Okay, chapter three here, if you have an opinion on the story but haven't reviewed yet. Give it a shot. I don't mind

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It's hard to beat a person who never gives up.

Stutter looked at her watch, it flashed 1:36 am. She sighed and as quietly as possible climbed out of her cot to he

crate. She grabbed a note book and a pencil and took her blanket off her bed and sat against the outside of tent.

The moon lit her paper as she began to write.

'Dear Mom and Dad,

Things are fine here at camp. I got into an argument with Mr. Pendanski last night. It wasn't anything major and I'm not in any extra trouble. Things are still really hot and dry and we've maybe had one cloud.

We got a new tent mate. His name is Rex but we call him X-Ray because he has really thick glasses and it's like he can see through walls sometimes. He's an alright guy.

I'm glad to hear that dad got a new job. I'm still really sorry about ruining his last one. You probably don't want to hear me say that again, but I am.

Well, it's the middle of the night and I'm getting tired, have to be up early too. Write back soon.

Love,

Kennedy. '

Stutter folded up the letter and put it in an envelope, writing her address on the front. She put her pencil and letter beside her and she leaned back tiredly against the side of the tent, pulling the blanket up higher to her chin. She'd just sleep outside for the rest of the time until digging time. Yawning once more, she turned her head to the side and fell asleep.

X-Ray woke up before the wake up call and stretched tiredly in his cot. He looked at a clock that Stutter's mom had sent the tent for Christmas, it glowed 3:40. Sighing he threw his thin blanket off to his feet, there was no point in going back to sleep if he had to get up in twenty minutes anyway. Sitting up and rubbing sleep out of his eyes, he grabbed his glasses from his crate that he put beside his bed and slipped them on his face. He looked around the cot to see if anyone else was up but everyone was still sleeping. Throwing his feet over the side of the bed, he realized that Stutters bed was empty and the blanket was gone. Curious and slightly worried where she went, he quietly tiptoed out of the tent, nearly stepping on Stutter in the process.

'Someone sleeps in weird places,' X-Ray thought to himself. He gently toed her side with his boot. Stutter just rolled her head to the other side and started drooling. "Give me a couple more minutes Mom," she mumbled in her sleep. X-Ray nudged her harder, the bell would go off soon. "Alright Stutter, get your ass up," he shouted in her ear. "It almost time to get up and your sleeping outside the tent. Wake up!" Stutter gave a jerk and her eyes snapped open. "Oh, X, it's you. I thought you were Mr. Sir or someone like that."

She stood up and picked up her letter, walking back into the tent. She put her blanket back onto her cot and grabbed her rag and hat and put them both on. Rex sat on his cot while Stutter pulled on and tied up her boots. "Can you really sing?" he asked. Stutter watched him for a couple moments before sighing sadly. "I don't want to talk about it."

The morning trumpet recording went off after Stutter brushed her hair and hid it under her rag and hat. She grabbed her letter and walked out of the tent. Mom was popping out of A tent and tried to avoid her gaze. Stutter walked right up to him and handed him the letter. "Letter to my parents like the judge told me to write." Then she just turned around and walked to the library to get her shovel and breakfast. She didn't talk to the others as they walked out into the dessert to today's digging spot.

By the time the lunch truck came around Stutter still wasn't talking to anyone. She sat by herself when she ate and ignored everyone when they asked her if she wanted to eat with them. She finished her lunch quickly and quietly went back to digging. Sidewinder also knew what was wrong with her, and he'd have to fix it later.

Stutter finished her hole first today, mainly because she just dug without thinking and had no distractions other than her own mind. She spat into her hole, shouldered her shovel and walked back to camp. She grabbed a shower token and headed to the shower stalls. The icy cold water made her shiver when it hit her, it was one of her favourite feelings and it helped her clear her mind. But it didn't last long, considering the water only lasted about four minutes.

Sidewinder wanted to finish his hole as soon as he could so he could go back to the tent to help Stutter. No one noticed how he was trying extra hard to be done faster that he was paced at. Others did notice Stutters mood that day though. The others knew that it happened a couple of times before, but all they knew was that Sidewinder took her to the side, and soon she was better. They had no idea what he did, but it worked and Stutter didn't complain about it. Sidewinder finished next, but so did Nevada so they walked back to the camp together. Sidewinder would have to find another time to help her when no ones around. Later that night, once everyone was back, Sidewinder took Stutter aside and told her to meet him in the tent after dinner.

