Haha, I'm glad you all like Andi. One thing I wanted to throw out there is help for a nickname. I have a pretty good idea for most of the girls but am still working on Ellia's (as you will see in this chapter). So if you come up with anything good while you're reading, let me know and I may use it! : )
Disclaimer: I realized I forgot to put a disclaimer in the other chapters so let it be known that I don't own Holes or any of its original characters.
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Chapter 2: Blisters and Bruises
It was after a very restless and dreamless night that the bugle sounded for everyone to get up. G-Tent was especially quiet as they rolled out of their beds and stumbled into their orange jump suits.
The girls were content grumbling to themselves, so when Sonomi said in a rather cheerful tone, "Hey, these aren't too bad!" her face was met with a number of pillows.
Abby stood next to her bed, fingering a strand of her fiery red hair and holding it against her sleeve. Grimacing, she said in disgust, "They probably pick the most unappealing color on purpose."
"It's to further punish us for our crimes." Natalie said as she threw a blue tank top on and zipped up her jump suit.
Ellia sat quietly at her bunk doing up her boots. She wore an old white t-shirt that had Jaguar Soccer written across the front of it and had her hair pulled back into two braids in an attempt to control her frizzy waves.
"Come on, ladies!" A male's voice called from outside their tent. "Rise and shine!"
They all groaned before leaving the tent and joining the mass of orange jump suits outside. The boys, used to the early morning wake up call, snickered at the girls who yawned and leaned on each other for support as they waited in line for their shovels.
"Hey, look," Squid joked with the other boys of D-tent, "The dead can walk."
Ellia flipped the shovel she was carrying and hit the back of Squid's head with the handle. "Opps."
"You did that on purpose," Squid accused as he rubbed the back of his head.
They followed everyone into line for breakfast, Ellia in front of Squid. Turning to him, Ellia put on a thoughtful expression. "No…if I had done it on purpose, I would have just done this." She hit him square in the stomach with the bottom of her shovel.
It wasn't a very hard hit, but it was enough to make him wince and grab his middle. "What was that for?"
Ellia shrugged, "It was merely a demonstration…" She paused for a moment before asking, "Quid, right?"
"Squid," he corrected as he straightened himself.
"Right," Ellia turned back around and grabbed a tortilla with honey, scrutinizing it. "This just keeps getting better and better."
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"What happened to the punishment fitting the crime?" Abby complained from her waist deep hole.
The morning had dragged on up to this point, each of the girls quietly digging in their designated spot. There were frequent mutterings as the girls complained but hardly a sentence had been spoken to each other since they first broke ground early that morning.
It was at that moment that they heard the sound of an engine and looked up to see their counselor, Dr. Pendanski, coming to their site with lunch. Ellia easily climbed out of her hole, which was only about two feet deep by this time, and grabbed some food. This meal, she decided, was officially her favorite as it was the only one that seemed edible.
Taking a seat at Abby's hole, Ellia spoke for the first time since breakfast. "How long do you think before they run out of space?" She asked, looking around the barren wasteland.
"Not any time soon. Ugh…" Abby looked at her hands, "There is no way I'll be able to dig tomorrow."
Ellia didn't bother looking at her hands; she knew they were just as bad and didn't need the reminder. Instead, she tried to focus on the grainy sandwich in her hands. She looked over at Andi who had practically shoved her food down and was back to digging her hole. She was the farthest of everyone, followed closely by Natalie. It was a good thing they were forced to keep in shape at their previous detention center or they would have been in trouble.
"Have you noticed that the boys call Pendanski, Mom?" Abby asked with a smile on her face.
"Yes," Ellia scoffed. "They're obsessed with nicknames."
"I wonder if they'll give us one…"
Surprised, Ellia asked, "You want one?"
Her friend shrugged. "Why the hell not? It might make things more interesting…at least for a day or so." Then, she looked at Ellia. "Don't you?"
Ellia shrugged, "Not really."
"Why not?"
"I just don't."
The subject was dropped as quickly as it was started and the girls fell quiet again while they ate their lunch. It had only been a minute when Son screeched from her hole. "I broke a nail!"
Though the girls were used to Son's obsession with her looks, this caused everyone to roll their eyes. Karizma, being the nurturer she was, gave Sonomi the sympathy she was craving, but Abby snickered. "I caught Son talkin some kid up this morning. What's his name?" She snapped her fingers as she tried to remember his name. "He's the tall one with crazy blonde hair."
Ellia gave her a blank look. "I don't know. The only name I can remember is Squid and that's only because he reminded me this morning."
"Zigzag!" Abby clapped suddenly in revelation.
"What?" Son jumped up and quickly swiped some fly away hairs behind her ear. She looked around to find the person in question all the while, trying to remain aloof.
