Phew...okay, here's the next chapter! Just so you know, neither Stanley or Zero are in the story...yet. There isn't much to this chapter other than meeting the main girls. I tried not to make it boring. I didn't want to just write paragraphs about each character explaining who they were, what they looked like, and why they were arrested. Basically, I want you to slowly get to know the girls through the story.
Also, the language is much better in this one, promise. : )
READ On!
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Chapter 1: Meet the Gang
It was late in the afternoon when the bus full of girls finally pulled into Camp Green Lake and everyone piled unceremoniously out of it. The guard, worried about another argument, kept a firm grip on his gun, much to the dismay of the girls.
"Oh. My. God." A tall girl with dark skin stopped dead the minute she stepped foot off the bus. "It is soo hot here!"
"We're in the middle of a desert, Karizma, what do you expect?" Abigail, the short red head snapped. "Now move your ass so the rest of us can get off!"
As the girls clambered off the bus, they were ordered to line up alphabetically so they could check everyone off.
"Right, cause I'm sure someone probably jumped off a moving bus and is now celebrating their freedom in this lush wilderness that surrounds us." Abigail muttered under her breath. A few of the girls around her heard the remark and smirked.
"You." The girls became silent and straightened up as a man walked up to them and pointed at the red head. "What's your name?"
She tilted her head, allowing some of her hair to fall in her face, and smiled. "Abigail Walters, sir."
"That's Mr. Sir. to you, young lady."
Abigail raised her eyebrows and held back a laugh, as many of the girls did, but curtly nodded her head in understanding. "Yes, sir, Mr. Sir."
Ignoring the sniggers from the line of girls, Mr. Sir spoke forcefully, "Welcome to Camp Green Lake, ladies."
"You hear that, Nat?" Ellia whispered to the tall brunette next to her. "We're ladies."
Natalie scoffed, "And he's the Dalai Lama."
The two girls snorted quietly as Mr. Sir continued to blather on about the camp. Ellia was scanning the old building behind him with disinterest when she felt a nudge from her left.
She turned to the person next to her.
"Look over there."
Ellia followed her head nod down past the bus to a group of boys staring in their direction. She felt an odd sense of foreboding as she watched them making crude gestures and laughing. She turned back to Mr. Sir, choosing to ignore their childishness.
"Do you think any of them are cute?" She asked Ellia hopefully.
"Son," Raven sighed, "They're a bunch of juvenile delinquents. Not to mention hormone crazed, sex deprived teenage boys."
"You are such a downer." Son ran a hand through her hair, put on her best smile and waved to the boys. The boys stopped what they were doing, temporarily shocked, before one of them waved back.
"Hey, babe!" The rest of the boys whistled at them but after one look from Mr. Sir, quieted down.
"Nat," Ellia turned back to her right. "You better keep Son on a leash."
Leaning around Ellia, Natalie hissed at Sonomi who was still waving and toying with her hair. "Son, cut that shit out."
"…And don't expect anyone to go easy on you just because you're a girl either. You'll have the same rules, expectations, and punishment as any of the boys. Now," He turned and nodded to some men standing behind him. "These will be your counselors during your time here at Camp Green Lake. They'll divide you into two groups and show you your tent."
The girls split up as they were told and grabbed what little possessions they had to take to their tent. Ellia, Abigail, and Natalie followed their counselor, Mr. Pendanski, to G-Tent, but stopped listening as soon as they heard him start with what they thought of as inspirational crap.
Along with Raven, the assigned girls to G-Tent were Natalie, Karizma, Andi, Sonomi, Erin, and Abigail. As far as Raven thought, it was a decent group. At least Aubrey wasn't with them.
"The gods are smiling down on you, El." Natalie said as the two of them walked. "Aubrey looked like she might actually kill you this time. Why'd you say that anyway?"
Ellia shrugged, "I was bored."
"It's gonna be a long 10 months for you in that case. I'm not always going to stick up for you. That goes for you too, Abby." Natalie walked on, leaving Ellia behind to stick out her tongue while Abigail rolled her eyes.
