A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in about a month, but now that school's out, I've been able to write more. Hope you enjoyed the last few chapters, thanks to all that have reviewed and onto chapter four!
4. Finding something to do
The next day, I woke up startlingly early, soaked in sweat. Heat was blasting through the normally cool cabin and, and after being treated to the wonderful news that I was going to be digging holes during the summer, needless to say, this was not what I needed.
"Aunt Louuu," I called out, although my pillow muffled my exhausted voice so it sounded sort of like "Moo" instead.
Great. So I'm dying of the heat in the middle of nowhere and I'm a cow. Sure. Why not.
With all of the energy I could muster, I raised my head and repeated my cry of "Aunt Lou" with my eyes still closed, clinging to the desperate thought of sleep.
Please, please, please let this all be a dream so that when I wake up I'll be in my comfortable bed far away from all of this—the heat, the juvenile delinquents, Camp Greenlake in general…
I cracked open my eyelid and saw the ugly wallpaper. No. No, I refuse to believe this….
"Did you call me?"
No. Go away. You can't be here! That means I'm not dreaming….
"Yeah," I confirmed as I rubbed my eyes open and swung my legs over my bed. I faced the doorway, in which Aunt Lou was standing in. Her hair was pulled up in a messy bun on the top of her head and she was carrying around a personal fan—you know, the kind you'd get at a fourth of July vender's stand. "Why the hell is it so hot in here?"
She pulled on a dry smile. "Character building."
I narrowed my eyes at her. If she was serious, I just may cry. You know, assuming that I still can--I feel like my entire body is as dry as the air outside, and I don't think that I have enough water in me to even create tears.
"Please tell me that you have a different answer ready, because if that's your only one I think I might scratch your eyes out in a matter of five seconds."
She laughed wryly. "Well, I could tell you that the air conditioner's broken and it won't be fixed until Friday."
Friday.
FRIDAY?!!?!
"But…but today's only Monday," I stammered. No. This is unreal. No…OH MY GOD!
"Yeah, but the repair men couldn't make it out here 'til Friday," Aunt Lou stated the horrible, horrible truth again. STOP IT AUNT LOU, WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME?!
"No, stop saying it!" I put my hands over my ears and pouted like a small child. A small, exhausted, fucking overheated child.
She looked at me as though I was insane. "You're acting like a four year old, now stop throwing such a fit. You know, you could always pass your time…" she trailed off and I looked at her through narrow eyes.
"How? This heat is absolutely unbearable, Aunt Lou. You, I'm assuming, have only one fan?"
"Naturally. Sorry, honey, but I don't get company that often."
You're kidding. But it's such a hospitable environment! I can't imagine why.
Wait a second, was I imagining it or was she doing that whole "glint in the eye" thing?
No, no, I definitely wasn't imagining it. There it was again. The Glint.
Yeah. It has its own title.
And with it, came along the horrifying statement that only completed the saga of my terrible summer. "Bella, if you can't find something productive to do, I'll find something for you to do."
This sounds like a reasonable request, I guess, but what you don't understand is that in the middle of the desert there is nothing productive to do. Unless I build a makeshift fan out of sand or, I don't know, become some sort of science genius and figure out a way to convert dirt into a natural, organic cloud or something and create rain.
Because that's such an easy task.
And that's exactly what Aunt Lou is figuring. She already has something in mind for me to do because clearly I can't think of anything myself. Surrender registers on my face and wordlessly she hands me a five foot shovel that had been cleverly concealed behind her back.
Shit.
"You're up early enough—the boys should only be halfway done, not even; some of them are slow diggers. You'll make friends easily enough—I hear you managed to yesterday."
Is she referring to Squid? Because I'm not really sure that she can count him as a "friend"—more like a kid who happens to pop up every single time that I'm around the campers. Or maybe she meant Ace. He seemed like he wanted to get pretty "friendly".
Ew.
"C'mon, B, I'll drive you out there." Aunt Lou leaned the offending shovel against the door pane. I groaned and flung my entire body backwards onto my bed.
But she was going to make me do it. I knew she would. Because she's Aunt Lou. And I knew the drill—if I wasted time inside here, then I'd be digging in the hottest part of the day.
Shit.
I rolled over to the other side of my bed and opened the dresser drawer. I grabbed a pink tank top and a pair of denim shorts. I pulled my hair up quickly into a high pony tail so that it stayed off my neck for the remainder of the day. Pulling on my sneakers I grudgingly took hold of the shovel and went followed Aunt Lou out to the blue Mustang convertible.
"Who'm I digging with again?"
"D-tent."
"Who's in there?"
"They'll introduce themselves."
