The Military Academy
Lesley stared at her.
“What?” Mama’s face fell. “Oh, you haven’t. Oh, Lesley! Why didn’t you talk to us first?”
“Because I knew you’d react badly.”
“Well, that’s one thing you got right.” Mama pursed her lips. “But you haven’t been accepted into the Military Academy yet. What’s the next step? When is it? What do you have to do? I vaguely remember Susan talking about it, but I wasn’t paying attention. I didn’t think I had to.”
“It’s a three-day evaluation at the Military Academy in C6. At the end, you find out if you’ll be admitted to the academy.”
“Ah, so there’s still time, then. When do you have to go?”
“In three weeks.”
“And you’ll write the advocacy exam in two,” Mama said, brightening. “It would be perfectly reasonable to decline your acceptance into the Military Academy because you’ve decided to pursue advocacy instead. You can say that you couldn’t make up your mind and so you decided to write both exams, but since then, you’ve settled on advocacy. Make it sound good. Tell them it was close, that the military would have been a worthy career and it was a difficult choice.”
Lesley couldn’t believe her ears. “But it’s not true! If I’m accepted, I’m not turning it down, Mama. I can’t.”
“Of course you can.”
“No, I can’t. I don’t even want to write the advocacy exam. I’m tired. I’ve been studying non-stop for exams for weeks now, and trying to keep up with my homework at the same time. And now I have to prepare for the evaluation. I can’t do everything.”
“You have to write the advocacy exam,” Mama said, her voice firm.
“Why? There’s no point. Even if I pass, I won’t enter the advocacy program. I don’t want to. What’s so bad about the military? The military protects and defends the Way. Can’t you say even one positive thing about it?”
“It’s not the military per se, Lesley. It’s you being in the military that I don’t like.” The clock on the wall behind Mama chimed. Mama waited until it had finished announcing six o’clock before continuing. “But Interior does uphold the Law and the Tradition. That means you’ll have to keep up with every amendment. And I guess having a solid grasp of how the Way is applied in practical terms could serve an advocate well. Given that, you won’t be too far behind when you finally admit you’re bored and switch to the advocacy program. If you’re not stubborn and proud, you’ll only waste a few months before you get back on track.”
Lesley gripped the arms of her chair.
Mama stared at her. “What? You asked me to say something positive. I’m trying!”
“I know. It’s just that . . . I’m not planning to join Interior. I’m hoping to join Defence.”
“Defence?” Mama’s mouth tightened. “Wait a minute. What exactly are you hoping to do in Defence?”
Lesley braced herself for the inevitable explosion. “Be a fighter pilot.”
Mama shot out of her chair and leaned over the desk, her eyes ablaze. “You stupid girl! Don’t you have any sense at all? You’re throwing your life away because of Mo. Mo isn’t your Chosen. The relationship won’t last. It can’t. Following her to the Military Academy is pointless.”
“I’m not following her. I want to be a fighter pilot. I’m the one who got Mo interested, not the other way around.”
“Sure you are.”
“I am!”
“Mo’s been talking about being a fighter pilot for months. You’ve been talking about it for thirty seconds. But you know what? Maybe you’re right. Maybe you’d be better off being a fighter pilot. Advocates think.” Mama tapped her temples. “They’re capable of rational thought. You obviously aren’t.”
“I’m not stupid.”
“Throwing your life away because of Mo? I’d call that stupid. Because that’s what you’re doing. You just can’t see it.”
“I told you, it’s not because of Mo.”
“You can’t be sure of that, Lesley.”
Yes, she could. Mo hadn’t given a second’s thought to the military or flying until Lesley had persuaded her to sign up for the tour at the military installation.
“But nothing I say will change your mind. Common sense can’t compete with teenage hormones. So go ahead.” Mama thrust out her hands. “Throw your life away. Go into the military. It’s probably for the best. Your papa and I would have loved another advocate in the family, but I’m starting to see that you would have disappointed us. At least we’ll have Karen and Jason to talk about when people ask. At least that’s something. Now get upstairs and do your homework.”
“Mama—”
“Go!”
Lesley rose from the chair and turned toward the door.
“Oh, and forget about seeing Mo later,” Mama said.
She tensed.
“I haven’t forgotten that you lied to us, and when I tell your papa, he’ll have something to say about it, too. I don’t think you’ll be seeing Mo outside of class for a while.”
“I wasn’t planning to see Mo later anyway,” Lesley said without turning to face Mama. “She’s out celebrating her exam results with her family.”
“Well, isn’t that nice. I’ll tell you what. When you do something worth celebrating, we’ll go out, too. But that hasn’t happened yet. Now go!”
Lesley left the room and headed for the stairs, fighting tears. The conversation had gone much worse than she’d expected. She’d not only disappointed Mama, she was a disappointment. She’d failed to live up to the Thompson name and to her parents’ expectations. Was it worth it? Should she do what Mama had suggested—take the advocacy exam and decline the invitation to enroll in the Military Academy if she passed the evaluation?
She reached her room and snapped on her station monitor to reread the military’s dispatch. Had it mentioned a procedure for backing out of the evaluation after accidentally confirming? She didn’t think so, but she sat at her desk and reread the dispatch anyway.