Okay

Haven't written a Holes fic in a long time.

But here it goes..

Don't own Holes or anything associated with it.

Yet, Riley belongs to me.

Enjoy.

Lesson Not Learned

The last girl who had ventured into Camp Green Lake had been killed. No one exactly knew how, or by what. Maybe the hormonal boys did it? Or maybe those Yellow-Spotted Lizards. You would have thought the courts would have learned their lesson and not sentenced another girl to the camp. But HELLO, this is America, and everyone takes the easiest route out.

The sand in the air as the bus roared down the road made it impossible to see much. As we got closer to the camp, I could see ants of people out on the dry lake bed. Hell, it hasn't been a lake for years, why hadn't anyone thought of changing the name to Camp Green Desert? Well, I guess it didn't have the same ring to it.

The guard stared at me from behind his giant black sunglasses. I stared back. He shifted and turned his head away. Maybe he was scared of me, or maybe it was just my eyes. I was betting on the latter. My eyes were an eerie crystal green color. Naturally. Sometimes they would darken into a more emerald green. Mostly at night. My hair was a dark red, and fell to the middle of my back when it was down. Right now, it was pulled up into a loose bun. It had been hard as hell to get all my hair into the tie with the handcuffs still on.

I could already feel the sunburns I was most likely going to get in this burning sun. Redheads have fair skin... it's like a curse. Maybe I'd be lucky and get away with only one. Sometimes, when I spent enough time in the sun my skin would adjust and only get a bit darker instead of burning. Let's pray for that shall we? Finally the bus came to a halt. I made a move to stand but the guard moved his glasses so that I could see his eyes and glared at me.

"You will wait until I stand." He told me with an accent I couldn't recognize. That surprised me. Usually, I am very good at accents. I sat back down and waited. After what seemed hours, he stood up and motioned for me to follow him. The bus driver smiled at me and wished me luck. Maybe he was remembering the last girl he had dropped off.

I stepped off the bus and my breath was stolen. I was glad I'd worn a wife beater. It made me feel a lot cooler than the long sleeved shirt I had thought about wearing. My fading blue jeans hugged my body nicely, although in the heat they were a little uncomfortable. My chuck taylors instantly gave me a taste of the temperature of the dirt underfoot. It was hot.

An ugly old man with squinty eyes had appeared from the cabin before me. I had to squint a little myself just to make sure he was really that ugly and it wasn't a trick of the sun. The guard and him exchanged a few words, randomly looking at me and then they walked into the cabin, leaving me all alone. The guard poked his head outside.

"What the hell you think you're doing girl? Get your ass in here!" He yelled at me. I raised an eyebrow at him before entering the cabin as well. It was at least a little bit cooler in here. Mr. Ugly probably had a air conditioner installed. A crappy one though. He motioned for me to sit down next to the guard, so I did. Mr. Ugly got two Pepsi cans from a small fridge in the corner and placed them down on the desk. I made no move to pick the one closest to me up. The guard grabbed his and chugged it.

"Good thing you didn't make no move to get this." Mr. Ugly told me. I just stared at him. "Cause it ain't yours." He laughed.

"Good. I don't like Pepsi." Mr. Ugly frowned, obviously upset he hadn't upset me. He pulled a file from a folder the guard had handed him. He opened it and flicked through it.

"Riley Sampson. Been a bad girl, I see." He sniggered. It made me curl my lip in disgust. "Let's see. Set fire to your house, where only you and your father lived... stole his car and went for a joy ride.. nothing I haven't seen before." He sucked on a sunflower seed.

"Well Mr. Sir, I'll be headed out then." The guard left without another word.

"Get ready to disrobe Miss Sampson." Mr. Sir said.

"Excuse me?" I hoped I had misheard him. He chuckled. I could hear the bus drive away. Now I knew how the other girl had died! Mr. Sir had raped and killed her!

"Don't get your panties in a twist." He spit out the shell. "You're just gonna be changing into your camp uniform." He rose from his chair and walked to the door. He yanked me up by the handcuffs. I winced.

"Think you might let me loose?" I raised my handcuffs up. He got keys from his shirt pocket and took the handcuffs off. We went back outside and he led me to another cabin that smelled faintly of laundry soap. A boy in a bright orange jumpsuit was folding clothes. He did a double take when he saw me.

"Here." Mr. Sir thrust some clothes at me. "These are your relaxation clothes. And these are your work clothes. Three days and your relaxation clothes become your work clothes, and your work clothes get washed. Here's some shower tokens. Change." He turned around and smacked the boy in the head when he didn't. I changed quickly, even though I still got a few whistles from boys who had walked by the door. Face a bit red, I cleared my throat to tell Mr. Sir I was done.

"Done." I said and he turned back around. He took my arm and led me outside.

"Now, you're in Tent D and here's your counselor right now. Good to have you out of my hair for now." He pushed me toward another man with a large sun block covered nose and lawn hat.

"Ms. Sampson!" He said a bit too enthusiastically. I took a step back. "Nice to see you! I'll take you over to the tent now and then to the Wreck Room where you can meet the boys." He grinned. He was nicer than Mr. Sir, by not snatching my arm, but he was scary in his own way. I could see plenty of boys making their way back from the lakebed. Some were cute and some weren't. Some looked harmless and others looked downright terrifying. I found myself dreading the moment I found out who my tent mates were...