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

Chapter 13

Mr. Sir took a handful of sunflower seeds and popped them in his mouth. He was sitting at his desk, listening contently to the radio. Charlie sat across from him with his knees pulled up to his chin, his socked feet on the seat, inspecting his fingernails. He didn't know what to say, or do, and he felt rather awkward. Mr. Sir didn't seem to mind the lack of conversation at all and it bothered him. Miss Ashley came in and started combing the shelves for something and Charlie saw it as an opportunity to speak.

 "What are you looking for?"

 Miss Ashley took a while to answer. She picked a file off the shelf and opened it. "Nothing."

Charlie frowned, but she didn't see it.

"Haven't you read that boy's file a thousand times already?" teased Mr. Sir.

 Miss Ashley hummed back at him. She wasn't looking at Squid's file this time -- She was looking at Mr. Miller's employee file. Mr. Sir mentioned that it was almost time to fill the camper's canteens and left. Miss Ashley sat in his chair. Charlie slipped his feet into his boots and went and stood behind her. He read over her shoulder. Charlie shot her another look she didn't see. He had heard caught the end of hers and Mr. Miller's conversation earlier when he'd been about to go into the tent. He'd heard something about getting married and stopped to listen. He didn't know why Miss Ashley would even consider such a thing. The file said Mr. Miller was twenty-seven and Charlie thought that was much too old for her.

 "Do you like him?" he asked.

 Miss Ashley turned to look at him and he thought he might have offended her, but he didn't apologise. He wanted to know. She looked back at the file and chewed her lip, thinking. 

"No." She looked at Charlie again. "Why? What do you think of him?"

 Charlie shrugged. "I don't really know him." He hesitated, then added, "But I think he's a bit too old for you."

 "It's only ten years," Miss Ashley said, closing the file and reaching past him to put it back on the shelf. "My daddy was thirteen years older than my mama."

 "Still," said Charlie.

He followed her into the mess hall. They started to prepare some sack lunches for the campers.

Later that afternoon, Miss Ashley did the laundry. When it was washed, she and Charlie went into each tent to sort and hang the campers' clothes. She was in the middle of hanging up a t-shirt in D-tent when Squid came back from the lake. He wrapped one arm around her waist and all but threw her down onto the nearest cot. He kissed her hungrily, and she made a strange noise and pushed him away.

 "Do you have any idea how much you stink right now?" she jibed.

 He sniffed her and said, "Not as bad as you."

 She giggled. "Shut up and go take a shower."

 "Care to join me?" he said.

 She laughed again as he attacked her face and neck with kisses. His tent mates whistled when they saw them. He kissed and nibbled her ear as he ran his finger along her collarbone, then unbuttoned her shirt a little more. He planted a trail of soft kisses on her skin, stopping when he got to the curve of her breasts.

 "Where'd you get that chain?" he asked, trying to remember if he'd seen it before.

 Miss Ashley hesitated, then said, "Mr. Miller gave it to me."

 Squid raised his eyebrows. "For free?"

 "Yeah, he asked me to marry him."

 "Oh, really?" Squid said, his voice a mixture of jealousy and disbelief. "And what did you say?"

 "I told him it'd take a much bigger chain to get me to give you up," she said sweetly.

 "So that's all it takes, huh? A big old chain?"

"That's all it takes," teased Miss Ashley. She pulled him closer and kissed him, and winced. "You really need to take a shower."

He got up and grabbed his towel. "Will you be here when I get back?"

"Sorry -- I have to help Charlie with the laundry."

 "You can stay if you want," Charlie said, picking up the half empty laundry basket. "I'll take care of it." 

Squid smiled at him.

"Are you sure?" asked Miss Ashley. 

Charlie nodded. "There's only E-tent left." 

Miss Ashley thanked him. He and Squid left together. Squid returned exactly four minutes and thirty seconds later, smelling much better. He and Miss Ashley went back to making out on his cot. They didn't stop until the siren told them it was time for dinner.