Disclaimer: Don't own Holes characters or anything you recognise.
Chapter Five
"Sophie, Wake UP, now!" Sophie drowsily leaned up in bed and rubbed her eyes.
"Sophie, I want you to dig a hole today," Sophie heard her mum's voice yet it took her a moment or two to register what her mum was saying.
"WHAT!" Sophie sat bolt upright.
Her mum stepped back from the bed slightly as though not expecting Sophie to leap up so quickly.
"I'm NOT digging a hole…. Why do I have to!" Sophie asked giving her mum a piercing glare that made her look uncannily like her mum.
"Because I say so," her mum gave Sophie the piercing glare back.
"But…but…mum…" Sophie's tone softened, she didn't want her mum to get angry with her, "I thought only the boys here had to dig holes, why do I?"
"Because, I thought that you could help out a bit more, you haven't been doing much to help out around here," her mum said, suddenly becoming interested with her own, long, manicured nails.
"I have SO been helping out, I done water rounds, lunch rounds, sorted out most of the laundry and washed the dishes, IF THAT'S NOT HELPING OUT I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS?" Sophie's voice steadily rose higher.
"Excuse me?" Sophie's mum said with a repulsed look on her face as she looked down at her daughter, "Do not talk to your mother like that, you have no right, you do as I say and that is final!"
Sophie glared up at her mum, "So, I have to dig a five foot hole?" she said, hardly daring to believe that THIS was her holiday.
"Not quite," her mum said calmly, " You will dig until the first water truck comes and then the boys take it in turns to finish your hole, that way I'll have six holes,"
"Why is it important to have six holes?" Sophie asked, feeling great relief that she didn't have to dig ALL day.
"None of your business, You are turning into a nosy little whatsit, aren't you?" her mum said, her eyes flashing dangerously.
"So, it'll still be dark when I dig, won't it?" Sophie asked, ignoring her mum's menacing glare.
"Yeah it will," her mum said, "Right, now for the matter of which tent you dig with..."
Please not Snake's tent, please not Snake's tent, Sophie thought desperately.
Her mum looked thoughtful for a moment and then said, "I think I'll let you chose, but I recommend D tent, they would be the safest for you"
Sophie thought for a second; D tent…X ray is in that tent… he seems okayish…but that Zigzag guys in that tent… he's quite scary…Crazy…yeah, crazy describes him perfectly…well, if he does bother me, I could just threaten to brainwash him, couldn't I?
"Um, Ok, D tent then," Sophie said, shrugging.
"Right, get changed… I'd wear gloves if I were you… then go to the Library and get your shovel, just follow D tent, they will show you were to dig," her mum said, before leaving the room and shutting the door behind her.
Sophie slowly climbed out of bed, she checked through a gap in her net curtains and saw a few orange blurs in the distance heading towards the 'Library,'
She put on an old pair of jogging pants (she figured that it wouldn't matter if she got them dirty) and a pink halter neck t-shirt. She slung her hair into a ponytail and shoved on her pink hat. She found a pair of quite thick, but woolly, pink gloves at the bottom of her half- unpacked suitcase. She stuffed them on as well and realised that they looked rather silly with her halter neck top.
She just shrugged and grinned at her reflection, thinking, Well, who cares, it's not like I'm trying to impress anyone.
She fished out a grubby, pair of sneakers from underneath her bed and slipped her feet inside.
Leaving the cabin, she headed towards the 'Library,'
A lot of the boys were crowded around it now, getting their shovels.
Sophie's heart started beating very fast, she was scared in case she'd see Snake, and she really didn't want to see any of the boys. She didn't like them one bit.
She understood what her mum meant now, Lousy Scum!
Sophie didn't want to show the boys that she was anxious, although her hands felt increasingly sweaty inside her gloves as they all turned to look at her as she went past. She just held her head high, nose in the air, and marched past them.
Ignoring catcalls and whispers of, "Why she going to get a shovel? She's not digging is she? Why is her own mum making her dig?"
She reached the 'Library,' and was about to grab a shovel when somebody tapped her on the shoulder.
She jumped slightly and a small gasp escaped her lips. Some of the boys nearby laughed. Sophie threw them a dirty look. Spinning round, she saw that the person who tapped her on the shoulder was X ray.
"Sorry, If I scared you," he said, casting worried looks as he spotted the disgruntled look on Sophie's face.
"You didn't scare me, what made you think that?" Sophie said, pretending that she hadn't just leapt half a mile in the air.
"Oh…nothing," X ray made a wise choice for his answer, "Are you going to dig?"
"Well, I'm getting a shovel, What do you think I'm going to do with it, Use it as a pool cue? Course I'm going to dig," Sophie said grumpily, early mornings and boys nearby sniggering at her just didn't put her in the right mood.
