Disclaimer: I don't own Holes, and never will!
The Inspection Of CGL
Chapter Four ll Interviewing: X-RAY
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I woke up feeling like the residue stuck on toilet bowls when they haven't been flushed. It had been a pretty restless night. Sure, my airbed was comfortable, and it was nice and cool in my tent, but I was still fuming with anger over the "argument" last night.
Staring up at the top of my tent, I realised it was still very dark. Possibly midnight. I turned on my side and tried to fall back asleep again.
It didn't work.
So I tried a new tactic.
I tried to hypnotise myself.
And no, I am not insane. Have you been talking to my friends? Ah - never listen to what they say. They are insane.
You are very, very sleepy... I told myself, Uh, I mean; I am very, very sleepy...
No, I'm not.
Yes I am.
No, I'm not.
...Alright listen up, Blockbuster, you're deadly sleepy and you better obey my command. SLEEP! SLEEEEP!
Why am I arguing with my conscience?
So I tried another tactic. Counting sheep!
I should've known this wouldn't work because I was (still) so angry, that all the sheep ran into each other furiously that it made it hard to count.
Oh, typical.
I was going to try another tactic when I saw a beam of light shining on the outside of my tent.
AHHH RAPISTS AND STALKERS ARE OUT TO KILL ME! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!
I immediately jerked up and pushed my blanket off. Then I grabbed my hairbrush and deodorant as weapons.
Come and get me, Van Helsing!
Don't mind me.
(NOTE: Camp is not safe enough!)
Someone spoke right outside of my tent, and I jumped a mile.
"This is your wake-up call, Mum told me to wake you up so don't come after my blood because I certainly didn't want to do this. Hello? 'LIL GIRL!"
...This is my wake-up call?
I unzipped the flaps and leapt out of my tent. I stumbled out and almost fell onto Squid, who was standing there, already dressed for the day.
"What are you doing here?" I gasped angrily, glaring at him. He was in his usual orange jumpsuit with a towel wrapped around his head. Yes, a towel wrapped around his head. And a tan cap (with two blue stripes) on top.
"Wake-up call, 'lil girl," Squid said indifferently. It looked like it was killing him to speak to me. I suppose he, too, hadn't forgotten our big group disagreement last night.
"It's still dark!" I yelled, waving at the dark sky.
"IT'S 4:30 IN THE MORNING!" Squid yelled back, directing the flashlight towards the Wreck Room, where many boys were already heading towards.
"I DON'T CARE. IT'S STILL NIGHT TIME!" I hollered, grabbing his flashlight and directing it at the tents.
Squid snatched it back and aimed it at the Wreck Room again, "MORNING!"
"NIGHT!"
"MORNING!"
"NIGHT!"
"ALRIGHT, THAT'S IT 'LIL GIRL. Enough of this trash. You've got to wake up now, and you already have, so get yourself to the dining hall for breakfast," and with that, the one they call Squid had stalked off.
Well, that had been interesting.
Grimacing, I got ready for the day. But honestly, four-thirty in the morning?
They really are exercising cruelty over these boys.
I grabbed my denim backpack just as I was about to leave for the Wreck Room, and checked that I had my notebook and pens in it, along with the sheet the AG had given me. I had to start interviewing the boys today.
As I thought that, I remembered back to how all the delinquents had bagged Palmoilin, and I sighed.
I suppose regular citizens wouldn't hate the place so much if it weren't for the incident a decade ago. I mean, I know we're all pretty snobby about ourselves, but then again, you'll find snobs all over the country.
So what was that incident a decade ago? Well, I guess it begins with the tale of a lovely, respectable Palmoilin boy called James. He belonged to the richest of the richest. His parents were like King and Queen. This was many, many, many years ago.
Like many rich brats (pardon me), he was obviously expected to get married to some lovely, respectable girl who would help out in charities, keep house, raise the kids and the whole package. His parents and the whole town expected it. But ironically (yeah, right), he married an outsider. This outsider was your typical rebellious teenage girl; all into drugs and alcohol. She moved into Palmoilin to live with her aunt after her parents chucked her out.
This girl proved herself to be a worthy citizen (though it took centuries for everyone to accept her) soon enough, and she and James got married and had a baby. Only when the little boy was three, his mum got mixed up with alcohol and drugs again, and over-indulged. I heard (from eavesdropping on my parents when they were chatting to the neighbours they absolutely hate but are nice to) that she was constantly blaming her son for her miserable life, but I'm not too sure. All I know is that she did some pretty awful stuff and James didn't know a thing about it. Workaholic, I guess. His poor son.
