R_S: Sorry for the delay, just been having a lot of life thrown at me.

Chapter 9

Letters From home

The following week passed essentially without issue (aside from the way she was 'slowly dying from cruel and unusual torture,' as Kat often mentally bemoaned). Mostly she hid in the tent, only venturing out to join the rest when she got too stir-crazy. The other campers were slowly getting more and more forward with their treatment of her, running hands across her being and making comments. Sometimes they even hung around outside D-Tent, scaring her from venturing out. Nothing was ever specifically done to her and no actual harm ever came, but it was enough to instill some reticence. There were moments when she noticed her group sending them glares or similarly putting their foot down, but whenever D-Tent caught her looking, they seemed to back off. Once she could have sworn she saw Squid smack a guy with a food tray after he felt up her ass, but that could have been her imagination. There were a few little incidents- more crying in the hole after the boys left, chauvinistic comments from boys, minor injuries, and other such hardships. Once, a few guys tried unsuccessfully to give each other a boost to watch her in the shower, but Mr. Sir saw the group from his office and chased them away. Unfortunately, that also meant D-Tent got a chewing out for not keeping an eye on her the way they were meant to, so Kat found herself solidly on their shit list. They stopped inviting her to the Wreck Room with them but did not complain if she chose to hang around of her own accord. This was a happy medium, she supposed.

That was where she was the afternoon her first contact with the outside world arrived. The boys were sitting around betting shower tokens (that, it turned out, was why Squid was so excited by the little gift she had gotten him the previous week), and she merely perched at a table across from them in silent observation. Another guy was lifting weights that were far too heavy for him in a feeble attempt to catch her eye, but she paid it no mind. Instead Mr. Sir and Pendanski strolled in with a couple of letters and a box. The latter peaked the room's interest; rarely, if ever, were packages sent.

"Katrina Zales." Pendanski found her quickly, being as she was rather conspicuous, and dropped the box in front of her. She commenced opening it without hesitation as her tent gathered round to watch.

"We don't like you gettin' so much, girl," Mr. Sir snapped, "this ain't no girl scout camp or college sorority house where mommy n' daddy can send ya anythin' they want. We gotta look in it, y'know."

"Yessir, Mr. Sir." She muttered, but for once, she had no intention of playing by the rules.

The first thing she did when the adults were distracted by more letters and another rowdy camper was stuff some of the items sent down her jumpsuit. She was the furthest thing from sneaky, but if she remained sitting, they probably would not notice. As long as she made it back to the tent without a counselor seeing her, she could hide the goodies in her bag. They or some of the other campers might take it from her, she worried. Some were impossible to hide, like the Tupperware container of chocolate chip cookies her mother sent. It was enormous, and she ate one almost immediately. Pendanski had told her that, so long as she behaved well, any food sent could be consumed immediately in front of the counselors, but nothing could be brought back to the tents. From the side, she noticed the D-Tent boys eyeing her enviously and, after taking a big handful, held it out to them. She could not eat them all in one sitting anyway, especially with the way the heat unsettled her stomach. Without hesitation or a word of thanks, they attacked the offering. Kat ignored them and nibbled on the ones she had the foresight to save. More important was looking over the letters from her family and friends.

Her mother and father wrote as expected- how things were, how they loved her, and how the appeals process was going. They wanted to know if she needed anything or if she was having fun. Evidently they had sent the care package before receiving her first letter. She was sure to get an interesting response once they did.

She smiled wistfully at the letter her little brother deemed to send her. It was short, but she was touched he had gone through all the trouble of finding a crayon and a piece of paper to mash it against, even if it was probably by order of their parents. That was a lot of effort for a six-year-old. It was riddled with misspellings, but she was able to get the gist of it:

Dear Kat,

I miss you. I'm sorry I was such a butt-head to you. You're not a bad sister. I sent you my favorite action-figure to keep you company and protect you. No one messes with Max the Destroyer. He's the toughest. I want him back when you're done.

You're the bestest sister ever,

Ian

True to his word, a tough-guy superhero was taped awkwardly to the letter. He had an eye patch and a grizzled jaw that snarled. His head seemed just a little bit too small for the overly muscled body it was stuck on. She giggled, turning the little man over in her fingers. She did not hear the approach until it was too late.

Mr. Sir snatched the toy from her hand, "I'll have to be confiscatin' this."

"My little brother sent it to me-"

"Contraband. Can't have it."

"Then at least let me send it back to him! Please, it's his favorite toy-" Her upset pleas fell on deaf ears, much to the jealous amusement of those watching.

