Wishing for Rain
Disclaimer: I do not own holes. Louise Sachar does.
Chapter 3: Where dem girls at
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"We'll either be in here for years….or they'll give us the death penalty." Maggie lay on her bunk above mine, staring at the ceiling and fumbling with a strand of her hair.
"A breakout doesn't put us on death row, Maggie." Tristan gave a giggle at the comment, sitting on the stool by our 2x2 window. "But it'll be a while before we see the outside world again." Maybe even daylight.
Its been a week since our attempted escape but we were under strict lock down now. The four of us were back in our small enclosed cell room. Except this time, all our provisions were confiscated. They took the little possessions we were allowed to have and locked us in here with nothing on us but our old orange jumpsuits. Upon arriving back we were thoroughly searched for the use of 'weapons' during our escape.
The hallway outside our cells was now packed with guards on duty, and this time with guns in procession.
Our meals were brought in here to us. Only a hand full of us was able to go shower at once and we took turns. The restroom was the only reason we had left this room.
"I can't believe they caught everyone." Vanessa remarked from her place on the floor.
"I can't believe we lasted the longest. And that was only a little over an hour." I added.
"I can't believe it's not butter." We all snickered at the Maggie's commercial joke reference. I guess laughter is the best medicine.
I was lying on my side on my own bunk below Maggie. I'm pretty sure by now we're on newspapers all over the state. How often do a couple of teenage girls breakout of jail. What worries me is how we'll be punished. A sentence longer than a year means we'll have to go to a prison. I hope Mason and Kylie are holding up ok…..
Well if there's any upside to this whole thing…
"At least we know we won't be separated from Maggie. They now have to decide how to punish thirty five girls…"
"…which means we'll be sticking together." Vanessa finished for me.
The four of us smiled. Maggie hopped down from her bunk.
"Oh I love you guys…" she squealed and put her arms out. "Group hug!"
We rolled our eyes, but with a smile and followed with a four way embrace.
"The four of us are like sisters!" Vanessa cheered.
"That's right." We chorused before finally releasing each other.
The door to our cell suddenly burst open.
"Let's go" the guard gruffly ordered.
Giving ourselves a questionable glance we slowly obliged to his command.
"Today!" he ordered.
"Ok!" I sternly responded and we all sped up to the door.
Before we could pass, he placed a pair of hand cuffs on our wrists.
He roughly slapped mine on which made me wince. I glared up at him. His nose was noticeably bruised and I remembered he was the same guard I had punched when I saved Maggie.
From there, we as well as others girls were escorted to the cafeteria.
"Hey Ariel" Maggie came up behind me. "I especially want to thank you. I don't know what I would have done if you weren't there for me." She quietly spoke.
I smiled at my best friend reassuringly. "I'd never give up on you Maggie."
"I'm just sorry you put up with all my drama even after everything you've faced and still struggle with…" she fretted.
"We just need to forget all that. It's all behind us now." I assured her I'm fine and she will be too. Maggie nodded in agreement
We settled into our seats in silence. There were officers and the commissioners standing at the front of the room, waiting for us to listen. Even the mayor of Austin was here.
Once we were all seated, nobody spoke, not even the officials at the front. Each one of them just stared harshly right back at us.
I could hear some of the other girls gulp.
The director standing in the middle then brought out something from behind his back; he drummed his fingers against it softly. Everyone could clearly read the headlines.
Juvenile Mass Breakout
"Its not often we have so many juveniles break out of a detention center here in Texas." The director finally spoke up…
There came another brief pause.
"It's even less common when they're girls…" he raised his voice.
"And what the state finds so shocking is that the escape was made with the use of forceful violence and set fire to the facility!" He finally shouted. A few girls winced back.
"However true nobody was hurt, lives were still put in danger!" He retorted
His eyes scanned us all over with a cynical look.
"The repairs will cost Travis County and the city of Austin money." The Mayor spoke up.
"Never in my 15 years of working with juvenile rehabilitation have I seen something like this; from young ladies." The director continued. "What you did was a criminal offense…" he began to walk around and eye us individually. "…but your all still minors.." he sharply stopped.
