"So what do you think about the D tent girls?" Magnet asked, his eyebrows raised.
"What don't I think about them?" Twitch cried.
"Mahina, Willow, and Nyssa are hot!" X-Ray said. "But Alicia is the hottest!"
"I like Allie the most!" Twitch said, his writs twitching.
"I still wish that Olivia was in our tent," Squid said.
"Yeah," Zigzag agreed.
"But she's not," The Lump laughed. He and his older friends from B tent were standing on the other side of the porch chuckling. "I wonder what we'll do together first?" The Lump said, raising his eyebrows. His friends laughed.
The D tent boys ignored them though and all walked off in the direction Mr. Pendanski had taken the D tent girls.
"Here's your outfits," Mr. Pendanski said, handing each girl two pairs of orange jumpsuits, shirts and socks.
"Ew! Bright orange totally doesn't work for me!" Magnetic said, wrinkling her nose as she took her two outfits.
"Don't worry dumb ass," Rogue said sourly. "I'm sure you'll live."
"Girls," Friction warned.
"Yes well," Mr. Pendanski continued. "You should wear one set for work and the other for relaxation. Laundry is done every three days. On that day your work clothes will be washed and your relaxation clothes will become your work clothes. You will get your clean clothes while resting.
"You are to dig one hole a day—including Saturdays and Sundays. Each hole must be—"
"Yeah, yeah yeah," Magnetic interrupted. "We aren't new to this you know! Each hole has to be five feet deep and five feet wide. And we eat breakfast every morning at 4:30—right?"
Mr. Pendanski must have looked taken aback because Friction had pushed Magnetic in the back and had frowned at her.
"Okay then," Mr. Pendanski said, and he lead the way to the tents. "That's the Wreck Room," he pointed out. "And there's the showers." Some of the girls giggled. "And here's the tents." Mr. Pendanski had stopped before two rows of tents.
Originally there had been six tents at Camp Green Lake, but now there were eleven. Ten of them were for the campers and the eleventh one, tent F, was for the counselors. Each tent had a black letter on it and there were now doubles of every letter: A, B, C, D, and E. The girls could see Friction eyeing tent F precariously: back at Camp Lakeway she had slept in a cabin.
"Here's your tent," Mr. Pendanski said, walking up to a newer tent with the letter D on it. "You girls can get settled in and everything and then come down for dinner at the Mess Hall." Then he turned to Friction. "I'll show you the counselor's tent and everything," he said, and them he walked Friction towards tent F.
"Oh he so likes her," Magnetic said, laughing.
"Yup! He said he was gonna show her EVERYTHING!" Zippy laughed.
"Ew!" Lei cried.
Then the girls shuffled into their tent. There were seven brand new cots, each one less that two feet away from the one next to it. Seven crates were stacked in two piles at one side of the tent. The open end of the crates faced outward. The girls put their backpacks and belongings into the crates and then set the cots up the way they wanted them.
Magnetic pulled a bunch of old magazines out of her backpack and spread them out all over her cot. Then she made the sheets look a little messier, and stood back to look at it.
"There, just like home," she said.
Zippy and Chase sat down on cots right next to each other, and Chase watched as Zippy pulled a little stuffed animal out of her bag. It was a small, fuzzy animal that portrayed Stitch from Lilo and Stitch. Ever since Zippy had arrived at Camp Lakeway she had admired her little toy, and even now she held him close.
"What boring grey sheets!" Lei said, frowning down at her cot. Then she pulled a very colorful, Hawaiian print sheet out of her bag and spread it out over her bed.
Static pulled a mirror and a comb out of her backpack and sat down on her cot. She did the best she could but no matter what she did she couldn't make her hair behave. "I give up!" she said after five attempts. She pulled her hair back into it's regular ponytail.
Rogue sat down on a cot that was farthest away from everybody else, and was almost completely hidden in shadows. She laid down on her new bed and just stared up at the ceiling.
Fidget jumped on her cot, but to her disappointment she didn't bounce; the springs in the bed were two small.
"I'm hungry!" Magnetic cried.
"Thanks for sharing," Static said.
"Let's go get some food and boys!" Fidget said excitedly, she started fidgeting with her hair again.
The other girls agreed—even Rogue—and they all got up and headed out of the tent, towards the Mess Hall.
"Ew!" Magnetic squealed as the cafeteria workers ladled some beans onto her plate.
"Oh yeah. Beans, bread and weird meat. My favorite," Chase said sarcastically.
Even the normally bouncy, excited Zippy didn't seem too thrilled about dinner.
"Where do we sit?" Static asked after all the D tent girls had got their food. They all stood in a group at the head of the cafeteria, looking at everyone talking excitedly. The boys and girls were definitely getting off to a good start.
"Hey D tent!" X-Ray called to the girls, standing up so he could see them over everyone.
"Come on!" Fidget said excitedly.
The girls slowly made their way over to the D tent table, as the cafeteria was now very crowded with twice as many people.
"Sit down," X-Ray said as soon as the girls got to the table. He was watching Rogue very closely.
