Chapter 1:
Taylor's POV
"Come on Char, please?" I pleaded, using my best puppy-dog eyes.
"I don't know, Tay..." She mumbled, her head in her hands.
"Pleaseeeee, Char? I've got a great plan, foolproof! And seriously, who asks for 20 bucks for just one album? They're practically begging us to!"
She looked up, her bronze colored eyes seemed to be thinking it over.
"...Fineee, but only because I reallllllyyy want it, and Nick hasn't given me an allowance for weeks!" She finally agreed.
"Andddd, because you're my best friend, and you love me!" I grinned.
She just rolled her eyes, a smile playing on her lips. I leapt up to hug her, catching her off-guard.
"Jesus, Taylor!" She gasped, "Let's not crush me before we even get arrested!"
-3 hours later-
Charlie and I stood peeking around the building next door to Mick's Record Shop, seeing that the coast was clear of cops.
We strolled casually down the sidewalk, and entered to store, as the tiny bell signified.
Mick's was a small local record shop in downtown Tempe, Charlie and I were frequent customers.
"Look! Over there!" I whispered, nudging her in the ribs softly.
Charlie glanced over in the direction of my finger, which was pointing at the new Death Cab For Cutie special edition cd, that we were just dying to obtain.
I saw her nervously gulp, as i dragged her over to the new release section.
It was late evening, and there were only a few people in the store, but just enough to keep Mick, the owner and only employee in the shop, busy.
I opened my backpack and dropped in 2 copies of the album, whilst Charlie kept watch, a terrified look on her face as she bit her lip.
I stood and turned around, nodding to her to let her know I was ready.
The next part would be easy, since Mick's had no security, we'd just have to casually walk out.
"Ouch, Char!" I hissed, as her nails dug into my arm. "Sorry!" She whimpered, as we walk towards the door.
Just a few more steps and we were in the clear. I counted each one in my head.
1, "Everything is cool", 2, "I can't wait to get home and listen to it", 3, "This is a crazy rush", 4, "Just one more step and we're out", 5, "Oh bo-" and then a loud beeping sound filled my eardrums.
I guess Mick installed a security system at last.
- 3 days later-
Charlie's POV
I sat in the cold stiff chair, biting my lip, an old nervous habit I'd picked up from my brother.
I glanced sideways nervously at Taylor, and saw she was staring at the table with her thinking face on.
Taylor and I had been best friends since the 8th grade, which was when I transferred schools after running away from my parents' house.
I was still shaken up on that first day of school, and Taylor was just so nice to me, I felt like I could tell her everything, and I did.
And now here we are, sitting in a courtroom after being arrested for trying to steal 2 copies of an over priced Death Cab For Cutie cd.
I started acting out on my other nervous habit, tapping my nails on the table. Taylor glanced over, shooting me a nervous smile.
"Will the accused please rise." The judge bellowed.
Taylor and I stood, shooting each other more nervous glances.
"Now" the judge glanced at a paper in front of her "Taylor Lively, do you plead guilty to your crime?"
"Yes." she answered, a sad look in her eyes. I knew the last thing Taylor wanted was to go to jail, her parents would be so disappointed in her.
"Charlotte Poxleitner, do you plead guilty as well?" The judge directed the same question towards me.
"Yes." I repeated, and continued biting my lip.
"Alright, well it seems there are 2 vacancies at Camp Green Lake, a juvenile correctional facility in Texas, they are now accepting girls, and if you choose to attend, you will be the first.
"So we don't have to go to jail?" Taylor asked, a hint of hope in her voice.
The judge shook her head, "No, this is a very rare opportunity, and I suggest you take it."
Taylor gave me a questioning look, and I nodded. Camp sounded way better than jail.
"What will it be Miss Lively?" The judge asked her.
"The camp." Taylor answered, a look of determination and bravery in her ocean blue eyes.
"Alright, and what about you Miss Poxleitner?"
"I choose camp as well." I answered, trying to sound as brave as my best friend.
"18 months at Camp Green lake it is." The judge bellowed, smacking the gavel on her desk twice to make it official.
-1 day later-
Taylor's POV
I feel terrible. It's all my fault that Charlie's sitting next to me on this stinky bus in the middle of nowhere.
We've been driving for 15 fricking hours, I hope that we're almost there, or I swear I'll drop dead from hunger and dehydration. And one glance at Char and I could tell she felt the same.
I glanced out the window and all I saw was dirt and large holes, with the occasional rock.
I sighed, "Charrrrr, this is all my fault, I'm so so so so sorry!"
