Episode One - Part One

Squid never thought he'd wake up at Camp Green Lake with a dozen Looney Tunes themed band-aids on his arm. He also never thought he'd actually be caught and sent to a juvenile correctional institution. He learnt pretty quickly that there was always a first for everything.

Squid pulled his covers up to his neck, and glared at the newcomer. In his dazed, afternoon nap state, it took a while for his brain to catch up. All he knew was a pink-haired girl sat cross legged on his bed – not one of the other six empty ones – and was peeling another band-aid from its packaging.

"The fuck are you doing?" he demanded. He expected her to recoil or scream, or start apologizing.

Instead, she slapped another Bugs Bunny plaster on his arm.

"Healing you," she said, gesturing to all the randomly places Daffy Ducks and Tweety Birds. "Duh!"

Squid looked down at them all, then had to cover a wince with a cough. Pain pulsated from his left shoulder blade, exactly where the scorpion had gotten him late last night. Pendanski had instructed him to lie on his back, so the venom could not spread anywhere else, but it just felt worse. It was like someone was ripping his muscles off his bones. He'd almost prefer a day of digging, rather than a day off with a scorpion sting.

"Missed a spot," Squid grumbled, and pulled his arm away before she could slap on a pink Lola Bunny plaster.

"Hey!" The girl laughed, and moved again to tag him on the shoulder, but Squid blocked her efforts with his sheets. She tucked a pink strand of hair behind her ear. "The counsellor said my first official job was to see you back to health. Drop the sheets." She paused, as if trying to hold back a giggle. "I promise I won't look at your titties."

Squid let the sheets go, and watched as she immediately glanced down to look at his bare chest.

"I don't have titties," he grumbled.

"Not with that attitude, you don't."

Squid fumed at her. The pulsing intensified into a sharp stab. "Whatever," he said. "Just get out."

The girl moved, but only to heave a large first aid kit from the floor and onto his bed. "Can't do that," she said, ignoring his grumbles and eye-rolls. "I'm Addison. What's your name?"

Squid only glared in response.

"Fine," said Addison, perking up a little bit as the drummed the first aid kit with her fingers. Glitter shone on her nails. "I'll give ya a name. Let's see..."

She had the nerve to look him up and down. When Squid crossed his arms, and stiffened, she grinned.

"Grumpy McGrumpface?"

He blinked at her.

"Captain Constipation?"

His frowned deepened.

"Barry? Fuck, I dunno." She rubbed her head like it hurt her to think that long. "Throw me bone, man."

"Squid," he said finally.

Addison began sifting through the kit's contents, randomly pulling sheets of medicine and dropping them back in. "Y'all like your nicknames around here. A guy out there? Legit introduced himself as Barf Bag."

Right. It was all coming back to Squid now. Dreadlock left a few days ago. She was one of the three girls assigned to looking over all the homemaker duties for D-Tent. With one girl gone, a new girl had to take her place.

For days, the boys of D-Tent spent every spare second dreaming up their perfect girl. X-Ray wanted someone like Dreadlock. Someone who could bash a head or two if needed. Zigzag and Magnet were thinking more along the lines of someone like Mr Sir's special coffee mug – a big set of boobs and no head.

Turns out, none of them got exactly what they wanted. Addison was a tiny girl with bright pink hair pulled into school-girl braids. She chatted aimlessly, using her hands to emphasize her words as if she was telling an incredible tale.

"… so, the counsellor was all like, wow your mum's a nurse? You must know first aid."

"Do you?" Squid asked.

"No," said Addison. "Don't worry though, it's in my blood. I have shitty handwriting." She pulled a thermometer from the bag. "I'll probably need to take your temperature."

"I'm hot," said Squid.

"Well, duh."

"Sun's out."

"Not what I meant, but sure." Addison squinted down at the thermometer, and then showed it to Squid. "Is this oral or anal?"

Squid blinked back at her. "How 'bout we skip this step?"

"More of vanilla guy," said Addison, nodding. "I can respect that." She dropped the thermometer back into the bag.

As he started pulling the plasters from his arm, Squid glanced over to the tent door. It had been propped open to 'let a breeze in', as Pendanski put it. Really, it only just let the fucking scorpions in. But it did give him a view of the sky, which was a rich orange colour as if the sun was setting. That usually meant the girls would have pissed off into the kitchens.

"Aren't you s'posed to be making dinner?" Squid asked.

Addison shrugged a shoulder. "Yeah. But the counsellor guy said I was better off here. You knock over one pile of laundry, and suddenly you're a danger to yourself and others."

"So, they sent you to me."

Addison nodding, maybe not catching that his voice was dripping with sarcasm. "Did you need help with anything else?"

Grabbing the kit and telling her where to shove it was as the tip of his tongue. Instead, somewhere in the distance a counsellor blew his whistle. Dinner time.

