Chapter 2:

Meeting the Boys

"Shineka Johnson and Keianna Jackson," a man called, walking into the shack. The girls turned around.

"Huh?" Shineka said.

Shineka and Keianna stared at the man. He had on a white collar shirt, and khaki shorts. He wore a sun hat on his head and way too much sunscreen on his nose. He smiled at the girls.

"Now you girls may have done some bad things, but that does not make you bad kids," the man said. "I respect you, girls. Welcome to Camp Green Lake. I'm Dr. Pendanski, your counselor."

He reached his hand out to shake theirs. Shineka and Keianna looked at each other, than back at Dr. Pendanski. Great, we're stuck with Mr. Rogers. Keianna thought. Mr. Sir walked out the door muttering something about touchy-feely crap. Dr. Pendanski beckoned for the girls to follow him. They walked out, after getting a few extra things, being girls and all.

"You'll be in D-tent," Dr. Pendanski said, as they walked towards a group of tents. "D stands for diligence! That's the Rec Room, that's the Mess Hall, and those are the showers."

"You can't be serious," Shineka said, looking at the showers.

"At least we brought our bathing suits," Keianna whispered to her.

"Yeah, yeah," Shineka muttered.

"And that's the Warden's cabin over there," he continued. "Camp Green Lakes' number one rule: Do not upset the Warden."

They continued towards the tents. On the way, they came up to three boys. Two were black and one was white. The white boy had a toothpick in his mouth and a bandanna on his head. One black boy wore glasses and the other was rather heavy set. The boys looked at them.

"Hey, Mom," the boy wearing glasses said. "Who're the chicks?"

"Boys, this is Shineka and Keianna," Dr. Pendanski introduced. "Girls, this is Rex, Alan, and Theodore."

"Yo, my name's X-ray," Rex said. "That's Squid and he's Armpit."

"And him," Squid said, gnawing on a toothpick and nodding towards Dr. Pendanski. "He's Mom."

"They all have their little nicknames," Dr. Pendanski said. "But I prefer to use the ones their parent's gave them. The ones society will recognize them by."

"Where's the fun in that?" Shineka questioned. X-ray grinned.

"See, I like her," he said.

"Baby, you don't even know me," Shineka smirked.

"Why don't you boys show these girls to their cots," Dr. Pendanski said, ignoring the teens. X-ray nodded.

"Let's go, guys," he said.

They all walked into a tent, where a few boys were already lounging. All the boys stopped what they were doing and looked up. The girls stood in the doorway of the tent. X-ray and Armpit sat on their cots and kicked the two that were in front of them.

"That's where you two sleep," X-ray said.

Shineka and Keianna looked at each other, walked over to their cots, and sat their backpack on their beds. Dr. Pendanski stood in the front of the tent entrance. Two boys walked over to their cots. One was Mexican and the other was white with wild blonde hair.

"Hey I'm Magnet. That's Zigzag," the Mexican boy said. He pointed at the white boy on the other side of Keianna. "Over there is Caveman."

"And this…is Zero," Dr. Pendanski said, walking over to a short boy with curly black hair who was laying on his cot. "Say hello to Shineka and Keianna, Zero.

Zero didn't move or speak. Shineka and Keianna watched him.

"Do you wanna know why they call him Zero?" Dr. Pendanski asked. "'Cause there's nothing going on in his stupid little head."

Dr. Pendanski ruffled Zero's curls. Once again, Zero didn't move or utter a sound. Keianna continued to watch Zero with her head tilted slightly. Zigzag looked at the girls, then at Dr. Pendanski.

"Did you tell them about the lizards?" he asked, his electric blue eyes shifting from the girls to Pendanski.

"Ricky, let's not scare the girls," Dr. Pendanski said.

"Man, his name's not Ricky," X-ray said. "It's Zigzag a'ight?"

"Why don't you girls pick a mentor," Dr. Pendanski suggested.

"I'd rather not," Shineka said.

"Keianna?" he questioned. Keianna shook her head. "Well, if you have any questions just ask the boys. They're your new family now. Got that, fellas?"

"Yeah, man. Whatever, dude," was heard throughout the tent.

"I'm counting on you, boys," Dr. Pendanski said. "It should be no labor to be nice to your neighbor."

Keianna glanced at Zero and he rolled over on his cot, his back to everyone. Dr. Pendanski walked out the tent as the girls finished unpacking. Once Shineka was finished, she sat on her cot which was covered with a Mickey Mouse blanket and stationed in between Magnet and Zigzag. Keianna was spreading her Inuyasha blanket over her cot, which was in between Zigzag and Caveman. She sat on her cot and looked around, quietly. Shineka crossed her arms and looked at the boys around her. They were all staring at her.

"Quit starin'!" Shineka said. "That mess ain't cool. Ya'll act like ya'll never seen a girl before."

"It's been a while," X-ray smirked. Shineka shook her head.

"Sad," Shineka said with a grin.

"Neka, I'm hungry," Keianna said, barely above a whisper.

"Me too," Shineka agreed. "Is the food any good in this dump?"