She stifled a laugh, "Taylor, that's like the millionth time you've apologized, and i'm going to tell you for the millionth time, it's not your fault, I agreed to go with you!"
I just sighed again, "Mr. Police guy, are we there yet?" I asked the guy sitting a few seats ahead of us.
"As a matter of fact, yes we are." He replied in a monotone voice, standing up and walking over to undo our handcuffs.
After he undid mine I rubbed my wrist with my other hand, it was all red and itchy.
As this dude leads me and Charlie off the bus, I realize we're surrounded by a bunch of delinquent boys in orange jumpsuits who probably haven't seen a girl in months.
Putting all the cat calls, wolf whistles, and cheesy pick up lines behind me, the police man opens a door to a small cabin-like building and ushers us inside.
Instantly, I feel the cool relief of air conditioning. Then, I notice the man sitting at the desk in front of the chairs Charlie and I are pushed into.
He had a cheesy mustache, beer belly, and was for some reason wearing a cowboy hat and sunglasses inside. He was probably trying to look intimidating. He brought his feet up onto the desk, and pulled a handful of sunflower seeds out of a sack and threw them back into his mouth.
Ew.
"What's with the sunflower seeds?" The police officer voiced the question that was in my head, maybe he could read minds?
"Just quit smokin'." The man growled in return.
"Now, which one 'a you is..." He glanced down at his clipboard, "Taylor Lively?"
"Me." I answered, watching as he handed the police man 2 coke bottles that seemed to come out of nowhere. I had hoped they were for us, I swear I was about to pass out.
"So that must mean you're..." He glanced at the clipboard again, "Charlotte Poxleitner." He glanced towards Char, she nodded.
"Alright, my name is Mr. Sir."
I glanced sideways towards Charlie, and saw that she too, was trying not to laugh.
"You think my name's funny?" he glared.
"No." Charlie and I answered simultaneously.
"Good. Now whenever you speak to me you must call me by my name, is that clear?"
"Yes Mr. Sir." Charlie and I both answered. Although we couldn't imagine why someone would have that as a name.
"You're not in the Girl Scouts anymore." he said.
Mr. Sir then led Charlie and I into another room where a boy tossed us each two sets of clothes and a towel.
"One set's for work, and the other set's for relaxation. Every 3 days your work clothes will get washed, and your relaxation set will become your work set. Got that?"
"Yes Mr. Sir." We answered, the boy and Mr. Sir then proceeded to turn around while me and Charlie put on one of our orange jumpsuits and a pair of work boots.
We let them know we were done and they turned around. Mr. Sir was about to take our bags to search, when I realized my iPod was in my bag.
"Ummm, I've got some, uh... feminine hygiene products in there..." I stuttered.
Mr. Sir proceeded to throw my bag back and gave Charlie a look as if to ask if hers had the same, she nodded vigorously. I knew her duffle bag held her guitar in it.
He tossed Charlie her bag as another man walked into the room.
He was wearing a sun hat, and had a glob of sunscreen on his large nose. He wore a short sleeve button up shirt tucked into cargo shorts. His socks went up to his knees. I tried my best to hold in my laughter.
"Taylor and Charlotte?" He asked in an upbeat tone. Oh dear, he was one of THOSE people...
"I'm Taylor." I replied.
He smiled, "So you must be Charlotte?" He asked Charlie.
"Umm, yes, but I prefer Charlie actually." She said in a slightly shy voice.
"Don't be silly, Charlie is a boys' name!" he laughed.
She frowned. Charlie hated being called Charlotte, she only let Mr. Sir do it, I presumed, because he scared her.
"Okay girls, well my name is Mr. Pendanski. It's easy to remember, just think pen, dance, key!" he cheerily said as he led us outside.
Charlie and I exchanged a look. I already knew this guy was going to get on my nerves, it seemed Char was thinking the same thing.
"I just want you two to know, that I respect you. And just because you've made some bad decisions in your life, doesn't mean you're bad kids. And while you're here, I'm going to help you turn your lives around, but you're going to have to help me, can you do that girls?" We nodded.
"Good, well unfortunately, because of your last minute arrival, and our isolated location, we won't have a tent for you two for about a month." He explained.
"So where are we staying then?" I asked.
"You'll be staying in tent D for the time being, unfortunately, we only have one spare cot at the moment, so you girls will just have to figure out sleeping arrangements on your own."
Ugh, we have to sleep with smelly bad boys who might be rapists? Fantastic.
