Olivia leaned against her locker and put her head into the side of it. She was on the work release and got out by noon everyday but work was a hell of a lot of work. To be honest, she was exhausted and while she was keeping her head above water her senior year, she was hardly miss life of the party. "Four more months." She told herself. Kind of her own pep talk to herself. Olivia had never really let anything best her. She was a pusher and a trier. 

That four more months meant a lot of things to her. She'd just turned 18 and that opened a whole lot of doors. But four more months until graduation, and four more months until she lived and breathed her career path.  Olivia pulled her Coast Guard hoodie up around her as she slammed her locker shut. Trying to blend in at school was like pulling teeth. Most of these kids worked at the local grocery store or fast food joint, she jumped out of helicopters. Yeah that was not always the best conversation starter with those around her. 

Tag: Mitchell Rogers

“Out is the way, Rogers!”

Knocked over, books scattered against the ground, of course. This was Mitch’s high school life, the target of bullies, though he often tried to keep his head down for the most part. He sighed quietly, bending down to gather up his books as carefully as he could. He often wondered if his dad could see him now what he’d think. Was he just a loser to him now? Hardly standing up for himself? Him, the son of one of the toughest people he knew?

“Just breathe, Mitch,” he told himself, grunting in frustration. “Don’t let them get you down. No point in acting like these assholes matter.” He explained to himself trying to relax a little.

Someday he’d be somewhere fighting off more important jerks anyway. And where would they be? Probably going nowhere in life, or so he could tell himself at least. He wasn’t sure he believed it himself all the time.

Olivia wished she could say the people here at the high school were better people because they were raised in more disciplined households. But that wasn't always the case. One or both parents was deployed sometimes and the kids lashed out bullied other kids and took their own frustrations out on everyone else. Olivia was lucky, she'd had a really good set of parents to path her way for her. She heard the school books and the brunette whirled around to see books everywhere and one of the younger students talking to himself. 

Ollie was usually mild mannered and she'd learned not to throw punches or be mean to others but she could only be pushed so far and these kids. Nope it was time for a piece of her mind. "Daddy's out of town again? Is that your problem? Feeling lonely so you gotta mess with kids younger than you." Olivia shook her head and grabbed one of his books. "Intro to psych. Hrm hope the psych teacher doesn't mind me borrowing this." She dropped it on the ground. The bully just stood there looking at her. Not too many people messed with her, and this was one of the few reasons why. She had no problems being a jerk without a hurting them. Granted she didn't usually bring their parents into it because she knew what it was like to have her dad deployed. 

Olivia's first deployment had been a bit of a tangled mess. She could understand what the kids went through but she knew too what their parents were going through. However she was a far cry from the type to watch people lay down and take things. She watched as the bully picked up his book and wandered off making some remark about 'Gauthier being a Saint' in the most sarcastic voice possible. All Olivia did was laugh. Those boys would get what's coming to them. Olivia decided that maybe this Rodgers kid could use a little advice. "They don't know what to do when you stand up to them. They run like little yappy dogs with their tails between their legs." She offered. If she could pass down any piece advice to the younger students that kept them out of being bullied. 

Tag: Mitchell Rogers

Mitch watched the scene a bit stunned.

It wasn’t the first time someone had tried to stand up for him. Since he hardly did so himself, but damned if that wasn’t probably one of the most hillarious ones. He finished gathering his tuff and took a look at the older girl in front of him. Clearly she was on her way to the coast guard if that sweatshirt was any indication. A fact which made him relax, since she seemed to at least somewhat be of a like mind even if she was clearly far more brave than he was.

Taking a deep breath though, he gave a small shrug. “I know, I get it. I uh... I remember what it was like when my dad used to deploy. And I wasn’t really a saint when he died either,” his voice was really soft - but hard as it was to believe there had been a time that he lashed out after his dad died. “I used to live with that guys family. Probably bad idea to retaliate. They may not be my foster parents anymore but who knows what they’d say to my current ones.”

He then added, holding out his hand politely. “Mitch.”

Olivia knew what deployments were like. “I’m sorry to hear about your dad.” She was being sincere and honest, that was how she was with people. Though she could tell that he really did care for his dad. She could relate. Her dad was the closest person to her in her family. If she lost him, she wouldn’t know what she would do.

The foster system was so screwed up and this was such a small town that no one cared to do much about it. Olivia’s heart broke for the kid. Well kid was kind of a relative term. They were both still teenagers but she’d turned 18 in January. “Ollie” it was what all her friends called her. So why the heck not. Her hand reached out to meet his as she shook it. This seemed way to formal for her in school.

Tag: Mitchell Rogers

Mitch gave a half hearted shrug. He didn’t really like showing a lot of emotion about it in school. The meaner kids had made fun of him for it back in the day. So he always worried that especially showing it in high school would make things worse. So he dealt with a lot of the emotions that he had been wrestlng with since his dads death on his own. “It’s... OK it happened a long time ago,” he explained rather strained a bit. “I’ve tried to move past it you know. Keep myself focused on training to become a marine.” He explained.

Mitch nodded, committing Ollie’s name to memory as best as he could. It was not too hard to do so, he didn’t have too many friends to speak of. So for the most part keeping everyone’s names straight was pretty easy. “Well it’s nice to meet ya, Ollie,” he replied as brightly as he could. “So are you already coast guard or got family in it?” He asked as he pointed to her hoodie.

Ollie smiled when the kid started talking about the Marines. “Both of my parents are Marines. Well Dad is Coast Guard now but…” she shrugged. Once a Marine, always a Marine. She wanted to be encouraging to him, he seemed like he could use it. “Marines are a good choice.” She had a twin who was in the Army and she couldn’t even say they weren’t any flyboy types in her family either since her dad had flown Hercules and now the Jayhawk.

“Both.” She responded when he pointed at her hoodie. “I’m working my apprenticeship. I’m a rescue swimmer.” Olivia decided to put it into normal terms. Aviation Survival Technician Apprentice was a mouthful to say the very least. Most seniors were taking and studying for SAT’s she was trying to balance people dangling from ropes. Who said you never had to use physics?

tag: Mitchell Rogers,