And not a second later, Squid's stomach bubbled. He pressed a hand to it. He lost his breakfast pretty quick after eating it, and slept through lunch. If he didn't go to dinner, he wouldn't have had anything that day. Which sucked – if he didn't go, then he could get back to sleep without the annoying ball of pink energy lingering around.

Addison made his mind up for him, standing. "Where's your shirt?"

He sent her outside of the tent so he could get changed. Only his right arm worked without the bolts of pain running through his body, and it took a lot of biting the fabric and stumbling around. When he shrugged his white shirt on, he realised too late that it was inside out and back to front. He tugged at the little tag, hoping it'd rip right off. It didn't. He shrugged. Maybe no one would notice.

Addison's eyes landed on the tag as soon as he walked out of the tent. "Did your mom drop you as baby?"

He grumbled, keeping his head low. "Keep walkin'."

. . .

Lawless was extremely happy to see Squid line up for dinner. Which was rare considering whenever the two walked into the same room, they'd be at each other's throats in less than a minute. She was, as Squid liked to call her, the worst person ever.

"You look like you just threw up," said Lawless, taking in Squid's pale face.

"He just did," said Addison. And she glanced around at the mess hall, where all the other boys at camp were already tucking into their dinners. The walls echoed with laughter and the sounds of cutlery hitting the metal serving trays. They were all completely oblivious to the two late comers.

Squid grabbed two pieces of bread, and then the ketchup bottle to add a little flavour on one. It was more of an excuse not to look at Lawless. And just as well he did.

"We shoulda called you Barf Bag," Lawless said with a giggle.

He gripped the tray hard enough for his knuckles to turn white. He wanted to see them planted in Lawless's face… but that was no-go. However, if she magically grew a dick, Squid knew where he'd hit first.

Addison got to her tiptoes to see what was in the giant pot that Lawless manned. "What's for dinner?"

"Girls eat after guys," Lawless told her, as she spooned beans onto Squid's tray.

"But I'm his-" Addison jabbed her thumb at Squid, "-doctor. I need to do hourly, no, minutely check ups on him. That includes watching what he eats."

A groan escaped Squid's mouth, and he regretted it as soon as Lawless's eyebrows jumped up. As she looked at Squid, then at Addison, and back to Squid, her face lit up like a light bulb turned on inside her head.

"You're right," said Lawless, with a sweetness to her voice that sounded completely foreign. She motioned for Addison to grab a tray from the pile, and began spooning a bit of everything onto it. "And as Squid's doctor," Lawless kept going, "you should be with him as much as possible."

Hot air blasted out of Squid's nose. He mouthed at her, why?

Lawless's smile was stark against her dark skin. But she composed herself, and mouthed back with a serious expression. Why not? She sent the two down the line to an unmanned pot of mashed potato, which Addison decided was her job to spoon out.

"It's-" she grunted, tugging at the spoon. "Tougher than it looks."

Squid went to hit her arm away, and grimaced again as his shoulder flared up. He moved his right hand to massage around the sting area. Maybe sleeping on it wasn't a good idea. And as he cussed Pendanski out in his mind, the real one got up from the counsellors' table and walked over to the serving area.

"Alan," said the D-Tent counsellor, tipping his head. "How is your shoulder?"

Sore as fuck. Like being stabbed over and over again with a blunt knife. Like his muscle were burning alive.

"Fine," said Squid.

Pendanski's gap-toothed smile stretched across his face. "That's fantastic news! See? I told you they don't hurt for long. You'll be ready to dig tomorrow."

"Wait, what?" Addison turned to face them. She managed to pry the potato spoon from the pot, and as she flung her hands out in emphasis, a glob of potato struck Squid on the chin. "Squid can't dig tomorrow."

Pendanski's eyebrows furrowed. "Addi-"

"As his doctor, I forbid it!" Addison's high-pitched voice caught the attention of close-by tables. Boys from C and A began to look over. "He needs rest and Vitamin C and, like, the soup with the little spaghetti dinosaurs."

"He'll be fine," said Pendanski, in a patient tone.

"He literally just threw up." She jabbed her thumb over her shoulder. "Literally. Check by the shower stalls. The pile of orange-y goo? That was him."

A ripple of laughter went through the boys from C and A, which caught the attention of the next table over: D-Tent. Squid could feel X-Ray's stare. On him, and the glob of potato on his chin and the stupid little tag sitting at the base of Squid's neck. Great.

"I didn't throw up," Squid said through gritted teeth. He wiped the potato off, and turned back to his tray.

"As an actual doctor," said Pendanski, "I conclude that Alan is fit enough to dig."

Addison fell silent for a second. "Can I lift your shirt?" she asked Squid.

"What?"

"I wanna prove a point."

Squid tipped his head, and Addison must've taken it as a nod. She grabbed the back of his shirt, and pulled it up to reveal the sting.

"So, this is fit for – ohmygod."

