CHAPTER 5

Firsts

At exactly 4 o'clock AM, a bugle sounded. Carrie lazily lifted her head from her pillow, and then let it drop back down again.

"Come on, Bear, wake up!" Squid shook her gently. "We have to go." Squid pulled off the thin covers on the cot. This resulted in two things: Carrie hopping out of bed, and her becoming very angry with him.

D-tent lined up for breakfast, then to grab their shovels. Carrie grabbed a shovel with a piece of red tape around the wooden section. As she began to walk away, she felt a light tap on her shoulder.

"Hey, Bear? That's kinda the shovel I use every day. Would you mind trading?" X-ray asked politely.

"No problem." The two quickly swapped shovels while the rest of D- tent looked on in amazement.

"You got X-ray to ask for the shovel!" Magnet gasped.

"For once he didn't just, like, grab it out of your hands!" Twitch commented.

"That's the first time that's ever happened!" Squid exclaimed.

"So? Get going guys, nothing to see here," X-ray ordered, with a touch of his usual leader tone. He gave Carrie a quick smile after the other boys had left.

The camp walked out to the dry lake and found their spots. As Mr. Sir explained the details of digging, the rest of the boys started their hole.

"You are to make one hole, 5 feet wide and 5 feet deep. If you find anything, show it to Mr. Pendanski or me, and you could possibly get the day off." He explained.

"Yes, Mr. Sir," Carrie said, sticking her shovel into the dry earth. She could already feel the pain of the wooden shovel against her bare hands.

To ease her pain, she talked to the boys while she dug.

"So, we get to do this every day?" She asked.

"Yep," Armpit responded.

"It sucks," Magnet commented.

"I can already tell. But you boys are so lucky." She complained.

"Why?" Squid asked.

"You don't have all of this hair," She laughed, flipping her ponytail to accentuate her point.

They all dug deep into the day. First, Zero finished and spat into his hole. Carrie stared up at him in amazement. "You're done already?"

"Zero's the fastest digger in camp!" Twitch informed her.

"That's so awesome," She said, inspecting the red blisters sprouting up on her hand.

Carrie expected Zero to walk back to camp, but he hopped into her hole and began to dig.

"Zero? What're you doing?" Carrie asked, already worn out from digging.

"Helping you," were the words that the boy of few words chose to speak. Their eyes met and both continued to dig.

With Zero's help, Carrie's hole was finished around the same time as Squid's. She gave Zero a bear hug and began to walk back to camp with him, dragging her shovel behind her.

They returned to camp and Carrie headed for the wreck room. She collapsed onto the armchair nearest the pool table, where the boys of D- tent were playing pool.

"I think I have the world's biggest blisters," She commented, half to herself and half to anyone who was listening.

"Let me see." Twitch leaned down and grabbed her hand. "Nah, just pretty close. Mine almost matched that on my first day here."

"You're kidding! Good thing, or else I'd have to kill you for all the pain I'm in." She leaned back, sighing.

Twitch glanced around, obviously making sure no one was listening. "Look, I've got some Neosporin back in the tent. Do you want it?"

Carrie kept herself from screaming. "Yes! How'd you get it?"

"Magnet swiped it from the Warden and I swiped it from Magnet. Come on." I quickly followed Twitch back to D-tent and watched as he unearthed a bottle of Neosporin from his messy crate.

"I'm going to need to go through our tent and organize these crates. How can you live in that pig pen?" Carrie complained.

"You're a girl. That's your problem." He grinned. "Let me see your hands."

Carrie put out her hands and he took them. "Tell me if it burns, OK?" He silently rubbed the tonic over her blisters. She sighed in relief. It felt so good.

When Twitch finished both hands, he looked into her eyes. Carrie could feel it happening as he leaned toward her. Finally, their lips met, only for a split second. He jumped back, muttered an apology, and ran out of the tent.

Carrie sighed. "Boys..." she muttered, turning to her crate for a second. Something caught her eye at the bottom, something that hadn't been there before. She slowly picked it up and turned it over. It was a small piece of paper with some writing on it.

She quietly read it to herself. "Things I love about Carrie. Her sense of humor, her hair, her eyes, her personality, her friendliness, her lovingness. Carrie + Me forever."

The note wasn't signed. Somehow, Carrie had a feeling who had written it.

And it wasn't the boy who had kissed her that day.