Hey here's another chapter for my lovely fans!

A word of warning, the chapter after this one is supposed to be my most intense one yet. Anyone who wants a sneak preview PM me and I'll send it.

Enjoy!


Belladonna's POV

I sat on the floor with Zigzag, watching what he called TV and what everyone else called static. Every now and then he would chuckle, gasp or nudge me, asking if I agreed. With what I have no idea but all I can say for sure is that Zigzag really is crazy.

"So can you actually see?" I asked as he stared at the TV.

"It's an episode of this show I watched back home called Pokemon," he explained.

"I watched Pokemon when I was younger," I mumbled, stressing the younger.

"But you're a girl," Zigzag said confusedly and I smiled.

"A girl who found the idea of cute little animals with powers incredibly entertaining," I answered and Ziggy smirked.

"Fair enough. In this episode the characters Ash and Misty get into a big fight because they're both really stubborn," he explained.

"Don't they always fight though?" I asked.

"Yeah…they are pretty hot headed," Zigzag mumbled, looking up at me. "So what's happened between you and Squid?" I knew that was coming.

"He crossed a line Zigzag and if you keep questioning me then you'll end up past it to," I answered in a steely voice. He nodded. "Now because you pissed me off," I started and Zigzag visibly stiffened. "You have to comfort me while explaining what's going on in the episode," I said before shifting over and leaning against Zigzag and getting comfy. I felt him stiffen again before he relaxed, an arm going around my waist.

"Alright but if Squid asks I'm goanna tell him you missed him and needed someone to cuddle," he said in a smug voice.

"And if you do I'll kick you right in the baby makers," I replied easily and he flinched.

"Touché," he chuckled before going into a long description of what he thought we were watching while I was trying very hard not to fall asleep.

When it got to the point where my head was drooping, Stanley walked in. I focused my rapidly depleting attention on him as he walked towards the pool table. I noticed, as Squid was taking his shot, that he looked up at Stanley, his lip curling in that familiar sneer. I shook my head, looking away.

My attention was immediately brought back by a crash as Lump threw Stanley off of him.

"Watch it!" he snapped, Stanley stumbling away from him.

"You watch it man," Stanley mumbled back, turning away.

"What you say to me?!" Lump demanded, landing a heavy kick to Stanley's butt that sent him flying forwards and onto the ground. Everything in the room stopped, all eyes on Stanley and Lump. Looking around, I looked for a weapon in case Stanley would (And probably need) me to jump in.

"Belladonna," a voice whispered and I turned in time to catch the pool ball Hector tossed at me, a green one already in his hand. I nodded, gripping it and turning back to the scene.

"I'm sorry man," Stanley mumbled as he started to climb to his feet, making the mistake of putting his hand on the same stool as the radio. "I didn't mean to hit you." I could see what was about to happen and was on my feet before Stanley even knew what was happening.

I watched as the stool swivelled, Stanley was thrown forwards again and crashed into Lump. Lump roared as he ripped Stanley off of him, standing up with his meaty fist wrapped around Stanley's orange jumpsuit.

"You're a dead man!" Lump spat, pushing Stanley as hard as he could.

I leaped onto the scene, bashing the pool ball against Lumps fist as hard as I could. He cried out before using his free hand to take a swipe at me, batting me away with his bear like paw. I stumbled back, catching myself on Lumps abandoned chair. I hissed as I felt my right hand burn in a hot flash of pain, my knuckles definitely bruised.

I watched as instantly the D-Tent boys flocked around Stanley and Lump and to my surprise, Squid seemed to be holding up the front, pool cue raised and ready to attack as he dragged Stanley back while simultaneously braving Lump by himself with a sneer.

"Hey! Just chill Caveman!" X-Ray demanded, stepping between Stanley and Lump while Squid held him back. Caveman? Who's Caveman? I looked over at Stanley. Must be his nickname. "If we start a fight now the Warden will come down hard on all of us," he reasoned in that way of his that made everyone calm.

That's why X-Ray was our leader, why we trusted him and believed he could help us, and it was all in his smile, the way he talked and even in simple actions. He could even trick Pendanski if he wanted to.

"Take it easy man," Armpit mumbled, ready to go if we needed him to. Armpit was the sweetest guy ever, but he and Squid were our muscle. If any of us had a problem, they were the first to get physical.

"Keep that punk away from me," Lump growled, backing up.

"Hey it's all good," Armpit continued to mumble his little comforts, Lump finally returning to his chair. I followed the guys as they headed back to the pool table, Squid wrapping his arm around Stanley's shoulders.

Wait what!?

"Don't look at him, he's crazy, you understand me?" Squid advised and Stanley nodded fearfully. As I approached Hector moved away, letting go of is pool ball. I copied him, feeling a hand on my own as the ball rolled away. "You took a nasty hit there Bell," Squid mumbled, delicately touching my rapidly darkening knuckles with that feather light touch of his.

"It was worth it," I sighed, watching Lump rub his battered hand. Squid nodded, pulling his hand away. I knew he was still angry about the whole me yelling at him for protecting Stanley thing, not that he really had a right to be.

"Hey?" we looked to see Magnet leaning against the table, looking serious. "Nobody messes with the Caveman, alright? Nobody," the others all agreed but I couldn't help but wonder what they were talking about. They couldn't be talking about Stanley could they? They guy looked so shaken up a gust of wind could knock him down.

"Did you see the Caveman back there?" X-Ray asked, the others muttering nobody. Either they were messing with him, or they actually thought Stanley had challenged Lump personally.

"N-No no! I don't want to mess with anybody!" Stanley stuttered out nervously, trying vainly to get his point across. Idiot! You're Caveman!

