NOTE: Well, It's only been like forever and infinity since I last wrote,
eh? Well, on the plus side Holes came out on VHS/DVD during that time. If
you haven't seen DVD special features (particularly commentary by the D-
Tent boys) you are missing out dearly. HUGE amount of love and thanks to Q
who made my last few days so fantastic!! It was GREAT to see you babe, and
I've never had so many wickedly hot fictional boys packed into such a short
time =) I've finally been reinspired. Also, much love to KP and Emma,
whose sense of humor I will always and forever appreciate! Thanks for being
so darn cool! Love you! And of course THANK YOU IMMENSLY to all my
reviewers, who I wouldn't write without... even though I tend to not write
anyway *cough*, but at least the new chapter is here now =D
*****
Another day had passed with the girls segregated from the boys, subjected to the constant ridicule. Dinner that night had been a particularly unpleasant scene, upon which Squid, Armpit, Zigzag, and Caveman (who had had large reservations, but eventually succumbed to peer pressure and the gruff 'encouragement' he received from Armpit and Squid) poorly attempted to imitate a barbershop quartet to the girls as they ate, which ended in Sketch's infamous ankle kicking - the blunt of which fell onto poor Zigzag and Armpit, who had been closest by her.
Everyone lay in their beds a bit restless that night, minds whirling in and out of thought. *cue the playing of the song "Everybody Hurts" by REM*
Armpit's thoughts were mostly bitter as he tenderly rubbed his sore ankles, "That little brat. It's not like I was THAT off key or anything, man. Ow! Crap! It was worth it though, dawg. The looks on their faces." He paused, recalling in his mind their narrowed eyes and scowling mouths. For a second he ALMOST felt something in the pit of his stomach that was reminiscent of the tiniest bit of guilt, but he quickly pushed the feeling aside, "Nah nah! It's funny, *funny*, remember that, man. Pull yourself together! Yeah, it's just a joke. A funny one. You're just hungry." He ended, convincing himself of it.
Zigzag's mind was racing with possibilities, "I can't believe she kicked me. What if she was infected with some virus and was sent here to spread it around and now I've been infected and I'm going to die and have my body eaten by worms in one of those stinkin' holes. Yeah! I bet all those holes we dig are graves... for ourselves! But if I die KP will never get to finish learning guitar... AH! What if KP's infected!? I should warn her. I mean, no... I don't care about KP. She's a dorky little ice cream abusing stalker. I bet you could kill someone with ice cream though. I wonder what KP's favorite ice cream flavor is? I mean, NO! Not thinking about KP... not think about KP... oh crap! If I'm thinking that I'm not thinking about her, does that count as thinking about her?"
Laney was working very hard to act as though she were asleep, in order to keep from having to talk to anyone about the night's events. She knew she was more upset than she should be, afterall, she was usually so good at laughing at herself (as long as it didn't compromise her morals or political beliefs ;) ) so what was different with this time? "It's not like I don't get this kind of jackass, half-kidding, ridicule at home. I mean, hell, I'm friends with Tyler right? It comes along with being 'one of the guys'. Then why the hell is this bothering me? And why the hell won't Magnet, if anyone, stand up for us at least a little bit. And why am I saying the word 'hell' so much?" She refused to admit to herself that the part about Magnet upset her the most, because she didn't want to have to admit to herself anything else she might be thinking about him. So she contented herself with a generalization, "I was starting to like them all, too. I hate boys."
A slight way across the camp grounds in D Tent, Magnet lay trying to keep his mind as much off Laney as she was trying to keep hers off him. Truth be told, he was pretty sick of the whole ordeal. He didn't like making fun of people, really. At least not when it caused this much tension, "Aye! What is my problem? The other guys don't have difficulty with this. Bros before hoes though, right? It's funny, right? I'm not a wuss, right? I swear. Man, why does Laney - er, I mean, *the girls* - why do *the girls* care so much about those stupid boys anyway?? What's so special about them?" he thought bitterly, maybe even, though he would never admit it, with a bit of jealousy. Oh but if Magnet only know what is was about the Half Steps... if only he could have "In The Jungle" sung to him in falsetto in a parking lot... or listen to "Sam, You Made the Pants too Long", complete with commentary. Or if he - *cough* OK, stopping there. Maybe I should continue on with the story, eh? Magnet turned face down into his pillow and wondered silently at the fact that he hadn't had any more contact wit La - er, with the girls in the past few days that a few fleeting moments of eye contact.