"God, she can be a real bitch sometimes."
They were about to walk up the steps to their tent when a boy came up and put his arm around Abby.
"Hey, beautiful, want me to help you out with your hole tomorrow?" He asked suggestively.
Ellia cringed and shook her head, "Of all the girls to pick…"
Of all the girls, Abby probably had the shortest fuse of everyone. Ellia thought it had to do with her firey red hair, but didn't dare tell Abby that. Ducking under his arm, Abby brought it painfully behind his back, forcing him to his knees. She leaned down next to his ear. "You come anywhere near me or my hole tomorrow, and I'll bury you in it." Then, she pushed him away and climbed the stairs with Ellia.
"Ya know, Abbs, I think I was wrong about this place. This could be far more entertaining than I originally thought!" Ellia chuckled as she followed her friend into the tent.
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"You have got to be kidding me." Sonomi looked down at the slop on her plate and then up at the server.
"Sorry, Princess," the server mocked concern, leaning against the counter. "How bought I go whip up a steak and some potatoes in the back for you."
Sonomi looked as if she wanted to respond but shut her mouth and moved on.
"Good idea," He mumbled after her.
G-Tent was given an assigned table that stood perpendicular to D and E Tents while the other girls, F-Tent, were next to A and B Tents.
Sonomi sat down in her spot between Karizma and Eddy and glared at her food. Across from her, Abby, Andi, and Ellia played with their dinner.
"At least the bread is edible." Ellia said, eyeing the brown goop that looked vile enough to come to life. The girls sat in silence as they attempted to work up an appetite.
"It's not as bad as it looks," said a voice behind them.
The girls turned in their seats to see the boys from D-Tent watching them humorously.
"Well, it looks as if it's about to sprout legs and walk off the plate!" Abigail said in disgust.
The boys shook their heads and one of them said, "It won't look that way tomorrow, chica."
"Why?" Sonomi spoke up hopefully. "Are they serving something better tomorrow?"
This made the boys laugh and Abby reach over the table to slap her up the side of her head.
"Are you kidding?" The black kid with thick glasses at the end of the table said through laughter. "Look, after digging all day tomorrow, you'll eat anything." He pointed to their plates, "even something like that."
The girls turned back to their plates. "And who's the expert we have to thank for delivering such wonderful news?" Natalie asked.
The boy smiled, "I'm X-Ray, the leader of D-Tent." He pointed to the boy on his right, "That's Magnet, Squid," he pointed to the other side of the table, "Barfbag, Zigzag, and Armpit."
"Barfbag?" Ellia raised an eyebrow.
The blonde's cheeks turned a slight pink, "I have motion sickness and was throwing up when I first got here."
The girls grimaced and Ellia said, "Who gave you that nickname?"
"I did." X-Ray pointed to himself proudly.
"What a crap nickname," Natalie stated.
"Why don't you just change it?" Sonomi asked curiously.
Barbag fidgeted in his seat, obviously unsure of how to answer the question. "It doesn't bother me."
A loud scoff came from Natalie and she muttered, "Yeah right. Some leader you got there…"
X-Ray glared at her.
"You know what girls?" Ellia plastered a sweet smile on her face as a tension set between the two tables. The last thing they needed was to make enemies everywhere they went. As much as she wanted to deny it, making friends with a few of the boys might be crucial to survival. "Where are our manners? We didn't introduce ourselves."
She cleared her throat and pointed to Natalie first. "That loud mouth is Natalie, she fancies herself the leader like you, X-Ray." From across the table Natalie glared and made a move to chuck some of her food at Ellia but thought better of it.
Ellia ignored Natalie and went on introducing the girls. "Next to her is Karizma, then Sonomi and little Erin, but we just call her Eddy." Ellia leaned back to point to Abby. "Abigail's our ball of spitfire, and this," Ellia clapped her hand on the shoulder of the quiet girl next to her. "This is Andi."
Andi offered a small smile to the boys before turning her back on them.
