Hey, all. Got this done on -thursday- I think. I am compleately drained from school today. We have turn in next week, and I had to finish my Research report. -Enter massive groan Here- I have been listening to the cello band Apocaliptica, UNBELIVEABLE stuff, check it out :) Sorry if my humor seems a little drained, kind of tired. -.- zZzZzzz... Have fun with the new chappie, took me a while, heh heh. :D

He walked down a dust trail made by shoe prints.

This reminded me of an old western movie I saw a couple years ago that I forgot the name of. At the end, the hero guy rides of into the sunset in the Nevada desert.

I guess it remained me because it was just like that scene, except I was in Texas, it was morning, and I was riding Gregory instead of a horse.

Yeah. I really have no idea how I came up with that comparison.

Although I was being supposed to be being punished, I was having the time of my life.

With my new friends, location, and most important of all, Gregory.

We made a quick stop at the shed to grab another shovel, and then we walked past hundreds, maybe thousands of five-foot wide craters in the earth. Not that I had a problem with it, but it made me curious why they were out here, and what were they for?

I didn't linger long on my thoughts because we eventually caught up with the others from A-tent.

"Hey, Hotshot, where ya been?" Asked Sparx.

"I forgot to grab a shovel, and Inferno had to go back to the tent to handle some thing, and he offered me a ride. In other words, not much. Wassup?" I said and got off of Gregory's back, cool as ice.

I am, so good.

"Oh, well okay." Said Sparx, and he went back to his, well, I wouldn't necessarily call it a hole, more like a dent in the earth, since they only just got started.

"You can start there, Hotshot." Said Blaze as he pointed to a spot about four feet away from his 'dent'.

"Oh, okay." I muttered and walked over to said spot.

Letting out a small grunt, I thrust the tip of my shovel into the ground, only for it to violently bounce off.

"OW, okay, let's try this again-" I said.

Blaze laughed. Apparently I was being funny?

"That's not how you do it, Shot," he said and he walked over to me, " You gotta get it in one of the cracks, see? The ground is rock hard; you aren't going to get anywhere if you keep slamming your shovel into the ground like that. Lemme show you."

He stood next to me, and grabbed my shovel, and then he showed me how to get the tip stuck into a crack. All the while standing a little too close for comfort. I shot a nervous glance at Gregory, who had a hint of anger and jealousy buried deep into his features.

"Err…Oh! Thanks Blaze." I said and took the shovel back.

"No problem." He said and returned to his spot.

I glanced at Gregory again, this time he had his look of reassurance, but I could still see the anger in his eyes.

Okay, I have some talking to do once we get back to the tent.

Now that I knew how to get into the ground, digging was a lot faster.

I was so focused; I barely even heard the shocked cry from Heat when he saw my hole.

"My god, girlie, you are fast!"

I looked up at his awed expression, then back down at my hole.

I had already finished about three feet of my hole, and was about to widen it a little so I could meet my standards.

"Yeh, so?" I said, looking around at four shocked faces, and Gregory's raised eyebrows.

"So? SO? Girl, it's not even noon yet and you are already almost done with your hole! How… are you an alien?" Said Heat as he eyed me suspiciously.

I raised an eyebrow at him, " Are you forgetting that I buried my Principal's car in two-odd weeks? Wanna see the calluses?"

"Err, no thanks. I believe you."

I smirked and went back to my hole.

"Lunchtime." Muttered Blaze.

"What?" I said confused.

"Look." He said and nodded at a teal truck with a large water tank that was making its way toward us.

The truck pulled to a stop near our holes, and a grumpy Mr. Sir stepped out.

But that's just him. He always looks grumpy.

"Lunch." He grunted, and made his way over to the back of the truck.

The boys made a line and I followed suit.

"Hey, Hotshot, if you want, you can have my spot in line. I don't mind." Sparx offered.

I gave him a small smile and shook my head. "No thanks, Sparx, I'm good."

He shrugged and went back to his place in line.

When it was my turn, Mr. Sir handed me a dirty water bottle with my name scribbled on it with black marker.

"Here, forgot to give you this."

"Thank you, Mr. Sir."

He scowled at me, and told me to grab my lunch.

Let's see, a bruised to death apple, a graham cracker, and a sandwich. Of the the dry, ham and cheese variety. Yummy.

