See, I haven't given up on this, I even bring an offering of a new chapter

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There was an announcement in the mess hall when she got back, Pendanski was going to in hospital for a while so they needed a temporary counsellor for a few weeks. Mel had felt the foreboding feeling as she had drien back.

"Because of his injury, Pendanski won't be back for a while, in the mean time Brooks will be in charge of D-tent," the warden announced. Mel flinched, that would mean more work and having to interact with the boys. Some of the boys from other tents whispered amongst themselves before cheering. "However, the next tent that looses a counsellor gets Mr Sir"

The cheers turned to groans, Mel could only sigh in relief that she wouldn't get another tent if someone else did get hurt.

"D-tent will stay behind and have their meeting tonight, A-tent yours is going to been when theirs would be" The warden finished then left.

The room emptied save a few boys who Mel assumed were the D-tent kids, they all had been digging together, fourth on her list so it made sense.

"The names X-ray, I don't care if my file say's otherwise" the darkest kid sneered, he went onto introduce the others by what Mel assumed were nicknames.

"If you don't call me chick, girl, babe or any demeaning variation then I won't call you by your real names. Do we have a deal?"

"Someone who speaks my language" X-ray smirked. "You're Brooks, was it?"

"Sure let's go with that, so what normally happens in these things anyway?"

"Mom gets us to talk about our crime and tells us we aren't bad people and can change, 'cept Zero"

"To be honest, if you're here you screwed up and got caught. It happens to the best of us"

"Since you've probably seen our files how about telling us about yourself" asked X-ray smoothly, he was definitely the leader.

"I haven't seen your files so you are outta luck." Even if she had she wouldn't have told them.

"What about your crime? Share," one of the other boys asked, more like demanded actually.

"You may have heard already, I have said to some of the other boys. I castrated a guy with a blunt spoon," Mel was sticking with that story. "How about we focus on some positive things you've done or how you could use your skills to make yourself useful?" She saw all the dubious looks she was getting. "Hey, if I don't do this then I have to stay here longer and believe me I can and will make your lives more miserable if your the cause"

"Come on, we have to dig holes in the middle of a desert , what can you do to make it worse?"

"When was the last time you ate proper food? You know a chewy granola bar with chocolate chips, or a bag of chips, food that's actually edible." Mel grinned as she saw each of the boys faces. most of them looked like they were imagining it. She took a granola bar from her pocket and slowly unwrapped it. the boys were mesmerised as she took a huge bite.

"Share!" The only reason the hadn't jumped her for it was her 'crime'. They didn't want to risk it.

"As if, I have to make this stuff last," Mel smirked, taking another huge bite. "Now you know I can make your lives worse," she said finishing of the bar. "Back to the subject at hand"

The meeting ran relatively smoothly after that, Mel wasn't going to let them intimidate her. She wasn't above threatening them, she just wanted this to end as quickly and painlessly as possible.

The days quickly fell into a rhythm, Mel had long since lost track of what day it was. Her Ipod was her best friend, especially on the water rounds and she had some nice pictures of the landscape.

She also had a strange graphite drawing of a town similar to in a western. There was an onion seller with a donkey and cart, he was dark skinned and a kind face. Nearby was a youngish Caucasian woman surrounded by children, holding a jar out to the man. A wooden building was in the background. When Mel had looked back at the picture she had quickly checked her water for anything that smelt suspicious.

She made the mistake of letting the warden see.

"Where did you see this?" The warden demanded snatching the picture from Mel's hand. Refusing to be intimidated, Mel didn't answer.

"Tell me or none of your hours will count and you'll be digging like the boys"

"I imagined it, I think the heat was getting to me" Mel said like it was normal, most of the time it was, there was one time she managed to get high off paint fumes by accident. That painting had been weird.

"Mention this to no one" The warden ordered taking Mel's drawing and returning to her cabin.

"Weirdo, I liked that drawing as well," Mel mumbled as she wandered back to her tent. Dinner had already been done so the rest of the evening was up to her. She was tempted to go to the wreck room but the overflow of testosterone would drown her. There wasn't enough light to properly draw anything new, she already had some evening pictures. Maybe she could draw some of the kids, that would mean braving the wreck room or watching the kids shoot hoops. Neither sounding appealing but she wasn't about to sit around being bored.

She ignored the whistles as she passed by the basketball hoop. she had her head held high, her sketchpad in one hand, pencils in the other, granola bar in her pocket if she need to persuade them to stay still. Bribery vary rarely didn't work. She wondered it the kid who looked like he stuck his fingers in an electrical socket would sit for her. Wait, he was a bit paranoid so maybe not.

The short kid, he looked like a lost puppy, Zero the other called him. Mel thought back to a manga she had read, when she had gone through her 'drawing manga' phase. The was a character called Zero in one of them, Code Geass if she remembered correctly but the couldn't have looked more different.

By the time Mel zoned back into reality she had stopped in front of the steps by the wreck room doors. It was a good thing to as a boy was flung out, another boy stood in the doorway snarling.

"Keep out of this princess." he sneered at her, just in case she was going to interfere. Mel almost saw red, a nice crimson red, almost blood red. Then she realised she'd gotten distracted from her rage.

"Grow some balls, assface"

"Ooh, the chick has some courage"

"And the means to take away your ability to procreate." Mel held up her pencil between two fingers. "It takes about 17 newtons of force to pierce flesh with a pencil like this, I can produce a lot more. Do you really want to piss me off?" She asked calmly. She twirled the pencil around her fingers so fast it was hard to follow it movements. The guy looked a bit indecisive, but the evil look Mel had managed to produce change his mind. He walked away with as much dignity as he could recover from the brief verbal spar.

"Oh, and for your information, I wasn't going to butt in, you brought this on yourself," Mel added, just to rub salt into his wounded ego. She then entred the wreck room aware that the encounter outside had probably been witnessed by the occupants.

"You need a Name," Mel could hear the capitalised word from the unofficial leader of D-tent. They were standing around a pool table that looked like it had seen better days.

"Isn't a brook like a river," asked the guy chewing a toothpick or something. Squid, Mel remembered. She was aching for a piece of gum, she had tried to give up chewing so she'd have more money for her art supplies.

"Don't even think about it, my parents thought that to, that's why my little sister's called River"

"Reef," slightly overweight kid, Caveman.

"Say what?" short dumpy kid, dark skin, smelt bad. Armpit

"Reef like a coral reef, looks nice but razer sharp," Caveman explained.

"I like that"

"Reef it is" X-ray declared. That was it, she was accepted seemingly, at least it wasn't something demeaning. Like princess.

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No idea when the next chapter will be but reviews help