Chapter 236 One Tent, Three Enemies
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Malory finally held herself back. “Captain Oestergaard, on not living with her, no matter what! Ava and I pitched that tent–she didn’t lift a finger. Make her move out!”
“I was sleeping,” Holly shot back. “You two came in making noise nonstop. I already said I’m a light sleeper. With all that talking, how am I supposed to fall asleep?”
“You being a light sleeper has nothing to do with me,” Malory snapped, “I’m not your mom or dad–I don’t owe you anything. And what kind of attitude was that? You jumped at me out of nowhere and slapped me across the face. Look at the scratches you left!”
“But you slapped me a dozen times!” Holly wailed. “Youe bullying me! The two of you are targeting me on purpose! You and Ava ganged up and badmouthed me!”
Ava turned to Linden to make herself clear. “Captain Ostergaard, I refuse to live with her as well. And I won’t accept her accusations.”
Linden said, “Alright. Malory and Ava, you two will continue sharing a tent. We guys will give up one of ours for Holly. We’ll squeeze together for the night.”
Then he looked at the boys. “Any objections? Speak up if you have them.”
“Captain, we divided the tents for a reason,” Elmer said immediately. “That tent barely fits three guys as it is -how are four supposed to fit? Why does Holly get a whole tent to herself?”
Linden looked at the others. “Anyone else?”
The guys glanced at each other–some siding with Elmer, others reluctantly agreeing with the captain.
After a moment, Linden made the final call. “Majority rules. One tent goes to Holly. Dario, give her yours and pack your things.”
Malory snorted and took Ava’s hand. “Come on, Ava. We’re going to sleep.”
As she passed Holly, Malory said, “Hurry up and pack your stuff, or I’ll toss everything out myself.”
At this point, none of them bothered pretending anymore.
Holly glared at them viciously. “Fine! Just wait. When training ends, and we’re back at school, I’ll make sure you both suffer!”
Malory spat in her direction. “You think I’m scared of you? Bring it on! I’ll be waiting!”
Ava looked at Malory. “You’re really not scared? She’s probably from one of the elite families on Capitol Planet.”
Malory shrugged. “Why should I care? The university doesn’t belong to her family. The worst she can do is spread rumors about me or try to isolate me socially. And I’m supposed to be scared of that? Please. If she gets in my face, I’ll slap her again. Besides, I know you now, right? You’re my friend. We bonded through a fight!”
The relationship between the three girls in the squad had deteriorated to the freezing point. Ava and Malory stuck together, while Holly kept to herself–though she spent most of her time clinging to the guys
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Chapter 236 One Tent. Three Eneintes
anyway. She barely spoke to Ava or Malory.
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Seeing his team divided like this, Linden felt helpless, and his opinion of Holly kept sinking lower. She was… difficult, to put it mildly.
Ava and Malory helped with chores without being asked Holly, on the other hand, lazed around from beginning to end. Any time she was assigned something she complained about being unwell, or she’d coo in her sickly sweet voice that left a few gullible boys in a laze.
After three days of marching, everyone’s early excitement had completely evaporated. All that remained was exhaustion. And with Holly dragging the pace down their progress wasn’t great.
Malory sniffed her own clothes and recoiled. She felt griny, sweaty, oily–just gross. “I’m doomed! I stink! This is terrible!” she said while hustling over to Ava. “If this keeps up, I won’t be able to show my face when we finally get there!”
Ava said, “We don’t have the conditions for better. Let’s push through. We’re all in the same boat–nobody’s judging anyone.”
Malory rubbed her nose. “I’ve never been this gross in my life! All thanks to that chief instructor–he’s really treating us like actual soldiers! Does he have zero compassion? No training has ever been this miserable!”
Then she marched up to a tree, imagined it was the chief instructor, and unleashed a tirade on it.
Ava stood nearby, wholly awkward as she listened to Malory curse Laurent out.
“I hope you stay single for life! And if you get a wife, may she run off with someone else! If you get a wife, may she divorce you! If you get a wife, may she go find a younger guy! If you get a wife, may she look down on you! If you get a wife, may she…”
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