Chapter Twenty One

I woke up the next morning to find Stranger, Hype, TC, Princess, and Dutchess looking at me.

"Can I help you?" I asked a little freaked out.

"Where did you go last night? You woke me up when you left and then you didn't come back for an hour. And Stranger said you were in the bathroom. Nobody takes that long in the bathroom," Princess said.

"I went to the bathroom; and, I can take as long as I want," I said getting dressed.

"Liar," Hype said. "You were walking around with someone. Who was it?"

"Okay. But, don't make a big deal about it. But, last night, Squid and I went on a walk after I went to the bathroom. We made up and…"

"And? And what?" Dutchess asked impatiently.

"I kissed him."

There was a chorus of 'aw' through out the tent.

"Girls, don't say anything when we're with the guys, okay? I don't think Lewis should find out about this from anyone besides me or Squid. Mainly me. I think he might flip if you guys told him," I said seriously.

"Don't worry, we won't," TC said.

We all walked out of the tent and headed for the Library. Just as I was about to get my shovel, one was pushed into my hands. I looked up and saw Squid.

"Thanks," I said. "Hey, you even picked the shorter one!"

"Yep, and you're welcome," he said taking my hand and walking towards the Mess Hall.

When we got to the table, Squid went off to get breakfast for the both of us. The guys looked at me, and they didn't stop.

"What?" I asked.

"What's up with you and Squid? You are acting friendly again, you couldn't have just gotten over everything in a night," Lewis said looking at me intently.

"Well, we did. So get over it," I said sitting down.

"Liar. What happened?"

"Well, Squid and I talked last night."

"About what?"

"Stuff, just drop it."

Squid came back and sat down beside me. The guys turned their attention towards them.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing," Magnet said. "Just you two aren't arguing over anything and it's weird."

"Well, get over it."

"No, I want to know what happened between you and my little sister."

"Lewis, you are only two minutes older," I said getting very annoyed with him. "And, why are you complaining, you are the one who wanted us to make up, so stop talking about it."

"But-"

I gave him the Stop-Talking-Or-Get-Punched-In-The-Face face; he seemed to get that he need to stop while he was ahead. We all finished our breakfast and headed towards the digging site. I was walking with Squid in silence and it was driving me mad.

"So, I guess you hadn't told the guys what happened?" I said trying to get a conversation started.

"No. Did you tell the girls?" he asked looking down at me.

"Well…"

"You did, didn't you?"

"Yes, but nothing about what you told me. They just were wondering why I was gone, and I am a horrible liar."

"Then I should tell the guys. We don't want divided knowledge between the girls and the guys."

"Well, you can tell the guys, but…"

"But…?"

"Can I tell Lewis? I think he would take it better if it came from me. He might hurt you if you told him. My first boyfriend was the one who told him, and he had a black eye for a month."

"For the risk of my safety, I give you permission to tell him."

"Thanks."

"Okay ye can start digging here," Mr. Sir said to me scoffing the dirt with his boot heel.

I rammed my shovel into the ground and successfully broke the dry surface and started my daily process. After a while, I looked up and took a drink from my canteen. I paused and looked around. I wondered why of all places to hold a detention center, this is the place someone would hold it. And why do we dig holes? It's not like it's teaching me a lesson, it just gives me a tan and defined muscles. Which I like. I finally brought myself out of my thoughts and went back to digging. Time must fly by when you just concentrate on doing one thing because the next thing I knew Mr. Sir was here filling up canteens. I went to my place in line and waited. I watched the truck pull away.

I went back in my hole, shovel in hand, when I heard Magnet call out. "Anybody want some sunflower seeds?"

Magnet was standing at ground level, holding a sack of seeds. He popped a handful into his mouth, chewed, and swallowed, shells and all.

"Over here," called Squid.

The sack looked to be about half full. Magnet rolled up the top, then tossed it to Squid.

"How'd you get them without Mr. Sir seeing you?" asked Dutchess.

"I can't help it," Magnet said. He held both hands up, wiggled his fingers, and laughed. "My fingers are like little magnets."

The sack went from Squid to TC to Princess.

"It's sure good to eat something that doesn't come from a can," said TC.

Princess tossed the sack to ZigZag.

"Coming your way, Caveman," said ZigZag. "Airmail and special delivery…"

I didn't see if the seeds spilled before they got to Caveman or after he dropped the bag.

"Oh, man!" said Magnet.

"Caveman you've got butterfingers!" ZigZag yelled.

"The truck's coming!" I shouted.

We all looked up at the approaching dust cloud, then back down at the spilled seeds. We watched as Caveman dug his shovel into his hole, and tried turning over the dirt to bury the seeds.

"Hello, Mr. Sir," said Hype. "Back so soon?"

"It seems like you were just here," I yelled.

"Time flies when you're having fun," said Lewis.

I watched Caveman turn the dirt over in his hole.

"You Girl Scours having a good time?" asked Mr. Sir. He moved from one hole to another. He kicked a dirt pile by Magnet's hole, then he moved toward Caveman.

"Well, what do you know, Caveman?" said Mr. Sir. "It looks like you found something. Dig it out. We'll take it to the Warden. Maybe she'll give you the rest of the day off."

"It's not anything," Caveman said.

"Let me be the judge of that," said Mr. Sir.

I watched Caveman reach down and pull up the empty burlap sack. He tried to hand it to Mr. Sir, but he wouldn't take it.

"So, tell me, Caveman," said Mr. Sir. "How did my sack of sunflower seeds get in your hole?"

"I stole it from your truck," Caveman lied.

"You did?"

"Yes, Mr. Sir."

"What happened to all the sunflower seeds?"

"I ate them."

"By yourself."

"Yes, Mr. Sir."

"Hey, Caveman!" shouted Armpit. "How come you didn't share any with us?"

"That's cold, man," said Squid.

"I thought you were our friend," said Magnet.

Mr. Sir looked from Armpit to Squid to Magnet, then back to Caveman. "We'll see what the Warden has to say about this. Let's go."

I had no idea what the guys were doing, but I really wanted to. Why were they putting all the blame on Caveman? Mr. Sir was taking Caveman to the Warden, he was a dead man walking. Caveman climbed up out of his hole and followed Mr. Sir to the truck. He still was holding the empty sack.

"I wonder what's going to happen to him," I said.

"He better be wondering what's going to happen to him if he squeals," Armpit said.

Zero got out of his hole, and instead he started to dig Caveman's hole. We all watched him. Why was he doing that? He hadn't even finished his own hole. Zero kept digging until he finished Caveman's hole. Then he silently went back to digging his own hole. I was almost finished with mine when Caveman came back.

"Hey, Caveman!" called Armpit. "You're still alive."

"What'd the Warden say?" asked Squid.

"What'd you tell her?" asked Magnet.

"I told her I stole the seeds," said Caveman.

"Good going," said Magnet.

"What'd she do?" I asked him.

Caveman shrugged one shoulder. "Nothing. She got mad at Mr. Sir for bothering her."

We watched him as he went to his hole. He stared at it.

"Hey, thanks," he said.

"Don't look at me," said Squid. "Zero dug it."

Caveman looked at all of us until he got to Zero.

"Hey, Zero, why'd you dig my hole?"

"You didn't steal the sunflower seeds."

"So? Neither did you."

"You didn't steal the shoes."

After that, all I heard was whispering.