The boys walked in to see mairi reading. she looked up at the boys and waved giving them all a little smile.

"hey mairi" magnite said falling down onto his bed exhausted from the day.

"whats up magnite" she said and the other boys sat down on their cots.

"you never told us you had such a mean swing girl" armpit said and she shrugged while closing her book, knowing she probably wasn't going to be able to read much more that night.

"you guys never asked" she said and armpit rolled his eyes as the boys groaned.

"man, dont give us that answer" squid said throwing a pillow at her. she laughed and threw the pillow back to him. he placed it behind his head and layed back on it again.

"seriously? i'm not going to give a bunch of so called juvenile delinquents information so easily" she said looking at them all as they got ready for bed. zigzag put his hand over his heart and feigned offence and pain.

"you know, were people too" he said and everyone laughed as he fell back onto his bed. mairi was sure that if he fell faster or harder her was going to break his cot. she looked to x-ray who was already laying down. she looked at magnite and pointed to him.

"oh hes a bit sour after today, dont worry about it chica. hell be better tomorrow" he said and the rest chuckled and x-ray must've known they were talking about him.

"i aint sour" he barked and everyone gave the same face to each other which just made them all laugh even harder. mairi noticed all the boys laying down so she closed her curtain and grabbed out some pajama pants and a spaghetti strap shirt. she changed quickly as she heard the boys talking again.

"hey chica what are ya doing in there?" she heard magnite said and she rolled her eyes.

"petting a dolphin" she said and the boys chuckled. "no magnite, i'm changing" she said before opening up the curtain again. she looked at them all as they all sorta stared at her, other than zero, now her figure was more visible. she sat down on her cot and leaned back. "you know staring is rude right?" she said and all the boys quickly looked away and she laughed as they all pretended that they weren't staring at her. they all talked for a while until the lights all simultaneously went out. she screamed a bit at the sudden darkness and all the boys laughed.

"you'd better sleep. the first whole always sucks" zigzag said and the boys all agreed as they all slipped under their covers. she groaned and did the same and closed her eyes. she heard the crickets outside. she didn't even know that they could live out here. she didn't know ANYTHING could live out here. with how little water there was and how much the sun shinned you'd think nothing could survive, but here she was. in a camp with not only one, but hundreds of boys. that were all alive surprisingly. you'd think they'd die from the heat. but no. they are alive and well. she soon fell asleep. dreaming of living with her dad in the U.K and seeing her other brother Dylan. mairi loves all her siblings, she really does, but her and Dylan have a different type of bond. with her only seeing her dad and Dylan every other summer it seems like they need to tell each other everything that's going on where they are. now shes going to have to write and send letters to her dad and Dylan. the joys of having a phone had been stripped from her possession. they didn't even know she was in that detention camp. they didn't even know she did any of that. it was going to break her when she had to tell them.

she was ripped from her peaceful dream when the sound of trumpets blared in the tent. she screamed and fell out of bed. as she lay on the floor she heard the sound of the boys laughing. she groaned as she began to sit up.

"dont fall" squid said as she got up. she chucked her pillow at him.

"ack!" he said as it hit the side of his face. the others began to laugh again as he threw the pillow back to her. she put the pillow on her bed and took down her hair and began to brush it, she noticed how absolutely horrible the brush sounded as it ripped through her hair. she poured a bit of water on her hand and put it in her hair and began to brush her hair again. she tied her hair up again and put on a baseball cap that she had in her bag. the hat read 'so apparently i have an attitude'. she changed her pants for shorts and put on the jumpsuit and tied the sleeves around her waist. she put on some leather gloves and looked at herself. she nodded at her outfit and looked around in her bag for something to tie over her nose and mouth. from how her glasses turned put she assumed there would be a lot of dust just floating around and she didn't feel like dying from lack of oxygen. she found a oversized long shirt that she KNEW she wasn't going to use here. she ripped part of the sleeve off and took off her hat, slipping the sleeve over her head and past her chin. letting it hang around her neck for the time being. she put back on her hat and opened the curtain back up. she looked at the boys who were grabbing their stuff.

"she even looks good when shes not trying" magnite said and she smiled while doing a pose.

"you know it" she said walking towards the entrance to the tent. "anyone gonna walk me?" she said as the boys sat on the end of their cots. squid quickly jumped up and followed after her as she left the tent. the sound of whistles once again hit her ears. she groaned as she threw her head back. "these boys will be the death of me" she whispered to herself and squid heard. he shot glares at the boys near by and they shut up and talked amongst themselves. she walked to the spigot and filled her canteen as she heard more hollers. squid wasn't like zigzag, he wasn't going to cover her up. he just stood there and glared at anyone who looked at her and it seemed to work quite well. the other boys walked over to the two of them as squid finished filling up his canteen. they all walked over to the cart for what mairi assumed was breakfast. it was just a dry tortilla with peanut butter and honey smeared on it. she hesitantly took a bite and it didn't taste half bad. she ate the rest of it and began to follow the boys to a shack that said 'library' but only had shovels. zigzag walked up to her and leaned down next to her ear.