Q was lying on her back, staring at the top of G tent, wishing vaguely she had been allowed more time to kick before Mr. Pendanski had pulled her away. Actually, she didn't mind too much because it had given her a golden opportunity to peg Pendanski in the shin. She smiled thinking about it, and then allowed her mind to wander onto greater things, "Wow, look at the way the tent folds. It kind of looks like a horse. No, it looks more like Charlie Conway. But then again what doesn't look like Charlie Conway? Doesn't everything revolve around the Mighty Ducks? If so, would that make Bombay God? HEY! I wonder if I could cut holes in the top of the tent and create my own constellations! I could make one that looks like Charlie Conway! Though I think I'd rather have Guy Germaine staring down at me all night."
She turned towards Laney to tell her about her great, constellation making idea only to find Laney's back turned the other way, apparently in a deep sleep, "I have to remember to tell her in the morning," she paused then, her mind flipping back to its former subject, "No, no, no, Bombay can't be God! The Half-Steps are God. Or Gods. Oh right, the Half Steps - stupid D Tent. Stupid boys. Hey, boys! The Lost Boys... the Coreys!" and so her mind trailed off on yet another tangent.
X-Ray was chillin' on his bed, very close to sleep. In the last moments before he passed into the dream world, his mind was wandering to, of course, the recent events, "I don't know about all this [make] squabbin' up in heah [Brooklyn], but it seems to be bringing the boys together. That's who I gotta look out for, my bros. Yeah, the girls are chill, but I'm cool with whatever my boys decide to do. I'll do it for them," he decided, not allowing himself to question for a moment if maybe the reason he wouldn't stand up to the other D-Tent boys rested more in his insecurity of maintaining the leadership position, as he was neither largest nor strongest, and didn't want to do anything that could bring about a coup.
KP was also feigning sleep (exactly as Laney was, cause, you know, they're like the same person) while her mind raced, "Well, I missed guitar lessons for the second day in a row. I guess they're over and I'll just have to teach myself now," though in the back of her mind she knew this wasn't the part which upset her most about the loss of the lessons, "What jerks. JERKS! Though Zigzag was kind of cute when he was singing. God, what a voice that boy has! Mmm. But he's a j-e-r-k. Cuteness does NOT make up for disrespect to the Half Steps!" She frowned into the dark at this mix up of emotions, "I hate boys."
Back in D-Tent, Caveman, not the most self-confident of the boys, was curled up on his cot, still shivering in embarrassment, "I can't believe they made me sing in front of girls. I feel like such a loser! Then again, they did ask *me* to do it. So that means they must consider me one of the posse now. I have real friends! Ha, if people at home could see me now! Well, now as in with friends, not now as in singing. Yup, moving up in the world; got a gang," he smiled smugly to himself, "Still, I wouldn't mind getting to know the girls. Though tonight probably didn't help. But yeah! What would the kids back at home say if I got a girlfriend!" he continued to smile, and played around with fantasies before slipping off to sleep.
Squid was sprawled out across his entire bed, arms and legs flailed over the edges. He wasn't too concerned with the happenings of the night, but all the same they raced through his mind momentarily, "Haha, man this is fun! Too easy! I mean, ice cream! Come on! Pretty darn badass there. Those guys sound kind of wussy too, I mean... barbershop quartets? Though I must admit my debut as a barbershop singer was pretty hot. Haven't talked to Q in a while though. Hmm... ah, well. It's worth it for a good joke. I'll deal with it later, whatever."
Frances was very confused by this point as she had arrived just as all the teasing began. The other girls had tried to inform her that D-Tent wasn't *really* so bad, usually, but from what she'd seen she figured they were just trying to soften her arrival up for her, because the boys sure didn't seem friendly, "Argh, if I was Buffy I'd show them a thing or two! No, if I was Buffy, then that would mean Wesley was real, so I'd probably be stalking him. Well, I'm kind of already stalking him aren't I? Aww, stubble and English accents. That's brilliant! Unlike those boys. Well, all except that little one. He doesn't seem too mean. Just quiet. Ahh! I can't believe I can't watch TV here. Well, there's cracked broken one. But no Buffy, or Charmed, or Smallville! But at least I'm away from school. Oh no! School! Homework! I left my homework at home! I'll never be able to do it! What will I do?!" the workaholic feared, not bothering to think that, as she was stuck at Camp Greenlake for the next forever, her work would really not matter.
