The rest of the day went by quickly. I woke up from my nap a little while later, and we taught the recruits some hand-to-hand combat and worked with the guns a little more. After showers, we came out to find Crystal in the kitchen, cooking a huge dinner. Seeing as we had been practically living off of sandwiches, the warm meal was welcome.

It was late when we finished dinner, so I called lights out and sent everyone to bed. Everyone had shuffled to the dorms, and I changed into my usual hoodie and sweats before climbing into my bed, falling asleep to the quiet chatter as the other girls followed my example.

I woke up three hours later to find everyone still asleep. Checking the clock, I saw that it was four in the morning. I had overslept.

As quickly as I could, I jumped out of bed and quietly woke up Taylor.

"What time is it?" she grumbled, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Four," I stated.

She jumped up from the bed, "Four! Why didn't you wake me before now?"

"It's four o'clock in the morning Taylor, I figured you could at least use a couple hours of sleep."

Her energy dissipated, returning her to sleepiness. When what I said finally registered, she angrily asked me, "Why did you wake me up at four in the morning?"

"We have work to do," I said, smirking. She understood what I meant and nodded, a smirk of her own coming to her lips. "Let's wake the others, shall we?" I asked.

We roused the rest of the recruits, none of them happy to be woken up with just a couple hours of sleep.

I stood in front of them, my hands clasped behind me, my feet spread, and my back straight. Taylor had the same stance next to me while all the other recruits were yawning and barely staying upright.

I started with, "An all-out war has started. We did not start this war, but it is my intention to finish it." All the girls looked a little confused, but I knew they would catch up eventually.

"The boys have planned a mission for tonight named Operation Grenade Training. They have stashed water balloons on the compound and plan to attack at midnight. They will infiltrate the girls' dorm and launch the balloons from there." Shifting my gaze, I said, "Our plan is to intercept the enemy before they make their first move." I went on to explain the details of my plan, maintaining my blank mask the entire time.

When I was done speaking, the girls all looked very excited with my plan. I asked, "Are you in?" They nodded their heads vigorously. "Then let's get started."

Our plan was simple. We go to the room where the boys were hiding the water balloons. We set up there, standing in formation waiting for them. When they walk into the room, we start the music and begin dancing. The dance would provide distraction and keep the boys in their spots. At the end of the dance, we would use the boys' water balloons against them, hitting them while they were vulnerable.

I started by showing the girls the dance we would be doing.

It was one I had learned years ago when I was a little kid. I had begged and begged Drake to let me take dance classes even though we barely had money to feed all of the foster kids, since our foster father was worthless. In the end he conceded, and he would sit watching me in my dance classes every day. It had been a long time since then, though.

After everyone had the dance down, I started on the next piece of the plan.

I led them to the showers and stopped in front of the far stall labelled 'Out of Order.'

"Please tell me that's not what I think it is," Taylor asked, a groan escaping her as she realized what the plan entailed.

"I could, but then I'd be lying," I answered cheerfully. She groaned again in response, causing me to laugh. I turned to the recruits, "Ladies, welcome to the next phase of Operation Intercept." I pulled back the shower curtain.

Inside was a rack full of dresses. We needed the dresses for some of the missions we went on, so it was useful to keep some handy.

I pulled out one of the dresses and handed it to Taylor. A look of dread crossed her face as she looked at it.

"Not this," Taylor whined.

I pulled out another dress, matching Taylor's. In a perfect Russian accent, I replied, "But we are the Vershvovski twins." I laughed at her pained expression before continuing in the accent, "Now we must make sure these beautiful gowns still fit!" I laughed again as Taylor mumbled something about the dresses not being close to gowns as she did as I asked, turning to face the wall and pulling her shirt over her head.

"What happened to you?" Victoria asked, surprise clear in her voice, referring to the multiple scars that lined Taylor's back. Taylor quickly pulled her shirt back down. She kept her head down, hiding the shame and embarrassment that was displayed on her face. I put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and squeezed, trying to comfort her. She just shrugged my hand off and started walking towards the exit, her head still down.

I turned on Victoria, anger clear on my face. "What happened to her?" I shouted. "What happened to her?" I repeated. The anger was taking over. Nobody hurt my best friend.

"Life happened! This life happened!" I was still shouting. "Those scars, Victoria, are memories. Those scars are memories of a hard life. They are memories of the challenges we overcame. And they are memories that remind us why we live this hard life."

Still staring down Victoria, I pulled up my own shirt, revealing my stomach that was covered in different scars of all shapes and sizes. I pointed to a thin line above my left hip. "This scar was from a man who got me up against a wall and decided to play pin the knife in Carter." I moved my finger over to point at a cluster of small, circular burn marks covering my lower right abdomen. "These were from the bosses' right hand man who just happened to be a chain smoker who needed information out of me." I pointed to a particularly long and jagged scar running the length of my abdomen. "I got this scar running from a very angry gangster with a fondness for baseball bats. I was climbing a wrought iron fence when he grabbed my boot, pulling me towards him. I got caught on the fence and my skin ripped apart.

