Disclaimer: As before, this story, and these fabulous characters are not mine, and the best I can do is to try not to mangle them too horribly. Please, if I am, tell me. I would die if I knew that I was. But anyway, even if I'm not, feel free to review! I love the feedback. Oh, and, I realize that this was a longer chapter, but I also figured that since I wasn't stoned for the atrocious first chapter, I may as well write a bit more this time. That said, on with the story!
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"B-Boy's camp?" Andrea stuttered weakly. This couldn't be…there must have been some mistake. She struggled for a moment to find something to say, to protest, plead, or do anything it took to get herself out of this scorched, barren wasteland that threatened to swallow her in its vastness.
She continued to stand rooted to the spot, gaping at the sign, until she felt a calloused hand on her shoulder, steering her toward another cabin. Her gaze flicked fearfully around her, her frightened eyes meeting the confused eyes of each of the boys that surrounded her, even as they parted to let her pass. She walked; or rather let herself be pushed, through the door to the rundown cabin, where a sinister man sat moodily behind a scrubbed wooden desk, mechanically masticating sunflower seeds with a glazed look in his eye. Andrea and the security guard stood there while several moments slipped between the cracks of time, but the man seemed to take no notice of them. At long last, the guard cleared his throat, and with a slight grunt, the man looked up.
"Have a seat," he mumbled, his thick southern drawl making him seem as though he were from a different planet, instead of a different part of the country. She did as she was told, and slowly sat in the creaky wooden chair, staring at the guard who stirred up the dust present in the chair as he sat next to her. "Andrea Dean?" the man behind the desk asked. Andrea nodded meekly, her eyes never leaving his. "Welcome to Camp Green Lake, Andrea. My name is Mr. Sir, and you can call me…Mr. Sir, is that clear?
Andrea nodded again, and Mr. Sir stood up and led her into the next room. The guard hollered his goodbyes, and Andrea paused to watch the bus drive away, leaving storms of dust in its wake.
"There are few things that you'll need to know if you're going to survive here at Camp Green Lake. You'll be given these," he drawled, tossing her a pair of grimy orange jumpsuits and boots that looked as though that had originally been black, but had been tinted to an alarmingly light shade of brown. "One set will be for work, the other for relaxation," "Every three days, your work clothes will be washed, and your leisure-time clothes will become your work set, understood?" he continued, pausing every now and then to shove another handful of sunflower seeds into his mouth. His tone suggested that he had recited that very same speech countless times.
"Yes, Mr. Sir."
"Good. You are to dig one hole, five feet across and five feet deep every day for the next twenty-two months. That's six hundred and seventy holes, if you'd like to keep track. If you're lucky, you'll stop feeling it after awhile, but the truth is, you've royally screwed yourself over, and now you're paying for it. This ain't no Girl Scout camp. We run a tight ship here, and anyone who doesn't respect that won't last long, y'dig?" he paused for a moment, before beginning to chuckle, seemingly amused by his play on words. Andrea tittered nervously with him, afraid of what would happen if she crossed this man. He stopped abruptly, and she followed suit, a lurching feeling settling in her stomach.
Mr. Sir seemed to have nothing more to say to her, as he just stood there, awkwardly examining her as though he wasn't entirely sure that she was really a female. Andrea's thoughts were still on his previous words. Twenty-two months…six hundred and seventy holes…She had no idea how she would survive that long, the only girl lost in a sea of filthy boys. Had she been under any other circumstances, she knew she would have enjoyed the position that she was in, but her fear and unrest seemed to be blocking every other thought but the massive countdown that she had just begun in the dark recesses of her mind. Lost in thought, she jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She spun around to face yet another man, thin enough to look starved, a thick coat of sun block plastered to his beaked nose.
"Hello Andrea," he greeted, his cheery tone entirely out of place next to the mumbling Mr. Sir. "Andrea, I know that you've made some mistakes in your life, but I'm here to help you get back on the right track, so that society can see you as a shining young lady. My name is Mr. Pendanski, and I'll be here for you every day for the next twenty-two months," he extended a hand, and Andrea reluctantly shook it.
Though she wouldn't admit it aloud, Mr. Pendanski made her almost as uncomfortable as Mr. Sir did, for no one could honestly be so happy stuck in the middle of nowhere. Mr. Pendanski motioned for her to walk with him, and she followed him, squinting as she stepped back into the sun.
