(Holly's PoV)

I grabbed the Delsym out of the cupboard and poured the thick, orange liquid into the lid. Why am I doing this?

I didn't want it to spread, I told myself. The last thing I needed was more of the boys complaining about something trivial. And this was my job. I had to prove I was responsible and competent at any task I was given.

And Landon just looked awful. For the past three days, he was sweating and shivering, light-headed and congested, tired, snot-filled, and breathy. And he seemed to be struggling between talking and hurting his throat. Isaac even called his pain "a grand birthday gift" yesterday.

"Landon," I yelled from inside the infirmary.

I suspected he hadn't gotten any sleep. I had heard him up coughing all night.

He stumbled through the doorway. "Yeah?" he said weakly.

"Here." I held the lid out in front of me. "It's cold medicine...and I didn't poison it."

He stared at it with his mouth gaping open. "Oh Holly, I could kiss you--you know if I wasn't sick and disgusting."

"Either way would get you punched in the mouth," I reminded him.

He smirked. "Right." He coughed a few more times before taking a drink. He made a face at the taste. "Forgot how bad that stuff was. But thanks."

"I'm just doing my job," I told him. "Don't think this is anything special."

"Of course not," he replied. He glanced at the hallway. "Shit, we're leaving."

"You better get better soon," I ordered.

"Cuz you wanna prove something to Sgt. Blake?" he assumed.

"C-correct," I answered, although my voice seemed to falter for some reason. I cleared my throat. "I'm proving a point."

What other reason was there?

(Gavin's PoV)

For the second day in a row, Landon came out of Holly's room. The first day he came out unharmed left us all speechless, so this time we were prepared. Almost the entire platoon was waiting for him (minus Alan, who was doing whatever arrogant douches do, and Justin, who was reading about physics).

"Well, look at you," Tristan prompted as soon as Landon walked in.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm still kinda sick." His voice did sound much clearer though.

"No, we're talking about Holly," I corrected.

"Yeah, you went into her room twice in one week and didn't die," Michael commented.

Landon gave a nonchalant shrug. "Oh yeah, she's just giving me cold medicine."

I nearly fell off the foot of my bed. "She's helping you?"

Isaac huffed. "To think, she has her pick of over twenty guys and she chooses Landon."

Landon raised an eyebrow. "Because I'm sick."

I pulled the glasses off his face momentarily. "Are you blind even with these things on?" He swung his hand somewhat aimlessly in an attempt to get them back until I finally returned them to him. "She likes you."

"Guess we have a wedding to plan," Tristan teased.

"She literally just gave me cough syrup."

"But that's just it!" Logan interjected. "She never helps us."

Tristan elbowed Landon. "But hey, it all works out cuz we know how much you like her too."

"Like when you try to stop us from saying embarrassing things about you in front of her," I added. "We know what we're doing, we just continue cuz it's fun."

Landon stuttered a response and grew redder.

"Shit dudes," Felix realized. "He actually likes her."

"What's the difference?" Sean asked, but we ignored him through our laughter.

"So then, does that make him 'patient-zoned'?" Clayton guessed.

Tristan put his hand on Landon's shoulder. "Don't worry, you've still made it farther than Gavin."

"Bitch please, everybody's made it farther than Gavin," Kent muttered.

"Hey!" I exclaimed, trying to break through everyone's side conversations.

Landon shrugged and smirked at me. "Kinda think you got yourself stuck in this one."

(Daniel's PoV)

Clayton dangled an envelope over my head. "Somebody's gonna be happy."

I snatched it out of his hands. It was from Joy.

"Who knows, maybe she broke up with her no-good, non-singing, not you, boyfriend," he continued.

"You guys," I pleaded.

"Ah, ah, ah," Trevor said, positioning my head back down towards the note. "You just leave all the petty hatred to us."

"That's what friends are for," Logan added.

I rolled my eyes at them as I finished opening the letter.

Daniel,

I hope you're all right, cuz if you aren't I'm gonna feel really bad about saying this, but you are so lucky you're not at school right now. We have the worst student teacher for choir. He's so annoying and full of himself. And I swear he hates women's choir the most. We're always in trouble. Yesterday, he sent a girl to the office for "being disrespectful" when all she did was disagree with him. He's so unfair. He also makes us sing the worst songs ever. There's this one awful madrigal called "fire, fire" (don't ever listen to it--even when you get back) that has the stupidest lyrics and he's always coming up with these dumb metaphors to try to get us into it. Seriously, it sucks.

But sorry for ranting. I just had to get that off my chest. I tried to tell Bradley about it, but I don't think he was that interested. I guess there are some things I can only talk to you about. Anyways, take care and let me know how things are going with you!

--Joy

I set the note down. "Why wouldn't he listen to her?" I wondered out loud.

"Cuz he sucks?" Logan guessed.

"I'm serious," I told them. "I know this is something relatively small in the grand scheme of things--just teacher problems--but still, he's her boyfriend. Wouldn't he want to support her?"