"Don't think that will save you from going unpunished." The director's vision shifted to a criminal justice commissioner at the front. "I'll let you take over Mr. Daniels."
The man with a moustache stepped forward with a composed monotone expression.
"After much discussion and deliberation, we've come up with a plan." He affirmed and we all eagerly listened to what would be done with us.
"You will no longer be held under the authority of the Travis detention center. Your actions call for a facility of higher consequence."
That must mean we're being moved to a place that holds people with a longer sentence. ..I knew it…
"You lot who participated in the offense will be transported to Camp Green Lake Juvenile Correctional facility…"
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"Let's go boys!" Mr. Pendanski stepped into D-tent. "We're heading over to the mess hall.
"Mom, I thought our meeting wasn't until later?" Magnet questioned, confused.
"It's not that. The Warden is calling an assembly."
The boy's eyes widened curiously. It wasn't often the Warden made large announcements. Each member of the d group then stood to walk out of the tent.
Once in the mess hall, the Warden was waiting with her unreadable stare and arms crossed; Mr. Sir stood right beside her.
All the boys listened in to why the Warden had called them all in.
"Camp Green Lake will be having a few changes." She informed. "For a period of time, the Camp will house an influx of 35 more criminals"
There were eye rolls through out the room. So their admitting more guys, big deal…
Every juvenile seemed to look back at them with little concern at the news.
"We allow you boys access to the latest news papers when they arrive. Though I doubt many of you read them…" she noted. "There was a recent break out at the Travis detention center near Austin. Here at Camp Green Lake, we have a very strong reputation of being a rigorous correctional facility, which is why the state of Texas decided their punishment will be to transfer them here." She finished.
The mass of boys still seemed to harbor little interest at the news. They would either be adding more tents or more cots to the current ones. Either way, fresh meat has to learn their place in the food chain here.
"And I'll tell you this now so you can get it out of your system." The Warden suddenly remarked. "…all 35... are girls."
Eyes immediately widened and jaws dropped.
The room was instantly filled with murmurs and questions. Many of the campers weren't even sure if they had heard her right.
"Quiet!" Mr. Sir piped in. "That's right, girls. But don't start getting any funny ideas. We are going to be very vigilant." He began to stride around the groups of boys.
Of course they all already knew that the Warden had cameras and microphones all over the place.
"More councilors will arrive soon. Tents will be brought in and match the letters of the ones you're in right now; and a fence will surround the girl's tent area." He sternly informed.
"The girls will dig along with you boys and the wreck room and mess hall will be open to both genders during the day." Mr. Sir came to a stop back beside the Warden. "And after 8.30 the girl's area will be closed off. We'll have patrols; if any gender is found on the wrong side after that time, that camper will find themselves meeting with the Warden." He warned everyone with a serious tone.
"Dismissed" The Warden finished.
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Walking back to their tent the boys of D-tent still found themselves awestruck at the news.
"Man this is awesome! I can't believe Camp Green Lake is getting girls." Armpit rejoiced and strutted happily.
"I've always hated this camp with literally a burning passion." X-ray commented. "But now I hate it just a little less."
The others members laughed.
"But guys lets not forget, they broke out of jail. They could be psycho maniacs that won't hesitate to kill us for all we know." ZigZag's eyes widened at the possibilities of what they could be like.
They all chuckled at ZigZag's usual paranoid thoughts.
"I'm pretty curious to find out how they did that." Squid came up beside him. "And I'm really hoping they'll be hot. "they both exchanged a smirk.
Everyone else in D-tent seemed to agree. Zero, however; paid no mind to their thoughts on the camps new additions.
"If you guys are hoping to 'get some' you may have an audience." Caveman's comment reminded them of the Wardens vigilance.
"We'll see how things go." X-rays tone remained assured.
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Maggie POV
"This is all your fault." Holly and Savannah hissed at us.
"You wanted in on the plan." Tristan quickly retorted with a glare.
"It was your bogus plan that failed us." Natasha interjected.
Don't they get tired of talking? I just rolled my eyes.
"Our plan worked just perfectly! It's not our fault your so fat and out of shape that the police were able to catch you easily." Vanessa turned around and yelled back at them.
Natasha was about to stand up but the others held her down. All 35 of us were currently crammed in a smelly old bus, on our way to this so called Camp Green Lake.
