A/N: Yeah!! Another chappie so soon without barely any reviews! Ooh! Meet
my muse, Cody!!
Cody: Hello everyone.
He thinks he's Simon from American Idol!
Cody: YOU ARE THE WORST SINGER . . . UM, WRITER IN THE WORLD!!
He will now tell you a very important message!
Cody: Shae is a very sad little kid with low self-esteem and needs constant reassurances that her stories are good and not chicken poo.
*Blinks* Um . . . thank you, Cody. Ok, no more babble.
Disclaimer: I own no one but Willa! Don't sue me! I only have three pennies!
Summary: Same as before
Rating: PG-13 for language
Feedback: Yes!
Willa woke up the next morning when someone poked her through the wall of her tent.
"Yo! Wake up, Chica!" Magnet said. Willa sat up, mumbling.
"Shoot. What time is it?" She said, rubbing her eyes.
"It's before five o' clock. The time we get up in the morning. Come on now, Chica!" Willa grumbled and felt around in the darkness for her hairbrush and scrunchie. When she found them, she put her hair into a messy ponytail and then put her bandana on over it. She stepped out of her tent and looked around.
"Where is everybody?" She grumbled sleepily. Someone laughed.
"We're right in front of you." She squinted.
"Oh." They trudged towards where a lantern was perched near a shack marked Library. Willa wondered what was inside, and her question was answered when Mr. Sir threw open the doors to reveal a shack full of shovels.
"Now remember. Watch out for them snakes an' yeller-spotted lizards." Mr. Sir said. They all filed around and grabbed a shovel. Willa grabbed a shovel with a piece of red tape around the handle, and was about to walk away but X-ray grabbed the shovel out of her hands and deposited another one on the ground in front of her. She looked at him for a moment, and then slowly bent to pick up the shovel. Squid came up beside her.
"Shorter shovel, shorter hole. That's X's shovel, since he's been here the longest." He explained, careful to not look at her eyes. She nodded and sighed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"AAGGGH!! Stupid. Shovel. Won't. WORK!" Willa yelled, stabbing the sand frantically with the shovel. X-ray looked at her for a moment, and then shook his head.
"Um . . . Willa?" Zigzag said, coming up beside her.
"Ah! Ah! Ah!" She exclaimed, still stabbing the sand. Squid climbed out of his hole and strode over to Willa. He grabbed the handle of her shovel and stopped her. She looked up at him, frustration etched all over her face.
"You're not gonna get anywhere like that. You gotta use your foot to push down on the shovel like this, then you sorta lean back and dig it up." Squid explained, demonstrating for her. She watched closely, and then nodded.
"Okay. I got it." She said, putting her foot on the end of her shovel and pushing down. The shovel didn't budge much, and Squid corrected her.
"You've gotta push down more. Here, lemme help ya." He said, pushing down the shovel with her foot still on it.
"Ahh!" Willa exclaimed, surprised. She lost her balance and fell still holding onto the shovel, which caused Squid to fall too. The boys around them saw this and laughed. Willa looked at Squid with wide eyes.
"Sorry." They uttered at the same time. Squid then realized that hey were still on the ground. He scrambled up, and then offered a hand to Willa. She took it and got up, smiling at him.
"Thanks for the help. I think I got it now." She said. He nodded at headed back to his hole. Zigzag looked up at Squid from his hole and snorted. Squid smiled to himself and dumped sand onto Zigzag's head before climbing in his hole.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"WATER TIME!" Mr. Sir barked, stepping out of his truck. Willa sighed in relief and got in line behind Magnet, but X-ray took her by the arm and led her towards the back of the line and in front of Zero.
"That's your place from now on." He said, walking back to the front of the line. On the surface, Willa looked calm, but inside she was filled with anger and was surprised with herself that she hadn't jumped on X-ray when he had his back on her. She looked behind her at Zero, who avoided her gaze.