"And you two will join D tent for counseling once a week with your counselor, that's me." He smiled at us.
Charlie and I just stared at him, emotionless expressions on our faces.
Just then two boys approached.
"Ah, girls, here come two of your tent mates right now! This is Alan and Ricky." He said, referring to the two boys standing in front of us, looking us up and down.
Alan was about 6 ft.1 I'd guess, and he had dark brown hair sticking out from under a white bandana and a tan hat. He was wearing his orange jumpsuit with the sleeves tied around his waist, and had on a pale yellow t-shirt with the number 34 on it. He had slightly thick eyebrows and chocolate brown eyes. And to top it all off he had a toothpick sticking out of his mouth.
Ricky on the other hand, was about 6 ft.3, he had wavy dirty blonde hair that stuck out in odd directions. He also wore his orange jumpsuit with the sleeves tied at the waist, and he wore a gray t-shirt. His eyes were wide with a shocking blue color to them.
"Man, my name is SQUID!" Al- Squid, corrected Pendanski."And this is ZigZag." He pointed with his thumb towards the blonde boy.
"They all have their little nicknames, but I prefer to call them by the names their PARENTS gave them, the ones SOCIETY will recognize them by!" Pendanski shot them a look.
"Whatever Mom." Squid said.
"So who are you?" ZigZag asked.
I was just about to answer when Pendanski beat me to it. "This is Taylor," He put a hand on my shoulder, which was weird because he's shorter than me, "and Charlotte." Char frowned, then flinched slightly when Pendanski put his other hand on her shoulder.
"Um, I told you, I prefer Charlie." She said, trying to hide her frustration.
We both shook his hands off of our shoulders, Charlie a little more forcefully.
"Don't be silly Charlotte, I told you, that's a boys' name." Pendanski laughed again.
"We call him Mom, you can too if you want." Squid said, giving Charlie a slight smile.
"Okay." She gave a slight smile back.
"Now girls, Alan and Ricky can show you your tent, and what not." Mom said, and walked towards the cabin at the far end of the camp, with the only two trees for miles.
Charlie's POV
Squid and ZigZag led us over to a large tan tent on a wooden platform with the letter "D" over the entrance flap.
"Right, so there's only one empty bed, what's the plan?" Squid asked us.
I shrugged. "I guess one of us will have to sleep on the floor, and switch off every night." Taylor said.
"So how do we decide who gets the bed tonight?" i asked her.
"Um, do you guys have a coin?" She asked.
ZigZag pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to her. "Here, use my shower token, just be sure to give it back after, it's kind of important."
I could tell, it smelled disgusting in here.
So we flipped the shower token, and of course Taylor wins the bed for tonight.
I sighed, and threw my stuff in my crate, making sure to take my acoustic out of my bag first.
"Hey, why'd you bring a guitar?" Squid asked me.
"It keeps me sane." I replied.
He smiled. I noticed he was kinda cute, despite being covered in dirt which kind of prevented me from getting a good look at his face.
"Well, we'd better go shower, and then we'll show you ladies the rest of the camp." Squid said.
"Don't worry, it won't take long, we only get 4 minute showers." ZigZag said, laughing at Taylor's "You can't be serious" face.
After grabbing some clothes and towels, the boys returned a few minutes later.
I had been sitting on Taylor's cot, absent mindedly strumming away at my guitar.
"Alright, so I'll show Charlie, Zig, you show Taylor." Squid said.
"Okay" ZigZag said, motioning for Taylor to follow him out of the tent.
Squid led me past the shower stalls, and I breathed a sigh of relief after seeing that two of the stalls were chest tall.
He pointed out the cabin with trees that Mom had walked to earlier as the Warden's cabin. And then led me into one of the rooms of the long cabin-like building.
"This is the "Wreck" room." He said. The room really was a wreck. The pool table was patched up with duct tape, most of the couches and arm chairs were tearing and missing legs.
There were a few tables, and a broken tv, which I saw ZigZag sitting on the floor, watching, although all I could see was static.
"Char!" Taylor came over to me. "Come sit!" She grabbed my arm and dragged me over to where a group of boys were sitting, Squid followed.
ZigZag got up to join us. He sat down on a busted couch, and Taylor sat next to him, dragging me down next to her. Squid flopped down in the seat on my opposite side.
"So," A black boy with short curly black hair, and dirty glasses began, "Who are you?"
"I'm Taylor, and that's Charlie." Taylor answered. "Who are YOU?" She asked in return, raising one eyebrow.