"Hey," Magnetic said in a cool voice as she took a seat next to Squid.
"Hey," the boys said. Fidget took a seat across from Twitch and started playing with her fork immediately. Rogue sat as far away from any of the boys as possible, way down at the end of the table. Lei sat between Zigzag and Armpit and Chase and Zippy sat down next to each other, a little ways away from the boys. Zippy started frantically whispering about each boy, asking Chase what she thought, and every time Chase replied with a sour remark.
"So what are your names?" Lei asked. She didn't notice Zigzag peeking down the front of her shirt.
"I'm X-Ray," X-Ray answered quickly, wanting to reply first.
"I'm Squid and that's Zigzag."
Zigzag looked up really quickly and smiled.
"I'm Armpit and that's Zero and Twitch."
Twitch's hand shot across the table towards Fidget. "Hi!" he said.
"Hey," Fidget replied, shaking Twitch's hand.
"And I'm Magnet," Magnet said proudly.
"What?" Magnetic snapped.
"Whoa! HA HA! Your name's Magnet?" Zippy laughed.
"Yeah..." Magnet said slowly. "What's wrong with Magnet?"
"Nothing's wrong with it," Static said. "It's just that her name's Magnetic." She pointed at Magnetic.
"Yeah, my name is Magnetic," Magnetic said.
"Whoa! Ironic huh, chica?" Magnet said with a laugh.
But Magnetic didn't laugh. She looked as though someone had just stolen something very precious from her.
"So what are your names—if you all have nicknames too?" X-Ray asked, his eyebrows raised.
"My name is Lei, cause I'm part Hawaiian," Lei said. "Her name is Fidget because she fidgets with EVERYTHING!"
A huge grin spread across Fidget's face.
"And my name is Magnetic cause I can steal ANYTHING!" Magnetic said, her nose in the air.
"My name is Static because of my hair," Static said, trying to tame her hair yet again. Zigzag smiled.
"Oh Static, that's not the reason why we call you Static and you know it!" Lei said. "Her name is Static because she's obsessed with electricity."
"I'm not obsessed!" Static argued.
"Oh please!" Magnetic laughed. "Your hair probably sticks up like that because you've played with too many electrical cords!"
"ANYWAY!" Lei continued. "That way over there is Rogue. She's called that because she's always so bitchy and independent—you can't trust her."
"Rogue," X-Ray repeated. "I like that."
Rogue glanced up from her plate long enough to glower at him.
"And that's Zippy," Lei said.
Zippy sat up really fast and smiled. "Hi!"
Zero couldn't help grinning from ear to ear.
"Obviously she's called Zippy because she's so hyper," Lei said, smiling. "She can't sit still for more than five minutes. And last but certainly not least, that's Chase."
Chase looked up and caught Squid's eye. But she only looked at him for a few seconds before looking back down at her plate.
"Why's Chase called Chase?" Zigzag asked.
"Because she always leads people on a chase!" Zippy replied. "The cops, boys, everyone!"
"Speaking of cops, what did you guys do to get arrested?" X-Ray asked. "It couldn't have been that bad: You all seem so nice."
"We don't all seem so nice," Magnetic said, narrowing her eyes.
"Well," Static began. "Zippy stole eighty boxes of giant pixie sticks!"
"You're kidding... Right?" Squid asked.
"Nope!" Zippy replied happily.
"She LOVES sugar," Lei explained.
"Yeah! I couldn't help it!" Zippy exclaimed.
"How did you get out of the store with eighty boxes of giant pixie sticks without getting caught?" Twitch asked.
Zippy laughed. "I didn't steal them all at once!" she said. "I stole them over a long period of time—like a month. I was getting really good at it too, but then one day I went into the store and while I was in there the cops had parked outside for a break. You can guess how I was greeted."
The boys laughed.
"You like sugar, huh?" Zero asked, still smiling.
"Yeah. But my favorite kind of sugar is brown sugar," Zippy said smoothly.
Squid laughed and nudged Zero's arm.
"What did you do Magnetic?" Magnet asked.
Magnetic seemed very eager to tell so she jumped into the story immediately. "Well, you see, I've always been a really good thief," (the D tent girls rolled their eyes: they were used to Magnetic's bragging) "and so I was at this jewelers one day and I saw the most beautiful gems and diamonds! I just had to have them! But I didn't really have enough money—it's not that I'm poor or anything—it's just that these necklaces and bracelets and stuff were really expensive. So I distracted the jewelers salesman by convincing this one woman that she just had to buy this one boring ring. So while that woman was talking about buying with the salesman, I picked the lock on the case and took the ice—"
"And no one saw you?" Twitch asked.
"No," Magnetic bragged. "I'm very sneaky. Anyway, I stuffed this gorgeous choker, two fab bracelets and three rings into my pockets! I would have totally made it out if this stupid fat woman hadn't bumped into me at the exit—she practically knocked me off my feet! But when Ms. Blubber did so one of the rings fell out of my pocket and rolled right up to the feet of the salesman. Man was he pissed!"