"Hey," She whispered, "You can get in front of me." Zero shook his head ever so slightly, and then nodded in X-ray's direction. Willa turned around and saw that X-ray was watching her, so she decided to leave Zero alone.
"Got that hole coming up good?" Mr. Sir asked her when it was her turn to get water. She nodded slightly.
"Yes, Mr. Sir." She took her filled water bottle and walked towards the little burrow that was her hole. Mr. Sir laughed.
"That's not a hole! That's a gopher hole compared to all the other'uns! You better get to diggin', girl, or you're stuck here all night!" Willa kept her face straight and put her foot on the edge of the shovel. She pushed down with her body weight, and the whole metal part of the shovel went underground. She leaned back a little as Squid had advised her and dug up a pile of dirt. With a triumphant look on her face, she threw the dirt behind her using her shovel. Unfortunately, she had thrown it into Magnet's hole.
"Hey, watch where you're diggin', man!" Magnet yelled, sticking his head over the side of his hole.
"Sorry!" She yelled back. She turned to an angle where she wouldn't be able to throw dirt into anyone else's hole, and continued digging. Soon she was waist-deep in her hole, digging even faster. She caught a glimpse of Squid looking over the side of his hole to check up on her. She smiled, grateful that at least one person in the camp was decent to her. An hour later, Willa was nearly done with her hole, though she didn't hear any other shovels working. She casually looked up to see if it was dark, and yelped when she saw that Squid was standing over her. She dropped her shovel and put one hand on her forehead and the other one on her chest, where her heart was now rapidly beating. Squid had backed up when she yelled.
"What the heck were you doing, and . . . and how long were you standing there?" Willa said, leaning against one side of her hole to recover from the shock.
"Relax. I was just checking to see if you were done, 'cuz it's almost time for supper." He said. She picked up her shovel again and continued digging.
"I'll be done in a minute." Willa said. Squid raised an eyebrow.
"It looks like you're already done. Gimme your shovel." He took her shovel and measured the circumference and depth of the hole. He looked up at her in awe. "You've done more than enough. Your hole's deeper and wider than the shovel!"
"That's good, then." Willa said reaching up to pull herself out of the hole- except that the hole was so deep that she couldn't reach the top of the hole. Squid smiled a bit and helped her up. She said her thanks and they both headed back towards the camp.
"Squid?" Willa asked as she put up her shovel "Why are you looking out for me like this?" When he didn't answer, she turned and looked at him with her cool green eyes. He looked at the ground.
"I don't know-I guess because you're new and all."
"Oh . . ." The dinner bell rang, and they headed towards the Mess Hall.
The boys looked up when Willa sat down. She was covered in dirt from head to toe.
"So, Willa, how'd your first dig go? Did you get Squid to help you finish, too?" X-ray asked. She looked up.
"Actually he only showed me how to get started. And according to the shovel measurements, I did more than what was necessary. I couldn't even get out of the hole." Willa said, moving her beans around her plate with her spoon.
"So, it looks like Squid got himself a girlfriend." Zigzag said, trying to keep a straight face. Squid punched Zigzag in the arm and muttered a "Dude, stop." Willa didn't look up after that comment. She recalled what he had told her by the Library. It was because she was new.
"After I get all the rules and stuff down pat, he'll ditch me," she thought. Willa was used to being ditched by now. Her parents had divorced and her mom left in the middle of the night without saying goodbye to her. Her dad soon remarried to a lady that had a daughter older than Willa. When her dad worked nightshifts, her stepmother would get drunk and start cussing and insulting her. One night, it had been too much and she ran away, and soon took up the life of crime and became a juvenile delinquent. Her father had came and bailed her out of jail when he found out about her whereabouts and told her that if she ever tried a stunt like that again, he would kick her out. Then one night, her dad and step mom got into a heated argument and her step mom punched her dad. Willa pulled out a butcher's knife from the kitchen drawer and told her stepmother that she would stab her if she ever hurt her dad again. Her stepsister dialed 911 and said that Willa had been about to stab her mother, but all that Willa intended was to scare her.
