Boot Camp for Bad Boys

Chapter 10

  "You're absolutely unbelievable!" I rolled my eyes and pulled at the sleeves of my hoodie to hide my fingers in them. The cold breeze early this morning was prickling at my skin and at one point, I sneezed as well.

"Alright, alright. I didn't mean to scare you, although you got me wondering why in the world are you out here lurking on training grounds at this hour?" he asked, putting his head against cement roll up we were in.

"I couldn’t sleep at all, I tried everything possible, counting sleep, merely closing my eyes hoping it’d come to me but it didn’t. And it most certainly does not help when I'm still spooked by your lame horror story earlier at the bonfire.”

A lazy smile crept its way to his face while he looked at me, as if to deduce what he should do about my inability to sleep. "You need some warm milk, that’ll help you get some sleep, trust me, 99.99 percent of the time, it usually works." Caleb concluded after staring at me. 

"Pretty sure there aren't any vending machines for that sort of beverage." I said.

"I know just where you can get it, come on." he crawled out of the cement tunnel and dusted against his sweats. I followed him out, tucking my hands in the hoodie of my pocket.

"I'm freezing my ass off." my teeth chattered violently as a sudden gush of cold breeze blew right in my face. “And it’s not even anywhere near Spring.” I bit out.

"Give me your hands." he took out his hands, palms facing towards the night sky.

I looked at him weirdly and slowly released my clasped hands that were in my hoodie pocket and placed them on his palms like he asked. He took my hands in his and brought it close to his mouth and blew hot breath into it and rubbed both my hands furiously.

"I could have done that on my own." I said, relishing in the sudden warmth against the skin of my palms.

"But you didn't." he countered and he repeated that action one more time before returning my hands to me. Okay, he had a point there, which brings me to my next question, why did he have to do it for me?

"Come on, I'll show you where I get my late night snacks." He whispered as he gestured me to follow him.

We crossed the usual pebbled path that led towards the cabins, making we steered clear of the windows, sneaking behind the long rows of both girl and guy cabins and went around the back door of the cafeteria. "Pretty sure it's locked." I whispered as I watched him pry his fingers against the edge of one of the windows of the cafeteria as I felt my adrenaline rush through my veins, looking around the both of us—keeping an eye out for anyone.

"Chef Andre always leave one of the windows open for hungry teenagers." he pulled open the first window but it didn't budge so he tried the second one and it cracked open slightly. He turn his head briefly to smirk at me, I stared at him with those big doe of mine, blinking. "The windows are tinted, no one can see us from the outside." He said and I nodded slowly, averting my gaze.

Caleb lifted the window a little bit wider. Once he was safely in, he held out a hand for me, gesturing me to come right over. I grabbed it and hauled myself up, putting one knee in front of each other. He grabbed my waist and lifted me, placing me down on my feet like I weighted absolutely nothing.

The red emergency lights were lit dimly in two corners—which was barely enough for us to make our way around the building. Caleb stood in front of one of the shelves and smoot his hands against it and pulled out a can.

"Found it, can you get the hot water in the flask to boil, just flick the switch that’s on it."

I moved towards the steel counters and found the flask he was talking about. I peeked inside of it to make sure there was enough water before flicking its switch on so it could boil.

Caleb got out a glass from the dishwasher and placing it gently on the kitchen counter, using a spoon he found and pried open the lid of the can. 

"Do you do this a lot? Sneaking into the cafeteria this late?" I asked, leaning against the counter while I watched him scooped out some powder from the tin and filling the bottom of the cup.

He shrugged. "It’s not only me, there are other people I know who does the same. Danny would sneak in here too sometimes but Demi? She's a heavy sleeper there's no way you'd wake her up, not even if there was an earthquake nearby."

"Didn't take me long to figure that out tonight."

I remember poking at her shoulder a few more times but she merely swatted my finger away and rolled over in her head, mumbling something about college.