"Well it's my favorite toy now, girl. What else ya got- what you boys eatin'?!"

"Cookies, Mr. Sir." Squid answered through a mouthful.

"Yeah, n' who said ya could have 'em?!"

"She gave them to us. Her mama sent them, I guess." Magnet shrugged.

"That so? What else you got in there you ain't supposed to, girl?" Without waiting for a response, he yanked over the box and rooted through it. She had hid most of it in her pants already, so all he managed to take was the empty cookie container and a 1Lb bag of M&Ms- there was no way she could hide that, and the heat would make them largely inedible anyway.

"I thought I could eat anything right away, Mr. Sir." She asked weakly and in her most innocent tone. He glared down and dropped the bag, allowing her to open it. He continued pulling out letters until he reached the pictures underneath.

"Well, well, well, what have we here."

"Just pictures, Mr. Sir," she tried to grab them from his hands, but it was difficult when she had to remain seated. "Please, they're allowed- and they're private." But he paid her no mind, a mocking smirk twisting his expression as he flipped through them. Behind her, she felt her tentmates watching with open weariness.

"So what's this, homesick n' want pictures of all your little buddies hmm? What, were these hangin' in your room? Answer me, girl!"

"Yessir, Mr. Sir." She answered in a small voice. He gave her a wicked grin.

"Well then, why don't we hang 'em up here girlie? Y'know, since you want it to be homey so much."

"No!" But there was nothing she could do. Marching up to the wall, he stuck them for all the boys to see- pictures of Kat and her two best friends, Melanie and Brianna, making faces in bikinis; pictures of her younger siblings being cute; pictures from her half-sister's wedding; pictures of her happy, perfect life put up like a mockery. She could already see some of the boys eyeing the poolside pictures to snag for later 'use.' It was humiliating but clearly brought Mr. Sir some sick joy. Kat felt sick to her stomach and shoved the bag of candy toward her tent, eyes down. That seemed to be reward enough for the head counselor, and he walked out with her little brother's toy, laughing as the boys demolished her food.

Once Pendanski followed, she carefully stood to head out on her own, but a hand stopped her. X-Ray's hand looped loosely around her wrist.

"Girl," he said, "you are way too innocent to get away with sneakin' all that back to the tent alone. How you got away with it this long's a miracle in itself. We'll hide ya." Zigzag nodded, gulping down a mouthful of candy. He, as well as some of the other boys, had a smudge of chocolate beside his mouth.

"Just stand behind me n' next t'Armpit. They won't see you." They moved in a subtle herd, as though just deciding to leave and hang in the tent. They left the empty bag from the M&Ms on the table just to taunt the other campers. With her caravan of escorts, making it to the tent was successful, and with a quick word of thanks, she made a bee-line for her cot.

She unloaded her haul, which she had hardly looked at before heading to the tent. There were various candies, cough drops and gummies mostly, with some girly things like lotion and nail polish. Her mother had sent her sunscreen, of course. Brianna sent her a pack of cigarettes- in case she needed to trade them for favors, she claimed, and to keep her from becoming somebody's bitch. The girl watched way too much TV. Then again, they might not be totally worthless. Melanie had been the one to send her the pictures along with a long letter updating her on everything ("So what else have you missed... Mr. Woodhouse gave a totally bogus test, the football team's losing streak is still going strong, and there's a new student who always smells like cabbage. Brianna has a new boy-toy, surprise surprise. Though by the time you get this, he'll probably be gone too. She broke up with Mike because she didn't like his haircut- only her, right? She's a crazy bitch. I told her you'd be bringing back some hott convicts, big guys that could take care of her, so you better deliver. They probably have prison mixers or something, right?"). None of the new information surprised her. She stuffed the gifts into her bag before continuing to read the letters, but she was interrupted by the guys.

"Got anything good?" X-Ray asked as he tucked her flap back and leaned against the entrance to her area, the other boys hovering behind him. Squid was conspicuously absent. She just shrugged.

"Yeah, I guess. Just reading some letters now, though."

"Y'got a lot of 'em."

Armpit nodded in agreement with Zigzag's statement and asked, "Who they all from?"

"Parents, friends, my brothers and sisters… Mr. Sir took away part of the one from my little brother."

"Yeah, we saw that… and the, uh, pictures. Sorry."

"I should've expected it by now, I guess."

"Still sucks," Zigzag commented, "they all write you a letter each?"

She smiled, "Yeah. Those are from my two best friends and my parents," she nodded to the pile of already read letters before holding up the pile in her hands, "I was just about to finish reading the ones from my siblings."