"Do not ever try to put someone down for their scars." I paused, the anger slowly leaving my body. I dropped my shirt and looked at the clock. It was ten minutes to seven. "Get dressed. We have ten minutes to be ready for today's workout." With that, I turned my back on the recruits, walking over to where Taylor was standing by the bathroom door waiting for me. Together, we went back into the other room, leaving the girls to silently get ready for the day.

----------

Everyone was standing around waiting for me to tell them what the plan was for today. As I walked out of the dorm, all the idle chit chat stopped, which probably had something to do with my chosen attire for the day. My attire consisted of a sports bra and shorts, leaving a lot of my scars on display. Everyone was staring at me, in quite a few different ways.

Jennifer, Stacey, and Anna were staring at me with respect, and Victoria was staring at me with annoyance. Aaron, Josh, and Austin were just staring at me with an emotion I couldn't really label. Taylor was watching me with amusement and Drake was looking at me in horror. Jaxon was watching me with a hidden expression, not letting me see what he was feeling.

Drake was the first to break the silence, "That's my baby sister. Just flaunt it for the whole world to see."

I rolled my eyes with amusement. "First off, brother dearest, there are eleven of us down here, twelve if you count Xavier, and I doubt he is really interested in my attire. Secondly, I am not flaunting anything. Everything is covered!"

Drake and I could argue for hours over something as silly as what height qualified as tall. We were known for it. Sensing one of those arguments about to begin, Taylor cut in, "The whole speech this morning wasn't enough? You had to go and take it a step further?" she asked, a mix of curiosity and amusement lining her voice.

"Must I have an ulterior motive to dress a little differently?" I asked defensively.

They didn't even pause before everyone, including the recruits, said, "Yes."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," I muttered. "Now!" I said, loud enough for everyone to hear. "Today, you will be running laps!" I paused for a minute, letting the recruits get out there whispered complaints. "Let's start with 113 laps around the gym."

"Why 113? It's so random!" Austin said.

I had an evil smile on my face as I answered, "113 is the number of scars I have." With that, I turned my back on them.

Taylor and Drake walked over to the sparring mats. As they passed, I heard Drake ask, "What did you say about a speech?" I chuckled. That would be a fun conversation.

"You certainly do have a way of making a statement," Jaxon said. I smirked; walking passed him without replying.

----------

"Get ready," I whispered with excitement. We were in the room waiting for the boys to show up. It was three minutes till midnight and I could hear them making their way to where we were hiding. We got into position as the door opened.

The boys stumbled their way into the room, rubbing the sleep out of their eyes and yawning. They came to a halt as Jaxon flipped the switch on the wall and light flooded the room, revealing our positions. Taylor and I were in front, with the recruits lined up behind us. We were all crouched with our heads down and our right hands resting against the ground, our dresses fanned out around us.

I activated the stereo system and the song came on over the speakers. I started singing the lyrics, my head still down with my hair covering my face.

As the song gained speed, our heads snapped up. The song sped up even more, and we pushed off the ground with our hand and stood up. We started dancing. The recruits in the back were doing the regular routine while Taylor and I were doing a specialized version so that it fit the song better. As the song slowed down, so did Taylor and I. I sang the slower parts while Taylor cut in with the faster parts. We continued doing the dance and following this routine, since the song repeated a lot.

As the song progressed, I felt a smile creeping up my face. I had missed dancing, and I really wasn't a bad singer.

Finally, the song reached the end where it was just the music. We finished our dance, which brought us back into a line. We came to a stop with our feet spread and our hands behind our backs, in parade rest. I only had my right hand behind my back; my left hand was in a fist in the sky where all the girls could see it. I felt a water balloon being set into my hand. As the song played the very last line, I opened my fist. The girls got the signal and let their water balloons fly.

The boys had been watching us, entranced by our dance and not moving. It made for perfect targets as every single water balloon reached its designated target. Mine landed dead center on my target, Jaxon.

I just smirked as his eyes met mine. The rest of the boys were still looking around dazed, trying to figure out what was going on while the girls were all laughing. "Time to go girls," I called out, the smirk still on my lips. I started walking and the other girls fell into line behind me. Since the boys were blocking the doorway, I paused in front of them. I cocked my eyebrow when they did nothing but stand there. They got the message, moving out of the way to make a path to the door.

I continued walking forward through them. As I was about to exit out of the door, a hand reached out and caught my arm. I turned my head to look at Jaxon. He leaned in, his chest brushing my shoulder. I felt the heat from his breath against my ear as he whispered, "I like the dress." Then, he let go and backed out of my way, a smirk on his face.

I walked passed him and out the door with the girls following closely behind.