>be Evan.

>be sixteen, chilling in his room, reading A Storm of Swords.

>an explosive argument is ensuing in the living room.

>Jason is eighteen, and has just informed their parents he has signed up for the military.

>Their parents are not happy about it.

>Jason has already filled out his paperwork and is heading out for basic at a date Evan didn't hear correctly but sounds like it won't be too far off.

>He's been volunteering at the base in Howell recently, all while telling their parents he won't actually sign up.

>Their father is livid.

>You're not the guy who joins the military, you're the guy who runs his own business, you're the guy who gets his degree and goes to work for some place making six figures a year. You're not a soldier. You're not some politician's pawn.

>It's not your decision, Dad.

>There's a war right now, Jason!

>You're better than this, Jason, says their mother, trying to keep the peace.

>I need to get out of here, and I'm not gonna be able to save enough working at AutoZone. I need to just go, and this is the best way. I'll be taken care of. I can go to school after I get back.

>You're not going.

>You need to go to college NOW, for the last time.

>WHY?

>Because you need to get a job.

>You guys need to wake up. Unless you're the best at what you do you're not gonna just find a fucking job.

>Watch your mouth.

>It's true!

>If you get a degree you will find a job.

>I'm not going into any more debt. I've already got my car debt and that alone is hard enough to manage.

>You deal with that just fine.

>Can you pay for it? Will you pay for me to go to freaking Eastern? Cause I won't get in anywhere else, not with my GPA.

>As I've said before, everyone your age is taking out loans. You can pay them off when you get a job.

>I'm not going to just get a job. But if I serve, the military will pay for me to go to Eastern, or wherever the fuck I want!

>Watch your mouth.

>I'm losing my mind around here! It's always been about what you two wanted even when you said it was what I wanted! It wasn't! It was what you wanted!

>Jason gets quiet. Evan can practically hear him shrugging, throwing his hands up.

>I'm eighteen and there's nothing you can do to stop me, he says.

>You don't understand the decision you're making here. You don't get it, snarls their father.

>Evan thinks of two wolves, baring their teeth at each other.

>Right, right, I get it. Don't feel it. Or, you can feel it! Or don't talk about it! Don't inconvenience anyone!

>Jason's ranting again, his voice is getting fainter now, he's left the living room and is headed out the front door.

>You're not leaving on the fifteenth, yells his father, his own voice getting fainter as he follows Jason out. You hear me? Not happening! I don't care if I have to say that to Bush himself!

>Evan hears Jason's car start up and pull away.

>Maddie comes into the room, scared at the fighting but trying to play it off like she's looking for one of her hair clips that she thinks she left in here.

>Evan returns to Storm of Swords, tells Maddie not to worry about it.

>Jason'll be fine. Go away, I'm reading.

>I can't have him go over there, Evan hears his mother say. That would eat me alive.

>He's not, says his father repeatedly. He is not.