"It's a'ight," Armpit replied with a shrug.

"You don't seem too sure," Shineka said.

"Well, you can be the judge of that," Squid replied.

At that moment, the dinner bell rang and everyone stood from their cots. Shineka and Keianna followed the boys into the Mess Hall. Grabbing a tray, they got into line. The girls watched as the cafeteria workers splattered gunks of food onto their trays. There was no way that this was food. After receiving their meal, they walked over to the D-tent table. Shineka sat down in front of X-ray and Keianna sat down in between Zigzag and Caveman, in front of Zero. She looked up and her eyes met with Zero's. They stared at each other for a moment, before she tore her gaze away and looked down at her tray.

"Ay, ya'll didn't dig today," X-ray smirked, "so, ya'll wouldn't mind givin' your bread to somebody who did, now would you?"

"Actually, I do mind," Shineka said. "It's the only edible lookin' thing on my tray and I'll be damned if I'm gonna give it to you."

X-ray shrugged and reached for Keianna's. Keianna grabbed her fork and stabbed it at his hand. X-ray snatched his hand back. Keianna grinned.

"Don't touch hers either," Shineka said. Keianna picked up one of her two pieces of bread and began to peel the ends off.

"What are you two?" X-ray asked, looking from Shineka to Keianna. "You seem close."

"We're sisters," Shineka replied, glancing at Keianna. "Half-sisters, actually."

"Sisters?" Armpit questioned. Shineka nodded. "You're so different."

"You have no idea," Shineka muttered.

"What the cops get you for?" Zigzag asked.

"Oh, um…" Shineka looked at Keianna, who shook her head. "We'd rather not say."

"That bad, huh?" Caveman asked. Keianna shrugged and poked at her "food".

"Miss your mother's cookin' already?" Squid asked.

"Shut up," Keianna said softly, narrowing her eyes.

"Awww, she misses her mommy," he grinned.

"I said, shut up ya' little insect," Keianna repeated lowly, her voice dripping with venom as she stood and leaned toward him with her fork still in hand.

Squid saw something red flash in Keianna's eyes. She had one hand flat on the table and her fork in the other, pointing at Squid as she cut her eyes at him. Everyone looked from her to Squid. Keianna sighed, dropped her fork, and picked up her tray.

"I'm out," she muttered.

Keianna tossed her tray into the bin and walked out the Mess Hall. The boys looked at Shineka. She glanced at them as she nibbled her bread.

"What was that?" Armpit asked.

"She doesn't like when folks talk about Mom," she explained.

"I was only kiddin', Squid said. "I mean it's not like-"

"She's dead," Shineka stated.

The group fell silent. Shineka shook her head and stood up with her tray. She tossed her bread to X-ray, walked over to the bin, tossed her tray in, and left the Mess Hall. The boys looked at each other. They were still slightly confused as to what had happened.

Shineka walked into the tent and found Keianna sitting on her cot with a long, black velvet necklace case in her lap. Shineka walked over to Keianna and sat on her bed beside her.

"Wanna talk about it?" she asked.

"No," Keianna mumbled.

"So, whatcha got there?" Shineka asked, gesturing towards the box.

"What do you care?" Keianna asked, looking at Shineka.

"Just open the box," Shineka commanded.

"Why don't you use your powers to open it?" Keianna snapped.

"You know I don't have that ability," Shineka growled, her eyes growing dark. "Now open the box."

Keianna rolled her eyes and opened the box. Shineka looked down at the necklace inside and her eyes widened. The necklace had a white gold chain and on the end of the chain was a jewel that resembled a pearl, and inside the jewel were two clouds of blue and green mist that swirled around each other. Shineka furrowed her eyebrows together and looked up at Keianna.

"Is that the necklace that Aginisi gave you?" Shineka asked.

Looking at her lap, Keianna nodded. Shineka's eyes became even darker. She glanced up and saw a few boys come into the tent. Shineka looked back at Keianna.

"Are you crazy?" Shineka asked through clenched teeth. "Why don't you have that on?"

"Get off my case!" Keianna hissed back. "Where's yours?"

"I never take it off," Shineka replied, pulling on the chain around her neck to reveal a necklace quite similar to Keianna's.

Keianna stared at the jewel as clouds of red and orange swirled around each other. She looked up at her sister.

"I don't see the point of it," Keianna said.

"It keeps your powers in check," Shineka told her.

"Then why do you have one?" Keianna questioned. "You barely have any."

"Just put it on," Shineka replied, ignoring Keianna's comment. "You don't wanna disappoint Aginisi."

Keianna fell silent as Shineka walked over to her cot, while the rest of the boys entered. She looked over at her sister, then down at the necklace in her lap. It's for your protection. Keianna's grandmother's voice rang through her ears. Her breath caught in her throat as she glanced around the room. Aginisi. Keianna thought with a sigh. She closed the box and placed it into her crate. She climbed into her bed along with the others as lights out was called.


Cherokee Translations:

Aginisi- Grandmother

There's chapter two. Now please leave a review. Ideas are always welcome.