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 Eleven ll My Role Model
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The weather became increasingly humid, as though it had become so hot that the atmosphere was sweating itself.
A loud boom of thunder echoed across the empty lake.
There was a storm happening way off to the west, beyond the mountains. It was thirty miles away.
Every time the lightning flashed, the dark shape of the mountains would briefly appear.
"C'mon rain!" Armpit shouted, "Blow this way!"
He was waving his shovel wildly in the air, yelling at the dark thunderclouds so very far away. He lost his balance and fell backwards into his hole, causing the boys including Zero to laugh.
"Maybe it'll rain so hard it'll fit up the whole lake. We can go swimming," Squid said, grinning.
"Forty days, and forty nights," X-Ray cracked, "Guess we better start building the ark. Get two of each animal, right?"
Zero used his right foot to push his shovel further into the hard dirt.
"Right," Zigzag scoffed, "Two rattlesnakes, two scorpions and two yellow-spotted lizards. What a world."
Zero almost laughed at Zigzag's last words. Recently, he had been accustomed to 'almost laughing and smiling'.
The next day, Zigzag claimed it was his birthday. No one really knew, for two reasons.
A) They didn't know when Zigzag's real birthday was.
B) They had no way of knowing what date or month it was.
"It's not your birthday," Squid argued.
"Is too. July the 8th."
Zero was chewing on his toast. He himself had no idea what the date was, and wondered how Zigzag possibly knew.
"I came here on May the 24th," Stanley was saying slowly, "So that means I've been here..."
Numbers fitted quickly in Zero's mind.
"Forty-six days," he replied without thinking. He sipped his orange juice and glanced at Stanley, who was looking amazed again.
"Can I have an extra carton of juice, Mr. Sir? It's my birthday," Zigzag said.
To everyone's surprise, Mr. Sir gave it to him.
---
Soon, they were all digging holes again.
Zero took his turn in digging Stanley's hole before lunch.
Zigzag and all the others were still paying him out. On one occasion, Zero had felt the urge to strike Zigzag with his shovel.
He had never been the violent type. But some things at CGL really bothered him. Things he didn't care before, he cared about now.
Holding a shovel made him feel powerful.
Zero ignored that feeling, and tried to take it out on the hard dirt. Stanley was sitting against the dirt pile, trying to battle off the mockery coming from the other boys.
When it was lunchtime, they all lined up like usual to collect their sack lunches and water. Zigzag offered his place to Stanley because, "You're so much better than me."
Then X-Ray took it a step further and told Stanley to get in front of the line.
Zero watched as Stanley hesitated, then walked to the front. He got his canteen filled, and his lunch.
Zero then glanced down at the shovel lying beside Stanley's hole. He felt his fingers twitch.
"I'll give you my cookie if you let me dig your hole," Zigzag was saying, waving his cookie in Stanley's face. Zero was having his canteen filled.
Squid was laughing. Zero frowned. Mr. Pendanski was still filling his canteen. He handed Zero his lunch, before they both turned back around.
Stanley and Zigzag were fighting.
Zero followed Mr. Pendanski over to them.
"Hi, Mum," Armpit greeted, "We were just fooling around."
Zero gazed at him intently.
"I saw what was going on," Mr. Pendanski said, turning to Stanley and Zigzag, "Go ahead, Stanley. Hit him back. You're bigger."
Stanley looked astonished.
"Teach the bully a lesson."
"Yeah, teach me a lesson," Zigzag challenged mockingly.
Stanley looked unsure. Then he raised his hand to hit him, when suddenly Zigzag had his neck in one arm, and was hitting him with his other hand.
Zero clenched his fists. The shovel was too far away.
"That's enough!"
But Zigzag wrestled Stanley onto the ground. Dust was blown up everywhere. Zero scrunched up his eyes. If he had the shovel, he'd have...
"Stop!" Mr. Pendanski tried again.
Zero ran up to Zigzag and jumped on him. He twisted his arm tightly against his neck, and pulled.
Zigzag released Stanley at once and made a gagging noise. He was trying to pull Zero's arm off of him.
Zero wasn't loosening his grip. He was hell pissed. A lot of rage had been building up in him recently.
"You're going to kill him!" Mr. Pendanski shouted.
Zero kept on squeezing. Zigzag was turning purple.
Armpit then charged at them. He pulled Zero off of Zigzag, and the three boys all fell onto the ground, panting.
Mr. Pendanski fired his pistol into the air.
The Warden looked at the boys carelessly. She sighed.
Stanley and Zero were standing on one side. Stanley was in the worst condition. Zero was massaging his arm, an angry scowl on his face. Zigzag was massaging his neck.
"There was a riot," Mr. Pendanski explained to her, "Zero almost killed Ricky."
He was asking for it, Zero thought stubbornly.
