Chapter Twenty Four
"I can't believe Zero ran away," Dutchess said.
"It's all Squid and ZigZag's fault, if they just left him alone he would still be here," Stranger said. She was furious and depressed; and the only things keeping her from killing Squid and ZigZag were me and Princess.
"Hey, it is mostly Caveman's fault. He's the one who made the deal with him. He knew no one would be a big fan of that; especially Squid and ZigZag. They have been here the longest out of any of us. He knew they weren't going to take that lying down," I said calmly defending Squid. I knew it was partly his fault; he just wouldn't let up. "Besides, it was mostly Ziggy's fault."
"Hey!" Princess said. We all looked at her.
"What do you care if it was ZigZag's fault or not?" Hype said in a knowing way.
"Oh my goodness…you like him!" Dutchess said excitedly.
"Yeah, well…shut up. Don't blame this all on ZigZag," Princess said.
"Why not? He was the one who started the fight between him and Caveman, which led to Zero's running away!" Stranger said looking at Princess dangerously.
"Well, he wouldn't have started the fight if Caveman wasn't allowing Zero to dig part of his hole; so, this is all Caveman's fault," Princess yelled.
"Hey! Caveman was saving his energy to teach Zero how to read. And, I think Zero's education is more important than who digs a hole," TC yelled over all of us.
We all looked at her.
"Well, yeah, I know that. But, when he tried telling us that before we all thought it was ridiculous. TC, even you were pissed off," I said.
"Yeah, I know I was. But, now that I know it was true I feel horrible. I mean, Caveman did what he thought was best for Zero. He was giving him an education," TC said.
"When did you start defending anybody? Let alone Caveman?" Princess asked.
"I don't know; something about him is so…" TC said trailing off.
"I knew it!" I yelled. "You like Caveman! I am so good!"
'How on earth did you know?" TC asked scared at my outburst.
"It is so obvious. You are always sticking up for him. Whenever he isn't talking to anybody, you go out of your way to talk to him. And I know you don't go out of your way for just anybody," I said smirking.
"Hey, what I want to know is: Stranger, why are you all of a sudden loud and in our faces about this?" Hype chirped.
"Um…"
"Yeah, you are usually quiet and reserved. Why are you all interest in Zero's problems?" Dutchess asked.
"Um…"
"Come on we want to know," TC asked.
"Don't make me say it. I know you guys know why," Stranger pleaded.
"I'm not sure we do. Say it Stranger," I said smiling.
"I hate you guys," Stranger moaned.
"Oh…Stranger and Zero sitting in a tree," Princess sang quietly.
"K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" the rest of us joined in.
"Oh, shut up! Fine! Fine! I like Zero! Are you happy now?" Stranger yelled.
We all laughed, and then saw Stranger face. Then we just laughed harder. Then Dutchess decided to come out with a confession.
"Since, you guys have come out with who you like. I think I should tell you that I like-"
"Magnet," we all bluntly said.
"What? How did you know that?" Dutchess asked surprised.
"Oh, Magnet is so sexy," I said walking over to her and put my arm around her shoulder.
"Oh, Magnet is so funny," TC joined me.
"Dutchess, it was kind of hard not to tell," Hype said.
"Well, what about you Hype? You must like someone," TC said her.
"And, if you say my brother, I swear I will throw up," I warned her.
"Well, I don't, and Twist no offence but your brother is…"
"Hey, we maybe fraternal, but we still look a lot alike. But, I am the more fortunate looking one, so I get your point," I said half defending Lewis.
"Hey, did you hear? Mom said we are already getting a new guy to replace Zero," Dutchess said.
"Already?" Hype said. "Is there like a waiting line for this place?"
"Probably, I don't like that when they give you this option they don't really describe it very well. It should be named something else. I remember hearing the name and thinking, 'Camp Green Lake sounds okay. Maybe they have lake activities.' Boy, was I wrong," Princess said.
"At least you guys had an option," I said. "I was going to be sent to a girl's detention center. But, my parents are in the social crowd, so saying their daughter is in a detention center is like suicide in their book. So, they paid for me to come here. I had no choice in the matter."
"Well, at least here there are guys. I would be bored to death if I was stuck around girls all day," Dutchess said.
"Yeah, I guess," I said. "Hey, I don't feel like being around the guys right now, I'll make sandwiches for y'all."
"Okay," they all chorused.
So, I made everyone a sandwich and we went to sleep.
The next morning was really quiet and uncomfortable. Nobody talked to anybody, we just walked in silence. It was a really uneventful digging day. Nobody talked, we just dug and dug. After we all finished lunch, we watched as the bus drove past us with the new kid. I finished my hole after the guys, and went back to the site to shower, leaving the girls and Caveman digging in silence. I got out of the shower and walked back to my tent to get dressed and check out the new guy.
I walked up to the guys' tent and yelled, "Your queen is here, are you all dressed?"
Squid opened the flaps and said, "Yes, Your Shortness."
"Nice, a crack at my height. Those are always so funny," I said striding past him.
"You know I didn't mean it," he said kissing my cheek.
"So, I guess you're the new guy," I said walking around him. He was taller than me, surprise, but not by a lot. Probably 5'4". Blond hair, brown eyes, and he twitched insanely. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, why?" he said, twitching.
"You're twitching," I said.
"Oh, yeah. I always do that. My name's Brian," he said twitching all through the sentences.
"No, you're defiantly Twitch," I said.
"No, I'm defiantly Brian."
"Oh, well, now you're Twitch. Own it, embrace it, love it. You're officially apart of D-Tent. And, I am Twist," I said.
"Okay, why are you called Twist?"
"Watch this," Squid said as we went out of the tent.
I stood still and did a front hand spring, back hand spring, front hand spring, back tuck, with a full twisting layout. "That's why."
"How did you do that?" Twitch asked.
"You are looking at the State of Texas Gymnast Champion of the Teen Division," I said walking back into the tent.
"Are there other girls here?" Twitch asked.
"Yeah, they should all be here in a couple of minutes," Armpit said.
Sure enough, the rest of the girls came in after Caveman.
"Okay, this is Caveman, TC, Princess, Dutchess, Stranger, and Hype. Guys this is Twitch," I said.
"I can see that," Hype said sitting down next to Twitch. "What'd you do to end up here, Twitch?"
"I stole a car. I never planned to, you know, steal one," he told us. "But sometime, you know, I'll be walking past a real nice car, parked in a deserted area, and, you know, I'll just start twitching. If you think I twitch now, you should see me when I'm around a car. The next thing I know, I'm behind the wheel. I can break into a car, disconnect the alarm, and hot-wire the engine, all in less than a minute."
"Uh-huh," Hype said. "I just broke a girl's arm."
"Really?"
"Yeah, and her leg, and put her in a coma."
"Why?"
"She called me a bitch."
"Hey," said Twitch, turning his attention to the rest of us. "Do we really have to get up at 4 a.m.?"
"You get used to it," Hype said before any of us could open our mouth. "It's the coolest part of the day."
I was sitting next to Squid watching Hype and Twitch.
"You know, you could be less obvious about watching people," Squid whispered into my ear.
"I'm not watching people," I whispered back.
"Sure, Hype and Twitch are just in your main view."
"Shut up," I kiss kissing him quickly.
"Hey, you two. Don't do that around me," Lewis said from across the tent.
I rolled my eyes. The dinner bell rang and we all went to the Mess Hall. I knew that I would have to make Twitch a sandwich after this, as I did for all the new people in our tent. It would be the last two pieces of bread, and I would just have a jar a peanut butter. So, it was after dinner and I made a sandwich for him, kissed Squid goodnight, and went to bed.