A/N: Uber mega sorry for the ridiculously stupid wait. I just hate computers so so much. Too many excuses for me to list just hope y'all forgive me. And also sorry for this horrific chapter I hate it and want to burn it but writers block is a disease that attacks people mercilessly and I am plagued. I will try to be a lot less crap next time. Promise. Danke my lovlies. So far I have tried to follow the storyline as best as I can, but here I've added an event that didn't happen in the book or movie. I just thought it would vary the routine of waking, digging, eating then sleeping. It also gives Zig a chance to try some of his moves out :-P.

Whatever foolish goose invented the imbecilic notion of alarms needs shooting in the fingers. When your dreams are plagued with swimming in golden coins and sparkly jewels and diamonds, the last thing you desire to ring inside your head at the corrupt am of 4.30 is that infuriatingly vexatious screech of an alarm. However the hell Aunt Lou has not swung a shovel across someone's unfortunate features I do not know.

I was hoping to catch a few rays today and maybe inspect some holes in the hope of discovering an odd treasure chest or two, just by chance, but my daily plans were shattered when I stepped outside the cabin and discovered a dusty orange sandstorm ripping it's way through the Camp.

Huffily and in a somewhat annoyed manner I slammed my way back into the cabin and stood at the door for a few moments, arms folded and scowling, Aunt Lou emerged from her bedroom pulling on another manish style shirt over a tank top, she paused one arm in the sleeve the other halfway, to look at me. For the first time since I had met her she looked scared, maybe actually showing compassionate emotion for another human being, which for her had to be difficult. But as quickly as it had came, it went. Her usual stern composure returned rapidly and she carried on strolling towards me.

"What's crawled into your pants?" she asked . And with a straight face. Which meant that, no, she was not trying to make a crap attempt at saying something witty and amusing, but asking me in her own weird and odd way 'what the face was for'. I didn't bother with a response as she didn't seem to require one, she just strode past me outside and then seconds later came back in, full of orange dust. She scowled at me for not warning her then stormed into her room. I half expected her to start singing 'I Hate Everything About You,' which would not surprise me one bit. She emerged with her walkie talkie yelling at poor Penny who must have snook out earlier.

Shudder.

"Well what do you suggest?" she was screeching.

Jesus, you'd think it was him who'd told the weather to blow up a storm in the camp the way she was speaking to him.

A crackle of a response was heard coming through the modern (snigger) brick-sized black talkie.

"If they found anything they would not be able to see it Pendanski," she said through gritted teeth, rolling her eyes irritably. There was a indistinguishable reply, then she exploded. "Just get here!" she yelled "And bring the rest of those idiotic workers with you," she sighed angrily and thrust the walkie talkie to the other side of the room.

"Trouble in paradise?" I asked idly, carefully placing myself upon the kitchen table and rummaging through my bag that was still there from the first day. Peering inside I found a black digital watch, a comic and cat worming tablets. I must have picked up Noah's bag instead, but the cat worming tablets really vexed me, we didn't have a cat. My confused thoughts were punctured when I realised that Aunt Lou had been glaring at me and continued to do so for a full seventeen minutes until there was a knock on the door.

"You bloody took your time," she sniffed as six or seven counsellors plus Mr Sir bundled through the door.

"Rachel go and take a swim or something," Lou said waving her arm vaguely towards the door. I was halfway through obeying her when I asked myself why the hell I was bowing to this psycho's needs?

There was another flaw in her genius plan.

"And where the hell do you suggest I 'take a swim'?" I asked angrily spinning to face her. "In the lake?" I asked sarcastically.

"Well either contribute to the solution or make yourself scarce." She hissed angrily.

"Alright then," I answered plonking myself down on a seat next to one of the counsellors. She gave me a look and I explained "I'm contributing to the solution,"

"God help," she begged in annoyance. But sat down nonetheless and mentioned no more of my existence. "What do you propose we do?" she asked the faces around here. "In this storm the boys wouldn't be able to see the shovel in front of their faces, never mind what they're digging up."