It must've been pretty bad, because the guys at C all chorused a 'ooh!'. And as Squid, turned, wrenching away from Addison, he saw that Pendanski had frozen at the sight of whatever was on his back. Even Addison was taken aback.

"I didn't think it'd be that bad," she said with a wince. And when Squid glared at her, she threw her arms up. "What? I felt it when you were barfing. You're the one who told me to rub circles on your back. Sue me."

The laughter and chaos from the tables stopped when another counsellor yelled for silence. The other boys pretended they were going back to their dinner and conversations, but Squid knew they were watching out the corners of their eyes.

Pendanski swallowed. "Well… um, maybe… Maybe you'll need an extra day. Just to make sure."

Now, the mess hall was filled with the mutterings of annoyance, and as guys stretched over to ask other tents what Pendanski said, the jealous glares directed at Squid multiplied. One day off was easy to get when you got stung. But two? That was rarer than catching Mr Sir without a cigarette in his hand.

"Yes, Mom," said Squid.

Happy with that, or maybe the fact he could get as far away from the scorpion sting as possible, Pendanski left with a nod.

"Did you just call him Mom?" Addison asked.

Squid pulled his tray away from hers. He snatched a fork from the utensil box.

"Don't worry," Addison continued. "I used to call my teachers Mom all the time. Once I called my dad Mom. That was weird."

Squid grabbed his tray and whirled around. He ignored the others as he stormed off, glaring down the empty spot at the D-Tent table. And as he sat, none of his tentmates dared to say anything. He stabbed at his dinner, and waited for footsteps to come up behind him, and her voice to whine for him to move over.

It didn't come.

He lifted his head, and other than his tentmates looking at him, he saw that Addison had retreated into the kitchens with Lawless. Lawless held her hand up for a high-five.

"Well," said X-Ray, the only one to dare say anything. "That was fun. Dinner and a show."

Squid grunted. "Fuck off."

"My favourite part was when she pimped you out to Mom. Very progressive."

A snort came from Magnet, but when Squid shot a look at him, he suddenly took great interest in his dinner.

Armpit picked at his bread. "Does this make you Pink Girl's bitch?"

"Pit's got a point," said X-Ray. "Be careful not to drop the soap around her."

"I'd drop that soap," Magnet chimed in.

Squid stopped himself from kicking Magnet under the table. Zigzag nodded in agreement, and the guys started chuckling.

"How'd she know about the sting?" Barf Bag asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

Squid just shrugged. The boys quipped back and forth about nurses and faking scorpion stings. The conversation transformed from dissing Squid, to patting him on the back. In the heat of it, Squid found himself quoting Addison's oral/anal joke. And the fact that he pretty much woke up with a girl on his bed. An annoying one at that, but still. It was the closest to action anyone got under the counsellor's watchful eyes. And the other boys stayed behind just to listen, scraping the last bits of their meals around their trays.

Lawless came over to collect the trays. As she piled them up at the head of the table, she snuck glances at Squid.

Squid paused, fork just about the touch his lips. "What?"

"Homegirl stuck her neck out for you," said Lawless. "Got you a day off."

"She's your homegirl, now?"

"She might be useful."

"You said that about Magnet," said Squid, and pointedly looked over at his tentmate. Magnet poked at a bit of sauce he dribbled on his jumpsuit.

"Speak for yourself," quipped Lawless. She gave an equally pointed look at the tag on Squid's shirt.

Squid tucked it in.

Lawless leant against the table. "You need to pay up. Stop actin' as if she just farted and left."

Around them, the other boys started to move off. Usually when Lawless got all up herself and thought she could boss them around, they banded together to shut her down. Or the third, and last D-Tent girl Jax did it for them. But as they made their way to the door without giving Squid a second thought, Squid got the message. They agreed with Lawless. An extra day off – no one could get off scotch free with that.

Squid sat up straighter, pushing his shoulders back to challenge Lawless. "What she want, then?"

"Don't worry," said Lawless with her shit eating grin. "She's still making up her mind."

For once, Squid couldn't blame Lawless's smugness. If there was one thing to not do in prison, it was being in someone's debt. And if you didn't have anything in return, you could easily wound up killed, or worse…

He glanced over at Addison, who had found Jax. As the girls started getting ready for their own dinner, Addison was back to chatting aimlessly. Jax's face seemed to age ten years.

In debt to Addison. He'd rather be bitten by a yellow spotted lizard.

Hi guys! Did someone order a Holes fanfic that's 100% crackhead energy? No? Well, did one show up anyways? Yes. Yes, it did.

Big shout-out to CeruleanMusings, whose fanfic, and kindness, encouraged me to get on here. Still getting used to how everything works. So if things look out of place, I'm really sorry. I made this account ages ago but was intimidated by how things worked. But basically seeing as 2020 is a shitshow, lets just have fun with things. Please note that I'm Australian, so some spellings may be different to what you're use to, sorry!

Have fun, and stay safe xx - luni