C. Brown - Fraternizing

“Good morning, First Sergeant.”

He stood and walked over to shake my hand. “Morning, Sergeant, Cruz. Sorry to have to bring you in so early to deal with this shit. Students, you just never what you’re going to get.” He laughed, and I tried hard to join him, but I couldn’t force more than a tight chuckle out.

“Anyway, Sgt. Newsome came and reported an incident of sexual harassment between two of your students. And I know you were TAD during all of this, but as the lead instructor, I need to get your input.”

I nodded my head, well aware of what had happened, and wanting to hurry up and get to what we were going to do about Allen.

“Private Allen and Private First Class Bennett were apparently given orders to the same duty station. He expressed his dismay about it, to which she countered, and that’s when the inappropriate sexual comment took place. Now, I asked Newsome for his records, his PFT scores, his test scores, and I see a fine young Marine who lost his mind for half a second. When I spoke to him, he was remorseful and apologized profusely. I saw no reason to end this young man’s budding career because he spoke before he thought.”

“First Sergeant—“

“So, Sgt. Cruz, as their instructor, I have to ask, have you seen anything in class that you believe I need to know about before sitting down with Sgt. Major Thomas.”

“Actually, First Sergeant, Private Allen was involved in a physical altercation in the barracks one night, and I saw something very recently.”

“Yes. That incident. What else have you seen?”

His lackadaisical response to the altercation had my blood boiling.

“I had the students pair up to work on radio systems, and Private Allen called for Pfc. Bennett to be his partner. The look she gave was—“ I stopped and ran my hand over my face. “It was more than not wanting to work with him. It almost looked like fear.”

“Did you ask her about it?”

“I did. She was a bit hesitant to tell me what was going on. She just said it was an argument they’d had, but I couldn’t get any more out of her.”

He sat back in his seat, his arms folded across his chest as he exhaled harshly from his nose.

“Listen to me, Cruz. The Marine Corps is knee deep in sexual harassment training, and we have a goddamned zero tolerance policy. I won’t have this shit going on in my company. I am going to scrape the bottom on this swamp and find out exactly what the hell is going on here. So for today, Private Allen remains in your class. You are to keep him and Pfc. Bennett apart. Do you understand that?”

“Yes, First Sergeant.”

“Good to go.”

I turned for the door, affixing my cover to my head before striding out of his office, down the hall, and around the corner to mine. When I got inside, I quickly took out my phone and texted Cassie, forewarning her that she would more than likely be called in to speak again.

Me: Just a quick FYI, First Sergeant O’Hara will probably be calling you in again. Tell him exactly what you told me and nothing more.

Me: Oh, and good morning, Blondie.

I didn’t get a reply right away. I sat my phone down on the desk and placed my head in my hands, wishing that none of this shit had happened and that it would hopefully blow over quickly. The door squealed. I looked up, and my eyes met with Jensen’s—cold and empty. He walked further in, sitting down at his desk and not bothering to say a word to me. The longer I allowed the silence to fester, the more agitated I grew, so I finally stood, walking over to where he sat and said what was on my mind.

“I need to know why you like Allen so much.”

He looked up at me. “Why don’t you like him? He’s just like you and me, Alex. He’s young and motivated. He wants to do well, and he loves the Corps. That was us when we were in his shoes.”

“I was never like Allen,” I snarled, taking offense to the comparison.

“Sure you were. You just can’t see it now because you have your dick stuck up inside of his competition.”

He was taunting me, and if everything that had happened recently wasn’t stirring such a shit storm, I probably would have decked him.

“I just know you better not be trying any underhanded shit where Pfc. Bennett is concerned. You don’t like what I’m doing, that’s your fucking problem. But she is off limits.”

“I wouldn’t stoop that low, Alex. I’m not you.” He grabbed something from his desk drawer then stood and stalked over to the door, turning around to look at me with his hand on the door knob. “Be honest with yourself. If you weren’t fucking Allen’s target, none of this would be that big of a deal.”

“Fuck you,” I growled, feeling self-control slowly slip away from me. My phone buzzed on the desk, and I reached over to retrieve it.

“Your girl?” he asked, smirking as stood there staring at me. “You go ahead and take care of that while I get shit ready for our students who need their instructors to prepare them for their final exams.”

He turned and walked out of the office, leaving me there to fester in my own shit. A tiny part of me felt like he was right; that at some point, I probably was Allen. I was young and motivated, only I hadn’t preyed on females the way he did.

Or had I?

Was my way the same thing, just done in a different manner? I hated my guilty conscience because it made me re-evaluate myself. It made me look in the mirror and stare at my glaring flaws. It made me see how far I had strayed.

I stared down at the text from Cassie, finally allowing a smile to creep across my face.

Cassie: I’m ready. And good morning to you too, Sgt.

I put my phone away, hoping that what Cassie would have to tell First Sergeant would remove our Allen problem once and for all. Like him or not, the fact of the matter was that he was threatening and harassing Cassie, and whether Jensen liked it or not, I would break his fucking fingers one at a time to make sure she was protected.

I sat and thought, long and hard, about everything—Allen, Cassie, Ruiz, Castillo, Jensen, Riley. Good and bad was coming from all directions, intertwining all of us in one big, mangled mess. Friendships had grown while others had been severed. My heart grew and my mindset flipped. Through it all, I couldn’t find the desire to regret any of it. It all made me think, but not enough to feel remorseful.

Cassie Bennett had come into my life for a reason. And Camp Lejeune or not, I wasn’t about to let her go so easily.

Cassie

I went to class just like any other day.

Shock hit me as I stood in formation and saw Allen standing there. Were they not going to do anything about him? I’d been warned when I mentioned joining the Marine Corps that it was a boys club. If Allen got away with what he’d said to me, then I knew it to be true.

We walked into the classroom. Alex looking stellar and enticing as he always did. Jensen and Newsome updated us on our standings for the challenge, and to my surprise, the partner radio systems activity was factored in to our scores. I was still sitting in first place, but Allen had made up ground, and was trailing behind in a close second. I noticed the instructors making a concerted effort to keep us as far away from one another as possible. Even though I didn’t sit near him, they moved him even farther away, making sure that it would take an effort on our parts to get to each other, and even then, Alex would not allow that to happen.

I spent lunch with Dalton, Lane, and Hutchins. Both of them had received orders to Camp Pendleton, just different units. They were excited since they were now an unofficial couple. It was nice to see them so happy.