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Behind Enemy Lines
01. Isn't pen pals for little kids?
Friend from across the world.
That was what this so called assignment was called that our communications professor at NYU had set up for at least the next few months. I honestly had no clue what think of it. All I knew was that this was going to be worth a major percentage of our final grade.
The only thing that could cross my mind was talking to someone who wasn’t from here, in the United States. But I couldn’t fathom what it all could entail. Professor Ellen James was known for grading hard even if it was the most easiest assignment known to man. So I was curious as to what this was going to be about.
Those five words were the only thing that gave me any clue as to how the next couple months were going to go, if it even went past a month I had no clue what so ever. When my friend Addison came into the room along with her boyfriend Prick Rick I rolled my eyes. Just by the nickname he had to know I wasn’t his biggest fan but the approached me along with her anyway.
“What’s got your panties in a twist, Jacobs?” He smirk as he plopped down on my table just to annoy me. He was doing a marvelous job so far.
“Addison tell your jerk of a boyfriend to leave before I murder him.” I said as I turned to the blonde next to me. Addison was used to my hate towards her boyfriend so she just brushed it off.
“Rick, babe could you go somewhere. I need to talk to Celeste about something very important.”
“Fine.” He huffed as he jumped off of the table and landed it perfectly on his large feet. I groaned in irritation as he leaned over the table to give Addison a more than simple kiss before walking up the steps to go hang out with his friend who I actually wasn’t too bothered by; Lenny.
“I don’t get how you can tolerate being around him, even worse in a relationship with him. He’s such a jerk.” I muttered as I ran my hands through my strawberry blonde curly hair. I had originally pulled it back but the wind did nothing to help so I put it down once I arrived inside.
“He’s only messing with you. He’s an entirely different person when he’s around me.” She gave me a small smile as she began to pull out her journal that she used for this class, I on the other hand always used my laptop to do my notes. I wasn’t the fastest writers when it came to notes but if it was anything else I could do it within twenty minutes at least.
“Any way I’ve heard around campus what this whole friendship around the world thing is. Apparently weren’t getting assigned pen pals and some of us will get to get a soldier that is stationed over seas. I hope I at least get a hot guy.” I rolled my eyes at her. This was Addison twenty for seven, even if she already had a boyfriend she always had boys on her brain.
“You have Prick Rick, I hope that you get a girl. You don’t need another reason to pick a fight with him. I may not like him but I don’t need you running to me all the time because he ticked you off about something. I do have my studies to worry about.”
“You shouldn’t worry about your studies all the time Lest. There is more to life than just timetables, books, and theories. There are people you could be meeting, parties you could be going to. You should really consider reevaluating your plans this semester. We’ll be done with studies next year, have fun for once.”
“I did enough of that in high school.” I retorted. I had thought about partying a bit when I came to college, but I completely threw that out the window once I realized that things had to be different here. I couldn’t be the party girl that I was in high school. I had to get on top of my game when it came to my studies.
If I ever found the time to party then I would but for now I was more concerned about my future.
Our discussion ended once the sound of Professor James loudly trying to get her things together at the front of the room. She must have come in earlier to write our assignment or the lack their of on the board but she still hadn’t been prepared.
“Good morning class. As you can see our new project is on the board. I know this is a bit vague but I’ll hand out the actual instructions for this specific project in just a moment. First thing is first how was everyone’s Thanksgiving?”
Many different murmurs were heard in response and everyone gave her the answer. “Okay, well welcome back to Communications. I hope that you’ve come back ready to get to work on more worldly things. As I was thinking over this break what your major project grade would be I was thrown an idea from a friend of mine in Paris. She’s a professor there and she had done this idea earlier in the year and it seemed to work quite well.”
She began to move about the room passing along what seemed like a bit of heavy reading in the form of folders.
“Some of you may take this assignment as a joke considering how easy it may seem while others may over analyze this until they thin they are doing it right. But don’t worry there really is no need for that. I would discuss briefly exactly what this assignment is and how I expect you to behave through it.” She made a pause as she looked around the room, I guess it was to see if everyone had gotten one of the copies of our “nightmare” project.
