I know that the last thing anyone probably wants to read right now is an author's note but here I am again with more announcements and random crap. First off I'd like to say that I'm really sorry for taking such a long time to write and post this chapter and I'm also equally sorry to say that I don't really expect the next chapter to get written and posted any faster. I do really appreciate everyone's patience though and I'll try my hardest to finish the next chapter as soon as possible. The second thing I wanted to mention was that as of December 5th I've started editing the whole Camp Lakeway story—all 217 pages of it—and uploading the newly revised chapters. So far I've only uploaded the edited versions of chapter 27 (The First and Hoped-To-Be Last Kiss)and chapter 44 (Sadness Follows) but I hope to edit and upload the rest of them soon. If you get the chance I would appreciate it if you could read chapters 27 and 44 and tell me what you think of them now that I've completely changed them. I, personally, think they're a lot better then the original chapters but I would like to hear your opinions. Finally, (yes, I'm almost done!) I want to tell everyone that I recently added a summary about Magnet and a drawing of him to my Camp Lakeway website at and it would be cool if you could check it out, along with the other eight summaries and drawings I've got on there, and tell me what you think. Thank you so much and remember if you have any suggestions for any of the chapters I'm really eager to hear them. Thanks!

Munkymuppet

Chapter Fifty-Six

Karma

"What can I get for ya'?"

Twitch had just pulled into a gas station that was located conveniently beside the exit pull off the highway and was now speaking as professionally as his hyper-active state of mind would allow him to a young employee, ready to take their order.

"Fill it with regular, please," Twitch said, drumming his fingers across the steering wheel.

The gas station employee, a fair-haired boy who looked no older then eighteen, nodded in consent dully, seemingly taking no notice of how peculiar it was that he was taking orders from an obvious fifteen year old who was sitting in the driver's seat of a police car, accompanied by thirteen other people, and began to scribble Twitch's request down on a receipt.

"Is that an AM PM?" Armpit asked suddenly, staring at the little building beside the gas station, his eyes wide.

"I dunno," Twitch said, squinting through the sunlight that fell across the windshield. "I think it's a Seven-"

"I don't care what it is!" Armpit cried. "Just as long as there's food!" And with that, he threw open the car door, tumbled out into the bright, Texas sunshine, and raced for the convenience store as fast as his sore legs would carry him.

Zippy sat up straight, alert and aware, almost like a mercat, staring about excitedly. "Did he say AM PM?" she asked, staring fervently from each of the camper's tired expressions.

"I think it's a Seven-" Twitch tried again, only to be interrupted by an excited outburst once more.

"CANDY!" Zippy shrieked, hurriedly crawling over the feet of the back seat occupants and exiting through the same door Armpit had left wide open, attracting the startled attention of the gas station employee as she skipped after Armpit singing "CANDY! CANDY! CANDY!" the whole way.

"Wow," Static said, shaking her head as she climbed out of the back seat to stretch her legs. "Crazy people."

"CANDY!" Zigzag cried suddenly, not heeding Static's sarcasm as he too sprinted towards the little store.

Now the gas station employee was thoroughly confused, the gas pump hanging forgotten and limp in his hand as he watched about eight more people climb shakily out of the little police car, all of them stretching their arms and legs before heading off in the direction of the convenience store.

"Oh God," Magnetic grumbled, pulling herself out of the front seat with aching arms. "I've even got a wedgie! I can't believe this."

"You coming in Rogue?" Chase asked as she helped Twitch pull Fidget's limp body out of the back seat.

X-ray, who'd just hopped out of the car and had been preparing to dash off to the store along with the others, paused when he heard this question, lingering around, pretending to stretch himself out as he waited for Rogue's answer.

"Naw," Rogue said shortly, shrugging her shoulders as she stayed seated in the back seat.

"You sure?" Chase asked, handing Fidget off to Twitch when he reassured her that he could handle it. "You don't want anything?"

"Naw, I'm fine," Rogue replied. "You go on, I'll jus' wait here."

"Okay..." Chase said slowly, eyeing Rogue suspiciously before she turned and hurried to help Twitch, who was stumbling under Fidget's weight.

Rogue closed the car door that had been left open, not wanting the gas station employee to stare at her in bewilderment any more then he already was, and sat back in the seat, watching Fidget limp towards the store in between Twitch and Chase. She was just about to close her eyes and get some long-needed rest when she heard the front door open and someone slip inside. Wondering who could be back from the store so soon, Rogue sneaked a glance up to the passenger's seat, only to find the one person she'd been dreading staring back at her.

"Hey," X-ray said nervously, adjusting his filthy glasses on the bridge of his nose.

Rogue stared at him through half-closed eyelids for a moment before turning on her side to face the window and ignore X-ray.

