Tom Sileo Read Online Free Page B

through his underwear, the young man quickly dispelled that fear by introducing himself.
    â€œHey, I’m Brendan Looney, your new roommate,” he said. “We’ve got to get all your clothes folded before the inspectors get here.”
    Grabbing Toohey’s shirts and socks from his duffle bag, Brendan quickly folded them as he heard footsteps coming down the hall.
    â€œYou’ve got to fold ’em like this,” Brendan said. “Make the socks smile.”
    â€œOh . . . thanks, man,” Toohey said. “But just one thing. . . . You mixed up my shirts.”
    â€œShit, that’s my bad,” Brendan said. “I’m colorblind.”
    After Toohey thanked him a second time, Brendan, an imposing figure even at age nineteen, responded with a nod and a grin. It was already clear to Toohey that his new roommate was looking out for him.
    â€œMan, I just have no idea what I’m doing around here,” Toohey complained.
    â€œRelax,” Brendan said. “You’re not supposed to. . . . It’s our first day.”
    Though Brendan was also a plebe, he was more prepared for I-Day than most others after spending ten months attending the Naval Academy Preparatory School in Newport, Rhode Island. With a grueling academic, physical, and military training regimen, NAPS had given Brendan the chance to play football against junior college and junior varsity opponents while preparing to join Navy’s Division I-A team.
    About 15 percent of the incoming class came from NAPS, and each of those 177 students, including Brendan, had a head start. As Brendan demonstrated by helping Toohey pass inspection, the “NAPSters” were seen as big brothers by many plebes, who felt clueless and frightened while getting hollered at for making the smallest of mistakes. Although Brendan still had a lot to learn himself, he knew not making his bed in thirty seconds or forgetting to shine his belt buckle wouldn’t get him kicked out of the academy. His sheer physical presence gave him the appearance of a natural leader, but it was the calming smirk he often gave the other plebes that really demonstrated that quality.
    Of the four plebes in Brendan’s room, three had gone to NAPS. After experiencing ten tough months together, the first signs of military-style brotherhood were evident in the NAPSters, who usually stuck together. Toohey gained inclusion by virtue of being their roommate.
    As the first-year midshipmen adjusted to the academy’s grueling routine in the fall and spring of 2000, Navy’s class of 2004 wasbeginning to take shape. Unbeknownst to Brendan and the other plebes, however, a key member of their social circle was not yet with them.

    When Travis told his father he wanted to reapply to the Naval Academy after one semester at Drexel, Tom, still unhappy over his son’s decision to drop out in the first place, was skeptical.
    â€œThat’s your decision,” he said. “If you want to go back, you’re going to have to do it on your own.”
    â€œI will,” Travis said.
    A few days later, Lieutenant Colonel Gardner was sitting in his Annapolis office when a surprise visitor walked in.
    â€œTravis?” he said. “It’s good to see you again.”
    After asking how his good friends Tom and Janet were doing, Gardner welcomed the former midshipman into his office and asked him to have a seat. Travis explained that while he had given Drexel a try, it had only taken him a few months to realize that Gardner had been right. The Naval Academy was indeed where he belonged.
    Gardner was thrilled by Travis’s epiphany, but also cautious in his response. He agreed that Navy was the right place for Tom and Janet’s son, but he stressed that getting into the academy a second time was very rare. Gardner told Travis that while he would do everything possible to help, it would be a challenge to convince the Naval Academy that he deserved a