And finally Zero was lying on his side, eyes open, staring at the shape of the tent fabric. His head was full of many thoughts, all racing around as usual, but this was not visible on his face, and had anyone felt like looking at him in the dark they would have only seen a very calm and cool expression, thinking of apparently nothing. He did not wish to indulge in the stupidity of human curiosity by providing his thoughts to be written out in this section of the story, so they will, therefore, remain only inside his own mind.
*******
The next morning the campers all slumped out to the shovel library and the overly disgusting tortillas that the counselors called breakfast. All them were tired, seeing at it was 4 in the morning, but none more so than the kids of G and D Tents. Most of them hadn't slept at all, and the ones who did had not had a nice fitful rest, as they were usually used to from being so tired after a hard days work, but a jerky, unsettling sleep. The members of both tents kept sneaking guilty glances at one another that were filled with regret, anger, and amusement all at once. But still, they didn't say anything to one another.
"Now, I know this isn't very conventional," Mr. Sir started, to the surprise of everyone, "But we've got a new camper who will be joining us for digging today. We wouldn't normally bring someone new here in the morning, but we didn't have much choice. She traveled all night to be here... something about how she wouldn't stop singing so they had to send her away quickly because she was causing an uproar at the detainment center. Anyway," Mr. Sir was cut off by Pendanski who had walked up behind the campers.
"I'd like you to meet your new camper," he began, and every face turned a full 180 to stare at him and a pretty girl with blondish, chin-length hair and a friendly smile (particularly friendly for such an early time in the morning), "Emma."
For the first time in two days the girls faces lit up with happiness and excitement, and they rushed to the front of the crowd, "Fifi!!!" they exclaimed.
She greeted them all with firm hugs (has it been mentioned that Emma is one of *the best* hug givers in the entire world?) and then looked around curiously, "Man, why is everyone so glum?!"
"Dude, it's like, 4 a.m." Laney responded.
"OK, OK, enough of that touchy feely crap. Let's move out!" Mr. Sir barked, and the hordes of delinquent youth marched outward towards what was expected to be another long, tiring day.
*****
Another day had passed with the girls segregated from the boys, subjected to the constant ridicule. Dinner that night had been a particularly unpleasant scene, upon which Squid, Armpit, Zigzag, and Caveman (who had had large reservations, but eventually succumbed to peer pressure and the gruff 'encouragement' he received from Armpit and Squid) poorly attempted to imitate a barbershop quartet to the girls as they ate, which ended in Sketch's infamous ankle kicking - the blunt of which fell onto poor Zigzag and Armpit, who had been closest by her.
Everyone lay in their beds a bit restless that night, minds whirling in and out of thought. *cue the playing of the song "Everybody Hurts" by REM*
Armpit's thoughts were mostly bitter as he tenderly rubbed his sore ankles, "That little brat. It's not like I was THAT off key or anything, man. Ow! Crap! It was worth it though, dawg. The looks on their faces." He paused, recalling in his mind their narrowed eyes and scowling mouths. For a second he ALMOST felt something in the pit of his stomach that was reminiscent of the tiniest bit of guilt, but he quickly pushed the feeling aside, "Nah nah! It's funny, *funny*, remember that, man. Pull yourself together! Yeah, it's just a joke. A funny one. You're just hungry." He ended, convincing himself of it.
Zigzag's mind was racing with possibilities, "I can't believe she kicked me. What if she was infected with some virus and was sent here to spread it around and now I've been infected and I'm going to die and have my body eaten by worms in one of those stinkin' holes. Yeah! I bet all those holes we dig are graves... for ourselves! But if I die KP will never get to finish learning guitar... AH! What if KP's infected!? I should warn her. I mean, no... I don't care about KP. She's a dorky little ice cream abusing stalker. I bet you could kill someone with ice cream though. I wonder what KP's favorite ice cream flavor is? I mean, NO! Not thinking about KP... not think about KP... oh crap! If I'm thinking that I'm not thinking about her, does that count as thinking about her?"