"I think it's about that time I've asked how you are finding this place?" he asked, leaning against the steel kitchen counters next to me while we waited for the water to boil. I found it hard to breathe when he stood so close next to me, so I discreetly moved an inch to the left—not that I was intimidated by him or anything, it was because I had some sort of unfamiliar feeling buried at the pit of my stomach and then I realized, this wasn’t the first time. "There's not a second that goes by I don't think of going home, but weirdly enough, I think this place is growing on me."

"Well at least you’ll be missed from your family at home." he trailed absent-mindedly. What does that even mean?

"If you don't mind me asking, why are you..” I trailed, not sure if I wanted to continue what I had wanted to ask him. Caleb looked at me intently, as if waiting for me to continue my question but the water flask clicked twice once the water was fully boiled and a few beeps followed.

I cleared my throat when I realized that we were just staring at each other, not saying a word at all. So I reached for the switch and flicked it 'off’, hoping that would break our stare and clear the silent, tensed air around us.

"Here let me." Caleb pushed himself up and turned around toward the counter. I let him pour the hot water into the glass and mixed the milk powder thoroughly with the spoon and I was watching him quietly the whole time.

"That should do it." he clinked the spoon at the edge of the glass three times and handed the glass to me.

"Thank you." I offered him a grateful smile. “ Don’t worry about it.”

Somehow the question I had wanted to ask Caleb never came out again of my mouth again, so I left it as it is. Although, he did ask me what I had wanted to say earlier, but I brushed it off quickly, asking about something totally unrelated.

It wasn't long till we got out of the same window and snuck back to our cabins. He had walk me back all the way to my cabin, getting in the same way like they had snuck in two days ago. I fell into the damn shower.

“Damn it Demi, not the swim suit.” I groaned. “You alright there Allie?” I heard Caleb ask. “All good, but at least I know what Danny feels—falling into the shower and all.”

Tonight was one of the best sleeps I had in a very, very long time.

**

"20 laps, who the hell does that kind of thing at 5:30 in the morning?" I coughed, hoping that it’d get rid of my parched throat. I slowed down my pace after my eight lap, impressive huh? Okay fine, I cheated—I just multiplied each lap by 2.

"You've gotta get used to this by now, sweetheart." Caleb said as he sent a smirk my way, jogging effortlessly on the track.

There it was again, those little terms of endearment he’d call me.

"Leave me alone Hawthorne, I’ve still not forgiven you for what you did to me last night." I pointed a crooked finger at him. "But I made it up to you at the cafeteria! With milk!" he reminded, jogging backward on the track.

"Aw man, already? Damn Caleb, once again, you made papa proud!" Danny shook his head, putting two thumbs up.

"Leave it to you to imagine the complete opposite, its’ no wonder Demi calls you a pervert." Caleb sent a nudge strong enough to push him off the track. I rolled my eyes, watching the two bicker while Demi grabbed my arm once she caught up to me, “Come on, sweetheart.” Demi stifled a giggle while she pulled me along with her.

After the morning exercise, we made our way to the cafeteria for breakfast, and the only way to start your day—was bacon on waffles smothered in melted butter and jam, and a good ol' glass of OJ.

"Damn it Marshall, get your ass in line." Danny tug on of the boys who cut into his line. "I'm starving man, I feel like I haven't eaten in days." Danny rubbed his pecks, "It's calling out to me." he whimpered. 

"Oh quit being such a drama queen and take your tray will you?" Caleb punched him lightly in the shoulder and the line moved. After we got our trays, we took out our usual seats by the large glass windows. Caleb passed me a glass of warm milk from his tray and he shared a brief smile before turning his attention to Danny.

"So, what do you guys wanna do when we visit town?" Demi asked. Well, guess what? We have a whole day to ourselves in town, how cool's that? I was so excited, I've been here long enough and it seems like I was forgetting how did the outside world looked like. Okay that’s a little over exaggerated but you get my point.

"What's going up there in that tree house?" Caleb knocked my head lightly with his spoon. I brushed his spoon away. "Ew, is that honey!” I swiped the back of my hand against my forehead and looked at sticky texture on my skin.

Caleb went ahead and wiped of the rest of it, licking his thumb after. “Yeah, think it was honey.”

