I am the proud owner of Lacey, and this plot, but I don't own anything else!
As the Texas desert raced by, I thought with dread about my coming experience. I would be the only girl in an all boy camp. An all boy prison camp. Most of these boys had been here for months and months, and hadn't seen a girl in a long, long time. I shivered at the thought, and focused on what I was going to do. I'd have to be tough; I'd have to be untouchable. I wanted to scare them away, so none of them would dare touch me. If they did, the punishment would be swift and decisive. A guard in aviator sunglasses watched me, gun propped on his lap. Like I would try and escape into the dry desert with no water, like I was an idiot. The rest of the drive passed with monotonous boredom, and we pulled up to an area that looked rather decrepit. There was one house that stood separate from the other buildings, and it looked nice. A tree with a swing stood in front of it, casting a wide blanked of shade. There were two other low, long buildings, about ten tents, and outdoor showers. It was about noon, and I didn't see any boys yet, they were probably off doing whatever. The guard walked me off the bus, holding my backpack to restrain me.
A man in a cowboy hat walked out of a building, and stopped in front of me, eyeing me up and down, "Well well, a girl. Before you know it they'll be turning this place into a Girl Scout camp. Come on in."
My guard and I followed him into a small office that was baking hot. There was no AC. When the guard departed, the cowboy began his spiel, spitting out a few sunflower seeds. "My name is Mr. Sir, and you will address me as such. Are we clear little lady?"
I just glared at him. I could feel my temperament turning, and the legendary redhead temper rose in me like a beast. He scowled, "I asked if we're clear."
Slowly, I nodded, "Yep."
Now his face was a full out glare. "Listen girly, I understand your girly ears don't work so well, so I'm gonna say this slowly. Every day you will dig one hole, five feet deep, and five feed wide in every dimension. You will live in a tent with six other boys, and you wake up at five a.m. sharp. Before I give you the grand tour, I need to search you."
"Aw hell no, you did not just say that."
"Sir." He corrected, an edge of menace in his voice now
"Nice of you to say so, though I am a girl."
Angrily he lashed out with the back of his hand to backhand me across the face, but my reflexes kicked in. I blocked it, and now he was fuming. "Listen girl, we can be friends, or I can make your life hell. Your choice."
"If I'm gonna get strip searched, it had better be by a woman."
He was so pissed now that steam was coming out of his ears, and when he opened his mouth to shout at me, a soft voice interrupted, "Now that won't be necessary. You can get out, and I'll search her."
The voice was female, and I turned to see a pretty woman of about thirty at the threshold. Her hair was blonder than mine, but it was red as well, and she was covered in freckles. Mr. Sir exited with a sullen expression, and she sauntered over, "Nice to meet you Miss Swanson."
"Likewise."
Needless to say, I was very relieved that I wasn't the only girl in this hellhole. She sat in his chair, somehow making it seem like a throne by the way she sat, "I'm the warden of Camp Green Lake, and we search everyone who comes in. When I heard we were having a girl, I thought I'd better come search you myself."
I nodded and stood. She nodded, pleased by my compliance, "Wonderful. Shirt first please."
Overall, it wasn't as horrible as I thought. When I put my new clothes on, an orange jumpsuit that looked older than I was, she called Mr. Sir back in, "Mister Sir, would you please show this young lady around the site? Give her the grand tour."
"Yes'm." He led me out, still fuming as he showed me the mess hall, the wreck room, the showers, the library, pointed out the warden's house, and then showed me to my tent. A goofy looking man was sitting inside, writing things in a little book, but when he saw my hair, he stood quickly, "Ah, you have the new… camper."
"Yes. This is Lacey Swanson."
Pendanski, that's what he said his name was, fell all over himself as he talked about the other boys in my cabin, and I nodded politely through all of it. I was actually having trouble paying attention, because his nose was covered in heavy duty sun block. He relayed a few points, but I just nodded absently, flanking around the tent. In the end he retreated from the tent, and I closed the flap. Before anyone showed up, I pulled the hand wraps that I used for boxing out of my bag; I'd brought three pairs, and wrapped it around my chest. If I was gonna try and fit in, I might as well try and get rid of my femininity now. After all, there was no need to distract the boys more than they needed to be. I fished the pair of scissors I'd hidden in my pack out, and a brown paper bag. Resigned, I tied my hair in a loose pony tail, and hacked it off above the hair tie. When that hair was safely in the bag, I fished out the mirror I'd put in as well. Quickly, I finished chopping my hair to its new length, about an inch long, and stowed everything back in my bag. For the final touch, I tied a bandanna over my newly shorn hair, hiding its unusual color. Done with my dark deed, I opened the tent flap, and laid down on my bed, the only one that was made, and stared at the ceiling. Some time later, a small black boy entered the tent. I guessed him at fourteen, but he was small for his age. He barely paused when he saw me, just went to his bed and laid down in the same pose I was in. As the sun moved in the sky, more boys entered the tent, none looking with too much curiosity in my direction. I guessed my ruse had been a success, for now at least. When the sixth boy entered, Mr. Pendanski entered the tent as well. He cleared his throat, nervous, "Boys, this is your new tent mate."
