Chapter Two-Reunion Part One

"Alan, what're you doing?" Ally asked as she stepped out of the Kasch home.

"Mowing the lawn," he responded as he wiped sweat off of his forehead with his arm. He thought he had escaped the heat when he left Camp Green Lake, but the heat decided to follow him wherever he went. His shirt was tucked into the back of his jeans as he pushed the lawn mower ahead of him. He had his doo rag on to protect his hair from turning blond and he wore his cap on to protect his face from the sun. He wasn't used to wearing normal clothes and he wished he hadn't decided on wearing jeans to mow the lawn. He could feel sweat slide down his leg.

"Do you want me to bring you some lemonade?" She questioned as she watched him.

"That'll be great. Thanks Al."

"No problem."

Ally smiled before walking back into the house as Squid pushed the lawn mower ahead of him again. Ally came back out when he was finished with half of the lawn and he decided to take a break. He joined her on the porch and took a sip of the lemonade as he looked at the neighborhood around them.

"Do you like it here, Alan?" Ally asked him as she reached for a cookie.

"It's ok," he responded with a shrug. "I mean, it's our home now, at least until I turn eighteen."

"Oh." Ally stayed silent until she looked over at him and noticed something was missing. "Hey, where are your dog tags?"

"Where're my–" Squid started as he reached up to his neck. He was confused for a couple of seconds when he felt his are skin against his fingers but remembered where it was. "Oh, I gave it away."

"Why? Who'd you give it to?"

"My girlfriend. At least, I think she was my girlfriend."

"You mean Heather?" Ally guessed. "No, you broke up with her a while ago. How about Melanie? No, broke up with her too. How about Lucy? Olivia? Lauren? Sophie? Jas–"

"It's not one of them," Squid interrupted her as he reached for a cookie.

'Then what other girl could there be?" Ally asked in confusion.

"One I met at CGL, you know, that place I was held," he responded slowly as he watched her face.

"Ohhhhh. So, what's her name?"

"Her real name or her nickname?"

"You have nicknames there?" Ally asked as she wrinkled her nose. "Why? What's the point?"

"It's like a form of respect," Squid explained. "And it also describes why we got sent there."

"Oh. What's your nickname?"

"It's Squid."

"Squid?" Ally asked while laughing as Squid grinned at her. "How'd you get that?"

"I think it's because of how I was sent there. Stealing, y'know? I think it was because I could grab so much stuff it was like I had more than one arm." He responded as he leaned back and rested on his elbows.

"Explain to me the whole Camp Green Lake thing before you tell me who the girl is," Ally said as she also leaned back so she was resting on her elbows. Her caramel eyes looked over at him as she brushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Ok, basically Camp Green Lake is a place to hold juvenile delinquents so they don't have to go to jail, but it is like jail in it's own way. Anyway, there are six tents, A-F. F-tent is for the councerls and A-E are for the campers. Us campers had to dig holes to build character. Anyway, the boys in my tent was X-Ray, the leader, Zigzag, Armpit, Magnet, Caveman, Zero, Icy, Glare, Shorty, Twitch, and me. Our real names are Rex, Ricky, Theodore, José, Stanley, Hector, Mackenzie, Matthew, Maxine, Brian, and obviously me, Alan.

"X-Ray got his name because it's Rex in pig-latin and he has huge glasses. Zigzag got Zigzag because he suffers from acute paranoia and he's kinda crazy. Armpit, well, I think you can guess by the name. Magnet because he can steal anything, Caveman because he's a Neanderthal, Zero because, well, we didn't think he was smart. Icy because she was cold towards us at first. Glare because he has a wicked glare that can really scare you, it even scared me. Shorty because, well, she's short, and Twitch because he doesn't stop Twitching."

"Now, was Shorty your girlfriend?" Ally asked.

"No way!" Squid said with a laugh. "She's Icy's little sister, about your age. No, Icy is…was…is my girlfriend. She hated me at first but then I got to her I guess. I guess the only reason she fell for me was because I knew about the pain she was going through and I trusted her and loved her. No one, besides her siblings, had loved her before and that's all she wanted. To be loved."

"You really loved her that much?" Ally asked in awe. "But you went through those other girls like…a book. They're each like a page in a book that you turn and forget about."

"Well, that's true, but I never really loved any of them."

"What about me? Do you love me?"

"If I didn't, I would've left you with mom," he responded as he kissed the top of her head.

"How much did you love her?"

"As much as I possibly could."

"Even enough to…" her voice trailed off as she rose her eyebrows and looked over at him. He nodded slowly as her eyes widened in one part shock and one part amazement.

"But I don't think I'll ever see Icy again. It'll be a miracle if I do," he added as he got off the steps and walked over to the lawn mower. He started it up once more as Ally to the empty cups and the plate back into the house. She accidentally ran into Eric who smiled at her and moved out of her way as she quickly passed him.

Zigzag sat on the couch in the living room watching cartoons with all of his sister. Maggie was sitting on his lap, Rachel and Riley were on either side of him, and Sandy and Samantha were sitting on the floor, resting their backs on his legs.

"Don't go in that closet, don't go in that closet!" Zigzag warned. The character on the screen opened the closet door and a ghost popped out. "Told ya," he said with a sigh.

"Stop it, Ricky! You're ruining the show!" Maggie said as she smacked Zigzag's arm playfully.

"Kids, breakfast is ready," Lena said as she entered the living room, drying her hands on a towel.

"Isn't it kinda late? It's 11:00," Samantha pointed out as she stood and stretched.

