HALLOO READERS

Some may remember a request I made in Chapter 10 for new characters. Pendanski was one of the characters requested, and then I added Oliver in just for fun. But also, Violingirl101 had requested a character to be named Katy. So, Violingirl, this chapter is so dedicated to you! I hope I did your character justice. Any of my birdies left out there reading this, I hope you enjoy.

And TheAmethystRiddle, yeah, I'm one for creating awkward moments. Such things bring me great joy in life. Thanks for the review.

13

Katy

One week passed.

Nothing.

Nothing was done, but then again, nothing could be done.

What was supposed to happen to me? What was going to happen to Marion Sevillo? My sentence would be up in half a year. What then? Would I become a ward of the State? Would I go to an orphanage?

It was night, and everyone had finished their holes. Thomas was caught helping Oliver dig his first hole last week, so old man Walker decided on the new rule that nobody was to help anyone else with their holes.

Oliver and Wallace—I mean "Darkness" were playing some kind of made up card game with the legendary naked lady card deck. Oliver giggled the first time he saw the image, and I thought to myself it must have been the first time he's ever seen anyone remotely naked.

Cause I've seen plenty, o'courrse. Pfft.

What, you don't believe me?

Thomas was not in the tent, however, and I went into the rec room. It was a depressing sight to see. The new pool table was already scratched with "Glenn + David's mama 4ever" and "Greaser Greaser" on the wooden panel of the table.

What the hell is "greaser greaser"?

Stupid children.

Speak of the devil, Glenn spotted me and swaggered towards me pumping his fists like an idiot. "Hey wassup, Flower boy, my nigg—"

Mo, a tall, dark haired 16-year old who was still trying to grow a moustache slapped him in the back of the head.

"You stupid or something? You don't say that word around here. You not black..."

Glen frowned.

"Well you not black, either, Mo. You be one of those Arabians. Ain't no Arabians black."

Mo, otherwise known as Mohammad walked past saying, "whatever."

Glen smirked at me and shook his head. "What a dumbass," he said, making sure Mo could hear. Both were from B-Tent.

"It's not Arabian unless he's from Saudi Arabia," I said to Glen, who took it by surprise. "He's a Yemeni. From Yemen."

Glen made a sound like a sick horse snorting out an obstruction in its nasal cavity.

"Who you think you is, thinking you know about Arabians and Yamm people."

"Yemeni," I corrected. "My dad was a missionary. My mom told me a lot about him."

For some reason—it might have been the tone in my voice—Glen's smirk drooped and he gave me some kind of an idiotic brotherly nod before swaggering away.

"Hey," I called after him. "Have you seen Thomas anywhere?"

"Yeah," said Glen. "I seen him head towards the Warden's place with Lou. If ya ask me, there be a sumthin-sumthin' happening between those two."

Go to hell.

"Yeah," was all I replied, and headed out.

The front of the Walker's house was empty. The car was gone, which meant that both of the Walkers must have gone out for groceries or something. What the hell was Thomas doing in there anyway? I mean, I was the only one who used to be allowed there alone. What right did that Rambo-vampire asshole have to strut his stuff as if that were his place?

Angrily, I opened the door without knocking.

It was then I heard a conversation I wasn't supposed to be hearing. It was between Lou and Thomas.

"You think your grandparents know 'bout us?"

I heard Lou give a sarcastic giggle.

They were in the living room.

On the couch.

"Where are your folks anyway?" Thomas asked.

"They're out to get Katy."

"Who's Katy?" Thomas's voice had suddenly perked up.

"You seem perdy interested in someone you don't know," Lou said playfully.

"No—that's not it." An awkward pause ensued. "I'm just curious, that's all."

"Katy's my cousin. Her momma's dead and her dad just got real sick so grandpa decided that Katy would enjoy being with me for a while. Plus I think he secretly hoped she'll make good company for grandma and wake her up from her... sleep."

