Camp Greenlake did eventually open back up, but not just as a girls' camp as intended. Both boys and girls were sent there, if they had a run in with the law. Of course, as with all prison camps, it had its regulars. Zig-zag never really left, it seemed, and Twitch was there every few months. As for X-ray, he still reigned supreme, and Armpit got sent back once every now and then. Magnet was always welcome and always there, as was Squid. But Stanley and Zero only visited. There were others of course, but they aren't that important to this story.
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Camelot Barlow sat in an uncomfortable bus seat beside another girl as they journeyed to Camp Greenlake. The other girl, Madison Grinch, didn't talk much and seemed all too innocent for Cam. Cam raised her handcuffed wrists over her head and stretched back. The guard watched her with eyes that were too keen. Cam felt a jolt and sat straight up. Looking out the dust-caked window, she saw that they were there. The guard stalked over to the two girls and grabbed Cam's shoulder. "Come on Trouble," he said in a tone Cam didn't like in the least. She would have punched him, if she weren't at a prison camp. Rising, she led the way off the bus. Welcome to Camp Greenlake… she thought to herself. The guard led her into the 'office' where an old lady in baggy clothes was bent over a TV screen. When they entered, the old hag looked up and said, "File." The guard dropped two large stacks of papers on the woman's desk. The lady looked quickly over the files and said, "Which of you criminals is Camelot Barlow and which is Madison Grinch?" Cam raised her handcuffed hands and said, "Names Cam." The witch growled and shook her head. "You will call me Ms. Herton, not Hurtin, not Her-tone, not anything but Ms. Herton. Got that?" Cam nodded and didn't say a thing. Madison Grinch, who had been silent throughout all of this, said, "Yes, Ms. Herton," in a horribly sweet southern-belle accent.
"Well, what a sweet little con. Now, warden, quit dawdling and unhandcuff these horrid monsters!" the hag growled. The guard did as he was told. As soon as Madison's handcuffs were off, she grabbed them and hit the guard hard on the head with them using some strange martial arts move, as if the handcuffs were num-chucks. Cam was stunned by this outburst, but not enough not to run after Madison in a feeble escape attempt. It didn't take long before they were both caught.
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Cam marched toward the tents with Madison, both were being watched by the old lady, Ms. Herton, the hawk. Cam spoke under her breath to Madison. "Nice job back there… I didn't think you were much of a fighter… sure showed me… hows 'bout we start over… names Cam, friends and enemies call me the Chameleon. You?" Madison smiled an evil smile to herself. "People call me a few things, Mad-Madi, the Grinch, MG, Fu-Dog, Belle-from-hell… you name it, I'm called it… and you can sure run." Cam laughed at the last part. Yeah, she could run, but in the end, she had been caught.
Ms. Herton had assigned them to D-Tent-2 saying that they would be the only inhabitants, but that D-Tent-1, their neighbor tent, was almost completely full, and they would have the same counselor as D-Tent-1. And, right now, they were on their way to their first meeting.
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Their counselor was a tall, thin man who was old and balding. The boys in D-tent-1 were nice enough, but kept staring at Cam and then looking away when they noticed that she noticed. Everyone sat lazily around in a circle and listened to Mr. Friendly's explanation of how they were all 'good kids.' Yeah, right… thought Cam. When Mr. Friendly left them he said, "Everyone, do the right thing and girls, out by 7." Cam got up to leave, but Madi held her back with a "Don't be a bummer, girl."
One of the guys smiled and said, "So, you know our 'names' as Mr. Friendly tells them, but you don't know what we're called and call ourselves. I'm X-ray. That's Magnet and that stinky guy over there is Armpit. The twitchy kid is Twitch and that's Zig-zag." Madison smiled her 'sweet-southern-belle' smile and said, "Names Madison Grinch, folks call me whatever they want… Mad-Madi, the Belle-from-hell, the Grinch, Fu-Dog… whatever floats their boat…" Cam shrugged when everyone looked her way, "I'm called the Chameleon, for obvious reasons…" Cam twirled her rainbow colored, waist length hair between her fingers coolly. "Now, if you don't mind, it's hot and this shirt is sticking to me…" Cam grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled it gracefully off, exposing her tank top and bare-arms. The boys stared at her muscular arms and Cam remembered that her shirt had been hiding the tattoos on her arms. One tat was a chameleon in mid-change while the other arm bore a giant snake about to strike a little girl, one third it's size, who was holding a stuffed animal.
