Disclaimer: I certainly do not own Zero ((but he's sooo cute)) nor do I own many other things Louis Sachar and Walt Disney have made up. HOLES belongs to Mr. Sachar, THINGS-YOU-DO-NOT-RECOGNISE probably belong to me.
My Angel, My Only
Chapter Six ll The Caveman
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The next day, Zero was the first to collect his shovel. He kept an eye on Stanley. He was very interested in him, though he didn't really know why. Maybe because he knew it was probably his fault Stanley was here.
Zero slung his shovel across his shoulders. He was still the smallest kid in Group D. X-Ray was second smallest, but he was still quite a bit taller than Zero. Stanley was now the biggest, followed by Armpit.
Once Mr. Pendanski had marked the area where he was to dig his hole, Zero pushed his shovel into the hard crust, and dug up some dirt. He could hear Mr. Pendanski rattling off intructions to Stanley.
Zero wondered how Stanley would cope with his first hole. Sure, his first hole had been easy, but then, he realised, he was a good digger.
Oh wait, he didn't care. He didn't care how Stanley would cope.
Or did he?
These annoying thoughts made Zero dig faster and harder than necessary.
When it was lunch time, Zero caught himself looking over at Stanley as he ate their lunch of a baloney sandwich, potato chips and chocolate chip cookie.
Brushing the crumbs off of him, Zero got up slowly and took a long drink from his canteen. He decided he would act just a little friendlier to Stanley. After all, it was all his fault he was even here, out in the hot sun digging holes.
And that was something Zero did care about.
He owed Stanley a lot.
Zero wondered how he had discovered the shoes. Maybe he had tripped over them.
Less than two hours after lunch, Zero was done. Another five feet wide, five feet deep hole. He hadn't bothered to count how many holes he had dug since he had arrived at CGL, but then again, he didn't care.
To his surprise, he found Stanley looking at him in amazement.
"You're finished?" he said enviously.
Zero said nothing. He measured his hole with his shovel. Just perfect. Like the previous fifty holes before that.
He pulled himself to the surface. He looked at his hole and spat in it before walking back to the camp compound.
Behind him, he could hear Zigzag distantly say, "Zero's one weird dude..."
And for some reason, those words made the corners of Zero's mouth tug as if threatening to make him smile.
---
Zero was hanging near the pool table, where Armpit and X-Ray were playing pool. He looked up when he saw Stanley enter the Wreck Room.
He felt the urge to call out, "Watch out!", when he saw Stanley trip over one of the other campers from another group.
"Hey, watch it!" the large boy on the couch grunted.
"You watch it," Stanley muttered. He looked tired and annoyed.
The large boy ascended threateningly and jabbed Stanley in the shoulder.
They began to fight.
Zero grabbed onto a six ball from the pool table absently.
X-Ray and Armpit had raced to the scene.
"Be cool," X-Ray said, putting a hand on Stanley's shoulder, "You don't want to mess with the Caveman."
"The Caveman's cool," Armpit agreed.
They led him over to the couch, away from the other camper who was extremely fat. Zero released the six ball, and slowly walked over to X-Ray and Stanley.
"Did you see the Caveman back there?" X-Ray asked Squid, who was sitting on the couch.
"The Caveman's one tough dude," said Squid, lightly punching Stanley's arm.
Stanley was leaning back against the couch.
"I wasn't trying to start anything."
Zero stood behind the couch silently, and none of the boys seemed to notice. He listened to them talk about the first and second holes at Camp Green Lake.
He began to grow bored and tuned out like usual, when Squid suddenly spoke, breaking into Zero's thoughts.
"What's in the box?"
"Uh, paper. I was going to write a letter to my mother."
"Your mother?!" Squid laughed, and Zero looked at him quizzically.
"She'll worry if I don't," Stanley said defensively.
Squid suddenly scowled. Zero didn't understand why.
They spoke a little more, until X-Ray, Armpit and Squid went back over to the pool table. Stanley took out a piece of paper and began to write. He didn't seem to notice that Zero had been standing directly behind him the entire time.
Zero looked at what Stanley was writing. He wished he could read and write.
Stanley stopped writing suddenly, and slowly looked up.
"I don't want her to worry about me," he told him, as if explaining something.