"Willa? You alright?" Willa looked up at Magnet who was talking to her.
"I'm fine. I'm going for a walk." She said, getting up from the table. She walked outside the Mess Hall and stood looking out at the sunset. Out of the corner of her eye she saw movement, and she turned to see Zero sitting on one of the benches. She walked over and sat next to him.
"Hey." She said, smiling a bit. He looked at her with that steady gaze of his and opened his mouth to let out a barely audible "Hi."
"So you do talk." She said. He smiled slightly. She had noticed before that he looked no older than ten years old. "Um . . . do you have any friends here, Zero?"
"I . . . No." Zero said, suddenly looking away. Willa looked at him sympathetically.
"I'm sorry." She looked away, mentally slapping herself for asking too much. Squid walked out of the Mess Hall right then and spotted Willa.
"Hey." He said, sitting next to her. "I thought you were taking a walk." Willa frowned a little, remembering what he had said earlier.
"Well, I decided to talk to my new buddy." Willa said, smiling at Zero. Zero looked at her, surprised.
"That's good . . . If you can get him to talk." Squid said. Willa looked at him.
"I did get him to talk." Willa said, gazing at the sunset.
"Really? What'd he say?"
"He said 'Hi' and 'no'." Willa said. "Hey, it's a start!" She said when she saw Squid raising an eyebrow.
"So what've you got to say now, Zero?" Squid said to Zero. Zero just looked at Squid as if to say "Leave me alone, dummy." Willa snorted.
"Well, dummy, it's obvious that he has nothing to say!" She said. Squid looked at her with a somewhat irritated look on his face.
"Yeah. I can see that." Squid said irritably. As soon as the words came out of his mouth, he regretted saying them. He saw a bit of hurt in her eyes, but it was then replaced by coldness.
"Okay. You don't have to be so bitchy about it." She said, getting up. "I'm going for a walk." She went down the steps and this time she did take a walk.
In her mind she scolded herself for getting so attached to someone so soon. Squid would just abandon her just like everyone else. He was just helping her because she was new. Nothing else. She was then reminded of how his eyes looked when she first saw him. They looked so intense and fierce, and when they had looked upon her she froze to the spot, unable to move. Willa kicked up dirt and made a frustrated noise.
"ACCH! Damnit! Stop thinking of Squid! Get him out of your mind!" She scolded herself. And, to her horror, she heard a voice.
"Willa?" Zigzag said, his head looking over the side of a hole nearby.
"Zigzag!" Willa said in a panicky voice "What the heck are you doing out here?"
"Um . . . Bathroom." Zigzag said, blushing a little as he climbed out of the hole. Willa stopped, a disgusted look on her face.
"Ugh. Too much info and a bad mental picture." She said. Zigzag laughed.
"So what's this I hear about you thinking of Squid?" Zigzag asked, smiling slyly. Willa groaned and quickly started searching for an excuse.
"I wasn't thinking about Squid-the-person, I was thinking about the food- animal squid." Willa said frantically.
"Really. Then why did you say 'him'?" Zigzag said, still smiling. Willa groaned and slumped to the ground, resting her head on her knee.
"I was really hoping you didn't hear that." Willa said.
"There's nothing wrong with you liking him, you know." Zigzag said. Willa made a sound of frustration again.
"Let's just say I was thinking about calamari and leave it at that, okay?" Willa said. Zigzag laughed.
"No can do. I won't let you go until to tell me."
"There's nothing to tell." Willa said, kicking a dirt clod. She then muttered to herself "He's going to ditch me like everyone else."
"Why do you think he's going to ditch you?" Zigzag asked. She jumped.
"You weren't supposed to hear that, either." She said, mentally slapping herself.
"Well, it helps to not say it out loud. Why do you think Squid's gonna ditch you?" Zigzag asked, softness in his voice. She looked at him and sighed.