In the end, the town booted them out. Banished James, his evil wife and their three-year-old son. Toodle-loo, farewell, adios. I heard it gave the place a pretty bad name, though. I mean, banishing a person? That's pretty harsh. I also heard that many outsiders just began to hate dear Palmoilin because of that. And of course, they had other reasons to hate us too.
Snobs. Stuck up. Rich brats. And other things I shall not mention.
But it was harsh and terrible, even I had to admit that. Kick out the mother, sure, but James and that little boy didn't do anything wrong. His grandparents are still searching for their son and their beloved grandson, but there hadn't been a trace of them since they left Palmoilin. Oh well… it was ages ago. I think I was a year old when it happened.
And I'm not letting that story hold me down from waging war against Zigzag and those delinquents.
I suppose it's kind of mean of me to call them delinquents, but I don't know what else to call them.
I ran out of my tent and walked towards the Wreck Room. I stepped into the dining hall and it immediately quietened down at my presence. Ahhh, this is getting annoying. Really annoying.
A little smugly, I made my way over to the D-tent table. I could see that they were surprised I hadn't asked the Warden woman to switch groups. At any rate, I could see they were surprised that I hadn't packed my bag and left Camp-No-Lake.
Without saying anything, I sat down in my spot at the table and realised I hadn't gotten my breakfast.
Whoo, way to go Andii.
"You're forgetting something," Magnet said timidly, after a few moments silence. I realised what a heavy Mexican accent he had.
"I'm not hungry," I said scathingly, even though my stomach was rumbling. I dared to glance at Zigzag, but he was busy scoffing down his cereal.
The boys didn't even talk to each other while I sat there solidly. It was like this for the next five minutes, until X-Ray finally broke the silence.
"Listen, 'lil gal - " he started in exasperation.
"Save it, I'm not listening," I said haughtily, checking my nails.
X-Ray sighed and glanced at the other boys; a glance that told me plainly I was acting the way they had been expecting. Had they been talking about me? How rude!
"Alright, just listen," he said gruffly, "I'm sorry for the way I acted last night," (yeah right) "It was rude the way I... acted."
Mmmhmm.
He's apologising to me, I know he is!
And what should I say? THINK, BRAIN, THINK.
"Why the sudden change?" I blurted out.
X-Ray paused, then said, "It not only me who's gonna 'pologise, 'lil gal. We all gotta, 'cept I'm going first 'cause you're interviewing me today, right?"
...And what is the poor, dear boy trying to say?
"Are you saying someone is forcing you?" I said in disbelief.
"Nope, but they gave us a general idea on why we should 'pologise. C'mon 'lil gal, you've gotta be trained to accept 'pologies."
Errr, right. I looked around the table, trying to figure out what in cake's name was going on. Who was making them apologise? Though I could tell X-Ray was sincere, I knew someone had to implant the idea in his thick (no offence) head.
"Um, okay? I accept your apology," I said, still rather confused.
"Good 'lil gal. Righ' then. Eat your breakfast," X-Ray ordered.
...I am still very, very confused. Who had made them apologise? Definitely not Zigzag, or the others who had had a "say" when I mentioned the evil word Pal - oh, I mustn't say it! All heavens and hell shall be damned if I say that cursed word.
Which left only Zero, Caveman and Squid.
Zero - well, no. He seems like a nice kid and all, but way too quiet. I mean, sheesh. It's like he doesn't exist. He just sits there and eats. Doesn't show any expression when he hears the other delinquents or anything. If he can't even answer one of X-Ray or Armpit's questions, then it's very unlikely he'd threaten the others (who are like, triple the size of him) to apologise to me.
Caveman? I get the vibe that he hasn't exactly been accepted into the group yet. Which might explain why he doesn't talk too much with the others. But he always joins in with the emotions -- y'know, angry expressions and laughing when something funny is mentioned. Therefore, he can't have been the one to make them apologise.
And Squid. Well, we all saw how he acted when he gave me that wake-up call. (SHUDDER) And it's obvious he's not entirely happy with me, (I mean, honestly, he had the most terrible wake-up call ever) so I can hardly imagine him telling them to apologise to me.
Which leaves... no one.
And I am, once again, stumped.
Only X-Ray could be bothered to look at me. All the others were sneaking glances. I suppose that'd change once all of them "apologises". Though Zero and Caveman have nothing to apologise for. And yes, Squid must apologise. In fact, he has the biggest reason to apologise.
THAT STUPID WAKE-UP CALL!
I think I'll get him a book on "How To Make Successful Wake-Up Calls" for Christmas. Not that I'd be here for Christmas, or that I'd get him anything, but...
Okay, I think you get the point.
"Get some breakfast," Armpit grumbled at me, making me jump.