"But we can't afford to lose an entire day of digging!" one pinched face counsellor said. "That's-" he paused and began a calculation on his hands. An entire twenty seconds later he surrendered and exclaimed "A lot of holes!"

I stifled my laughter not wanting to aggravate any murderous counsellors.

"Anyways," Mr. Sir growled "The point is, is it worth sending them out today and risk them not seeing a thing, I mean it would be as productive as not sending them out at all."

"But the holes would still get dug right?" another counsellor pitched in "After the winds let up we could check the holes,"

"Then we would have to keep track of all the new holes that would have been dug, which would be difficult enough, but nearing impossible in that wind storm. Plus there's a chance that the sands could be blown back into the holes filling them up and covering any findings." These counsellors were not as stupid a they looked, some of these arguments being put foreword weren't too bad.

"Why don't we just let them dig the holes again if they get filled up. But not making them dig they'll become suspicious, they should serve their 'punishment' no matter what the weather right? It would be risky just to let them off."

"No, it would be more of a risk to let them dig. Like Gilsele said, some of the holes could be filled in and if we make them dig in the same holes another day it's another wasted day. If something is there then fine, but if it isn't then we would have lost an entire day and a chance of finding anything in another spot!" although his wording was odd this guy made the best point. I decided to help him out.

"Aunt Lou, If you're worried about 'losing your rep' if you let the guys off the hook for the day why don't you set them a less… 'outdoorsy' but equally evilly malicious task to complete." I noticed my stupid English accent sounded more pronounced and 'Private schoolish' when taking the piss out of Aunt Lou. But amazingly enough I wasn't mauled by some secretly and cunningly hidden guard dogs for my disrespectful remark. She actually looked to be considering the idea.

"I believe being forced in your company would be an equally malicious task for anyone Rachel," she answered.

Bitch.

"What?"

"They shall have to baby-sit you. See how many of them manage to stay sane. See how many you send to the loon-bin."

My God.

She was totally mental.

Who said loon-bin anymore?

"I'd rather not," I answered simply. "Not the entire camp anyways. Unless you want to be responsible for becoming a great Aunt I think that may not be the wisest of decisions."

"Just D-Tent then! You seem to be in the pants of half of them anyways!" she shouted suddenly "Just get out of my sight you stupid child!"

Right wacko's officially gone mad.

"You do know," I said strolling out of the room "That 'beastly child' would have had a much more scarring result than 'stupid'," I said rolling my eyes at the obviousness of it all. I had been called stupid many many times before, it didn't have any effect whatsoever on me. I found that comparing someone to something you'd refer a savage, wild animal to, achieved a much more offended reaction than simply insulting their intelligence.

D-tent.

Why did that woman hate me so?

"Because I refused to be her slave."

I recited a line from The Crucible. My famous play which I should return to England for.

Ha!

Return to England?

I'd be lucky to return to blinkin' San Antonio at this rate.

I felt a strong sense of homesickness rush over me.

And now I had to face Zigzag and one of his crazy schemes to make me fall for him.

Jesus that child was a bloody liability if I ever met one. I opened the door to the cabin and held my breath.

Compared to living with Aunt Lou though, the wind storm was a walk in the park.

"Bonjour miei amici, how are we hoy?" I asked, then gasped. "Oh my gosh! That was four different languages. I'm like…quatrilingual!" I proclaimed.

"Polyglot," Magnet retorted, not even glancing up at my arrival.

"What did you call me?" I asked accusingly.

Was that some kind of Texan insult I wasn't aware of?

Did it mean prostitute? Or snotty cow or something?

"Polyglot. Or multilingual." he finally looked up from his oh-so-important rock equivalent of dice throwing. "Not quatrilingual, I don't think that's even a word." he continued. Since when did he become an Oxford graduate in the correction of multilinguistic diction?

Oh sorry, I meant polyglot diction.

Smart ass.

"I think it is," I shot back "Google it,"

He shot me a glance as if to ask where the computer was.

"Well if you guys hadn't of broke it in the Wreck room then you would have a computer. Anyways, you're not digging today." I said perching myself on the edge of a thin matressed bed.