Laney was working very hard to act as though she were asleep, in order to keep from having to talk to anyone about the night's events. She knew she was more upset than she should be, afterall, she was usually so good at laughing at herself (as long as it didn't compromise her morals or political beliefs ;) ) so what was different with this time? "It's not like I don't get this kind of jackass, half-kidding, ridicule at home. I mean, hell, I'm friends with Tyler right? It comes along with being 'one of the guys'. Then why the hell is this bothering me? And why the hell won't Magnet, if anyone, stand up for us at least a little bit. And why am I saying the word 'hell' so much?" She refused to admit to herself that the part about Magnet upset her the most, because she didn't want to have to admit to herself anything else she might be thinking about him. So she contented herself with a generalization, "I was starting to like them all, too. I hate boys."
A slight way across the camp grounds in D Tent, Magnet lay trying to keep his mind as much off Laney as she was trying to keep hers off him. Truth be told, he was pretty sick of the whole ordeal. He didn't like making fun of people, really. At least not when it caused this much tension, "Aye! What is my problem? The other guys don't have difficulty with this. Bros before hoes though, right? It's funny, right? I'm not a wuss, right? I swear. Man, why does Laney - er, I mean, *the girls* - why do *the girls* care so much about those stupid boys anyway?? What's so special about them?" he thought bitterly, maybe even, though he would never admit it, with a bit of jealousy. Oh but if Magnet only know what is was about the Half Steps... if only he could have "In The Jungle" sung to him in falsetto in a parking lot... or listen to "Sam, You Made the Pants too Long", complete with commentary. Or if he - *cough* OK, stopping there. Maybe I should continue on with the story, eh? Magnet turned face down into his pillow and wondered silently at the fact that he hadn't had any more contact wit La - er, with the girls in the past few days that a few fleeting moments of eye contact.
Q was lying on her back, staring at the top of G tent, wishing vaguely she had been allowed more time to kick before Mr. Pendanski had pulled her away. Actually, she didn't mind too much because it had given her a golden opportunity to peg Pendanski in the shin. She smiled thinking about it, and then allowed her mind to wander onto greater things, "Wow, look at the way the tent folds. It kind of looks like a horse. No, it looks more like Charlie Conway. But then again what doesn't look like Charlie Conway? Doesn't everything revolve around the Mighty Ducks? If so, would that make Bombay God? HEY! I wonder if I could cut holes in the top of the tent and create my own constellations! I could make one that looks like Charlie Conway! Though I think I'd rather have Guy Germaine staring down at me all night."
She turned towards Laney to tell her about her great, constellation making idea only to find Laney's back turned the other way, apparently in a deep sleep, "I have to remember to tell her in the morning," she paused then, her mind flipping back to its former subject, "No, no, no, Bombay can't be God! The Half-Steps are God. Or Gods. Oh right, the Half Steps - stupid D Tent. Stupid boys. Hey, boys! The Lost Boys... the Coreys!" and so her mind trailed off on yet another tangent.
X-Ray was chillin' on his bed, very close to sleep. In the last moments before he passed into the dream world, his mind was wandering to, of course, the recent events, "I don't know about all this [make] squabbin' up in heah [Brooklyn], but it seems to be bringing the boys together. That's who I gotta look out for, my bros. Yeah, the girls are chill, but I'm cool with whatever my boys decide to do. I'll do it for them," he decided, not allowing himself to question for a moment if maybe the reason he wouldn't stand up to the other D-Tent boys rested more in his insecurity of maintaining the leadership position, as he was neither largest nor strongest, and didn't want to do anything that could bring about a coup.
KP was also feigning sleep (exactly as Laney was, cause, you know, they're like the same person) while her mind raced, "Well, I missed guitar lessons for the second day in a row. I guess they're over and I'll just have to teach myself now," though in the back of her mind she knew this wasn't the part which upset her most about the loss of the lessons, "What jerks. JERKS! Though Zigzag was kind of cute when he was singing. God, what a voice that boy has! Mmm. But he's a j-e-r-k. Cuteness does NOT make up for disrespect to the Half Steps!" She frowned into the dark at this mix up of emotions, "I hate boys."