"But - "
"You are hungry, and you know it," Squid mumbled. He had his head down and he was obviously avoiding looking at me. Too ashamed to meet my eyes after that morning greeting, hey?
Then he did something surprising. He slid his tray of cereal and orange juice, which he hadn't touched, over to me. Zigzag dropped his spoon with a clatter and stared at him, open-mouthed.
Squid caught his look and quickly dropped his head onto the table with a loud bang.
"OW! Shoot, man," came his muffled whine.
Zigzag was still staring at him. Then he shook his head and picked up his spoon. And ate his cereal furiously, glaring at me occasionally.
What have I done?
Zero and Caveman were staring at me intently.
Armpit was humming some sort of Obscure Rap Song.
Magnet kept shooting looks at me; not looks of evil, evil, utmost loathing, but of expectancy.
X-Ray seemed quite relaxed.
"Okay, what is going on?" I finally asked, exasperated.
X-Ray pushed his empty cereal bowl away, "You have a bit of apologising to do, too, 'lil gal. To Ziggy, 'specially. If you 'pologise now, then every one of us will too and that'd save a lot of time and awkwardness in the future."
What an intellectual answer.
But I knew he was right. Tch, I just hate it when other people are right.
The boys stopped eating again and looked up to me. Again. All but Zigzag, who seemed determined to ignore me, and Squid, who I fear had received a concussion.
Here we go. Operation apologise to Zigzag commences.
"Alright - Zigzag?" I murmured.
He flicked his head up to indicate his listening.
...Eye-contact, boy! Sheesh, how rude. Mum would be appalled if she found out what sort of people I'm up against.
"Okay," I racked my brains for a dashing apology, but all I received was the usual tosspot. Curse you, brain, "I'm sorry for what I said yesterday - I just blurted it out because I'm just like that. It was - mean of me. I shouldn't have said it - and will you please listen to me because I'm never apologising to you again - and I hope you will forgive me. Um, yeah."
I paused, then added, "And I don't actually think I'm better than you."
Silence.
I stole a glance around the table and saw Armpit and X-Ray mock-applaud, though not actually clapping their hands together. I rolled my eyes.
Finally, Zigzag nodded, but he still looked rather tense. He resumed eating. What, is cereal more important than me?
I glanced down at Squid's breakfast. Then I glanced at Squid himself, who still had his head on the table.
These... boys.
"Zigzag!" I yelled suddenly, causing Caveman and Armpit to slop milk all over themselves, "Smile."
Finally, the odd boy put his spoon down and looked at me, "Why?" he asked gruffly.
"Because of..." I grabbed my backpack and pulled out something, "This!"
CLICK.
I had taken a photo.
Zigzag's eyes widened in shock. I smiled smugly.
I am so brilliant.
Yeah, my dearest mother had told me enthusiastically to bring my thousand dollar camera. I don't know why. I told her I didn't fancy taking photos of criminal boys, but she just beamed and said they'd make good photos in the Tourist Album.
"Whoa, chicka, what the heck is that crazy-macho-beast-of-a-device-thingo?" Magnet gasped, looking like he was suffering from a premature heart attack.
I glanced down at my camera.
"Umm... a camera?" I tried.
"You took a photo of me?" Zigzag said, still astounded.
I rolled my eyes, "Yes, dear."
Oops. Mistake.
Squid immediately lifted his head and fell off his seat, scrambling onto the floor. Zigzag was choking again. Armpit found it necessary to belt out loudly, "Whaa heee chingy, man!" Zero looked like he was biting the insides of his mouth. Caveman now had his head on the table. X-Ray was sighing and rolling his eyes. Magnet was talking in Spanish at a rapid pace.
The other boys from other tents were staring at us.
Oh, dearie me. I am never saying that word again. But at least it looked like I had patched things up for the time being. So... I smiled.
"Alright you girl scouts, slack-off time is over. C'mon!" Mr. Sir barked at us all.
I began to complain, "But I haven't eaten my breakfast!"
Squid's head appeared over the top of the table, "More like my breakfast."
"Mr. SIRRRRRRR!" I yelled, grabbing my spoon and banging it onto the wooden table.
"Oi, 'lil gal - " X-Ray started nervously.
"What's your problem, girlie?" Mr. Sir barked at me. Remember: the dog blood!
"I'm hungry," I told him innocently. Squid and Zigzag's mouths dropped open at my expression. I guess they can't pull off that kind of stunt.
"Didn't you have breakfast?" Mr. Sir demanded of me, while all the other groups trooped out of the Mess Hall like soldiers. Well, not really.
"I was busy!" I whined.
"With what?"
"Taking photos!"
Mr. Sir just Looked at me. He clearly thought I had lost my mind.
