If Only, If Only

Family Reunion

Before I could say anything else, Alan's arms were around me, hugging me just like how he hugged me the day he left for Camp Green Lake.

"I promise I'll be back, and I'll be better this time, okay? You be safe now, alright?" He had said that day, before leaving me. Alone.

I laughed and hugged him back, overjoyed to finally be with the only person in my family who cared for me. He smelled like dust and sweat, but it was comforting.

He pulled back and looked me in the eyes.

"Don't tell me you started drinking too," he said, to which I just shook my head at him. "You get caught then?" He asked curiously.

"Yep, some dickface ran into me and the food I had stolen spilled everywhere."

"Ahh..." Alan said, nodding. His friends were staring at him, mouths open in shock. "You stole his wallet though right?"

I smirked, "Yeah, but the police found me before I could add it to The Stash."

The Stash was a box hidden in the back of my closet, where Alan and I put all the money we stole. Our hope was to eventually earn enough to leave our mom, but then things started going wrong.

"Uhm excuse me? You never told us you had a hot sister," the kid Dr. Pendanski identified as Theodore said.

"Duh, why would I-" Alan started to say until Rex (X-Ray?) interrupted.

"AS I WAS SAYING," Rex / X-Ray said, making Theodore and Alan silent, "I'm X-Ray, this is Armpit, and your brother here's Squid."

"'Cause he farts a lot?" I asked, which just made Alan roll his eyes, "Also, X-Ray is pig latin for Rex, right? It starts with a consonant, so you take the letter before the first vowel and put it at the end, then add 'ay'. Rex. X-Ray."

X-Ray smirked. "Yeah, actually. This here's Mom, by the way," he said, gesturing to Dr. Pendanski.

"They all have their silly little nicknames for each other, but I prefer to call them by their real names, the names society will recognize them by," Mom declared, making Ala-Squid roll his eyes.

X-Ray, Armpit, and Squid showed me around - the Rec Room (it was spelled "Wreck Room" on the sign. I don't know if the boys thought it was funny or they were just plain dumb, but I was too scared to ask), the "Library" (a closet filled with shovels), the token-operated showers, and the run down tents we slept in. Pretty much everything was what you'd expect at a camp. Except it was all covered in dust and run down. And smelled.

I was shocked to learn that Armpit did in fact know that the showers existed. He smelled like he hadn't taken one in weeks.

"Come meet the other boys of Tent D," Mom said, leading me to one of the dusty, tarp-covered tents. "Boys, this is Cameron,".

A Mexican boy with buzzed hair and sitting on a cot was grinned from ear to ear. "It's a girl!". I just smiled and waved.

I met Zig Zag, a cute, tall blonde guy that kind of looked like he had been electrocuted, Barfbag, who earned his name just off of his smell, and Zero. The Mexican boy on the cot was Magnet.

"Do you know why we call him Zero?", Mom asked with a big grin as he ruffled Zero's hair.

I shrugged. Mom seemed as excited as a toddler to tell me the answer: "Because there's nothing going on in his stupid little head!".

I grimaced. Was he being serious? "That's not funny," I said. Mom stopped smiling and walked out of the tent without another word. I hope he was embarrassed.

The guys around me all snickered as the tent flap shut.

"Put your stuff here," Squid said, gesturing to an empty cot. I set my stuff down beside the cot and sat down on it, making it squeak loudly.

Everyone was quiet for a moment, all staring at me. I shifted nervously.

I wasn't used to attention.

Thankfully, a loud bell rang and the moment of silence was broken as the boys walked away. Squid stayed behind.

"What was that?" I asked.

"Dinner bell." Squid answered. He stared at the floor and kicked his feet around. I could tell he was thinking about something.

"What is it?".

Squid kept his eyes glued to the ground. "Did Dad come back?" He asked quietly.

I smiled sadly and sighed. Dad was never coming back, but I didn't have the heart to tell Squid that, so instead I said "Not yet".

"Oh... Come on then, we don't want to miss dinner," Squid said, back to his usual self. We walked side by side to the mess hall without saying a word.