At the mentioning of Linda Walker, her grandmother, her voice faltered a little bit.

"Now... where were we?" Thomas said cattily (yes, cattily) to avoid the awkward matter of Lou's grandmother,

"Not now, Tommy. I'm not in the mood anymore."

"Pleeaase," said Thomas.

Wow, what a desperate jerk-off.

"What's wrong?" asked Thomas disappointedly.

"I'm thinkin' bout Flower, is all."

This caught me by surprise.

"You're thinking about Sevillo now?" Thomas was annoyed.

Lou let out a hybrid of a sigh and a laugh.

"Flower has nowhere to go. He doesn't have relatives that we can find. And I can't imagine Flower in some third rate orphanage eating cabbage soup."

Thomas laughed. "Cabbage soup? Did you get that from the movie Oliver? You know, orphanages must have changed a little since then," Thomas said sarcastically, then added, "what about his dad? Can't his dad take him?"

"Don't ya know?" she asked.

"Know what?"

"His daddy's dead."

Thomas went quiet for a moment.

"Oh, no way." Thomas mused. "How did he die?"

"I dunno. My grandpa never told me. Ain't it sad, Tommy? He has no one. He has no one but us."

Thomas exhaled and said, "Listen, Lou. You don't have to worry about him. He may look like a garden gnome but he really isn't as dumb as one. Now come on... let's enjoy what's left of our time before your folks get back."

Then she blurted it out.

"My grandpa and I were thinking of keeping Flower."

"WHAT?"

"Well... he has nowhere to go, ya know? And—don't tell him—but my grandpa kinda likes him. Not in a gay way or anything (This made Thomas laugh outright) And I don't want Flower to go. We was thinkin' of findin' a way to increase his sentence, or get him to work here or even... adopting him."

"You want to ADOPT a twelve-year-old, gender-questionable kid who talks about grammar and beetles?"

"Fourteen."

"What?"

"He turned fourteen in January... I can't believe this! He's in your tent. He was the first one that talked to you. He was your bait when your tent-mates went through that retarded obsession with escaping the camp..."

Thomas said nothing.

This was all too much for me. I didn't know what to think of it, and I wish I'd never gone in this stupid fucking house.

I was about to leave as quietly as possible when I heard Lou's voice again.

"Hey, Tommy..." Lou's voice hitched, as if hesitant.

"What?"

"Do you ever still want to find your brother?"

The long pause after that made it seem the air was extremely thick. Then I heard Thomas say in a dejected manner, "I don't really wanna talk about that."

I left that dark room then as quickly as I could.

God, I was hungry. But just then, I saw the old Walkers' hearse car puttering back from the distance.

I heard the front door slam and Thomas rushed out. He must have seen the car as well. He looked surprised to see me standing so close to the house. Like a deer caught in headlights.

"Oh... hey..." he said. "I was just...umm—"

"I just got here," I stated quickly. He believed it.

Thomas crossed his arms and nodded to the approaching car. "They're bringing back some cargo. Her name's Katy, Lou says." He smiled coyly and said to me, "She's a blonde."

"Don't try to act like a womanizer. I saw you writing that poetry, little miss," I said with so much attitude that Thomas hooted.

"You're the funniest guy I know, ya know that?" Thomas then looked at his feet.

The car arrived, and we both still stood there, I think both eagerly anticipating what was to step out of that car. It didn't even cross our attention that we could actually be punished for it.

The front car door opened and Walker wiggled out, making it look like the automobile itself was a wild animal giving birth to a smelly old man.

"That was absolutely disgusting."

"What are you kids doing here? You can't just come and go as y'all please. Go back to work."

Thomas shrugged. "It's evening. We finished digging."

Surprisingly, Walker didn't argue back. Instead, he walked to the other side of the car and helped his wife out of her seat. When she saw me, it appeared as if a small smile had formed on her face, but it could have just been gas.