I sat down at the edge of my hole, and I began to eat my lunch.

"Egan… did you dig this hole?"

Mr. Sir stood in front of me, blocking the midday sun.

I squinted up at him, "Yes, sir."

"All by yourself?"

"Yes, Mr. Sir."

"Without any help from the others?"

I really wanted to scream at him, yes! Yes, I did it all by myself without any help from the others, just like a good little delinquent! Leave me alone! Ya crazy person!!

Instead, I just nodded and said, " Yes, all by myself. Sir." I added and looked at my feet, shadowed by the coolness of my hole.

He looked at me, and then he sniffed and walked back to his truck.

"You boys enjoy your lunch. And, Egan, I'm coming back with the warden to examine your hole. No funny business." And with that, he left leaving a huge dust trail that got swept off into the wind like a cloud.

"I am not a boy." I said under my breath. I crammed the rest of my sandwich into the brown paper lunch bag and got back to work digging my hole.

"Hotshot, aren't you worried?" Said Sparx.

"Why, should I be?"

He just shrugged and tossed a shovel of dirt over his shoulder, which hit Heat in the face. Heat, attempting to get even, threw a handful of dirt at Sparx, who ducked, and it instead hit Flames square in the face.

Dust war. This should be interesting.

It was total chaos; we were enveloped in a gigantic dust cloud that made it so you couldn't even see your own nose. We just threw dirt blindly in every direction, not caring if we hit some one or not.

I looked around for Gregory, but it was useless. I couldn't see anything but the color of dirt in every direction.

Suddenly, the sound of an engine.

We stopped.

Nothing but silence came from our tight little group.

"What is goin' on here?"

A face appeared as the dust settled.

A woman's face.

Wait. Whoa… I'm not the only female in this joint?

"I said, what is goin' on here?"

The woman, in her mid thirties, thin, tall and redheaded, asked again.

"Err, dust devil, ma'am." Said Sparx.

The woman paused, took off her sunglasses, and looked at him.

"Excuse me?"

Sparx looked like he was about to be shot, he was so scared by this woman.

"U-uh, w-we were h-havin' a-a dirt fight. Ma'am." He stuttered out.

"Uh-huh. Thank you, Sparx. Now, does any one care to tell me why you were having this dirt fight?"

"Sparx started it, ma'am." Said Heat.

Sparx looked at Heat with a shocked and betrayed expression.

"There will be no more of that, do you understand, Sparx?"

I winced.

He nodded nervously.

The woman, who I assumed was the warden, turned he expression to me.

"Hotshot, would you like to show me your hole?"

"Yes ma'am." I said quietly, and I walked over to my almost completed hole.

"You did this?" She said, a hint of surprise in her voice.

"Yeah, I mean, yes ma'am."

Her eyebrows rose a fraction of an inch, and she turned to Mr. Sir who nodded.

She looked back at me and gave me a little smile, which I thought was really creepy.

A shiver went up my spine.

This woman was seriously creepy!

"Would… you like to come with me so we can talk about what you did today, Hotshot?"

I glanced nervously at the rest of my tent mates who just stared back at me. Wait, where's Gregory?

I looked at the warden and nodded yes.

Her smile widened.

"Good." She said softly, and started walking to her car.

I could do nothing but follow.

I cast one last look at my friends before I got into the car.

I saw a crest of burnt orange hair peeking out of a hole as Gregory watched me.

His eyes were filled with as much sympathy and regret a person like me could handle.

I looked away, eyes stinging from the tears that threatened to fall from my eyes.

Time to meet my fate.

Wish me luck.

"Come on inside, you're letting the cold out."

I walked inside, and, like finding some thing very precious that you have lost for a long time, the A/C hit my face.

I let out a mental sigh of relief; despite the fact that I was sure that I was going to havereally bad luck in the next hour or so.

"Have a seat, make your self comfortable."

I sat on the edge of an unbelievably tacky floral couch, and put my hands in my lap.

"So, Hotshot, would you like to tell me how you got your hole done so quickly?" The warden said.

"I- it's on my report, Ma'am. I buried my principal's car."

"Really? And how long did it take to do that?"

"Um… about two weeks. Ma'am." I added.

