"You think that's bad? My dad has a new girlfriend," Tori blurts out. "He says he wasn't dating her before they got divorced, but I'm not stupid."
"That's nothing. My mom dated a new guy every month before my stepfather. She totally had dating ADD. Then she got married and pregnant all in a year. I'm afraid she'll get parent ADD and not want the kid... or Marc."
"As long as we're playing Whose Life Sucks More?, I can one-up you yet again. My parents just got divorced and my dad already cancels the weekends he's supposed to have me. My mom hopes he moves away and never comes back so she doesn't have to deal with him. But that's not what I want. I just wish... I just wish things could go back to the way they were."
I gaze longingly at Avi. "I do, too." I sigh, resigned to living in the real world.
Jess groans as she sits down next to us.
"Where have you been, Cleo?" I ask my best friend.
"Cleo? Wait, what happened to your chin? Did George the Zit spread?"
"No. While you were being carried like Cleopatra on the stretcher, the real wounded--me--finished the run bandaged up like Frankenstein."
"Yeah, well /just puked my guts out. Did you ever realize how much vertigo you can get lying on a stretcher bouncing up and down like a frickin' basketball? I had a death grip on the sides the entire time. I seriously thought I was gonna bounce right off."
Miranda, who I just notice is sitting on the other side of Tori, leans forward. "I'm sick of hearing you guys be all negative. I want each of you to say something positive."
Positive? I point to my gauzed-up forearms, gesture to my bloody chin and then to Avi talking to Liron, and then, as the cherry on top of my miserable life, I lift up my bangs to show off George the Zit.
"Say something, Amy," Miranda insists. "Something positive. I'm sure it'll make you feel better."
"Okay, Miranda. I've got it." I motion the girls to lean in close to hear my positive words. "At least I'm not dead."
How's that for positivity?
I have to admit it does make me feel better.
Chapter 19
Physical strength is needed for obstacle courses, but mental strength is needed when being close to your ex-boyfriend
Tori plops herself down on my cot during a fifteen-minute break the next day. "I hear we're sleeping in the desert at some point."
"Why would we do that when we live in such luxury-right here?" I gesture at the bulging springs above me.
"Maybe they want to toughen us up."
"Oh, please. I'm tough enough. Any tougher and I'll grow balls and a hairy chest."
As if the thought of sleeping in the desert at night isn't scary enough, Ronit is leading us to the activity Avi warned me about.
Shooting an M16 rifle.
So now we're all standing in line, waiting to be issued a big rifle.
"I'm afraid of guns," I say, but nobody seems to be listening to me. They're all too excited. I guess it wouldn't hurt to hold the thing.
I have to sign for it and check that the serial number of the issued weapon, written next to my name, matches the actual number on the rifle. I can almost feel testicles growing between my legs as it's handed to me (I'm kidding, of course... about the testicles growing between my legs, not about being handed my very own weapon).
"Do you have any colors besides black?" I ask the guy handing out the guns. "Are you kidding?"
"Of course I'm kidding. Although I wouldn't mind a pink one to match my luggage." The guy shakes his head and I think he mumbles something like American princess, but I can't be sure.
You should see the American boys in our unit as they're given their weapons. By the GI Joe expressions on their faces, you'd think they were just handed a Man Badge.
"I'll show you mine if you show me yours," Nathan jokes when we're standing under a canopy at the range, waiting for further instructions.
"Don't annoy me, Nathan. I have a gun." Of course it's big and bulky and warm from the summer sun. I sling it over my shoulder, feeling every bit of a soldier now. I definitely look the part.
"It's not loaded," Nathan responds dryly.
After handing us safety goggles and earmuffs, Sergeant B-S brings out a big box full of metal "magazines" and shows us how to insert the empty magazine into the bottom of the rifle. We've learned about the parts of the M16 and the different types of bullets in the classroom. Weapons safety has been drilled into my head.
Rules of gun safety in a non-combat environment:
Never point the weapon at a person, and always point it in a safe direction
Don't put your finger on the trigger until you're ready to shoot the weapon
Keep the weapon unloaded until you're ready to use it
After loading their magazines with bullets and shoving them into their weapons, Avi and Liron lie on their stomachs in front of canvas sandbags, with one leg straight and the other leg bent for support. With their rifles resting on the sandbags, they aim for the paper target in front of them and... bang!
When they get up and we're ordered into position on the range for dry firing--shooting without bullets, that is--I raise my hand.
Nimrod comes over to help. "Amy, what's the problem?"
"I'm not sure I can do this. I'm not really a gun person."
He laughs. "That's a good joke. Hey, Gefen! Come here!"