Love Me or Hate Me

Dinner passed by pretty quickly, and before I new it, everyone was in their respective tents. The people in “D” tent were up talking. I just tuned them out and started writing in my book. As I was recalling my day’s events, a voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

“Hey, Samuel!” it was Magnet. “What’re your thoughts on it?”

“What? Fool, I wasn’t paying y’all no attention. I'm in my own little world. Don’t talk to me,” I said turning back to my book. I finished writing and put the book away, before turning on my side and falling asleep.

I was awoken the next morning buy the sound of a voice and someone shaking me.
“Hey Samuel, wake up buddy.” It was Magnet.

I groaned. “Can’t move. Body hurts.”

“Just try to get up.”

“What part of ‘I can’t move. My body hurts’ don’t you understand? Help me up,” I said while holding out my arm.

I felt Magnet pull me up to my feet. I wanted to cry out in pain, but I kept it in. Magnet, who saw the look on my face asked me, am I okay.

“No!” I screamed. “I’m in pain.”

He just laughed and walked away so he could change. I, myself, went to my privacy corner and changed into my orange uniform in there. I came back out fully dressed and walked out of the tent, and over to the “library”. When it was my turn to get a shovel, I automatically went for the one that had the red tape wrapped around it. I went for X-Ray’s shovel. After I had my shovel, I walked over and got me a tortilla. As expected, X-Ray came over to me and tried to snatch his shovel.

“What the hell are you doing,” I asked moving the shovel out of his reach.

“You know that’s my shovel. Give it here.”

“Not today, sweetie. I’m sore and tired; I don’t feel like making a 5x5 hole today. So just shut up, take the shovel you have in your hands and dig! Or I’ll take this shovel and shove it up your ass. Do you understand me?”

He glared at me menacingly before walking away.

“I can’t believe you just did that man!” said Magnet patting me on the shoulders, which was really sore, and it made me want to cry out in pain.

“Man, you’re a cannon,” said Armpit.

“You completely disregarded X-Ray... how many times has it been since you’ve been here?” asked Squid.

“A few,” I answered. I watched as the other “D” tent members stalked after their leader. Once they all left, Curly had approached me.

“Good morning, Samuel,” he said.

“I find ‘good morning’ a contradiction of terms,” he smiled at this. “What time is Curly?”

“Four.”

“In the morning?!”

“Yeah. C’mon, you gotta start digging your second hole.”

I groaned at this statement and reluctantly began walking after the other “D” tent members. We followed them out onto the lake where we were supposed to dig. I started digging. I could barely lift my shovel I was in so much pain. Finally, after about an hour, I started to get used to it, but it was still painful. I was moving much slower than yesterday. I was relieved when I saw the water truck pull up, three hours later. I threw down my shovel and dragged myself out of my hole. I watched as the “D” tent members lined up, and then I got in the back, behind Curly. I noticed when Curly made it to the front of the line, Dr. Pendanski and shoved Curly’s canteen back at him hard. I watched as Curly took it and walked away. I gave my canteen to Dr. Pendanski. As he took it he greeted me curtly. “Samuel.”

“Dr. Dumbo... I mean Danski.”

He did me as he did Curly. He finished filling my canteen and thrust it in my chest, hard. I took it then showed him my patented right hook. Hard enough to knock him out for a few minutes, yet soft enough to not leave a mark. As he hit the ground, I heard all the other boys explode with laughter. I put some more water in my canteen before walking back and jumping in my hole.

“Yo, man,” said Armpit. “What did you do?”

“Nothing. He’ll be out for a few minutes, but he won’t remember what happened. That’s one of the side effects of my patented right hook.” I went back to digging my hole, and five minutes later, Dr. Pendanski started to stir. He groaned as he got up from the ground.

“What happened?” he asked.

“You accidentally hit your head on the top of the water truck,” I lied. “Isn’t that right guys?”

“Yep, that’s what we saw,” they all agreed.

“Oh, okay,” Pendanski bought it and got in the truck. “Finish up your holes.”