Cam flexed her arms and smiled saying, "Impressed, boys? I think they go well with my rainbow dyed hair, don't you?" Magnet whistled and said, "Yeah, Tats, their great." Cam laughed, "So, is my new name Tats?" X-ray shrugged and said, "Good 'nough name as any… so, we have Tats slash Chameleon, and… Madi, you got no nickname from us yet…" Madi didn't seem to care, she was heavily flirting with Zig-zag, and he was liking it.
"Zig-zag is such a… fine name… fit for a guy such as yourself… tall, dark, handsome, strong… you know, a girl could go crazy with desire for you…" Madi wasn't wasting any time. X-ray hit Zig-zag playfully on the head saying, "Man, Ziggy, looks like there's more to you than we thought…" Twitch looked at Tats and asked, "S-so, what's your st-story? Wh-why ya here?" Tats sighed and leaned forward toward his ear. She half-whispered, "More than I can say in a sentence." Twitch gave her a look that said 'try.' Tats laughed and said, "I beat up a middle-aged man, punched my lawyer, keyed the judge's car, tagged the court house, my high school, the clinic, and a park, egged a house, and stole a car… no biggie…" Twitch shrugged and said, "Naw, you're among other criminals now. I just stole a car, or seven… this ain't my first time at Camp Greenlake… ain't none of their's either…"
"So, what's with building houses?" Cam asked, almost discussed. After Madi and Cam had been caught in mid-flight, the hag had told them that they would build houses on the lakeside. X-ray leaned over and laughed. "When the lake was still dried up, we used to dig holes… the warden made us dig for buried treasure, without us even knowing it… now, we build houses for rich folk who don't want to pay anyone to." X-ray spoke the word 'rich' as if it was the foulest thing in the world. Cam rolled her eyes and gave Madi a look. Madi was already flirting with another boy, Magnet, having quickly lost interest in Zig-zag. Cam stood up and looked at her watch, quarter till 7. "Better be off," she said with an undertone of malice, "if I'm to tag the mess hall and be in my tent by 7." Cam smiled as everyone looked at her with surprise. "Anyone care to help?"
Twitch was the first to volunteer, followed by X-ray and Magnet. Madi also said that she was up was up for mischief, and Zig-zag was quick to follow her lead. Armpit finally agreed to be the look out, if nothing more.
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Cam stood on the counselors' table in the mess hall. She was holding a spray can, her pointer finger on the nozzle. She was almost done out-lining the black lettering. After one last spray she got off of the table and stepped back to admire her work. "Welcome to Camp Greenlake, where the lake is turd-brown." It wasn't that creative, but it didn't have to be as long as it was graffiti. Cam did a 180 to see the others' masterpieces. She especially loved Twitch's. It had a skull-and-cross-bones and read, "Warning: food may cause death." She noted that everyone was finished and she looked at her watch to see how long it had taken them. Oh no! 9:57! We are so late! she thought to herself.
"Guys, lateness! Come on- hurry! But be dead quite or be dead…" she said in a whispered voice. They snuck out of the building and ducked behind a tent as they saw a flashlight approaching. We won't get caught, we won't get caught, we won't get caught, we won't ge… just then the light roamed two feet near them. Oh man, oh man, oh man, this is it, we're dead, so dead, and on my first night, at least I won't have to build a house, but Twitch, poor Twitch… why am I thinking of Twitch at a time like this? I'm about to get sent to jail and I'm thinking of Twitch? I just met the guy and…Cam's brain stopped thinking when the light wandered away from them. She almost let out a sigh, but caught herself. The group watched silently as the flashlight barer disappeared into the counselors' tent.
Cam found herself stepping forward slowly. Then, she began to run. She didn't notice that the others had followed her; she just wanted to get to the tent. And she did, D-tent-2. The others followed her inside, even the boys. Cam collapsed on her cot and then found that she could breathe again. Sitting up, she looked around at everyone and said, "What a rush!" That made everyone laugh and the whole atmosphere eased. Armpit patted her back and said, "Yup, you're one of us!" Twitch laughed, "I-I thought w-we were de-dead…" "Yeah, we was almost caught," said Magnet and Madi said, "I was wishing we were gonna be." Zig-Zag gave Madi a look and whispered, "She's crazier than me!" X-ray raised his hands and said, "That was fun and all, but we best get to our tent, boys. Night, girls."