"Err - we'll be at the library, sir," X-Ray said timidly, obviously not wanting to witness this wonderful scene.
Those delinquents all left me by myself with Magnet murmuring to me, "Can I have some of your food, chicka?"
Mr. Sir glanced at the tray of cereal and orange juice on the table, "Why didn't you eat that?"
I also looked at the food, "That was Squid's."
"Eat it."
Listen, you may be a dog but I am not accustomed to eating other people's food!
Luckily, I didn't say that out loud. Although I had been close to.
Very close.
Grumbling, I slammed back down on the bench and dragged the tray over. I was about to have a spoonful of cereal when the horrible sour milk smell came to my nose.
"Para el amor del...!" I yelped, having a temporary Spanish moment, "That's disgusting. I'm not having breakfast!"
Then I grabbed the pint carton of orange juice and downed it, hoping for the best. It tasted like... orange juice?
Mr. Sir was still waiting for me. "Done yet, girlie?"
"Sir, yes, sir," I drawled before I could stop myself. I didn't notice the awed look on his face as I stood up and picked up my denim backpack, "Okay, I'm ready to go."
"Righ' then," he growled (dog blood's fault, dog blood's fault), "Yeh got in mind who yeh interviewin' today?"
I nodded as I followed him out of the Wreck Room, "X-Ray."
Mr. Sir was walking towards the "library" and he snorted (pig blood, pig blood!). Taken aback, I almost stumbled over my jeans again. Yes, I'm wearing jeans. Do not ask me why.
"Oi, chicka, you gonna dig?" Magnet yelled, holding up a shovel towards me.
"YO, WHERE THE COW'S NEST - " X-Ray roared furiously.
"Cow's nest?" I heard Zigzag repeat perplexedly.
" - IS MY SHOVEL!" X-Ray finished thundering.
How can he tell them apart? I mean, yeah sure, at pre-school you have your little Thomas the Tank Engine lunchboxes labelled clearly with your name, but shovels?
"Hurry up, girl scouts!" Mr. Sir yelled at them, "Ain't got all day. X-Ray, only required to dig three feet hole today, right?"
"Sure, sure," I heard X-Ray murmur, "If I can find my SHOVEL. MAGNET!"
"Sorry, sorry," Magnet babbled, tossing the aforementioned shovel he had offered to me to X-Ray.
I pulled open my backpack, took out a notebook with a plastic clear blue cover and a special ballpoint pen. Underneath the three notes I had scribbled before, I wrote in big bold letters:
RANDOM NOTES ON X-RAY.
Then I pulled out a sheet the AG had photocopied for me. Across the top was "JUVENILE BOYS OF CAMP GREEN LAKE - REPORT" and underneath was a sort of form that I was supposed to fill out about the boys (delinquents).
X-Ray eyed me as I followed D-tent group towards where Mr. Sir was leading them. I could see other groups walking in other directions, too. All carrying shovels, all wearing assorted bandannas, hats, towels on their heads (sun protection?) and all strapped down with canteens full of water.
Digging holes. One hole every day, I remembered X-Ray saying.
How boring could ya get?
Then a sudden sensation plummeted my body. For a moment, I thought a bird had perhaps lost its way. Then I realised Mr. Sir had shoved a huge blue plastic bottle into my stomach.
Ahh... OUCH?
Gasping, I grabbed onto it and tried to catch my breath.
"That's your water bottle, girlie. It'll get refilled every time the water truck comes 'long," Mr. Let's-Kill-Innocent-Girls grunted.
Then he strode off and began to bark off orders to the digging delinquents.
I glanced at the bottle. Stylish and retro. Just like everything else the camp (or rather, the Warden woman) had provided for me so far. Except for the food. It's definitely creative, though.
It was still really dark; in fact, I could see the stars.
I tried glaring at Squid but couldn't find him. Morning my behind!
Why did they have to get up so early? Are they all morning people? Is that even possible?
"GIRLIE!" Mr. Sir screamed at me, "GET - INTERVIEWIN'!"
No need to get your pissy pants on!
I quickened my pace and found X-Ray shoving his shovel in the ground. I plopped onto the dirt near him, then shrieked and leapt up.
MY BEST JEANS ARE RUINED.
STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID -
"Hey, are you okay there?" X-Ray asked me blankly. I wondered why he was looking at me like that. Maybe because I was spanking myself to get rid of the dirt.
"No," I mourned, "My mum's going to kill me. These jeans cost almost two hundred dollars!"
His eyes almost popped out of his head, "What the? What are they, diamond-studded?"
I sighed and shook my head to dismiss the subject.
"What I think she's trying to say is," Caveman, who was seven feet away, spoke up. "She's not going to sit on the dirt."
