Dig, dig, dig, dig, dig. Charlie stabbed her shovel into the burning, iron hard dirt. She jammed her shovel underneath a crack. Then she pushed back hard and leapt on top of her shovel, falling as the dirt cap went flying. X-ray and a few other kids called Tiny, Scar and Talon all laughed from their holes on the lake that were already quite deep. Charlie grinned and pulled her hat back on. If anyone found out she was a girl she would get killed, shot like a yellow spotted lizard. So instead of being a girl and looking down on the boys idiocy, she just scoffed and threw a dirt clod at X-ray. he fell backwards onto the floor of his hole and laughed with the others.
"nice arm, Splits," he grunted simply and began to dig his hole again. It was Charlie's second day at Camp green lake. She had been caught trying to steal a whole bag full of jewels to support her family. The more Charlie thought on it the angrier she became and so she dug more. The Sun hadn't risen properly yet so she couldn't see that well, but it didn't matter if she could see or not. Digging was about throwing your shovel randomly and throwing out a whole shovelful of dirt, not about accuracy. Second hole's the hardest, Charlie reminded herself as she flipped her shovel behind her head. She had strong arms from doing hours of strict gymnastics training, but they were strong for holding weight and for good posture, not for repeated muscle straining. But after a few hours, eventually Charlie dug in synchronisation and rhythm. She enjoyed a good beat and began humming. She hummed louder as she got deeper, so there wouldn't be much change in the volume, but soon X-ray wandered over to her.
"whatcha humming, Splits?" he asked gruffly. Charlie squinted her eyes up at him. His dark handsome figure was almost all she could see when he blocked out the Sun.
"nothin', what's it to ya?" she responded. X-ray shrugged and sat down on the edge of her hole.
"why are you sitting there, X-ray?" Talon asked. X-ray shrugged again, stretching his toned arms in a large circle and then bringing them behind his head.
"fine, ignore me then," Talon added, continuing his hole. X-ray yawned and lay down.
"second holes the hardest, am I right?" he said. Charlie grunted in agreement. She glanced at his hole, which was already finished. Then she looked at X-ray, amazed he had decided to stay in the Sun instead of heading to the Wreck room. She hoped it was because of her, though she doubted it since X-ray thought she was a boy like everyone else did. She stopped digging for a moment and rested her head on her shovel. The water truck had come an hour ago and her canteen was already empty.
"can I tell you something?" X-ray asked. Charlie glanced up at him and nodded,
"uh huh, what?" she muttered. She continued to stab the dirt that was still hard. X-ray didn't say anything for a while. Charlie wiped the sweat on her forehead with the back of her grubby hand. She had never been particularly girly but she still felt uncomfortable while she was so dirty.
"you're not what you seem are you?" X-ray said. Charlie looked at him. She felt mystified that he could tell.
"how so?" she asked. X-ray spat at random towards his own hole.
"you're lying about who you are, but not what you did, am I right?" he grumbled. Charlie felt a smile creep across her lips. She continued to dig absent minded, ignoring the blisters from the day before.
"you're a,"
"what are you still doing here Rex?" Mr pendanski. X-ray winced as the counsellor placed his hand on his shoulder. Mr Pendanski glanced down at Charlie.
"hey mom!" the other boys shouted. Mr Pendanski smiled at them and then turned back to Charlie.
"you done yet Charlie Moore?" he asked. Charlie squinted up at him and put on her boy voice.
"nearly, I've got about a foot to go," she tried, rubbing her forehead again. Mr Pendanski sighed and took X-ray back to camp. So Charlie dug silently for who knows how long. The others didn't talk much and they pretty much pretended she wasn't there. Charlie thought about X-ray a lot, because he was nice to her. X-ray was a strange kid. He had been at camp green lake for three months now, hated it. He said if Charlie found anything she should give it to him, coz he hadn't ever found anything. She chuckled. His name was an odd one for him, he had told her it was because he could see through people as if they were glass, which Charlie highly doubted. She checked her hole for depth. It truly did have about a foot to go before it was finished. She sighed, blowing her dark brown hair out of her face. Sometimes she would want to brush it so it looked nice, but she couldn't afford a brush. So instead when she thought she wanted a new hairstyle, she grabbed a pair of scissors and whacked it shorter. Right now it was cut right up so there was barely any body at all. Which added to why she was thought to be a boy. She was already covered in dirt from the holes she had dug, so no one could properly see her face. Fortunately. Charlie flung out a large clod of dirt and saw a little scorpion wriggle its way out of the dirt and fall into the hole. She screamed loudly and fell over. Tiny, Scar and Talon ran over. They chuckled when they saw the scorpion.
"what are you doing Splits?" they said. Charlie scoffed and kicked the scorpion up onto Talon's arm. Talon screamed and batted at it madly, flailing like an idiot. Tiny, Scar and Charlie laughed as he squirmed and flailed and screamed.
"dude, the scorpion's gone, man," Tiny said, laughing harder. Talon righted himself and cleared his throat.
"I could handle it, I knew it was gone," he lied. Then his straight face turned to a grin and they all laughed again. Soon after the others had finished digging and had gone to the wreck room with X-ray. Charlie continued to dig, feeling blisters on her hands sore. Her hands were already callused, but they still hurt. She checked her hole again. It seemed the right height and width. She felt relief wash over her like rain. Slowly, she levered herself up out of her hole. She looked up at the bright blue sky. The hottest part of the day had already past and now it was slightly colder. But she didn't mind heat or cold. It was one of the benefits of living on the streets, she was grateful for anything she had. And usually what she had was freezing nights and freezing days. So being hot was okay by her. She looked down at her hole with a feeling of accomplishment in her veins. She took a drink from her nearly empty canteen, swallowed, and then spat into her respectable hole.