Keep Digging

D-Tent

"Now, if you will please come with me and I'll give you a quick tour and then I will show you where you'll be staying while you're here at Camp Green Lake." Dr.Pendanski was a very peppy man.
Probably because he didn't have to wear this monstrosity of an outfit that I was wearing.

I pulled my backpack close to my chest again as he showed me around. The boys weren't as quiet as they were when I was with Mr.Sir. I guess his 'no nonsense' attitude scared them. 
I actually wish Mr.Sir was with me instead of Dr.Pendanski right now. The things they were saying to me as I walked passed them were things that I don't want to repeat or ever hear again. 
I tried not to focus on their words, but on what Dr.Pendanski was telling me. 
"Over there is the Rec Room, that's the Mess Hall, and those are the showers." 
My mouth dropped when I saw the showers. There were no stalls. Or any privacy at all.  
If those panels on the side were any shorter, you could see everything on those boys. 
You could already see them from the waist up! How in the shit was I supposed to shower?
"Uhh, Dr.Pendanski?" He turned his head towards me "Hm?" 
"How am I supposed to shower?" He opened his mouth to answer, but then shut it again. He looked just as confused as I felt and probably looked, too. 
"Because I don't think I can shower in that." He sighed and then took out a small notepad from his back pocket, pulled a pen out of his shirt pocket and started writing "I will make sure the Warden knows about this and we will find a solution! No worries." He put the notepad back in his pocket and we continued with the "tour". There wasn't much to see, really. But he started telling me about the history of the camp, how it used to be a town and that there used to actually be a lake there.
I guess the name of the camp wasn't completely ironic. 
"And now that you learned a little about the camp, I'll be looking forward to learning a little bit about you later." He pat me on the shoulder "We'll be having group counseling tonight!"
My heart kind of sunk at the idea of having to talk to a bunch of strangers about myself. 

We made our way to what I guessed was our final destination. 
"This is D-Tent! This is the tent you have been assigned to!" He chirped. 
The tent was kind of small and there were steps leading up into the "doorway".
The doorway was really just two flaps with two clear plastic squares on them.
I guess those were "windows".  I could already hear laughing and talking coming from inside, which made my stomach turn flips. These were going to be the people that I spent my time with, slept with, and most likely had group counseling with. I need to calm down. 
Dr.Pendanski went up the small set of stairs and opened the flap for me.
I was a bit hesitant and Dr.Pendanski noticed "Don't be nervous! Come on in!" 
My hands were sweaty and my knees felt weak, but I went up the steps and entered D-Tent.
"Boys, This is Devin! She will be staying in D-Tent with you all and I expect every one of you boys to make her feel welcome. And I also expect that you treat her with respect, too!" He waved his finger at them.
There were about 7 boys. I did a quick headcount just so I could get an idea of how many people I had to live with. 
"Man, I told you we'd get her." I heard one say quietly to a boy standing next to him.
They both snickered. The boy who made the comment was a short Hispanic boy with a bandanna on his head.  The boy next to him was tall with wild blond hair. It stuck out everywhere. 

