Soldier In Me

A twelve year old boy named Mau Lozano is being sent to a military school in Atlanta,Georgia. At first, he is not happy at all with the idea of going. But during the school presentation, Mau found the

Soldier In Me

Five months after my 12th birthday, my parents and I went to a presentation of a military school. My dad wanted me to go there, but I didn’t want to go. He told me to watch the presentation and if I don’t change my mind, I wouldn’t go. In the presentation room, there was a tall british man with a nice uniform that was green with brown spots. He was wearing brown boots and and his shirt was a camouflage. Beside him there were two cadets kind of my age. I asked them questions about the military school and they told me it was awesome. I loved the presentation, I told my dad that I was desperate to go. He said that I was going for just a month to see if I really like it.

It was summer, and I was at the airport. I had no baggage because everything was going to be included in the military. I was going to use uniform because normal clothes are not allowed. It was the first time I’ve ever traveled in first class. The food was as good as the food of my favorite restaurant called Safi. When the plane landed in Atlanta Georgia, a sweet beautiful woman came to me and told me with her sweet and gentle voice that I should follow her to the main entrance of the airport. The same british man with uniform from the presentation was standing there with a big poster that said my name. The sweet beautiful woman told me that it was the end of the journey. I followed the british man in uniform into a big truck. He finally introduced himself to me, he told me that he was Chief Green. He saluted me and called me Cadet Lozano. It was a one hour car ride to RiverSide Military Academy. ‘Cadet Lozano, we’re here,” chief Green exclaimed. He grabbed a bag full of uniform clothes and handed it to me. “Welcome to RiverSide,” he welcomed me with a smile. “WOW!!!!” I exclaimed with a surprised voice. “It’s huge, RiverSide is literally a castle.” I kept walking and then five cadets just like me walked towards me. “Hey... you must be the new guy, my name is Dylan,” one of them said. He became my first friend in RiverSide. He along with the others who also became my friends, gave me a tour of the whole school and showed my my room. “You are my new room mate!” Dylan told me. I couldn’t be more excited that he was my roommate because he also was my best friend.

“BEP BEREBEP BEP PEBEREPEB!!!” the trumpet alarm made me fall of  my bed. “HAHAHA!!” Dylan laughed. We changed to our uniforms and went running really fast to formation. “You’re late!” chief Green yelled. “Cadet Lozano, you don’t have to worry because it is your first day, but next time please be on time.” He told me. “ LEFT LEFT LEFT RIGHT RIGHT!!!!!!!” chief Green along with other commanders were yelling while we marched. It has been 3 days since I got to RiverSide. “It is my first weekend in RiverSide,” I told Dylan. “Don’t worry” Dylan exclaimed,”Weekends  are the best, you get to go to the movies, six flags,rivers and stores!” “Cool” I responded. Chief Green made us go to formation to explain the rules for the trips. “ATTENTION!!!” he yelled. “The rules are: If you see that someone needs help, you help them even if you don’t know them. I also want to remind you that bad things happen to people who do bad things, so please behave.” “Where do you want to go?” Dylan asked. I told him I wanted to go to six-flags. With a smile he told me that he wanted to go there too. We got up in the bus, and spent the whole trip to six-flags talking. “We are here!” I excitedly screamed. We decided to go on a roller coaster first. “AAAAAAAH” I screamed as the wind was crashing into my shaved head. I raised my arms and enjoyed the ride, ih has been the best roller coaster I’ve ever rode before. We got of the coaster and started laughing at the pictures they took at the coaster. We saw a woman that was struggling to put her arcadestand. “scuse me ma'am” I asked, “do you need any help or assistance?”. “Yes please” she begged. Dylan and I helped the blond, tall and beautiful woman to put up her stand. “All done” she gladly smiled. We decided to keep going to different roller coasters. It was getting late, the sky darkened into pitch black. “Lozano!!!! we’re gonna be late to the bus!!!” he yelled as we started to run as fast as 2 cheetahs in the middle of six-flags. I was running so fast that I stopped to feeling my legs. “You’re Late” said the old grumpy bus driver. When we got to RiverSide, we were soaking wet in sweat. The only thought that we had was to just take a hot shower.

Those next 3 and a half weeks in RiverSide were absolutely the best weeks of my life. The commanders, Chiefs and squad leaders yelled mean things at you to get you to finish your work. I’m actually glad they did that because they made me a more responsible and honest. At the end, I got to say goodbye to all of my friends. A speaker announcement said “Cadet Lozano and Cadet Kaplan, please report to the main gate to take you to the airport.” Dylan and I got to go together to the airport, but we were headed to different directions. He is headed to Coco beach where he lives, and I am headed to Monterrey. I literally started crying along with Dylan. Dylan told me that he was in the RiverSide school year last year and that his parents are sending him to RiverSide every year until he is 16 years old. “Well, I guess we will see each other again since my parents are sending me to RiverSide 2 years from now” I told him. Dylan’s face was as red as tomato juice. One of his tears dropped to the ground as he wiped his face with his hand. “I don’t know how to say goodbye”. I swore to him that we were to see each other again. I looked to the left and I saw a group of 17 year old teenagers laughing about us. Now that I thought about it, it was kind of embarrassing to be seen as two shaved headed kids with red faces and crying. I was embarrassed, and I decided to put on my military hat. An anonymous woman gave an announcement: “Flight to Monterrey; Mexico,please enter the plane.” Chief Green pat my shoulder and talked me towards the plane. I was walking looking backwards as I saw the kid with blue eyes, military uniform and shaved head who he also was my best friend. I waved my hand and told him “We’ll see eachother again, ps: my facebook is Mauricio Lozano.” I smiled and got on the plane. Chief Green gave me a salute, then I shaked his hand and he told me “I look forward to see you again cadet Lozano”. I smiled and told him “me too.” The plane took off, I started crying again. 2 hours later when I landed, I was carrying my huge bag and walked to the airline’s main entrance. There I saw my family, they hugged me. My mom said that I grew half a foot. On the way back home, I just couldn’t stop talking about my experience in RiverSide. When we got home, the first thing I got was my computer. I hadn't checked Facebook for a month, i just had to respond to everyone. I spent the rest of the day on facebook talking to everyone in facebook. Suddenly I got a notification, Dylan Kaplan has sent me a friend request.

My experience in RiverSide Military Academy was unbelievable. I got physically stronger, I got mentally stronger. I got twice as mature. I learned to help people around me without them asking for help. I learned how to make friends easier. I learned how to obey my mom even more because before Riverside I (almost) never obeyed my mom. One of these days, I’ll see Dylan again. Its been two years since I last saw him.