"Why didn't you say that in the first place?" X-Ray demanded jumping up "Instead of bloody arguing about languages!"

"Slipped my mind," I shot a glare at Magnet "But that freakin wind storm has caused controversy. Tent leaders had a meeting about it and everything. I voted for you not to dig so you're welcome." I rolled my eyes sarcastically.

"This is awesome!" X-Ray exclaimed happily. "We have a day off!"

"You're so thoughtful Ray-ray," Zigzag materialised beside me, grinning scarily. "Thank you," he said squishing me into a hug .

I laughed uneasily. "No problem Zig." I tried to free myself form his vice-like grip.

We were transferred into the Canteen because the wreck room was 'too far away,' which translated from Pennish into English meant 'We don't want you to have fun on your day off so you can stay in the canteen suckers whilst we go shopping'.

Roughly.

I decided to dodge Zigzag to speak to Squid.

About Zigzag.

"What is with him? One minute he's a complete asshole to me, then he's trying to win my heart? It's like as soon as he told me about his mum a switch was turned form love to hate!" I exclaimed to Squid.

"You're asking me?"

"Well you are his best mate aren't you?" I asked sincerely.

Squid shrugged "Yeah but we're guys, we don't talk about that sort of stuff." I slumped down in resignation. "He talks to Caveman about that crap." he added matter-of-factly. I shot up

"Why didn't you say that in the first place?" I huffed skipping towards Caveman, giving him my best suggestive smile.

Instead of looking persuaded and ready to spill everything he knew on the subject, he just looked worried.

"Hi Caveman," I simpered, not being deterred by his lack of enthusiasm, "So I heard you know some slight gossip on Ziggy's problem with me." I grinned, jutting my chin out and scrunching my eyes up. He sighed.

"When you first came…" I grinned knowing I had won and settled down to listen to his epic.

Armed with both sides of the story I felt confident striding towards Zigzag's tall back as he was laughing at something somebody had said.

I intrigued him. I thought smugly.

I, me, boring Rachel Brookes from merry old England, had managed to stir the curiosity of a paranoid arsonistic juvenile delinquent. And that simple fact fascinated and tickled me beyond reasonable reason. So Zigzag was going to have to deal with the consequences of telling Caveman that small fact, and the rest of his…feelings towards me. Deal with it in a way that I would not stop pestering him until he confirmed and explained it to me. Which, after his recent declaration, I wasn't altogether convinced it would be too much of a bother with me hanging around him like a bad smell. Nevertheless I tapped him on the shoulder and he spun. He was so tall that he towered over me, looking down upon me with a questioning arch of his blond eyebrow.

"Yes?" he asked, a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Apparently," I said softly "The source of your hate and animosity for me in the early stages of my appearance, was down to a simply spout of curiosity," I said simply. He blinked and then slowly he grinned.

"Been talking to Caveman?" he asked.

I shrugged innocently "We had a fleeting conversation," he nodded unconvinced.

"True, you…had me curious." he said slowly, deeply.

"How so?" I asked. He sighed.

"You were the first girl I'd seen in…well a while. So you know, naturally…" he changed tack "And you were so weird! You just came up with these random sayings about giant rabbits or quotes from your almighty play. I didn't know what to think about you, so when the guys starting swooning I just…got defensive…"

Penny danced into the room at that moment, being the intrusive little shite that he was, and skipped into a separate room.

"What's he doing?" I asked curiously.

"Oh he's convinced himself that he's ill all the time, so he takes like twelve tablets each day. He's not sick, he's just certain he is. A hypo-something."

"Hypochondriac," Magnet piped in. I did a double take, where the hell were these words coming from?

I nodded in uninterest, vaguely watching though the clear glass Pen popping pill after pill into his mouth. I only took full notice when he swallowed one that looked oddly familiar. It was a sort of bright blue and circular. I pushed it to the back of my mind.

"So?" I asked Zig "You're defences sprang up?"

Next chappy doesn't finish on a pointless note. I think.