I hope you guys are liking it so far! i'm really trying to make it different for all of you! read and review!!

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A few weeks later, the guys had become used to what they did and were enjoying themselves more than they thought they could while being at a delinquent camp. We were all still doing the chores we had chosen and were pretty content with them.

Alan and I spent numerous late nights playing cards or sitting outside of the tent because we couldn't fall asleep. We would talk about anything that popped into our heads but I still wasn't able to figure out why he was awake all the time, whimpering or crying. I didn't want to ask him just in case his reaction to that question was the same as mine when I'm asked how I got here. All I know is that he had lived a hard life. Much different than mine.

None of the guys know why the four of us were there. They won't ask but are slowly piecing it together. Ally accidentally told them which picture I had torn up. Yet they all respected my desire to keep the reasons secret. Because of their respect for my privacy, I have gained respect for them, but I still won't take any of their crap.

In the past month and a half that we had been at the camp, none of the four of us had received anything from the outside. We hadn't received a letter, or anything. Our parents didn't want to have much to do with us because of how we got here.

We had been watching TV for over an hour and a half. We didn't feel like doing anything much that day. It was over 100 degrees outside and the heat just completely killed us.

"Ally? Are you in here?" Devil walked into the Wreck Room one night while we were all watching TV.

"Yah?"

"A letter arrived for you." She held out her hand, exposing an envelope. Ally looked at her for a moment. She was surprised. Her parents had barely said good bye to her when she left for Camp Green Lake. But she still got up to get it.

"Thanks." She tore then letter out of Devil's hand, shoved it into her pocket and came back to the couch.

We didn't ask about the letter, figuring that she would want to read it on her own. After a few minutes she stuck her hand into her pocket and pulled out the letter. She opened it up and started reading it in her head.

Dear Ally,

I know that I haven't written to you since you left but I needed a little bit of time to get over what had happened. I know that you don't say that it is your fault but you four were caught red handed and it'll take a little more than you just saying that you were innocent for me to believe you. How is the camp? Is it as bad as your brother had made it sound? I hope not. Anyways, I have to go. I would say that your father says hi but he hasn't said anything about you lately. Hope you're doing alright.

Love Mom

Tears had formed in her eyes. She simply folded the letter up, put in back in the envelope and back into her pocket. She wiped her eyes and went back to watching TV. All of us were looking at her but quickly brought our attention back to the TV. None of us knew what the letter said. Then she poked my arm and pointed towards the door. We both got up and walked outside. It was beginning to get dark, but it was still light enough to clearly make out the faces of people walking by you.

"What was the letter about?" I asked with distinguishable worry in voice. I had never seen her cry from reading a letter.

"Look at it." She shoved it in my face

I read it over and over until it had sunk into my head. What hit me the most was the second last sentence. "I would say that your father says hi but he hasn't said anything about you lately." I looked up at her. She started crying again.

"Don't worry about it. He's probably just really mad at the fact that both you and your brother got stuck here." I gave her a hug. At the same time I choked up when I said "brother". My brother should have been here and not me and my friends. The anger that I had towards him still hadn't changed. I stopped thinking about myself and tried to talk to Ally. We went back to the tent and just hung around there until the other six came back and it was lights out.

That night I cried myself to sleep. I don't know if the others heard me, but I have a pretty good feeling that Alan did. He didn't miss a thing when it came to feelings of other people. My curiosity was starting to creep up in me and I was afraid that sooner or later curiosity would kill the cat. I tried hard to keep my mouth shut about Alan's whimpering at night but it was becoming harder and harder too.

At around 2 o' clock in the morning I had woken up from the sound of someone moving around. I looked up and saw a figure walking around supposedly looking for something. I grabbed my flashlight, and the moving stopped when I moved. I turned it on and pointed it towards the figure. There stood Ricky, his eyes popping out of his head. He stared right into the light.

"What are you doing?" I whispered

"There's a rat in the tent!" he whispered a little too loudly.

"What?!" Sam jumped up.

"Shit!" Ally freaked

"What are you guys screaming about?" Rex sat up and looked at us. Most of our faces were visible because both Ally and Sam had turned on their flashlights. Alan sat up. He didn't look like he was asleep like the rest of us, yet he delayed sitting up to make it look like he had been sleeping.

"Ricky go back to bed. There is no rat in here. There are no furry little creatures for miles and miles. Will you stop being so paranoid?" Alan explained to him.

"How did you know I said there was a rat in here?"

"You said it loud enough to wake up one of us, why not just wake up another one?"

"You can say whatever you want but I know that there is something crawling around the tent."

"Maybe it's a yellow spotted lizard?" I suggested

"Shut up Joey!" Jess yelled at me.

"What? They are the only small crawling creatures around here. Aren't they?"

"Joey! It isn't a lizard! It's a rat!" Ricky said to me

"I would be more paranoid if it were a lizard rather than a rat."

"There isn't anything in the tent. The flaps are closed." Ally explained with such calmness and sense, unlike Ricky and Sam were.

"You're right. I think I'm going to go back to bed." Ricky jumped back into his cot. Alan and my jaw dropped. He didn't listen to us when we were making sense. He is weird. We shut our flashlights off and lay back down. I tried to go back to sleep but I couldn't. Ricky had waken me up too much and now it would be almost impossible for me to sleep for the rest of the night.

I got up, walked outside without my flashlight. I just wanted to sit out there and do nothing. I looked around at all of the tents and for some reason it reminded me of when my family and I went camping. Only the tents did anyways. Tears started rolling down my face. My brother and I used to go walking around the campsites before it got dark and used to look at the people and see if there was anyone worth talking to. We used to meet cool people by doing that. It was fun. And when I saw tents it would remind me of all the fun we would have but not when I look at them I miss those times, more than anything. I heard the flap to the tent open and saw Alan walk out. He took a seat next to me on the steps. I wiped the tears from my face and looked at him.

"We have really got to stop with the late nights." I smiled at him

"Yah I know. I get less sleep here than I do at home. And I barely get any sleep at home."

"I get less sleep anywhere I go other than home."

"Really? Well at least it's not just me."

"You're not alone."

"So you want to talk?"

"About?"

"Anything?"

"Like?"

"Whatever you want."

"You got to be more specific than that."

"Whatever is on your mind."

"There is a lot on my mind."

"The first thing that comes to your head then."

"Why are you always awake at night?" Crap! I shouldn't have asked that! It slipped out! He's going to freak at me.

"Because I am."

"Okay then. That's fine with me."

"You want to know more don't you?" he smirked at me. "You wouldn't just leave it at that. You're not like that."

"How would you know? I asked you a question and you answered."

"You are such a liar. You want to know why I'm up all the time?"

"If you want to tell me, then I guess that will be okay."

"Okay then. My mom is a drunk and my dad left us when I was three. And I haven't had a normal life, and I wake up from dreams of the horror of my life back at home. I am up most of the time because I dream about what happens at home, but when I am at home I don't need to dream because it is usually really happening. That's why I get more sleep at home than I do here." I just stared at him. "Don't look at me like that." He smirked. I wondered how he could even put on a smirk after saying that to me.

"I'm sorry that I—." I started apologizing for asking

"Don't be sorry. What do you have to be sorry for? I just met you. You didn't have anything to do with my life before here."

"I know but still. I didn't want to ask you that. I feel bad."

"Don't. It actually feels good to tell someone. No one in the tent knows other than you." I felt special because he trusted me. But at the same time guilty because I didn't trust him very much. He looked at me in the eyes, and just smiled. We sat there for about half an hour and just talked about stupid things that made us laugh and pissed off. It was nice. I enjoyed spending time with him.

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