Thank you, Sherlock Holmes!
Magnet overheard his remark. In fact, I think the whole group was listening. Even Mr. Sir had his little ears pricked up. I can see Group A-B-C-E straining to listen. What is so hidely-ho-diddly fascinating?
"Poor chicka," Magnet sighed, "Perhaps you'd like to sit on my bandanna?"
He untied the blue thing on his head and chucked it at me.
Ewwwww.
"No way, Mag, your head'll catch fire," Squid joked. He took off his hat and took off his tea towel. Okay, so maybe it's a little too big for a tea towel. But still... it's a tea towel.
He hurled it at me and I screamed and ducked in order not to get smacked in the face by the disgusting, dirt-smeared, Squid-sweated thing.
Grinning, Squid slapped his cap back on and began to dig. The boys shrugged their shoulders and followed suit. Magnet yelled, "Hey... chicka? Can I have my bandanna back?"
"Of course, dear," I said sarcastically, bending down and picking it up as if it was a bomb. Then I threw it in a very girl-who-is-afraid-of-the-ball-or-in-this-case-a-bandanna way.
The Hispanic man grinned and saluted me.
"INTERVIEW X-RAY, GIRLIE!" Mr. Sir screeched suddenly, giving me a premature heart attack. (Banshee blood!)
I had the urge to yell, "WHAT ARE YOU STILL DOING HERE, YOU EVIL LITTLE MAN OF HORRORS?"
But my mother did not raise me in that way. (Big beam there.)
"Okay, okay… Right, X-Ray. What's your name?"
"X-Ray," he mumbled, tossing a shovelful of dirt over his shoulder.
"Aw, c'mon, you know what I mean," I coaxed, wanting to sit down but not wanting to. I glanced at the towel (possibly an overly large bandanna) Squid always seems to wear underneath his baseball cap, and wondered if I dared to sit on it.
X-Ray sighed and glanced around nervously, as if looking for evil mutant mince pies. Or eavesdroppers.
"Alright, but don't tell anyone, okay 'lil gal?" he said seriously, leaning in close. Oh yes, I just luurrrve secrets!
I nodded and prepared myself to be knocked over by a HIDEOUS and OBSCURE name possibly worse than Mr. Sir.
"Rex Verma," he mumbled, and Hung His Head In Shame.
I blinked.
And blinked again.
What was so terrible about that? Sheesh, even my name is Much Worse Than That Name.
Absently, I reached for my backpack and blinked dazedly as I searched for my pack of Juicy Fruit gum.
X-Ray was looking at me nervously.
I found my precious gum and popped two in my mouth. Then I chewed vigorously and stared at him.
"You know, that's not such a horrible name," I finally said.
X-Ray swore and stumbled across a stray bit of dirt, almost falling headfirst into his very small hole and decapitating me with his shovel.
"Whoa, are you alright?" I yelled, trying to see. (Actually, I felt like screaming "I'M BLIND, I'M BLIND!" but Mr. Banshee-Dog-Pig was still standing at our digging site.)
"Yeah," someone in front of me mumbled. X-Ray had kicked up a lot of dust while performing his brilliant stunt, and combined with the darkness, it was very hard to see anything.
"We're all going to die!" I heard Zigzag scream.
Someone up there doesn't like me very much.
Grabbing onto something (I think it was X-Ray's arm) I helped him up properly. The dust cleared and I began to fear for my clothes' lives.
Breathing heavily, X-Ray mumbled a, "You don't think it's a bad name?" before picking up his shovel and resuming digging his hole.
"Um, no," I said slowly, wondering where all the sanity in the world had gone, "Of course not. It's a perfectly normal name that you shouldn't be ashamed of."
He made a disbelieving noise and I gave up trying to convince him. I jotted down his name on the sheet of paper and looked at the next question.
"Age?" I questioned him.
"Sixteen this year," X-Ray said, frowning as he dug his hole more ferociously than required.
"Birth date?"
He sighed and stopped digging, leaning on the handle of the shovel to support himself.
"November the fifth," he answered, wiping his brow. He stabbed his shovel into the dirt, creating a crack. While I filled out of the form, I glanced around. Mr. Sir had disappeared, finally. And all the other delinquents were digging their holes, occasionally yelling at each other and taking swigs from their canteens of water.
I looked at my blue water bottle and took a small sip. When I popped the lid back in, I wiped my mouth and resumed my dull, boring and pointless interview with Rex Verma, which, I might add, is not a bad name.
I tried a really quick, breezy way of getting snappy answers. But the next question couldn't be done quickly.
Dang.
"Hey... X-Ray?" I said tentatively.