The back door opened by itself and a small, spry young thing stepped out.

"Aww," I said. "Look Thomas, it's a dollie!"

She, in fact, did resemble a felt doll with slight arms and slight legs and curls upon her blonde head that were almost corkscrew, but not quite. Her eyes we just a large as a doll's; pale and silvery blue with lashes that reached the sky. Her head bobbled slightly out of tiredness, adding to the effect of, yes, a living marionette.

"This here darlin' is our Katy," Walker said, tottering over to the lost-looking girl and planting a kiss on her forehead. This action resulted in the girl's eyes widening to an unrecognizable extent. And her light face turned a shade of green.

I was surprised that she tolerated such an action by only turning green and looking like she was about to die. If Walker kissed my head, I would have barfed.

Thomas was the first to say hello whilst I stood, still observing.

"Hey, I'm Thomas."

Much to astonishment, her solemn face stretched and she giggled loudly.

"What's so funny?" Thomas asked stupidly. He looked around as if someone would offer him an explanation.

She giggled again.

"Katy's a shy girl, but she really is a sweetheart once she gits ta know you." With that, Walker spat into the ground and limped to his house with his wife who trailed behind like a dead tree.

"Nice to meet you, Tommy." Her voice matched her slim build.

"It's actually Thomas."

Instead of replying, her eyes absentmindedly wandered to me.

"Hello," she said quietly. To her chest she held what looked like a green notebook.

"Do you draw?"

Ignoring my question, she said, "You have nice cheeks. They're like bread," She touched my face. "Like sandwich bread."

I realized that she was very much like Lou and didn't socialize like a normal person. At all.

I sighed and said, "I like your skirt. It looks like a mushroom."

(Lou always wore pants.)

Katy giggled approvingly and then hugged me, which caught me off guard.

Thomas frowned. "I don't get it. How do you do that with people?"

"I wish I knew," I said.

Just then Lou walked out. Immediately Katy screamed, then Lou screamed, followed by dancing around and hugging.

The sun was going down by this time and both Thomas and I looked at each other.

"Well, it was nice meeting you, Katy," he said, putting his hands in the pocket of his gray jumper. He nodded at me and we both began walking back to camp.

"See, Katy? That there's Flower. Ain't he pretty? And that's Tommy—"

"THOMAS!" He shouted back, but Lou just smiled and said cheerfully. "Tommy, he writes poetry, too."

Katy's large eyes widened at that but she said nothing.

Thomas and I were silent as we headed to the tent.

When we got back, the twins were still playing cards, but were less enthusiastic as when I left them.

"Please... save us," said Oliver.

"We've been playing cards since the beginning of time," said Darkness.

"I know!" said a female voice behind us. "Oh my gosh, guys, I got the coolest game!"

It was Lou.

"We ran after you, but you were stuck in your own thoughts or something cause you didn't turn back to look at us once," she said.

"This is Katy. And we're gonna play Truth or Dare," Lou announced with a satisfied nod of her head.

Oliver and Darkness's mouths dropped open at the sight of the 99 pound newcomer with the book still in her hand.

"She's like a vixen made from spun gold!" said Oliver to me.

Darkness didn't say anything. He just stared. What else was new?

"Aww, Lou. That's such bogue game," Thomas said, letting himself fall onto his cot.

"Did you just say bogue?" Lou snorted loudly to herself and then suddenly stopped. .

"Trying to catch up with the modern teenage vocabulary list?" I asked, taking off my shoes. "Eh, Fonzie?"

Thomas rolled away from us and hid his face. "Man, shut up. That was such a bogue joke."

We all laughed. Thomas's ears turned a bright shade of red.

Lou took out a small Coca-Cola bottle that she brought with her and laid it upon the ground, explain how we were to sit around in a circle and spin the bottle.

"Whichever two people that the ends of the bottle point to are the darer and daree."

"Oh! Oh! I want to spin the bottle!" I declared.