"Why do you insist on torturing me?"
"Honey," she turned her eyes on me and narrowly avoided driving the car into a hole. "This aint torture."
"No?"
"No. I could've made you dig with B-tent."
"Oh thanks for having pity on me and not throwing me in with the murders," I said dryly. She only laughed and maneuvered the car around another hole. Damn these holes.
And yet, I thought as I turned my eyes on the shovel that was resting against my shin, there was about to be one more in the ground.
Let's get this over with already.
X-X-X
After driving for what seemed like an hour, Aunt Lou finally stopped the car in a cloud of smoke and got out. I followed in suit and she led the way over to a group of boys who stopped working as they all became aware of our presence.
There were seven boys. Seven faces staring at me as though I were an alien. Seven pairs of eyes looking me up and down, surveying every part of me. I felt like a lab rat and all I wanted them to do was to go back to their holes and leave me alone.
"Boys," Aunt Lou said in an authoritative voice "Many of you remember from the Mess Hall, but just as a reminder this is my niece, Bella." She placed a hand on my shoulder as though protecting me. I raised an eyebrow at it, but didn't say anything. God forbid I should interrupt The Warden. It seemed to register on the boys faces that I was a girl and they did that whole nudge-and-nod-approvingly thing and I every pair of eyes either go straight to my chest or trying to check out my ass.
Nice guys. Real classy, these ones are.
The only three who actually had respect was the smallest one, who just kept staring straight forward; the boy next to him who said a greeting quietly and who's eyes found the dirt beneath him; and the last was Fish Boy.
Hi Fish Boy!
At least I knew one of them. I nodded in acknowledgement to Squid and he smiled stupidly back as he shifted his toothpick from side to side. The boy next to him, an unusually tall kid with a paranoid look about him and sandy blonde hair, nudged him excitedly and mumbled at rapid-fire pace. Squid pushed the boy jokingly and muttered something back.
I rolled my eyes at this. Stupid boys and their constant muttering.
"Bella will be digging holes with you," Aunt Lou proceeded to tell them. I shook her hand off of my shoulder as it was starting to make me sweat.
"Damn," a large black boy said. "You make your own niece dig?"
"She aint gonna break a nail or something?" chuckled another with extremely thick, dirty glasses.
"No, I aint," I growled. "Bet I can finish before you."
Okay so I admit, challenging that boy was probably not one of my better ideas, what with him being halfway finished and everything, but I was a pretty fast digger—I have done this before.
The boys "ooh"ed at the prospect of this dare. The boy stepped forward and half-laughed at me. "You sure you wanna do that, girlie?" he asked in a mocking tone.
"Pretty damn sure," I answered him, stepping forward as well. He looked me up and down with an appraising eye. I stared straight into his glasses in what I hoped was an intimidating manner. First of all, there was no way in hell that I was going to be treated differently just because I was a girl—I could dig just like the rest of them. I'm not completely inept and I actually found myself getting offended at their jeering.
Aunt Lou raised an eyebrow. "Now that's enough. No one's challenging anyone, you hear?" She looked pointedly at me and I rolled my eyes. No way in hell was I going to let them push me around. "What did I tell you about doin' that?"
"S'not polite," I mumbled. "I get it."
"Good." She turned back to the seven boys. "Boys, I want you to introduce yourselves to her."
One by one they stepped forward starting with the smallest one. "Zero," he said in a small voice. Next to him was the shy boy, Caveman. A Hispanic boy named Magnet came next, then there was Armpit, who was the largest. The boy who was currently trying to stare me down through his filthy glasses was X-Ray. The one next to Squid was called Zigzag and he continued to stare at me as though I was a foreign creature. I promise, Zig, I'm not going to bite you.
Squid stayed silent, continuing to chew on that toothpick.
"You wanna speak?" Aunt Lou asked him expectantly.
"We already met," I explained as though she didn't know. He smirked and maneuvered his way through the crowd, past X-ray and stopped about a foot away from me.
What is he doing?
"The name's Squid," he told me. I nodded, not really knowing what else to do. Yes, Fish boy, I know, I wanted to say. He raised his hand to his mouth and took the toothpick out of it, putting it behind his ear. Then, his hand found its way to mine. He lifted it and…
Kissed it?
I stood there, dumbfounded. What just happened…?
He turned around smoothly and took his place back in the lineup. He was either completely oblivious to everyone's eyes on him (including mine) or just choose to ignore the attention. I only became aware that my mouth was open when I felt it go dry. I forcibly closed my jaw and looked down at my hand, which had dropped to its original place at my side, not really understanding what just took place.