“The instructions are as clear as day. Within each of your folder holds an address and the name of your new ‘friend’ from another part of the world. None of you at all will have anyone from within the United States borders. At least five of you have the joyous opportunity to communicate with soldiers stationed overseas. You are simply to write to who ever you may have gotten and just get to know them as if they were just in front of you. I’m aware this may seem like something you did in junior high, and you may take this as something for little kids but you are warned take this as a joke and you won’t like the letter grade at the end of semester.”
Professor James gave each of us a once over to see if we understood exactly what she was saying before telling us to open up our folders. I don’t think anyone had even dared to open the material when she first handed it to us.
I slowly opened up the dark green folder to see a picture of a soldier in uniform. His name was Lt. Cameron Caine and he was easy on the eyes for sure but I disregarded that as I tried to pay attention to what our instructor was talking about. There was a bit more information about Lt. Caine scribbled in messy handwriting under his photo on a separate page.
I decided to look it over when I got safely to my dorm. I had other things to worry about besides my new ‘friend’.
As I walked with Addison back to our dorms for the small break that we had before my Art class and her Journalism class all she could talk about was the fact that she had gotten some girl from Paris. She was raving about how excited she was to ask her all these different questions about the fashion in Paris. I was trying my best to keep up with her babbling about this designer and this clothing line but it was quite difficult when all she did was talk and talk never staying on one subject.
I was almost glad when I came to my dorm room and I had to say goodbye to her. She was still bubbling as she said goodbye and I slipped into my room to take a little nap before Art. At least my second and only remaining class of the day wouldn’t be too much of a bother. I actually quite enjoyed Art.
As I plopped down on my bed I found myself not even wanting to sleep anymore, I was slightly intrigued by this new assignment more importantly the Lt.
I pulled the folder out of my bag and pulled the little info sheet out along with his picture. I placed the picture to the side as I began to look at the info sheet. It didn’t have much on it really. It just basically told me where he was originally from; Alexandria, Louisiana and a few other basic facts about him. It seemed like Professor James wasn’t lying, she actually wanted us to get to know our distant friend.
I sighed as I put the picture and the sheet back in the folder and then laid back on my pillow to try to at least get twenty minutes asleep. The Fine Arts building was actually quite far from my dorm so I needed to get a head start.
Later that night after eating out with a few of my art buddies I came back to my room and showered before getting started on my first letter to my friend Lt. Caine.
I tried not to be too messy as I scribbled a greeting at the top of the sheet of paper.
Greetings from the U.S. Lt. Caine,
I’m not really sure how to begin this letter considering I don’t know much about you apart from where you grew up and a few of the things you like to do. I guess it would be best to start this off by letting you know a little bit about the college student who’s writing to you.
My name is Celeste Jacobs and I attend NYU. It wasn’t exactly my first choice for a school but I liked it enough to continue to go for the past three years. I’m hoping to graduate next year with my MFA in Art. I’m a bit of an artist or at least I enjoy drawing and painting on my free time. I’m not much of a sports girl but I do occasionally go to my friend Addison’s softball games, and I used to go to my little brother’s football games when I was still in hope.
I suppose I should tell you a little bit about where I’m actually from. No, I’m not actually from New York. I moved around a lot when I was younger but I ended up finding a permanent place in Chicago, Illinois. I’m not too sure what else I can talk about here. So why don’t you tell me more about yourself soldier.
-Celeste Jacobs
I read over the letter for any mistakes I may have made before folding it up and putting it in a stamped envelope that I had already addressed. I decided I would mail it off tomorrow whenever I got up. I had the next day off. I felt a bit more better knowing that I didn’t have to worry about the first letter anymore. Besides talking through letters with our friends around the world we could IM, email or video chat but I wasn’t sure if he had any of those other options considering he was overseas. I would just have to wait and see if he was open for them.
I sighed as I climbed into my bed and hit the lights, focusing on actually resting for once. Something always stopped me from getting decent sleep. Nothing was going to stop me tonight.
