempt to keep my face blank. I wasn't going to give the Lieutenant the satisfaction of seeing just how much I was struggling, even if I couldn't feel my limbs anymore. I was going to prove that man wrong if it killed me, which it just might judging from our first day.

We marched the length of the field three more times before the Lieutenant was finally satisfied and allowed us to go back to our barracks. At the word "dismissed," the boy beside me - I had to have at least 5 if not 6 years on him - collapsed to the ground. He didn't move. I looked down at him, a little worried, but was quickly pushed out of the way by two medics who picked him up and carried him off. Probably wouldn't see him again any time soon.

The walk back to the barrack seemed longer than it was the first time, and reaching up to unravel my hair seemed more strenuous than ever before, so when I finally made it to my bunk I thumped down on it face first and just laid there. A few more identical thumps came from around the barrack as others followed suit. Someone said something about showers, but I was already drifting in and out.

"Hey, Ricci. You gonna shower?" Guarnere asked from somewhere on my left. I had enough energy to scoff.

"Shower? With all you idiots? At the same time?" I asked sarcastically. "Even if I could feel my legs, I'd still say no." He murmured something of an agreement and Toye hollered something at me about at least wanting to take my boots off, but I just grunted and passed out.

-–-

I woke up to someone poking and prodding me. It was almost second nature to turn over and grab the offending hand, twisting the thumb until the person fell to their knees just like I used to do to my brothers. I cracked one eye open to see Guarnere kneeling beside my bed, twisted trying to relieve the pain of the hold I had him in.

"Can I help you?" I rasped, my voice rough from sleep.

"You could let go o' me fucking hand," he grunted and I complied before sitting up with a groan. Looking around, I couldn't even see sunlight coming through the windows. All the other men were slowly starting to drag themselves out of their own beds.

"There a reason you had to wake me up at this ungodly hour?" I asked him and he shook his head.

"Sobel came in a minute ago to tell us we all need to be up and at mess in five minutes, but you sleep like the dead, woman," he told me and I shrugged. I looked down at my clothes, which were rumpled but not awful, and my boots were still on from the night before, so I stood, grimacing at the dull ache in my legs but trying to push through it. It wasn't more than the ache after I would try to run my cousin's track workouts with him. As I made my way to the door, I untangled my hair from the rats nest it had become overnight and forced it into a tight bun. It was still tangled at the ends, but as long as the top was smooth and it was out of the way, I was sure no one would notice.

The mess hall was a good walk, so I started on my way even as I was wrestling with my hair. I heard pounding footsteps from behind me and turned to see Talbert jogging to catch up. I paused and waited for him to reach me, giving him a small nod in response to his bright grin.

"Mind if I walk with you?" He asked, shoving his hands in his pockets. I shrugged.

"Be my guest," I replied, and we started on our way to the mess hall in silence. I hoped today I'd be able to eat in peace without having to threaten another private, but I wasn't so lucky. In fact, I wasn't even in the mess hall yet when an idiot decided to start barrack door was thrown open and a man walked out, straight into our path.

"Excuse me." Tab was polite, but the man didn't move out of the way, he only turned to us and then his mouth split in a shit-eating grin.

"You must be the E Company broad everyone's talking about!" He said excitedly, but I could tell it wasn't a compliment. "I knew you'd be easy, but I didn't think they'd slap it on you as a title." And there it was. I clamped my jaw as Tab took a step forward to confront the guy, but I grabbed him by the arm and dragged him back. He gave me a look of surprise, but I shook my head.

"Easy Tab," I said quietly. I didn't want him getting into something on my account.

"Oh, so you've already started sleeping around," the man said, grinning like he was having the time of his life. I clenched my hands for a moment before releasing them and looking down the path, half hoping to find Toye or Guarnere on their way over to stop me from doing something stupid, but no such luck.

"We're expected at mess in a minute, so if you could move that would be great," I told him flatly, keeping my expression in check.

"Hold on, I wanna know how much you charge by the hour," he said with a smirk before turning to Tab. "Was she any good?"

I saw red.

-–-

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't throw you out of the paratroopers right this second."

"No excuse, sir," I said flatly. Tab, Guarnere, and I stood in front of Colonel Sink, bruised and probably bleeding on the floor. Of course, the two men at my side had different views.

"He called Ricci a whore, sir."

"He called her a wop, sir."

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath through my nose to calm myself. The last thin I wanted was the men getting in trouble on my account. Sink seemed just as annoyed. He sighed and leaned back in his chair, glaring at us.

"Now I can understand you boys thinking its important to defend a woman's honor, but you can't just go around throwing punches because of it," he said, but Guarnere spoke up.