"What, 'lil gal?"
"Can you answer those three questions again when I ask you?" I asked timidly, really wanting to sit down.
X-Ray stopped digging for a moment, "Why?"
"Because... I wanna do it so it's like really quick and snappy! I've always wanted to do stuff like that," I said quickly. I glanced at Squid's towel again, lying on the dirt. I wondered why he gave it to me. The sun was rising. So was the heat and dust. And I was wearing a thin jacket and my jeans. Do not ask me why.
Maybe because I don't feel comfortable wearing revealing and skin-exposing attire around a bunch of criminal teenage boys.
X-Ray sort of nodded, while giving me a shifty look, "Fine, then."
"Name?" I asked at once.
I heard a distant mumble and just made it out to mean, "Rex Verma."
"Age?"
"Fifteen."
"Birthdate?"
"November the fifth."
"How long at Camp Green Lake so far?"
"Uhh... 'leven months."
I scribbled "11 months" down and snapped, "Brief summary of your past - uh oh." Well, no more quick, snappy answers for us.
X-Ray stopped digging again, and I realised just how irritating I was being. It's not like I can help it. I have to go through all these stupid forms for a group of stupid delinquents so the stupid Attorney General can decipher how stupidly dangerous these boys are to the society.
Okay, let's see how long I can last without letting the word "stupid" cross my mind.
"Brief?" X-Ray questioned, quirking an eyebrow.
"Yeah, you know..." I pondered for a little while. Honestly, hadn't these boys ever been educated? "Like... a very quick - "
"I know what it means, but..." he suddenly smirked, "You asked Zig, and remembered how that turned out?"
"Listen, I'll try to keep my mouth shut and free myself of any shock that might seize me upon listening to your life story," I said, rolling my eyes. I glanced down at my quarter-filled form on X-Ray, "And while you're at your life story, you might as well add why you're here. It'll answer the next part of the form, which - " I plucked up the piece of paper and shoved it in his face, " - says "CRIME CONVICTED"."
I smiled smugly.
He looked very confused.
Sighing, I lowered the sheet and placed it back in my notebook, "Never mind," I muttered, "You can keep digging at your hole... I'll just go walk around. I still have about three days to ask you all this stuff, anyway."
Silence... then X-Ray nodded.
"Alright then 'lil gal, but if Mr. Sir yells at you, it ain't my fault."
I just nodded as I didn't want to go into a full-fledged gossiping session about Mr. Deficient. Sighing as X-Ray resumed digging his hole, I pulled off my jacket and stared at the sky.
I spent the next hour or so walking around. I tried to see what was in the distance, but the dried up lake seemed to go on forever. Anyway, the next time I looked up at the sky, it had been well over sunrise.
Aughhh... it was getting much hotter. Realising I needed sun protection, I pounced on my wonderful backpack and scrounged around. My mum had made me bring four hats; two of my favourite visors, a baseball cap (not that I play or understand the forsaken game) and my speshal white beanie.
Guess which one I'm not going to use.
I sincerely hoped that one of my visors or my wonderful cup was in my backpack. Because... I don't want to fry in the middle of a pancake! And I'm certainly not walking back to the compound. It's taking a lot of my energy just standing here, already. Yeah, I'm a lazy person. And dang proud of it! Anyway, if I don't wanna fry, and I don't wanna walk back to get my stuff, then I'll... GULP... have to wear Squid's towel.
I think I want to throw up.
I searched deeper into my bag and began to panic. Oh, this cannot be happing. This just cannot be happening.
Panicking even more, I collapsed onto the ground and began to pull everything out of my bag and dumping it on Squid's spread out towel. (Hey, I'm not going to put my stuff on the dirt!) It wasn't until then I realised what a dump it was.
Packs of gum, assorted pens, more sheets, a small notepad, my diary, my jacket, lolly wrappers, hair ties, bobby pins, comb, pocket mirror, lip gloss, wallet, deodorant... and right at the bottom of my bag...!
My beanie.
Oooh. Someone up there still doesn't like me.
"Whoa, whatcha doin' 'lil girl!" Zigzag skidded over and knelt on the dirt next to me, while I cursed under my breath.
He picked up my lip gloss. In fascination, he unscrewed the lid and stared at it. I was still too occupied with cursing the whole nasty world to notice him. X-Ray had stopped digging (again) several moments ago. Caveman and Squid were lurking over, their shovels in their hands.
"What the thingy ma gadgy?" Zigzag said, still staring at my lip gloss. He sniffed it, "Smells nice!" he proclaimed to Squid and Caveman. X-Ray shook his head.
I frowned and turned my head slightly to see what he was doing.
Suddenly, he screamed. Like literally.
