Chapter 1: Fresh meat
The name's no other than Lucy Jones. I'm 14 with curly brown hair past my shoulder blades and silver blue green eyes. I'm 4'9" tall with a whole lot of attitude and I got a tattoo on my 13th birthday. It's a black and white kitten curled into a ball, sleeping. I had a pretty tough childhood. My dad got arrested for murder when I turned 4 and mother didn't take it as well as I thought she would. She kept on drinking and getting drunk which eventually lead to her beating me saying it was my fault my dad got put into jail. School was just the same. People called me bitch and slut, shoving me into lockers. I eventually learned to ignore them and started carrying a pistol to school just in case anything got out of hand but that was until someone and when I mean someone, I mean Miss. Mary Sue.
How much I hate her. Her prefect body with that long blond hair and blue eyes of hers. She looked like a Barbie doll made of plastic with all that make-up on. She was the main bully. She was taller than me like everyone else except my best friend, Gwen Piper. Mary Sue did the worst thing to me. Called my best friend a bitch and a slut. Gwen was new to the school and really pretty like Mary Sue and was never bullied in her life until she became my best friend which was a week ago when she came.
There we were standing in the hall against the lockers talking, right? And out the corner of my eye I see Miss. Mary Sue, walking our way with that little crew of hers. Ashley Hammond and Kim Crawford. "Hey, Gwen. What are you doing with this bitch? Why don't you come hang out with us?" Mary Sue asked coming up to us.
"Naw, I'm good. I'd rather hang out with Lucy." She answered and this was Mary Sue's comment.
"Fine. I guess you'll be a bitch and a slut just like her." She said pointing at me. I had my book-bag on and once I saw Gwen eyes watering, you know what I did? I pulled out the pistol out of my bag and pointed it at Mary Sue.
Bang
I shot her and killed her. And that's basically how I ended up in court.
"You have two choices, missy. Jail or Camp Green Lake?" The judge said.
"Wait, isn't Camp Green Lake a boys camp?" I ask.
"Yes it is. The reason that's a choice is because there is no room at a girls camp." He said.
"Oh okay. Camp Green Lake." I replied.
"18 months, Camp Green Lake, girl." He said slamming the hammer down.
Here I sat on the back of a old bus with three other people. A boy two years older than me, a police officer, and the bus driver. I had brought my MP3 player with me so I had my earphones in listening to I will survive by Stephanie Bentley. I was wearing my favorite outfit. A camouflage sports bra,purple booty shorts and some cute sparkly pink tennis shoes to go along with it. The boy I learned stole a pair of Clyde "Sweetfeet" Livingston shoes. The bus ride was long and soon enough I saw holes, and lots of them. I could see orange jumpers in some as we neared the camp and soon the bus came to a halt.
"Come on, princess." The officer said shoving me and the boy off the bus.
"Don't call me a princess." I said staring at him with the evil eye.
"So, um, where's the lake?" the boy asked.
"Yeah, where is the lake?"
"Hey, what did I just tell you. Don't be a wise guy. Follow me you two." The officer said leading us to a room where a chubby man was sitting at a desk eating sunflower seeds. Two seats in front on the desk.
"Sit down." He says motioning to the two seats in front of him. We take our seats me on the right and the boy on the left while the officer hands him the files.
"What's with the sunflower seeds, man?" The officer asks.
"I give up smoking. Stanley Yelnats...The fourth?"
"Yeah. Everyone in my family names their son Stanley because it's Yelnats backward." Stanley said.
"Lucy Jones?" He asks.
"Yes, sir."
"My name is Mr. Sir. Whenever you speak to me, you will call me by my name. Is that clear?" Mr. Sir says.
"Yes Mr. Sir." We both say trying not to giggle.
"Do you think that's funny?" Mr. Sir asks standing up.
We look up at him."No, Mr. Sir." We say.
"This isn't a Girl Scout camp. Understand?" Mr. Sir says walking up to a mini fridge picking up two cokes.
"Here." He says and we lean up sticking our hands out.
"Boy, y'all a bag of tricks." He says handing it to the officer.
"Thanks." The officer said.
"You thirsty?" He asks.
"Yes, Mr. Sir." We answer.
"Well, you better get used to it. You gonna be thirsty for the next 18 months." Mr. Sir says walking out of his office, motioning for us to follow.
"Look around you, Jones, Yelnats. What do you see? Any guard towers? How about an electric fence? You wanna run away, go ahead. I won't stop you." He said turning the other way.
"I'm warnin' you!" He yells.
"You heard the man, Spence." Another cowboy says. Stanley and I look back and notice a gun on his hip.
"Oh, don't worry. This here's for yellow-spotted lizards, I wouldn't waste a bullet on you." Mr. Sir says.
"I'm not going to run away, Mr. Sir." Stanley says.
"Me either, Mr. Sir." I say looking back at him.
"Good thinkin' Yelnats Jones. Doesn't nobody run away from here. You know why? We got the only water for 100 miles - our own little oasis. You want to run away, them buzzards will pick you clean by the end of the third day." He says walking off toward amother room.
Mr. Sir walks into another room. "Hi, Mr. Sir." A boy in a orange jumper says. Mr. Sir picks up two pairs of boots. "Undress." He says. Me, I only had to take off my shoes. Only thing I was going to take off.