“And he calls me disgusting whenever I do that.” Danny drawled.

**

3 big buses arrived at the front gate of the Boot Camp ground 15 minutes after we finished our breakfast. Buffy was tying her bootlace and Demi got her chance. "Excuse me ladies, sexy coming through." Demi pushed through the messy bee line and got into the bus and hogged the back seats. "Ah, same spot like always." Danny took a seat next to Demi while I followed.

Caleb sunk down in his seat and pulled out his earphones and plugged it into his iPod.

I sat at the window seat and did the same, blasting my music. About 15 minutes after we left the camp, Caleb pulled out my earphone. "Now it's time for our traditional activity of the month, I called it shoot-and-glare game." Caleb rubbed his palms together as he took 4 bottles with what looks like lime juice in it and handed it to us. "Aw man, I'm gonna pass this game down to my kids, and they will pass it to their kids, and their kids will pass it..." Danny began.

"We get it!" Demi huffed and uncapped the bottle. "Easy there feisty pants" Danny made a face at her and they began glaring at each other. 

"Now, this is a lime drink, you can drink it all but leave. the. seeds." Caleb warned as he uncapped his bottle and popped a straw inside. "Why?" I asked as I popped the straw in my drink.

"Because, that's the best part, now, watch and learn." He blew bubbles into the drink and the seeds began swirling in his drink. Apparently, he sucked in a seed and I thought he was gonna choke but he aimed his straw at a boy with really big muscles and blew into the straw; the seed flew straight and hit his neck.

Boy with big muscles spun his head around and clearly he was annoyed at whoever did that. Caleb pretended to yawn and put his arms around me and he leaned in really closely, "Now pick your opponent." he whispered.

I bit my lip from trying to laugh as I saw two other seeds flew past and hit the others; again, they turned around and were looking for the culprit.

I sucked in the seed with the straw and made sure the seed was intact with the straw. I aimed at the people who were sitting at the front and I blew air into the straw. "Oh shit." I mumbled as Buffy rose to her full height, glaring at the entire bus passengers.

"WHO DID THAT?" she roared. My face turned pale as I hid my bottle behind my back and swallowed hard on a freaking seed.

"Did what?" Demi asked with a straight face, her cheek burning with laughter gases as she sucked it back in as hard as she could.

"THE SEED, WHO SPAT A SEED AT ME?" she shouted. "Good job princess, you're really good at this game." Caleb smirked as he hid he bottle under his hoodie.

"Nobody eating is allowed in here, sir, I would appreciate if you sit down right now." the bus driver pointed at the seat she was sitting at. "The bus is not in equilibrium "he added.

Oh sweet potatoes. She sat down rather loudly and I swore I saw the metals under the seat bent a little and the seat gave way and she fell flat, on her butt. The entire bus roared in laughter, even the bus driver was guffawing away and Buffy screamed at us to shut up.

After an hour and a half, we arrived at the center of town around 10 in the morning; we were given strict orders to meet Buffy back here by 9 after we ate dinner. "Okay guys, first thing’s first, snack shopping— I'm out of hot chocolate." Demi skipped down the rocky pathway and we followed her.

 The grocery store were not as big as the ones we had in the city. An elderly man stood behind the counter counting cash as we entered. "Hey Henry, how are you?" Caleb smiled and shook the old man's hand. "Good to see you boy, how's the training going, that giant turkey still yelling at you guys?"

Caleb laughed and answered, "And she gets louder everyday"

"And who's this young lady here by your side?" Henry smiled at me. “Hi.” I greeted while Caleb briefly introduced me to Henry.

"She recently just joined us a week ago— she punched a girl in the face and broke her nose job."

 I blushed at the statement, swatting Caleb right in his arm but that only made him throw his arm around me.

Henry nodded. "Nothing new I’ve heard from your camping grounds, now you two run along and get anything you want, it's on me."

**

Next stop was a small clothing store. "I need more clothes, I'm like re-wearing my underwear twice in two days." Danny mumbled. "Ew, gross much?" Demi gagged the moment he made the confession.