A black boy in glasses was lying back like a contented cat, "What's his name mom?"
My mouth quirked up at the nickname, but I forced it back down. I was a wall here, a rock; they could not know that I smiled. "Well, actually, her name is Lacey Swanson."
The rustling and chatter in the tent fell silent, and I felt six pairs of eyes rest on me, scratch that, five. The small black boy was still staring at the ceiling.
"Did you say she?"
But Pendanski was gone, cowardly in the face of the boy's reactions. The boy with glasses, the leader of the pack, it looked like, stretched out on his bed in my direction. "A girl huh? What did you do to get in?"
I shot him a cold glance, and he put his hands up defensively. I stared him down for a few minutes, and then stared back at the ceiling.
"I put a guy who attacked me in the ICU."
Someone whistled with awe, and their faces were incredulous. Glasses raised an eye, "No lie?"
I shook my head, secretly enjoying their reaction, and still staring at the tent's ceiling. One with crazy hair that stood up on end was staring at me. His bulbous eyes were trained on my body when he asked, "will you strip for us?"
He was sitting on the bed next to mine, an unsightly leer on his face. Glasses started to chasten him, but I'd already shifted my weight, my legs over the edge of the cot, and punched him square in the face. Crazy hair fell backwards off the bed, clutching his nose. I glanced around the tent, finding a different reaction on every face. One was laughing, one was rushing to help crazy hair, one was cheering me, Glasses was calmly watching me, the little black boy was still staring at the ceiling, and one was shocked.
"Well, that brings me to my rules. I only have two. The first, don't touch me. This means everything, no slaps on the back, no arms around my waist, no groping, no hi-fives, no hugs, no nothing. If you touch me, I will do worse to you than I did to crazy eyes over here." I gestured to the bleeding boy, and then continued, "My second rule is to treat me like a lady. I won't beat you over this one, except for extreme cases, but remember that the way you treat me has a direct effect on my mood." They boys were looking at each other with furtive expressions, and I continued, "Crazy eyes over there didn't treat me like a lady, and now he's trying to figure out which way is up. What he said is something I refer to as an extreme case." There was silence for a few moments as they pondered that. If I called that an extreme act, what would I call various other pranks and mischief they could do? The boys were beginning to get it now, a few grins appeared, but I didn't smile, I kept my poker face on. Soon, I could trust them, but it would take a few beatings before my rules sunk in. As my rules had been explained, I laid back on my bed, signaling I was done.
The guy in glasses nodded after everyone had settled down, "Welcome to D-Tent. I'm X-Ray, that's Squid, the guy you punched is Zig Zag, this one's Magnet, here's Armpit, and that little one over there?" He pointed to the little black boy, "that's Zero."
I nodded, and stared back at the ceiling, checking out of the conversation.
X-ray stretched, "So, Lacey huh?"
I nodded.
"I assume you don't like your name."
I shook my head.
Armpit spoke up, "Don't worry doll face, no one will call you that here."
I struggled to keep my composure, "Armpit, come up with a better nickname, or sleep with one eye open tonight."
They all laughed explosively, and their banter picked up. I relaxed my muscles a little, glancing around at their faces. Magnet, Zig Zag, Squid, Armpit, X- Ray, and Zero. Zero had barely looked at me the whole time, and it was now I focused my attention on him. He hadn't said a word, but he was looking at me now, his silent stare met mine. I could tell he was trying to read me, so I tried to read him right back, but we both had our poker faces on. Giving up on the matter for now, I listened to the banter, figuring out the group dynamic, who would bend to let me in, who would give me trouble, who would be an ally. They all seemed pretty relaxed; obviously they knew each other well. When the lights of the camp clicked off, everyone crawled into their beds, falling asleep relatively fast. I listened to their breathing, waiting until it was even and slow before I allowed myself to sink into a vivid sleep.
So, a couple of days after I posted the first chapter, I checked the brand new 'reader traffic' meter, and saw I had 41 views. That is extremely exciting. But then, I only had one review. Do you know what that means? Only one person decided she'd like cookies!! Cookies if you review!! Have review a review good review one review!!
Em.