Chapter Sixteen
Before we could give this Stanley kid any directions, Mr. Sir grabbed him and dragged him to his office. We were all stunned, there was already a replacement for X-Ray. Gosh, how many Juvies were there?
"What are we waiting for? Let's go watch the new kid with Mr. Sir," Magnet said walking over to the window in Mr. Sir's office. We all looked at each other and followed him.
"Move over, shortest get the front," I said pushing all the giants out of my way.
"What's happening?" Charlie said over people's head.
"No, bad! Don't laugh at Mr. Sir's name!" I said in desperation.
"That's not that bad. Everyone laughs at Mr. Sir," Squid said.
"I didn't," Isabella said quietly.
"No, no, no!" I said.
"What?" everyone behind said.
"He tried to take the Coke."
"Idiot," the guys mumbled.
"Be nice. He is going to be sleeping in the same tent as all of you," Theresa said.
"If he passes the test," Armpit said.
"What test? I never took any test?" I said turning my attention away from the window.
"The whole 'Do What You're Told Without Questions Test'. You weren't ever going to pass it because you do nothing that you are told, so there was no point in giving it to you," Squid smirked.
"You're right, I don't take orders from morons."
"You two love birds shut up, we are trying to pay attention to Stanley and Mr. Sir," ZigZag whispered.
"What's happening?" Charlie yelled from the back.
"Well, Stanley and Mr. Sir are WALKING TOWARDS THE DOOR! MOVE PEOPLE MOVE!" I yelled running back towards the guys tent.
We made it back to the tent and we were all out of breath. After we were all breathing normally we started to talk about the new kid.
"I wonder what he did?" I asked aloud.
"Who knows? People do some crazy stuff," Armpit.
"I know one thing, he is going to claim that he is innocent, as we all do," I said watching Mom walk up with him.
"Now, Stanley this is your new tent. It is D Tent, 'D' stand for-"
"Diligence!" We all screamed from inside.
"Well, yes," Mom said coming in with Stanley. "Guys and girls this is Stanley, guys he will be your new bunkmate. Stanley this is Alan, Jose, Theodore, Ricky, Emma, Charlotte, Victoria, Isabella, Theresa, and Lillian. The girls are in D-Tent's counter-tent, DG-Tent."
"Actually, I'm Squid. That's Magnet, Armpit, ZigZag, Twist, TC, Hype, Stranger, Dutchess, and Princess. And Zero's on the cot in the far corner. And that's Mom." Squid corrected Mom for the umpteenth time.
Mom smiled at him. "If it makes you feel better to call me Mom, Alan, go ahead and call me Mom." He turned to Stanley. "If you have questons, Theodore will help you. You got that, Theodore. I'm depending on you. You were all new here once," said Mom, "and you all know what it feels like. I'm counting on every one of you to help Stanley."
Mom left the tent and everyone was staring at Stanley.
"Um, where is my cot?" he asked nervously.
"Right there, beside mine," said Armpit.
"Um, how come you all have nicknames?" he asked even more nervously.
"The kid you replaced gave them to us. His name was X-Ray. You might get one, if you fit in," Squid said toughly.
The guys were trying to scare Stanley, which was juvenile.
"Stanley, ignore them. They are so full of themselves. Come on that's the dinner bell," Lillian said pushing everyone out of the tent.
"Now, the food here sucks. Sometimes figuratively, sometimes literally, mostly both. So, Twist has extra supply in her baggage, because trust me you will need it," Theresa said.
"Which one is Twist again?" he asked a lot less nervous.
"That would be me!" I said jumping up to them.
"Why are the guys giving me looks?" Stanley said looking at the D-Tent table while in line with us.
"Because we're giving you attention. And you replaced their 'leader'; sidenote, Squid is the new 'leader'. Do what he says no questions, or you will suffer. But, don't be scared of them, they're all talk. They'll protect you when you need it," Charlie said following him.
We all sat down, but Stanley seemed confused on where to sit.
"Stanley, sit by me," I said.
"What'd you do?" Squid asked Stanley.
At first Stanley didn't know what he meant.
"They sent you here for a reason."
"Oh," he realized. "I stole a pair of sneakers.'
The boys thought that was funny.
"From a store, or were they on someone's feet?" asked ZigZag.
"Uh, neither," Stanley answered. "They belonged to Clyde Livingston."
The guys didn't believe him, and the girls had no idea who that was.
"Sweet Feet?" said Squid. "Yeah, right!"
"Who?" Tori said.
"Just the fastest, greatest baseball player ever," Magnet said.
"No way," said Armpit.
"How do you know?" Isabella said quietly.
"Because, that's impossible, nobody could steal Clyde "Sweet Feet" Livingston's shoes," Magnet said as though all of us girl were stupid.
"He could have done it," Charlie said.
"I didn't actually steal them. I'm-" Stanley started.
"Innocent? Now that none of us believe, that's is the oldest story ever, especially for this place," Charlie said.
"Hey, I'm innocent too. But just of the conviction, I did do what they caught me doing, but it wasn't for the reason that they thought," I said putting in my two cents.
"Sure Twist," they all said.