"Cadet Athena Patton!" "present sir"
" Cadet Brittany Jacobs!" "present sir"
"Cadet Clementine Russell" "present sir"
"Cadet Felicity Moore" "present sir"
"Cadet Jessica Jenkins!" "present sir!"
"Cadet Lexi Greyman!"
There was grave silence, Cadet Moore took a side glance at her right, but didn't find who she was looking for, 'where is she??' she wondered in perplexity, but tried so hard to hide her bewilderment.
Again the commander called out a little more emphatically this time, "Cadet Alexandra Greymannn! " but again, no response.
Felicity bit the corner of her lower lip, as she saw the commander mark her name absent.
She last saw Lexi last night during dinner at the mess hall and afterwards they had all retired to bed, 'what happened next??' she wondered, she scanned her eyes all around the assembly ground, just as far her eyes could see without having to move her head, yet there was no sign of her.
"Cadet Robert Miller!..." the commander just carried on with the roll call.
This meant serious punishment, being a final level cadet didn't mean immunity to the law, even if she shows up now, she still won't escape the punishment coming her way, it is bad enough failing to respond to your name at the first call, worst still the second time, how much more never.
This was unlike Lexi though, Felicity could feel it in her guts that something was definitely up, 'but what exactly was it??'
By now the roll call was over, and another commander had taken the podium to prep and brief them on the activities of the day, Felicity wasn't even paying attention to half of what was being said, only absentmindedly echoing "yes sir!" or "aye sir!" when the rest did so.
Her eyes were still moving like a carousel looking for her, and just then she saw whom she has been looking for.
Lexi could be seen sprinting wildly towards the muster point, she caught everyone's attention, it was evident when the commander stopped talking.
"Stand back!" came a bellow from the commander and that brought Lexi to an abrupt stop. Lexi's weary eyes met Felicity's, and in them she saw a desperate question of 'what happened??' She just shrugged slightly, giving an it's–a–long–story gesture.
The commander continued his briefings like nothing happened, but he was definitely going to handle her much later. After what seemed like an eternity for Lexi, the morning muster came to an end and every other cadet was dismissed except for Lexi.
Of course there was no avoiding the reprimand that lies ahead, she was ready to face it head-on.
Commander Thompson came and stood in front of her and immediately she straightened up and gave him the traditional salute, "sir!"
He took one long look at her and then said, "this is unlike you cadet Greyman, still I'm not going to ask what happened, but whatever it was, ensure it never repeats itself again. However, you're well aware of the consequences of your action, "I apologize for my lateness and negligence sir, I promise it wouldn't repeat itself in the future," Lexi pleaded, not to avert the punishment but to fulfill all righteousness.
"It sure won't. Now cover the circumference, 6 times" he instructed, turned away and left.
Lexi gave out a painful chuckle, running round a field of 280.42m long was no small feet. A circle would take you about 3 minutes to complete while jogging, but 6?? You're looking at about an 18 minutes jog round the field nonstop! So she started, slowly but steadily, oh god! Her head was still pounding from the hangover.
She had never had a hangover, not once because she had always known her alcohol tolerance level, and she made sure to keep to it last night, but what changed?? She couldn't place her hand on it, but one thing was certain, her drink was spiked.
Oh it had to be! And she knew just who would perpetuate such despicable act; Clementine and Athena!
Those girls has been a pain in her neck since their first year, sometimes she ignored them but other times she gave them a taste of their own medicine, but they never learn.
By now Lexi was almost out of breath, and her body glistening with sweat, her legs were beginning to teeter, but she can't stop now, stopping would mean starting all over again!
A few more minutes and she was done, she collapsed on the bare grassy ground, panting and breathing heavily, then a shadow fell over her and she opened her eyes to see Felicity staring down pitifully at her.
"Are you ok?" she asked, squatting to her level, Lexi took in one long breath and exhaled sharply. "Well, what do you think?" she asked rhetorically grabbing the bottle of water Felicity was holding and drained half of the content in one go.
"What happened?? Did you over sleep or something??" Felicity asked worriedly, she knew the above reason was unlikely, but she needed to cross out that possibility.
"Those two insufferable pests drugged me" Lexi said casually, Felicity ignored the casualty in her voice and took the information she provided.
"Athena and Clementine?? What's with them?? Don't they ever stop?? Where did they even get drugs from?? Look Lexi, we can't let this one slide, we need to teach them some superior lessons!"
"Help me up" Lexi said as she stretched out her right hand to Felicity, she took it and pulled her up.
"I'm famished Fel, let's get to the mess hall and grab some breakfast" Lexi said as she began to head towards the direction of the hall.
"How can you be thinking of your stomach at a time like this! We should be kicking their asses right now!"
"Well if we're going to do that, then I would need some energy. You're not the one that just ran an 18 minutes marathon."
"Oh yeah?" Fel frained as she tailed behind Lexi trying to keep up. "Well if you hadn't gone for that party you wouldn't be singing this tune right now, I told you not to go for that party Lexi! But no, you wouldn't listen, you just wanted to please some annoying simp! Why don't ju... Ouch!" Fel suddenly exclaimed as she bumped into a figure and before she could say jack, she was given a strong push which almost had her crashing down.
"Watch where you're going moron!" A hoarse female voice barked. Felicity regained her stamina almost immediately and when she saw who are attacker was, her face immediately crumpled into an ugly frown, "Clementine! You bi..." she made to throw a punch at Clementine but missed because Lexi pulled her back.
"Let go of me Lexi! Let me fix that ugly face of hers!" Felicity yelled, "don't get your hands dirty because of them Fel, they're not worth it" Lexi said, still holding her back.
"What?? Look who's talking! Didn't you just embarrass yourself at the muster point?? You drunken bitch!" Athena fired back.
Something inside Lexi began to let loose, her both fists tightened, she momentarily shut her eyes and when she opened them she said, "look, I know very well what you both did to me last night, you spiked my drink and made me late for the muster. I'm not here trying to make you admit it, but you would do yourselves great good if you stay off my path henceforth, else I wouldn't be this polite next time."
"I have no idea what you're talking abou..."
"heyyy!" Lexi yelled, she took two steps forward and she came standing face to face with Clementine, and with a low but strong voice she said, "I've had quite a clean record since my day one in this academy and not once has my name entered the black book, but one more word from you Clementine and I swear, that would change right now."
The two friends immediately looked flustered, something about Lexi's aura made them go numb like vegetables, although they tried to look unshaken by Lexi's words, but right in the inside of them they were dead meats.
"Come Clemmie, let's get out of here" Athena urged her as she pulled her by the elbow.
"Yeah listen to your brethren scaredy cat! Unless you want to die!" Felicity mocked, as the two friends hurried away.