That was what this so called assignment was called that our communications professor at NYU had set up for at least the next few months. I honestly had no clue what think of it. All I knew was that this was going to be worth a major percentage of our final grade.
The only thing that could cross my mind was talking to someone who wasn’t from here, in the United States. But I couldn’t fathom what it all could entail. Professor Ellen James was known for grading hard even if it was the most easiest assignment known to man. So I was curious as to what this was going to be about.
Those five words were the only thing that gave me any clue as to how the next couple months were going to go, if it even went past a month I had no clue what so ever. When my friend Addison came into the room along with her boyfriend Prick Rick I rolled my eyes. Just by the nickname he had to know I wasn’t his biggest fan but the approached me along with her anyway.
“What’s got your panties in a twist, Jacobs?” He smirk as he plopped down on my table just to annoy me. He was doing a marvelous job so far.
“Addison tell your jerk of a boyfriend to leave before I murder him.” I said as I turned to the blonde next to me. Addison was used to my hate towards her boyfriend so she just brushed it off.
“Rick, babe could you go somewhere. I need to talk to Celeste about something very important.”
“Fine.” He huffed as he jumped off of the table and landed it perfectly on his large feet. I groaned in irritation as he leaned over the table to give Addison a more than simple kiss before walking up the steps to go hang out with his friend who I actually wasn’t too bothered by; Lenny.
“I don’t get how you can tolerate being around him, even worse in a relationship with him. He’s such a jerk.” I muttered as I ran my hands through my strawberry blonde curly hair. I had originally pulled it back but the wind did nothing to help so I put it down once I arrived inside.
“He’s only messing with you. He’s an entirely different person when he’s around me.” She gave me a small smile as she began to pull out her journal that she used for this class, I on the other hand always used my laptop to do my notes. I wasn’t the fastest writers when it came to notes but if it was anything else I could do it within twenty minutes at least.
“Any way I’ve heard around campus what this whole friendship around the world thing is. Apparently weren’t getting assigned pen pals and some of us will get to get a soldier that is stationed over seas. I hope I at least get a hot guy.” I rolled my eyes at her. This was Addison twenty for seven, even if she already had a boyfriend she always had boys on her brain.
“You have Prick Rick, I hope that you get a girl. You don’t need another reason to pick a fight with him. I may not like him but I don’t need you running to me all the time because he ticked you off about something. I do have my studies to worry about.”
“You shouldn’t worry about your studies all the time Lest. There is more to life than just timetables, books, and theories. There are people you could be meeting, parties you could be going to. You should really consider reevaluating your plans this semester. We’ll be done with studies next year, have fun for once.”
“I did enough of that in high school.” I retorted. I had thought about partying a bit when I came to college, but I completely threw that out the window once I realized that things had to be different here. I couldn’t be the party girl that I was in high school. I had to get on top of my game when it came to my studies.
If I ever found the time to party then I would but for now I was more concerned about my future.
Our discussion ended once the sound of Professor James loudly trying to get her things together at the front of the room. She must have come in earlier to write our assignment or the lack their of on the board but she still hadn’t been prepared.
“Good morning class. As you can see our new project is on the board. I know this is a bit vague but I’ll hand out the actual instructions for this specific project in just a moment. First thing is first how was everyone’s Thanksgiving?”
Many different murmurs were heard in response and everyone gave her the answer. “Okay, well welcome back to Communications. I hope that you’ve come back ready to get to work on more worldly things. As I was thinking over this break what your major project grade would be I was thrown an idea from a friend of mine in Paris. She’s a professor there and she had done this idea earlier in the year and it seemed to work quite well.”
She began to move about the room passing along what seemed like a bit of heavy reading in the form of folders.
“Some of you may take this assignment as a joke considering how easy it may seem while others may over analyze this until they thin they are doing it right. But don’t worry there really is no need for that. I would discuss briefly exactly what this assignment is and how I expect you to behave through it.” She made a pause as she looked around the room, I guess it was to see if everyone had gotten one of the copies of our “nightmare” project.
