Chapter two

"Oh my god, what was I thinking…" Crystal moaned to herself on the long bus ride over to camp green lake, "The last thing I want is another boyfriend, let alone a criminal one!"

She sighed and decided it had to be better than jail. Besides, she had always got on better with with boys than girls anyway. She felt awful, as she usually did on buses, though it was ten times worse this time. It was too hot for a start, even in her T-shirt, she wished dearly she hadn't chosen to wear jeans, they felt so damn hot! On top of that, the road was bumpy and made her bounce off the seat every two minutes. The guard kept staring at her through the whole journey, though really she supposed, that was his job…she shrugged, she should get used to it anyway, no doubt she was going to get stared at a lot at camp green lake. She wished dearly she hadn't chosen to wear jeans, they felt so damn hot! At last the bus pulled to a stop at the camp. She looked out the window. Her observation was pretty much complete ten seconds later. Dirt, tents, cabin, boys.

"Alright princess, get out" the guard said, opening the door for her. She took a deep breath and followed him out.

From a short distance, the boys from D-tent were returning from a hard days digging.

"Hey check it out - new kid," Squid muttered, nodding at the bus

"Wonder who he's gonna be this time," Armpit said

Magnet watched the door and as the person stepped out, he gasped

"Not 'he' man, it's a she!" he told them in surprise

"No way!" X-ray said from the back

"See for yourself X, it's a girl." Magnet said, pointing to her

"My god! And a damn fine one aswell," X-ray grinned

The others nodded and watched as she made her way to Mr. Sir's office

Squid turned round and saw nearly everyone in the camp's eyes following her, then he looked to one of the campers from his tent and laughed,

"Man, she even got Zero looking!"

Zero said nothing.

Crystal sat down in the office, glad to finally feel some cool air. She looked across the table, there was a man sat there, a cowboy hat shading his small eyes and his large fist was pouring a handful of sunflower seeds into his mouth. She gulped, she had to admit, this guy was kind of scary, and Crystal wasn't scared easily. He looked up after spitting a few shells into a jar on his desk.

"So, you're our first girl are you?" he said

Crystal nodded

"Just because you're a girl doesn't mean you're at girl scouts, understand?"

Crystal nodded

"You will get some extra privileges, like a separate changing room, but you are still required to do exactly the same thing in exactly the same conditions,"

Crystal nodded

"Now that that's clear, my name is Mr. Sir, whenever you talk to me, you will call me by my name, you got that?"

Despite the situation, Crystal couldn't help a small smirk appear on her face. She attempted to hide it under her long blue-black hair and nodded.

Mr. Sir glared at her, but didn't say anything. He got up and threw her a set of clothes.

"There's a toilet in the back there, get changed," he told her

Crystal picked up the clothes and went into the toilet. The set of clothes consisted of an orange jumpsuit, some socks and white sneakers. There was also a T-shirt that smelled like sweat, she chose to keep her white cropped T-shirt on instead. She tied the jumpsuit around her waist with the arms so that she could still see the design on her T-shirt. A cute fox head, her lucky fox she had always called it. She went back into Mr. Sir's office to find him holding a shovel.

"You are to dig one hole a day," he explained, "five foot deep five foot across, same length as your shovel. After that, your free to do whatever you want." After he had explained about the shower system and what time everything started, a slightly younger man walked in and introduced himself as Dr. Pendanski. He took her over to the tents and told her she would be in D-tent. He led her in so she could see what it looked like. There were seven grubby beds, all fairly next to each other, and two stacks of crates at the back. The floor was dirty and the whole place smelled like sweat and sour milk.

"What do you think then?" Pendanski asked her

She rolled her eyes

"Home sweet home…" she muttered sarcastically.

"Hey Mom," a voice from behind them said, "what're you doin' in here?"

"Ah Rex, I'd like you boys to meet a very special addition to our team," Pendanski smiled at him. Crystal turned around and saw six boys, all about the same age as her stood in the doorway, looking both shocked, and extremely pleased.

"Crystal, this is Rex, Alan, Theodore, José, Ricky and Zero."

Crystal looked at them all and gave a friendly smile; they all smiled back and said 'hi'. Except for the last kid, Zero.

Zero said nothing

"Well, I'll leave you lot to get introduced properly," Pendanski said, then turning to Crystal he told her; "as you're the only girl, I'll let you choose your own mentor, let me know in the morning who you've picked,"

Crystal nodded and watched him walk out the tent.

"So you're Crystal huh?" asked one of the boys,

"Yeah that's right, sorry, I forgot your name's already"

"Oh, well that's good, because Mom didn't actually tell you our names," another said

"Huh?" asked Crystal, feeling slightly confused

"I'm X-Ray," the boy told her, then nodding to the others he said, "That's Squid, Armpit, Magnet and Zigzag."

"Oh…Okay. What about him?" she asked, nodding at the small boy who hadn't said anything.

"Oh, Mom got him right, that's just Zero," X-Ray told her

She walked up to Zero, who was now lying down on the bed and smiled at him,

"Hi Zero," she said

Zero said nothing again, but this time, she was sure she saw him smile back.

"Don't worry," Magnet told her, "Zero doesn't talk to anybody"

"Why not?" Crystal asked

Magnet shrugged

"He's too stupid, that's why," Zigzag told her

Crystal shook her head,

"He doesn't look stupid to me; there must be another reason why he doesn't talk"

"Well if there is, we don't know it" Squid told her.

"Anyway, it seems your in need of a mentor," X-Ray said, changing the subject

"Uhh, yeah, that's right…" Crystal wasn't quite sure what X-Ray was implying.

"…and your mentor is the person who'll you'll be hanging out with the most, right?"

"I guess so…"

"Well, if that's the case, I wouldn't mind being your mentor," X-Ray finished, a small grin on his face

Crystal nearly laughed out loud, already, someone was hitting on her.

"Thanks, but no thanks," she told him

"Man, don't listen to him, he's just trying to 'subtly' ask you out," Armpit told her. X-Ray shot a glare at him.

"Yeah, and you don't want to go out with him," Zigzag told her

"Why?" Crystal sighed, already knowing the answer

"Because you and I look great together if you ask me,"

Crystal shook her head, yep, she was right

"Sorry, but no."

"Oh I get it, you look for personality not looks huh? Same here! And I think you've got a great personality," Magnet tried

Crystal couldn't help laughing,

"Good one, but still, no,"

"You've all got it wrong guys. She obviously doesn't want to go out with anybody without knowing what they're like, give her time," Squid told them. At first Crystal believed that he wasn't trying to get her, but then he said

"But, girl, looking at you now, I just can't help thinking that we're supposed to be together, don't you think,"

Crystal grinned

"Not really…"

"Well, if it's not any of those guys, how about me?" Armpit suggested

"Sorry, no,"

Armpit shrugged

"Worth a try…"

Crystal decided it was about time she got the message across

"Look, I don't want to go out with anyone, ok? I don't mind being you friend, but, I just don't want a boyfriend right now," she told them

The boys admitted defeat, then the bell for lunch went, Crystal only just realized how hungry she was.

"C'mon Crystal, lets go," x-Ray called, as the other boys filed out of the tent.