For the first three rounds, Thomas stayed on his cot, completely unmoving with his arms crossed. However, when Lou dared Katy to kiss Oliver on the cheek (it was as if she knew exactly who to dare and what to dare them to do), Thomas seemed to gain interest and silently walked to the circle where we sat and took his place next to Lou.

"Hey cool cat," she said to him teasingly. "Flower power, man"

"That term is soo last decade," Oliver said, rolling his eyes. This caused an uproar which, when Thomas discovered he was being made fun of, made him blush blood red.

Darkness spun the bottle afterwards, and it landed on Katy.

"Groovy," he said, resulting in a glare from Thomas.

"Rad! All the way! Funkadelic!" Each of us shouted one by one, making fun of Thomas's attempt earlier at using the word "bogue".

Finally, Darkness asked Katy,

"Katy, what is your secret power?"

Smiling, Katy said without hesitation, "I can tell the future."

Lou nodded. "It's true. One time, when I stayed over at her house, she said 'I bet we'll have omelette for breakfast'. And the next day," Lou said in a creepy tone, "WE HADE OMELETTE FOR BREAKFAST!"

Her uproar caused everyone to fly backwards.

Then Thomas randomly said, "Jive Turkey, man."

There was an awkward silence as people tried to hold in their mirth, but it didn't last long. Lou was in such hysterics that she was holding her stomach. But this time Thomas didn't blush. He just smiled, then kissed Lou on the cheek, which then caused another deafening silence.

Lou stared at Thomas in a 'why-did-you-just-do-that?' expression, then looked at the rest of us for our response to Thomas's sudden outburst of affection.

I didn't even know what to say, and I saw them doing worse before.

"Hold it in your pants, Tommy," Katy said in such an innocent manner that it caused everyone to crack up again. Lou and Thomas smiled sheepishly.

Thomas spun the bottle, and it landed on me.

"Truth or dare, Flower?"

"Truth," I said.

"Tell us about your dad."

I didn't know at that time how long my brain stopped functioning, or how long I just stared at Thomas before I returned to my senses and asked, "What?"

"Tell us about—"

"Thomas, you jerk." Lou said lowly, but Thomas didn't back down.

Oliver, Katy, and Darkness looked confused, but Thomas was staring at me intently, and Lou was gazing guiltily away.

"He died," I said.

"How?" Oliver asked.

"He was doing ministry work in Africa..." I scratched my head apprehensively. I really didn't want to continue, but everyone was staring so intensely.

"You don't have to tell us if ya don't want to, Flower." Lou said. "You can pick dare instead."

Thomas's eyes were still unwavering. He wanted an answer.

"In Rwanda there's been this ongoing clash between two different ethnic groups, and my dad was caught in a skirmish between a group of Hutu and Tutsi people. He was killed 'cause he tried to stop this Tutsi guy from shooting this Hutu girl. I was just a kid at the time and we were waiting for him at the airport, but he never came. We didn't even know he was dead until four days later."

Everyone was looking down by then, even Thomas. But Katy was just... staring at me.

"My daddy says all things turn out in the end, even after death," she said.

I imagined her father told her that countless times to explain her mother's death and her father's sickness.

I didn't believe him.

"It's getting late," Lou muttered.

Thomas leaned towards her but Lou coldly stood up and dusted herself off.

"G'night Oliver. G'night Wally."

Kate got up as well.

"See you later, alligator," she said to me.

When the two girls left, Thomas clenched his jaw and unclenched it again. He seemed to have difficulty knowing what to say.

"Hey, Sevillo—"

"Whatever," I said, and climbed into my cot without bothering to change.

"I didn't actually do it with her, you know. I was just kidding," he said from behind my turned back, and then concluded,

"We're only fifteen years old, for Christ's sake."

He turned off the lantern.

Love, peace, and pure ecstatic happiness,

LeMoNsOuR