"That wasn't why I jumped in, sir. I could care less that Aish- I mean Private Ricci is a woman. I jumped in because he started calling her a wop. As a fellow wop, I felt obligated to get involved. You can understand why I'm not a fan of the word." He said firmly.

"I didn't get involved to protect her honor, sir. He called her a whore, but she could have handled it herself. His comment started the altercation, but when his friend jumped in to join the fight, I wasn't going to let my friend be outnumbered. It wasn't a fair fight and I wasn't going to watch a member of my company get beaten int the dirt. Sir." Tab said quickly, before Sink could say anything to Bill. Sink was quiet for a moment before turning to me.

"What about you, Ricci? What do you have to say?" He asked me and I met his eyes blankly.

"The altercation became physical because of me. Neither Talbert or Guarnere are to blame, it was all me. They just jumped in to defend me because I was in over my head. I deserve whatever punishment you deem fit," I said stiffly and he raised an eyebrow.

"And if I decide that you deserve to be thrown in the cell that already has your name on it? This could be grounds to throw you out of the Airborne," he said, cocking his head and waiting for my reaction. Everything inside me was screaming, but I knew how to keep my face blank from all the times the police chief had asked where Nicolai was.

"If you feel that is what I deserve, sir. I agreed to join the Airborne on the condition that I would trade it for a jail cell if I couldn't hack it and I stand by that. I was raised in a family where your word was your bond," I told him flatly, ignoring the way Tab and Bill whipped their heads to look at me. Apparently they weren't aware of the arrangement. Sink sighed again and looked down for a moment before seeming to come to a decision.

"Talbert, Guarnere, you'll be given latrine duty for a week. Ricci, you'll spend the night in the cell and then you will join them. Maybe seeing it will keep you out of it in the long run." I breathed a sign of relief but nodded.

"Yes, sir," we all said and he frowned again.

"Yeah, yeah, just don't do it again. Ego ain't a reason to get the boot. Now get the fuck out," Colonel Sink said, waving us out. We snapped a salute and he returned it before barking at us to scram, which we did quickly. I thought that was the end of it, but the second we got outside, the two men whirled on me.

"What did he mean cell with your name on it?" Tab asked me quickly.

"Fuck that, what did you mean when you said you'd go to jail if you couldn't hack it? You drop out of Airborne and you get sent to the Armored or something, not jail," Guarnere said, looking confused. I just shook my head and pushed between them to get back to the barracks. We's already missed breakfast, and we'd be late to PT if we didn't hurry, and I told them just that.

"Fuck PT, Aishe. Spill," Guarnere demanded, catching me by the arm. I sighed but didn't turn to look at either of them.

"The condition of me joining the military to serve my country was that I would be placed in the most rigorous training and if I gave up or got kicked out I would go to jail for twelve years or until the war is over. Whichever's longer." I told them before jerking out of his grip and continuing on my way to the barracks to change into my gear.

-–-

Sobel rode us hard. We learned the obstacle course, which was awful even without the Lieutenant's constant yelling about us being pathetic. He was absolutely focused on me, especially when I scrapped myself on the barbed wire, but shut up quick when I was the third over the wall after Winters and Toye. Apparently years of vaulting over fences to run from cops can be useful experience. I blame my brother for the experiences, but was also silently thanking him for preparing me for this hell, even if unintentionally.

But then we were introduced to Currahee, the mountain that loomed over Camp Toccoa, and the goddamn evil trail that winded all the way from its base to the top. My entire body hurt from the marching from the previous day, and I found myself slipping back into my old habit of staring at my feet and counting my steps in sets of 1, 2, 3, 4, to lose myself in the rhythm and block out the pain. I only snapped out of it when the feet of the man in front of me disappeared and my head snapped up to see the path narrowing and the men spreading out. I could see Winters at the front and Sobel waiting at the top that was barely in sight.

Gritting my teeth, I tapped into all the energy I had left and all the pent up rage I had left from the looks and the comments and the depreciation that hadn't stopped since I'd arrived at Toccoa to force myself faster and forward. I was breathing hard and my lungs and muscles were screaming, but I gave it all I had. I passed Muck and Don, and then Luz, and that bastard Liebgott. I caught the surprised look on his face when he saw me coming up and the way he tried to push on to keep ahead, but that only pushed me further. I would show that fucker. I huffed as I forced myself past him, my entire mind focused on the back of the man ahead of me, hellbent on passing him even though I knew I wouldn't be able to.

I vaguely heard Winters shouting at me as I passed him near the top where he'd stopped, but everything seemed muffled under the ragged sound of my own breathing in my ears. I slapped the stone pillar at the top just like I'd been instructed before the run and turned around to head back down, skidding a little but keeping my feet somehow. I didn't look at Sobel. I didn't want to see his face. I was just proud of my own performance, but I knew I'd have to do it again and again.

