Disclaimer: Gecko49…Argh I'm trying the best I can to make these chapters longer…but it takes longer to write long chapters, OKAY? It's one or the other people. But chapter 13 will be slightly longer. I hope. Grrr. And I don't own the holes people.

Chapter 13: A Relapse

When Terry woke up at the sound of the wake up call, she was surprisingly warm. She sat up, and examined the blanket that had been placed over her soaked body. Someone had given it to her while she was sleeping. Looking around, the freckled girl saw that Squid was the only one without his blanket. Mr. Pendanski Burst through the tent flaps, as usual.

"Wakie wakie, eggs and bakie!" He grinned and closed the flaps again. Loud, annoyed moans arose from the tent.

"Why does he always have to do that?" Groaned Zigzag. Magnet got up, and shook his head. He rubbed the bright red handprint on his face. Terry got up and brushed off her clothes. They were still quite damp from last night. She pulled on the orange jumpsuit and did up the buttons. Then she tied her hair in a sloppy bun and then walked outside. It was fairly dark still, and yellow clouds could be seen creeping over the horizon. The D-Tent gang made their way into the mess hall, grabbing trays and standing in line for the morningly grease.

'Why do they have to bathe EVERYTHING in oil?' She thought, annoyed. Today they had slimy 'sunny side-up' eggs and underdone bacon. Terry passed, grabbing some bread instead. They made their way over to the table and sat down. She nibbled on the bread while, across from her, Zigzag wolfed down a pile of eggs. She sighed. She wasn't hungry, so she stuffed the bread into her linty pocket.

"You hardly eat anything here!" Exclaimed Zigzag. He shoved another forkful of egg into his mouth.

"Yeah, well." The girl was too tired to talk right now. She lifted herself up from the table and walked away, forgetting her tray.

"Um, Lazer, you forgot the tray!" Shouted Zigzag. She pretended to ignore him, and kept walking. Back at the tent, she collapsed onto her bed.

'Man, my left temple is killing me!' Terry rubbed her head. A vein was throbbing.

A soft moan escaped her. Caveman turned around at the sound.

"What's wrong, Lazer?"

"My head…oooh!" She winced in pain.

"Do you want me to get Mom?"

"No…It's…Aaah! Okay…" A sharp twinge of fire ran through her head. It was gone in a flash, and all the pain suddenly stopped. She rubbed her head some more, and then got up.

"That was weird. It hurt really bad for a minute and then it was gone..like that!" She snapped her fingers.

"Let's get going. I can hear Mr. Sir's truck." He Put his arm around her back and helped her out of the tent. While they were walking to the shovel lineup, Squid came running over.

"What happened?"

"Lazer had a strange headache. Then it suddenly just…disappeared." Squid was walking on the other side of Terry. He extended his arm behind her back, and crunched Stanley's hand. Stanley stopped walking and clutched his hand, hopping on one foot from the pain. Looking to Zero, he said:

"Why the hell did he do that?"

Zero concealed a smile and replied,

"Beats me."

Meanwhile, Squid had wrapped his arm around Terry's waist, and was talking to her.

"It must have been from the time that I fell and hit my head…"

"Yeah, how does it feel now?"

"Numb."

"Oh well."

That's when she noticed his arm.

'Aren't I supposed to be mad at him?'

She broke away to get a shovel. Grabbing one of the rack, she noticed it was slightly smaller than the other ones.

"How come this one's smaller, Squid?"

Heads immediately shot at her direction as she said this.

"Shhhh! Just take it and Go!" He gave her a shove towards the D-Tent group.

"Eeek!"

X-Ray saw the shovel, and normally would have taken it if it were anyone else. But he decided to let her have it since she was a girl. Terry noticed him looking at it.

"Do you want this one or something?"

"Erm, that's okay. You can have it."

Then she realized why everyone wanted it.

'Smaller shovel smaller hole!'

"Do you not want it because you think I'm a wimp?"

"Naw, You're just a girl, and I thought that…" His voice trailed off as he caught Terry's trademark 'Lazer' glare.

"Take it. I don't need it." She snatched his longer shovel and threw the smaller one on the ground. She turned and walked back over to Squid. He admired her stubbornness.

'It would have been easier if you kept it.'

He decided not to say it out loud. After all, it wouldn't be much fun to end up like Magnet.

"Let's git going!" Yelled Mr. Sir. He fired up the engine of the truck and roared off.

Time skip

Terry plunged the shovel into the earth for what seemed like the zillionth time. A fine line of sweat was forming on her forehead. Her arms were hurting slightly, but she could manage easily. This was almost the same as scooping horse manure. (Which she had done A LOT at home.) Shove, scoop, fling over shoulder. Shove, scoop, fling over shoulder. Shove, scoop, fling over shoulder. It was a seemingly endless repetition. She stopped and took a long gulp of her water. She screwed the cap back on…

'I wonder…'

Her green eyes peeked over the top of her hole. Squid was focussed on his digging. Terry looked around in her hole for the perfect rock. She found a small round one and flicked it at him. Bingo! Right on the shoulder. She ducked down a bit. Confused, the boy looked around. He rolled his eyes and went back to digging. She flicked another, and giggled when he frowned. She flicked another, and this time it hit him in the nose.

"Hehehe…"

A sudden gruff voice from behind made her jump.

"Miss Terry, stop throwing rocks at Alan."

She whirled around. It was Mr. Sir, frowning down at her. He spat a sunflower seed in her hole and waddles away. From the other holes she heard soft laughter. It was her turn to blush now. Squid rolled his eyes and went back to digging. Terry thought it was best to do the same.

After a short while, Mom called them up for lunch. Terry got in the back of the line, as usual. She was always last in the pecking order here. Big surprise.

