Okay folks...

I'm really trying to work past this writers block I seem to be stuck in.

Hope you enjoy this much needed chapter!

XoXoXoXo

Chapter Twelve: Living On The Wild Side

Squid and ZigZag finally let go as X got closer to you.

"Nikki, you can't keep doing that to him. You don't know him like the rest of us do… he could hurt you."

"I can take care of myself X… I'm not gonna let him scare me." You spit furiously.

"Don't be so stupid! You're letting your pride take control of you… Lump will get what he wants from you." X yelled.

"Violently if he has to…" Caveman added.

"He's a vengeful man Nikki." Armpit warned.

"I appreciate you guys looking out for me, but I'll be fine." You soften up.

"We just don't want anything to happen to our sister…" Magnet stepped forward.

"Yea…" Zero agreed.

"Alright… I'll try not to beat the crap out of him anymore." You sighed.

"That's all we ask." X says. With that, everyone got to their digging site and started their hole. That little stunt fired you up, so you threw your orange suit off and started digging. ZigZag chose a spot next to you and talked.

"You sure are a feisty one…" He smiled.

"I just hate guys like that. They remind me of my father…" You state, throwing dirt angrily over your shoulder.

"Remind me never to get on your bad side…"

"Trust me when I say it's not a place you wanna be…" You sigh and try to calm down. "So… how is it you're so calm about this whole period issue?"

"I lived with my mom and two sisters… it was what I dealt with everyday. I'm used to it all… tampons, pads, PMS, midol… you name it!"

"Man… I'm glad I was the only girl. I don't think I could've dealt with all the drama…" You both laugh.

"Tell me about it…"

"Hey Ricky?"

"Yea?" He looks up at you.

"Thanks… for everything this morning. You really saved me…"

"It's no problem Nikki." You smile at each other and hear Mr. Sir coming in the distance. You all climb out of your holes Xo X-Ray and Squid helping you out of yours of course oX and line up for lunch.

"God I'm so hungry I could eat a cow…" You say to Zero while rubbing the hunger from your stomach.

"Yea… but that cheesecake really hit the spot last night."

"Ohdefinitely..." Before you knew it, you were up to grab some food off the truck. "Hey Mr. Sir!"

"Good grief…" He sighs, mumbling under his breath.

"How you doin' today buddy?" You smile as the guys gather round.

"I was doing great…"

"Hey I'm really sorry about all those mishaps we've had."

"I learned to just block it out and move on… apology accepted Miss Hart. Now go eat and get back to work."

"Wait a sec, hold on… Were you just… civil to me?" He thought hard for a minute before speaking.

"Well… I guess I was now, wasn't I?" He said as if he were surprised by his own actions.

"Well that's' great!! It means you're improving… I knew you couldn't be that cold all the time. I'm proud of you Sir…" You say playfully nudging his shoulder.

"Yea…" Squid steps forward. "I'm proud of you too Sir!" He raises his arm to nudge Sir too when he speaks.

"You nudge me and you won't get any shower tokens for a week. Now get back to work!" He threatened.

"Jeez… I was just trying to… reach out." Squid sighs dejectedly.

"Well reach somewhere else!" Sir shouted as you all walked back to your holes to eat.

"We'll work on it Sir…" You whisper as he nods. You walk back to your hole and sit on the edge to finish eating your food. You took a sip of your water, when a lizard slithered next to you. "How cute!" you exclaimed as you held your hands out to it. It fearlessly crawled into your hands as you brought it up to your eyes.

"Nikki, what are you holding?" Caveman asked looking up at you.

"A lizard." You say as you wiggle your tongue at it.

"A yellow-spotted lizard??" Armpit asked with a scared expression.

"Yup…" you say calmly as you notice all the yellow spots on its back.

"NO!" they all scream jumping out of their holes.

"Nikki put it down!" X yells as the guys crowd around you.

"Guys calm down… he's harmless." You say coolly, softly stroking its head.

"That thing can kill you!" Magnet warns, his Spanish accent clearly sticking out.

"Guess I'm living on the wild side… you guys wanna touch it?" They all jump back except Zero. He slowly approaches and gently pets its head. "See Zero, it's not so bad right?" He nods in agreement. "Now how is it that my little brother is a bigger man than all of you girls put together?" You question with a smirk.

"We should get back to work…" Caveman suggests, backing away from the lizard. Everyone quickly returns to their holes as you gently putting it down.

"Bye buddy… Alright Zero let's allow our sisters to get back to work before they die of fright." You joke, dusting off as you all continue digging.

Digging today slowly dragged on. By the time your cramps allowed you to finish, Caveman was done.

"Whoa… did I just finish before you?" He asked.

"Don't get used to it… if I didn't have the world's worst cramps right now, I would've dusted you hours ago."

"Are you alright?"

"I'll survive…" You return your shovel and suffer back to the tent. You collapse onto your cot and curl into the fetal position. You close your eyes, trying to will the pain away when you felt someone sit next to you.

"You alright Nikki?" You couldn't move but you recognized the voice as X's.

"No…"

"Bad cramps?"

"I think 'bad' is an understatement…" You growl as the pain intensifies. Trying to think of anything but the pain, you suddenly feel his hands gently rub your back. Generally, any touch would drive you nuts, but his ministrations were helping. Soon enough you began to unclench and melted into his touch. The pain subsided as you sat up. "Wow… you have magical hands X…"

"That's what she said…" He smirked. You smile as the dinner bell sounded. You both exited the tent when you noticed Lump ahead of you.

"Ugh… I don't wanna deal with that asshole today. Not today…" You sighed.

"Just try to ignore him… don't let him get to you." He advised.

"Easy for you to say… you're not the one suffering from PMS at the moment. If he knows what's good for him, he'll stay away from me this week."

XoXoXoXo

I don't think the ending tied in with the rest of the chapter…

In fact,

I think that was probably the worst chapter of this story, but…

Oh well!

Hope you likes.

-poisonedspork