"You get two sets of clothes - one for work, one for relaxation. After three days, your work clothes will be washed, your second set becomes your work clothes. Is that clear?" He says throwing us each a orange jumper.
"Yes, Mr. Sir." We say.
"You are to dig one hole each day - 5- foot deep, 5- foot in diameter. Your shovel is your measuring stick. The longer it takes you to dig, the longer you'll be out in the hot sun." Mr. Sir says as Stanley trips and falls.
"Sorry, Mr. Sir." He says standing back up as I zip the jumper half way up, ending at my bellybutton.
"You need to keep alert for lizards and rattlesnakes."
"Rattlesnakes?" Stanley asks.
"You don't bother them, they won't bother you...usually. Being bit by a rattler not the worst thing that can happen to you. You won't die, usually. But you don't want to get bit by a yellow- spotted lizard. That is the worst thing that can happen to you. You will die a slow and painful death...always." Mr. Sir says as I finish tying the boots as the door opens.
"Stanley Yelnats, Lucy Jones." He says as we stand facing him. "I just want to let y'all know that you may have done some bad things, but that does not make you bad kids. I respect you, Stanley, Lucy. Welcome to Camp Green Lake. I'm Dr. Pendanski, your counselor." He says.
"Start that touchy feely crap, I'm outta here. Give them some towels, tokens. Set them up." Mr. Sir says before walking off leaving us with this Dr. Pendanski.
"I'm with Mr. Sir on that one." I say.
"You'll both be in "D" tent. "D" stands for diligence. That's the mess hall. There's the rec room. And there's the showers. There's only one knob 'cause there's only one temperature - cold. And that's the warden's cabin over there. That's the #1 rule at Camp Green Lake - do not upset the warden." He said.
"Yeah, he seemed kind of-." Stanley started.
"Who? Oh, Mr. Sir? Oh, he's not the warden. He's just been in a bad mood since he quit smoking." Dr. Pendanski says as three boys all taller than me, one black with thick glasses, one with a white headband, and one chubby black one.
"Hey, mom... Who's the Neanderthal and the girl?" the one with thick glasses says.
"This is Stanley and Lucy." He says pointing us out.
"So, what's happening with Barfbag?" The chubby one asks.
"Oh, Lewis won't be returning. He's still in the hospital. Stanley, Lucy, meet Rex, Alan, and Theodore." he says pointing them out.
"Hi." Stanley says as I wave at them.
"Yo, my name is X-Ray. And thats Squid, that's Armpit." X-Ray I believe said.
"Him, he's mom." Squid says.
"They all their little nicknames, but I prefer to use the names their parents gave them, the names society will recognize them by." Dr. Pendanski says. "Theodore, why don't we show these two their cots?" He asks.
"Go ahead 'Pit." X-Ray said.
"Welcome to your new home, Lucy and Stanley." Dr. Pendanski says showing us to D-tent.
"Barfbag slept here and Lucy you're right here." Armpit says pointing at Stanley's bed and then kicking mine.
"Keep your bed clean." Mom says as two more boys walk in. One Mexican, one white with hair pointed in every direction.
"I'm Magent, that's ZigZag." Magent says before walking to his cot which happened to be on my left side.
"And this is Zero. Say hello to Lucy and Stanley, Zero. Do you want to know why they call him Zero? Cause there's nothing going on in his stupid little head." Mom said as he ruffled his curly hair. Now this angered me.
"Hey, Mom. It's not nice to call people stupid. I'm pretty sure he's really smart. Maybe he doesn't want to answer any stupid questions. I thought you were supposed to be our counselor. Not our bully." I say trying hard not to raise my voice.
"It's true." We hear a soft voice say.
"Oh my god, you got Zero to talk." X-Ray said patting my shoulder but after what I've been through, I twisted his wrist behind his back and pushed him against the ground.
"Don't ever use god's name in vain." I said yelling now.
"Okay, okay gosh." X-Ray asks getting up.
"Thank you." I say before settling down on my cot.
"Stanley your mentor will be Theodore, Lucy yours Zero." Mom says before leaving.
"Am I glad he's gone. He maybe a little too happy." Me and Stanley say under our breath as everyone leaves to go do something else except me, Stanley, and Zero.
"Ugh. It's going to a long 18 months." I say as I flop down on my bed.
"Yes it is." I hear Stanley say as a bell rings.
"I think that's the dinner bell. I'm going to find Theodore and ask him." Stanley says following Zero out the tent.
"You coming?" Stanley asks.
"Naw, I'm good." I say.
"Suit yourself." Stanley says.
I lay back against my pillow staring at the ceiling. Man, what a day? Zero looked very familiar but where would I know him from? I kept thinking about where I would know Zero from when some of the boys walked in including Zero, Stanley, X-Ray, ZigZag, and Magnet.
"So Lucy, how'd you end up here?" X-Ray asked now sitting across from me.
"A bully by the name of Mary Sue called my one and only best friend a bitch and slut, so I shot and killed that bitch. And I don't regret anything." I say sitting up.
"Damn, chica." Magnet said.
"Night." Mom says.
"Good night boys." I say pulling the blankets up.