"He's only helping me because I'm new here. When I get all settled, he'll ditch me. Like everyone else did." Willa said, staring at the ground.
"Everyone else? Tell me, Willa. I promise I won't tell anyone." Zigzag said.
"When my parents divorced . . . my mom left me and didn't even say goodbye. She didn't even take me with her. I was about six then. Then my dad married this bitch from hell and all his time and attention went to her and her daughter. I just got shoved in the background. I hated my step mom. When she got drunk, she would cuss me out and insult me. I ran away one time and I got caught stealing. My dad bailed me out, but he said that if I ever did anything like that, he would kick me out. I didn't steal anymore. He still didn't pay attention to me. Then one night the bitch punched him and I pulled out the butcher knife from the kitchen. That stupid daughter of hers called the police and lied to them. She said I was chasing her with it trying to stab her. When I went to court none of them defended me." When Willa finished talking, she squeezed her eyes shut to prevent tears from falling but failed. Zigzag stood frozen to the spot, trying to take in the depressing tale he had just been told. He then realized that Willa was crying.
"Willa . . . " Zigzag put an arm around her shoulders to comfort her. "Just remember that you can tell me anything. I'll be your friend and shoulder to cry on. How's about that?" Willa hastily tried to wipe her tears as she looked at Zigzag and smiled.
"Thanks, Zig." She said.
"And Willa . . . Squid won't abandon you. I won't either. Us people in D- tent always stick together."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
AAWWWW!! So sweet!
Cody: Thank you for ruining the reader's moment in thinking about the ending of the story.
Oh. Sorry, I always seem to ruin moments. Please give me feedback! Every review I get, I eat it and it gets me motivated! AND I WRITE! WRITE, WRITE, WRITE! MWA-HAAAA!! MOO MOO! TICKY TICKY SLIM SHADY!
Cody: Excuse her. She's insane. Until next time:
~Cody advises you to kindly review for the author who is now being put in a straight jacket and being locked in a rubber room where she is ranting like a lunatic about crazy things.~
Cody: Hello everyone.
He thinks he's Simon from American Idol!
Cody: YOU ARE THE WORST SINGER . . . UM, WRITER IN THE WORLD!!
He will now tell you a very important message!
Cody: Shae is a very sad little kid with low self-esteem and needs constant reassurances that her stories are good and not chicken poo.
*Blinks* Um . . . thank you, Cody. Ok, no more babble.
Disclaimer: I own no one but Willa! Don't sue me! I only have three pennies!
Summary: Same as before
Rating: PG-13 for language
Feedback: Yes!
Willa woke up the next morning when someone poked her through the wall of her tent.
"Yo! Wake up, Chica!" Magnet said. Willa sat up, mumbling.
"Shoot. What time is it?" She said, rubbing her eyes.
"It's before five o' clock. The time we get up in the morning. Come on now, Chica!" Willa grumbled and felt around in the darkness for her hairbrush and scrunchie. When she found them, she put her hair into a messy ponytail and then put her bandana on over it. She stepped out of her tent and looked around.
"Where is everybody?" She grumbled sleepily. Someone laughed.
"We're right in front of you." She squinted.
"Oh." They trudged towards where a lantern was perched near a shack marked Library. Willa wondered what was inside, and her question was answered when Mr. Sir threw open the doors to reveal a shack full of shovels.
"Now remember. Watch out for them snakes an' yeller-spotted lizards." Mr. Sir said. They all filed around and grabbed a shovel. Willa grabbed a shovel with a piece of red tape around the handle, and was about to walk away but X-ray grabbed the shovel out of her hands and deposited another one on the ground in front of her. She looked at him for a moment, and then slowly bent to pick up the shovel. Squid came up beside her.
"Shorter shovel, shorter hole. That's X's shovel, since he's been here the longest." He explained, careful to not look at her eyes. She nodded and sighed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"AAGGGH!! Stupid. Shovel. Won't. WORK!" Willa yelled, stabbing the sand frantically with the shovel. X-ray looked at her for a moment, and then shook his head.