“The instructions are as clear as day. Within each of your folder holds an address and the name of your new ‘friend’ from another part of the world. None of you at all will have anyone from within the United States borders. At least five of you have the joyous opportunity to communicate with soldiers stationed overseas. You are simply to write to who ever you may have gotten and just get to know them as if they were just in front of you. I’m aware this may seem like something you did in junior high, and you may take this as something for little kids but you are warned take this as a joke and you won’t like the letter grade at the end of semester.”
Professor James gave each of us a once over to see if we understood exactly what she was saying before telling us to open up our folders. I don’t think anyone had even dared to open the material when she first handed it to us.
I slowly opened up the dark green folder to see a picture of a soldier in uniform. His name was Lt. Cameron Caine and he was easy on the eyes for sure but I disregarded that as I tried to pay attention to what our instructor was talking about. There was a bit more information about Lt. Caine scribbled in messy handwriting under his photo on a separate page.
I decided to look it over when I got safely to my dorm. I had other things to worry about besides my new ‘friend’.
As I walked with Addison back to our dorms for the small break that we had before my Art class and her Journalism class all she could talk about was the fact that she had gotten some girl from Paris. She was raving about how excited she was to ask her all these different questions about the fashion in Paris. I was trying my best to keep up with her babbling about this designer and this clothing line but it was quite difficult when all she did was talk and talk never staying on one subject.
I was almost glad when I came to my dorm room and I had to say goodbye to her. She was still bubbling as she said goodbye and I slipped into my room to take a little nap before Art. At least my second and only remaining class of the day wouldn’t be too much of a bother. I actually quite enjoyed Art.
As I plopped down on my bed I found myself not even wanting to sleep anymore, I was slightly intrigued by this new assignment more importantly the Lt.
I pulled the folder out of my bag and pulled the little info sheet out along with his picture. I placed the picture to the side as I began to look at the info sheet. It didn’t have much on it really. It just basically told me where he was originally from; Alexandria, Louisiana and a few other basic facts about him. It seemed like Professor James wasn’t lying, she actually wanted us to get to know our distant friend.
I sighed as I put the picture and the sheet back in the folder and then laid back on my pillow to try to at least get twenty minutes asleep. The Fine Arts building was actually quite far from my dorm so I needed to get a head start.
Later that night after eating out with a few of my art buddies I came back to my room and showered before getting started on my first letter to my friend Lt. Caine.
I tried not to be too messy as I scribbled a greeting at the top of the sheet of paper.
Greetings from the U.S. Lt. Caine,
I’m not really sure how to begin this letter considering I don’t know much about you apart from where you grew up and a few of the things you like to do. I guess it would be best to start this off by letting you know a little bit about the college student who’s writing to you.
My name is Celeste Jacobs and I attend NYU. It wasn’t exactly my first choice for a school but I liked it enough to continue to go for the past three years. I’m hoping to graduate next year with my MFA in Art. I’m a bit of an artist or at least I enjoy drawing and painting on my free time. I’m not much of a sports girl but I do occasionally go to my friend Addison’s softball games, and I used to go to my little brother’s football games when I was still in hope.
I suppose I should tell you a little bit about where I’m actually from. No, I’m not actually from New York. I moved around a lot when I was younger but I ended up finding a permanent place in Chicago, Illinois. I’m not too sure what else I can talk about here. So why don’t you tell me more about yourself soldier.
-Celeste Jacobs
I read over the letter for any mistakes I may have made before folding it up and putting it in a stamped envelope that I had already addressed. I decided I would mail it off tomorrow whenever I got up. I had the next day off. I felt a bit more better knowing that I didn’t have to worry about the first letter anymore. Besides talking through letters with our friends around the world we could IM, email or video chat but I wasn’t sure if he had any of those other options considering he was overseas. I would just have to wait and see if he was open for them.
I sighed as I climbed into my bed and hit the lights, focusing on actually resting for once. Something always stopped me from getting decent sleep. Nothing was going to stop me tonight.