Chapter 5
- - - --
A few days went by, all Zig Zag did was taunt me about breaking nails and screwing guys. It was really annoying.
I couldn't have been more thrilled when the mail came.
"Ricky Iverson! You've got mail from, a girlfriend!" Armpit yelled, standing on one of the benches in the Wreck Room as he went through the mail.
Keely and I grinned at each other and did high fives.
Zig Zag walked up and grabbed the letter.
I could tell by the look on his face he was surprised to see "Dania" had written him.
He fought it off though, "The ladies always write me," he said to me quietly as he walked past me, as he went outside, probably to read his letter.
I followed him and watched him open it up and scan through it.
A grin spread across his face and tears twinkled in his gray eyes.
I felt myself smiling. I could tell he was going to get distracted.
"We need another letter," I said to Keely, as I walked back into the Wreck Room.
"Why?" she asked.
"Actually, we'll call, is there a phone here?" I asked.
"That won't work, use my cell phone. Unlike Barbie doll, I was smart not to use it on the bus so it never got confiscated." She said and handed me the cell phone with a red cover on it with black slashes across it.
"Do you have the camps number?" I asked.
"It's on this piece of paper, Mr. Rockton gave me, 555-4845," she recited, I punched the numbers in as she closed the flap to the tent.
I sat on my cot as the phone rang, we could hear it ringing in the Wreck Room.
"Hello?" Maddie's voice answered the phone. That was surprising.
"Is um, Ricky Iverson there?" I asked in a lower voice than what I had.
"Yeah, hold on, ZIG ZAG!" Maddie yelled.
I could hear Zig Zag's feet pounding on the dirt outside our tent as he walked to the Wreck Room and picked up the phone.
I tossed to phone to Keely but she tossed it back to me, "Hi, Ricky?"
"Yeah?"
"Hi...this is Dania-"
"Hi, I got your letter," Zig Zag interrupted, "It meant a lot to me, I thought you hated me, I mean everyone did back in Grade 9, I was the freak, it really meant a lot when I got your letter today,"
I gulped, he really didn't have any friends.
"Oh um, I'm sorry to cut this short, I'll write you another letter, don't write me back for this one, I'll write you back, bye," I said and clicked off the phone as tears slowly formed in my eyes. I blinked them away quickly.
"Are you okay?" Keely asked, pulling out a piece of stationary from under her cot and handing it to me as I grabbed a pen and began to write the second letter.
I nodded, "Fine,"
Hi Ricky,
I really liked speaking to you on the phone. I miss you. A lot. So sorry to cut this letter short but I have to go, Becca is over and we're getting ready to go to the mall. I miss you, summer is not a lot of fun without someone to pick on. Just joking! Bye.
Love Always,
Dania
I finished off the letter and sealed it into another envelope, Keely stamped it up and took it to the mail box.
- - - - -
2 more weeks went by and Zig Zag was getting 2 letters per week, so far he had 6 letters if you counted the first week we started sending them.
Matchbox lied about the first hole being the hardest. They were all hard! My blisters were getting blisters and Keely and I still hadn't been able to come up with a plan to defeat Zig Zag. But this one was going along okay.
I was standing outside the dining hall after dinner when I felt arms around me.
- - - - -
"Hola Manny," Jose said coming up behind me giving me a hug.
"Hey," I said turning to face him.
"So what's this I heard about you getting a new apodo?"
"Oh yeah, my nickname, its Frame," I said.
"Frame?"
"I got "framed" with murder," I said applying quotation marks with my fingers.
"Ah. Does that Keely girl have one too?"
I nodded, "Bubble,"
"Bubble..." Jose repeated.
I nodded, "She is always chomping on bubblegum so it was either that or Chomper,"
Maddie had gotten a nick name too, hers was Thong because of the stealing incident.
Jose nodded and then Zig Zag came up and began to talk.
"I'm going to finally call Dania, we've been talking a lot and I want to ask her to be my girlfriend,"
I smirked, this was going to be good.
I am going to be having 8 minute showers after this, he'll be so miserable he won't even be able to think straight. Life will be sweet.
"Manera hasta marchar, Chico," Magnet said, giving him a pat on the back.
"What?" Zig Zag asked.
"He said, Way to go, man." I told him.
Zig Zag nodded and then headed into the Wreck Room to use one of the phones in there.
"Now that I think of phone calls, I better actually call mamá and Roberto," I said and began to walk into the cafeteria to use the other phone.
"Tell them I said hi," Jose called out.
I nodded and picked up the phone, but then I noticed something.
I was listening to a phone ring.
Stupid camp, the warden is the only person who gets her own phone line, we all share one, now I'm going to have to wait for Zig Zag to get off.
I heard Zig Zag humming the tune to "Walking On Sunshine" and I had to bite my cheek to keep from laughing.
Suddenly I heard a girl's voice.
"Hello?" she answered.
"Hi, Dania?" Zig Zag responded.
"Yes...who's this?"
"Hey, it's Zig-I mean Ricky,"
"Who?" Dania asked.
"Ricky, you know, the guy you've been writing to...?"
"No...who is this?"
"Ricky, from Diamond Hill-Jarvis High School, in Fort Worth...ninth grade?"
"Nope, sorry,"
I gulped quietly.
"You always made fun of me," Zig Zag said quietly, "you and your boyfriend, Kyle,"
"Oh right, Richey the homosexual homemaker, right?"
My mouth dropped open and I had to resist the urge to call her a bitch.
"It's Ricky, but yeah,"
"Why are you calling me, fag?"
Oh God, the word vomit was coming up.
"Why don't you just go play tonsil hockey with your jackass of a boyfriend, bitch?" I ended up saying.
"What?" Dania asked.
"Yeah, what?" Zig Zag repeated.
"He is not a fag, I know him, okay? He is nice and he is cool and he is funny and he is nothing like he was in the ninth grade in all the clubs and-" I stopped when I realized what I was saying.
"Manny, is that you?" Zig Zag asked.
"Yeah." I said quietly.
"How would you know that I was in the clubs and school geek?"
"And that you were a loser and psycho who suffered from acute paranoia," Dania finished.
"Oh shut up, Bambi," I shot at her.
"Manny how did you know those things?" Zig Zag asked again.
"Uh, um, well, uh," I stammered.
"Manny?"
"Because...because," Bring on the word vomit, "Because I did it!" I blurted.
"What?" Zig Zag asked, anger rising slowly into his voice.
"I sent the letters, for the stupid war thing we were doing, Keely and I found Dania's address and phone number and we pulled it all together for the perfect revenge to make you miserable,"
"Well guess what?" Zig Zag asked.
"What?"
"You succeeded, sorry for wasting your time, Dania," Zig Zag said and slammed the phone on the receiver.
"You ol' psychos girlfriend?" Dania asked.
"Oh go to hell," I said and slammed my phone on the receiver and then ran outside.
I ran straight past Jose who continued to call after me.
I ran straight up the steps and across the porch and into the Wreck Room. Scanning all the faces for Zig Zag's but he wasn't in there.
"Zero," I said grabbing him by the arm as he walked by me.
"Oh hey Frame, what's up?" he asked.
"Do you know where Zig Zag is?" I asked.
"Nope, he ran out after he got off the phone, said he had to get out of here,"
I nodded, "Thanks," I said and headed straight for D-Tent.