"Poke him," came a harsh whisper.

"No you do it!"

"Hey, you're the one who wanted to."

"Wake him up!"

"No, he should hear the bugle."

Groggily, Ricky opened his eyes, glancing over at the faces above him. Jumping, he fell off his cot, while the D Tent boys roared with laughter. Pulling on his work set of orange clothes, Ricky stumbled out of the tent, following the D Tent boys to the Mess Hall. Ricky got in line, and his food, and sat down where the other D Tent boys were. He ate very little – one fourth of the watery cereal, but the whole carton of juice. He hadn't eaten much for two days either.

Squid stared at him. Ricky stared back, until finally Squid had to back away. Nobody could take much of those large, sad, yet angry brown eyes.

Ricky followed the boys outside where they got shovels from a shed.

"Hand me my shovel, would you Ricky?" X-Ray said, pointing to the one Ricky was holding in his hand.

He did, and got another shovel.

"See, my shovel's the shortest one," X-Ray told him.

Armpit joined them. "Smaller shovel, smaller hole."

"You have to dig it five feet deep and five feet wide, measure with the shovel," said Magnet.

Ricky nodded. They all followed Mr. Sir out to the dried lake (Ricky had heard this from Squid), and Mr. Sir instructed them a place to dig. Ricky hit the shovel hard into the dirt, pretending it was Keith Bernstein's face. The dirt splintered, and there was his first shovel.

He didn't find digging as hard as he'd expected. Blisters formed on his hands, and popped again, but he ignored the pain and kept on digging. He'd had worse pain in his life. He shuddered to remember.

He was bored, but he knew what real boredom was like. He knew what real pain was. He knew what real horrification was.

xxx

Ricky sat in court, dressed in a suit. "You have to make a good first impression," explained his dad. The suit was itchy. He scratched.

The judge frowned, as did Mr. and Mrs. Bernstein.

"Ricky Kamikaze," the defender said. "Why did you hurt Keith Bernstein?"

Ricky sucked in his breath. "Tell the truth," his father had said. Ricky chose to listen to him. "He called me a freak."

"I did not!" protested Keith, a boy nearly as tall as Ricky, but a lot larger.

Ricky chose to ignore him.

"Please, silence," the judge said.

Keith closed his mouth.

"Why is that word so offending to you?" the defender asked.

Ricky stared at him. It was like his whole world had frozen. Finally, "It hurts."

"I see," the accuser said. "And just because 'it hurts' does that mean that you HAD to hurt Keith?"

Ricky stared. "Yes."

"Your Honor, in my opinion, this boy is mentally disturbed and will hurt others. The correct solution is to send him off to jail."

The judge replied, "I haven't decided the verdict yet."

xxx

He'd decided that he was guilty, and instead of sending him to jail, Ricky got to come to Camp Green Lake, a camp for bad boys. A car drove up. All the other boys jumped out of their holes and got in line. "Come on Ricky! Water!"

Ricky got out of his hole, and got in line, in front of Squid. Squid grabbed him and shoved him to the back. "You're at the back of the line Ricky."

Ricky stared. Even Zero was in front of him.

He got up in line, got his water filled, and lunch, along with Mr. Sir grunting, "This isn't a Girl Scout Camp."

After eating part of his lunch, (one fourth of his sandwich, some water, and none of the cookie), he went to go back to his hole. Magnet looked at him. "You want your lunch?"

Ricky shook his head 'no.' Magnet took his cookie, split it in half, and gave the other half to X-Ray and Barf Bag. He handed the sandwich to Armpit.

Ricky started to dig his hole again. Zero finished, and so did Barf Bag. X-Ray, Squid, Magnet, and Armpit were still digging. Ricky climbed up out of his hole. He had to go to the bathroom.

After choosing a hole, (nothing living in it), he walked back to his hole. Someone yelled from behind him. Ricky yelped, jumped, and stumbled, falling into his hole and knocking one of the dirt piles in.

The D Tent boys laughed. "Did you see that?" choked Magnet.

X-Ray giggled so hard, tears started forming in his eyes. Armpit roared and slapped X-Ray on the back.

Squid laughed, wheezing, "What a freak."

"Yeah, he is, isn't he?" Armpit said.

Ricky sat in his hole, humiliated, breathing hard. Tears started to form in his eyes, but he wiped them away, and turned them into anger.

Seething, he leapt out of his hole, grabbing Squid by the collar of his orange shirt. "Don't talk about things you don't understand. Don't scare me and laugh when I fall down. Don't hurt me and laugh when I hurt. Don't laugh me because I'm different. Don't look at me and tell me I'm messed up. And don't," he said, narrowing his voice to a hiss, "call me a FREAK."

The boys stared, amazed. Ricky had finally talked, and it hadn't been the way they'd thought it would be.

He grabbed his shovel, and walked off, without finishing his hole. He didn't care what happened to him now. Putting his shovel back in the shed, he ran into the D Tent, and sat on his bed, sobbing, unable to stop the tears.

Meanwhile, back on the lake, Magnet looked at Squid. "What's wrong with him?"