Zigzag laughed. "That just had to happen."
"It's kinda crazy to steal a bunch of jewelry right under the nose of the sales guy," Armpit said.
Magnetic shrugged. "I'm a girl, and diamonds are a girl's best friend!"
A lot of the other girls shook their heads.
"Well I think Static is the crazy one!" Lei said. "She could have killed lots of people—not to mention herself—with the crime she committed."
"What'd you do?" Zigzag asked Static eagerly.
"Go on, tell them," Fidget urged.
"All right, all right," Static gave in. "Well, I've always loved acting more than anything and there was this really cool part I wanted to audition for. I practiced for that part every day for hours. I got pretty bad grades in school because I was so busy practicing the character's lines to care about doing my homework. My friends got all mad at be because I barely had time for them and my parents were mad at me and everything! Finally I went to the director of the play and auditioned for the part that I really wanted. I spilled my heart out on that stage but did I get the part? No! And all because I didn't have the look the director wanted for th character! They ended up choosing Jasmine Applewhite—" she said the name sourly "—little miss gorgeous with breasts bigger than her head!" Some of the boys laughed at this.
"Come on Static," Zippy cried. "Tell them the best part already!"
"Well anyway," Static continued. "I was so mad I hadn't got the part that the very same day they told me the bad news I electrocuted their stage."
"How'd you electrocute it?" Squid asked eagerly.
"I just cut a cord that was plugged in and held it up the the stage curtains," Static replied as if it were no big deal.
Zigzag raised his eyebrows in surprise and smiled again.
"What did you do Lei?" Armpit asked.
"She set fire to a drugstore," Fidget answered. "But none of us know how or why she did it because she always denies it."
"I did not set fire to a drugstore!" Lei cried, though she did sound a little sheepish.
"What did Rogue do?" X-Ray asked, staring in Rogue's direction. She was now leaning back in her chair, her arms crossed and her feet up on the table. Again she was glaring up at the ceiling.
"She shot a guy," Zippy said, lowering her excited voice so that Rogue couldn't hear her.
"She shot a guy?" Armpit asked.
Lei nodded. "See, Rogue grew up in this really dodgy neighborhood—you know, the kind of place where a bunch of street gangs and graffiti artists lived. She used to get into tons of fights so one day she stole her dad's gun and kept it everywhere—"
"Even at school?" Twitch asked.
"Yup," Fidget replied. "Then she met this guy who was really hot and definitely The Guy in her neighborhood. I think she actually loved him!" Fidget said, her eyes wide.
"Yeah, she did," Lei confirmed. "But he was one of those bastards who used Rogue and became really controlling. He started taking over her life—"
"So Rogue, being the tough girl that she is, wouldn't take his shit any more," Static continued. "So one day, she broke up with him. He didn't like that at all—"
"So he and his friends cornered Rogue in the street one day," Lei said. "And you see how tiny Rogue is? It must have been really hard for her to fend off three really tall, strong guys. All the protection she had other than her fist was her gun. So she shot one of her ex-boyfriend's friends in the leg twice, which scared off the other two—"
"But the cops got her before she could get away," Fidget ended.
"But you can't be arrested for just defending yourself!" X-Ray cried, he now looked upon Rogue in a new light.
"Tell that to the cops that arrested her," Lei said.
Everyone was silent for a minute or two.
"What'd you do?" Twitch asked Fidget after everyone had retired from silently watching Rogue.
"She fidgeted too much in class and the teacher got so annoyed that she called the cops!" Zippy started laughing.
Fidget rolled her eyes but did end up laughing with the others.
"No, I just broke into my neighbors house," Fidget said.
Twitch looked taken aback—as if he'd been expecting something more.
"So, you just broke into someone's house and got arrested?" Squid asked.
"Well, broke in, stole some stuff, broke their windows, burned half their living room, and gave their house a new paint job by using a spray can." Fidget paused as if there was more but wanted to know if she should continue.
"How and why did you do all that stuff?" Zero asked.
"I couldn't help it!" Fidget replied. "I have a habit of fidgeting with stuff!"
Lei laughed. "That's an understatement! You have an obsession with fidgeting with stuff!"
Twitch laughed and Fidget blushed.
"What'd she do?" Squid asked, nodding towards Chase who was turned the other way, ignoring their conversation. When Squid asked this the big grin on Zippy's face disappeared and she too turned away from the conversation.
"Dunno," Lei said quietly.
"Yeah, she never told any of us except Zippy, her best friend," Static said.
"Whatever she did though it must have been pretty bad," Fidget said, looking at Chase curiously. "Her sentence is almost six years. That's probably the reason why she's so sarcastic and dark though."
"Oh," Squid said. He looked back at Chase who was now so slumped over on the bench that her nose was almost in her food. Zippy was looking around the cafeteria watching all the people laughing and talking as she pretended not to hear them.
"I bet Chase didn't do anything that bad!" Magnetic said. "She's just upset all the time because she can't handle digging holes! She feels so sorry for herself that she cries about it!"
No one agreed with Magnetic and the conversation abruptly ended there.