24 Weeks - Chapter 1

Olivia stood in an attention position. Her baggage was right next to her legs as she peered between the shoulders of taller men, who were standing in front of her. She was watching the two male officers and a female officer who stood in front of the group of recruits.

�Every one of you might have your own reasons for being here today, but one thing that common for all of you here today is that you are here to join the Police Force of United States of America.�

Serena stared at her daughter�s face as the words that were spoken vibrated through her ears and sunk directly to her heart.

Olivia heard her mother�s question and she looked up at the older woman for the first time since she had seen the open letter of acceptance in the dining table.

Olivia was right. Serena knew the reason, yet she wished she didn�t. She wished she wasn�t the reason for her daughter�s choice of one of the most statistically risky jobs.

�Why can�t you just find a desk job like everyone else does after college?�

Serena hoped aloud in a vain attempt but Olivia�s silence answered what Olivia didn�t want to.

The sentence remained unfinished, when their eyes met. At that moment Olivia wanted to say it all. She wanted to pour out her heart and tell her mom how every time she saw her gulp down alcohol like water, she wished she could catch the man who was responsible for the permanent pain in her mother�s life. If she couldn�t catch that particular bastard, she wished to at least be in a position to stop other sickos like him.

But like always the bonding moment that Olivia craved did not last long enough for her to give up her hearts burden. Serena looked away as always pushing every word that had formed in Olivia�s throat deeper inside.

�You are an adult. I trust you to make your own decisions.� Serena said getting up and making her usual walk to the counter where a drop shaped crystal decanter laid with endless supply of excuses for every situation that she just couldn�t bring herself to talk it through.

Olivia stared at the back of her mother for a long second. She then picked up her letter, and left the room, knowing that the conversation had ended.

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Olivia found her self being asked before she had even had the time to unload her bags on a bunk below the window. She looked for the woman who had questioned her, but only saw her back as she was already on the move. Olivia didn�t answer, seeing that the one who inquired hadn�t waited for her answer.

She put her bags down and opened it to pull out the necessary stuff to make herself comfortable, thinking that she would unpack later.

�You didn�t answer.� Another voice asked from the opposite side of the room.

Olivia paused to scan the long room lined with beds on each side where there were several women who, like her were too busy with their own luggage to be noticing anyone else. She debated whether or not she should just answer aloud to the whole room, as it was obvious that the question was meant for her.

�Why do you want to be a cop?� The woman who had first asked her the question dropped two huge bags on the bunk right next to hers and let her body drop in the similar manner in between them, on the center of the bunk.

�I always wanted to be one. No particular reason� Olivia answered to the woman who was going to be her neighbor for five days a week of the next 23 to 24 weeks, according to the brochure of the Police Academy.

�Yeah and for no particular reason you think you can be a cop?� The voice that had followed up the first question asked, nearing the distance this time.

Olivia looked up from her bag just to be staring at a pair of soft blue eyes of a short blonde haired woman. The woman had reached the edge of her bunk and was leaning on the corner stump peering into her bag. Olivia made no attempt to close her bag even though she did feel uncomfortable with the invasion of her privacy.

�I think I can make it.� Olivia answered as she took out a t-shirt and trousers and dug deeper to find her toiletry pouch and her face towel.

�Think; Think�You think you can make it.� The woman lying on the next bunk said raising her voice as though she was performing on stage with no mike. The blonde woman picked up one of the bags from her neighbor�s bed and dropped it on the floor and sat on the opposite edge as they made Olivia the focus.

�You know what I think, for no particular reason; you are not going to make it.� The woman who wore a shoulder length brunette hair said in the same volume as she sat up and stared at Olivia.

�Shut up Chris she got no fucking particular reason to be here.� The bunk owner snapped.

Olivia, who was an active sister of her sonority in Siena College, seldom had trouble clicking with people. The two women in front of her were asking the most obvious question you would ask an Academy recruit. Although it was obvious they were just making conversation, unfortunately for Olivia they were poking at the one topic that she did not wish to share with anyone, let alone wannabe friends.

�You have to have a reason. You can�t just walk into Police Academy and say you have no reason for being here. You are here for a purpose. To be a Police Officer, you have to have a reason why you want to be in a job that requires your commitment in the highest level.� The brunette lectured as though Olivia had just forgotten to do her homework and made some lame excuse for it.

�Gina here is the daughter of Col. Ramsey, so you�ll hear a lot of him coming out of her mouth.� The blonde who was called Chris by the brunette before explained. �I am Christina Logan by the way.�

�Logan, as in Russell Logan?� Olivia asked a little unsure of the connection she was making.

�Yes, same Logan. I am the daughter of the Chief of Police of New York City.� She replied as she did every time she used her full name.