"Mom, that's a girl." A shorter black boy with thick rimmed glasses spoke up.
'Mom?' I thought. What a weird nickname "There was a mix up in the filing, Rex and we'll all just have to make a few small adjustments while she's here." 
"My name ain't Rex! It's X-Ray." He looked at me when he said that, as if telling me that and not Dr.Pendanski. He turned to me "They all have their little nicknames, but I like to use their real names. The names that their parents gave them. The names that are in their files. The names that society will recognize them by." The boy named X-Ray rolled his eyes and plopped back down on his bed...er, cot.
"Well, let me introduce you to the boys, Devin. Over there next to Rex is Theodore"
He pointed to a heavyset black boy who sat next to X-Ray "Joséand Ricky" He pointed to the short Hispanic boy and the tall blonde boy that I noticed when I first walked into the tent. 
"Alan and Stanley" He pointed to two white boys. One had curly brown hair, he was the only one to a actually smile at me. I gave a small smile back. 
The other had short brown hair, and was rather attractive. He just scoffed and turned his attention away from me and Dr.Pendanski. Attractive but rude, how typical. 
X-Ray was staring at me the whole time. Glaring almost. I wanted nothing more than to disappear. 
"And this, is Zero" I hadn't even noticed the smaller black boy laying down on the cot near the door.
He looked like the youngest one out of the bunch. He didn't look up. He just kind of laid there. 
"I guess I'll leave you all to get better acquainted with each other. Remember boys, Devin will be your responsibility." My eyebrows furrowed at his comment. "And if you have any questions, just ask Alan. Alan will be your mentor." I heard a groan come from the attractive boy 
"Do I look like a babysitter? I don't wanna be no mentor to her!" The boy, who I'm pretty sure was Alan, spoke up. He had a deep, thick Southern accent. Equally attractive as he looked.
The Hispanic boy, José laughed "Come on, Squid. You were makin' googly-eyes at the chica the second she got off the bus, man." All the boys laughed, except for Alan and Zero, who still laid quietly on his cot. But I think he did crack a small smile. I felt a small blush creep up onto my cheeks, cursing myself for it. My pale skin probably only made it even more noticeable. One thing I hated about being pale was how noticeable it was when I started blushing. 
"Shut the fuck up, Magnet! I was not!" Alan threw something at Jose, only making the boys laugh harder "No he wasn't, Magnet. He just always look that stupid." Theodore chimed in, laughing.
"Alright boys, settle down." Their laughter subsided "And yes, you do look like a babysitter now, Alan." Dr.Pendanski laughed and excited to tent.  
I felt humiliated about this whole thing. I didn't want to be a burden to anyone! Especially to someone who clearly does not want to be my "mentor". 
As soon as Dr.Pendanski left, I wanted to go invisible. They were all just staring at me. 
X-Ray approached me "Listen close, girl. Forget what Mom told you. That's Armpit, Magnet, ZigZag, Squid and Caveman." He pointed at them in the order that Dr.Pendanski had.
My eyes went back around the room to match the names with the faces.
I simply nodded at him and he nodded back "Glad you understand. Show her her cot, Squid."
"Man, why don't you? You're standin' up." X-Ray smirked at him "You're her mentor, dude." 
Ala-Squid groaned again and got off of his own cot "You sleep over there." He gestured to a cot over in the corner of the tent. "U-uh, thank you." I quietly said and walked passed the boys to my new bed.
"And don't stutter. That shit gets on my nerves real quick." I turned around to face him 
"Oh, sorry." He rolled his eyes and sat back down on his bed "Whatever." 
I sat my things down on top of the trunk that sat at the end of my cot.
The silence was awkward and I hated it. I hated not knowing what to say. And I hated that they were just staring at me. I haven't felt like myself for the last few days, otherwise I'd try and break the silence. Or at least try and spark a conversation. With anyone.
Maybe Caveman, he seemed friendly. But I was too nervous to do anything. 
"So, how'd you get sent here? You kill someone?" I felt relieved at the silence being broken, but I wasn't too excited about the question being asked. I turned towards the voice, it was ZigZag. 
My eyes widened "What? No, I didn't kill anyone." I chuckled nervously.
He looked slightly disappointed "Don't pay any attention to him, chica. He's always asking questions like that. And besides, you'll be able to tell us how you got here tonight in group counselling. Should be a good laugh." Magnet smirked at me. My stomach dropped again remember that there was a group counselling thing tonight. 
"It was a legitimate question." ZigZag's eyes were wide, and kind of crazy looking. Like his hair. Not lunatic crazy, but curious crazy. 
It got quiet again, but it was quickly broken by a loud ringing. Kind of like a school bell, or something like it. It made me jump a bit when I heard it, mostly because it came out of nowhere.