By the time I made it to the bottom of the mountain, I was somewhere in the middle of the pack as opposed to the back during the march and closer to the front during the sprint. At the bottom, the second I reached the men standing there waiting for the rest of us, I collapsed to the ground and rolled over onto my back. Closing my eyes, I breathed deeply and tried to keep my stomach down. At least missing breakfast has the perk of not having anything in you to throw up.

"You okay there, Private?" A voice asked and I cracked an eye open to see who had spoken, but I couldn't see them clearly because of the sun behind them.

"Do I look okay?" I grunted, squinting up at the person. "Sir." I tacked on when the person finally came into focus as Lieutenant Nixon. He was grinning at me.

"No, I guess not. But you looked pretty damn good that last bit of uphill, I gotta say," he said with that smirk he always had. I frowned a little as I looked up at him.

"Is that a compliment or are you hitting on me, sir? Because I have no interest in pursuing anything but professional relationships here," I told him and he barked a laugh.

"Just take it as a compliment then, Private. Here, can you feel your legs after that?" He asked me, offering me a hand. I took it and let him help me up off the round, stumbling a little but regaining my feet without the help of the arm he offered to steady me.

"I'll be fine. My cousin's track coach always used to say if you weren't heaving or passing out you had more to give and I guess I took it a little seriously," I told him, spreading my feet a little wider than shoulder width to help me keep my balance. He nodded a little.

"I could see that. I'll admit, that was impressive. Think you can keep it up?" He asked and I raised an eyebrow.

"Think I can't, sir?" I shot back, finally beginning to catch my breath. He huffed a laugh and shook his head.

"I like you, Private. You got fire." He looked over to where Sobel was finally on his way over. "You're gonna need it." And with that, he walked away, just in time to step up to the 1st Lieutenant's side as he began his tangent about us having to be better than that if we wanted to be paratroopers. I wanted to groan and roll my eyes, but restrained myself. I didn't need to get in trouble twice in one day.

-–-

"Private Ricci!" A voice called from behind me. I cut off from talking to Tab to turn around and frowned a little at what I saw.

"Lieutenant Coppola?" I asked, cocking my head. He smiled a little at me as he approached. "Can I help you, sir?" I continued.

"I'm here to take you to your ... lodgings for the night," he said awkwardly, his eyes flickering over to Tab. He probably thought he didn't know. I smiled a little at how he was keeping my situation discreet.

"Sure, Lieutenant. I'll see ya in the morning, Tab," I said, turning to tab who frowned but nodded.

"Alright, see ya in the morning. What should I tell the guys?" He asked and I shrugged.

"Exactly what happened. I'm not ashamed of it," I told him before nodding to the Lieutenant to lead the way.

"I'll admit, I didn't expect for us to meet again like this," the Lieutenant said after a moment and I smiled softly.

"Neither did I, sir. I hoped I'd be able to keep my temper for at least my first few weeks," I said, on the edge of a scoff.

"Hey, Ricci," someone said from nearby and I looked over to see Lieutenant Nixon walking over, waving. I waved back awkwardly.

"Hello, sir," I replied, stopping to salute him. He returned it and nodded a greeting to the Lieutenant, then went back to smiling easily.

"Where you going with Coppola? Barracks are that way," he said, cocking his head with a look in his eyes that told me he probably knew the answer.

"I won't be staying in the barracks tonight, sir. I'm to spend the night in a cell as punishment for the altercation I was involved in this morning and return to the barracks tomorrow," I told him stiffly, wondering what he was playing at. He was my superior officer, he would have been briefed about this.

"Right, of course. I was briefed about that this morning," he said, nodding. He turned to Coppola with a smile. "I can take her from here, Steve. She's in my unit, and I'm not doing anything besides," he offered. The other Lieutenant hesitated and looked to me to see if I was comfortable with that, which I though was kind of sweet, before nodding.

"Sure, Nix. You know where?" He asked and Lieutenant Nixon nodded.

"Don't you worry, the Private's in good hands," he said dismissively and Coppola nodded once more before going on his way.

I walked with the Lieutenant for a minute in silence, stealing looks at him out of the corner of my eye but otherwise keeping my gaze forward. If either of us was going to break the silence I would let it be him, and after a moment he did.

"Go ahead, ask," he said dismissively, pulling a cigarette out of his pocket. I hesitated before decided to go ahead anyway.

"Why did you offer to walk me to my cell, sir, if you don't mind me asking?" I asked him quietly as he lit his smoke. He offered me one, which I accepted, before responding.

"Because I don't know you, Ricci. It isn't often that I don't know things," he said as he held out the lighter for me to light the fag. I nodded a little as I took a drag.

"Alright, I'll bite, sir," I said with a smile. "Anything in particular you wanna know?"