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and then back
     to where Ronnie stood next to Buck.
    The guys would enjoy the hell out of this story…even Rusty. Ronnie forced down the
     laugh that threatened to overtake him.
    Kids were fun, especially at this age. They were halfway between being children and
     becoming adults. They were trying to grow into the men and women they were destined
     to become. Ronnie could see a bit of Ian in these two clowns who stood before him
     now, looking like their little idea of a good time perhaps wasn’t working out so well
     after all.
    “You guys football players?” he asked the boys.
    “No. Wrestling,” one of them replied.
    Now that they mentioned it, he could see their sport of choice in their bodies. They
     were fairly ripped for their age. Most teenage boys were either too chubby or too
     skinny since the build of manhood hadn’t hit quite yet.
    “So why are you fucking with a soldier rather than lifting weights or working out,
     then?” he asked them.
    Their faces blanked and they again looked at each other. He wasn’t stupid. He remembered
     the stuff the kids in
his
high school had said. Their language was worse than what was said in the barracks.
     What shocked these boys was that an adult was saying something to them they were used
     to hearing only from each other.
    “Dismissed,” he said, waving his hand at them and sitting back down on the bench.
    The boys turned and headed out of the gym almost at a run. For the next ten minutes,
     Ronnie occasionally saw different boys stick their heads into the gym, look at him
     and Buck and then leave. His coaches in school would
never
have allowed such behavior. The coaches back then worked him and his buddies like
     dogs during practice. Looking back over to the cheer squad, he noticed the woman who
     must be the cheer coach texting on her cell phone, completely ignoring the cheerleading
     squad. No wonder these girls were as bad as they were.
    Soon enough, practice ended and Addie ran over and grabbed her book bag from one of
     the bleachers on the far side of the gym before heading over to him. She eyed Buck
     curiously as she approached.
    “Is that your dog?” she asked.
    “No, this is Sergeant Buck, United States Army,” he said.
    She giggled and gave him a knowing look. “That’s awesome.”
    Unlike the day before, Addie didn’t stare him down. Maybe it was because they’d gotten
     the initial awkward meeting over with, or perhaps it was Buck’s presence. Ronnie was
     glad she was more comfortable around him, poor kid. His parents had been at every
     sporting event for all five kids in their family. He felt bad for Addie that it wasn’t
     her mom or dad picking her up. He also felt bad for Kayla for having to miss it.
    When they made it to his truck, Buck moved as close to Addie as he could get. She
     began petting him and he lay down next to her on the seat and put his head in her
     lap. The dog was an attention whore, but it worked for him
    “What did you think of our cheers?” she asked.
    Did he have to answer that? Ronnie wondered. If so, should he lie and encourage her?
     Or just tell her the truth? He had absolutely no parenting skills at all and was at
     a loss about how to answer her.
    “Be honest,” she said, as though reading his thoughts.
    Rather than giving her a straightforward answer, he said, “Are you all supposed to
     be doing
different
things during the cheer?”
    “So you noticed that, too, huh?” she asked with a sigh.
    He smiled over at her, glad she hadn’t asked him to elaborate. The rest of the ride
     to her house was done in comfortable silence.
    When she entered the house, she stopped inside the door, obviously noticing that the
     living room was now cleaned and meticulously dusted. The room would even pass Rusty’s
     OCD inspections. She gave Ronnie a full-blown smile and bounded up the stairs to her
     room. He and Buck headed into the kitchen, where he found a bowl, filled it with water
     and put it on the floor for