I wake up with a big, fat yawn. I stretch my arms and legs farther as possible and sit up in my bed scratching my head confused. What had woken me up? Oh right, Captain Will is shouting to get up outside in the dormitory’s corridor. “C’mon! Get up kids! You need to be in the dining hall in five minutes, c’mon!” He shouts in his deep voice. He knocks on every dormitory door and then goes away. I’ll never understand how that man can be so energetic at 07:00 am. I stand up and go towards the window to open the curtain. My window isn’t so big. I have a view on the desert, like everybody else. Our academy is in the middle of the desert. The nearest city to us is at more than fifty kilometers away. When we first came to the academy, the truck was windowless because we weren’t supposed to know where we were, so now, I’m not even sure in which country we’re in. I blink a few times as my eyes adjust to the light. My room fills with light. My room isn’t that bad. I have a double bed, a medium wall-robe, a desk with a chair made of dark wood and a small bathroom. First, I put on my sister’s necklace, the only memory I have left of her. Its heart shaped and there is written my sister’s name on it, Jenny. After five minutes I’m ready in my black jeans and green t-shirt. Thank God that I don’t need to wear a uniform. However, there are rules like “It’s not allowed to wear skirts or trousers above your knees.” “It’s not allowed to have footwear like sandals, high heels or trainers.” And other stupid dress codes. For this reason I wear always my black boots. Bor-ing, Alicia would say. I step outside our tight dormitory corridor and head downstairs for breakfast. I pass the main hall, the training center and Will’s office and finally enter the dining hall. The dining hall is huge. There are several tables, and four big windows that show the wall surrounding the academy. The walls in the dining hall are a sad yellow and the pavement is white, like in a bathroom. Half of the soldiers are there chatting with each other. Unfortunately, Sam with his group is there also, all in the green uniforms and their black boots. Sam has bright-green eyes and a lot of dark-blonde and messy hair. He is more muscular than every soldier in this room and more annoying than, well, every person on earth. I quickly head to the counters were they are serving breakfast before Sam spots me and starts annoying me. My group is not in the hall yet, so after I fill my tray with fruit I go to our table in the far corner of the hall. I sit and eat an apple hoping that today Sam will not appear and– Nope. Here he is staring down at me in front of my table. “What’s up scientist?” He says smiling. “You don’t have anyone to annoy except me?” I ask looking at my apple. “Nope.” He says sliding in a chair in front of me. “What do you want?” I ask annoyed. “Wow, somebody isn't in a good mood here, huh?” He says enjoying himself. “Give yourself some credit for that.” I reply. “Yeah, whatever.” He shrugs and steals a grape from my plate. I wait a couple of minutes until he gets bored and goes away, but no, he just sits there eating my food. Over the years I learned how to control my temper and be patient. “Hey,” he says breaking the silence. “I need some bullets today.” I automatically get my agenda and a pen from my pocket. “Go on.” I say clicking the pen open. “Okay. I want two packets of M5’s bullets, two of the R2’s- the small ones- and one packet of C60’s.” He explains like a child saying what he wants for Christmas. I write everything down and nod. “For who?” I ask. “All mine.” He replies. “OK, you can come to the lab at ten o’clock or–“ “No,” He cuts off. “I haven’t got time. You come to the training center at nine o’clock; I’ll be in the shooting zone.” He says and then goes away before I can reply. Oh no, not the shooting zone! I can do bullets but I hate guns. Just looking at one gives me chills. Alicia interrupts my thoughts by sitting down with her tray in front of me. “Morning.” She smiles. “Morning,” I reply. “Where are the others?” “They’re coming.” She says nodding towards the counters. I see them in line in front of the drinks counter. “Who stole your grapes?” She says pointing to my empty plate. She knows that I don’t like grapes. “I don’t wanna talk about it.” I say waving the conversation away. “What happened?” She asks looking concerned; her brown eyes worried. “Mr. Green Eyes came over.” I say nodding towards Sam’s table. “Idiot.” She mutters twisting her red hair into a rope. Andrew, Ben, Lucas and Stacy come with their trays at our table and sit down. “Who’s an idiot?” Andrew asks biting an apple, too. “Green Eyes is annoying Mia, again.” Alicia says drinking her orange juice. “Ignore him.” Says Andrew smiling at me. I smile back. Andrew’s blue eyes are always comforting. “Hey, he stole her grapes- I mean- my grapes. She was supposed to save them for me but that idiot is always in between.” Says Alicia annoyed. “So sad.” Says Stacy sarcastically. Alicia gives her a dark look but then she giggles. “Mike also broke my glasses, remember?” Says Ben. “You also got new ones, remember?” Replies Stacy. “Yeah, then he broke also that ones, remember?” Says Ben. “And I punched him in the face, remember?” Says Stacy. “And Will shouted at you, remember?” Says Ben. “It was worth it.” She finally replies smiling at the thought. Ten minutes pass and Alicia’s plate is still half-full. She is talking so much that she doesn't have time to take a bite of anything. “I’m going to the lab, see you later.” I say and get up after they all nod. The lab is up stairs. It’s not very big because it’s not that we really construct bullets. We take the bullets that didn’t work out from some industries and we just shape them in every style we want, for example