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 Seven ll The Warden

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For some reason, Zero felt like, ever since Stanley had came, everything seemed to... be a little more important. He found himself counting the days since Stanley had come, checking to make sure his dirt pile didn't collapse back into his hole, and feeling frustrated when something gross was served for lunch.

Everything he didn't care about before, he was starting to care about now.

It was odd.

He also knew how many holes Stanley had dug. Six holes, and he was digging his seventh one today.

Zero tried to remember how his seventh hole had been, but they were all the same to him.

For the first time he had been at CGL, there was a cloud in the sky. The boys were all coaxing it to edge nearer, in front of the sun, but it was only teasing them.

Zero climbed out of his hole to retrieve his canteen, which he had left lying on the surface. After he had gotten a drink, he saw Zigzag walk up to Stanley.

"What you got there, Caveman?"

Zero watched curiously. He watched as Stanley and Zigzag talked a bit, before walking over to X-Ray.

After a couple more seconds, Zero decided he didn't care. He smiled to himself as he remembered his use of that line.

He went back in his hole and continued to dig.

But when the water truck came, Zero found himself at the end of the line again when X-Ray put Stanley in front of him.

Zero caught Stanley's apologetic look before he faced the front again.

It was no biggie. Zero didn't care if he was at the end of the line.

He still got water, all the same.

---

At dinner that night, Zero couldn't help but wonder why X-Ray had moved Stanley in front of him.

Of course, he didn't really care... yet...

It didn't hurt to wonder, did it?

Who cares? Zero thought firmly, poking at his canned spaghetti, I'm the one who's to blame when it comes to the theft of the shoes... The least I can do is let him get water before me.

X-Ray seemed quite happy about something, though Zero couldn't guess what. None of the others were talking about it, and Stanley seemed to have a lot on his mind. Zero wished he could socialize with him a bit more. He wondered if he could actually find a way to apologise and explain to Stanley.

Now I'm thinking crazy, he thought grimly.

He smiled on the inside, and thought about his mother.

He missed her alot.

Sapphire Zeroni.

Zero froze. That was her name. Sapphire.

He blinked. Ever since Stanley had come to CGL, a little of himself had been returning to him. Zero felt like he was going back through his memories. Before Stanley had came, Zero had been empty and unfeeling.

Now, things were returning back to him.

"If only, if only,
The moon speaks no reply,
Reflecting the sun and all that's gone by.
Be strong my weary wolf, turn around boldly,
Fly high, my baby bird,
My angel, my only."

---

Breakfast was the usual cereal and orange juice. The seven boys of Group D shoveled it down with their spoons, before going to the shed to get shovels to shovel out dirt.

And another day of hole-digging commenced.

When the water truck came the next morning, Zero sighed on the inside as he got in line behind Stanley. The line shuffled up a bit as X-Ray got his canteen filled by Mr. Pendanski.

Zero took his canteen from Mr. Pendanski, and took a small drink. He was about to head back to his own hole when X-Ray suddenly gave a yell.

"Mum!" X-Ray shouted from down in his hole, "Wait! Mum! I think I might have found something!"

All the other boys dropped their shovels and ran over to him. Mr. Pendanski clambered out of the truck and also jogged over.

He examined the small gold tube that X-Ray had handed to him.

"I think the Warden is going to like this."

"Does X-Ray get the day off?" Squid wanted to know.

"Just keep digging until someone says otherwise," then Mr. Pendanski paused and smiled, "But if I were you, Rex, I wouldn't dig too hard."

He got into the water truck and drove off.

Zero stared as he left. Then he pushed his shovel into his hole, and flicked the dirt out. Fifteen feet away from him, he saw Stanley digging his own hole. He seemed to have gotten better over the days.

A few minutes later, Mr. Pendanski returned. With the Warden.

Zero stared at them as they got out of the cab.

She was a tall woman with red hair, a freckled face and freckled arms. She was wearing a cowboy hat and cowboy boots that were turquoise-studded. Stanley and Zero both stared at her.

They hadn't had the faintest idea that the Warden was female.

She walked straight up to X-Ray, and interrogated him. Zero continued to stare at the whole scenario that was happening. None of the others were digging. They were all staring as well.

The Warden ordered Mr. Pendanski to fill the canteens again. Then he got into the pickup truck and drove X-Ray back to camp, where he could take a double shower and have a clean change of clothes.

Zero smiled grimly to himself.

He didn't care if X-Ray got the day off.

He punched his shovel into the hard dirt.

He liked digging holes.

Not.

"Zero," the Warden called. Zero almost dropped his shovel in surprise.

"I want you to take over X-Ray's hole. Armpit and Squid, you will keep digging where you have been. But you're going to have a helper. Zigzag, you help Armpit. Magnet will help Squid. And Caveman, you'll work with Zero. We're going to dig the dirt twice."

Stanley, who was standing right above Zero's hole, helped him out. Then the two walked over to X-Ray's previous hole.

Meanwhile, the Warden was still rattling off orders.

"Zero will dig it out of the hole, and Caveman will carefully shovel it into a wheelbarrow. Zigzag will do the same for Armpit, and the same with Magnet and Squid. We don't want to miss anything. If either of you find something, you'll both get the rest of the day off, and a double shower. When the wheelbarrows are full, you are to dump them away from this area. We don't want any dirt piles to get in the way."

A certain Zeroni boy asked himself why they needed to do all that. If they were just 'building character', couldn't they just continue digging their five foot holes?

It was almost like... they were looking for something.

Zero dug faster than usual, while Stanley shoveled the excavated dirt into a wheelbarrow. They got much more water than usual, as everytime someone took a drink from their canteen, the Warden would order either Mr. Sir or Mr. Pendanski to re-fill it. The water truck stayed parked there, except for when Mr. Sir had to take water to the other groups.

After a little while, everyone swapped places. Zero had to scoop the dirt into the wheelbarrow, and take it off somewhere when it was full.

It was an interesting routine, but nevertheless, he preferred digging his own hole to digging with a partner, and two other boys.

When the holes were well over six feet deep, the Warden told them to stop.

"All right, that's enough for today. I've waited this long, I can wait another day," she had said.

The six boys walked back to the compound. Zero walked right at the front, where he heard snippits of conversation about cameras and microphones between Stanley, Zigzag and Armpit.

When Zero had dumped his shovel back outside of the shed, he walked into the tent and collected his clean clothes for his shower.

It had been another day, but an interesting one.

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----A/N: Hi... I know this was boring, as it's just the retelling of Holes, basically... But I swear, it will get... BETTER! Lol. Hehehe. Zero's not here at the moment. He's sick. He's got a cold and he needs to take cough medicine. He'll be better next chapter! =] --MSQ.