(Justin's PoV)

The morning routine wasn't much better the second time around. I couldn't believe I was saying this, but I actually missed only having to wake up at 6:00 for school.

The sad part was, I was probably one of the best at waking up. Many of the guys were either in an unpleasant mood or so tired they were in a completely different world.

"Recruits! At attention," we heard from down the hall. I got in line and saluted with several of the others, while the remaining boys practically jumped out of their beds to get in with us. After what happened to Matteo and Will yesterday, no one wanted to get caught messing up.

Sgt. Blake walked in and eyed our line. "Today, you'll take your initial workout exam. I only suspect a very select few of you will be any good, but I will work you until you can meet the most basic set of standards. It includes running, push-ups, chin-ups, sit-ups, and other workouts the army has deemed important, but first: make your beds!"

"Why?" Matteo complained.

I could see Connor and Aaron snickering two bunks down.

It was obvious this boy never learned.

"It's just so pointless. I don't need to make my bed. I'm just gonna get back in it tonight." Matteo may have thought he made a great point, but I had to say that Sgt. Blake's was a little more valid.

"Not if you have all night cleaning duty."

(Gavin's PoV)

First, in the army, you have to take a physical test to see how much you sucked at everything. I wasn't the worst, thankfully, but Sgt. Blake definitely had his work cut out for him with this group.

"I give up." Tristan collapsed. "I can't do any more push-ups."

Landon rolled over onto his side. "I gave up three ago."

I was determined to keep going at least 10 more. The standards were 80, but if I could make it at least half way there, I'd be fine for the first day.

My arms were starting to give in as my two friends continued to complain.

"I've done more physical work today than I have in the entirety of my life," Landon said.

"Yeah," Tristan agreed. "We've had to do chin-ups, sit-ups, climb ropes--it's like the gym class from hell."

"You guys are wimps." I teased, approaching my 42nd, but my hands slipped and I had my closest encounter to my first kiss. My face slammed into the floor. Landon and Tristan started cracking up. "Shut up," I mumbled. "I still made it further than both of you."

"But none of you made it further than me," the freckled brunette boy to our left bragged.

Tristan scoffed. "Big talk for someone who's 5'2"."

The kid, Ned, wasn't phased at all, he just continued with his 56th push-up. "I bet I'll be bigger than you when I'm your age," he said simply.

Landon shifted uncomfortably at Ned's arrogance. "Well how old are you anyway? Fourteen?"

"Twelve," Ned replied.

The three of us exchanged shocked glances. "You got drafted at age twelve?" Self absorbed as he was, I was starting to feel bad for him until--

"Nope, I enlisted." His face beamed with sweat and pride.

"What?" all three of us exclaimed.

"Why the hell would you do that?" Landon questioned.

"I'm going to be a war hero," Ned stated.

Tristan was growing red in the face. "You wanted this? We were all taken from our homes. Our families. Our friends. All against our will and you signed up for this. None of us got a choice."

"But I did, because I'm awesome," Ned cut him off.

We tried ignoring him for the rest of the test. It was a little satisfying that he couldn't make it any further than 65, but even at age twelve he still made it further than 80 percent of our platoon.

"Well the majority of you have failed miserably at everything so far," Sgt. Blake informed us. "So that just means we're gonna have more workouts to get you into shape."

Landon and Tristan both groaned quietly.

"Now get up and go to-"

"Lunch, lunch, lunch," Tristan hoped.

"The track," Sgt. Blake finished. "Run five miles."

We could hear Ned boasting. "I'm so good at running. I hold three different track records at my middle school".

The three of us rolled our eyes. We knew it was going to be a long day.

(Matteo's PoV)

I was so tired. I couldn't think straight at all. In the past two nights I had gotten less than five hours of sleep, and this morning we had to run five miles and do an intense workout. By lunch, I could barely stay upright. My head dropped onto the table and I got food in part of my hair. I was too out of it to mind though. "I'm tired," I groaned.

"I'm tiiiiired," Connor mimicked in a high-pitched, whiny voice.

"Just ignore him." Will whispered to me.