"Oh…yeah…guess so," X ray said uncertainly, "You can have my shovel if you want, it's smaller that the rest of them," He handed the shovel over to Sophie who looked at it closely.
She noticed that it in fact did look an inch or so smaller than the rest.
"Okay…thanks," Sophie said, feeling a tiny, weeny bit guilty that she had been so grumpy with him.
"Is it true?" X ray asked, looking at Sophie reproachfully as though worrying she might blow up.
"Is what true?" Sophie snapped, she hated feeling confused, especially when her head was feeling as drowsy as it was.
"Uh…that you and Snake…uh…made out in the laundry room," X ray said, still looking at Sophie closely from behind his thick- rimmed spectacles.
"WHAT!" Sophie yelled, many boys turned to look at the sudden outburst, "WHO THE HELL TOLD YOU THAT?"
X ray leapt back slightly. If Sophie wasn't so mad she would of cracked up laughing at the fact that a juvenile delinquent who was twice the side of her, looked slightly scared as she was yelling in his face. Sophie glared at X ray waiting for him to answer.
"Well…Snake did…he's been boasting about it all last night," X ray said, wincing slightly as though expecting her to start yelling again.
He guessed right.
"WHERE IS THAT PERVERTED BASTARD!" Sophie yelled, "MAKING UP STUPID RUMORS, I'LL GET HIM!"
She looked around X ray and spotted Snake quite a distance ahead. She shoved past X ray and began running towards Snake. Her feet pounding against the hard, cracked ground. Snake turned around as he heard her footstep.
"Hey Sophie!" he said in a falsely sweet voice, Sophie noticed that he had two deep gashes down the side of his cheek, "Have you come to see me for a nice kiss?"
His friends laughed at this and Sophie felt rage build up even more inside her.
She tried to keep her cool, "Oh yes, because Snake you ARE such a great kisser,"
Snake looked surprised, he grinned in what he probably thought was a seductive way.
Sophie moved closer to him and Snake leaned forward as though to kiss her.
But before he got close enough Sophie kicked him where the sun don't shine.
He collapsed on the floor, clutching his groin area and moaning.
"That serves you right for making up filthy lies, you sick pervert," Sophie growled, she gave him another well aimed kick in the side before swinging round and marching off.
Man, kicking him felt so good, she thought as she grinned to herself.
Sophie continued to smile to herself as she approached the 'Library,'
She heard someone call her name and she swung round to see who it was.
She was displeased to see that boy called, 'Squid,' standing there. "Please go away, I'm feel incredibly happy right now and I don't want you to spoil my mood," Sophie said, casting Squid a patronizing look.
Squid looked disgruntled. He scowled at her, "I just was about to say I saw what you done to Snake back there and man, that was a good kick,"
"Yeah, well if you don't go away I'll do the same to you," Sophie said, still glaring at him.
Squid looked slightly worried for about a millisecond. Sophie noticed his hand twitch as though he was about to cover his groin area in case any grubby sneakers came flying that way.
"Well, If you don't want me to show you were your digging then, fine, I won't," Squid turned to walk away.
"Fine…" Sophie started to say, but then changed her mind mid- sentence, "Squid!"
He turned around, a cocky smile stretched across his face.
Sophie felt like wiping the stupid smile off. Oh, he is SO full of himself, she thought.
"What?" Squid asked, still with the stupid smile.
"Show me where to dig," she said, submissively, her eyes downcast as to not look at his face and the unbearable smile. That smile would actually be quite sexy, Sophie found herself thinking, If I didn't hate him so bad. Squid nodded curtly and gestured for her to follow him.
Sophie did, her shovel trailing behind her, she had just started to notice how heavy the shovel actually was.
The two of them didn't talk at all until they got to the digging site where D tent was assembled and already digging and small mounds of dirt had already formed.
"Find a space and start digging I suppose," Squid said, shrugging, before walking over to a space and plunging his shovel into a crack in the ground.
Sophie decided to dig a little bit away from the rest of the boys. She preferred being by herself anyone and didn't want to take part in any of the pointless conversations that boys have.
She brought down the shovel onto the ground but it just bounced off. She realised that she would have to find a crack, like Squid did. She found a fairly big one, beside her feet and she shoved the shovel blade into it and managed to lever up some dirt. She figured that she should go extra slow so that she didn't work herself too hard, she only had to dig until the first water truck. She chucked the dirt onto the ground a few feet away from where she had started digging.
She was about to shovel up some more dirt when she saw a small figure approach her.
Looking up, she saw that it was a small boy with a curly afro. He looked really shy and quiet.
He walked up to Sophie and gave her a filled up water canteen.
Sophie took it, "Thanks ," she said, looking at the boy who just stared determinedly at the ground before walking off.
Sophie stared after him, a quizzical look etched across her face.