A whistle cut the guys off, all of us standing up to go eat. "Let's go eat! You coming Caveman?" Zigzag asked and Stanley froze. I smiled, shaking my head as I followed behind Squid.

"So I'm Caveman?" I heard Stanley ask to someone.

"Better then Barfbag." I chuckled at Hector's response before continuing on.


Nothing much happened today. We got up, we dug, Stanley got moved up in front of Hector in the water line, looking guilty about it and now we're all stuck in this stupid 'group therapy' session with Pendanski.

I was sitting with Zigzag again, letting him gently prod and play with my bruised hand. It was kind of sweet. I looked around the circle, the others looking as bored as I felt while Squid glared down at my and Zigzag's hands.

"What about you Jose? What do you like?" Pendanski asked.

"I like animals," Magnet said with a big smile on his face. I smile back while X-Ray chuckles.

"That's what got Magnet sent here in the first place," he laughed. Magnet scowled.

"Man it's criminal the way they keep them locked up in cages," he groaned.

"No Jose what you did was criminal," Pendanski corrected and I glared at him. Come to think of it…what did Magnet do to get sent here?

"Nah nah tell em' Magnet," Squid said leaning forward. "They wanted a thousand bucks for just one puppy," he grunted.

"What?" X-Ray gasped and Magnet nodded.

"Yeah man, I would have made it out…if my pocket hadn't started barking." everyone laughed, Jose and Armpit fist bumping. Pendanski shook his head, sighing.

"You boys-"

"Ahem!" I coughed loudly, glaring at Pendanski.

"And girl, get one life and so far you've done a pretty good job of screwing it up." I rolled my eyes at his claim, shaking my head. Stanley, now Caveman, chuckled under his breath. Pendanski shot him a look.

"So you're Caveman now? Big shot, got a nickname." he didn't sound to encouraging and something in me told me I would need to come to Stanley's rescue again. "Well let me tell you something Caveman, you are here on account of one person. Do you know who that person is?" God I hate Pendanski.

Stanley looked from Pendanski, then around at us, a cheeky look in his eye before he looked back over at Pendanski. "Yeah, my No-Good-Pig-Stealing-Great-Great-Grandfather. That's who it is," he said back. Three things happened. Pendanski's face reddened, the rest of us all laughed and even Zero cracked a smile.

"No, you screwed your life up Stanley Yelnats and it's up to you to fix it," he said sternly, not joining in on our humour. "Now it's not goanna be easy but you'd be surprised what you can accomplish if you put your mind to it." could he sound like a bigger douche/rip off of a classic Disney character? "Even Zero here isn't completely worthless." that one made my smile drop and I sat up straight, clenching my fists. "What about you Zero?" he asked, a smug smile that I wanted to punch of soooooo badly appearing on his face. "What do you like?" Zero sat there, staring at the floor. He wasn't going to stoop to Pendanski's level. "You just won't talk with me will you?"

"Man he only talks to Caveman," Armpit piped up, smiling at his inclusion.

"You think you're better then all this?" Pendanski was really asking for it now.

"I like digging holes," Zero said in a steely voice.

"Then you're in the right place. Buddy Boy." I could barely hold the growl in my throat, the thought of ripping Pendanski's head off sounding so good. "I assume you won't be talking again?" Pendanski sighed, preparing to move on to someone else.

"Well maybe he's the only one here who's strong enough to stick to his conviction that talking to you is a waste of time," I spoke up.

Everything went silent, Zigzag dropping my hand. Squid's toothpick was hanging from his opened mouth, X-Ray's classes could have fogged up, Magnet and Zigzag were ridged with fright and Zero and Caveman just looked stunned. Pendanski looked livid.

"You got something to say to me?" he asked in a steely voice. I smirked, leaning back.

"Nothing you don't know I'm already thinking. And nothing I'm goanna say in front of these guys," I said. A smirk crossed Pendanski's face and a sick feeling dropped into my stomach.

"Well I could always read your file." I stiffened as he reached into the box by his chair and pulled out a larger then normal folder.

"Put that down," I hissed, moving to stand up. Zigzag put his arm out in front of me.

"He'll only make it worse for you," he whispered urgently.

"He can't read it! Make him stop please!" I begged as Pendanski's eyes moved across the page, widening at some points before he smirked again.

"Nothing he says will make us see you differently Bell," Squid whispered over. That relaxed me slightly but I was still nervous when Pendanski looked back up.

"So you had a good life in Brooklyn huh? Loving mother? Caring father?" he paused, staring right in my eyes. "Do you feel guilty at all? Whenever you think about them?" I was already shaking, the last looks I got of my parents faces flashing across my memory. "Well?"

"I wasn't my fault," I bit back, my voice wavering.

"Do you really believe that? Do you really believe that if you hadn't tried to help your father wouldn't have gotten distracted? Then he wouldn't have taken that bullet. And what about your mother? All she did was try to protect you and look how that turned out."

I wouldn't cry, not in front of Pendanski. Squid had seen me cry, he was the only one to see me cry and I could tell he knew I was close to tears.

"And even when you got taken in by a loving foster family in Lockhart you've never been able to let go of that hate have you? Letting it boil over until you murdered that old man?" a gasp went around the tent, everyone's eyes going onto me.

"She didn't kill him," a lone voice said and we all turned to stare at Hector. Pendanski's face looked ready to explode.

"So you'll talk for her?" he spat. Hector glared at him and his expression darkened. "Well it doesn't matter does it Belladonna? They're not coming back, they can't come back and they're never coming back and it's all. Your. Fault." I stood up, my chair slamming against the floor. I stalked to the centre of the circle and glared down at the now quivering man that I knew as Pendanski.

"You're a shit doctor," I spat before turning and running out of the room, out of the cabin and back to our tent.

"Bell!" I ignored Squid's shout.