"I'm trying to make the breakfast special since it's Alan's and Ally's first day with us, I needed more time. Now wash your fingers," she said as she lightly slapped Maggie on the butt to get her moving. The girls ran up the stairs, screaming about who gets to sit next to Alan. "It'll be hard watching them start dating," she sighed as she shook her head.

"You'll get through it mom," Zigzag said as he kissed her cheek. "You had to deal with Eric, Liam and I."

"Yeah, but boys don't have to deal with getting their hearts broken."

"Fair point."

Zigzag opened the front door and called out, "Yo Squid! Breakfast is ready, man!"" Squid shut off the lawn mower and walked inside as he wiped sweat off of his forehead once more. They turned their attention to the Kasch sisters who had just ran down the staris but stopped and gawked at Squid when they noticed he wasn't wearing a shirt. "I'm never going to get tired of that. This is the first time they're ever quiet," Zigzag said while laughing. He turned to his sister and said, "Help mom set the table!"

"Do we have to?" Sandy whined.

"Do you want the mutant forks to come and attack you?"

"I read about those in a book! People switch normal forks with mutant forks to get rid of their enemies!" Samantha gasped.

"It's bad enough that Ricky is paranoid, why do you have to be paranoid too?" Rachel groaned as she shoved her sisters into the kitchen.

"I thought you were the only one in your family that was paranoid," Squid said in confusion as he climbed the stairs to the bathroom.

"I'm just the only one who chooses to show it. I mean, I can't help it. These showers could be bugged to the jail cell to where the Warden is. She could be waiting for some useful information to use against us and – "

"I get it!" Squid interrupted as he laughed a little. "I'll be down in…three minutes."

"All right. I'll save you a plate of food. If I don't, it'll be gone before you can say Yellow Spotted Lizard."

Squid took a quick shower and changed into clean jeans and wore his favorite yellow t-shirt with the number 34 in the middle. He retied his doo rag on his head before bounding down the stairs and strutting into the kitchen where the Kasch family was sitting down. Ally pointed to the empty seat across from her and he sat down with a sigh.

"Are you all right, Alan?" Leon asked him as he spoon hash browns onto his plate.

"Yeah, I just didn't think mowing a lawn could take a lot out of you."

"You didn't have to do that," Lena told him.

"But we're glad he did," Samantha blurted out as her face turned red. Liam eyed her as a smirk crossed his face. Ally snorted as a faint blush came to Squid's cheeks. Breakfast went by quickly because they didn't say much. Zigzag and Squid offered to do the dishes while everyone else went back to what they were doing.

"No offense to your sisters, man, but they are starting to scare me," Squid said as he rubbed a sponge across a plate.

"I'm afraid of them too, but you get used to it," Zigzag said with a shrug ashe pulled his wet rag out of the water. It smacked Squid in the face and he spluttered as soapy water hit him. He flicked soap bubbles at Zigzag in retaliation as an evil grin crossed Zigzag's face. Soon they got into a soap fight as they started laughing. A ringing telephone interrupted their laughter.

"Hello?" Zigzag asked once he picked it up.

"Is this the Kasch residence?"

"It is."

"Is Ricky there?"

"Speaking."

"Hey Zig, it's Caveman."

"Caveman," Zigzag repeated, capturing Squid's attention.

"Yeah. Listen, I'm having this party thing at my place. Kind of like a D-Tent reunion party before school starts. I was wondering if you could come."

"Of course I'll come!"

"Thanks. Um, can you tell me what Squid's number is or if it changed? Every time I call there's a noise signaling that it's not connected."

"He's here with me. He's going to come too. Bye Caveman."

"All right, see you soon Oh, and bring your bathing suits too.."

Zigzag hung up and grinned at a confused Squid.

"What's going on?" Squid asked as he dried his hands.

"We're going to Caveman's place. He's having a D-Tent reunion party." Squid's mouth fell open in surprise. "Yes, I'm being serious. C'mon, I need to ask my mom for the car."

Still dumbfounded, Squid followed Zigzag up to his parents room where he asked if he could borrow the car and he told them that they'd be back around 6:30 on the dot. If anything went wrong he would call them immediately and he allowed them to call to check on him from time to time.

"Where're you going?" Ally asked as he followed Squid and Zigzag to their room where Zigzag tossed a pair of swim trunks at Squid's head.

"We're going to a friend's house for a D-Tent reunion party thing," Squid responded as he stuff a knapsack with the trunks, a towel, and flip flops.

"Can I come?"

"Sorry Al, you have to stay here."

"Aww, just let her come, man," Zigzag said as he left the room. He came back and held out a blue bathing suit to Ally. "You can borrow this. I'm sure Maggie won't mind. Now, all I need to do is print out directions."

Once they were printed out they all got into the car and drove off. Ally bobbed her head to the Eminem song that they were listening to and sang along with the rapper as Zigzag and Squid just bobbed their heads. They pulled up in front of a large house and Ally looked up at it in awe.

"Who knew that he would end up living here," Zigzag muttered as they walked up to the front door. Squid pushed the door bell and they waited until a woman came to the door. "Hello. I'm Ricky, and this is Alan and his sister Ally."

"Oh yes, some more of Stanley's friends. Everyone else is in the back yard. Just hang a right and go through the double doors in the kitchen," she said as she stepped out of the way. They followed her directions and walked out onto the back patio.

"Hey guys!" Magent called from the pool.

"Mag! It's great to see you again!" Zigzag said as he walked over to the edge. Squid and Ally stood by as they pulled their t-shirts off over their heads and took off their shorts, revealing Squid wearing red swim trunks while Ally wore a blue one-piece bathing suit.

"Squid?" A soft voice asked. He turned around as his mouth fell open.

"Icy?"