"dont grab the shovel with the red tape" was all he said then he cut in-front of her grabbing his own shovel. she looked at him weird but shook her head and grabbed a shovel. she jogged to catch up to the other boys.

"whats up with the red tape shovel?" she asked and squid looked at her.

"its x-rays, its shorter than the rest. smaller shovel-" he began to say and x-ray walked up next to her. "smaller hole" he said giving a devious smile. she rolled her eyes and kept walking. as they got to the empty sandlot the sun ha just started rising.

"you will be digging right here" said and she rolled her eyes as she plunged the shovel into the ground out of anger. huffed and walked back to the truck and slammed the door and drove off. kicking up dirt the boys began to cough and she put up her mask and kept digging.

who do they think they are?

making me dig to build character!? bull shit

they could've made me scrub the god damn graffiti instead of me just digging a stupid hole.

they are so dumb i dont understand their thinking

"mairi"

do they thing this will actually help?

yeah im definitely not going to be coming here again but still

"mairi!"

i wonder what dad and Dylan will think.

they probably already know but they know moms story not mine

you know. what happened to freedom of speech?

this is an infringement of my rights right?

"MAIRI!" she jumped a bit at the snap back to reality. she looked up to see a really dirty squid. she looked at him a bit more carefully and noticed he waas angry.

"yeah?" she asked carefully.

"watch where you throwing your dirt wont ya?!" he yelled at her and she gulped.

"yeah, sorry" she said quickly turning back to her hole. she heard his mutter things under his breath as he jumped back in his hole

they had been digging for a while now. she heard the sound of the truck coming back and she assumed it was for water and food. she looked at her canteen and smiled noticing that she was almost out of water. she grabbed it and threw her almost empty canteen out of the hole and she tried to get out but failed miserably, making her fall back into the hole.

"ow" she said as all the boys began to laugh at her as she layed n the hole. she sighed and sat up while rubbing her head. a shadow casted over her and she looked up to see zigzag holding his hand out for her and she kindly accepted it. she walked next to her as she brushed her clothes off.

"is your noggin okay?" he asked and she chuckled and nodded before looking back up at him.

"nothing i couldn't handle before" she said smiling at him. something inside him changed at that moment. he knew he would do anything to make her happy. it was a weird and new feeling but nice at the same time.

its probably because its my job to protect her now he thought to himself ya that's it and he dismissed the feeling. they both handed their canteens to mom and grabbed their lunches f=after taking their canteens back. zigzag walked over to x-rays hole where all the other boys other than zero where sitting. she walked back to her own hole and sat down. one of her rules were

if you weren't invited, dont invite yourself

she pulled out her sandwich as she stared at her feet that were dangling in her hole. she thought about the good ol days when her mom and dad were still together and the song they used to sing to her. the good ol days when her om could keep her legs shut for everyone else.

oh simple thing

where have you gone?

im getting old and i need someone to rely on

so tell me when, your gonna let me in

im getting tired and i need somewhere to begin

she hummed the song to herself as she ate her sandwich and swung her legs back and forth. she saw the shift in dirt next to her and she looked up to see zero sitting next to her. he gave a small smile and she waved. they kept eating until mairi said something to him.

"thanks for sitting with me zero" she said grateful that he did.

"no problem" he said and she looked up at him and smiled at hearing his voice.

"i thought you didn't talk?" she said more phrased as a question.

"i do. i just dont like answering dumb questions. and it seems like thats all they can ask around here" he said as he finished his sandwich. she laughed at it and put up a hand for a high five.

"understandable' she said as he gave her a high five. they talked for a while until they both finished their food. zero got up and headed back to his hole, giving her a little wave. she jumped into her hole and kept digging. soon enough zero was out of his hole again and began to walk back to the camp. she saw him and leaned against the side of her hole looking at him.

"already done?" she asked and zero turned around and nodded.

"hes th-" squid began to say but zero interrupted him.

"what can i say, i like to dig. see ya at camp" he said as he gave her a little salute and kept walking back to camp. the boy looked back and forth between her and themselves.

"he just talked to you!" magnite said and she looked up at him and nodded as if it was obvious he did.

"yeah, he isn't stupid" she said and they all groaned.

"he dont talk to no one" he said and she shrugged as she went back to digging.

"imagine" she said and she felt a pebble hit the back of her head. it came from armpits and x-rays direction.