"What ever happened to ladies first?" Asked Dr. Pendanski as she came by to get a sandwich.

"I don't know." She replied glumly. She snatched the last apple, which had gross bruises all over it. Walking back to her hole, she caught a glimpse of Squid. He was eating all by himself. She stopped, trudged over, and sat down beside him.

"Hi…sorry about the rocks."

He grinned. "Yeah. You're actually a pretty good shot, though!" He bit into his nice un-bruised apple."Sorry about yesterday, I didn't know you would get so mad." Expecting a glare, he looked away. But instead, Terry sighed and said:

"Sorry I freaked out. It's just…there was once this one guy at school and he…" She stopped.

"You can tell me if you want."

She closed her eyes.

"I was having a shower in the change room after a track practice. He walked into the room and tried to open the stall door. The lock broke, he came in, and if it weren't for a passing teacher that heard my screaming…" She blinked away tears.

Alan tightened his lips. Now he understood why she was always so upset when someone tried to touch her. The mention of the 'change room' made him think of his incident… (A/N: Remember, Greg?)

"I'm sorry… Want my apple?" He asked, eyeing her bruised one.

"Thanks." She said, and smiled. He wiped the tears out of her eyes with his sleeve.

"Alright, get back to those holes!" Barked Pendanski. Terry stood up and brushed off her butt.

"Cya."

She walked back to her hole, biting into Squid's apple.

Time Skip

Back in D-Tent, Terry had won nine games of Poker in a row.

"Damn it." Grunted X-Ray. Magnet, who had mostly avoided her for the day, whispered in Terry's ear:

"He's only mad 'cuz he is sposed to be the reigning champ!"

She laughed silently and played another winning hand.

"Aww, SCREW it!" X-Ray said angrily, throwing down his cards. He sulked over to his cot.

"Haha, poor widdle Exy is all worked up!" Zigzag taunted. He ducked as a shoe came flying over. It went through the flaps of the tent, and someone yelped in shock. They ran outside, and a boy with black wavy hair was on his back, rubbing his eye. He was one of the older fellows from F-Tent.

"Which one of you little bastards threw that?" He yelled. When he stood up, he was quite tall.

X-Ray came out and raised an eyebrow at the boy.

"I did. And it wasn't on purpose." He said, coolly.

"Well, punk, you better have a good explanation for it." Said the boy, grabbing X-Ray's collar, and lifting him up slightly.

"Hey, You! Don't touch him!" Snapped Squid.

"This don't concern you!" He snarled, shoving Squid into the ground with his free hand.

"That wasn't very nice!" Hissed Terry. She grabbed his arm. He stopped and looked at her.

"So, the rumors are true. There really is a girl in D-Tent!" He said. He smiled wickedly and let go of X-Ray. He walked towards Terry, who was backing away. She gazed up into his face, terrified. She backed into the corner of the tent. His evil grin broadened. He was reaching for her shoulder. Just then, an arm wrapped tightly around his neck. He stumbled backwards, coughing.

"Don't TOUCH her!" Cried Squid, who was hanging off the boy. Armpit, Magnet, and Zigzag grabbed his arms. Zero streaked out of the tent. X-Ray panted for breath. Terry was still frozen against the tent wall. The boy was bending backwards from the weight, almost like he was doing the limbo.

"Get off me you- gggrrggg…" He was being strangled.

"Never! I'm going to kill you, you…"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Yelled The Warden. She whistled so sharply and loud that everyone in the tent jumped at least a foot. (A/N: You know how adults put two fingers in their mouth and it makes the most horrible screech ever?)

"Squid, Get off of him!" She shrieked. Dr. Pendanski ran over to Terry, who was lying on the floor, crying.

"Now get your butt back to F-Tent, you hear?" She ordered, pointing out the door. The black haired boy wheezed a weak reply and shuffled out. She turned back to Dr. Pendanski.

"You take care of this." She waved her hand at the D-Tent boys and walked out.

After a few minutes of whispering with Terry, The Doctor got up and spoke to the rest of the D-Tent, who were watching.

"Terry is very upset. Please don't bother her. Something will be worked out for you tomorrow." He exited quickly. They wandered back to their cots, except for Terry. She remained on the ground, facing the wall, crying.

Not too much later, the supper bell rang. Everyone left except for her. She didn't want to go outside.

Time Skip

After supper The rest of the gang came in quietly. The girl was sitting on her bed, her legs crossed. She had stopped crying, but her face was red.

Squid P.O.V.

He followed the others into the dark tent. Terry was sitting on her bed, her hands in her lap and her head down. He knew Mom told them not to bother her, but he felt really bad. He walked over to her cot and sat down quietly. X-Ray followed suit. As for Stanley, he knew better than to get between Squid and Lazer. Magnet was still resentful, and Zero never really talked, but came over anyways. Armpit and Zigzag decided to as well.

"I'm sorry. If I hadn't thrown that shoe at Zigzag…"

"If I hadn't even provoked him in the first place!"

"It's not your fault, guys." She choked.

Squid longed more than anything to hold her hand.

"It was just like last time. He…he backed me up against the wall…" She shuddered and a tear rolled down her face.

"Don't worry. If that faggot of a bastard ever comes back we'll beat him senseless," Said Zigzag. He smiled. Terry looked him in the eye, and her face softened just a shade.

"Thanks guys." Squid could tell she felt better. The other boys got up and left. As Squid did, he looked back at Terry. He could swear one corner of her mouth went up a bit.

Meanwhile…

Dr. Pendanski sat in his office, drumming his fingers together.

'Yes, this is perfect. If that little brat gets scared and sends a letter home, maybe mommy and daddy will bail her out. Then the Warden and I will have it all to ourselves…'