I'll give him one thing…he definitely knows how to introduce himself. Well done, Fish boy. Well done, I thought, feeling a small smile tug on my lips.
"Right." Aunt Lou was the first one to break the silence. "Now that that's done with, I expect you boys to treat Bella with the same respect that you show me. S'that understood?"
"Yes, Ma'am," the boys chorused.
"Good." She climbed back into the Mustang—my escape ride—and pulled away.
Leaving me alone. With them.
They went back to their holes and I stood there, sort of watching them. That was, until, the one called Armpit hurled a pile of dirt in my direction and it hit me in the face. That was when I decided to move to a more suitable position.
"Yeah, sure you could beat me in hole-digging," I heard X-ray say. I turned around and saw him smirking at me from across the way. "You haven't even started."
I rolled my eyes at him and, ignoring his haughty comments, I determinedly began to dig.
X-X-X
It was true that once you got down to it, it wasn't that hard. The very beginning, where the earth is all dry on top, is definitely the hardest part. But once you're about two feet in, it goes pretty quick.
Beads of sweat lingered on my forehead, but I kept working as the sun moved positions slowly in the ever-clear sky.
It was actually sort of peaceful, I thought. You can tune out everyone and just…dig. Absolutely everyone. No one to think about, no one to talk to…just you and the dirt.
And then I felt dirt fly into my face. For the second time of the day.
Thanks. I glared up in the direction of a snickering boy.
Of course.
I dug up a huge pile and flung it over my shoulder, allowing it to land in Squid's hole in retaliation. He cried out in protest, but I kept working diligently. Take that, Fish Boy. Muhaha. I am victorious!
"What'd you do that for?" I heard him ask in a slightly annoyed voice.
"Me?" I said, putting on the most angelic face I could manage. "I've no idea what you mean; you're imaging things, Fish boy."
"Fish boy?" He raised his eyebrows. I smirked and turned back to my hole.
"So girlie, what's your name again?" asked Armpit.
"Bella."
"How old're you?" inquired X-ray.
"Old enough," I grunted, not really feeling like revealing my age to them.
"That doesn't answer my question," he said, raising his eyebrows at me.
"Maybe she doesn't feel like answering questions, man," Squid spoke down to his hole.
"Or maybe she's just too love-struck from that absolutely adorable Casanova move that you pulled before, Squid," X-ray sneered. Sure. You just have to bring that one up.
Oh, okay, not only does he have to bring it up, but he has to finish it off by making kissy-noises like a five year old would do.
You're real mature, X.
"Or maybe she's too busy blushing to answer," Magnet joined in. Squid raised his eyebrows and looked over and I quickly hid my face by looking at the ground. Am I blushing? Shit.
Why the hell would that make me blush? I didn't blush before. I didn't blush when he actually kissed my hand.
Probably because I couldn't move, but that doesn't matter I…I really need to stop thinking about that now.
"Or maybe she doesn't feel like answering stupid questions," I snapped at them and went back to my hole.
Hey, I was already three and a half feet down. Sweet. A foot and a half to go and then I'd be free.
"So what would be considered a smart question?" X-ray asked with curiosity.
"How about 'why don't you shut your mouth and dig your hole?'" I said sarcastically. "That's a smart question that I've been dying to ask you."
"Nobody talks to me like that," X-ray proclaimed dropping his shovel down and climbing out of his hole.
"Guess I'm nobody," I said shrugging, dropping my own shovel and getting out of the hole I created to meet him. "You gonna do something about it?"
He looked at me intently for a long moment and I actually felt slightly scared. Again, it probably wasn't the smartest idea to pick a fight with what seemed like the leader of the group.
But I stood my ground and stared back at him and slowly a smile formed on his face.
"You alright, girl," he told me offering his hand out to me to do one of those sideways-guy-hi-fives.
I clapped it in my own and grinned. "You ain't so bad yourself."
"You part of D-tent now, you got it? Me and my boys are brothers in here. Anyone messes with you; they mess with us, too," he nodded to the boys.
"Yo, X, she still needs a name, though." Zigzag voiced.
"Yeah, she does, doesn't she?"
"Anything'll do, just as long as it's not 'girlie'," I told them, groaning at the thought of the nickname. I guessed that nicknames were sort of like a sign of respect around here. It's like…initiation into the group.
And I guess mine would be my wake-up call; a sign of forcible reality that yes, I was actually here.
And yes, I was actually digging.
A/N: Here's where you guys come in! I decided it'd be better for a reader to come up with her nickname so I'm holding a contest (sort of) to see who can come up with the best nickname for her. I'll choose which one I think'll suit her best. So go ahead and submit your nicknames )
xoxo,
Emeraldeyez1728
