CHAPTER 5

D-Tent was in the Mess Hall eating dinner when Mel realised something. She dropped her fork in shock. Everyone looked at her.

'Where's Magnet?' she asked. There was silence at the table. With all that had been happening lately, Magnet had been forgotten.

'Maybe he fell sick,' Squid suggested, though there was doubt in his eyes.

'He would have told me, I'm the leader,' X-Ray pointed out. Mel looked around at the other tables, as D-Tent tossed around ideas. She glanced at the A table and Mark caught her ye. She smiled and looked away.

'Who was that?' Zigzag asked quietly.

'Mark, he bandaged my hands earlier,' she answered lightly, avoiding his eyes. For some reason she felt guilty. She grabbed his hand.

'Look! Why is he sitting with C-Tent?' Everyone glanced over to where she had pointed. There was Magnet, eating his food with C-Tent and laughing at something the person next to him had said.

'Why didn't he tell me?' X-Ray asked to no-body in particular.

'Maybe the Warden swapped him,' Armpit suggested. Mel frowned.

'Who is this Warden?' she asked.

'Shhh. Don't mention her out loud like that. She oversees the Camp. When ever someone does something really bad, they get sent to her and they come back with three purple claw marks right down their face. It burns like fire and doesn't stop until days later,' Squid said knowingly. She glanced at Zigzag, who looked away. Fair enough, Mel thought. She had her secrets, he had his.

D-Tent walked into the F-Tent still wondering about Magnet later that night. Mr. Pendanski beamed at them and ushered them into the room. The fanned out into a circle and sat down on the floor. It was larger than D-Tent, and empty, save for a door at the other end of the room, where Mr. Pendanski sleeps, Mel guessed. She was the last to sit, and sat down cross-legged.

'Well, let's go around the circle. Starting with Melanie, I would like it if you could all tell me how you are feeling. Take it away, Melanie,' Mr. Pendanski said. Mel shifted into a more comfortable position, aware that all eyes were on her. She cleared her throat.

'I slept really well,' she began, glancing quickly at Zigzag and smiling. 'Breakfast was alright, though Squid drank my milk for me.' Squid snickered. 'Digging wasn't as hard as I thought, though my hands are killing me right now, and I had an okay –' She thought of Mark and changed her words '- a really good day. I enjoyed myself.' She noticed that Zigzag avoided looking into her eyes. She'd have to talk to him later, explain things. Everyone took their time replying and when Zigzag spoke, all he said was, 'Today was just like any other day for me,' looking her directly in the eyes. Was he trying to make a point that he didn't care? As the night wore on, and they discussed more personal topics, she found that even looking in his direction was received with a glare. He must have taken the whole Mark bandage thing as an insult. As they piled through the door, X-Ray pulled her back.

'What is going on between you and Zigzag,' he asked, concern written on his face.

'Nothing!' she snapped back, immediately regretting it.

'I'm sorry, I'm just tired. My hands are hurting and Zigzag seems to have a problem with me at the moment. When I got back early from digging, I met an A-Tenter in the hallway and he bandaged my hands for me. But I had already said Zigzag could and I never got a chance to explain things to him,' she confided to him.

'Talk to him tonight, but if that really is the problem then it shouldn't be too hard to set straight,' he said, walking off. What did he mean 'if that really is the problem'? She had said it was hadn't she? But…it was the problem wasn't it? Or maybe it was something more…