"I don't appreciate your tone, but I'm X-Ray, that's Armpit, Magnet, Caveman, Zero, and you already know ZigZag and Squid. We're all in D-tent." He said.
Armpit and Zero were also black. Armpit was largely built, and had short bushy black hair, he wore his orange jumpsuit normally, and wore a camo cap.
Magnet was mexican, and wore his jumpsuit tied at the waist, he wore a black t-shirt that read "Bandit", and he wore a black bandana over his shaved head.
Caveman was white, and he also had his jumpsuit on normally. He wore an orange cap with flaps in the back over his curly brown hair.
Zero wore his jumpsuit the same, and had a wild bushy afro.
They all smiled in greeting. Just then, a loud bell rang, making Taylor and I jump.
The boys laughed, "Dinner time." Squid explained, getting up and offering me a hand. I gladly took it, and followed the boys into the Mess Hall.
As Tay and I got in line for our food, I gagged at the... thing, that was plopped onto my tray. Tay gave me an understanding look.
Magnet called for us to come sit, and we obliged.
I took a seat next to Squid, with Taylor on my other side, and ZigZag next to her.
"So, what'd they get you for?" X-Ray asked us.
"Yo, I can't believe they actually got this one for something." Squid laughed, nudging me softly.
Taylor looked down guiltily, "They arrested us for shoplifting at a record shop."
The boys said some things like, "No way." and "I can't believe it."
"Well that Death Cab For Cutie special edition album was over 20 fricking bucks!" Taylor exclaimed.
I just sat there, poking my "food".
"Ay, Charlie, you didn't dig today, so you wouldn't mind giving your bread to someone who has, now would you?" X-Ray said, reaching for my bread.
"Yo man, I think she needs it more than you, she looks like she's gonna pass out!" Squid said, smacking X-Ray's hand away.
X-Ray glared at him.
"Thanks." I mumbled, taking a sip of my apple juice. I should've been a little more thankful, seeing as it was the only edible looking thing on my tray, but I was too tired to really speak.
He gave me a half smile, and took a bite of the stuff I was too scared to actually ingest.
After we all finished eating (not that I ate much, just my bread), we went back to our tent.
Taylor and I flopped down on our cot, while the guys did the same with their own.
I couldn't help but notice ZigZag oddly watching Taylor.
"So where are you guys from?" Caveman asked.
"Tempe, Arizona." Taylor casually answered, flipping over onto her stomach.
"Yo, Charlie, you don't talk much, do you girl?" Armpit questioned me. I was too dizzy to answer.
"Ey man, the chica doesn't look so good." Magnet said.
"Char?" I heard Taylor say before I blacked out.
"Charlie? Hey, you okay there darlin'?" I opened my eyes to see Squid staring over me, looking worried.
I slowly sat up to see all the guys, plus Taylor, sitting around me, staring intently. My head was spinning.
"Hey Squid man, you should take her to get some water." X-Ray encouraged.
He helped me up and did just that. As we walked to the water spigot, Squid kept glancing down at me, that worried look still on his face, his arm was around me for support so I wouldn't fall.
After I took a drink from my canteen, I looked up at him. "What just happened, exactly?"
"Well, sugar, you fainted. Dehydrated my guess." He had a concerned look on his face, which I noted had been on his face since we left the Mess Hall.
"Oh." I simply said as he helped me up.
"Yeah, ya wanna be sure to drink as much water as possible here, and eatin' helps too, even though most of the food's straight- up nasty." He laughed.
He put his arm around me again as we walked back to D-tent.
"She lives!" Magnet called as we re-entered.
Taylor rushed over from her spot on the floor next to ZigZag to give me a hug.
"Tay-you're-crushing-me!" I managed to say before she let go.
"Sorry, i'm just so glad you're okay. When you collapsed and they said you had fainted, I started flipping out."
"She really did, wouldn't shut the hell up." X-Ray added. I saw the other boys send a glare his way.
I laughed, "Well i'm fine now, no worries. Thanks by the way, Squid." I smiled up at him.
"Hey, don't mention it." He gave me a sideways smirk.
"Yo, we better hit the hay now, or we're all gonna end up like Charlie here tomorrow." Armpit said.
Woohoo, time to sleep on the hard, dirty floor.
Taylor tossed me the spare blanket and pillow Mom had dropped off earlier, and everyone started dozing off- except for me of course.
I cuddled my stuffed manatee closer, and tried my best to sleep, with no such luck.
I rolled over onto my back with a sigh, it was going to be a long night.