The dusty old school bus rolled down the empty road. Inside, baking in the heat, were four people. The driver, an officer carrying a shotgun and two bored looking girls. "Are we there yet?" They chorused, making the officer glare at them from behind his sunglasses. One, an average height redhead, looked out the window. "Hey, look out the window." She instructed her sister.
"What's so interesting about a bunch of holes all over the-Whoa there is something in that one!" The other girl shouted. The redhead slapped her.
"Don't yell Jade."
"We are here." The officer stated. He unlocked the girls' handcuffs from the seats. They followed him off the bus onto the ground of a rundown, dusty and dry "campground." Teenagers swarmed around, all wearing the same orange jumpsuits. All covered in dirt and all of the male gender.
As they walked toward a small shack of a building, the girls looked around. "Where are the girls?" Jade asked, getting another slap.
"You're so dumb." Esra said bluntly. They stepped inside the little building, the cold air refreshing on their burning skin. A middle aged man in a cowboy hat sat behind a desk, popping sunflower seeds into his mouth by the handful. In the corner, a teenage boy dressed the same as the others stared at them.
"Jade and Esra Harris?" He asked. The two girls nodded. "You two are here for setting fire to a house?"
Esra nodded. "In our defense, no one liked the girl anyway!" Jade wailed.
The man looked at her. "Anyway, my name is Mr. Sir, that's what you will call me whenever you address me, understood?"
"Yes Mr. Sir." Esra replied. Jade started giggling. "Excuse her, Mr. Sir, she is kind of, stupid."
"Hey!" Jade yelled. The others ignored her.
"You will have to dig one hole each day. Five foot wide, five feet in diameter. Your shovel is your measuring stick. You get two sets of clothes, one for work, and one for relaxation. Every three days, you wash your work clothes and so on." He took the two girls bags and threw them to the boy in the corner, who searched them briefly before throwing them to the ground and saying he was done. Mr. Sir gave them a jumpsuit each. Neither girl put them on.
"What are you waiting for?" Mr. Sir exclaimed. The girls just looked at the jumpsuits, then at each other, and then to Mr. Sir. "Put them on, now." He mumbled something to the boy in the corner, and then they both walked out of the room.
"Oh, my God!" Jade screeched, as she threw her jumpsuit on the floor. "I hate this place so far, I can't believe Mr. Sir didn't let us have our privacy. It was like he was just waiting for us to strip down right here in front of him!" Esra rolled her eyes as Jade continued on her psychotic rant.
"Jade!" Jade stopped in the middle of stating that she thought "Mr. Sir" wasn't even his real name. She looked up. "Be quiet! He's probably standing right outside of the door, so just hurry up and change before he decides to freaking walk in here!" Esra stated.
The girls stood there for a second, not moving, before getting into their bright orange jumpsuits. Mr. Sir walked in right as they were zipping them up.
"Girls," He said, "Let me take you to your tent; you'll be in D Tent." The girls and the boy whom was in the corner followed him out.
As they were walking they ran into a group of three soaking wet boys. They stopped in their tracks when they saw the girls.
"Caveman, Zero, and Magnet, meet your new tent-mates." Mr. Sir said to the boys, as they looked them up and down. "Meet Jade and Esra."
Esra profiled each of the boys, and then stepped forward, "You touch my sister and/or I, and let's just say there will be some blood shed... And it won't be mine." She smiled at them and then went back to Mr. Sir and Jade. The other girl tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear, looking up at Esra.
"Why must you be so mean?" She asked. "I mean, we don't even know them yet."
"I just don't trust people, and you have a tendency to get yourself into stupid situations." Esra replied. Jade looked down at the ground.
"Okay, stop with the threats. Boys, take the girls to the tent. Get them situated and introduced to the others. Tell Squid he is Jade's mentor, Zigzag is Esra's, whether they like it or not." With that, Mr. Sir turned and walked away. The group of teens awkwardly looked around at each other.
Magnet let out a low whistle. "Well, come on then." They started towards a row of tents, entering the one with a big letter 'D' on the front flap. Inside was a group of four boys lounging on cots Two were black, and two were white. They all jumped up when the girls came into view. "Guys this is Esra and Jade." Magnet pointed to each girl respectively. "They are staying in here and Squid and Zigzag are their mentors." The boy with glasses swaggered over to them.
"The name is X-ray." He said, putting his hand on Jade's upper arm. Esra's eyes snapped right to his hand, her own hand swatted him away.
"Do not touch me or my sister or I will hurt you. Thanks." Esra smiled at him. The boys backed off. A loud horn sounded out.