"Um…sir?" Andrea asked cautiously, "Isn't this supposed to be a boy's camp?"
Mr. Pendanski chuckled, nodding. "Yes, it is, but would you rather be in prison?"
Andrea could see that she would be getting no explanation as to why she had been the exception, and she decided not to press the subject. Mr. Pendanski directed her toward the center of the camp, where a few more boys had began to gather. "You'll be sleeping in D-Tent," he stated, gesturing toward a faded green tent with a large black "D" stenciled on one side. "I'm afraid that you'll have to sleep with the boys. Crime doesn't allow exceptions for girls."
Andrea nodded numbly, staring at the tent that she would soon be calling her home. She heard Mr. Pendanski calling her name, as though from a great distance, and she spun around, suddenly nose to nose with three other dirt-caked boys, their hot breath mingling with the heat of the day.
"Andrea, I would like for you to meet Ricky, Theodore, and José. They're going to be your roommates from now on.
"C'mon, Mom, how many times do we gotta tell you?" the olive-skinned boy Pendanski had called José asked. "The name's Magnet, and this here is Zigzag," he pointed to a tall, lanky boy with blonde hair that stood on end with an odd mixture of his sweat, and something else Andrea couldn't quite place, "And Armpit."
They heavy-set, African-American "Armpit" cocked a half-smile in greeting, and "Zigzag" examined her with a look that suggested that he wasn't all there. Andrea smiled politely. This isn't too bad, she thought sarcastically. I'm only stuck bunking with three boys with names like "Armpit" for the next two years. What was next, Skull-crusher, the motorbike king?
"As I said, Andrea, José, Ricky and Theodore are your bunkmates," Pendanski repeated, ignoring Magnet's previous words. Receiving scoffs from the boys, he rolled his eyes. "They like their little nicknames, but there will be no 'Armpit' when you leave this place will there, Theodore?"
Armpit snickered, and Pendanski seemed to realize that this was a battle that he would not be winning. "Anyway, as I was saying…"
"Afternoon, Mom!" another dark-skinned boy with thick glasses that were coated with dirt called cheerfully as he waltzed toward them. He high-fived the three boys, and made toward the tent, before stopping, and turning around. Seemingly unsure of what he'd seen, he made to go to the tent once more, before turning around again, and doing a double take of the scene that lay before him. "Mom, is she yours?"
Pendanski blinked, before the question seemed to register in his mind. "No, Rex, she's not my daughter, she's the newest member of D-Tent."
Rex gaped for a moment, before shrugging and moving to stand with the other three.
All right, Andrea silently reassured herself. Four. Four boys with strange names. Four-
"'Bout time you boys showed up!" Rex called to the two approaching forms. "New kid, this is Squid and Zero," Rex pointed to each. Zero nodded in greeting, his tiny face set as stone, and Squid struck up a conversation with the others for a full minute and a half before he even noticed that she was standing there.
Squid flashed a split-second smile. "Hey, pretty lady," he said casually, the toothpick that dangled from the corner of his mouth bouncing happily with every word he spoke. He, along with Zigzag, had the southern drawl that Mr. Sir possessed, but it was not nearly so intimidating.
Andrea blushed a deep scarlet at the remark and looked at the ground, pretending to study the cracks in the thirsty land, before looking back up again to the grinning faces of six boys, from the lanky, wild-eyed Zigzag, to the tiny, withdrawn Zero.
"Well, Andrea, is there anything else that you'd like to know before I leave you to it?"
Andrea thought for a moment, a thousand questions coming into her mind. "No, I'm fine, but I really think I'd rather be taking my chances with Skull-crusher: the Motorbike King."
All chatter between the boys suddenly stopped, and Pendanski tossed her a sideways glance. "What?"
Note to self: remember to keep internal dialogue to yourself, stupid! Andrea scolded herself for speaking without thinking. "No, sir. Not a thing." So this was it then…twenty-two months with six boys…six rough-necked, rowdy boys.
"Hey, Caveman!"
"Oh dear Lord, no more," she muttered.
Andrea snapped her head in the direction that the boys called, watching yet another boy trudging wearily toward them, a drowsily triumphant smile on his face, and a dim sparkle in his deep brown eyes. "Call the papers, boys, I'm gettin' faster," he joked, dropping his shovel with a clang on the ground.