Zero didn't understand what he meant. He just stared at the letter, trying to make sense of the mumbo-jumbo written.
Stanley studied him for a moment, frowning. Then he gave up waiting for Zero's reply, and tried to keep on writing.
"C'mon, Caveman, dinner."
It was Armpit, and he was talking to Stanley.
Zero almost smiled at the confused and lost look on Stanley's face.
"You coming, Caveman?" Squid called over his shoulder.
Stanley looked around. He stared at Squid and Armpit quizzically, but the two boys were already filing out of the Wreck Room.
"I dunno... am I... Caveman?" Stanley murmured to himself, putting away his piece of paper. He got up and slowly began to walk.
Zero, who was walking beside him, shrugged.
"It's better than Barf Bag," he told the surprised-looking Stanley.
---
The next day went by like usual for Zero. Just another day of digging another hole. Pointless.
Stanley was the last to finish digging again. Zero noticed how blistered his hands were, and what a slow digger he was.
He wondered how he might possibly be able to help Stanley. He seemed to be a nice guy, after all.
Stanley had found some sort of fossil thing that day, which was fascinating for all the other boys who had been at CGL for months, and hadn't dug up anything at all except dirt. But Mr. Pendanski said flatly the Warden didn't care about fossils.
Zero still wondered who the Warden was.
When Zero had returned back from his shower, he found the other boys sitting in a circle in the tent with Mr Pendanski. They were all there except for Stanley.
"Hello Zero, come join us," Mr. Pendanski said carelessly, "We're talking about our future careers."
Zero said nothing. He dumped his dirty clothes in his crate and sat in a chair at the back.
He crossed his arms and almost glared at everyone.
A couple of minutes later, Stanley returned. He was covered in dirt and dust, and looked very tired.
Mr. Pendanski greeted him rather much like the way he had greeted Zero. They began to move onto the subject of Magnet becoming an animal trainer.
And of course, Zero tuned out. He almost always did this when other people spoke to each other.
"...so you're Caveman, now, huh? You like digging holes, Caveman?" Mr. Pendanski was asking Stanley.
Stanley said nothing.
"Well, let me tell you something, Caveman. You are here on account of one person. If it wasn't for that person, you wouldn't be here digging holes in the hot sun. You know who that person is?"
"My no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather."
All the boys howled with laughter.
Some rose up in Zero and before he knew it, he felt a big smile cross his face.
"No," Mr. Pendanski said seriously, "That person is you, Stanley. You're the reason you are here. You're responsible for yourself. You messed up your life, and it's up to you to fix it. No one else is going to do it for you -- for any of you."
He looked around at each and every boy.
"You're all special in your own way. You've all got something to offer. You have to think about what you want to do, then do it. Even you, Zero. You're not completely worthless."
Zero felt his smile evaporate as quickly as the water does in the shower stalls at Camp Green Lake.
"What do you want to do with your life?" Mr. Pendanski asked.
Zero hated answering questions. He kept his mouth tightly shut, his arms tightly crossed, and glared at Mr. Pendanski.
"What about it, Zero? What do you like to do?"
Zero said nothing for awhile. He just stared straight through Mr. Pendanski as if he wasn't there.
"I like to dig holes."
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----A/N: Zero: Hewwo! ((waves happily)) Thwe author ithn't here cauth thwe--
((races in, panting)) I am here! Whadya mean, I'm not?! Hem. HELLO! ((waves at readers)) So lovely for you to be here. ((grins)) I have finally broken up my story into chapters so I'll probably update more often! Some chapters are ridiculously short... others ridiculously long. Well, I guess you'll just have to put up with it! Thanks for all the birthday greetings and what not. =] I had a wonderful b'day. My friend even put pictures of Zero on my birthday card and wrote "ZERO LOVER" across it.
I'm telling, I'm not obsessed!
Well, then, now that that's out of my system... AHEM. Zero?
Zero: ((hugs Jaffy tightly)) Wook over thwere... ((points boredly))
--HE IS POINTING AT A SIGN THAT SAYS "APPLAUSE"--
Argh... DISPOSE OF THAT SIGN. Alright then, I'll say it myself...
EAT COOKIES ANDPLEASEREVIEW! XDDD
Adios, amigos! --MSQ.