"You do sound like that," Connor's red haired friend, Aaron, said matter-of-factly.

I hated being made fun of too much to agree with Will's request. "It's not my fault I've only had five hours of sleep since Monday," I argued.

"Actually it is," Connor retorted. "You wouldn't have gotten in trouble if you could keep your mouth shut."

Aaron leaned in towards him. "I don't think he knows how to do that."

I folded my arms and sneered as they continued to laugh.

After lunch we had another workout. This one started with 50 push-ups. Each time I lowered, my eyelids dropped a little more. Luckily I was around the choir boys now, who made much better company.

"And I thought staying awake in Geometry was hard," Clayton observed. He didn't appear to be handling the push-ups so well either.

"Yeah, sorry Matteo," Daniel apologized. "I know this has gotta be super hard for you." He struggled to keep his arms flexed.

Once the clock hit 9:30, we were all sore beyond belief, but grateful that we were done for the day. It was a half hour before lights out, but even as tired as I was, I had to write to Emmy. She was probably worrying like crazy about me. I remembered starting the letter, but I couldn't remember exactly how I finished it.

(Will's PoV)

I climbed up the ladder to the top bunk, passing Matteo on the way up. He was fast asleep with a pencil clutched in his hand. I'm pretty sure no sound could have woken him up, which was good because even though we were supposed to be "winding down", it was still rather loud in the barracks

"Gross," Daniel exclaimed in disgust. "Clayton, get your dirty socks off my bed."

Clayton tilted his head back in annoyance. "Why?"

Daniel looked like he was either about to punch Clayton or faint on the spot. "It's disgusting," he explained.

Clayton pretended to think for a moment. "Nah, I don't really feel like it. You can either take them off yourself or leave them there...in the place where you sleep-"

"Ewwwww!" Daniel cringed and ran straight for the bathroom. He came back with three paper towels. Two to cover his hands and one to put the sock on. He transported them over towards Clayton's bedside and quickly grabbed the hand sanitizer that he had brought with him to Basic Training.

Right before ten we all quieted down a little so we wouldn't get in trouble, but we still talked amongst ourselves.

"Today was so hard," Tristan complained.

Aaron nudged Connor and they both laughed. "Especially for a certain Spaniard."

Marcus looked around. "Where is Matteo anyway?"

Trevor pointed to the bed closest to ours. "He's pretty much passed out on his bed."

"No wonder it seemed quieter," Connor joked. The other guys laughed.

"He's kind of a loud-mouth," Gavin agreed.

"And not the brightest," Alan added.

I bit my lip to prevent myself from getting in the middle of this, but it just wasn't fair that they could talk about him as if he wasn't in the room. I mean, he couldn't hear them, but still.

I think Logan could sense my frustration because he all of a sudden pretended to be real panicked "I think I hear Sgt. Blake coming."

"Quick! Everybody shut up and turn off the lights," Daniel advised.

Everyone followed his suggestion since the two of them had come across as pretty reliable. Plus no one wanted to risk getting in trouble.

"Thanks," I mouthed to them before going to bed.

(Aaron's PoV)

I woke up to Connor shaking my head. "Morning," he told me. I couldn't respond due to his large hand covering my mouth. I am never going to get used to this. I got out of my bed and began making it.

"Look who's still asleep," Connor muttered, pointing across the room.

No surprise Matteo wasn't up.

We were gonna wake him up (rather unkindly), but we found a piece of paper underneath his head. Connor furrowed his eyebrows as he carefully took it out from under him. "What's this?" Matteo's head stirred, but he didn't wake up.

Connor and I began perusing the paper, but we only made it through about two lines before erupting into an enormous fit of laughter. "He fell asleep writing a love letter to his girlfriend." I could barely keep a straight face as I spoke.

Connor put on a mimicking, sappy falsetto and started reciting the note aloud. "Dear Emmy: I miss you soooooo much. I wish we could be together..."

Matteo must've recognized the words because he got up almost immediately. "That's mine! Give it back," he demanded, making several grabs for it.

Connor held the letter above his head and smirked. "I'm not finished."

Matteo wasn't exactly short, but Connor still had over six inches on him.