Ellia thoughtfully watched her neighbor, completely forgetting about the boys. Andi was the quiet one. She wasn't shy exactly, she just kept to herself. She did what she liked and didn't care what anyone else thought. Ellia was almost jealous of it.
"So…what are you all in for?" Squid asked.
The girls all quietly looked at each other; none of them willing to volunteer their story first.
"Hey, Abby," Son smiled. "Tell your story, it's my favorite."
All of G-Tent smiled but Abby glared. "It's not a bed time story, Son. It's very serious."
"Ha!" Ellia laughed from her seat but stopped at the look Abby gave her. "What?" She added, defensively. "You have to admit, Abbs, it's pretty hilarious."
Taking a deep breath, Abby turned in her seat to address the waiting boys. "I was protesting the bulldozing of a local historic building."
A few of the boys raised their eyebrows. "And what, chained yourself to it?" Armpit laughed.
"No," She paused and tilted her head. "Well, yes but more to each other."
"Cool." Barfbag looked at Abby, impressed.
It was Natalie who scoffed first and added, "Please, she didn't give a damn about the building. She was there for some guy."
"Oh!" Sonomi cried in excitement. "I didn't know that!"
Abby ignored Son and Natalie, continuing with her story. "I was dead bored; only shouting when Johnny was looking, so I smoked a cigarette. Of course, then I found out he didn't like them so I threw it. Apparently," Abby emphasized it, clearly not in agreement with the authorities, "it landed on a newspaper some idiot had left out and the whole place went up in flames."
"Aw, man!" Magnet, along with the rest of D-Tent, watched her in curiosity.
"Yeah," Ellia laughed. "The executives trying to knock down the building even shook her hand, thanking her for doing their job for them."
Zigzag spoke for the first time over the laughter, "I bet them execs planted that newspaper there, only they were gonna light it with a torch, and" He made an explosive noise as he brought his hands apart and widened his eyes.
The girls stared at him, not sure what to think.
"Hey, Ellia," A voice to her right called.
Ellia turned to meet the piercing gray eyes of Aubrey, who stood leaning on the table with her hands. "I think you and I should take a walk outside."
Torn between fear and amusement, Ellia put on her best smile. "Gee, thanks, Aubrey but I'm a bit full from dinn-"
The bench scraped the floor as Aubrey dragged Ellia up by her collar. Immediately, Abby and Natalie were on their feet as well.
"It wasn't a request." Aubrey sneered, inches from Ellia's face.
"Aubrey," Natalie spoke urgently. "Forget what happened on the bus. It was hot and we were all on edge. But, being as outnumbered as we are, we girls have to stick together, alright?" Aubrey didn't move as Natalie continued to talk her down. "I already told Ellia to knock it off and she agreed." At this point, she looked meaningfully at Ellia, who nodded.
"I'll be a good girl from now on, Aubrey." She held up her hand, smiling innocently. "Scouts honor."
A tense moment passed as Aubrey eyed the squirming blonde in front of her before she threw Ellia on the floor. No one moved as she turned to Natalie. "You better keep her away from me." Then she walked away. It wasn't until she was out of the building that Natalie and Abby sat down and Ellia caught her breath from the floor.
"Boy, she's a bit touchy isn't she?" Ellia spoke as she rubbed her neck where the fabric had cut into her.
Slowly, she got to her feet and took her seat again; dismissing the smirks that D-Tent was sending her.
The boys were talking among their table now, allowing the girls to return to a comfortable silence. Ellia took another look at her food and sighed. She was hot, hungry, and really didn't feel like staring at the repulsive slop on her tray.
"Well," She planted her hands on either side of her tray and began to stand up. "As fun as this is, I'm heading out."
She only made it three steps before she remembered Aubrey who was probably still outside. She turned to the table of girls and asked hopefully," Anyone else finished?"
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Can you guess which character is my favorite to write? Haha. I'm sorry there isn't much of the boys in this chapter. I hate writing scenes where there are a million people to keep track of.
Thank you for reading!!
And thanks to skygirl1229, A small Free Kiss in the Dark, and Xizzaglo for reviewing!
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