"Well, you certainly have a talent for digging holes don't you?" She laughed softly. A sound I would have complemented her on if I weren't feeling like they were getting the needle ready for me.

A silence fell between us, as she appeared to think about something.

"I think," she said quietly," that since you seem to like digging so much, I will assign you to two holes a day instead of one, hmm?"

Oh. No.

"B-but, ma'am, that's not fair-!"

"I didn't say that it would be fair, did I? Now, I'm nice enough so you won't need to dig another hole today, just get you shower and wait in the rec. room or your tent until dinner, okay?"

I took a deep breath to control my anger, and slowly nodded.

She smiled.

There's that creepy feeling again.

I swear that woman is the devil.

"Good," she said," You are dismissed."

I stood up; ready to high tail it out of there.

"Oh, and, Hotshot?"

Slowly, I faced her.

"Don't be afraid to alert myself or one of the councilors if you find any thing interesting, okay?" She said in a sickly sweet tone.

I gave a curt nod, and left her cabin, letting out the breath I didn't know I was holding.

Oh. My. God!

I was convinced she was going to send me to Juvie, or even prison.

She's that good.

I went over to my tent, grabbed my shower tokens, bath stuff, and headed to my stall.

On my way over, I pondered about the unfairness of it all. My having to do extra work, my friends unfortunate happenings of landing in this dump, Gregory's mom, and the death of my Dad.

I opened the stall door, chewing on my bottom lip.

I put in one of the tokens and turned on the water.

Holy CRAP it's cold!

I was surprised the showerhead wasn't blocked with water or something.

I gave a small shriek and tried to step out of the water's spray.

Unfortunately, it was severely cramped in my special stall, and I only managed to get my head out from under the water.

Greeeaaaat…

I grabbed my shampoo and began scrubbing at my hair, washing dirt and sweat down the drain, trying to ignore the temperature of the water.

I stood in the stall, waiting for it to run out of time.

The water shut off with a clunk, and I wrapped my extra- large towel around my torso.

I grabbed my things, and started towards my tent.

I am going to quote myself. Orange is most definitely NOT my color.

I sighed, and flopped onto my bed.

I put my headphones over my ears and turned up the sound to drown out my guilt, and all the nasty things I held inside me for so long. In a sudden burst of anger, I slammed my fist against my bedspread, tightened my fists until the knuckles were white, screwed my eyes shut, and let out the scream that was building in my throat.

Everything after that was a blur. Like time stood still.

I opened my eyes, and I saw my tent mates, the councilors, Mr. Sir, and even the warden, standing over my bed, looking shocked and worriedly at me.

I blinked, and turned off my I-pod.

"Hey, what's up?"

"We heard you scream, are you alright? For god's sake..." Mr. Pendancski said, panting.

"I'm… I'm fine. I was just… letting off some steam. I'm okay. Really."

"Well, okay. Don't scare us like that again, Ashlyn." He said, turning to leave, the others following.

Except one.

"Gregory! D-Did you just finish your holes? I'm fine, I-I just needed to let of some anger from what the warden told me."

He sat down on my bed and gripped my hand.

"Yeah, what did she tell you?" He asked, his normally calm voice spiked with worry and anger.

"She asked me how I dug my hole so fast, and when I told her, she told me to dig two holes instead of one."

He inhaled through clenched teeth, making a hissing noise.

"Well, that's not fair." He muttered, still gripping my hand.

"I know, that's what I said. It sucks."

"Hmm, yeah. Maybe the boys and I can help you, if you aren't too tired." He said and glanced at my fingers that were clutched in his hand that were promptly turning blue.

"Ooh! Sorry." He said loosening his grip and allowing blood to rush to my fingertips.

"It's okay, Gregory. I'm a big girl; I can take care of my self. I have for the past eight years." I added, trying to fight the sadness from my voice.

"I know. Just, don't get hurt." He said and tilted my chin up so he could lock his gaze onto mine.

"I can't make that promise." I said softly.

He sighed quietly, and placed his warm lips over mine for a split second before whispering in that deep baritone of his, "Then I'll just have to protect you myself, won't I?"

There's gona be some major smut next chapter, that is, if i can get some ideas. / oh well. Review and tell me what you think, yeah? The blarfgains say hello.