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The sun beat down on the back of Eddie’s neck, singing the little hairs that had escaped his poor attempt at a bun. He wiped the sweat from his brow as he leaned back to look at his work. He deflated. The hole was nowhere near as big as the ones the other boys had dug.
“How the fuck are you guys doing this?” he asked the boy digging the hole next to him. Scoops, he thought his nickname was.
With his sunkissed skin, his smattering of moles, and his perfectly swept hair (which somehow managed to keep shape despite the hundred-plus-degree heat), Scoops was the most devastatingly handsome boy Eddie had ever seen. Eddie had nearly fainted when he had first been introduced when he received his bunk assignment. How the camp counselor could expect him to get a wink of sleep when such a boy existed mere feet from his bed was beyond Eddie. Eddie had been tongue-tied whenever he found himself near Scoops that day, or maybe his body just hadn’t gotten used to the heat. Since then, he’s tried to find any excuse to talk to him in hopes of befriending him.
Scoops didn’t respond. He didn’t even spare him a glance, instead continuing to dig into the dried-out earth. At this point, Eddie had come to expect his silence. As far as he was aware, Scoops never talked to anyone, preferring to keep scooping the dirt from the earth. Still, Eddie could try.
“Man, when I get out of here, I’m never taking tap water for granted again.” Eddie took a swig from his canteen, cringing at the metallic taste.
“What do you think we’re supposed to be digging for?” Eddie voiced the question all of the campers had asked since the beginning. “Or is this some method of physical and psychological torture?”
Scoops kept digging.
“I know why I got sent to this torture camp for–” Accessory to his father’s carjacking operation. “--but why did they send you here? Do you have some crazy national secrets the government can’t get you to spill? Illegally playing the quiet game? Or perhaps–”
Eddie didn’t hear the spurs of their cranky camp counselor until his shadow cast over him.
“Quit yer yapping, and keep digging!” The man practically hollered in his ear.
Turning back to his shovel, Eddie noticed a small grin on Scoops' perfect face.
Eddie considered that a win.