"that attitudes gonna get you in trouble 'round here" squid said and she rolled her eyes and kept digging.

she was the last to finish digging, but that was sorta a given. she was the newbie and boy were they right. the first hole was definitely the worst. she threw her shovel out of her hole and climbed out and celebrated noticing that her day of work was done. then she noticed that she still had to walk back to camp. she groaned and began her treacherous journey back to camp. she knew she was almost there by the growing sound of cat calls. she sighed and walked into the tent. ignoring the boys who were trying to talk to her. she plopped down onto her bed and screamed into her pillow. the boys laughed and she flipped them off. she got up and took off her gloves, hat, and make shift mask. she threw them into a pile next to her cot and grabbed her towel before she headed to the entrance to the tent. she ignored the boys as they were still trying to talk to her. her brain was mush. all she needed was a shower and she would be GOLDEN. she got to her shower and stepped in noticing there was a little handy lock. she smiled at that and locked it. she got undressed as she looked up. the walls went up past her own head and down inches from the ground. she sighed and got undressed. she put in a token and the shower turned on with really cold water that seemed like just what she needed right now after working all day in the excruciating heat. the water blocked all of the cat calls outside. she washed herself and when the water turned off she was brought back to reality with all the constant whistles and howling. she sighed and put on a bra and underwear before wrapping herself in her towel. holding onto it for dear life. she took a deep breath and opened the stall and stepped out as she hurried back to her tent. the boys grabbed at her towel and she turned around and stomped on one of their feet, that didn't do much.

"LET GO OF ME YOU JACKASSES" she yelled and the boys in d-tent heard her. squid was the first to get up from her cot and run saw the boys who were tugging at her towel and he was furious.

"let her go!" he yelled as he walked over to the group of boys that were laughing. he punched one of them in the face and she felt hands on her arm and she looked down to see zero. the other boys were now out there making a walk between her and the now on going fight outside of the tent. she was breathing heavily as zero escorted her to their tent. she quickly went into her Little corner and closed the curtain and changed as fast as shes ever changed before. she heard a gun show from outside and jumped. she hurried outside to see what happened. the boys were dispersing as she looked at squid who was bleeding and a boy that had been grabbing at her layed on the ground unconscious. she looked between the boy and squid who was getting scolded by when squid finally noticed her he was quick to wipe the blood from his face and put his hat back on. he quickly hid his knuckles.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU BOY!" yelled and mairi walked over to him. she stepped between them and looked at him with the most innocent face she could muster even though she was filled with rage and anxiety. glared at her and she just looked at him.

"he was helping me. the other boys were grabbing at my towel on my way back to my tent" she said and looked at her damp hair. he realized and looked ack to squid and he tilted his head as a dismissal. they both went back to the tent and she went to her corner, grabbing bandages and band aids. she pushed squid to sit down and he did as she instructed, but he didn't like being told what to do. the other boys had gone to the wreck room. zero walked over to her and just sat next to squid. mairi grabbed squids hand and didn't give much room for debate as she cleaned and wrapped his knuckles.

"what are you doing girl?" he asked and she looked at him with an annoyed face.

"you know my name." she said as she kept wrapping his hand. he huffed and didn't say anything. in the time she wrapped his hands he noticed how soft her hands were. and how perfect they looked compared to his beat up ones. he looked up at her face as she focused on wrapping his hands and not her hair or her own bleeding arm from the boys grabbing her. he noticed how pretty she looked when she was focused. her fell in front of her face and she flicked her hair back. she looked at him as he stared at her. he looked down at his hands as an excuse to look away from her. she tilted his head towards her and cleaned a hut that was on his cheek. he winced and she whispered a small "sorry" as she put a band aid on his face. she stood up straight and nodded. "your good" she said and he nodded quietly before he pushed past her and he seemed angry. she didn't blame him. he got hurt because she couldn't handle a few boys grabbing at her. she sighed and walked back to her bed. she plopped down and pushed her hair out of her face. "hey zero, by any chance do you know how to braid?" she asked and he looked over at her and smiled before nodding. she handed him a binder before she grabbed her note book.

hello father, its me, MK. i bet by now you know where i am and you probably know moms story. mom isnt the best person to hear that from. i was in an ally way painting on an ABANDONED building and they caught me. they searched me and found moms keys. its not my fault they dont let 15 year olds drive. i dont know why though. it seems very age ist. but yeah. thats all there is to it. now im in a detention camp for 2 years. so sadly i wont be able to join you and Dylan this summer. tell Dylan i miss him and wish i wasn't stuck here. i love you both and ill write to you soon.

much love -MK

she finished writing and folded up the letter and put her fathers and her mothers into their own envelopes. zero had finished braiding her hair and she gave him a high five. she sat on her bed as he got up and went to the wreck room. she closed her curtain and turned on her side. she thought about what would have happened if squid wasn't there or didn't show up. she thought about what she would have had to do to get out of there. she shook as she thought and shoved her face in her pillow