"That's Zero," Sophie heard Magnet's unmistakeable Hispanic accent next to her, "He's one weird dude, doesn't talk to anybody, 'cept perhaps the Caveman,"
Sophie nodded slightly and turned her back on Magnet to continue half- heartedly digging her hole.
After a while she got increasingly bored of digging. She had put hardly any effort into it and her hole was not even what you could call a hole. It was more like a dip in the ground if anything. She was getting frustrated as well, because she was so bored.
"What are we digging for!" She heard herself say aloud.
"To build character," she heard X ray's voice.
"Why do I have to build character!" Sophie asked, flinging down her shovel.
Sophie saw X ray stop digging. He looked over at Sophie. Zigzag did too.
Sophie blatantly heard him say, "Careful X ray, I think she's trying to brainwash you,"
X ray ignored Zigzag and said, "I dunno…it's odd really, why would your mum make you dig,"
Sophie sat down on the hard ground, "I don't think your digging to build your character…I think…" she sort of trailed off.
She had images of perhaps digging for treasure or digging basically because Sophie's mum wanted them to suffer. She shook the images out of her head.
She looked up and saw a gathering dust cloud in the distance. It took her a while to realise it was the water truck, she had been wondering whether a dusty meteorite had been heading their way.
The truck drew up beside the holes and Sophie saw that Mr Pendanski was driving.
The boys had already lined up for the water truck. Mr Pendanski called Sophie over.
"Sophie, you can get in the truck and wait for me to fill the canteens," Mr Pendanski said, smiling goofily at her.
Squid shot her an envious look.
Sophie smirked at him and flounced into the truck.
Back in her room, Sophie tugged off her dusty gloves and pulled off her hat. Brushing her auburn curls properly for the first time in ages, she noticed that her arms were throbbing slightly. She felt a bit of pity for the boys having to dig holes all day, especially when the sun was up. She looked out of the window and saw the sun rising over the hazy mountains in the distance.
She was suddenly startled when her mum burst into the room. "Sophie, I have been informed by one of the counsellors that they have a suspicion that one of the boys have managed to smuggle in a pen knife. This is very serious, of course. I want you to check the tents now whilst the boys are digging, to see if you can find it, bring it straight back to me when you do, ok. If any of the boys come back early and ask you what you are looking for, make up an excuse, I don't want them knowing coz the culprit might dispose of the penknife then I'll never catch them, got that Sophie?" her mum garbled.
"Yeah," Sophie mumbled, she felt too tired to argue with her mum, but she didn't like the idea of looking in the boys tents.
"Right, chop, chop Sophie, stop fussing with your hair and get looking," her mum said before bustling out the room.
Sophie slammed her brush on the cabinet and slowly got up.
Sophie decided to start alphabetically, so walking into A tent she noticed a load of unmade cots and clothes that were strewn everywhere.
She was glad that the tent was empty. She searched every inch of the tent and found things such as letters, photographs and an assortment of other personal things, but no penknife.
Same went for B tent and C tent.
She lifted up the flap and walked into D tent and was surprised to see that Zero boy lying on a cot, his eyes fixed on the canvas ceiling. He jumped slightly when she entered and looked at her with wide, curious eyes.
"Hi," she said quietly.
Zero didn't answer just continued to stare.
"I was just…" Sophie couldn't think up an excuse, "Er…just coming to visit you, yeah that's it…" She realised how lame and unbelievable she sounded.
Zero shot her a quizzical look.
"Yeah…I, um, wanted to talk to you," Sophie was starting to find Zero quite unnerving.
Zero tilted his head to one side, as if to say 'about what?'
"I was wondering…" Sophie tried to think up something quick, she was never good at this, "I was wondering…if you can talk," Again Sophie winced at how lame that sounded… she actually thought it sounded a bit nasty and gave Zero a guilty look afterwards.
Zero didn't answer, he just lay back down on the cot and continued to look up at the canvas.
"Okay, that did sound a bit nasty, sorry," Sophie said, backing out of the tent.
Zero looked at her again and gave the faintest trace of a smile. Sophie guessed that this meant she was forgiven.
"So are you going to talk to me then," Sophie asked.
Zero just shrugged.
"Do I have to prove myself worthy enough," Sophie joked, grinning.
Zero nodded and grinned back.
"Hey, well at least you have a sense of humour, that's more than I can say for most guys here," she said.
Zero's grin broadened.
"Well, I'm gonna go Zero," Sophie said, deciding that she should continue with her search.
She searched the last tent and found nothing before heading back to her mum's cabin.
Her mum was on the running machine as she walked in.
Her mum spotted Sophie out of the corner of her eye and turned the running machine off. She stepped off it and looked at Sophie expectantly.
"I couldn't find a penknife in any of the tents," Sophie shrugged.