But X-ray had been expecting this and rebutted her actions with a question he'd been too shy to ask her for a long time. "Why do you hate me?" he said, furrowing his brow and staring at Rogue's back intently. "I mean, come on now, what'd I ever do to you?"

Rogue glared menacingly out the widow at the eighteen-year-old boy who'd finally put the gas pump into the car's tank and was now scratching his chin in a befuddled manner. She sat there, turned away from X-ray, trying hard to think up a suitable answer to his stupid question. Why did she hate him? It wasn't really a matter of what he'd done and hadn't done to her, it was more because of the fact that he existed in all of his scrawny nerd-of-a-stalker glory. Had it ever once occurred to him that she didn't appreciate the way he followed her everywhere with his eyes , staring her down like a bespectacled lion watches it's prey? She slowly turned back to face him, watching his dumbfounded expression in amusement as he stared, horrorstruck, and amazed that she was actually turning back to address him.

"You wanna know why I hate you?" Rogue asked, raising her eyebrow in a bemused fashion.

X-ray nodded fervently like a child accepting an early birthday present.

Rogue smiled thoughtfully. "I hate you..." she began, choosing her words delicately. "Because you're a scrawny little nobody who's always sneakin' around me no matter what I'm doing or where I am. Not to mention the leadership over D-tent that you'd like to think you own. Do you really think you're kiddin' anyone by actin' all tough an' macho? Standing at the front of the water line an' tryin' to decide all these important decisions. Come on man, you don't really believe you're all that, do you?" Rogue folded her arms and shook her head pitifully as she leaned back in the seat again. "I don' like people who pretend to be somethin' they ain't, an' you, boy, have been doin' nothin' but that since the day I met you. Does that answer your question of why I hate you?" She paused for a moment, giving X-ray enough time to take in everything she'd said.

X-ray stared at her distorted image through his grimy lenses, his mouth agape as he thought over all this new information. "So..." he said, furrowing his brow in contemplation. "If I left you alone all the time and stopped tryin' to help decide things you'd like me?"

"Well, if you left me alone all the time an' stopped tryin' to help decide things I think I would just completely forget about you," Rogue answered brutally and yet honestly.

"Oh," X-ray mouthed as his heart fell. The only thing that he was getting out of this whole conversation was that Rogue hated him and she was always going to hate him.

"Jus' act like yourself," Rogue said, shrugging her shoulders again, amazed that she was still talking to this freak. "An' who knows," she added, despite herself, "maybe I'll like the real you."

X-ray looked up excitedly, unable to hold back a grin: So there was hope after all.

Rogue tried to smile reassuringly, but was almost positive that her attempt at being friendly had come out as a grimace. She couldn't believe she had even said a single word to X-ray and now, as she frantically gazed out the windshield praying for an excuse for escape, she was more then thankful to see Zippy galloping back towards the car, Chase in slow pursuit.

"Doughnuts, Nerds Ropes, KitKats, Peach Rings, Pixie Stix—can you believe it guys? Pixie Stix!" Zippy held the heavy bag up for everyone to see, grinning wildly with her mouth full of Reese's Pieces. "I didn't think I'd get Pixie Stix again till I got home! This is so awesome!"

D-tent was piled back into the police car once more all savoring the boastful supply of snacks that they had purchased at the convenience store. Although Zippy had indeed acquired the tallest pile of purchases, she was followed close in ranks by Armpit, who was currently enjoying a hot dog smothered in tabletop condiments, and then Zigzag who had bought as many convenience store products as his budget had allowed for no apparent reason. Accompanying his bag full of snacks and sweets was a tuna lure, a single roll of toilet paper (Lei had insisted on purchasing the whole package if he wanted to buy any at all but Zigzag had refused, ripped open the plastic encasing the rolls, and had indecisively chosen one that suited his liking before having Zero do the math, and paying the store clerk one sixth of what the entire package had cost), and a pair of prescription glasses—despite the fact that Zigzag had perfect vision. The pride and joy of all his commodities and the item he'd been cradling emphatically since they'd left the gas station was a small lighter he'd bought, the body of which was painted with the symbol of the astrological constellation of Capricorn.

"Oh cool," Static had exclaimed when Zigzag had chosen it—after careful examination—off the lighter rack at the store. "You're a Capricorn?"

"No," Zigzag replied, looking perplexed. "I'm a Sagittarius!"

Static had furrowed her brow in disconcertion but ended up ignoring the fact that her boyfriend was a complete weirdo and ceased to question him on the matter.

"I cannot believe that those freaking morons weren't selling anything low-fat," Magnetic scoffed, sipping daintily on a Diet Coke she'd purchased. "I mean, do they seriously think that anyone these days wants to look like a freakin' bowl of lard? Come on, it's the dieting-era, hello!"

