Inconsolable » Squid [Holes]

8: Picture Perfect

A frown sat upon Mickey's face as she stared at the paper between her hands, rereading the carefully written words for the thousandth time that night since she found it beneath her dinner tray. She didn't recognize the handwriting and had no clue as to who the note belonged to at first but one glance across the Mess Hall to see Eagle's intense gaze connected the dots for her. She hastily slipped it out of sight from the rest of the tent, the last thing she wanted after having to serve them was for Squid to find it and hurl more razor sharp words at her. So she waited until she was safe back in the tent to read his apology.

It was almost funny how boys were afraid with using their words unless it was aimed at tearing someone down. As much as Squid claimed to dislike Eagle they were the same in how they worked; choosing to write out apologies rather than say them. Mickey had a box at home filled with notes from Squid, all apologies for one reason or another. (She had a separate one for his more sentimental note, they were few and far between but special nonetheless.)

She hummed as her eyes scanned over the note again, taking in the length of Eagle's apology for B-Tent. It was a bit unnecessary. Then again, everything Eagle's been doing for her was a bit unnecessary but she wasn't going to complain. He's helped make her transition a lot less of a nightmare than she expected it to be. Of course he couldn't help her screaming muscles or the peeling sunburn or the blisters or the cramps but with everything else he was there for advice and guidance. Now if only he could help with dealing with her tentmates.

It was almost like they were bipolar. At one minute they would be nice and talk to her and treat her like a normal person but then she'd blink and then they'd be laughing at her, talking about her, and teasing her. Well, teasing was a soft version of what she could call it. 'Hazing', really. Not to the extent of a fraternity, mind you, but putting a scorpion in her bed and spraying water on her while she was sleeping and putting honey on her pillow could hardly be classified as pranks.

She was going to get them back, one way or another. Especially Squid. As far as she was concerned there was no more Alan inside him, as much as she believed there was before. If he was going to fight it she may as well fight it too. It'd make both their lives easier.

Mickey folded up the letter and shoved it in the open pages of her book, marking her spot before closing it with a snap. She put it back into her crate, stuffing it beneath her bag and notebook, and left the tent. The boys were still in the Wreck Room and Squid, hopefully, was still washing dishes from dinner that night. She dashed the short distance from D-Tent to B-Tent and then hesitated. This was crazy. Here she was hovering outside the one tent that had just attacked her during the day. It still hurt to breathe and it had been a bit difficult to chew as well and yet here she was, seemingly waiting to get attacked all over again.

You didn't get enough the first time, huh?...

The weekend came to an end all too soon for Mickey. She barely slept a wink as the events of the party replayed in her mind: the drinking, the loud music, the thick smoke, getting into a fight with Alexis, looking for Alan and finding Brett and his friends instead. She'd love to forget it all if it weren't for it rolling through her mind in a constant loop like a broken record.

She tried to call Alexis but she was sent straight to her voicemail every time. She finally gave up on the seventh try. Her efforts then switched over to Alan, but she had to call his house. He didn't have a cell phone, something that she still couldn't wrap her head around in this day and age but if his mom didn't want him to have one he couldn't get one. The phone rang time and time again until she gave up on him too.

Brushing her hair out of her face and ignoring the angry purple bruise around her wrist, she kicked her legs over the side of her bed. Her feet touched the floor but her knees couldn't stand up to the pain in her thighs and she fell over. She landed on the floor with a hard thud and lay there as pain throbbed in her body and made her breathing hitch.