"Relax, Son." Ellia called and pointed over her shoulder. "He's digging his hole way over there."
Both girls tried not to laugh as Son's face dropped and she reluctantly returned to digging.
"Anyway," Abby continued more quietly, "he was totally freaked out. He was looking at her like he expected another head to pop out or something."
The two shared another laugh at Sonomi's expense.
"Poor guy," Ellia said, shaking her head. "Oh, well. She'll move on to someone else tomorrow."
After throwing the last of her sandwich in her mouth, Ellia stood up and went back to her hole to continue digging. She had a long way to go and they had already been out there for hours. Looking out to her right, she saw Eddy struggling with her own hole. Yes, the day was far from over.
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It wasn't until late in the afternoon that Ellia flung the last of the dirt from her hole. There was only one other girl left: Eddy. Son had been the last person to leave but that was quite a while ago. After double checking that she had a five by five hole, Ellia attempted to get out. It was no easy task. Ellia tried and failed to jump out of her hole for a good three minutes before she came up with an idea. Jamming her shovel firmly into the wall of her hole, she was able to use it as a step to help her heave herself out the rest of the way.
"Well, that's something to look forward to every day." Ellia mumbled to herself.
Heaving the shovel out of the hole, Ellia slung it over her shoulder and wandered over to Eddy. "How's it going, Ed?"
The younger girl lifted the hat she was wearing and wiped the sweat from her forehead. "Fine."
Ellia noticed she was eying her hole the same way she, herself was just a minute ago. Her blonde head hardly cleared the top and she looked exactly as Ellia felt, exhausted.
"Here," she jumped down and showed Eddy how she had used her shovel. Together, they climbed out and headed back to camp.
It looked as if everyone was going to dinner when the girls finally arrived. Ellia was slightly relieved because this meant she could shower in peace.
They passed the boys of D-tent on their way, all showered and relaxed.
"Don't tell me you just finished." Armpit said incredulously.
"Gladly," Ellia smirked and pushed Eddy through the boys, not in the mood to be harassed.
"Hey, Crispy, looks like you got a little too much sun today."
Stopping in her tracks, Ellia turned at their laughter and raised her eyebrows at X-Ray. She knew she got sun burnt, it was the most time she had spent in the sun for an extended period of time, but she didn't think it was worthy of becoming a nickname.
"Nah, man," Magnet spoke next to him. "That don't fit her."
There was no doubt that he hadn't meant it to be a supportive comment but Ellia felt a smidgen of appreciation for him anyway, despite the fact that she couldn't remember his name.
"And I'm not answering to it either." Ellia said and grabbed Eddy's shoulders and led her away from the boys again.
"See ya later, tomato head." Ellia was pretty sure it was Squid who had called out and figured she probably deserved it after she had purposefully butchered his name this morning.
She kept walking even after Eddy looked up at her and said, "I think they're talking to you, El."
The boys were laughing now as they continued their walk to dinner, but Ellia just sighed. "At this point, I think it's best to ignore them."
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Later that night the girls were all getting ready for bed, too exhausted to utter a word to each other. Once they had each settled in their cot and turned out the light, almost everyone fell asleep straight away. Ellia, however, couldn't seem to get comfortable. Noticing the constant movement of her neighbor, Abby sat up and leaned on her elbow. "I don't know about you but I could really go for a cigarette right about now."
Ellia smiled, "You've been saying that for months. How'd you deal with it back at the center?"
Abby scoffed and fell onto her back. "Well, back there it was easier for me to sneak some here and there. I don't even know how to score a single smoke here."
Settling onto her side facing Abby, Ellia answered, "You just need to be friends with the right people. There's bound to be some 'contraband' around here."
"I would've thought you'd be able to help me out in that area." Abby looked meaningfully at her.
"Abbs, I've been bone dry since the arrest and you know it." Ellia turned so she was looking at the ceiling and not her friend. "Besides, I wouldn't give it to you if I had it. I'm done with that."
"I'm not talkin Marijuana, El, just a little nicotine." When Ellia didn't respond, Abby sighed. "I don't know how you're doin it. I'm bustin out of my skin for it."
Ellia looked sharply at Abby, suddenly feeling defensive. "I didn't smoke the shit, just sold it."
"Relax, Ellia," Abby was taken aback at the flip of Ellia's attitude. "I'm not judging you, I just assumed-"
"Well now you know."
"Right…"Abby muttered something else but Ellia chose not to hear it and instead turned away to go to sleep. Thought, by the looks of it, she was going to have another restless sleep.
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Hope you liked it!! Thanks for reading and reviewing! Be sure to let me know what you think of this one too!!!