Lei, who'd just been about to sink her teeth into a maple bar doughnut, stared in chagrin whereas that rest of the D-tent members just stared in blasé disbelief.

"What?" Magnetic asked, ambushed and astounded that anyone should be so taken aback by her comment. "I'm trying to watch my weight."

"How are you doin' back there, Fidget?" Squid asked from where he sat in the drivers seat, ignoring the present conversation topic and eyeing Fidget in concern through the rear-view mirror.

Fidget, who'd been laying with her limp body against the car door, didn't even bother to look up with her distant eyes as she raised her thumb in the most positive response she could muster.

"Don't worry," Squid said, trying to sound reassuring despite the obvious worry in his voice. "We'll get you into bed soon..."

In the rear-view mirror Chase watched him heave a heavy sigh before narrowing his eyes and concentrating harder on the road ahead. She was amazed at his sudden transition from the rowdy teenage boy she'd first met, months ago when the Camp Lakeway girls had arrived at Camp Green Lake, to a tender and thoughtful guy who could easily pass off as a caring adult. She couldn't believe that she had ever even considered the idea that he would someday leave his child and spouse: The boy she was avidly watching wasn't like that. He wasn't, and would never be, a product of his scoundrel of a father and his drunk mother, no matter how many statistics proved otherwise.

"Chase? You okay?" Zippy asked, accidentally spraying Chase's face with excess Pixie Stix dust as she spoke. "You look like you're gonna cry..."

"But she's smiling," Zero contradicted, grinning as he joined into the miniscule conversation that had erupted between his girlfriend and her best friend. "See, look at that goofy grin," he said, pointing impertinently at Chase's dazed expression.

"I'm okay," Chase tried to reassure them, but her words were cut short as Zippy adjusted her attention to solely address Zero.

"Smiling? What are you talking about? She's crying, not smiling. See, look at all those tears in her eyes."

"Yeah," Zero replied, focusing his attention away from Chase as well. "But she could be crying and smiling at the same time."

"Ooh," Zippy uttered, narrowing her eyes. "That's a good one... Perhaps she's constipated?"

"Perhaps," Zero responded, laughing.

"Here, I'll check," Zippy declared brusquely. Then, propping herself up on her knees from where she sat on the floor of the car, she eyed Chase suspiciously, prodded her in the shoulder, and inquired, "Are you constipated?"

"No!" Chase cried in incredulity, scoffing at the idea of such kindergarten humor.

"Yeah," Zippy confirmed, recoiling back to her position on the floor and approaching Zero once again. "She's constipated."

Chase rolled her eyes and sat back in the seat, directing her attention to the miscellaneous objects flying past the car window.

"Ahem," X-ray cleared his throat loudly from the front seat before going on in an equally loud voice. "What do you all say about some music? Sounds good? Yeah? Okay."

Rogue watched in utter mortification as X-ray proceeded to surf through the pathetic amount of radio stations that the desert area they were driving through received before he paused at a station that played nothing but "The great oldies!".

"Oh wow," X-ray exclaimed. "Smokey Robinson? Now this is the good stuff, I'm tellin' ya'."

Now Rogue wasn't the only one who was staring in horror at X-ray's sudden change in personality. Squid completely forgot that he was driving the car for a moment and stared dumbstruck at his wise tent leader. He'd never, not once in all the months he'd known X-ray seen him act even remotely interested in music from the sixties and it completely shocked him to see his good buddy acting so now. In fact, the only member of D-tent who didn't seem disturbed by X-ray's actions was Zippy who'd cried, "YES!" the moment X-ray had stopped at the oldies radio station and had broken into another mad round of the chicken dance.

"She's not a bad girl, because-" X-ray sang along with the tune flooding through the radio speakers, exhibiting more strange actions that the other members of D-tent had never witnessed before.

"Oh Christ!" Rogue laughed, shaking her head in discredit as she realized that X-ray was trying to act like himself to attract her. She wondered vaguely what ridiculous stunt he would try and pull next. "You're doin' fine, X-ray," she said, smirking. "Keep up the great work."

X-ray, confused at Rogue's remark, let his voice die down until his mimicking mumble ended and he sat quietly, leaving an awkward silence to fill the car, the music from the radio inconveniently tinkering in the background.

"HEY LOOK!" Twitch cried suddenly, making Chase, who was sitting beside him, jump in shock. He was pointing ecstatically out the window that Chase had been gazing through a moment before, bouncing in his seat as he directed everyone's attention towards a small, roadside reminder.

As everyone read the sign, it became quite obvious what had startled Twitch into a fervor.

LUBBOCK 184 MILES

The contempt silence that still filled the vehicle was almost indefinite.

They were almost home.