I laughed quietly to myself, before turning back to my hole. I wasn’t even half way done when the water truck came back three hours later. Pendanski was back, this time with lunch. I watched as all the boys got in line again, and this time, I noticed it was in the same order as before. I laughed as I saw Magnet try to sneak up in line while I took my place in the back, behind Curly. Once Pendanski had finished filling everyone’s canteen and everyone had a sandwich and some graham crackers, he got back in his truck and drove off. I sighed as I got my stuff and sat down on the rim of Curly’s hole.

“You were right,” I announced.

“Right about what?” he asked looking at me.

“The second hole is the hardest. I’m not even halfway done, and I’ve been out here for like seven hours.” I looked at his and it seemed like he had at the most six inches left.

“And you’re nearly done!”

“I can wait for you if you like,”

“No need to do that. At this rate, I’m gonna be out here all day!”

“Well then you better get back to your hole.”

“Yeah,” I mumbled as I walked back to my hole. I sat at the top of my hole and started eating, trying to procrastinate for as long as possible. By the time I finished eating, I noticed Curly was gone. I sighed and jumped down to finish my hole. While I digging I felt some dirt get thrown in my hole. I came up to the surface to see what was going on. The boys were purposely throwing their dirt in my hole.

“Hey watch where you’re throwing your dirt!” I exclaimed.

“Man, shut up!” they all said.

“Watch where you’re throwing your dirt, Samuel,” said Squid.

“Who the fuck y’all think y’all talkin’ to? I’ll bust each and every one of y’all right now!”

“Samuel, just shut up and dig your hole,” said Magnet.

I took a deep breath to calm myself and resumed digging my hole. By the time I was done, everyone else was gone, and it was getting dark. I looked at my watch and saw it was well past dinner time. I sighed before climbing out of my hole. I walked back to camp, dragging my shovel behind me. When I got back to camp, I saw the place was completely deserted. I walked back to my tent to see all the boys in there. Squid, Zig-Zag and Magnet all had their shirts off, and everyone else was just lying on a cot still in their orange jumpsuits.

“You finally done?” asked Magnet.

I just stared at Magnets fine tone tan body before shaking my head and asking him to repeat himself.

“Are you finally done?” he asked slowly as if I were a special ed. student.

“Don’t it look like it,” I said walking over to my cot and pulling out some clothes from my bag. “I’m gonna go take a shower.” I walked out of the tent and over to the showers. I stripped down to my bikini bathing suit I had packed and stepped in the shower. I let all the dirt wash off of me as the cold water hit my skin. I put some soap in my hands and started washing off. I finished just as the water shut off. I wrapped my towel around me tightly and dried off. I slipped my T-shirt on and my orange uniform and tied the arms around my waist. I was about to head back to the tent, but as soon as I turned around I saw Curly standing right there, a shocked expression on his face.

“Curly?” I asked cautiously.

“You’re a girl?!” he asked loudly.

“Shh!” I ran up to him and slapped my hand over his mouth. I pulled him into the shower with me. “Curly, if I move my hand, you have to promise not to get loud. Do you promise?”

He nodded his head up and down and I removed my hand.

“You’re a girl?” he repeated in a hushed tone.

“Yes, I am. I was placed here because they thought I was a boy because of my name.”

“What’s your name?”

“My name is Samuel Otho Colloca Jr. My father wanted me to be a boy, all he had was girls, and he wanted one of his children to have his name. And since I was the youngest, I ended up with the short end of the stick.”

He was silent, but made an “O” shape with his mouth.

“What’re you doing out here anyway?” I questioned.

“I came out here to ask you something.”

“What was it?”

“I forgot.”

I smile inwardly. “It’s getting late; we should get back to our tent.”

“Yeah, let’s go,” he said as we started walking out of the showers. “You know, you’ve got nice a body.”

I looked at him with raised eyebrows and he went scarlet. I just smiled and said thank you.

“Curly?”

“Yeah,”

“I would really appreciate it if the guys didn’t find out me being a...” I trailed off hoping he would get it.

He laughed. “I won’t tell them,”

I laughed too as I realized the only one he speaks to in the whole camp... is me.