the M4’s, C60’s, et cetera. I take my agenda and decide to start with the C60’s. The whole two hours I can’t take off my thoughts from the idea that I need to go to the shooting zone. I just entered once there and that was the time when I decided permanently not to enter anymore. My group didn’t come up yet. Two hours in the hall? Seriously? Is Alicia still talking? Damn. I can’t even ask her to bring the packets to Sam instead of me because she isn’t here. In the end, I just decide to be courageous and go to Sam by myself. After finishing the packets, I head down stairs and stand in front of the training center’s door. Trying not to think about it twice, I go in the training center and hold my breath. Yup. I certainly don’t like it here. On the left, there is the boxing zone. Where soldiers learn to box (Well, duh). In front of me there is the strength zone, where soldiers lift and learn how to not break your back while doing it. At the back of the room, there are doors with other zones I don’t want to know about. And then, on the right, the shooting zone. Chills run down my back. There are glass cabins that you go in and shoot on the target. Okay, maybe I should have though twice before coming here. I feel everyone’s gaze on me and I feel self-conscious. Surely, I’m the only girl that ever entered here. Then I spot Sam out of cabin number 2 that is waving me over. I go to him, my legs shaking and jumping every time I hear someone shooting. Sam did it on purpose. It has to be. “Just in time, I run out the bullets.” He says smiling at me. I give him the five packets of bullets that he asked for. “Thanks.” He says for the first time. “Whatever.” I mumble not making eye-contact. I start to turn away and go, eager to get out of here as soon as possible, as he grips my arm and stops me. “Wait, I need to know if they work.” He says. “Yeah, well, that’s no business of mine.” I say and turn away again as he stops me again and says “What if I tell you this is an order?” “Excuse me?” I asked disbelief. “You know, being the Captain I can give you orders, and you should respect them.” He says still with a smile on his face. “So?” I ask. “So I order you to come with me to the cabin to try out the bullets.” He says feeling proud. “What if I say no?” I ask curious. “Well, I have a gun you know…” He says patting his belt where his guns are. I shiver. “Like if you are going to shoot me,” I say trying to sound courageous, but failing when my voice betrays me. “You want to test me?” He says and steps closer. I realize that he has a gun in his hand and I freeze. “You haven’t got bullets!” I say snatching the packets off his hand. He laughs. “C’mon! You are too smart that I can’t even prank you.” He says annoyed. “So sad.” I say mocking Stacy. However, inside, I’m still freaked out from that gun. He laughs slightly and then heads towards the cabin. “Ladies first.” He says opening the door and inviting me in with his hand. Likening it or not, he’s really the vice-captain and I should really respect his orders. I hold my breath and step inside the cabin. The cabin, where there is place only for one person. But he doesn't care and steps inside too, leaving me squashed between the glass of the cabin and him. He closes the door behind us and grabs some ear protection and plastic goggles. “Academy policy.” He says offering a pair to me. I put both on and give him the packets. “OK, let’s start with the R-2’s.” He says putting the bullets in his black gun. I hate him so much right now. He did it on purpose. He knows that I hate guns. He‘s so mean! I hold my breath as he points the gun towards the target. Then he shoots. I jump in the air breathless. He giggles under his breath. “OK, the R-2’s are working.” He says still making fun of me. But as soon as he points the gun to try the C-60 I rush out of the cabin’s door and suddenly bump into someone. We roll on the floor and I realize I’m on top of Mike. “What the –?” He says furious. Mike stands up and Sam steps out if the cabin laughing himself silly. I stand up as soon as possible as he steps towards me. “Now you listen to me! Try again to bump into me again and I will not think twice before using my gun, okay?” He shouts. His nose almost touching mine. I nod quickly. Then he looks at the breathless Sam and he laughs too. I rush out of the training center as they high-five each other. An hour later, I’m in the Main Hall. There are 50 chairs facing a screen. Here they train (mentally) the soldiers with tactics and stuff, and there is the door to go outside, the main entrance. I sit in one of the empty chairs still freaked out. I’m the only one in the room. Why are they so mean? I don’t remember hurting them. Then I see someone enter the hall and turning around I see Andrew. “Mia! We’re looking for you,” He shouts across the hall. He walks towards me and sits beside me. “Hey.” I say. “Hey, what’s going on?” He asked concerned. “Guess.” I say trying not to think about the guns and all. “Um, Sam?” He suggests. I nod and look at the blank screen. “This needs to stop, seriously.” He says and sighs. “I know, but how? Capitan Will doesn’t listen to us.” I say. “So we need to stop this by our self’s.” He says determined. “Yeah, sure. Maybe you forgot that Sam is the vice-Capitan.” I say and sigh. He doesn’t reply. Some minutes pass and when it starts getting very awkward he speaks. “I have good news.” “Like what?” I ask hoping something really great. “I know what the next competition is about, I heard Will talking about it in his office.” He says. “Please don’t tell me it’s something athletic.” I beg. “Nope.” He shakes his head. “Then what?” I ask. “The task is to construct a fake bomb. And Ben has a book all about it.” He says. I sigh in relief. Maybe this time we can win.