�But you have no particular reason.� Gina quoted once again, interrupting the introduction. �You have to have a reason, or else you are not going to last. Look around how many women do you see. I can tell you who is going to make it and who isn�t. Do you know why? It�s because they don�t really care. Why are women a minority in a Police Force when in population we are a majority? It�s because of the women who just quit. So, Ms. No Particular Reason, pardon me if I am not impressed by you coming here to try out your fantasy, so that you can go back home to your mommy in one or two weeks wasting the hardworking tax payers money.�

�I may not have your backgrounds but I want to be a cop as much as you do.� Olivia raised her hand to shut Gina who was about to retaliated to her rebuttal. �And before you lecture me again, let me tell you, no, I don�t have some brilliant passionate story that has inspired me to be a here, except for my dream. So, I don�t care if you don�t think I can make it or not, I know I can!� Olivia finished, finally having a chance to speak out.

�Not bad.� Chris said finally. �Maybe you�ll make it. What�s your name?�

�You got spirit.� Gina commented. �It may not be a reason but it is better than saying I watch NYPD Blue and I want to be just like them, so I joined.� Gina added which lighted the mood as the three women smiled.

�Believe it or not my brother said there was a guy who actually said that last year. He lasted two weeks. Not, to mention the cheerleader that we met in the bus, what was her story? Oh yeah, they were robbed when she was very little, and a cop helped both her and her mother, so much so that now she wants to be in the police force too.� Chris joked as she scanned for the woman she was talking about. �Three o�clock on your right, that�s the cheer leader. What was her name, G?�

�Stacey Garner.� Gina replied staring at the woman who sitting with three other women in a bunk as she talked enthusiastically about something. �They let bitches like that in and before you know it, she will be leaving with her string of followers. That�s what our country needs, more cheerleaders.�

Olivia glanced at the smaller woman�s direction and understood what Gina was saying. She certainly didn�t look like someone who would actually stick around, neither did her company.

�Now, Benson, if you want to be a cop, for no particular or passionate reason, you better stick around, as you can see there are not many to count on.� Gina said but with a little softer tone this time.

�Oh, I plan to.� Olivia replied to the two women that she knew she had just made friends with.

There are reasons why some people who are recruited do not all make it. As easy as six �til six, five days a week sounds in the paper, to follow it everyday, exhausted every muscles in you from your brain to the tips of your toes. By the end of the day the fourteen women who survived the first week, lay still on their beds, staring at the top of their bunk with absolutely no thought at all.

�G! Are you alive?� Chris�s voice echoed from the other end of the dorm as even though Gina and Chris were the best of friends, yet somehow they chose bunks at the opposite ends of the dormitory.

�Shut up Chris.� Stacey who had miraculously survived the first week, snapped at the disturbance of the peace.

The dormitory once again fell into silence except for occasional heavy breathing of couple of women who were still trying to catch their breath.

�Want to go for a drink anyone?� It was Stacey who broke the silence this time.

�Too beat.� Olivia replied for everyone as she sat up. Though hanging out with her class fellows was a more tempting proposition than to walk into her probably empty home, her body desperately craved her own comfortable bed in her own room. Olivia moved towards her locker to grab whatever she could so that she could race back home, to her bed and hopefully not get up till each and every muscle stopped aching.

�Hope to see some of you back on Monday.� She heard Chris announce as she closed her locker door with a slam as a declaration of completion of the first week.

�You better be back, Benson.� Gina warned with a smile, before the new friends said goodbye for the weekend.

When Olivia came back from the first weekend, seeing the familiar faces made her feel at home right away. She smiled in greeting to few of them as she walked to her bunk.

Her smile spread wider on her face when she saw Chris was making herself home in her bunk as usual.

�Get off bitch.� Olivia shoed her friend off the bunk, as she put her travel bag under the bed.

�You�re kidding me. This late, who did they let in now?� Olivia asked, not pleased with the news of the addition.

�She�s a transfer from Military Academy.� Chris informed as she pointed at the top of Olivia�s bunk.

�Newbie�� Chris yelled and kicked the ceiling of Olivia�s bunk, making the top bunk and person on it topple a little.

�Stop it Logan or else I�ll break your neck in two.� A harsh voice replied as a woman, in her mid-twenties and with a shaved head, appeared from the top bunk peering at the two friends below.

�Meet your downstairs Benson Olivia. Olivia this is Neill Jacqueline� Jaq.� Chris said introducing the new woman.

�Want to know something?� Chris asked as she sat up and pulled Olivia nearer. �She and G have a bad history.�

�She and G went to same college where they apparently caused a riot with their women�s rights issues. You know how feminist G is. Anyway, when G found out Jaq�s a lesbian, she just flipped. She thinks lesbians give bad name to women, so that was enough to set her off.� Chris told.