Unfortunetly, I don't own Holes. Any other character, however, in this story belongs to me . No Stealing!
First Day
Tell me what the hell I'm doing on a old bus, going eighty in a blazing hot desert, hand cuffed whilst a guard stares at me with a loaded shotgun?
Because you're an idiot who didn't know how to say no.
Oh yea...
Felicity sighed as she stared out into the never-ending desert; the only thing worth looking at was the mountains, which, from the window, looked farther away. She reached up to take her dark brown hair out of its ponytail, letting her fine, curly hair sway down her back. She scrunched it with her fingers; giving it more volume before she rested her folded hands over the seat in front of her. She glanced at the back of the driver's seat, then to the guard. She shifted uncomfortably, moving her skaters from underneath the seat in front of her.
Looking at her from a glance, Felicity looked like any normal Hispanic teenager of her age. She had dark, untameable hair to match her already deep green eyes and flawless tanned skin. She wore an olive green tank top that fit her comfortably, and a pair of dark blue skinny jeans. As the bus rocked back and forth, a necklace with a simple rose on it swayed along with the bus. Felicity grabbed it, stopping it from moving any more. She held onto it tightly before she noticed that the bus was no far from what looked like a western town. She leaned back in the seat just as the bus came to a sudden halt.
"Get up and follow me," the guard ordered as he stood up. Felicity followed, leaving the bus and hopping onto the sandy ground. She looked around, noticing that the camp she would be forced to stay at for eight months. The town did look like something out of a western movie, with old buildings, what looked like a saloon, and a simple western atmosphere
The guard had retrieved her duffel bag from the bus, setting it on the ground before he went to undo her hand cuffs. Rubbing her wrists, she stopped to pick up her bag before following the guard. He led her only into the town when they were approached by a man.
"Felicity Hernandez?" he asked in a rough tone.
"Yes..." she answered, unsure of what to do.
"Welcome to Camp Green Lake. I am Mr. Sir, follow me Girl Scout."
Felicity frowned at her nickname, but regardless, followed Mr. Sir—Felicity couldn't help but inwardly giggle at his name— into a building that she assumed was an office. He walked over and sat down behind the desk, reaching for a pack of cigarettes.
"Before you get cozy here, let me go over a few guidelines. Rule number one, don't upset the Warden. Otherwise, behave and do what you're told. Don't even think about running away, because we are the only water source for one hundred miles. The buzzards will have picked you clean by the third day. You will get two jumpsuits, one to work in and the other to relax in. You will also get five shower tokens for this week. You will receive three next week, then only two. And the showers here are nice and freezing cold. The tokens and your suits are already in your tent. Here at Camp Green Lake, we believe that character should be built, preferably by digging holes," he explained as he lit a smoke.
Holes?
"You will dig one hole a day, five feet wide, and five feet deep. Your shovel is your measuring stick. You will dig the hole until it is dug, regardless if everyone else is done. And let me say," he said as he leaned in closer towards her, "Just because you're one of the only girl's here, it doesn't mean you will be getting any special treatment."
Felicity nodded as she folded her arms over her chest. She had already heard from the judge that on condition that she attends camp instead of juvie, she must be aware that she might be one of the few, if not only girl in the camp. It didn't faze her; she had an older brother, Roberto, at home, who gave her enough trouble. She figured she could handle the boys here.
"You will be digging with D-Tent along with the other girl in the camp."
Felicity raised an eyebrow, curious to know who this other girl was. But before she could say anything, a voice called out behind her,
"Miss Hernandez, I just want you to know that you may have done some bad things, but that does not make you a bad person. I respect you Felicity," A man walked in shorts and a sun hat, taking Felicity's hand to shake it, "Welcome to Camp Green Lake, I'm Doctor Pendanski, your guidance counsellor."
"Great, now we all know each other. Listen girlie, if you have problems, go to him, not me, because I won't be willing to do anything involving 'girl issues'," he told her before he spit out his cigarette and crushed it with his foot.
"You know, Mr. Sir, you should really consider my idea about quitting smoking."
"Don't get your panties in a knot Pendanski, I'll do it when I'm ready," Mr. Sir sneered as he left.
Felicity had to hold down her laughter as Mr. Pendanski glared at the door. He sighed before he left out the door too, motioning for Felicity to follow him. Felicity listened as he pointed out all the buildings, showers and other little notes about the place. Soon, they came to a series of large tents spread out in a row, ranging from letters A to E.
"D-tent is the fourth one on the right, but you will be staying in the smaller tent opposite it," he informed her, pointing to the only tent on the left side, directly across from the tent with a giant D on it. "Katrina will be coming back at any moment, so-"
He was cut off when he heard several male voices coming from behind him. Felicity tried to take a look at them as they approached. Walking in front of the group was a shorter, black guy, sporting big black glasses. He reminded Felicity of Napoleon, since she assumed he was the leader. On either side of him, were a heavy set black guy and a white boy with long brown hair. Behind the three, two more boys walked behind them, one was tall, white and had crazy looking blond hair and the other one shorter, with a buzz cut and bandana around his head. From what Felicity could see, he looked Hispanic. What caught Felicity's attention was the girl who was walking further behind. She was black, with curly hair like Felicity's, but not as fine, but more relaxed. Her brown eyes stared at the ground in front of her as she carried her shovel. She was much shorter than Felicity, tiny even. To her, she didn't look like some hard time criminal delinquent. The group stopped when they saw her.