X-Ray kept shooting Stutter worried looks all meal. She would only stare at her food, push it around a bit, then eat a small bite then start the process over again. She was not the loud, outspoken girl that confused him for a guy a few days earlier. He was worried about her but what he was most worried about was how no one seemed to notice! Well, maybe they did notice, but just not really care about it. Sidewinder finished his meal first, taking his tray to the garbage to throw out the tiny bits of scraps that were left. He gave Stutter a hard look, as if telling her to do something or she's screwed. Stutter sighed when she received the look but nodded her head none the less. Stutter stood up with nearly a quarter of her food left, she just pushed her tray to the middle of the table. "If anyone wants it, it's yours." This was the first thing any of them had heard her say all day.

Stutter walked into the tent where Sidewinder was sitting on his cot. He looked up when she came in. She sat beside him on his cot looking dejected. "Same spot?" he asked softly. Stutter nodded slowly, looking at the ground. She hated having to be like this. "Alright," Sidewinder said, standing up. "Lie on your back with your arms crossed, you know how to do it." Stutter sighed and did what she was told to do. Of course she knew what to do, this happens every month or so. Sidewinder leaned over Stutter, putting one arm around her back and slipping his other hand under her arms and placed it between her breasts. "Breath in deeply now," he told her quietly. "And let it out." Stutter let out a big breath as he pushed her back up into his hand. A few cracking pops could be heard. Stutter let out a small groan, not that it hurt, it was just weird.

X-Ray stood in the doorway of the tent watching what Sidewinder was doing to her. "What the hell are you doing1" he exclaimed, making Stutter jump and Sidewinder stand up. It looked to him like some kind of very weird sex or something. Stutter rolled onto her stomach not looking at him. She made a little wave of her hand to Sidewinder giving him the go ahead to tell. She groaned into her pillow loudly. "Stutter has a bad back. Every once n a while she gets a couple ribs out of place. What you just saw was a chiropractic adjustment. There's more to do but you interrupted us." X-Ray nodded his head that he understood and was about to turn around to leave. "MAHMMNYA!" she yelled into her pillow. Sidewinder sighed and said, "She means don't tell anyone or she'll kick your ass."

Now that X-Ray was gone Sidewinder finished the adjustment. Stutter hated the sound of bones cracking and popping, so she hated getting the adjustments. They also made her back hurt even more than it did to start with. She had three usual ribs that went out of place. One under her right shoulder blade that pushed up into the shoulder blade, one in the front left out of place where it connected with the breast bone, and one in her lower back. The one under her shoulder hurt the most though.

"Do you want to come with me to the wreck room or do you want to sleep it off?" Sidewinder asked her. "It doesn't matter, but remember that if you do go straight to bed, do your stretches or it will get worse." Stutter stood up and walked towards the door. "Of course I'm coming! I've got a game of pool to win." Sidewinder walked beside her towards the wreck room, enjoying the last few weeks he had with the one he most considered family. Stutter on the other hand was full of energy and they decided to race the rest of the way. Sidewinder won easily and Stutter fumed, blaming the loss on her 'sever height disadvantage'.

Laughing and slightly out of breath from their sprint, the fell onto the old couch at the same time. The other noticed the vast improvement on Stutters attitude and smiled to themselves knowing that Sidewinder had done it again...whatever it was. After lounging on the couch for a bit, Stutter and Sidewinder got up to go play pool, them against Claustro and Tigger. "Up for a ass whopping?" she challenged them. They couldn't back down the challenge. "You're on!" They shouted, grabbing pool sticks for themselves and tossing two for Stutter and Sidewinder. "Who breaks?" Claustro asked. "Oh so shotty breakin' it!" Tigger exclaimed as he ran around the table to line up for his shot. Three striped fell into the pockets. Claustro lined up for his shot and got another striped ball in. Tigger took his next shot but missed. A few choice curse words leapt from his mouth but no one cared.

X-Ray was watching the game with interest. He'd never seen Stutter play before but had a feeling that she wasn't half bad. She had been here for 8 months already and must of had some sort of experience under her rag. He watched intently as she lined up carefully for her shot. Off the wall and across to hit a red solid and sinking it. 'Not bad' he thought to himself.

After an hour or so of playing and hanging out Mom came in to call lights out. Laughing, they all went back to the tent where they talked for a little while longer until they started falling asleep. That night, Stutter woke up in the middle of the night to a horrible nightmare and the sound of crying.

Well, hope you like it. Review with comments or questions or concerns. See ya.