Well, this is interesting, I think as a small smile spreads across my face. I can't help it. This little thing is the solution to all my problems. It has to be his lifeline-the thing he keeps to remind him of home. It'll be like a bargain-my file for his lifeline. It's perfect.

Looks like I'm getting out of here sooner than I expected.

"Journey,wake up!" I hear someone whisper. I feel a hand on my shoulder as I start to open my eyes. The Warden is standing over me.

"You got in late last night, but since you don't want special treatment, you better get up now," she says, moving her hand.

I groan and rub my eyes, but then they pop open.

"Wait-how did you know about that?!" I ask.

"Oh, that," she says, breezily, "I'm the Warden, it's my job. I gotta do something around here to earn my title as the 'she-devil bitch guarding the fiery pits of hell'."

"Riiiight," I say, wondering how she knows about the nickname I called her back at the girls' camp. I stand, grabbing my orange jumpsuit from the back of the couch. I pull it on over the short-shorts and cami that I sleep in, "Well, I, uh, better get digging..."

I'm almost out the door, when she calls out.

"Journey!"

I turn and she tosses me something that I barely catch. Hand-eye coordination, I do not have. I look at it and realize it's a protein bar.

"What's this for?"

"For skipping every meal for the past two days and for hell knows how long before that," she says.

I start to say something back, but one look from her, and I think it's best to hold my tongue.

I start to exit again, but at the last minute, I quickly mutter,

"Thanks."

Then I'm finally gone.

My day can basically be summed up in a sentence; it was hot, and I was miserable. I wasn't the slowest digger, but with nothing pushing me, and with the rest from the past two days, I wasn't exactly jumping at the chance to dig again.

So at lunch, when Squid asked if I needed any help digging, I almost said yes.

"No," I scoffed, acting offended he'd even ask.

He held his hands up, "I was just checking after your little incident yesterday."

My cheeks turned red, "Look, can you let it go already? I'm fine. It was just...like, the heat or something."

He raises his eyebrows. "The heat. Right. I'll pretend I believe you."

I glare at him as he walks away, so I don't even notice Twitch when he walks up next to me.

"Hey," he says, and I jump, "What's going with you two?"

"Who two?" I ask, but I'm not that stupid. "Squid? Nothing...why?"

"No reason," he says, avoiding eye contact.

"Uh-uh, that's not how it works, buddy," I tell him, "Who says there's something going on?"

He sighs.

"Look, all I know is that yesterday he and X-Ray were fighting over you, and today he's offering to dig your hole."

"Fighting over me?"

"Yeah, something about who deserves you more."

"Who says either one of them deserves me?" I snap.

"Hey, I'm just the messenger!" he points out. "But, technically, who says they don't?"

I almost say something along the lines of "they're criminals" but then I realize how stupid and shallow that is, especially coming from me.

"Who says I don't already have someone?" I tell Twitch.

Well...actually, I have no clue where we're at at the moment, but still. I'm not one for loose ends. So I can't really start anything with Squid til I end it, officially, with him, anyway...

"Don't tell me, tell Squid," he replies.

"Who says I won't?" I ask.

"...Nobody. I never said that."

"Oh, right...," I say, my cheeks turning slightly pink. I turn towards the direction of Squid's hole.

But when I see him, with the his messy hair, the muscular arms, and the ever-present toothpick sticking out of his mouth, I feel too stupid. There's no way he could like me. Not really.

I turn back to my hole, and tell Twitch to shut up when I see his smug expression.

"Just invite me to your guys' wedding," he says, barely holding in his laughter.

I knock a little bit of dirt from pile back into his hole, and go back to digging.

"Squid and Journey sittin' in a tree..."