Beyond the Spring Breeze novel · Chapter 24 of 24
Chapter 24: Open Water
On the last Friday in May, a thousand plebes climbed a monument greased with lard.
It took us an hour and a half.
We stood on one another's shoulders in a pyramid of slick white uniforms, and the redhead went up on Ellis's shoulders and mine, and the Iowa boy lifted her the last foot.
She jammed a plebe cap on the very top.
The crowd roared.
I stood at the bottom, soaked in lard and sweat and grinning, with my cap gone and my hair in my eyes.
The first year was over, and I would not have missed it for anything.
Ellis found me afterward on the lawn, filthy from his hair to his shoes.
He pulled me into his arms and lifted me off the ground and spun me, and the whole class cheered, and nobody reported us.
"Fourth class no more," he said into my ear.
"Third class."
"Two years from lieutenant."
"Four."
"I can count."
I laughed, breathless.
Over his shoulder I saw my father at the edge of the lawn.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of Beyond the Spring Breeze are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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