"Well, what do we have here?" the boy in the front asked, eying Felicity.
"This is Felicity, your new group member and the second girl to this camp," Dr. Pendanski told them.
"Damn," was all the large boy could say.
"Now, Theodore, that is no way to greet a lady," Pendanski scolded.
"And I told you, Mom, my name is not Theodore, it's Armpit."
Mom? Theodore? What the hell?
"You will have to excuse them; they have their own little nicknames for each other."
"Yea," the leader said, "I'm X-ray, and this is Squid, Armpit, Zigzag, Magnet and she's Sunshine."
Felicity looked to each member, putting names to faces. She stopped momentarily at Magnet, who was staring at her. Realising what he was doing, he stopped, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.
"Katrina, you will be in charge of helping Felicity settle in. As you were," he turned and walked away.
Wait, why is he leaving? Come back!
"So, you're Felicity eh?" Armpit asked as he moved closer to her.
"Pretty name for such a nice looking girl," Squid added.
"Get out of here, you Neanderthals," Sunshine pushed her way to the front and beside Felicity.
"What did you call us?" X-ray asked, leaning in closer to Sunshine.
"It means you're a cave man, you know, stupid."
"Why I-"
"Can you guy's please not start anything? The last thing we need is for you to start another fight and get the Warden involved this time," Zigzag sighed.
"Fine, but insult me again-"
"Don't worry, I'll use smaller words next time," Sunshine rolled her eyes before turning to Felicity, "Want to go get settled?"
"Might as well," Felicity shrugged as Sunshine led her to the tent, and both girls ducked inside.
"Damn," Armpit stated again.
"Will you knock it off?" X-ray asked as the boys went to their own tent. "You did the same thing when Sunshine came here."
"Yea, but that girl's got the whole Spanish chick look going for her. You know, curve's," Armpit added as he used his hands to illustrate.
"It's not a look, man, it's a lifestyle" Magnet told him.
"Oh, and do you know her?" Squid asked.
"Well no, and I doubt any of you do."
The boys entered the tent to find Zero sleeping on his bunk. Squid nudged him until he woke up.
"Wake up Zero, you might as well know that we have a new girl in the camp," Squid informed him as he went to sit on his own bunk. Zero shot him a blank look before turning back on his side to sleep.
"As if Zero's gonna care if there's another girl here," Zigzag snorted, "Unless her name is either Dirt or Hole."
After the laughter had calmed down, Magnet went to change into his other shirt, but not before glancing at the tent opposite his. As he took off his shirt, he turned back around, trying to look normal.
"Welcome home," Sunshine told her not as cheerfully as she went to her cot out of the two in the tent.
"It's very...cozy."
"Well, it's a lot roomier then the tent I slept in before. They just upgraded this one since you were coming," Sunshine told her as she kicked off her sneakers.
"It's nice at least," Felicity commented as she placed her bag at the end of her cot. She reached for one of the suits folded nicely on her bunk.
"So have they told you about the digging?" Felicity asked.
"Yep."
"The showers?"
"Uh huh."
"The lizards?"
"Uh...no."
Sunshine chuckled before explaining, "Around here, we have yellow spotted lizards, which can kill a guy in less than a minute, in the most painful way possible, so you might as well avoid them. Zigzag says that they have exactly eleven spots, and if you're close enough to count them, you're dead."
She emphasised this by sliding one finger over her throat.
"Oh great, cold showers, digging, hormonal guys and now deadly lizards," Felicity sighed.
Sunshine laughed at the remark, "So, what are you here for?"
"Something."
"Don't give me that. How about I tell you about how I got here, and you do the same, deal?"
Felicity would have said no, but she was rather curious to see how such a petite and nice looking girl got into such a hell hole.
"Mine's pretty simple really. Underage drinking. I would not have gotten in very much trouble, except that these two guys decided to have a drunken fight and one of them got seriously hurt. The other guy was charged and some people who were hanging around got community service. But I was sent here for some reason."
"You don't know?"
"I don't remember. That night was a blur to me and no one really told me what I did, but it must have been bad in order to end up in this place. Now, it's your turn," Sunshine jokily said as she turned away so Felicity could change.
"Mine isn't really special either," Felicity explained as she slipped on her jumpsuit. "I just stole some rich snob's walkman. Her parents and she charged me, pretty much throwing the book at me too, but I was only charged with theft. But instead of juvie, I picked here."
"You stole a walkman? Why?" Sunshine questioned as she turned back to face her.
"I really don't know anymore. I think it was because my friend, or rather ex friend, dared me to after said snob gave me a hard time."
Sunshine stared at her before she began to snicker.
