"Claire!"
Priscilla called out as they stepped outside.
"What's up?" Claire glanced back.
"You aren't genuinely upset about what they said, are you?"
"They were just joking around. They didn't mean anything by it." Priscilla hadn't known her new roommates for long.
But they hadn't fought yet, so she figured they were decent people.
Since she already knew Claire, she wanted to play peacemaker.
It was a well-meaning gesture, not inherently wrong.
Claire didn't want to make things difficult for her. "I'm not mad, but I genuinely dislike those kinds of jokes. They just cause unnecessary drama and misunderstandings." Priscilla thought Claire was overreacting. "I doubt it. Ethan doesn't seem like the sensitive type."
Claire mentally scoffed. Words have consequences. How do you know someone in that crowd didn't take it seriously?
She just stared silently until Priscilla finally cracked under the pressure. Pressing her palms together in a pleading gesture, Priscilla sighed. "I get it. I'll definitely remind them next time."
Claire shot her a weird look. "I already told you, it's not your problem."
If they ran their mouths again, Claire knew exactly how to put them in their place. Claire had never been one to mess with, and seeing the look in her eyes, Priscilla knew someone was going to get burned.
But there was nothing she could do. Her roommates had started it.
Tabitha was loud and careless, Lily was a bit too clever for her own good, and while Macy was more grounded, Priscilla didn't know her well enough to intervene.
She would just wait and see. If they could be friends, great. If not, she certainly wasn't going to get on Claire's bad side.
Priscilla felt an inexplicable fear of Claire, firmly believing that crossing her would end in absolute disaster.
After the ten-minute lunch, the squad assembled.
Unsurprisingly, some hadn't finished, while others were still chewing their food. Still, their time management wasn't terrible, and almost everyone made it back. The two students who showed up late were immediately ordered to stand at attention.
"Ten minutes was a luxury. If it were us, the punishment would be at least half an hour of standing."
Yeah, right!
The crowd went dead silent.
So this was them being lenient.
Everyone had woken up early and spent the whole morning on a bus. They were exhausted.
Getting punished just for eating a little too slow naturally bred some resentment.
But orders were orders. No matter how pissed they were, they couldn't overturn the instructor's ruling.
While the two stragglers stood perfectly still, the rest of the squad was dismissed. They had a brief lunch break before the afternoon inspection at ten past two.
The morning inspection had been a breeze—just basic tidying.
The afternoon requirements were going to be brutal.
Even their blankets had to be folded into the legendary Tofu-block fold.
A collective groan echoed through the ranks.
Everyone dragged themselves back to their dorms, waiting for the instructors to
come around and teach the technique.
At the same time, rumors circulated
that the chief instructor would be
making the rounds to check on
everone. The students were a mix of miserable and excited.
Claire didn't need anyone to hold her hand; she just pulled up a video on her phone
and mastered the military fold in minutes.
The other girls saw she had it down, but no one dared ask her for help.
The gap between regular mortals and the academic star felt just a little too wide.
Priscilla, however, stepped right up and asked Claire how to do it.
Claire walked her through it, step by step.
Priscilla learned quickly. Coming from a family of surgeons, her dexterity had been honed since childhood.
She had always wanted to be a surgeon herself, so mastering the precise folds was a piece of cake.
Seeing Priscilla succeed finally gave the others the courage to ask Claire for pointers.
Claire treated them all equally and taught anyone who asked.
The only exceptions were Priscilla's three roommates, who went to Priscilla for help instead.
Tabitha and Lily couldn't get the
hang of it
I even tried to convince no matter how hard theet fold it for them ent
Priscilla to
Priscilla just told them to keep practicing.
She
their chores. Once you opened that door people assumed you were at their beck, and call foreverything.