"But you didn't look properly in D tent did you?" her mum said, looking at Sophie closely.
"No that was because…hey hang on! How did you know that?" Sophie asked shocked, considering for a second or two that her mum might be psychic.
"None of you business," her mum snapped, "Well, I think the penknife belongs to someone in D tent,"
"Or maybe… someone took it with them when they went digging," Sophie said, surprised to find herself sticking up for D tent.
"Maybe…" her mum said uncertainly, "I still think it's D tent, that sneaky lot,"
Sophie was strongly reminded of Mr Sir and the way he normally spoke about D tent.
"Right, when they are back from digging I want you to go to the Wreck room and try to make one of them admit to having a penknife, ok?" her mum said, an evil glint in her eye.
Sophie couldn't help thinking that was a little too sneaky and conniving but she didn't dare argue with her mum again. "If I have to," she sighed in deeply, "If you don't mind, I'm going to my room,"
She shoved past her mum, she was beginning to dislike her mum more and more as the days went by.
Sophie sat on her bed, sketching some cartoons of 'Tom and Jerry,' (a/n: yay! I used to watch that all the time when I was little, Jerry's ma fave!) in her sketch book, whilst her walkman was blaring.
She was feeling the most relaxed as she had done ever since she came to Camp Green Lake. That was, until her mum came bursting into the room.
"Why don't you try knocking for a change?" Sophie snapped before she could stop herself.
"Excuse me?" her mum's eyes flashed.
"Doesn't matter," Sophie mumbled, sitting cross-legged on her bed.
"Good," her mum said sternly, "I want you to go to the wreck room now,"
"Ok," Sophie said glumly, annoyed at how her mum would consistantly boss her around and tell her where to go and what to do as though Sophie was merely one of her employees.
"Why don't you dress up a bit prettier and perhaps do your hair? You know, it might help you get closer to the boys and they would be more likely to tell you if they have the penknife," her mum suggested vaguely.
"No, I think I'm dressed ok, thanks. This is how I dress and I'm not going to dress slutty for anything," Sophie said, beginning to get angry.
"I didn't say Slutty," her mum said.
"Yeah, well, you suggested it. I'm going to try and find this stupid penknife MY way, end of," Sophie said, looking up at her mum.
"Fine, just as long as you do find it," her mum said huffily.
Sophie shrugged, she couldn't really care less whether she found it or not. "You could fix your hair at least, it's a disgrace," her mum said, gruffly, patting her own perfectly done hair before turning around and strutting put of the room.
Sophie gave her a disgusted look behind her back as she left.
Sighing, she took her messy pony tail out and quickly ran a brush through it. She put a pink Alice band in her hair to keep the stray, shorter parts of her hair out of her eyes.
Before she left, she filled her pockets with candy from her drawer. She thought that maybe she could coax them to tell her who has the penknife, using the candy. Sophie knew that they didn't get any decent food at CGL so she knew that they would probably do anything to have some candy.
She left the cabin and looked across the compound towards the wreck room. It seemed to be the only place in the barren wasteland, that was full of noise and activity. She took in a deep breath of the dusty air before setting off across the cracked, dry ground.
As she approached the Rec room the noise and clatter got louder. A lot of yelling and the noise of a radio blaring could be heard.
Sophie stood outside the door for a second, trying to work up the courage to walk inside, when it flung open and hit her in the face.
Stumbling backwards, she clutched her throbbing nose and cursed aloud.
"Tut, tut, Language! I would of expected better from the Warden's daughter," Sophie heard an all too familiar Hispanic voice beside her.
"Fuck you, Magnet," Sophie bellowed, still clutching on her nose as though fearing that if she let go it would fall off.
"Did I really hurt you?" Magnet's voice softened, "Sorry, but you really shouldn't lurk behind doors,"
"I wasn't lurking," Sophie grumbled, looking up at him.
"What were you doing then?" Magnet asked.
"I was…well, I was about to come in," Sophie said.
"Really!" Magnet exclaimed, genuinely surprised.
"Yeah I was," Sophie muttered, "I swear, if my nose is bleeding, I am going to kill you!"
Sophie slowly let go of her nose and was relieved to find no blood.
"Nope, not bleeding…but your nose is a bit red, you look like Rudolph," Magnet said, chuckling.
"Ha, ha, so funny," Sophie said sarcastically, shoving past him.
Sophie was annoyed to find that Magnet was continuing to follow her.
"I thought you were leaving," Sophie said, glancing back at him.
"Yeh, well, I was, but I've decided to stay now," Magnet shrugged, "C'mon, I'll show you were D tent's hanging out.,"
Sophie didn't really know were else to go so she just shrugged and followed him.
Okay, there's Chap 5, done and dusted. Tell me what you think…