"What?"
"I don't know, it's just funny," Sunshine told her in-between breaths.
Just then, a loud bell was rung, spooking Felicity.
"Don't worry, it's just the dinner bell," Sunshine informed her as she got up from her cot. "Time to go meet with the guys."
"You really got close to them, didn't you?"
"Well, somewhat. I've only been here two months out of my ten month sentence and I am only really close to Magnet and Zigzag, only because they treat me decent," Sunshine put her sneakers back And as you saw earlier, X-ray and I have our issues. Conflicting personalities and what not."
"Speaking of which, what's with the nicknames you guys have?" Felicity wondered aloud as they exited the tent.
"Oh, that's a tradition here at camp, where you get a new nickname, based on certain things. Armpit, for example, is called that because...well...he stinks."
"Gross."
"Oh yea. He always bets away his shower tokens whenever he plays poker."
"Ok...what about X-ray?"
"Did you see his glasses? Well, he believes he can see through stuff with them, but in reality, he can't and he's as blind as a bat without them."
"Makes sense. What about the others?"
"Squid and Zigzag never really elaborated on their nicknames, but Magnet is a thief and he believes his fingers are like magnets," Sunshine explained, using air quotations and a funny look on her face.
Felicity giggled slightly as they reached the mess hall. "And what about your nickname?"
"I named her that because she is my ray of sunshine," someone sarcastically explained ahead of them. Leaning against the rail was X-ray, with Armpit and Squid beside him.
"Oh yea, because I'm here to make your day," Sunshine replied, rolling her eyes.
"Well why else would they send you here? You seem to be good for nothing else," X-ray shot back. Sunshine glared at him, taking a step towards him. Felicity grabbed her, dragging her away from the boys and into the hall. Sunshine huffed as they got in line.
"Can you believe him? He's so full of himself."
Felicity simply shrugged as she handed Sunshine a tray before getting her own. As they walked down the line, Felicity was served quite questionable slop from the workers. When she had gotten her food, she stared at it.
"I think it moved," she remarked to Sunshine as she reached her.
"It won't bite as long as you eat quickly," Sunshine joked as she walked towards a table where the rest of D-Tent sat, minus three boys.
"Hey girls," Zigzag called as he and Magnet moved apart to let the girls sit. Sunshine sat beside Zigzag, leaving a spot for Felicity beside Magnet. Sitting down, she glanced over at him to see her smiling warmly.
"So how's your first night here chica?" Magnet asked her nicely.
"It's ok," Felicity replied simply, turning back to her food.
"You know it's not that bad," Magnet assured her.
"But it moved," she argued.
Magnet laughed at her, making Felicity uncomfortable. After he calmed down, he explained, "You'll get used to it, seeing as it's the only thing you might eat for a while."
"Great," Felicity sulked as she reached for her fork and poked her food. She looked across from her to see a new face. This one was younger than the rest of the boys, with curly brown hair and a blank look on his face,
"That's Zero," Sunshine introduced him, "He doesn't speak too much."
"If ever," Zigzag added as he took a mouthful of food.
Felicity saw Zero stare blankly at Zigzag as he too eat his food. Staring at hers once again, Felicity reached for some slop, carrying it on her fork until it reached her mouth. Surprisingly, it wasn't so bad, a little salty, but it was otherwise decent.
"See, told you," Magnet smiled at her. Felicity gave him a small smile in return, just as the other boys arrived.
"So, how's our new girl doing?" X-ray asked as he sat down opposite Sunshine, with Armpit on his left and Squid beside Zero.
"She was doing fine until you arrived," Sunshine stated as she glared at him.
X-ray simply glared at her as he began to eat his meal. The table sat in silence for a while before Zigzag finally asked, "So, Felicity, what are you in for?"
Felicity looked over to him before replying, "I stole a walkman."
"From which store?" Magnet asked, intrigued.
"It wasn't from a store, it was from this girl I knew," she elaborated.
"Why'd you steal it from her?" Armpit asked.
"Because she was a bitch," Felicity simply told him.
Squid, who had a mouthful of slop in his mouth, choked on it while the others stared at her. Confused, she asked, "What?"
"You swore," Zigzag stated.
"So...?"
"You don't seem like someone who would swear," Zigzag explained.
"Well, she was," Felicity said sheepishly. The group let out a few chuckles as Felicity looked over to Sunshine, who gave her a reassuring smile.
"Ok you guys, give the girl a break. If you're not gonna eat anymore, want to head back to the tent?"
Felicity looked at her barely eaten meal and shrugged, pushing it away from her with a look of disgust. Magnet smiled as the two girls stood up and left the hall.
"You gotta admit," Zigzag said, taking another bite, "That girl is something."
"No kidding," Magnet agreed as he turned back to his own slop and chowed down.
First Holes Story I've worked on. Would appreciate feedback, because, unlike my other stories, I will only try to continue this if I get feedback on whether or not you enjoy this and if you would want to see more of it. Any questions, feel free to ask.
Button is in the middle, in case you didn't know ;)