"What the heck was that!?" Jade yelled.
The boys howled with laughter. "It was the dinner bell." The shorter white boy said. Him and the tall blonde boy walked up in between the sisters. "I'm Squid, this here is Zigzag. I guess we are your mentors." They pushed past them and kept walking.
"I hate this place, a lot." Jade stated. Esra nodded in strong agreement. She grabbed the small blonde by the arm, dragging her towards the dinner hall. Inside, boys turned and stared, jaws dropping. Cat calls and wolf whistles sounded through the room. Ignoring all of it, the girls grabbed their trays and got in line. The man behind the counter served up some disgusting looking concoction.
"Ew! What is this?" Jade exclaimed. "It looks like crap!" Esra just glared at her and apologized to the servers.
"It's Spoop. Or at least that's what we call it." Squid appeared out of nowhere, making them jump. "C'mon, I'll show you where we sit." He walked over to a table where the other boys from D-Tent were sitting, talking about... Them.
"So what do you think about those two little ladies?" X-Ray said, "They're something." The girls raised their eyebrows at each other.
"Yeah, and the way that Esra one threatened you was something fierce." Zigzag replied as he took a bite out of his bread.
"She threatened us earlier when we met her and Jade. She said that if we touched her or her sister that blood would be shed, and it wouldn't be theirs." Caveman added.
Zigzag raised his eyebrows, "Does anybody know what they're here for? It seems a little bit odd." The rest of the boys shook their heads.
"Hey guys." Squid said as he walked up to the table, the girls behind him. "What have you been talking 'bout?" He sat down. The two girls just stood there awkwardly.
"Nothing." Was their only answer. The girls squeezed in between Squid and Zigzag.
"So girls," X-ray started. Both of them turned their heads to look at him. "What are you in for?"
"We burnt down a girl at schools house." Esra told them. Jade sat next to her, nodding.
"You burnt down a house?"
"I was just look out; this one here did all the dangerous stuff." Jade added on, pointing to the redhead.
"Well, that answers your question Zig." Caveman said, causing an awkward silence. A boy crept up behind the two girls. He leaned down to Esra's ear.
"Hey sweetheart, how about you two ditch these clowns and come have some real fun." He pressed his self against her back.
Esra turned around to him slowly and calmly. "Go away before I hurt you." She said, not letting her anger show.
"And what if I don't?" The boy questioned her, sending a round of "Oooh's" coming from the near tables.
"Then I'll do this." Esra said, elbowing the boy in the stomach, getting up from the bench, and then punching him several times over before finishing with a couple kicks in the crotch. She sat back down at the table, "Yeah, he's not going to have children..."
Jade sat with her hands over her mouth, shocked. "Esra! You can't just go around beating people!" She yelled. Her sister just shrugged, scooping a spoonful of the questionable subtance on her plate into her mouth and choking it down. Jade rolled her eyes. She picked up her slice of bread. The rest of supper was spent mostly in silence, the boys too afraid of making Esra angry again.
"I'm done and going back to the tent, anyone else?" Squid asked, standing up with his empty tray. Jade stood.
"Yeah, I'm done, anyone else?" The others shook their heads. "I'll go with you then." She told him. The two walked out, dropping their trays in the garbage can.
"He won't try anything, will he?" The boys shook their heads.
"Not after that show he won't, unless he is that stupid. Yeah I would go follow them." X-ray explained, finishing off his water and standing up. "I'm going to the shower; see you all in a bit." He walked off with an air of cockiness.
After five more minutes, the rest of D-tent left the dining hall. They headed back to their tent. When the group got close to the entrance, they heard giggling and a deep moaning noise. Esra, suspecting the worse, flew into the tent, only to see Squid rolling on the floor clutching his stomach in pain. Jade was on top one of the cots clapping and laughing. "What did you do to him?" Armpit questioned.
"Do not tickle her." Squid grunted out between moans. Jade laughed even harder. The group noticed that both had changed into pajamas. Squid in just a pair of boxers, Jade in shorts and a t-shirt.
"I thought I said not to touch her." The older girl growled. Squid seemed to forget all his pain at that moment and silenced.
"We were just having fun, calm yourself." Jade snapped.
"I'm perfectly calm, I just told him not to touch you." Esra retorted, walking over to a random cot and sitting down. She didn't pay any attention to anybody around her until Zigzag came over and sat down on the other end.
"Uh, this is my cot." He stated. Esra looked up at him.
"Oh, sorry, Zigzag."
"Nah, it's all cool. Hey, where are your cots anyways?" He asked.
