Chapter 9

- - - - -

"Hey, what's up?" Maddie asked, gliding into the tent, about an hour later, she wrung water out of her hair and flapped around in her flip flops, wrapped up in her towel.

"Nothing, just bored, and miserable. Zig Zag claims that it was Squid last night," I said, sitting up in my cot to face her.

"Last night? What happened last night?" Maddie asked, sitting on her cot, across from mine.
I sighed, remembering I hadn't told her, "I felt bad for Lorraine so I went to D-Tent last night, and I thought I saw Zig Zag and Lorraine making out in his cot and I thought I saw Squid sleeping on the other side on his cot, but Zig Zag claims it was the other way around,"

"You're not going to believe Zig Zag are you?" Maddie asked, looking me in the eyes.

I shrugged, "I don't know who to believe, or what to believe,"

Maddie got up and slid on her pajamas.

"I don't know if I can trust Zig Zag...he hurt me like 3 times,"

Maddie shook her head and then flipped on her headphones and I heard her belting out the words to Kelis' Milkshake.

I sat up and walked out of the tent and into the sunlight.

I looked over to see if I could see Lorraine or Squid anywhere.

I walked down the rows of holes that D-Tent had dug, I needed to ask him a few questions.

I ran over to Armpit who was getting out of his hole.

"Sup Frame?" Armpit asked, trying to jump out of his hole, it didn't work, he fell back in.

"Have you seen Squid anywhere?" I asked.

"I wouldn't bug him," Caveman said from his hole.

"Why...?" I asked.

Armpit managed out of his hole and took my arm, pulling me to a hole.

"Look down," he whispered into my ear.

I looked down and saw Lorraine and Squid making out at the bottom of the hole.

"Were they the two that were making out last night?" I asked quietly, backing away from the hole.

Armpit nodded, "She's been all over him since he found her last night, and they make a cute couple, really. "And now you can have Zig Zag all to yourself," Armpit said with a cheesy grin.

"What do you mean? I don't like Zig Zag,"

Liar, liar, pants on fire.

"Who are you lying to...me or yourself?" and with that Armpit walked off, carrying his shovel over his shoulder, "You're actually lying to the both of us! Only I know the truth without question!" he called back to me.

I sunk to the ground and rested my head in my palms.

I was not lying.

I hated lying.

Liar, liar-

"Oh shut up already!" I yelled aloud, Caveman turned to face me and Squid peeked out of his hole.

I cursed at myself and then got up from the ground and went back to my tent.

- - - - -

As I walked back to my tent I saw Zig Zag walking towards me.

I gulped and continued to walk forward.

His wide eyes were watching my body as I walked, I began to feel sweaty. I brushed past him quickly and slid into my tent.

I couldn't face him.

It was really, really hard. Especially since I thought I was falling for him.

- - - - -

I stepped into the Wreck Room twenty minutes later after realizing nobody was in my tent only a note from Maddie and Keely: At the Wreck Room, come and join. Lotsa Love, T and M.

I saw Caveman and Zero goofing off with Squid (who Lorraine's arm was wrapped around possessively) and Armpit at the foosball table, Matchbox, Dynamite, and Tilley fighting over the remote for the broken TV, Maddie and Keely watching them with dancing eyes full of laughter and Zig Zag squished between Matchbox and Maddie on the couch, reading a TV Guide.

I gulped.

Time to actually be nice to somebody.

I stepped over to where Zig Zag was, "You do know that TV Guide is from like the 1980 don't you?"

Zig Zag shot up and looked at me, "Actually, its 1972 but you were close," he said holding out the TV Guide.

I smiled weakly, "So what's the episode of The Brady Bunch supposed to be about?" I asked, stuffing my hands in the back pockets of my gray pants.

Even though we were supposed to wear our jumpsuits, my friends and I never listened, I was wearing comfy gray track pants, a white spaghetti strap tank top and pair of old white K-Swiss sneakers, my hair was pulled into a ponytail.

I glanced over at Maddie whose blonde hair was pulled loosely into a half ponytail, she wasn't wearing any makeup (like she needed it) and a white tee shirt with pink track pants and white sneakers.

Zig Zag shook his head at me and then flopped back onto the couch.

Well that was...successful.