The wicked witches were a few seats behind us.
A camp didn't really sound so bad at first, but the further into the desert we got, the more confused we became.
"You four are sooooooo going to…." Holly was interrupted.
"Quit your eternal bitching." Ariel turned and snapped at them.
She turned to face forward again and I turned up to music to the headphones we were sharing; Faint by Linkin Park was playing. We were surprisingly riding there in our own clothes; but had handcuffs on our wrists. The possessions we had brought with us and were taken up when entering the detention facility were given back to us, which included my I-pod. I'm pretty sure they would be taken up again though. Luckily, I managed to steal back my confiscated lighter.
My iPod is also what's helping us make it through the 9 hour bus drive. I think this place is near Amarillo.
"Well, I guess there is an upside to this." I could hear Savannah pipe. "We'll be around boys again." They squealed. To me they sounded like hyenas.
The four of us rolled our eyes.
"Yeah, delinquent boys…" Ariel quipped, and rested her eyes close.
"Who have probably been charged for sexual assault or drug dealing…" Vanessa commented.
We didn't really care for the idea of being around guys. Finding a relationship or even a hook up was the last thing on our minds. They're more trouble than they're worth.
My new motto is 'no man: no cry'. Its so much easier to just remain single….
I suddenly felt a heavy lump in the back of my throat but couldn't swallow.
Get a hold of yourself Maggie….he means nothing now…you're better off.
My attention suddenly became aware of what was outside the window.
"Holy Cow! This place has giant mutant sand worms!" I screeched. Everyone gave me weird looks but soon also noticed what was around us.
"What the….Where did all those holes come from?" Ariel looked over my shoulder and out the window.
Everyone else was looking out their own windows. We drove further in and you could soon see there were people out there. They were digging.
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Every boy out in the desert had turned to stare at the oncoming bus.
Some quickly attempted to finish as fast as they could.
The D-tent boys had already finished their holes and were walking back towards camp.
They're expressions grew excited at seeing the bus pull into the camp.
"Let's go see where dem girls at." X ray suggested to his tent mates with an evident smirk.
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"I guess you've now figured out the rest of your punishment." We all turned to face the guard at the front of the bus. "You will be out there along side the boys, digging."
My jaw dropped at hearing this.
"We're going to dig holes in the middle of the desert?"
"This is Camp Green Lake?" All the girls were scrambling for answers.
The bus finally slowed down and we pulled into an area with a cabin, small wooden buildings, basketball courts and tents.
"I see boys!" someone hollered.
They were all over the place in orange jumpsuits similar to the ones we had back at the detention center. They all stared at our bus and we soon came to a stop right by an area of tents with a barbed wire fence around it.
We were instructed to remain seated. I suppose they had to wait for an official.
Many adults soon walked up to the bus. I assume they were the councilors.
A woman with firey red hair and a solemn expression soon entered our bus, a pair of sun glasses hid her eyes from us. Her voice though, sounded very feminine yet strong.
"Alright girls, as I call your names you will be assigned a tent and councilor." She finally removed her glasses and looked down at her clip board.
"Holly, Savannah, Natasha, lita , Joana and Carrie….A tent." The three stooges seem to be happy at being assigned together again. "Your councilor is Ms. Dairies"
"Mariah, Lucia, Giselle and Jade…..B tent." I was really feeling very relieved. The groups seem to be similar to what they were back in Austin. "Your councilor is Ms. Polo.
"Cameron, Lana, Katie, Jane and Sarah, your councilor is Ms. Flores and you are in...C Tent."
Mrs. Flores was a councilor back at Travis, I guess she chose to come along. I wonder if…
"Tristan, Ariel, Magdalene and Vanessa…" Its Maggie, but yay! We got assigned together. "Your councilor is Ms. Simons." Our old councilor, so she came along too.
"You are….D-tent."
I know you've read my story. Please review and let me know what you think so far.
The main characters may have been assigned as the D-tent girls but who knows what kind of turmoil, drama and friendships they're in for ;) ….trust me. There are hints in the chapter to the girls pasts. Like I said before, everything will be explained along the way.
I'll update as soon as I can.