"Basic Training is so hard. We have to work out all day and I had to do it with practically no sleep. It's not fair."

Several of the other guys in our platoon joined in laughing.

Matteo reached for the note. "Give it back, Connor!"

"I just wanna see what you wrote to your girlfriend," Connor replied, exuding fake innocence.

"Is that cuz you don't have one," Matteo challenged, causing the room to go deadly silent.

Shit, I thought. Connor didn't have a girlfriend, but he sure did want one. Lindsay Richards to be exact. She was a straight A student, class president, volleyball captain, in varsity show choir, homecoming queen, pretty--the list goes on. Connor had known her since the fifth grade and developed a crush on her the moment they met. It took him six years to muscle up enough courage to finally ask her out, only that didn't go so well.

Normally so cool and collected, Connor was stumbling over his words, and she rejected him before he even finished talking, responding with, "why on earth would I do that? I'm way out of your league."

It also didn't help that this was all rather public.

I tried to get him to move on, but he just couldn't. I didn't get why he liked her in the first place, but I really didn't understand why he continued to like her after all that, but he couldn't get over her for some reason.

Connor shoved the letter into Matteo's hands before storming to the other side of the room. Matteo on the other hand just had a smug expression.

I didn't know what he had to smile about. I knew for a fact that he had just made enemies with the wrong person.

(Clayton's PoV)

Sgt. Blake had us running sprints across the gym. My legs burned. It wasn't even like I was out of shape either. I danced nearly every single day.

"Eighty-nine," Justin counted out loud.

I rolled my eyes. "Stop doing that."

He gave me a look of confusion. "What?" That must've been a weird feeling for him, seeing as he knows everything.

"Counting," I replied through gritted teeth. "Stop bringing math into this. You're making it worse than it already is."

Justin didn't respond and instead ran ahead of me.

"How long until lunch?" Trevor asked.

Daniel looked over at the clock and sighed. "Still another 45 minutes."

The rest of us groaned in response.

Logan gasped, "I'm so hungry and thirsty."

I was pretty breathless too. "I know. I feel like I'm gonna die of dehydration."

"You're not," Will said, a little agitated. I never got around to asking him what his problem was because we all stopped immediately when a new man entered the room.

This man appeared to be in his early twenties with an average height and decent build. He had curly blond hair and blue eyes. "Blake, I'm bored," he said.

Sgt. Blake clenched his fists. "That's Sgt. Stockhold to you, and I gave you lots of paperwork to do."

"But that's no fun," the man complained.

"Who is he?" Sean whispered to Aaron. Or at least he tried to whisper.

The man looked offended. "You mean you didn't tell them about me?"

Sgt. Blake sighed irritably. "It must've slipped my mind. Recruits, this is Lt. Jason Schultz, who should be in his office working right now."

"I don't wanna do paperwork," Lt. Jason whined.

"I don't care," Sgt. Blake tried to respond, but he was interrupted by Lt. Jason.

"I have an idea."

"Oh no."

Lt. Jason walked around inspecting us all. "These boys seem pretty cool, and let's face it Blake, you're not 'hip with the teens' like I am. I say, I'll be a drill Sgt. with you."

Sgt. Blake had an expression of utter horror, but despite Jason not being argumentative, that man was not going to take no for an answer. It looked like we had a new drill Sgt.

(Matteo's PoV)

I pulled out a pencil and paper. I had to finish my letter to Emmy. Luckily, I didn't think Connor would be so eager to take it this time. Not after what happened the day before.

Dear Emmy,

Sorry it took me so long to write. I really miss you. I wish we could see each other. Basic Training is really hard. I don't think I've ever worked so hard in my life--not even when we were preparing for state finals. On top of all that, I've had to do all this work with practically no sleep, courtesy of our drill instructor. He hates me. I mean, I'm pretty sure he hates everybody, he definitely hates me the most.

There are some guys here that I really don't like, but I have made some friends, especially Will Atteleigh. He's my best friend. He has a twin sister who's about your age. All in all I'm pretty tired and miserable, but try not to worry about me. I love you.

Love,

Matteo