Squid shrugged. "He didn't finish his hole though."

"Busted," muttered Armpit.

"Yeah," said X-Ray.

xxx

Ricky sat in the tent, sniffling quietly to himself. He rubbed the tears away, silencing the memories of his past… the screams of the past, for now. He got up and headed for the Wreck Room, which had been pointed out to him by Mr. Pendanski.

He stepped in, and ignored the stares of the other boys. Sitting in front of a busted television set, he switched it on, only to see the fuzzy gray static. He moved himself to a more comfortable position and sat staring intently at it.

"What the--" said Will. "What are you doing you freak?"

Ricky turned and smashed a fist into Will's face. Will's friends from the A Tent immediately joined the fight, tackling Ricky. Ricky found himself drawn to the bottom of the dispute, desperately fighting to get up. He felt himself slammed down, and pinned to the pool table which had bumps and ridges everywhere. Will began to kick him, and Ricky folded over, curling up into a ball, his helpless eyes larger than ever. Then, all of the sudden it was over.

Ricky glanced up and saw all of the boys from the D Tent (excluding Zero) tackling a boy from the A Tent. The B Tent joined in, taking sides with A, while C took sides with D. E and F just jumped in and hit whoever they could. Ricky took this in with amazement. D Tent was on his side? They were protecting him? He felt like it wasn't possible. They liked him.

He shook this thought from his mind. Of course they don't like me. They just like to fight. This gave them a chance to.

He looked at the mass of boys, screaming and yelping, burst into tears and fled, hiding behind the water spigot where the showers were. He crumbled down, and sobbed into his arms.

Meanwhile, back at the Wreck Room, Barf Bag looked over at X-Ray. "Where's Ricky?"

Armpit shook his head. "Maybe that kid is really crazy."

xxx

Ricky sat at the water spigot until it was dark. He decided just to stay there. That way, no one can hurt me. Ever.

He heard a slight shuffle, and looked up. It was Squid.

"Ricky?" Squid inquired.

Ricky stared at the teen with his big eyes.

"I just wanted to say that… I just wanted you to know… I'm sorry ok? I didn't know it hurt you that much. I didn't mean it, I promise dude. Why are you so sensitive to the word 'freak' anyway?"

Ricky looked away from those eyes. They looked so sympathetic, yet he knew that sympathy never lasted.

Squid took a deep breath, and sat down, staring into Ricky's eyes. "Will you come back to D Tent? Please? Come on, I'll be your friend," he said in a teasing voice.

Ricky looked away, and for once, those unblinking eyes blinked.

"Ricky, it's not as bad as you think it is. Come on, once you get out of here, you still have your life, don't you? I mean, it's not even hopeless for me?"

Ricky looked up, question in his eyes.

Squid looked uncomfortable. "Yeah. My dad left, and my mom… she has problems. I got arrested on the day my dad left us. He beat her up, and when I called the police, he was already gone. They thought I did it to her," he said, biting back the bitter hardness in his voice. "They thought that I did it. And she didn't say anything. And the last thing I told my mom before I left was," his voice cracked in pain. "'I hate you.' All I want more than anything in this world is to take those words back. But I can't. I don't know how. I know you don't believe me. Nobody ever does. Not even the rest of the guys do, except maybe Magnet. So I don't even know why I'm wasting my time here telling you this. It won't make a difference. You'll never believe me. Nobody ever does."

There was silence. Squid turned to leave, wiping his hand over his eyes.

"I do."

"What?" Squid asked, turning. "Did you say something Ricky?"

"I believe you," Ricky said, looking into Squid's eyes. "I believe you. All my life, I've hated people, I've been afraid they'll hurt me. My paranoia makes me crazy. There are days, I wish that I had never been born. I don't talk to people, because I'm afraid they'll do something… hurtful. I can't be hurt anymore… I can't. My story's the same as yours, Squid. Yes, my mom took off, not my dad, but it's the same. The same pain. The same thing. I want people to like me, but they never do. I want friends, but I never have had one. That's why I turn away… push you guys away like that. I don't mean to… but I'm afraid that… one day I just won't be able to take it anymore…" his voice trailed off.

"I'll be your friend," said Squid, smiling easily. "It's ok, Ricky, trust me. Come on, let's go back to the D Tent. The other guys are probably worrying about us. These guys are ok, Ricky. They're the only true friends I've had in my life."

He started off, and Ricky followed.

xxx

"SQUID, STOP!"

Squid turned around instinctively, instead of looking at the danger ahead. Shoving him out of the way, Ricky hit the ground, hard.

"What is it Rick?" Squid looked around, and suddenly froze, just as Ricky had in his position on the ground. A yellow-spotted lizard crawled cautiously up Ricky's leg, inching up to his face. Moving up to his arm, it got ready to sink it's teeth in, just as Squid took a shovel nearby, and slammed it off. However, he was just a little late. A spot of blood rested on Ricky's arm.

IS HE GOING TO DIE?

How do I know? I don't think so. I'm thinking about a sequel.

Hmm...

that depends on you. :)