Boot Camp Read Online Free Page B

day. Most definitely
yes,
sir.”
    I stand straight and keep my eyes on his because that is what he ordered me to do. Joe stares back, and a slight, tight smile creeps onto his lips. “Oh, you’regood. Yeah, you really think you got this place wired, don’t you?”
    â€œNo, sir.”
    â€œYes, sir!” Joe shouts, and spittle sprays my face. “Yes, sir.”
    â€œYes, sir.”
    Joe presses his twitching nose closer. “Well, which is it, punk? Yes, sir, or no, sir?”
    â€œI don’t know, sir. I don’t know what you want from me, sir.”
    â€œYou don’t know what I want?” he repeats. “What are you, stupid? I just told you!” Joe swings around to the crowd. “You want to know why Garrett’s here? Because he’d stay out all night and wouldn’t come home. Because he didn’t go to school. Because he lied, he stole money, he took drugs,
and
he was messing around with his teacher, who was eight years older than him.”
    My face is suddenly hot, and the air in my lungs is too thin to breathe.
What the
…? I can’t believe my parents told them all that. What were they thinking? It’s no one’s business.
    Once again Joe is under my chin, his face tilted up at mine close enough that I can smell the flowery scent of his hair gel. “You want
me
to tell you why you’re here? Because you were disrespectful, disobedient, ignorant, and rebellious. You were ruining your life and your parents’ lives, and you were too damn selfish and self-centered to care. Am I right, Garrett?”
    My hands ball into fists. My heart is beating hard and my breaths are coming out short and fast. They play by a different set of rules here, and I’d better learn them fast. Out of the corner of my eye I see two blackshirtedchaperones moving toward us. That’s when it hits me: This is a set up. Joe is trying to get me to take a swing at him.
“The type and degree of restraint administered shall be at the discretion of the staff Lake Harmony and its employees will not be held liable for any injury sustained by you during the administration of restraint as it is understood that such injury is the result of willful disobedience on your part.”
    I take a step back, unclench my fists, and inhale and exhale deeply. My heart is still beating, but the anger is beginning to drain. “Yes, sir. You’re right, sir.”
    Joe’s eyes widen for a moment. He knows he almost had me. He looks past me at the approaching chaperones. “Mr. Sparks. Mr. Gold. Take this punk to TI.”
    The chaperones are the same two who guarded the door to the windowless room when I first arrived. The tall athletic one and the short troll. At the other tables kids grin and leer as if they’re glad I’m being taken away. The girl with the black hair and the sign around her neck is one of the few who doesn’t look pleased. Our eyes meet again, and she purses her lips and shakes her head slightly, as if to say she’s sorry.
    Even though I make no attempt to resist, the troll, Mr. Gold, grabs my left wrist and roughly twists my arm behind my back as if I need to be restrained. Mr. Sparks places his hand firmly around my right biceps. They guide me out of the food hall… and into hell.

FIVE
    â€œLake Harmony has your parents’ consent to administer whatever punishment is deemed necessary.”
    Welcome to TI—Temporary Isolation—where I am forced to lie facedown on the cold concrete floor for twenty-four hours a day except for a few minutes here and there to eat or use the bathroom. After a day your chin becomes sore, your neck muscles cramp, and your knees and ribs grow raw from pressing against the hard floor. After two days parts of your body that shouldn’t hurt—your elbows and hips, your lower back—begin to ache.
    The concrete has a sour, musty smell. You realizethat dozens—no, probably