"Ah, Stanley, nice of you to finally join us," Mr. Pendanski said with a smile. The jest seemed innocent enough, but Stanley looked mildly hurt at the remark, and the other boys leered at him, a few previously kind faces melting like hot wax into snarls. Pendanski's eyes darted around, but he couldn't seem to think of anything to say. Looking uneasy, he cleared his throat. "Stanley, Rex, Alan, Zero, this is Andrea. She's bunking in D-Tent with you boys."
Even as the other six gaped in shock, Rex glared at Pendanski. Crossing the distance between them in seconds, he was nose to nose with the beaked counselor, who was considerably less cheerful than he had been the moment before. "My name…is X-Ray," he asserted heatedly. Pendanski seemed to have no retort, but the pair just glared at one another for a moment or two, but Rex looked as though it was taking every ounce of self-restraint that he possessed to keep himself from throwing the first punch.
"Well, Rex, it seems you've just elected yourself to be Andrea's mentor. Make sure she learns the ropes," Pendanski stated flatly, the cold malice in his eyes making plain what his words did not. Without another word, he turned at stalked off; turning only in time to scowl at the "salutes" that he received the moment his back was turned.
Everyone stood in silence for a moment or two, and it seemed that no one really knew what to say. Andrea looked around knowing that she couldn't be the one to disturb the tensed hush. She watched as the angry eye of the sun began to sink beneath the comforting horizon of the mountains, taking the blanket of heat with it. A slight shiver coursed through Andrea's body at the seemingly sudden cold, and X-Ray snapped to look at her.
"C'mon boys, dinnertime," X-Ray muttered at last, jerking his head toward the mess hall. The other boys tore their eyes away from the spot where Pendanski had been moments before and began to march toward the noisy cabin. It was a world within itself, the din of the children within failing to disrupt the calm that lived outside those creaky walls. "Hey, new kid, hang back a second."
Andrea felt a lurch in her stomach, hoping against hope that she hadn't managed to do something to these boys already. Halfway to the cabin, she watched as Magnet paused and turned around.
"Hey X, you comin'?"
"Yeah, man," X-Ray called back, before turning to Andrea once again. "Skull-Crusher?"
Andrea felt her cheeks burning, despite the dropping temperature. "Er…I…"
"Never mind. I don't want to know. Look, new kid, Squid didn't mean what he said, so don't think anything of it," he advised bluntly. "He'll say that to any girl after being locked up in this place."
"Oh," Andrea replied, feeling suddenly embarrassed.
"And I mean anyone. See, a few months back, the state decided that we should get a day to let our families come out here, so my grandma came out here with my mom. So, the very first thing he said to her was 'hey pretty lady,'" he continued. Andrea just stared at him, at a loss for words, but he didn't seem to care. "See, that's all well and good, but my grandma has one leg…and a mustache."
"Ah…well, don't worry about it, X-Ray. I didn't even realize that he'd said anything," she lied, absentmindedly brushing her hair from her eyes.
He stared at her suspiciously, but shrugged it off after a moment or two. "Whatever, man. Dinner." She nodded in agreement, and followed him into the clamorous mess hall, where she dutifully took her place in the back of the line.
"Here," one of the campers grunted, slopping a spoonful of some unrecognizable substance into a spotty aluminum tray. The sludge splattered the moment in hit the tin, spraying Andrea with the strange-smelling gunk. Wrinkling her nose, though not sure if it was because of the smell of the food or the fact that she was covered in it, she nodded in thanks and suppressed the grimace of disgust that was burning in her chest.
"So, new kid, what're you in for?" Armpit asked after she plopped onto the bench.
"Hmm? Oh…" she paused for a moment, considering the question. The more appropriate question would not be what she had done, but rather, what they had caught her for. "I…I stole things," she confessed at last, unsure of how else to phrases it.
Zigzag cocked a thick blonde brow at her. "You…stole things. Well, 'round these parts, that doesn't help too much. What'd you steal?"
"Plenty," she replied shortly. Looking around, she could see that they weren't satisfied with such a concise reply, so she began her story at the best place she could think to begin: the beginning. Before long, she was no longer sitting at the faded D-Tent table, and back in Detroit. It had been raining…