Esra glanced around, he was right. Their cots weren't there yet. She got up and took her sister away from flirting with Squid.
"Um, our cots aren't here yet. Where are we supposed to sleep?" Esra asked, Jade looked surprised. She didn't realize yet either.
"Well, what are we going to do? Should we go and find Mr. Sir?"
"Yea-" Just then a random man walked in the room and all the boys shouted "Mom!"
Jade and Esra just looked at each other with incredibly confused looks on their faces, then they looked to the boys. Just then, the man, a very short man, came up to them.
"You two must be the new girls, right?" He asked.
"Well, obviously. I mean, we're the only two girls here and nobody knows who the Hell we are." Esra retorted sarcastically.
The man ignored that comment, "Anyways, hi, I'm Dr. Pendanski, although everybody calls me 'Mom'. I'm D-Tent's counselor."
"Nice to meet you." The girls said simultaneously. "Now, do you have any idea where our cots are? Where are we supposed to sleep?" Esra added.
Dr. Pendanski suddenly became interested in the ground, "Yeah, about those. You see, they were supposed to be shipped in from Head-of-State yesterday. But they won't be here until tomorrow."
"So, um, where are we supposed to sleep?" Jade asked, a bit more interested in this conversation.
"I guess you'll just have to share." And then he walked out of D-Tent.
Esra turned to the rest of them. "So, which two of you are going are going to give up their beds?" She asked. The boys glanced around at each other, suddenly bursting into laughter. When they realized she was serious, they stopped.
"Why don't you two just share with us?" Armpit asked. Esra scoffed.
"Like we would share with boys like you-"
"I can share with one of the boys." Jade jumped in. "You know, take one for the team, or whatever that saying is."
"No." Esra said bluntly.
"Just share with someone, Esra! Don't be stubborn!" Jade's voice rose. "Share with, I don't know! X-ray!"
"I'm not sharing!"
"Magnet."
"Forget it!"
Jade was getting angry. "Armpit!"
"I'm not sharing a bed!"
"Oh my god! Share with Zigzag, I don't know!"
Esra sighed. "Fine, I will share with Zigzag. You can share with Zero."
Jade made a sarcastic laugh. "I'm sharing with Squid." Esra rolled her eyes. The boys started to strip off right there in front of them. Esra and Jade tried to get their attention so they would realize that there were girls in the room, but after a minute they just gave up and went outside.
"So, you and Squid are getting friendly now." Esra stated, waiting for Jade to explain herself.
"Well I'm being nice, but I have to admit, he's kind of cute."
"Yeah, yeah. Just please don't trust these people too quickly, remember, they haven't seen a girl in months." explained Esra.
"Well, you seem to be warming up to Zigzag pretty damn quickly." Jade snipped.
"Yeah, well. I don't know!" Esra exclaimed, and sat down right where she was. Just then, the girls heard a screech and saw a lizard with yellow spots on it coming right at them. They screamed and Zigzag and Squid came running out of the tent to find out what the Hell the girls were screaming about. When they saw the lizard coming at them they grabbed the girls and pulled them into the tent.
"What. The. Hell. Was. That?" Jade asked between breaths.
"That? That was a yellow-spotted lizard. They are extremely poisonous, if they bite you; not only will you die, but you'll die a slow and painful death." Squid explained.
"I still would like to know what color its blood is..." Zigzag stated. The boys all laughed.
"That's not safe! Oh my God!" Esra exclaimed. "Now, no boys look, I'm getting into my pajamas." Jade took all the boys and made them not look at Esra changing. When she was done, they all sat on their cots, and just talked.
"Do we have a distinct bedtime here?" Jade asked X-Ray. "Or can we go to sleep whenever we want?"
"We have a distinct bedtime, nine o'clock. We can't be tired for digging tomorrow. They wake us at five." He replied Jade and Esra's mouths wide in shock.
"Well, what time is it now?" Esra asked.
"It's about... Eight forty-five." Caveman said matter-of-factly.
"Alright, well, let's go to bed now. I don't know about you, but I'm really flipping tired." Jade said as Esra nodded in agreement.
The boys sleeping alone got themselves situated, and then Squid and Zigzag got into their cots and waited for the girls to decide how they were going to sleep.
"Well, anyway is fine, as long as it's not... dirty." said Esra. "I don't really care anymore, I'm so tired."
"Okay girls, hurry it up!" Squid exclaimed from his cot, Jade turned to him and got under the covers.
"No funny business now, you two!" Esra told them as she got under the covers with Zigzag.
"Same goes for you!" Jade retorted. Someone shut the light off, leaving everyone to sleep.