The boys started talking about how it wasn't a riot, and how the sun made people's blood boiled.
Zero's blood hadn't boiled because of the sun.
He had no idea what had made his blood boil.
It was still bubbling now. Just hadn't reached boiling point yet.
But it would only take one little thing that ticked him off to set it off again--
"Zero's been digging part of Caveman's hole everyday," Squid explained to the Warden.
"I'm teaching him how to read and write," Stanley explained, glancing over at Zero, "He's a really smart kid. It's sort of a trade. The hole still gets dug, so what does it matter who digs it?"
Oh, it was about him digging his hole again.
Zero felt his blood
bubble a little more dangerously.
"Isn't it more important for him to read? Doesn't that build character more than digging holes?" Stanley was saying.
Zero stayed silent. He glared up at the Warden, screwing up his eyes when the sun's ray hit him.
"That's his character. What about yours?" the Warden asked.
Zero clenched his fists. Stanley made no reply.
"Well, Zero, what have you learnt so far?" the Warden asked him.
His eyes darted towards the shovel. It was too far away.
And anyway, the Warden wasn't the right person to hit. It wouldn't satisfy his anger enough.
"Have you been digging Caveman's hole for nothing?"
"He likes to dig holes," Mr. Pendanski informed her.
No I don't.
"Tell me what you learnt yesterday."
Zero stayed silent. Everyone was looking at him.
Mr. Pendanski laughed, and picked up a shovel, "You might as well try to teach this shovel to read! It's got more brains than Zero."
Zero bit his lip. He could taste blood. Mr. Pendanski was seriously asking for it.
"Okay, from now on, I don't want anyone digging anyone else's hole," the Warden ordered, "And no more reading lessons."
Zero stared at her. He took off his canteen slowly, and threw it onto the ground.
"I'm not diggin' another hole," he said quietly, shaking his head.
"Good," the Warden turned to Stanley, "You know why you're digging holes? Because it's good for you. It teaches you a lesson. If Zero digs your hole for you, then you're not learning your lesson, are you?"
"I guess not," Stanley mumbled, "Why can't I dig my own hole, but still teach Zero to read? What's wrong with that?"
"It leads to trouble. Zero almost killed Zigzag," the Warden said.
"It causes him stress," Mr. Pendanski elaborated, "I know you mean well, Stanley, but face it. Zero's too stupid to learn to read. That's what makes his blood boil, not the hot sun."
Mr. Pendanski.
That was who.
Zero felt his blood boil.
"I'm not digging anymore holes," he repeated angrily. But no one noticed his tone. Perhaps Stanley did.
Mr. Pendanski handed the small boy the shovel, "Here, take it, Zero. It's all you'll ever be good at. D -- I -- G."
Zero took the shovel.
Feeling something rise up in him, he swung it like a baseball bat and smashed Mr. Pendanski's face.
Everyone yelped and gasped.
Mr. Pendanski crumpled onto the ground, unconscious.
Zero bent down to him, looking quite calm.
"Dig," he answered. Then he straightened up, and glared at the Warden and Mr. Sir, and all the other counselors.
"I hate digging holes," he said quietly, almost a whisper. He slowly backed away, holding his shovel out like a bat. Then he turned around and began to run.
"GO ZERO!" he heard Stanley yell after him. X-Ray and the others also began to cheer.
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---- A/N: Hola, amigos! Oooh, I so wanna learn Spanish. Anyway, you guys reviewed majorly fast for my last chapter, so I updated quicker this time! =] It's so hot now! It's been freezing here for the past few months, but now it's getting really hot. Like at CGL! 'Tis a fine Saturday morning... almost noon, actually. I slept into about ten o'clock. LOL. =] Something I haven't done for a long time. This chappie was so much fun to write. Zero's still napping at the moment, but he told me to say...
"Thwank woo fwor reviewin' and weadin' abwout mwe."
And he gives one of those killer adorable half-smiles. Aww...
Oh, by the way, this chapter is called "My Role Model" because ever since I saw Zero hit Mr. Pendanski with the shovel, it's been my wildest dreams to do the same thing. Usually, when I get angry at someone, I'll say "If I had a shovel, I'd hit you!"
And besides that, there's nothing more I need to say. Oh, wait. There is. Thank you, Spice of Life, for pointing out that the random-let's-bag-out-Mr.-Sir-camper is actually Squid. In the book, however, it just mentions it was another camper, and I wrote most of this according to the book, with some parts that I remembered off the movie. However, if I had been following the movie, I wouldn't have realised that it was Squid until very recently, when I thought he looked a little familiar...
I hope you understood that. Lol. Anyways, what's in store for next chappie? Hmmm. We shall follow oh-so-cute Zero in the desert, when he stumbles across "Marya Lou"!
But until then, bye bye. --MSQ.