"Looks like you got a lot of those."

"Four." She answered honestly, offering a weak smile, "I'm the dreaded middle child." Without asking, they grabbed the finished letters and started looking through them. "Hey!" She made a weak attempt to grab at them, but one look from X-Ray put her back in her place.

"Your little brother seems cute." Magnet grinned, holding up the messy crayon letter. On the back he had drawn a dinosaur. "How old is he?" She smiled wistfully.

"Six. But he thinks he's the big man on campus, staring down boys that come to take me out and threatening them." That earned a hearty laugh. She began reading her little sister's letter while they invaded her privacy, knowing she would have to answer all kinds of questions about Mel and Bree. Luckily, Nina's letter was an effective distraction that kept making her laugh. Magnet and Zigzag dropped down on either side of her to look over her shoulder.

"What's so funny?" Kat resisted the urge to sigh. They were just going to take the letters and read them anyway.

"My little sister, she's a handful- only 9 years old but already boy crazy. Drives my daddy insane. She was asking if there were any cute boys around… he probably turned purple when he read it." Another bout raucous laughter.

Squid threw open the flap to the tent looking pissed and stomped over to her. Reaching into his jumpsuit, he pulled out the pictures and tossed them on the cot. Kat's eyes widened in disbelief- it was unlike Squid to do something like that. Her head shot up to thank him, but before she could get a word out, he cut her off.

"Don't get used to this; they only sent it to you cuz they feel guilty." He sneered, "They'll forget all about you real soon… probably glad you're gone." She winced at that but said nothing as he strode over to his own bed and lay down. He noticed the boys looking at her letters and rolled his eyes angrily. They ignored him, abandoning the written word to come examine her pictures. True to her prediction, they wanted to know about Mel and Bree the most.

"Dude, what's on her face?"

"The tube from her oxygen tank… Mel has Cystic Fibrosis." That of course led to a side conversation about what that was, as though Kat was some kind of an expert. She also pointed out her younger siblings, Ian and Nina, and her older half-sister, Heather.

"These are from her wedding." She told them, pointing out pictures of their happy family all dressed up. She showed them Heather and her husband Tyreese, a stocky handsome black man, kissing after being pronounced man and wife. She told them about each picture, about the summer vacations and the school dances and the people in them. Many had her best friends, and she laughingly promised that they could be the hot guys she brought back for them. There were also plenty of pictures of her older half-brother, Louis, her father's son from before her parents' marriage.

Louis's was the only letter she had not yet read. Kat called him the most important man in her life, but she could not bring herself to see what he had written. It made everything happening too real, and she found herself telling them the least about him. He was her older brother, was all she said, protective and smart and always knowing what was best for her. She did not know why they had so many questions about her family - maybe it was because none of their stories were as happy as hers - but she did not want to look a gift horse in the mouth. The boys were being rude and nosy, but at least they were talking to her. That was a nice change from the two weeks spent barely acknowledging or bullying her. But alas, all good things must come to an end. Once the pictures were done, their moods took a sudden downturn. The happiness of her life depressed them, and once again, Katrina was public enemy number one. It did not seem fair, she thought, considering she had shared cookies and candy with them, but nothing at Camp Green Lake ever seemed quite fair.

Through it all, Squid lay silently glaring on his cot. When the dinner bell rang and all the guys headed out, she stopped him.

"Thank you." She whispered softly. He glared.

"I didn't do it for you. I did it to fuck with A-Tent. They're assholes n' they were gonna have 'em."

"How'd you get them back?"

"Does it matter?" She only stared back up at him with those big, shiny doe eyes. "… I traded them my shower tokens. Damnit, girl, you're more pain than you're worth! I ain't gettin' those back now. Imma have to skip n' save up 'fore I can play poker again, all cuz you're too much of a goddamn princess to leave your damn family behind. They don't want you anymore- you're an embarrassment to them, and you're an embarrassment to us." With a lingering hateful look, he stalked out toward dinner. She showed up a few minutes after him, looking sad. She was probably crying by herself, he figured, too soft for her own good.

That night, when he crawled into bed, he found a bag of gummy worms and a scrap of paper under his pillow.

"I hope you could trade these for your shower tokens back."

He rolled his eyes but had to withhold a smirk. The girl was smarter than she looked.

End of Chapter

R_S: More reviews, pretty please! This isn't one of my favorite chapters, felt like more of a filler than anything else. It was something I wrote while figuring out Kat's character, and it felt like a shame to waste it.