Errrrrr well I am back….ya'll have been lovely about reviewing and I thank you for that plus it's a snow day :] Continue to review please!! The last was a bit dramatic but you needed to know about her panic attacks now I think things will cool down, and no she is not going to end up with ZigZag right away. ;) hahaha so evil I know but it is worth it.

Disclaimer: No I do not own Holes :P

"Wake up Matches.", I hear Magnet call out after the alarm sounds in the morning air.

Ugh the desert is being bipolar and cold again, shivering I dig myself into my cot. Why do we have to wake up so fucking early? Well then again I would probably burn even more if we didn't work in the cooler parts of the day. With my paler skin it isn't exactly a piece of cake trying to keep from turning into a lobster out in the blistering sun.

Midway through my mind rant I hear X call out "Come on Matches I'll sick Squid on you!"

Groaning I ask "Who in hell's name is Matches and would they wake up so I can sleep?"

Laughing Armpit tells me "You're Matches ,Matches."

How the heck did they know about my matches? "Well they are delinquents they could have gone through your stuff.", my brain tells me and I lift up from under my covers so I'm sitting and looking at them all rushing to get dressed. It's not like I haven't seen a guy shirtless before and they have the decency to wear underwear so it's all good.

"Why is my nickname Matches? No one went through my stuff did they?", I ask only blinking at them.

X-ray who is done and about to leave throws being his shoulder "Zig said that's what you were muttering when you freaked out yesterday. Figured it fit you better than anything else we'd come up with."

"Yeah, so now you're stuck with it, so it doesn't matter if you don't like it.", Squid sort of sneered nearby. Now what's stuck up his butt on this deliciously cold morning? He must be a sore loser.

Making sure everyone was out of the tent I got ready for another day of digging holes. I was better at rushing than I was yesterday and managed to find a baseball cap lying around to wear. I tied the arms of my suit around my waist today letting my bright tank top be seen. It was too hot to care if anyone stared at me, they could shove it up their well you get the idea.

Last I slip on Zig's gloves and head out to get my shovel with the rest of the guys.

***************

"What the frukin' cheesecakes, I thought you said the second day was easier Magnet!", I yell over to my friend in the hole beside me.

"That's what they tell all the new guys. You'll get used to it eventually.", I hear Caveman holler over opposite of me. Magnet had been too busy chuckling at me and my inexperience the jerk face.

I don't see why it's so funny, even with gloves this hurt my hands and blistered them slightly. My scabs from yesterday had rubbed off into the gloves and I was afraid to see how disgusting the result was. Blood has the tendency to make me want to puke and blood mixed with whatever else may come out of those blisters, yeah that doesn't sound so amazing. Puking would only lead to me being dizzy and having to use more water than needed.

Whenever I give Zig Zag these things back I'll have to wash them beforehand because that is just disgusting.

"Magnet shut up. I swear I'll make you into a female if you keep on and believe me there are ways.", I tell my still laughing friend.

"You better learn to sleep with yo' eyes open mane, Matches doesn't play around.", Armpit volunteers.

"She isn't that scary man. You're just saying that because she picked a fight with Lump, it's not like she actually fought. In the end she had some freaky seizure, so like I said she doesn't scare me.", Squid tells Armpit mockingly.

That guy doesn't know when he has lost the battle has he? He must really want a war or else he is just plain idiotic. Slowly because the heat has made me tired I walk over to Squid's hole and let my shadow loom over him. My dad was a professional at body language for his work, so I knew how to effectively intimidate a guy.

Squid raises his head and squints at me ( One day I will have to acquire him some sunglasses because the old western squint wasn't cutting it for me.) ,he'd stopped digging and was standing there staring.

Crouching in a predatory stance, you know like the ones you see on Animal Planet, I asked him "I don't scare you hmm? I can change that if you want, because I should scare you. You are looking at an evil prank mastermind, don't try it bucko. You may find yourself waking up as a female one of these days."

His eyes widened and he backed away from me where he'd leaned in while I spoke. It was difficult not to laugh right in his face after that speech. Playing the villain in a play with my local acting troupe paid off after all. Calm as I could, and still struggling not to burst into laughter, I went back to my hole to finish the last bit.

Mr. Sir had come with the water truck not long before and all of us were close to being done. For once in his life Caveman had even kept up with the lot of us and only had a foot or so to go. That is almost all of us were done, Zig still had to dig another hole once he finished his. My conscience was nagging me in the farthest reaches of my mind. There was no way he would have enough energy tomorrow to dig two more and no one had offered to help him. Still pushing my shovel in and out of the dirt I knew exactly what I would have to do, and I blame my stupid conscience.

***********

"Come on Matches, we're guna' have a pool tournament over in the wreck room.", Magnet calls back at me as him and the rest of the guys start to walk away after spitting in their holes.

"Nah, I think I'll stay here for a little while longer, but I'll catch up later alright!" I yell to my friend's retreating form. Everyone was done as I had predicted, all but Zig who was only a foot into his second hole. It would be so easy to follow the guys and be a part of the pool tournament, I may suck at pool but it beats staying out here.

Deciding to throw caution to the wind I grab my shovel and start to help Zig with his second hole.

"What're you doing Matches?", he asks in his southern drawl, turning towards me as I keep digging.

Staring back at him but still digging I answer " I'm not going to eat your brains so you can calm down, but you shouldn't have to dig a second hole by yourself for helping me. Even paranoid stalkers need help, so don't you dare protest cause' I'm not above pushing a pressure point that could make you pass out, then I could dig all on my lonesome." ,and turn back to my shoveling.

Zig stands there for a minute, I guess he didn't know what to say to my wonderful little speech, then started to help me out . Not too long after this little exchange about three feet into the hole I started to get overly bored and decided it was about time he talked.

"So, now I am getting bored. Do you know how to play twenty questions Zig?" I asked hoping to learn more about my stalker.

"Yeah sure I do, you ask first." ,he says still digging along with me.

"Firstly, where are you from? I mean you have a southern drawl but I don't know where from."

Zig smiled at that question, "I'm from around Austin Texas which I guess isn't too far from here. Now it's my turn, what are you in here for?"

That whipped the smile right off of my face and made Zig look worried. I couldn't help it, my arrest was a touchy subject. "I torched the court house lawn. Didn't mean too though and it wasn't my fault." I answer back solemnly.

Zig turned his head slightly in curiosity, "My arrest was because of an accident too, you don't have to tell me if you don't want, but I had just been called a few names and wanted to see something burn. It was only a piece of styrophome and shouldn't have spread like that, but it did and here I am now. I'm kind of glad though, you're a good friend, even if you do work for the government."

I had to laugh at Zig's government comment but something bugged me, what had they called him?

"Zig what was it they called you?"

Here his face hardened a bit as he looked off at the sinking orange red sun in the distance, " They called me crazy," here he stared at me with those electric eyes, "I'm not crazy though."

I understood now what he meant, I they'd said the same about me. It hurt to hear them say that when you knew it wasn't true.

"You're right Zig you aren't, and neither am I. I think they all got it wrong, they're the crazy ones." I smile and go back to digging the last of the hole.