Chapter Nine – The Tempers Flare

"Are you okay, Dis?" Silhouette asked her as they headed to the Mess Hall for dinner later that night. "You've been quiet all day and that is really not like you."

"I'm fine," Disney shrugged, and continued walking. It wasn't fair. What did Zigzag see in Lyter? Okay, she was pretty, and she was obsessed with fire, but that was it. Lyter was always mean to Zigzag and treated him like dirt on a regular basis. I wouldn't do that, she thought to herself, I wish he'd give me a chance. She saw him taking a seat next to Lyter, as usual, and also as usual, Lyter rolled her eyes and slid as far from him as she could possibly go. Even the way Lyter scared the poop out of him didn't make him stop liking her, which would mean she would have to act better than her.

When Disney got her food, she nearly pushed Squid out the way so she could sit next to Zigzag. Squid and Chill exchanged knowing looks, and Squid sat in the seat where she normally sat. "Hi, Zigzag," Disney grinned at him.

Zigzag nodded at her, and went back to staring at Lyter. Disney frowned, and tapped him on the shoulder. He flinched and looked down at her.

"Um, what are you eating?" she asked. It was a stupid question, she knew, but at least it might start a conversation.

"Shpoop," he said, looking down at her. Disney wrinkled her nose at his name for the nasty food.

"Oh, that's…nice. Um, did you like our song?"

"I did. That was awesome. Where'd you guys learn how to do that?" asked Magnet.

Fox shrugged. "At Green Tree, before the Warden died, we had a talent show, and that's what we did for it."

Disney sighed. This was supposed to be a conversation between her and Zigzag. Not everyone at the table.

"Yeah, at least at Green Tree, we had some kind of fun," Silhouette said, "instead of just digging holes everyday."

"And at least our old Warden didn't try to murder us with nail polish," Chill muttered, and Silhouette reached across the table and smacked her on her forehead.

"What? What do you mean?" Innocence piped up.

"Nothing," Silhouette said, quickly, giving Chill a long, hard look.

"It happened to y'all, didn't it?" X-Ray asked them, knowingly.

Silhouette nodded, slowly.

"What? What did?"

"Nothing, Dare, so stop worrying," Silhouette snapped. Dare glared at her, hiding the disappointment on her face that always came when Silhouette yelled at her. Noticing this, Silhouette softened. "Nothing, I promise, Dare."

"See now, to me, you're the one being the bad leader now." X-Ray crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at Silhouette. "You should tell them what the Warden does, to warn them. Not keep it to yourself."

"Um, you can't tell me what to do," Silhouette folded her own arms and glared at him. "I'm keeping them safe."

"I don't know what Camp Green Tree was like, but here at Camp Green Lake, we ain't safe," X-Ray told her. The inhabitants of both D-Tents went back and forth between them, and now they were concentrating deeply on Silhouette.

A major battle was going through Silhouette's head, and she scowled. X-Ray was right, she knew X-Ray was right, and she hated it. "Fine, you're right, it's whatever. But I'm not telling them here."

"Telling us what?" asked Disney, finally interested in the new turn her conversation was taking.

"We'll tell you later, Dis," Silhouette told her, nodding towards Mr. Sir, who seemed like he was listening intently to their conversation. "D-Tent meeting."

Disney nodded. Every time Silhouette called a D-Tent meeting, it was always about something serious. She suddenly got excited as usual. "Are they invited?" She asked Silhouette, nodding her head towards the boys.

Silhouette sighed, and then looked at Disney, Fox, Chill, and even Innocence's eager faces. "Yeah, whatever." Fox and Chill high fived each other and Innocence quickly turned to talk with Zero. Disney looked at Zigzag, who was still looking intently at Lyter, and she groaned loudly.
"
Yo, what's wrong, Dis? Stomach ache?" Armpit asked her. Disney smacked her head on the table numerous times.


"Hurry up and come in," Silhouette said, holding the tent flap open for the six boys when they were all sure the other campers and the counselors were asleep. "And shut up while you're at it." Once the boys were all inside, they went to find places to sit. Armpit sat on the floor because none of the girls wanted to harbor him. Squid and Magnet both sat on Fox's cot, disappointing Chill, who still had a crush on Squid. Lyter stretched out on her cot, so Zigzag wouldn't sit on her cot. Disney invited him to sit on hers, but he kind of overlooked her, and sat on the floor. Again, Disney sighed. Zero found Innocence among the girls and sat on her cot. X-Ray stood next to Silhouette, and nodded at her, prompting her to start the meeting.

"Okay, so a lot of you are wondering what happened the day me, Chill, and Lyter got in trouble for gettin into that fight with them A- Tent heffas, and well, this happened…." Silhouette pulled up the sleeve of her jumpsuit to reveal a purplish scar on her wrist. The other two tried not to look in the other's eyes, and there was a silence among the girls.

"Who did this to you?" Innocence asked from her cot, where she had been chatting quietly to Zero.

"The Warden," X-Ray spoke up, "That's what she does to kids who break her rules. It's just one of the things she does. She even stabbed Magnet once."

Fox gasped and hugged Magnet before thinking. He raised an eyebrow at her and she let go of him, blushing. "Are you okay?" she asked him.

Magnet shrugged."It's no big. It happened, like, a couple months ago."

"Isn't this child abuse or somethin'?" Dare shouted. "Can't the Warden be arrested for that?"

"Who will they listen to though?" Lyter told her, matter-of-factly, "The Warden of a juvie camp or a juvenile delinquent?"

"She's right," Zigzag said, not really paying attention to the conversation, but just agreed with her anyway. For once, Lyter smiled at him in gratitude. Zigzag nearly fainted from shock.

"We need to think of what to do about this," Silhouette ruled, "Who's with me?"

Turning to her in disbelief, X-Ray shook his head. "What do you mean, 'we need to think about what to do'? We don't need to do anything, just serve our time and get out."

"No wonder you're such a bad leader. If someone even tried to stab one of my girls, I'd break every bone in their body, Warden or not," Silhouette shot back. Everyone else seemed to roll their eyes or groan, knowing another Silhouette vs. X-Ray fight was coming pretty soon.

"I'd like to see you try to do that here!" X-Ray yelled, getting up in her face.

For once, Silhouette couldn't think of a good comeback, so she thought of the first reaction that came to mind. Her hand cracked across his face with a resounding slap, and there was complete silence among the D-Tent members. Even Silhouette was surprised that she would do something like that.

"You know what? I don't even care what y'all do from now on. Get in trouble, I don't care," he said, crossing his arms, his pride hurt more than his cheek. "D-Tent out." He nodded his head towards the tent flap. In complete silence, the boys filed out of their tent, X-Ray the last one to leave.

I can't believe I actually thought we could work with these chicks. I guess I was wrong, he thought, walking back to his tent.

""Way to go, Silhouette," Chill snapped at her as soon as the boys had left. "You chased the guys away." Silhouette turned on Chill and growled at her.

"Okay I slapped him, who cares? He was gettin' on my nerves. We'll do this on our own, alright?" Silhouette told them, trying to reassure herself as much as she was them.

"Do what on our own?" asked Fox, piping up from her cot.

"Doing something about this Warden chick," Silhouette said, clicking off her flashlight, and getting comfortable on her own cot. Shit, I guess I have to apologize. Well, he really shouldn't have got on my nerves anyway. Males…