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

Chapter 14

Miss Ashley managed to get through the next few days with little to no trouble. Charlie had gotten the hang of being a counsellor now and even got up in the mornings without Miss Ashley having to coax him at all. He routinely took over her chores so that she could spend time with Squid and because of this, group D had started to like him. They let him sit and talk with them sometimes when he had nothing to do and he preferred hanging out with them to hanging out with his older colleagues. He was taking a break at the moment. Miss Ashley had offered to clean the wreck room in his place, since that way she could hang out with Squid while she worked.

He and the D-tenters played pool whilst she circled the tables and exercise equipment, cleaning around the boys, who pretended not to notice her. There were three boys sitting on the couch, watching TV. She gently pushed them aside to dust and fluff the cushions. Lump was sitting on the arm of the couch and he thought she was a much better view than whatever was on the fuzzy TV screen. As she leaned past him, he put his hands on her hips and pulled her onto his lap. She was still at first, shocked, then she put a hand on his chest and attempted to stand up. He didn't let her.

"Let go now and I won't tell my daddy about this," she said, looking him dead in the eyes.

He smirked. "What if I don't want to?"

Miss Ashley sighed. The other boys moved away from the couch, not wanting to get involved. Zigzag hit Squid's arm, alerting him to what was happening. When he saw Miss Ashley straddling Lump, his blood boiled. He charged toward them and pulled her off him.

"What the hell d'you think you're doing?" he demanded, poking Lump in his chest.

Lump squared up to him. "She came onto me, man."

"As if!" squeaked Miss Ashley. "If I was gonna cheat on Squid I certainly wouldn't do it with you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lump spat, grabbing a fistful of her shirt. "You think you're too good for me?"

Miss Ashley probably should have been afraid, but with the D-tent boys around, she didn't feel an ounce of fear. "Obviously," she scoffed.

Lump said something about her being a "stuck up bitch", but before she could really register it, she was on the floor, buried in a mob of flying fists. Group D had stood up for her, then B-tent had stood up for Lump and now, all the boys were fighting with each other. She managed to make it to the far corner of the room on her hands and knees, only getting kicked a few times when she got in the way, a thin trail of blood lining her path. It took her a moment to realise it was coming from her mouth.

She tried to pick Squid out of the crowd, but it was impossible. Her top lip stung badly when she opened her mouth, so she didn't bother screaming at the boys to stop. Luckily, some of the counsellors heard the riot from outside. A horn echoed horribly through the room and the boys scattered. At Mr. Miller's command, they lined up against the walls. Squid took Miss Ashley's face in his hands and inspected her mouth. Mr. Miller's eyes widened when he saw her.

"Who did this?" he demanded.

Miss Ashley just looked at him. She knew a snitch was one of the worst things you could be in juvie, employee or not.

"You're really not gonna tell me?" he said, crossing his arms. She was silent. "Fine. If you don't tell me who did it, I'll just have to punish everyone."

The campers groaned. The ones closest to Lump shoved him forward.

"You again?" seethed Mr. Miller, wrapping a hand around the back of Lump's neck. "Didn't your parents ever teach you not to hit girls?"

Lump just glared at him. Mr. Miller told Miss Ashley to wait in the supply shed, then marched Lump across the compound and into the office. A few minutes later, he came to the shed with Charlie and Mr. Sir, who pressed his fingers to his temples when he saw the state his daughter was in.

"Jesus..." he exhaled. "You know that's going to scar, don't you? What the hell were you thinking?"

"I didn't think he was gonna punch me in the face," Miss Ashley mumbled, feeling foolish. She was pressing a cloth to her mouth, trying to stop the bleeding.

"You're gonna need stitches," said Mr. Miller. "I'll call an ambulance."

He turned to walk out, but Mr. Sir grabbed his arm.

"We can't afford an ambulance," he said. "Get Pendanski."

Mr. Pendanski came quickly. He gasped at Miss Ashley, then swallowed and said, "I'm not really...I practised psychiatry. I don't know how to fix that."

Mr. Sir tutted. "Useless!"

Charlie hesitantly raised his hand. "I went to med school," he said feebly. "I mean, I dropped out, but I got past the part where they taught us how to do stitches." He stepped closer to Miss Ashley and gave her an awkward, friendly look, then gently pulled her lips apart with his thumb. Her top lip was split all the way through and there were even little abrasions on her gums. He was surprised she still had any front teeth. "I think I can fix it. Do we have a needle and thread?"

Mr. Sir went to ask the Warden.

"Lump is going to be digging two holes for the rest of the week," Mr. Miller said. "I want you to stay away from him from now on, okay, doll?"

Miss Ashley didn't know how she was going to do that, but she just nodded. Mr. Sir returned with a sewing needle and some white cotton thread. Charlie sat on the bench opposite Miss Ashley and began to stitch her up. He tried to be as gentle as possible, but she couldn't help but wince every now and then. Squid watched the way Charlie touched her lips like a hawk. He felt terrible for not being able to help and even worse for not having protected her in the first place. He squeezed her hand. When Charlie was done, she asked, being careful not to part her lips too much, "How bad is it?"

"It ain't that bad," Squid assured her. "You're still gorgeous."

He leaned in to kiss her, but Charlie pushed him away.

"I'm gonna need you not to do that for a few days," he said, making him frown. He lifted Miss Ashley's lip slightly with his finger to see if the stitches were okay on the inside. "That's gonna leave a pretty bad scar. Sorry, Miss Ashley."

Miss Ashley shrugged. As long as Squid thought she was beautiful, everything was alright.

"How did this even happen?" asked Mr. Sir.

"Lump punched her," said Squid.

"I know he punched her," said Mr. Sir, his eyes bulging. "I meant, why did he punch her?"

"Oh, see, Lump started getting handsy with her and when she told him to get off because she doesn't like him, he got all upset and hit her, so me and the guys--"

"Yeah, yeah," said Mr. Sir. "I know all about what happened next." He stroked his daughter's hair. "Are you sure you're alright, honey?"

"I'm fine, daddy," she said. "It's just a scratch."

"Why don't you take the rest of the day off? I'll see you at dinner." 

Miss Ashley thanked Charlie for stitching her up, then went to D-tent with Squid to relax.