Mr. Sir's Daughter: The Only Girl At Camp Green Lake (Holes fanfic)

Chapter 6

Squid tried to figure out what kind of game he was playing. "Yeah."

"Why then?"

Squid bit his lip. He seemed to forget who he was talking to when he said, in an angry tone, "Because you beat her. . . You beat your own daughter."

Mr. Sir stepped closer to him. He looked him right in the eyes. "That I did," he said simply.

"It's nothing to be proud of," Squid retorted. "All 'cause she kissed somebody. She's seventeen years old in a camp full of boys. How can you expect her not to?"

"Ashley, you idiot, you told him?" Mr. Sir scolded his daughter. "I told you never to do that. You're lucky I don't beat you for that, too!"

"Leave her alone!" demanded Squid.

By now, Mr. Sir had lost all his patience. "Shut your mouth, boy. Don't try to tell me how to raise my daughter!" He shoved him hard. "If you'd have just obeyed the rules around here and left her alone, she wouldn't be looking like that now, would she?"

He shoved him again, this time with full force. Squid stumbled and fell back into one of the holes. He tumbled down the wall of it and hit the ground with a thump. Miss Ashley tried to run to help him, but her father put his arm in front of her.

"Leave him," he told her.

She stared at him with hate in her eyes. After taking one last look in Squid's direction, she obeyed her father to avoid getting herself into more trouble, although she felt utterly selfish for it. She followed him back to the truck, where the last group had already swiped their sack lunches off the back of it. They drove back to the compound, her sulking in the passenger seat.

Some of the D-tent boys had helped Squid up out of the hole when they were sure the water truck had disappeared. He'd had to wait until the end of the day for Mr. Pendanski to check him over for injuries. He had limped back to camp, barely able to hold his shovel, then taken a rather painful shower.

Now, as he sat in the tent waiting for his counsellor to arrive with the first aid kit, all he could think about was if Mr. Sir had punished Miss Ashley again for talking to him. He had forgotten about the pain he was in himself, as he was too busy imagining her and what she might have been doing. Most of all, he hoped she was okay.

Suddenly, Mr. Pendanski entered the tent. He shook his head as he looked him up and down, seeing the cuts and bruises on his body and arms. He got out some bandages and wet wipes, and sat down behind him.

"What did you do this time?" he asked him.

Squid didn't answer his question directly. Instead, he found himself ranting about his feelings towards Mr. Sir and what he had done to Miss Ashley.

"How could he do that to his own daughter?" he snarled. "Have you seen the bruises on her? I hope that old man gets what's coming to him one day."

Mr. Pendanski sighed, but he didn't really care about his feelings, nor did he care about what had happened to Miss Ashley. "Well, if you hadn't have done what you did, she wouldn't be in this mess. You both know it's against the rules."

Squid pulled a disgusted face. "But to hurt her like that--"

Mr. Pendanski interrupted him. "Look, Alan, you asked for it. There are plenty of things in life that you're going to disagree with, but you never tell a parent how to raise their child. That includes how they choose to punish them."

Squid was about to protest, but he knew there was no point, so he just shook his head and kept quiet. Mr. Pendanski continued to dress his wounds, but he paused when he saw Miss Ashley come in out of the corner of his eye. Squid didn't notice her. "Oh, hello, Miss Ashley," Mr. Pendanski greeted her, causing Squid to look up.