I never knew boys could scream.
Zigzag chucked my lip gloss and scrambled away, as if it was poisonous. I screamed and dived to catch my lip gloss. It landed on Squid's head, who began to use the unofficial list of substitute cuss words. It bounced off his head and Caveman leapt forward to catch it - it slipped through his fingers and headed for Zigzag again. In Zigzag's odd panic, he yelped and kicked my lip gloss. I shrieked again as it went flying into X-Ray's hole.
PLOP.
...For the love of pudding.
X-Ray blinked. I suppose it's not everyday a little container of pink comes falling from heaven into your hole. But ya never know!
I also blinked. Then I turned to Zigzag.
"What is your problem?" I screamed at him.
"Temper, 'lil girl," I heard Squid murmur. But I ignored him. Stupid git!
"IT WAS TRYING TO TAKE AWAY MY SENSE OF SMELL!" Zigzag screamed right back at me.
"What!" I yelped, still shocked beyond oblivion and back again. "WHAT? IT'S JUST LIP GLOSS."
"YOU'VE BEEN TRICKED BY THE ALIENS! THEY - WANT - TO - TAKE - AWAY - ONE - OF - YOUR - FIVE - SENSES!" Zigzag yelled. He didn't even seem to be joking. So either; A) he's an excellent actor, or B) he has gone completely and utterly bonkers.
"Have," I hissed menacingly, "You lost your marbles?"
Someone was tugging gently at my arm. 'Twas Squid.
"What?" I tried to say calmly.
Squid looked sheepish as he whispered, "Ziggy suffers from 'aaahh-cute pah-raaah-noiiiii-ah'." He looked so proud that he could pronounce it properly.
Bravo, little boy. You're going to get a gold star today. NOT!
"I don't care," I said a little too angrily, "He threw away my lip gloss, and - "
"You girl scouts ready for your water?" came a gruff and dog-like growl from behind all of us. Which could only mean...
Oh, no.
"Hello, Mr. Sir. Lovely to see you," Squid immediately said, straightening up.
"Why, it just seems a second ago that you were here telling us where to dig our holes," X-Ray added extra chirpily, standing right in front of his hole.
Frowning, I realised there was a red pick-up truck parked a few yards away. Magnet, Armpit and Zero were already lined up, holding their canteens. They were looking at our direction persistently.
I guess we had been too busy screaming and yelling that we hadn't heard Mr. Sir come. Caveman had collected his canteen and was heading for the line. I realised he had cut in front of Zero, who didn't even seem to notice. In fact, he stepped back a bit for him to stand there.
Cutting in lines, eh? Tut, tut, this is going in my report.
Squid and Zigzag (who was eyeing the rest of the contents of my bag suspiciously) went back to their holes to retrieve their canteens. X-Ray bent over for his, but remained in front of his hole, and I reached for my water bottle.
Mr. Sir seemed suspicious at once. Whether it was the fact it looked like I was starting a beauty parlor with all my stuff on the white towel, or the fact that I was half covered in dust and had a white beanie on my head, I'm not quite sure.
But it turns out he wasn't suspicious 'cause of me.
"What you hidin' there, X-Ray?" he gruffed.
X-Ray straightened up, "Nothin'."
"Move," Mr. Sir ordered. X-Ray stepped aside obligingly and Mr. Sir leant forward to look into his hole. I watched, utmost fascinated.
"Looks like you might've found somethin'," Mr. Sir said, turning to X-Ray, who shrugged.
"It ain't mine and it ain't buried in the dirt."
Mr. Sir raised his eyebrows and spat some sunflower seeds into his hole, "It pink," he said distastefully.
I realised it was my beautiful lip gloss.
"Sweet merciful CRUMPETS!" I shrieked, "MY LIP GLOSS!" Without thinking, I shoved X-Ray and Mr. Sir aside and peered into the hole myself.
"Go chicka," I heard Magnet cheer. Thank you, thank you.
There was my innocent lip gloss. So utterly pure and chaste was it... And beside it, thank goodness, was Mr. Sir's spit. I bent down and retrieved it (not his spit!), hugging it closely.
"I am never, ever leaving you alone again. No siree!" I said to my lip gloss. I placed it fondly into my denim backpack and began to pack the rest of my stuff back in. I pulled the cord to shut my bag, then straightened up.
I grabbed my blue water bottle and, with a sigh, headed over towards the pick-up truck. X-Ray was already walking away, drinking from his canteen that had just been filled.
I glanced at the line and found it quite odd how Squid and Zigzag had both managed to go up near the front, when they had been the last ones to come over. Zero was still at the back.
Huh?
I decided to shrug it off and took a drink from my water bottle. I stood behind Zero and stared in fascination at his hair.