"Um . . . Willa?" Zigzag said, coming up beside her.
"Ah! Ah! Ah!" She exclaimed, still stabbing the sand. Squid climbed out of his hole and strode over to Willa. He grabbed the handle of her shovel and stopped her. She looked up at him, frustration etched all over her face.
"You're not gonna get anywhere like that. You gotta use your foot to push down on the shovel like this, then you sorta lean back and dig it up." Squid explained, demonstrating for her. She watched closely, and then nodded.
"Okay. I got it." She said, putting her foot on the end of her shovel and pushing down. The shovel didn't budge much, and Squid corrected her.
"You've gotta push down more. Here, lemme help ya." He said, pushing down the shovel with her foot still on it.
"Ahh!" Willa exclaimed, surprised. She lost her balance and fell still holding onto the shovel, which caused Squid to fall too. The boys around them saw this and laughed. Willa looked at Squid with wide eyes.
"Sorry." They uttered at the same time. Squid then realized that hey were still on the ground. He scrambled up, and then offered a hand to Willa. She took it and got up, smiling at him.
"Thanks for the help. I think I got it now." She said. He nodded at headed back to his hole. Zigzag looked up at Squid from his hole and snorted. Squid smiled to himself and dumped sand onto Zigzag's head before climbing in his hole.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"WATER TIME!" Mr. Sir barked, stepping out of his truck. Willa sighed in relief and got in line behind Magnet, but X-ray took her by the arm and led her towards the back of the line and in front of Zero.
"That's your place from now on." He said, walking back to the front of the line. On the surface, Willa looked calm, but inside she was filled with anger and was surprised with herself that she hadn't jumped on X-ray when he had his back on her. She looked behind her at Zero, who avoided her gaze.
"Hey," She whispered, "You can get in front of me." Zero shook his head ever so slightly, and then nodded in X-ray's direction. Willa turned around and saw that X-ray was watching her, so she decided to leave Zero alone.
"Got that hole coming up good?" Mr. Sir asked her when it was her turn to get water. She nodded slightly.
"Yes, Mr. Sir." She took her filled water bottle and walked towards the little burrow that was her hole. Mr. Sir laughed.
"That's not a hole! That's a gopher hole compared to all the other'uns! You better get to diggin', girl, or you're stuck here all night!" Willa kept her face straight and put her foot on the edge of the shovel. She pushed down with her body weight, and the whole metal part of the shovel went underground. She leaned back a little as Squid had advised her and dug up a pile of dirt. With a triumphant look on her face, she threw the dirt behind her using her shovel. Unfortunately, she had thrown it into Magnet's hole.
"Hey, watch where you're diggin', man!" Magnet yelled, sticking his head over the side of his hole.
"Sorry!" She yelled back. She turned to an angle where she wouldn't be able to throw dirt into anyone else's hole, and continued digging. Soon she was waist-deep in her hole, digging even faster. She caught a glimpse of Squid looking over the side of his hole to check up on her. She smiled, grateful that at least one person in the camp was decent to her. An hour later, Willa was nearly done with her hole, though she didn't hear any other shovels working. She casually looked up to see if it was dark, and yelped when she saw that Squid was standing over her. She dropped her shovel and put one hand on her forehead and the other one on her chest, where her heart was now rapidly beating. Squid had backed up when she yelled.
"What the heck were you doing, and . . . and how long were you standing there?" Willa said, leaning against one side of her hole to recover from the shock.
"Relax. I was just checking to see if you were done, 'cuz it's almost time for supper." He said. She picked up her shovel again and continued digging.
"I'll be done in a minute." Willa said. Squid raised an eyebrow.
"It looks like you're already done. Gimme your shovel." He took her shovel and measured the circumference and depth of the hole. He looked up at her in awe. "You've done more than enough. Your hole's deeper and wider than the shovel!"
