Chapter 2: Introductions

Pendanski led me to one of the tents and ducked under the flap. After a small hesitation, I followed. Inside the tent, there were eight beds, well, more like cots with sheets. Seven were semi-made, and one (closest to the tent's opening) had two folded sheets sitting on the pillow. Looking around, it was easy to tell that seven boys lived here. Everything looked out of place.

Pendanski thumped the unused bed with his hand. "This will be your bed. Lights go out at nine, and you are expected to be in bed by then."

"'Kay." I dropped my bag on the bed and looked around again.

The tent flap opened and three boys walked in. One rather round boy, one boy with huge glasses, and one who looked latino. The boys paused in the entrance.

Pendanksi was the first to break the silence. "Boys, please welcome your new tent mate, Peyton Williams. Peyton, this is Rex, Theodore, and Jose."

"Yo, my name is X-Ray," the boy with glasses snapped. "He's Armpit, and he's Magnet."

I gave them a quick, jerky nod. "Hi."

"They all have their little nicknames, but I prefer to use the names society will recognize them by," Pendanski said, eying them sternly as he said the last part. X-Ray rolled his eyes, and the three boys walked past us to their cots. Two more boys entered and gave me startled looks. One had crazy red hair, and the other had short brown hair. "Boys, meet Peyton. Peyton, this is Ricky and Alan."

"Mom, it's Zigzag and Squid," X-Ray corrected.

They called Pendanski mom?

Squid's lips twitched into almost a smile, and then he walked further into the tent. Zigzag paused longer before following his friend. Again, the tent flap opened and two more boys walked in. One with curly light brown hair and one shorter boy with what could almost be a fro, but not really. Their reaction was the same as the others.

"And this is Stanley and Zero," Pendanski said. "Boys, meet Peyton."

"That's Caveman," X-Ray said.

"Hey," Caveman said, giving me a small smile, which I returned with my own mumbled greeting. Zero stayed quiet.

"Well, I'll let you all get acquainted," Pendanski said happily. "Boys, I expect you to be on your best behavior while she's here," he added, and then left us all in an awkward silence.

I stood where I was, glancing around, afraid to meet any of the boys' eyes. My heart was beating rapidly in my chest, and I was pretty sure they could hear it. I folded my arms (a nervous habit) and looked at the tent's wood floor, almost afraid to move. How pathetic was that?

"So...Payton, right? How did a girl end up here?"

I glanced up to catch who was talking. Magnet, I think? I shrugged. "They thought I was too violent for a girls' facility," I answered quietly.

"You don't seem that violent to me," Armpit commented. Squid cuffed the back of his head. "Ow! What?"

"It's the quiet ones you gotta watch out for, 'Pit," Squid said. He looked over at me. "So what'd they get you for?"

"Beat up a few girls, shoved a couple girls down some stairs, and threatened multiple people," I answered. Well, that's what I was accused of. Too bad no one believed me when I said I was innocent! Okay, maybe not completely innocent. But it was self defense, which makes me the innocent victim! I think....

"You're a little small to be doing that kind of damage," Zigzag said, giving me a brief appraisal with his eyes.

That was true. I'm only 5'3" and 130 pounds. I shrugged. "Apparently not." My gaze dropped to the floor again. I hated being in the spot light, which was yet another reason why I should have just chosen jail. It was very unlikely that I'd be able to fly under everyones radar while I was here. My life sucked.

"Are you just going to stand there?" Zigzag asked.

"Huh?" I looked up and then around. "Um, no." I began busying myself with making my bed after shoving my bag under the cot. After, I sat on the bed and folded my legs under me, not quite sure what to do, and not wanting to be in the way. The heat wrapped around me, and I couldn't understand how the boys could just mill around and act as though it wasn't as hot as hell. I suppose they'd be used to it, but still. Armpit, Magnet, Zero and Caveman had their suits fully on and all but Magnet had them zipped, and I couldn't help but think that they must be sweating like crazy. At least X-Ray, Squid, and Zigzag had tied the upper part of the suit around their waists and were just sporting their white tee shirts.

A horn sounded somewhere, and the boys all filed outside. Squid stuck his head back in after a few minutes. "You coming?"

"Where?" I asked, slowly sliding to the edge of the bed.

"Dinner," he said, and then disappeared back outside.

When I walked outside, it was like hitting an invisible hot brick wall. I hadn't realized how nice it was in the tent until I had to leave it. I hurried after the boys and trailed behind them into the mess hall. The mess hall looked just like any camp dining area with wooden tables and benches. I grabbed a tray and moved down the line, watching in slight disgust as the serving boys slopped muck onto my tray. Near the end I was able to grab two slices of bread. I slowly trailed away from the line, my eyes scanning the room as I wondered where to sit.

"Hey, Peyton!" Caveman called, and waved me over to their table.

I quickly slid into the empty seat at the end of the bench, not meeting any of the boys' eyes. I looked down at my tray and swallowed back a small wave of nausea. They expected us to eat this crap?

"Damn, she's almost as quiet as Zero," someone whispered, and the others mumbled their agreements.

I risked a glance up and around, and caught a few eyes of the other delinquents at nearby tables. If I had to guess, I'd say that a lot of the conversations were centered around my arrival. This was just what I needed. I picked up my fork and began poking at the muck, feeling my upper lip curl in disgust.

"Don't worry, chica, you'll get used to it," the person next to me said.

I glanced up and saw Magnet watching me. "Do I even want to get used to it?"

He shrugged and grinned. "It's better than nothing."

A small smile lifted the corners of my mouth and I looked back down at my tray. After another moment of pushing the muck around with the fork, I risked a taste. Okay, it wasn't as bad as it looked, but still... gross. I bit into the bread, and suddenly heard my taste buds sing. Oh yes, the bread was the best part.

"Hey, new girl."

I quickly looked up at the speaker and then back down. "Yeah?"

"Since you didn't dig today, you wouldn't mind giving up your bread to someone who did, would you?" X-Ray asked, already reaching for the bread I had set aside for "dessert".

"Um," I started. My nerves began humming again as everyone's attention shifted to me. The bread was the best part! But then again, if I said no, I'd probably end up pissing off one of my tent mates. Damn it! I snatched both pieces of bread away just as his fingers touched the top. He raised an eyebrow at me, and I realized that new people probably never said no to the older campers. I set the bread on the other side of the tray, but passed him one piece. "No offense, but the bread's the best part."

His hesitation and intense stare made me want to shrink away and give him both pieces, but I resisted. Finally, he took the offered bread and dropped it onto his own tray. My gaze fell back down to my own tray and I tried to ignore the feeling of eyes boring into me.

When dinner was over, I followed the boys back to the tent, keeping my head down. I pulled out a sketchbook and pencil from my bag and then climbed onto my cot. I flipped to the first page, sprawled out on my stomach, and closed my eyes, pulling the scene of barren landscape on the drive in to the front of my mind. Opening my eyes, I made the first line on the page, and then let my pencil sketch the image in my mind.

By the time another horn sounded, it was completely dark out, and my first drawing was just about done. I glanced up and saw the boys moving toward their cots, so I closed the sketchbook and stuffed it back into my bag, along with the pencil. Lights went out, and black darkness engulfed the tent. That was probably a good thing, because I hadn't changed into night clothes yet. So I blindly fished around in my bag and pulled out the shorts I had brought for bed and quickly pulled off the jumpsuit and slipped on the shorts. Then I crawled under the top sheet of my cot and laid back, only now wondering if I would wake up with a scorpion, spider, or lizard in bed with me.