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

Chapter 2

      Morning came all too quickly. D-tent slept through the alarm as usual. It was Miss Ashley's job to stop the bell from ringing and wake up any campers that hadn't been startled out of their slumber by the noise. She couldn't imagine how anyone managed to sleep through it. It was a horrible sound, one that made her feel like she was having a heart attack every morning. She was a very light sleeper.

She quickly draped her long knitted cardigan over her shoulders, then headed out onto the compound, peering around with her eyes still half closed to confirm who she needed to drag out of bed. Just as she had suspected; D-tent. The only D-tent boy who was outside, dressed and lining up for breakfast, was Zero. She ruffled his hair as she went past him, then blew the whistle that hung around her neck when she walked up the steps to the flap door. She lightly smacked the boys' unconscious bodies as she circled the tent.

"Wakey wakey!" she yelled. "Get your breakfast before it's too late!"

The boys stirred and a chorus of grumbles sounded in her ears. She whipped the blankets off of them one by one, calling out their nicknames. Some of them sat up and cursed under their breath while others rolled out of bed and hit the floor with a thump. At least it woke them up, she thought.

She walked out, catching her father's eye. He was stood next to the shed that had the word "LIBRARY" painted in bold white letters across it. She put her thumb up to him, letting him know that D-tent would be out shortly and he put his up to her to say well done. Suddenly, she slipped off the top step and fell to the ground. She looked up to see Magnet towering over her, rubbing his eyes.

"Oh, sorry, chica," he apologized in his Hispanic charm. "I'm still half asleep."

He had bumped into her on his way out.

Squid was next to emerge from inside the tent. When he looked down and saw his favourite counsellor lay on her back on the concrete, he stretched his arm out to help. He pulled her to her feet when her hand latched onto his.

"Magnet, watch where you're going!" Mr. Sir shouted from across the compound. Magnet ignored him and turned back to his daughter, who waved him away, unaffected by what had happened. She knew it had been an accident, so she didn't bother scolding him. Squid's eyes wandered up and down Miss Ashley's body, particularly her legs.

"Thanks, honey," she said to him in return for helping her up. When he heard her voice, he snapped out of it. She clapped her hands in front of his face. "Hurry now, or you'll be going out to dig hungry."

Squid obeyed her and walked over to collect his shovel, then grabbed the breakfast that he would eat on the way out to the desert. Miss Ashley called the rest of the boys' names out again and soon Zigzag, Armpit, X-ray and Stanley filed out of the tent. She and her father, along with the other counsellors, waited for everyone to grab something to eat and get a shovel, then they lead them out to the vast wasteland to assign each group an area to dig in, Miss Ashley still in her night clothes: a long t-shirt that stopped a couple inches above her knees, the cardigan which was about the same length and her boots. She hadn't even had time to put socks on.

Out in the middle of nowhere again, Mr. Sir stood talking to Stanley about how his first day had went, while he tried to hold the shovel with his sorely blistered hands. He stood on it like you would a pogo stick, making it sink into the ground. He breathed in the cool air; the sun wasn't quite high enough for it to be boiling yet.

"This isn't the girl scouts, is it, Yelnats?" Mr. Sir asked while chewing a mouthful of sunflower seeds. He spat them out into the tiny dirt pile the camper had made.

"No, Mr. Sir," said Stanley.

"Is it what you thought it would be?"

"No, Mr. Sir."