Back in D-Tent, Caveman, not the most self-confident of the boys, was curled up on his cot, still shivering in embarrassment, "I can't believe they made me sing in front of girls. I feel like such a loser! Then again, they did ask *me* to do it. So that means they must consider me one of the posse now. I have real friends! Ha, if people at home could see me now! Well, now as in with friends, not now as in singing. Yup, moving up in the world; got a gang," he smiled smugly to himself, "Still, I wouldn't mind getting to know the girls. Though tonight probably didn't help. But yeah! What would the kids back at home say if I got a girlfriend!" he continued to smile, and played around with fantasies before slipping off to sleep.
Squid was sprawled out across his entire bed, arms and legs flailed over the edges. He wasn't too concerned with the happenings of the night, but all the same they raced through his mind momentarily, "Haha, man this is fun! Too easy! I mean, ice cream! Come on! Pretty darn badass there. Those guys sound kind of wussy too, I mean... barbershop quartets? Though I must admit my debut as a barbershop singer was pretty hot. Haven't talked to Q in a while though. Hmm... ah, well. It's worth it for a good joke. I'll deal with it later, whatever."
Frances was very confused by this point as she had arrived just as all the teasing began. The other girls had tried to inform her that D-Tent wasn't *really* so bad, usually, but from what she'd seen she figured they were just trying to soften her arrival up for her, because the boys sure didn't seem friendly, "Argh, if I was Buffy I'd show them a thing or two! No, if I was Buffy, then that would mean Wesley was real, so I'd probably be stalking him. Well, I'm kind of already stalking him aren't I? Aww, stubble and English accents. That's brilliant! Unlike those boys. Well, all except that little one. He doesn't seem too mean. Just quiet. Ahh! I can't believe I can't watch TV here. Well, there's cracked broken one. But no Buffy, or Charmed, or Smallville! But at least I'm away from school. Oh no! School! Homework! I left my homework at home! I'll never be able to do it! What will I do?!" the workaholic feared, not bothering to think that, as she was stuck at Camp Greenlake for the next forever, her work would really not matter.
And finally Zero was lying on his side, eyes open, staring at the shape of the tent fabric. His head was full of many thoughts, all racing around as usual, but this was not visible on his face, and had anyone felt like looking at him in the dark they would have only seen a very calm and cool expression, thinking of apparently nothing. He did not wish to indulge in the stupidity of human curiosity by providing his thoughts to be written out in this section of the story, so they will, therefore, remain only inside his own mind.
*******
The next morning the campers all slumped out to the shovel library and the overly disgusting tortillas that the counselors called breakfast. All them were tired, seeing at it was 4 in the morning, but none more so than the kids of G and D Tents. Most of them hadn't slept at all, and the ones who did had not had a nice fitful rest, as they were usually used to from being so tired after a hard days work, but a jerky, unsettling sleep. The members of both tents kept sneaking guilty glances at one another that were filled with regret, anger, and amusement all at once. But still, they didn't say anything to one another.
"Now, I know this isn't very conventional," Mr. Sir started, to the surprise of everyone, "But we've got a new camper who will be joining us for digging today. We wouldn't normally bring someone new here in the morning, but we didn't have much choice. She traveled all night to be here... something about how she wouldn't stop singing so they had to send her away quickly because she was causing an uproar at the detainment center. Anyway," Mr. Sir was cut off by Pendanski who had walked up behind the campers.
"I'd like you to meet your new camper," he began, and every face turned a full 180 to stare at him and a pretty girl with blondish, chin-length hair and a friendly smile (particularly friendly for such an early time in the morning), "Emma."
For the first time in two days the girls faces lit up with happiness and excitement, and they rushed to the front of the crowd, "Fifi!!!" they exclaimed.
She greeted them all with firm hugs (has it been mentioned that Emma is one of *the best* hug givers in the entire world?) and then looked around curiously, "Man, why is everyone so glum?!"
"Dude, it's like, 4 a.m." Laney responded.
"OK, OK, enough of that touchy feely crap. Let's move out!" Mr. Sir barked, and the hordes of delinquent youth marched outward towards what was expected to be another long, tiring day.