I decided not to tell anyone about my pending departure and just came back, lay in bed and fell asleep until morning.

I forced myself into a cold shower, not feeling brave enough to risk a warm one in the staff quarters again and I swallowed down a fairly brown looking banana which was actually one of the better meal choices on this whole bootcamp campus.

At exactly five hundred hours my boots were digging into the dirt of the field and Axel was assessing my uniform in the same way he does every morning. It felt strange knowing tomorrow morning would be different. I would likely be sat at the back of my uncles cop car, handcuffed and shitting myself for what was about to come next.

This was my last day of freedom and I was here getting judged by the one reason I was even getting sent away in the first place. Yet I couldn't be bitter, he had given me multiple chances but I messed up each and every one of them.

He had us March for half an hour, chanting to us as we moved our feet over wet dirt and uneven ground. I noted Nate staring at me from across the way and I wanted to go and tell him the outcome of the ring but because he was much taller than me he was placed on another line.

Soon enough Axel began shouting orders for the obstacle course.

I used my arm strength to pull myself up a ten foot fence and then dropped to the other side, I ran dodging out of the way of used car tires, I crawled under barbed wire that nicked at my clothing, I rolled around in wet mud like a pig and I climbed up a single thread of rope, ringing a bell at the top before jumping back down.

My body was cold with sweat, my lungs desperately clung for air and my palms were red with the friction burns of the ropes. Just when I thought it was over Axel shouted for everyone to run forty laps of the track.

"What happened?" Nate deliberately ran slower so that he could jog beside me.

"I'm getting shipped off tomorrow morning." I informed him with a regretful tone.

"Shit Harper, that sucks." He said softly.

"Thompson, Williams you both just earned yourselves ten extra laps." Axel shouted. I rolled my eyes, wiping the sweat off my forehead but continued running. "Gibbins ten extra laps. Pick up the pace Michaels." Axel shouted again.

"Damn he's in a bad mood today." Nicole whispered to Nate and I.

"Seems pretty normal to me." Nate replied.

"You know what he needs? A good fuck." Nicole joked. We burst out laughing and Axel stormed over to us.

"Drop and give me twenty!" We fell to the floor, struggling to do the push-ups after the obstacle course and track running. Today's bootcamp was horrific.

***

"So guys, I'm leaving tomorrow. I broke too many rules and this is my last night of freedom." The whole of my dorm stopped what they were doing and looked directly at me.

"Harper you can't leave!" Holly complained.

"I don't really have a choice." I laughed, though it wasn't a funny situation at all.

"Well if this is your last night of freedom we need to go out and celebrate it, get ridiculously drunk and forget everything." I could feel my eyes lighting up with mischief.

"Let's do it!" I exclaimed.

I was six beer bottles down and four vodka shots. The small bar down the road was just as busy as last time, this being the only bar for miles around it seemed like it would never go out of business.

"I'm really going to miss this place." I slurred to Hannah who slept on the table next to me.

"You've been here twice." Caitlin giggled.

"No Caitlin, shh." I placed my index finger over her lips and she turned her eyes inwards looking at it. "I hate him for sending me away, why did he have to go to his stupid commander?"

"You did steal his ring." Caitlin said behind my finger.

"Shhh. We don't want to listen to the facts. We were friends." I knocked back another shot. Caitlin and Nicole laughed.

"Nobody is friends with the Lieutenant." Nicole muttered. I shrugged.

"Maybe we weren't but we could have been. If he wasn't so scared about breaking the rules." They all laughed again.

"Yeah, we could all be friends with him ... in another life." Caitlin purred.

"You know what?" I paused to burp. "I'm not going to take no for an answer. Axel is going to be my friend."

"Axel" they shouted with excitement and laugher.

"No. More than friends. I—" I slurred and burped again. "am going to—" I held my finger up in the air. "Seduce him." I dropped my finger down on the table. The girls burst out laughing.

"I'm only behind this plan because I know you're leaving tomorrow anyway so what harm can come of it?" Nicole spoke with an amused voice. I nodded in agreement.

"Let's go." I stood up, rocking from side to side on the spot. Caitlin put her hands on my body to steady me. But once I found my balance I headed out of the bar, I was a girl on a mission, unable to be stopped.

I could hear the chatter and laughter of the girls following behind me but I raced ahead, making my way down the darkened dirt road back to boot camp.

We got to our shed and I yanked on the door handle making my way inside, only to be quickly joined by everyone else moments later.

"Harper you can't be serious, what are you going to do?" Holly asked me as she lay across the bed.

"I—" I pulled off my top and unclasped my bra throwing them across the room.

"Am going to—" I flicked off my sneakers and slid down my jeans and panties, stepping out of them and pushing them aside with my bare foot.

"Strip naked." Holly looked my body up and down and nodded.

"Girl, you've already done that." She laughed.

I sat down on the bed, almost missing the bed entirely and falling to the floor. Caitlin gave my shoulder a nudge to sit me upright.

I slipped my feet in my combat boots and tied the laces.

"I would have preferred heels but I don't have them so combat boots will just have to do." I managed to say surprisingly coherent for the state I was in. I banged my two booted feet together. "Are they shiny enough?" I questioned.

"I don't think he's going to be looking at your shoes" Nicole teased.

I stood up straight again, or I think I was straight. The whole room certainly wasn't, it swayed and spun.

"I will walk in there and tell him he's earned himself twenty laps around my body." Everyone burst out laughing, even I laughed.

"Harper, go to bed." Nicole told me.

"No I'm going to Axel, I will give you all a detailed report on his genitals tomorrow." I gave them a stern nod and walked towards the door.

"Wait" Caitlin shouted.

She grabbed a camouflage jacket from a hook on the wall and handed it to me.

"You can take it off in front of him for a big reveal. You're gonna need something to keep you warm when they ship you off in the dead of night."

I slipped the jacket on, it came to just below my ass and I wrapped it closed at the front.

"We love you Harper and we're going to miss you. Stay safe in prison." They shouted their goodbyes and I pulled open the door, letting the cold night air hit my almost bare body.

Slowly I made my way through the hedge, not caring too much about sneaking around the staff quarters and then I found his little living space.

My fingers grasped the door handle and I yanked it open, hard.