"That's good, then." Willa said reaching up to pull herself out of the hole- except that the hole was so deep that she couldn't reach the top of the hole. Squid smiled a bit and helped her up. She said her thanks and they both headed back towards the camp.
"Squid?" Willa asked as she put up her shovel "Why are you looking out for me like this?" When he didn't answer, she turned and looked at him with her cool green eyes. He looked at the ground.
"I don't know-I guess because you're new and all."
"Oh . . ." The dinner bell rang, and they headed towards the Mess Hall.
The boys looked up when Willa sat down. She was covered in dirt from head to toe.
"So, Willa, how'd your first dig go? Did you get Squid to help you finish, too?" X-ray asked. She looked up.
"Actually he only showed me how to get started. And according to the shovel measurements, I did more than what was necessary. I couldn't even get out of the hole." Willa said, moving her beans around her plate with her spoon.
"So, it looks like Squid got himself a girlfriend." Zigzag said, trying to keep a straight face. Squid punched Zigzag in the arm and muttered a "Dude, stop." Willa didn't look up after that comment. She recalled what he had told her by the Library. It was because she was new.
"After I get all the rules and stuff down pat, he'll ditch me," she thought. Willa was used to being ditched by now. Her parents had divorced and her mom left in the middle of the night without saying goodbye to her. Her dad soon remarried to a lady that had a daughter older than Willa. When her dad worked nightshifts, her stepmother would get drunk and start cussing and insulting her. One night, it had been too much and she ran away, and soon took up the life of crime and became a juvenile delinquent. Her father had came and bailed her out of jail when he found out about her whereabouts and told her that if she ever tried a stunt like that again, he would kick her out. Then one night, her dad and step mom got into a heated argument and her step mom punched her dad. Willa pulled out a butcher's knife from the kitchen drawer and told her stepmother that she would stab her if she ever hurt her dad again. Her stepsister dialed 911 and said that Willa had been about to stab her mother, but all that Willa intended was to scare her.
"Willa? You alright?" Willa looked up at Magnet who was talking to her.
"I'm fine. I'm going for a walk." She said, getting up from the table. She walked outside the Mess Hall and stood looking out at the sunset. Out of the corner of her eye she saw movement, and she turned to see Zero sitting on one of the benches. She walked over and sat next to him.
"Hey." She said, smiling a bit. He looked at her with that steady gaze of his and opened his mouth to let out a barely audible "Hi."
"So you do talk." She said. He smiled slightly. She had noticed before that he looked no older than ten years old. "Um . . . do you have any friends here, Zero?"
"I . . . No." Zero said, suddenly looking away. Willa looked at him sympathetically.
"I'm sorry." She looked away, mentally slapping herself for asking too much. Squid walked out of the Mess Hall right then and spotted Willa.
"Hey." He said, sitting next to her. "I thought you were taking a walk." Willa frowned a little, remembering what he had said earlier.
"Well, I decided to talk to my new buddy." Willa said, smiling at Zero. Zero looked at her, surprised.
"That's good . . . If you can get him to talk." Squid said. Willa looked at him.
"I did get him to talk." Willa said, gazing at the sunset.
"Really? What'd he say?"
"He said 'Hi' and 'no'." Willa said. "Hey, it's a start!" She said when she saw Squid raising an eyebrow.
"So what've you got to say now, Zero?" Squid said to Zero. Zero just looked at Squid as if to say "Leave me alone, dummy." Willa snorted.
"Well, dummy, it's obvious that he has nothing to say!" She said. Squid looked at her with a somewhat irritated look on his face.
"Yeah. I can see that." Squid said irritably. As soon as the words came out of his mouth, he regretted saying them. He saw a bit of hurt in her eyes, but it was then replaced by coldness.
"Okay. You don't have to be so bitchy about it." She said, getting up. "I'm going for a walk." She went down the steps and this time she did take a walk.