"You didn't hear that." Caleb chuckled as he picked out some funky looking peacock feather robe and made me try it on. "No way, I'm not wearing that" I laughed so hard when he put it on instead and twirled in it. I grabbed a pair of large glasses with a rat’s nose on it, laughing harder than I normally would. “You look just like one of those blind mice.” Caleb concluded.

Caleb added a large straw hat over my head and he grabbed a coconut shell bra and made Danny put it on—he looked really ridiculous. Demi fished out her phone and snapped pictures us in mismatched clothing and Danny in his new SpongeBob boxers with his thumbs up.

We headed to a few more shops and bought a load of junk food and some board games to keep ourselves occupied at night. Demi bought a few novels which recently just released in stores. There was a shop selling plush toys which the money will then be donated to the nearby orphanage. Demi and Danny disappeared into the shop and I was left alone with Caleb.

"Tell me what your favorite animal is." he asked.

Well, it wasn't that hard to answer, I loved dolphins and puppies. Although puppies are out of the question since my mom is allergic. "Dolphins, penguins and puppies, why?" I asked.

I raised a brow and followed him to the middle of the shop. A wooden rack filled with marine creatures on the shelves. There were dolphins, sharks, fishes, tortoises and many more. "If you could keep one these as pet, which one would you pick?” he asked.

"Didn’t peg you as one who actually kept plushies. But I’d probably go with the dolphin or a penguin, they’re pretty interesting creatures.” I said, browsing through the shelves.

"I don’t, but I just like to look at them, reminds me of those, oh, have I told you I used to work part time at the Sea World?"

"No you haven't." I trailed and a smile crept its way to my lips. "Are you serious?"

"Yeap, I used to volunteer there. I trained the dolphins, fed them, and then there were also penguins." he picked up a baby blue dolphin.

"That’s pretty dope, maybe you could..”

"Guys! You've got to see this!" Demi exclaimed once she burst through those doors—when did she even leave the store? Demi dragged me out by my arm.  “Wait...” I tried saying but Demi’s excitement had completely drowned me out.

Demi had got us tickets to the carnival that was in town. “Dude I didn’t expect the carnival to show up just like that, right on the day we get to come out.” Danny said, looking around us. “Well then I guess today’s our lucky day.” I heard Caleb say.

There was the Ferris wheel at the far end, those rocket rides where it’d take you in circles until you’re high up in the air, those little game booths you get to win gifts at. The music was playing all over the place and there were kids that ran past us, screaming their heads off in excitement.

We went on a few rides, played some dart games. Caleb and Danny were experts at the shooting range and the two boys got a bullseye at the shooting range with every turn they took.

I stared at the baby blue dolphin on the shelves, looking at its beady eyes as I felt my hand reaching for it from afar, my fingers opening and closing. Aw man, I kinda want that...

"Allie, get over here." he gestured me to come over with the shift of his head and Demi gave me a gentle nudge, breaking me out of my trance. I shifted my attention from the giant plush toy that was on the shelf and turned my attention to the boy who and called me.

“Yeah?” I answered. “You want that, don’t you?” he asked, as if he noticed what I had been staring at much earlier and I nodded.

“Then come here.” He opened his arms, gesturing for me to stand in front of him. My heart pounded violently against my chest as I looked over to Demi, who was nowhere to be seen. I took careful steps towards him, ignoring the weird feeling that was churning in my gut as I approached him.

"Hold it like this.” He took my hand gently and placed one of it on the body of the rifle and the other one, he angled it in such a way that his finger was right over mine the trigger. I felt the pulse on finger wrist racing as I breathed in slow, laboured breaths.

I felt my mind go blank for a second when I felt his chest pressed against my back, his cheek pressed closely against my ear, whispering. “Focus princess, eyes on the prize.”

I gulped, my palms got real sweaty but I felt my shoulders slowly relaxed into his embrace as I lifted my lids, feeling a new sense of confidence as I focused my eyes at the target that Caleb was aiming our rifle at.

“Breathe, princess.” He said, chuckling ever so lightly and I felt every nerve in me come alive. “Now, here we go..”