Disclaimer: I own not one of these characters except the ones from my own imagination. I also do not own the plot of Camp Green Lake. Louis Sachar does. GO LOUIS!
A/N: Thank you so much to everybody who reviewed my story!
SpotlessLadybug: thank you for your kind words and also commenting on the actual content of the story. Yes, you can tell a lot about her personality, but its about to get even more complex.
ArwenEvenStar83: thanks for the smile and this story; I am going to try to keep a steady updating pattern.
Mesaqt: I'm going on and on, but some of it just doesn't get to paper, or the keyboard.
LeMoNsOuR: thank you very much for naming me an excellent writer! I am overjoyed that you branded this as "another well-written story". I should be updating Indian Rain soon, and no I have no certain date, I just update it when I finish the chapter, and get around to putting it up online. I am trying to update, so it shall be coming soon to a computer near you.
ENJOY
Chapter 2: Dust and TearsI bounced up and down on the scorching hot bus seat as this yellow contraption wheeled its way along the uneven road. I tried as hard as my eyes would allow to glimpse out the window, but as the sun was shining straight into my pupils, that was difficult. I could hear the bus driver whistling, and could feel the heated glare of the officer on me, even without looking at me. His gun lay easily across his lap, and he had already explained that if I tried anything funny, he had legal permission to use it.
I didn't really pay attention much or think about how long it would be until I got off this heap of junk, I really just stared hard into the back of the seat in front of me, unoccupied like every other seat on this bus except for mine, and just worried about how my mother was at this very moment.
Only hours ago, the police had pounded on my mother's door. I answered it, backpack over my shoulder, and then, without a word to the officers, I turned back toward my mother and hugged her tight. I would have been happy at that moment, but my mother was still in her daze, and made no effort to embrace me. My grandmother hugged me, though, but she wasn't in the state that my mother was in. The last memory of my mother, until I see her again, will be her eyes. Her eyes were once a beautiful light blue, as mine are, but now, they were hurt. Her eyes no longer gleamed when she saw me, they no longer sparkled when I made her laugh, they were shut, shut off to the world that had burdened this unbearable pain of loss and truth. My mother had fallen into a depression so deep, she was unrecognizable. The last memory of my mother, were her eyes looking straight into mine, filled with every emotion from pain to anger. God only knows when, or if, I will see my mother again, the way she should be, and not the way he made her.
I had stopped referring to him as my father when I was ten. My mother had always told me he had to be away on business, and only came home when I was asleep and left before I was awake. But when I grew to be ten, I began to doubt this logic, so when my mother told me to go to bed, I stayed up all night, looking out my bedroom window into the barren lot that was our driveway, and you know what, he never came.
The sudden lurch of the yellow bus snapped me out of my childhood memories and back into my life of hell. I tried again to look out the window, but before I my mind could translate the images outside that window, the officer grabbed me forcefully by my left arm and pushed me off the bus. I was so overcome by the power of his push that I tripped half way down those three steps and collapsed into the ground below. Dust blew up and around me from the dry, crumpled ground. I wasn't sure where I was. Had they disobeyed the judge's orders and sent me to some Nevada desert instead of camp, or, the sickening thought crossed my mind, was this camp?
I stood up, and got another thrust from the officer, this time in my back with the butt of his rifle. He continued this action until I hit the door of a small cabin. The door flung open, and I stumbled into the room. When I looked up, I was shocked to see a man sitting very relaxed in a wood chair behind the desk I had just smacked my skull on. He was chewing something in his mouth; his jaw flapped open and shut as he chewed largely. The man pointed to a chair in front of his desk, and I sat, as the officer shut the door, my only door to freedom.
"Miss Cen-Se-Cent" he babbled as I rolled my eyes. So many idiots had troubled with the pronunciation of my name.
"Centaria." (A/N: Sen-tar-ia) I interrupted him. The man glared menacingly at me from behind the clipboard, obviously full of my information.
"Miss Centaria Elizabeth Black I presume?" the officer nodded and the man went on.
"My name is Mr. Sir." He said, placing the clipboard on the desk with a slight snap. "You shall call me only by my name, understood missy?" I twitched at that last comment. Not the actual comment, just the way he said it. The way it dripped out of his oversized mouth like I wasn't supposed to be there, all because of my gender. Why is it that men think they're the only ones who do crime, I was innocent, but just saying.
"Think you should know, ain't a lot girls here at Camp Green Lake." The man stood up and began to pace behind his desk, and I withheld myself from laughing my head of as his stomach, stretching over his belt, bounced up and down with every step.
"The warden shall permit you to use her facilities while you are staying here. You shall take your showers in the warden's cabin and are allowed to use her restroom at," he cringed as he continued with the part of his speech he didn't favor. " Certain times of the month." The officer in the corner failed to stifle a laugh at those final words. Mr. Sir just shook his head and pointed the officer toward the door.
"Take her to Pendanski."
The next moment, I was led out of the cabin and back into the heat and dust. The officer pushed me to yet another cabin, unfortunately though, this one was not air-conditioned. I walked in and noticed first a short man standing in safari shorts and a safari hat. His nose was covered in white sunscreen and his white T-shirt was soaked with sweat. He walked straight up to me and pumped my arm up and down, a smile a mile wide plastered on his face.
"Hello there little miss, my name is Dr. Pendanski." He said smiling. I looked over the man's shoulder to see a boy, finally a teenager, standing behind a table. His orange jumpsuit was tied around his waist, revealing a white shirt like the Dr. pumping my arm still. The teenage boy was staring at me, mouth dropped. I couldn't understand why, but I was about to find out.
"Well, let's get you some new clothes." The Doc said. I think that's where I started calling him "Doc".
"What?" I asked, a little confused.
"Your going to have to change into these." He held up an orange jumpsuit, smaller than the one the boy was wearing. I shook my head.
"Uh-huh. I am not changing here!" I said, angry. Doc just looked at me, sympathy in his eyes.
"The warden said you would do this." Doc muttered.
"Listen Doc, if you think I'm stripping myself in front of you two, forget it!" My voice was rising and I know understood why that boy had looked excited.
"Alright then, we will live these here, but just let me explain." He grabbed what was to be my uniform from the now downhearted teenager. He handed me the jumpsuit along with another just like it.
"These are yours to wear. The first ones are your digging clothes. You where them when your out there." He pointed out the window to a field full of black dots, which I guessed were holes. "And the second ones are for relaxing, when your in your tent or the Wreck Room, you get it. Washing days are Sundays, and when your digging clothes are being washed, your relaxing clothes will become both for digging and relaxing. Alright?"
I nodded and accepted the suits as he held them out. Then he turned again and grabbed a pair of faded black boots resembling that of army boots. I took them too, already knowing what they were for.
The Doc and the boy left as I uneasily changed into the jumpsuit. It didn't feel all that bad. I left on the black tank top I had worn, and buttoned up the suit. Then I sat on the floor, slipping the boots on, praying to God I wouldn't be here long.
A/N: did you like it, or is it going nowhere. Please give me your comments, suggestions, whatever. Thanks!
Next Chapter: The first encounters with the boys of D-tent. Stay tuned:)