In her mind she scolded herself for getting so attached to someone so soon. Squid would just abandon her just like everyone else. He was just helping her because she was new. Nothing else. She was then reminded of how his eyes looked when she first saw him. They looked so intense and fierce, and when they had looked upon her she froze to the spot, unable to move. Willa kicked up dirt and made a frustrated noise.
"ACCH! Damnit! Stop thinking of Squid! Get him out of your mind!" She scolded herself. And, to her horror, she heard a voice.
"Willa?" Zigzag said, his head looking over the side of a hole nearby.
"Zigzag!" Willa said in a panicky voice "What the heck are you doing out here?"
"Um . . . Bathroom." Zigzag said, blushing a little as he climbed out of the hole. Willa stopped, a disgusted look on her face.
"Ugh. Too much info and a bad mental picture." She said. Zigzag laughed.
"So what's this I hear about you thinking of Squid?" Zigzag asked, smiling slyly. Willa groaned and quickly started searching for an excuse.
"I wasn't thinking about Squid-the-person, I was thinking about the food- animal squid." Willa said frantically.
"Really. Then why did you say 'him'?" Zigzag said, still smiling. Willa groaned and slumped to the ground, resting her head on her knee.
"I was really hoping you didn't hear that." Willa said.
"There's nothing wrong with you liking him, you know." Zigzag said. Willa made a sound of frustration again.
"Let's just say I was thinking about calamari and leave it at that, okay?" Willa said. Zigzag laughed.
"No can do. I won't let you go until to tell me."
"There's nothing to tell." Willa said, kicking a dirt clod. She then muttered to herself "He's going to ditch me like everyone else."
"Why do you think he's going to ditch you?" Zigzag asked. She jumped.
"You weren't supposed to hear that, either." She said, mentally slapping herself.
"Well, it helps to not say it out loud. Why do you think Squid's gonna ditch you?" Zigzag asked, softness in his voice. She looked at him and sighed.
"He's only helping me because I'm new here. When I get all settled, he'll ditch me. Like everyone else did." Willa said, staring at the ground.
"Everyone else? Tell me, Willa. I promise I won't tell anyone." Zigzag said.
"When my parents divorced . . . my mom left me and didn't even say goodbye. She didn't even take me with her. I was about six then. Then my dad married this bitch from hell and all his time and attention went to her and her daughter. I just got shoved in the background. I hated my step mom. When she got drunk, she would cuss me out and insult me. I ran away one time and I got caught stealing. My dad bailed me out, but he said that if I ever did anything like that, he would kick me out. I didn't steal anymore. He still didn't pay attention to me. Then one night the bitch punched him and I pulled out the butcher knife from the kitchen. That stupid daughter of hers called the police and lied to them. She said I was chasing her with it trying to stab her. When I went to court none of them defended me." When Willa finished talking, she squeezed her eyes shut to prevent tears from falling but failed. Zigzag stood frozen to the spot, trying to take in the depressing tale he had just been told. He then realized that Willa was crying.
"Willa . . . " Zigzag put an arm around her shoulders to comfort her. "Just remember that you can tell me anything. I'll be your friend and shoulder to cry on. How's about that?" Willa hastily tried to wipe her tears as she looked at Zigzag and smiled.
"Thanks, Zig." She said.
"And Willa . . . Squid won't abandon you. I won't either. Us people in D- tent always stick together."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
AAWWWW!! So sweet!
Cody: Thank you for ruining the reader's moment in thinking about the ending of the story.
Oh. Sorry, I always seem to ruin moments. Please give me feedback! Every review I get, I eat it and it gets me motivated! AND I WRITE! WRITE, WRITE, WRITE! MWA-HAAAA!! MOO MOO! TICKY TICKY SLIM SHADY!
Cody: Excuse her. She's insane. Until next time:
~Cody advises you to kindly review for the author who is now being put in a straight jacket and being locked in a rubber room where she is ranting like a lunatic about crazy things.~