Author's Note: This is one of the few chapters that I'm not touching as far as editing on word usage, etc. My buddy wrote it (Rachel is her character) and I feel weird by playing around with her words.
"Rachel Bilson, please go to Mr. Sir's office immediatley!" a voice yelled, even though his office was right beside me. I sighed and knocked on the door, then opened it. Mr. Sir was sitting at his desk writing.
"H-Hello Mr. Sir, I-I'm R-"
"Yeah, Rachel, I know," he said, cutting me off roughly. "Well, here at Camp Green Lake you have privileges, not rights. We are here to help you learn your lesson for whatever you did...what did you do anyway?" he inquired. "Your files haven't gotten here yet," he gave as explanation.
"I stole the mayor's wife's jewelry," I bluntly said.
"Oh, I see," Mr. Sir said, eyeing my necklace and noncholantly taking off his ring. I smiled to myself and shifted in my seat. "The D-2 counselor, Mr. Pendanski, will explain everything to you." He rose and led me to Mr. Pendanski's office.
"Hi, I'm Mr. Pendanski," a short, sunburned man with a closely shaved head, black beard, and a very red face said. "I'm the D-2 counselor. I'll introduce you to your tent mates!" We walked between many tents and dust blew in my face about a hundred times. It was about 6:30, so it was a little bit cooler than usual, I guessed. Mr. P. was chattering away but I was barely listening. We finally arrived outside of a large tent. "So, are we clear?" he asked.
"Yes," I agreed, having no idea what he was talking about and pushing back the tent flap. Sitting there were two girls and a boy with wild blonde hair.
"Well, I'll let all of you get aquainted," Mr. Pendanski said, eyeing the boy a little strangely and patting me on my back. I turned towards Mr. Pendanski and grinned at him.
"Thanks Mr. Pendanski," I said. He smiled and walked off.
"Hi, I'm Rachel. How are you?" I politely said to the nearest girl who looked like the leader.
"Hi Rachel, I'm Em..I mean Thorne," she said. "You can get right here on the left of my cot," she told me. She patted the cot beside her.
"Thanks," I said sitting. I wanted to disagree but since she looked like the leader to me I kept my mouth shut.
"So, what are you here for?" the other girl asked.
"Well, what an icebreaker," I said.
"I'm Robyn. You can call me Rhythm, this is Zigzag," she said pointing to the boy.
I nodded. "Well, back to your question...Rhythm," I said. "I stole the mayor's wife's jewels."
"Oh, I see," she said looking mildly impressed.
There was an awkward silence for about five minutes until Thorne offered another icebreaker. "Are you ready to dig some Holes?" she asked. I wondered if the boy could talk for a second.
"Excuse me?" I asked. The boy looked at me and grinned.
"You know what...well, nevermind. We'll explain to you at supper," he said.
"SUPPPPPPPPPERRRRRRR!!" the intercom blared.
I didn't pay attention to the food. I just drew on the napkins for a while. Everyone stared at me strangely. There were 7 boys plus Rhythm, Zigzag and Thorne. They introduced themselves as "X-Ray, Armpit, Squid, Magnet, Zero, Caveman and Twitch." I made a mural of beans in my plate.
Nobody spoke before the hispanic guy who introduced himself to me as Magnet said, "So you like art?" he asked. I looked over at him.
"Yes," I replied. He nodded toward my plate.
"Nice," he said smiling. All of the boys laughed. Rhythm smiled and Thorne rolled her eyes.
"Magnet, leave her alone. I wouldn't eat the stuff either at first," she said. "And anyway, it is umm...interesting," she said eyeing my mural.
"Interesting wouldn't be the word I would use," the boy called Squid said.
"And what world WOULD you use then?" I asked him.
He grinned. "Freaky," I could tell by the look on his face that he had been dying for me to ask. Thorne shoved him.
"Leave her alone, ALAN!" she challenged.
The grin was wiped off of his face. "Don't call me Alan, my name is Squid!" She laughed and pulled off his hat to ruffle his hair.
"Whatever you say, whatever you say...Alan," she teased and jumped up and hid behind Zigzag. Zigzag smiled and gave Caveman (who was sitting beside him) a look as if to say "Scoot." Caveman slid over closer to Magnet so Thorne could sit down. Thorne sat down next to Zigzag, who sat directly across from Squid.
"Yeah, that's right, go hide behind Zigzag," he joked.
She raised her eyebrows. "To each their own."
I rolled my eyes and kept playing with my food. I sculpted it into a face. "That does look kinda cool," Caveman piped up.
"Thanks," I said, adding more banana jello to the nose.
"She is a Mini Warden," Zigzag randomly said, looking over at me. "She said 'Excuse Me' just like the warden," he said, keeping his voice low. I learned later that some of the boys thought the Warden kept an eye and ear out on every conversation held at her camp with tiny cameras and microphones all over the camp, even in the showers.
X-Ray eyed me suspiciously. "So, you one of those picky, whiny, rich girls?" He asked.
Thorne gave him a sharp look. "Was that a hint?" she asked.
He laughed. "Naw Thorne, you're not picky...or else you wouldn't've picked Zigzag!" She punched him on the shoulder.
"No, I'm not whiny," I said, interrupting them.
He smiled. "Thats what they all say," he told me. Slowly everyone got up and made their way outdoors. I followed Armpit who was the last to stand up. Then I headed towards the tent to sleep. Thorne and Rhythm were chattering away as they got into bed and soon they were asleep. I stared at the roof of the tent for a long time before I finally fell asleep. As soon as I fell asleep it seemed like I woke up. I jumped out of bed and followed Thorne and Rhythm to the "Library" full of shovels.
Thorne's POV
When I finished digging my 3 by 3 hole with my 3 ft shovel nobody else was done yet. Zero was close to it though. I headed toward the camp and got out my towel and change of clothes. When I came out of the shower stall and walked back into the tent Rachel was standing there getting her clothes and her towel together. "You're DONE?" I asked her. She nodded.
"Yeah," she said. I looked at my watch.
"But...nobody will be back for another hour..." I said.
She nodded. "Zero is back," she said. "He was following me," and without another word she headed out of the door to take her shower. I stared at my bed.
"A female Zero," I said to myself, laughing a little. I went into the Wreck Room and played some of my CDs until the boys started coming in. When Thlump made his way in I grabbed my CDs smiled at him and said, "The Backstreet Boys are back alright!" and laughed. He looked at me a little strangely and put the BSB back in the player and turned it up as loud as it would go. I caught Squid by the arm. "Time for some file sharing," I whispered in his ear. He laughed and I pulled him out of the door behind me.