It's quite cool, you know.
Finally, Mr. Sir filled Zero's canteen and it was my turn. I handed my bottle over uncertainly and he took it with a quick glare at me.
"Righ' there, girlie?" he grunted, flipping on the nozzle. I watched the stream of water flow into the opening of my bottle, and nodded slowly.
"Show me what you've got so far on X-Ray," Mr. Sir ordered, switching off the nozzle. He thrust the bottle into my stomach and I almost got winded again.
He is not going to get a good report. Sighing, I righted my beanie that was falling into my eyes and marched over to X-Ray's hole, where my notebook was. Feeling quite annoyed, I dumped down my bottle and grabbed my notebook, flipping to X-Ray's form which was clipped in between my pages.
Carefully not showing my random notes on Camp Green Lake to Mr. Sir, I flipped out the semi-filled paper and lifted it critically to his face. He grabbed it rather impolitely and read it, his small beady eyes taking in all the information.
X-Ray recognised what he was reading and looked like he was going to faint.
Finally, Mr. Sir lowered the form and glared at me. I tried looking innocent.
"Righ' then," he said, thrusting the paper forward (I quickly lurched to the left so he didn't punch me in the face with it), "Keep it up. Remember you only have three days to complete it."
With that, he walked off, spitting out seeds every now and then.
I stuck my tongue out at his back and hoped very much that his stupid cowboy hat would burn in the sun. I righted my beanie again.
"What's with the hat?" X-Ray murmured to me out of the corner of his mouth, as he set back to work.
"My visors and cap are back at camp," I explained with a sigh. The sun was well up in the sky now and it was beating its powerful rays down on me. My beanie was doing practically nothing but making my head sweat.
The rest of the day was odd. But soon, it seemed perfectly normal for me to walk around in the middle of the desert, where seven criminal boys were digging holes. At times they would yell sarcastic and somewhat insulting comments at me with stupid grins on their faces. I usually had an equally insulting, sarcastic and stupid comeback, which left them laughing and saying things like, "You really need to grow up, 'lil girl."
I kept my lip gloss and other stuff safely in my bag, as I didn't want Zigzag wandering over and getting paranoia attacks over stupid things. I mean, he might look at my pocket mirror and mutate it, claiming that it's trying to steal his identity.
When it was noon, the water truck came with our lunches. The lunch was horrible. There was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, salt and vinegar chips and jaw-breaking apples. The boys all wolfed it down in a few minutes but it took me about half an hour to consume it all.
Mr. Pendanski filled our canteens that time, and he asked me how I was doing. I told him I was doing fine, but I hadn't asked X-Ray too many questions as I wanted to actually do something in the next two days. He nodded and said I am well organised.
Hehehe.
I spent most of the dreadfully hot day sitting on Squid's towel (yes, I had finally decided to sit on it) and doodling pictures in my notebook. I had wrote down a few more notes; ten, in fact. I had even jotted down some stuff on X-Ray, like whether or not he liked the food at the camp (strange, I know.)
An hour after lunch, X-Ray climbed out of his hole. This was quite random for me, and I stared at him with nervous eyes.
He looked down at his hole and spat in it.
"AHHHHHH!" I sort of did a perfect backward somersault across the dirt and leapt up to my feet, clutching my notebook to chest for protection. Unfortunately, I'm not skilled in gymnastics and I stumbled backwards a little as I stood up, knocking over Caveman who was out of his hole, taking a drink from his canteen.
Caveman gasped, dropped his (closed) canteen and went flying into his hole, which, I might add, was not particularly big. Which is a good thing, as he didn't have to fall so much.
Everyone was staring at me.
"What?" I said defensively, "X-Ray scared me!"
"By spitting into his hole?" Squid asked, quirking his eyebrow.
"Yes! I mean, gosh, how grotty is that?" I exclaimed.
"Mr. Sir does it too," X-Ray pointed out, looking amused as he picked up his shovel and canteen.
"I know, but - arghh!" I said, unable to think up of a good argument.
Armpit looked over at me, "Hey, 'lil gal. You live with us, you better get used to us."
"I'm not living with you!" I shot at them defiantly as I collected my denim backpack and followed X-Ray back to the compound.
--
A/N: Soo... it's Andii's first day! Well, I reckon that went okay... COUGH. Hehe, okay. Truth's out. The pairing is going to be Andii/Squid. Cute, huh? Lol. But she will have a brotherly relationship with the other boys of D-tent. Hmm, I better go. I hope that chapter was good and long enough! Oh, by the way, I'm going to make up the boys' past. If I do know a bit about it, then I'll put it in. REVIEW! - msq.