Disclaimer: The usual

Just wanted to say that I returned to my Holes- Nerd roots today and bought 'Stanley Yelnat's Survival Guide to Camp Green Lake,' and I'm (sadly) excited about it! There's a lot more info on the Camp, the counsellors and the boys which is really interesting. So if people haven't got it, I definitely recommend it. I think you can get it really cheap off of Amazon.

Chapter 12

Sophie walked through camp, trying to ignore the itchy starchiness of the jumpsuit against her skin. Unsure of what to do, especially now that she was locked out of the cabin, Sophie decided to do some exploring whilst everyone else was digging.

She headed towards the Wreck Room.

It was a strange feeling entering an empty Wreck room and not see various clusters of orange jumpsuits, lounging on the worn chairs or crowded around either the billiard table or the bench press equipment. It was oddly exciting to have the place to herself. Even though pretty much everything was shabby or damaged.

She decided to play at detective and do some snooping for her own amusement.

My mum would be so proud, she thought to herself sarcastically.

So she made her way around the room, perching on various chairs to see which was the comfiest. They were all worn and rather dusty, broken or with numerous holes poked in them where the boys had started picking out the stuffing.

She rifled through the stuff littered on various tables and desks; playing cards, old magazines, papers with doodles on them, books that looked like they had never been touched and a number of little circular things that looked like pogs all lay in an unruly heap.

She noticed that lots of toothpicks and sunflower seeds littered the worn and dirty carpet.

Squid and Mr Sit would be rubbish at hiding evidence of their presence at a crime scene!

She noticed a screwed up piece of paper laying on the floor near the box where the boys put their mail for home.

She picked it up and unscrewed it, smoothing it out.

It was what looked like a letter;

Mum,

Just wanted to let you know that I am sorry.

Love,

Theodore.

Who's Theodore? Sophie wondered, There are so many nicknames in this place I can't even think of most of the boys real names.

Sophie put the letter back where she found it and felt a strong urge to look through the mailbox. The letter had just confirmed to Sophie that maybe not all of these boys were bad boys, maybe they did have a softer side to them, families at home who loved them and worried about them. Maybe some of them had just made some silly mistakes.

Sophie shook her head, I'm starting to sound like Mr Pendanski.

She stopped herself, I wouldn't like it if they nosied through my sketchbook without my permission.

Instead Sophie made her way over to the cluster of chairs which surrounded the broken TV.

She turned it on and watched the static for a moment before deciding to fiddle about with the antennae and the buttons a little bit to see if she could make any difference.

She felt so proud when she managed to begin to see the shadow of blurry images moving across the TV. She thought she could even make out what TV show it is, The Simpsons, perhaps.

Still no sound though.

She gave up. It was the best she could do. It was still pretty much unwatchable but if someone really wanted to, they could concentrate really hard and just about make out what was going on.

Bored, Sophie made her way over to the billiard table. It was really scratched and full of bumps.

I have no idea how they play this properly.

Nevertheless, Sophie got the balls out and placed them in the triangle. She got one of the chipped and wonky- looking cues and attempted to hit a ball into the socket.

She completely missed. She couldn't really blame it on the bumpy table though.

She practised her pool-playing skills a little longer with no success when she heard the increasing noise of laughter and general rowdiness as the boys approached the Wreck room.

Ah shit!

She must have been messing about with the TV and billiard table longer than she had realised. By the sounds of it, they had finished digging.

Sophie didn't know what to do. She didn't want to be in the Wreck room when they were in there. Especially when she didn't have the protection of Mr Sir or any of the other counsellors. And even more so after the fight that broke out after the last time she was in there.

She had to think quickly. They were right outside the door.

She ducked and crawled across the grubby floor to get underneath the billiard table.

Just in time, the boys began filing in.

I would really appreciate any comments on how it's going so far