Henry's family was a very traditional family. The men in the family were expected to go and get good jobs to support the family financially while the women were to take care of the home and help see that the children were raised properly. Henry's grandfather was the patriarch of the family. Any major decisions for the entire family went through him. Henry knew that one day this would be his dad's responsibility and ultimately this would be Henry's responsibility once he was older and had kids and grandkids. Growing up Henry didn't think a lot about this family dynamic. It wasn't until he was older that he started resenting it. He wanted to be able to do things without wondering what his father and grandfather would say about it or if they would allow him to do it.

The respect for the men in Henry's family came from the fact that both Henry's grandfather and his father had both served in the military. Henry's grandfather served in World War II and nearly lost his life. This affected Henry's grandmother still to this day. She was very protective over the family, always keeping a close eye on everyone. Henry's dad served in the military as well. He joined right after high school and served on active duty for 15 years. Henry had a lot of respect for his dad and grandfather. Though he sometimes questioned how the decisions were made in the family, he looked up to them more than anyone.

Early on in Henry's high school career his grandfather and father had approached him and talked to him about enlisting in the military once he graduated high school. Henry barely gave it a second thought. Of course he was going to he thought to himself. He assumed that this was always something he was going to do. He didn't realize that his grandfather and father were really going to give him much of a choice. Henry's grandmother supported his decision to join. Henry's mother on the other hand was more apprehensive. She didn't want Henry to feel obligated to join just because his dad and grandpa were veterans. She wanted Henry to have the opportunity to make decisions on his own. Henry was not the only one who sometimes resented the hierarchy of decision making, his mother did too. He knew how much she worried while Henry's father was overseas. He knew that she didn't want to have to worry about her son the way she did about her husband. Henry felt guilty for making the decision to join because of this, but joining was something he wanted to do. Even if it did scare him.

One thing that comforted Henry about joining was that he wouldn't be alone, at least not through the entire process. Henry's friend Robert was going to be enlisting with him after they graduated. They had been friends since they were in elementary school. Robert too came from a military family. Robert's story was slightly different than Henry's however. Robert's father had been killed on border control in South Korea by a mine explosion when Robert was twelve years old. It had affected Robert quite a bit. He had hate inside him that Henry could see at times. Henry was the only one that could get Robert to ease himself down and control his anger. They both knew that if they stuck together they could do anything.

Senior year was going smoothly and all Henry could do was think about the end of the year. He wanted nothing more than to hurry up and get through this school year so he could start on his new journey. He was an average student. He didn't get bad grades, but he wasn't at the top of the list either. He did what he needed to do to get by. He had friends other than Robert but was not all that interested in social gatherings. There were a few girls at school who had crushes on Henry, but he did not seem all too interested in dating. He didn't want to get involved in a relationship because he knew what it did to his mom when his dad went overseas and he didn't want to have to leave someone behind worrying about him when he left. It was almost like Henry was a horse with blinders over his eyes with only the military as the road ahead. Until one day when a new student showed up in class named Michael.

Henry couldn't tell what to make of Michael. Henry could tell that he had probably moved from a larger city because he was dressed much different than the rest of the students. Henry could tell that Michael felt uncomfortable as he walked in and handed the teacher a note and sat down in class. As class went on, Henry realized that he was staring when Michael looked at him and kind of gave a half smile. Henry gave him a smile back. Kind of like a "welcome to school" smile. Henry generally was not the welcoming committee type of person, but after class he went up to Michael and introduced himself. It turned out that they had a lot of the same classes together and shared the same lunch period. Henry told Michael that he could sit with him and his friend Robert at lunch if he wanted to.

At lunch time Henry asked Michael a hundred questions. He had come from a fairly large city out east because his dad had accepted a job at the university in town. Michael had played soccer back home and was hoping that he could play here at the new school. Michael's mom was trying to get a job as a lawyer at a local law firm. Henry could tell that Michael came from a much different family than his own. He was almost in awe of how different Michael was from him. Michael had traveled all over the world with his parents because of his dad's work and was hoping to study overseas for college at some point. He wasn't sure for what yet. Henry got so caught up in talking with Michael that he hadn't realized how quiet Robert was and that he had not said hardly anything. Robert was a little shy so Henry didn't think too much about it. The rest of the day Henry couldn't help thinking about what it would have been like to grow up in a family like Michael's.

After school that day when Robert was taking Henry home, Henry could tell that Robert was being very quiet. "Is something bothering you?" Robert didn't answer right away, but then he started to tell Henry that he didn't understand what his fascination was with Michael. He was just a new kid at school. Henry could tell that Robert was jealous. Robert had a hard time making friends and Henry was his best friend so Henry knew that the thought of losing him was probably scary. Henry thought that Robert was acting kind of silly though. It was just one day. It wasn't like he had ditched Robert or not spoken to him for weeks. Henry just told Robert that he was trying to make Michael feel welcome because he could tell how uncomfortable he was coming into class that day. Robert dropped the conversation and that was the end of it.

Over the next few weeks Henry started to become closer friends with Michael. This was surprising even to him. They were much different people who came from different worlds, but there was something about Michael that Henry found comforting. They only really talked at school. Henry knew that Robert would be upset if Michael and him started hanging out outside of school. One day though Michael asked Henry if he would want to come over to his house for supper after school. Henry was very intrigued by the idea. He thought about it through a few classes. There wasn't much to think about except hoping that it wouldn't hurt Robert. At lunch he told Michael that he would like to go.

That Friday night after school Henry went home and got washed up to go to Michael's house. He was very nervous...