Donna Joy Usher - Chanel 01 - Cocoa and Chanel Read Online Free Page A

ancestry.
    ‘Next to him are Tom, Mike and John. That’s the only names I’ve got so far.’
    ‘Considering you only got here today that’s pretty impressive,’ I said.
    A tall, blonde woman entered the mess and strode over to the buffet table. Susie flicked her head in her direction and screwed up her face.
    ‘Nasty?’ I guessed.
    She nodded her head. The woman took a seat at a table near us and speared a piece of broccoli with her fork. She didn’t seem at all interested in the riot squad. I waited for her to glance in our direction so I could smile – no need to get off on the wrong footing if I could help it, but she finished her meal without so much as one look and then disappeared as quickly as she had arrived.
    The boys left far too quickly as well, leaving us to eat our dessert by ourselves.
    ‘So what happens tomorrow?’ I asked. I hadn’t had time to read my information yet.
    ‘Parade at seven,’ Linda, a tall red head, said.
    We were meant to wear office attire for the first few months so I had come well prepared. I inspected myself the next morning, smoothing down my black skirt, admiring the way it set off my red high heels.
    There was already a group of students clustered near the edge of the parade ground when I turned up. I joined them, looking around for the girls from the night before.
    Before I could find them a man in uniform marched towards us from the other side of the parade. He was big, in a tall, solid way, and sported a bristling moustache. ‘Well don’t just stand there,’ he yelled, his moustache quivering, ‘form up.’
    We staggered onto the bitumen and made two lines.
    ‘You look like a group of lost hikers,’ he bellowed. ‘Form up, 10 abreast, five deep.’
    I rushed to the back of the pack – quite a feat in my high heels – and was standing there feeling smug when the students in front peeled away like some sort of organised bomb burst, regrouping behind me until I was standing smack bang in the middle of the front row.
    Bugger . The man walked up and down in front of us, ominously slapping a short stick into one hand.
    ‘I’ve seen packs of monkeys form up faster than you lot,’ he growled. ‘From now on you will form up in the same order, every day until training has finished.’
    ‘Even weekends?’ I blurted out before I could stop myself.
    ‘Miss…’ He stared at me, smacking his stick into his left hand more and more vigorously until I realised what he was after.
    ‘Smith,’ I supplied.
    ‘Miss Smith, you will form up here every morning, in rain, hail and snow, until I tell you you can stop.’
    It snowed in Goulburn? Good grief, I was going to have to get some fur-lined boots.
    He turned his attention back to the group. ‘I am Sergeant Moores. I will be your training sergeant for the duration of your stay here. If I say jump, you will jump. Do I make myself clear?’
    ‘Yes, Sergeant,’ Nastacia said in a militant voice.
    ‘Do I make myself clear?’ he asked louder.
    ‘Yes Sergeant,’ the rest of us echoed.
    He went on for about half an hour, advising us what he expected of us as police officers in training – parade every morning, room inspections and marching practice. I breathed a sigh of relief when he finally said, ‘dismissed.’ But then he added, ‘Miss Smith come here.’
    The rest of the students fled the parade ground heading for our first class, while I hobbled over to him. I hadn’t expected to have to stand for so long in my killer heels.
    ‘What are you wearing?’ he said.
    ‘Office attire Sergeant.’
    ‘That’s not office attire,’ he snarled, pointing his stick at me. ‘You look like you’ve gone under cover in the red light district.’
    I would have been pretty offended if I hadn’t seen all the Police Academy movies. I knew what he was up to with all his blustering and wielding of the blunt weapon; he was trying to break my spirit.
    ‘What would you prefer me to wear Sergeant?’ I asked, glancing nervously at