I looked over and saw Magnet playing pool with Squid.

I felt horrible about treating him the way I did, he was just trying to be the average protective brother.

Why am I such a jerk sometimes?

I couldn't talk to him, he wouldn't talk to me, and I would feel like the worlds biggest loser.

I turned on my heel and jogged out of the Wreck Room, not knowing where I was going, just running.

I continued to run until I was completely out of breath and I nearly passed out.
I bent down, placing my hands on my knees for support and breathing heavily.

I looked around, I was ¾ through rows, I lifted my head up, and my eyes widened dumbly at what I saw.

A giant mountain, which resembled a thumb.

The most creative thing you could come up with, God?

Then I remembered reading about something that looked like that a long time ago, it was God's Thumb.

I flopped onto the ground, the sun was setting and I could just barely hear the dinner bell ringing.

I could hear the noises of the campers and laughs and footsteps of their boots as they headed into the Dining Hall.

"You run fast," I heard someone say, the voice made me jump. It was a familiar voice.

I stood up and spun around and saw Zig Zag.

"What do you want?" I asked grimly.

"To apologize, I'm really-"

"Don't even waste your breath, I'm not forgiving you," I said, and turned on my heel running off again.

"Manny!" Zig Zag called after me, I could feel his footsteps coming closer towards me, I accelerated my running and was now sprinting as fast as I could.

"Manny!" Zig Zag yelled again, his footsteps increasing.

I suddenly felt arms around my waist, pulling me down onto the ground.

I was now lying under Zig Zag.

"What? Is this some stupid revenge for that stupid fight?"

"No, I want to apologize and if this is the only way I can get to you, then so be it,"

"Just cool it tirón apagado,"

"Do I want to know what you just said?" Zig Zag asked.

"I said jerk off,"

"Why do you hate me?"

That startled me.

Other way around beef-head.

"What?!" I exclaimed, pushing him off of me.

Zig Zag stared at me as I jumped up.

"You obviously hate me. That or you're in serious denial,"

"What would I be in denial about?" Zig Zag asked.

Gee...let me think about that...

"Liking me," I replied.

"Hold it, what?! You think I actually like you?"

"Well if you don't you have a really bad way of showing it,"

"What? When have I ever given you a single sign that I liked you?"

"Kiss number 1, number 2, number 3, and number 4"

"That wasn't because I liked you, it's been a while since I've kissed a girl, I just wanted to remember what it felt like..."

"You mean to know what it felt like, face it, you've never been kissed,"

"Yeah? Well why the hell would you care?! You have, you're gorgeous,"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"You can get a kiss, I however can't. My first kiss was that night when we fought,"

"Well you know what, I think I know why you've never been able to get a kiss. And it has nothing to do with your looks,"

Zig Zag opened his mouth to speak but I cut him off, "It's because you're a jerk! Maybe if you would actually treat a girl like a person instead of some trophy you can flaunt in front of your friends, Dania would have liked you, but no, you just have to act all cocky and like a royal jerk." I said and turned to stalk off, leaving him looking stunned, I spun back around for a second, "And I was not kidding when I said I hated you, and certainly not when I called you a pervert," and with that I turned around again and ran off back to my tent.

- - - - -

"You're cheeks are like pink," Maddie said, looking up from her magazine as I ran inside our tent, zipping up the tent.

"What's up?" Keely asked.

"Nothing, just telling Zig Zag off," I replied.

"Again?" Maddie asked boredly.

"What do you mean?" I asked, near offended.

"If you like him why don't you just tell him?" Keely asked.

You should have seen the argument I just had 10 minutes ago.

"I hate him, how could you possibly think I like that thing?"

"Because it's obvious," Maddie scoffed with a "don't you know anything?" tone.

"You can believe what you want, I don't like him," I said and flopped onto my cot.

"Whatever," Maddie said and continued to look at her magazine.

Just then I heard a tapping on the flap. I shot up to get it but Keely stopped me, "It's for me," she said and unzipped the flap, I saw Roadrunner on the other side.

"Hey babe," he said, scooping her up and planting a kiss on her lips as they staggered out of the tent.

I let out a laugh and leaned down on my cot.

Whatever they said, I was not interested in Zig Zag.

Get real...who am I kidding anymore?

Don't answer that.