Chapter 1: Chuck vs The Prologue
Graduation Day is supposed to be a day to celebrate your accomplishments. To celebrate the long days and nights focused on a goal and reaching it successfully. In someways in modern society earning a degree had become a symbol, not of knowledge, but of passing the first test of adulthood. Of Independence.
Of marking Success instead of Failure on your first few fledgling flaps of the wings when you dive from your nest, your childhood, and prove to yourself and the world that you can handle it.
That is what it is to the kids who don't know better. The kids who don't come from broken homes, broken nests. The kids who come from a nest and not a trailer park. For many years those kids have been struggling for flight constantly, trying hard to defy nature which dumped them from a safe branch to a plummet to doom way to early that would allow any sort of fledgling to survive.
Chuck counted himself lucky to come from any sort of nest at all. But at the same time His Graduation day did not fully belong to him. Bryce had robed him of that.
Bryce Larkin of Fucking Connecticut had tried to cut him down just when he seamed to have caught the up-draft. And all of that over Jill. Fucking Jill.
No, he had to instead rely on Ellie to get him out of trouble. Ellie was dating one Devon Woodcomb, son of Senator Honey Woodcomb. Who had graduated ironically from Devon's rival school, and Chuck's soon to be Alma Mater. Asking Captain Awesome for help ended up being totally worth it, even if it required him to quit his job at Buy More and do an internship with Senator Woodcomb. While she settled the 'misunderstanding'.
A career politician with connections everywhere. God he loved that Fucking woman. Connections to dig deeper into his expulsion, and eventually broker a deal where he would receive a Withdrawal on Fleming's class. He in return wouldn't advertise that the prestigious university had expelled him on the say so of another student.
Bryce had cost him much. Jill, his Fraternity brothers, a majority of his friends, even his degree.
But Ellie and I had made a vow the day Dad left. And Heaven nor Fucking Hell would make me break it.
We do not run. When it comes to Flight vs Fight, we choose Fight.
And so it was I returned to campus a year later at the start of the Spring semester. It was easy to apply the skills I acquired working under Honey to get myself reinstated in my frat and repair connections with the friends yet to graduate.
Today I graduate. Yes it was with the help of Ellie, her fiance it all but name, and his wonderful mother.
But if anything the whole experience with Jill, Bryce, and Honey have made me stronger.
Sure being able to say you are independent is great, but sometimes when the world decides to fuck you over Allies and Friends will join your Fight and keep you out of the deepest shit.
This, this... Thing with Bryce though... It was personal.
Learning Bryce had joined the CIA only left me a few different options. Only a few agencies really could apply any sort of checks and balanced against them.
Luckily I had the aptitudes to be recruited into one of them.
Chuck Bartowski, NSA.
Nahh..
Charles Carmichael, NSA.
Graduation Day is supposed to be a day to celebrate your accomplishments. To celebrate the long days and nights focused on a goal and reaching it successfully. In someways in modern society earning a degree had become a symbol, not of knowledge, but of passing the first test of adulthood. Of Independence.
Of marking Success instead of Failure on your first few fledgling flaps of the wings when you dive from your nest, your childhood, and prove to yourself and the world that you can handle it.
That is what it is to the kids who don't know better. The kids who don't come from broken homes, broken nests. The kids who come from a nest and not a trailer park. For many years those kids have been struggling for flight constantly, trying hard to defy nature which dumped them from a safe branch to a plummet to doom way to early that would allow any sort of fledgling to survive.
Chuck counted himself lucky to come from any sort of nest at all. But at the same time His Graduation day did not fully belong to him. Bryce had robed him of that.
Bryce Larkin of Fucking Connecticut had tried to cut him down just when he seamed to have caught the up-draft. And all of that over Jill. Fucking Jill.
No, he had to instead rely on Ellie to get him out of trouble. Ellie was dating one Devon Woodcomb, son of Senator Honey Woodcomb. Who had graduated ironically from Devon's rival school, and Chuck's soon to be Alma Mater. Asking Captain Awesome for help ended up being totally worth it, even if it required him to quit his job at Buy More and do an internship with Senator Woodcomb. While she settled the 'misunderstanding'.
A career politician with connections everywhere. God he loved that Fucking woman. Connections to dig deeper into his expulsion, and eventually broker a deal where he would receive a Withdrawal on Fleming's class. He in return wouldn't advertise that the prestigious university had expelled him on the say so of another student.
Bryce had cost him much. Jill, his Fraternity brothers, a majority of his friends, even his degree.
But Ellie and I had made a vow the day Dad left. And Heaven nor Fucking Hell would make me break it.
We do not run. When it comes to Flight vs Fight, we choose Fight.
And so it was I returned to campus a year later at the start of the Spring semester. It was easy to apply the skills I acquired working under Honey to get myself reinstated in my frat and repair connections with the friends yet to graduate.
Today I graduate. Yes it was with the help of Ellie, her fiance it all but name, and his wonderful mother.
But if anything the whole experience with Jill, Bryce, and Honey have made me stronger.
Sure being able to say you are independent is great, but sometimes when the world decides to fuck you over Allies and Friends will join your Fight and keep you out of the deepest shit.
This, this... Thing with Bryce though... It was personal.
Learning Bryce had joined the CIA only left me a few different options. Only a few agencies really could apply any sort of checks and balanced against them.
Luckily I had the aptitudes to be recruited into one of them.
Chuck Bartowski, NSA.
Nahh..
Charles Carmichael, NSA.