Trevor shrugged. "Maybe this just means you've got a better chance."

"I don't want 'my chance' to equate to her unhappiness," I said.

I guess there are some things I can only talk to you about.

For some reason that didn't make me feel as good as I thought it would.

(Landon's PoV)

"Sgt. Blake," I called as I walked down the hallway. Somehow we had managed to lose the guard duty schedule. Isaac swore I had the 10-2 shift tonight even though I (and Justin, who has photographic memory) remembered the sheet saying his name. Nevertheless, he wasn't going to settle until we got a new copy as concrete proof.

"We accidentally lost--"

There was shouting before I even stepped inside his office.

"We have already been over this!"

"You saw the letter too!" The second voice was Holly's. "We got tipped that the Chinese army is bringing reinforcements to this area."

"That doesn't change things--"

"It absolutely does," she snapped.

I held my breath, unable to move, in fear of getting caught.

"Those boys are helpless," she continued.

"You think I don't already know that," he retorted. "That's why you'll need to be ready for them in the infirmary."

"You don't want me as a nurse, you just don't want to admit I'm capable of doing a 'man's job'," she shot back. Her eyebrows were probably furrowed and her arms folded across her lower chest--the way they always were when she was angry. But I didn't dare peer in on the scene.

She mentioned something about the reinforcements again. The thought of more enemy soldiers made my skin feel colder. They could be more experienced. They could have stronger weapons. They could ambush us from all sides.

"Now's a better reason than ever," she stated. "Let me fight."

I nearly lost my footing and fell backwards against the wall. Luckily the sound was drowned out by Sgt. Blake's yelling. "I already told you, no!"

My head felt like it was spinning as I tried to wrap my brain around everything. Holly had just made a case about why a situation was going to be dangerous, then asked--no, demanded--to be put in that situation. And apparently it wasn't the first time either.

"You can't honestly think that allowing your over-active, female emotions near a weapon is a good idea," Sgt Blake scoffed at the thought.

"Oh, because these boys are soooo emotionally stable," she argued.

"You're a nurse," he reminded her.

"But I could be so much more useful," she almost sounded like she was pleading.

"Doesn't matter," he finished. "Useful or not, you know where you belong, and you'll stay there as long as I'm in charge."

I quickly retreated back to the barracks before she could storm out, still in a daze about what I had just heard. Fighting? Why? She must have really wanted to do it since it would involve spending more time with us. I mean, granted, she did have violent tendencies, but wouldn't a nursing job be better?

"Well, well, well," a pompous voice broke my thoughts. "No schedule. That means it's you."

It took me a moment to process. "Sure, whatever." I didn't have the energy to disagree, so I reluctantly grabbed my gun. My mind was such a mess that I didn't plan on getting much sleep anyway.

(Aaron's PoV)

Sean had been quiet all day. No bouncing off the walls. No bursts of random ideas. He remained silent and still, hardly even changing his facial expression. By night time, he was curled up, leaning against the back of his bed, looking downward.

I sat down next to him. "Sean, what's up?"

"I miss football," he mumbled.

"Well, I knew that," I said somewhat hesitantly. "But that's nothing new."

He shifted uncomfortably.

"What's wrong?" I pressed further.

"That's just it," he continued. "I miss football. Like, all my friends back home got to try out for the high school team this year. We were all gonna be on JV together our first year. Now it's everyone except for me."

It suddenly dawned on me that Sean would've been a freshman if we were back home.

"And what if the war never ends," he went on.

"Hey, don't worry," I tried to reassure him. "It's gonna end...eventually."

He stood up. "But what if it doesn't?" he interjected. "What if it never ends, and I never go home, and I never play football again?" He looked up at me, his blue eyes pleading for help.

My tongue felt heavy as I struggled to find the right response.

Sean turned away. "I just wish I could play football now."

"I mean, I do too," I stammered. "But it's not like we can do much about it...since we're in war and all."

He sighed. "I know."

I caught sight of my bag and a thought occurred to me. "But..." I began as I unzipped it. Sean looked up, but didn't reply. I grabbed the sock football Connor and I had gotten from him for our birthday. We were short the amount of people needed for even one football team, but maybe there was a next best thing.

I placed the sock football in Sean's hand. "I know it's not football, but what about a game of catch?"

His eyes lit up instantly.

"Connor, get down here, we're playing catch," I called up to the top bunk.

"You're so weird." He rolled his eyes at me as he climbed down the ladder.

"You know you want to." I playfully shoved him.

"You can't do that," Isaac interrupted. "It's wind down time. We're supposed to be quiet."

I brushed him off. "Since when have we ever abided by that rule?"

Our game was rather contained between our two bunks, but it was still fun. We weren't throwing hard enough to hurt, but just hard enough to make the other two work for the catch. Even confined to our little area, we were jumping and diving for catches, never missing a single pass. Smiling, laughing, genuinely happy.

It was abnormal for Connor and it brought Sean back to normal. Regardless of the rarity of our situation, we were thoroughly enjoying ourselves, even during a war.