Saturday, October 20, 2007

They coughed the dirt and dust that still remained in the air. Zigzag realized his position and quickly struggled to sit up. Claire’s eyes were as wide as his and had nothing but shock on her mind.

Her back hurt.

They continued to stare at each other, ignoring Magnet and Squid who looked down at them in surprise. “See, te dije que se cayeron!” Magnet said.

“Speak English man, can’t understand a single word your sayin” said Squid.

“You too alright there?” asked Magnet.

“Sorry about that…” Claire said as she tried to stand up, hissing at the sudden pain in her back.

“It’s okay” he mumbled, looking anywhere but her. Squid gave Zigzag a hand and he was out of the hole. He ruffled his hair to get rid of the dust, he turned to Claire. “Everything alright?” asked Mr. Pendanski who showed up and soon all of the boys gathered around Claire and her hole. “I fell back in” she said she tried to get out of her own hole.

She succeeded alone.

She felt uncomfortable now; she couldn’t forget the look on his face when they fell in! His face was partially over her chest, she felt herself turn red. “Well at least you’re alright” Mr. Pendanski said and started walking back to the truck followed by everyone else.

“I’m so sorry Zigzag, I should have never stepped on the rock” she mused. It was so awkward now; just moments ago he was on top of her. Not to mention he was pretty heavy and knocked the breath out of her for a few seconds. She couldn’t help but feel dumb.

If she hadn’t done that, nothing would have happened and it would all be good.

“Don’t worry about it”.

He was astonished. The rest of the day was horrible for Claire, even during lunch the members of tent D playfully teased her about the event. Squid and Magnet said she did it on purpose and was the true pervert. The noticed that Zigzag avoided and tried to stay out of the conversation and instead ate his lunch.

This time Magnet had helped her out of the hole with hopes of falling in with Claire just like earlier with Zigzag. “Might want to step on that rock there, Claire-bear” he said. They all laughed, even Claire without sarcasm.

“Go to hell, Magnet” she wistfully said as she climbed up. “Te vas conmigo, chica!” he said.

“I have a feeling I screwed everything up, is he mad at me?” Claire quietly said to Squid as they ate lunch. “Zigzag’s one weird kid. Things like that are weird to him. Don’t worry about it though; it won’t matter to him the next day, that’s what’s so good about him”. Squid wasn’t so bad either, he actually listened.

They weren’t jerks behind the jokes and grins. An hour later, they all heard and watched as Armpit finished, spit into his hole and walked back to camp.

“It’s something we do, ya’ know” explained Magnet when Claire asked why. X-Ray soon followed, spit into his hole, shouted “See ya’ll back at camp!” and walked back.

“Do you think Caveman and Zero are buzzard food by now?” Squid asked after a few minutes of silence, looking into the nowhere.

“Maybe they are..” murmured Magnet

“Who’s Caveman and Zero?”

“They used to be in Twitch’s and your place. They ran off a few days ago. You’re the replacement” Squid stretching. “Vacancies don’t last long in Camp Green Lake” said Zigzag. As they continued to finish digging, they caught her up on what she had missed before she came here. They finished all together. Claire’s blisters were twice as big and hurt ten times worse than it had before.

She hissed at any movement she made. Her arms were exhausted and her back ached. Diggin’ wasn’t so dandy anymore. “It’ll be way worse tomorrow” suddenly said Zigzag when she was taking a look at her hands. He offered to carry her shovel but she denied, he had his hands full already.

“Why aren’t they going out to look for them?” she asked.

“It doesn’t work like that at Camp Green Lake. The Warden prefers to do other things” Zigzag said. Magnet sighed, “Can’t wait for that shower”.

“Want to join us Claire?” asked Squid who put his exhausted arm around her shoulder. “No thanks, kid. I’ll sit this one out”.

“No shower? You’re sleeping outside tonight then. No dirties allowed in Tent D” he said. Claire’s jaw dropped, “I’m a girl! I just can’t walk into the showers with a bunch of boys in it. Gross!”

“Now that is just kinky...” he said, winking. “Sucks for you, eh mamsita? This is a boy’s camp after all” said Magnet.

“Yeah no girlies allowed” added Twitch. Magnet believed otherwise, they were sure enjoying this. They made it back to the camp and tent and found X-Ray and Armpit relaxing on their cots, showered and refreshed.

“Hey Claire, feeling bad already?” asked X-Ray who smiled. Claire didn’t know if he was using sarcasm. “You bet X-Ray, I feel like I’m about to break”.

They laughed.

“Hey squid face, put your dirty shoes somewhere else man!” Magnet hollered. Squid pushed Magnet. “Hey hey! Chill out fellas. Arguing over something stupid; it isn’t worth it. Squid your crate is over there, leave Magnet’s alone” said X-Ray, taking charge.

X-Ray must take charge when things get out of hand, Claire thought. “Sometimes the heat gets the better of us” said Zigzag to Claire.

“We can’t fight, we’re like family. Living together, what good would it do if we’re all uneven?” X-Ray said.

They all eventually left to shower, Armpit and X-Ray went to the Wrec Hall, and it was only Claire once again. She yearned for a shower but it was ridiculous, everyone else was showing and they were boys. Mr. Sir had mentioned to them to either shower late at night or early in the morning. Neither of them sounded too good to her. She was really thirsty too.

She lay down on her cot; all her upper muscles ached with extreme pain. Digging holes was indeed serious business. She closed her eyes for a bit and drifted into a painful nap.


Usually newbie’s annoying me a lot, they complain too much. The newcomers weren’t though, they were girls. Girls complain, I’m still waiting on that…

Four new campers, Claire, Emily, Charlie and Lucia- I think that’s her name…I’m not sure. Claire was in our tent; she was about five feet and four inches tall and had pretty short brown hair. Her bangs were unevenly cut but somehow it worked. She had dark brown eyes. Lucia

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