Dirt and Dummies || A ZigZag fanfic

03

Dear Mom,
I doubt you'll get this, but if you do, hey congrats on not being a total failure of a mother. Camps been...ok to say the least. Most they guys here are ok, even get called by Kj like I ask. Anyways, tell Dad that I miss him and give Apollo some treats for me.
Little love,
Katherine.

"I bet I could whoop your ass at pool, Zigzag, no doubt about it." "You wish little lady, I'm the best pool player that's ever been at Camp Green Lake." Zigzag grins and I chuckle at his confidence. "Alright let's make a deal. One game, no practice shots or he messed me up bullcrap. One on one, you and me. If I win, you gotta carry me back to camp tomorrow, if you win, I'll help you dig your hole since you barely manage by yourself."

"Alright then, deal." Me and Zigzag shake hands and set up the table. We play for about an hour, and I whoop. His. Ass. "So much for best there ever was, thanks for the ride back later." I laugh at Zigzags astonished face and wink at him, putting my pool stick away.

~

We all gathered around the fossil Stanley had found, looking at it. We all went back to digging, my hole was almost done. "You almost ready to carry me back Zig?" I tease, looking at ZigZag. He laughed and we went back to digging. I sat in my hole, waiting for him to finish when he jumped in. "Y'know, one day I'm gonna be tall enough to get out on my own." I said as he lifts me up.

"Sure you will," he teases, pushing himself up and looking at me, "C'mon, deals a deal." I jump on his back and we start walking back, some of the boys following us. "Hey Zig." "Yeah?" "Knock knock." "Who's there." He chuckles. "Honeydew." "Honeydew who?" I smirk, "Honeydew you know how fine you look right now?" Zigzag blushes and laughs, shaking his head as I laugh too.

"Ok, my turn. Knock knock." "Who's there?" "Aiwantch." "Aiwantch who?" "I mean I knew you thought I was good looking but that was a little straight forward don't ya think?" My face burns red as I laugh, looking away as he laughs too. We make it to the camp and head into the rec room.

He sets us down in front of the tv and Armpit and him start fighting about it. Stanley walks in and gets bumped on top of some guy, it's pushed right back off as I cringe. He says something and the guy kicks him over, all of us turning to look at him. Stanley stumbles getting up, falling right back into the guy and knocking over the radio in the process.

The guy starts pushing Stanley up and Squid and Zigzag go to back up Stanley as everyone crowds them. X-Ray calms them all down and everyone heads back, until the guy notices me. "Hey pretty girl," he walks up to me and all eyes turn to us, "How you wind up here?" He starts walking closer to me but I stand my ground. "By kicks guys asses that act like you, trust me I ain't stopping just cuz of the warden."

The guy grows angry and goes to slap me but Zigzag stands in front of me, grabbing his wrist. "You leave her alone Switch." He glowers. Switch flares at him, then walks away when X-Ray and Squid join his side. We start to spread out again and the guys turn to talk to Stanley while Zigzag turns to me. "You alright? He didn't hurt you non did he?"

I smile lightly. "I'm fine, Zig, no need to worry. C'mon let's go eat." Zigzag smiles a bit, grabbing my hand and heading into mess hall, butterflies erupting in my stomach.

~

"What about you Jose, what do you like?" "I like animals." "That's what got magnet sent here in the first place." X laughs. "Man, it's criminal the way they keep 'em locked up in cages." Magnet defends. "No, Jose. What you did was criminal." Mom tries saying. "No no, tell 'em Magnet. They wanted 1,000 bucks just for one puppy." Squid explains.

"Yeah! I would've made it out... if my pocket didn't start barking." We all laugh, Magnet and Armpit doing a hand shake. "You kids get one life, and so far, you've done a pretty good job at screwing it up."
I shake my head and laugh, "Nah man, you can blame that on my momma, kicking me out and giving me nothing but a slingshot everyday since I was 8, what you expect from me?"

The boys laugh, Caveman the loudest, Mom looking at him. "So you're Caveman now, big shot. Got a nickname. Well let me tell you something Caveman, you are here on account if one person. You know who that person is?" "Yeah..." Caveman pauses, "My no-good, dirty-rotten, pig-stealing great great grandfather, that's who it is."

We all burst out laughing, I lean into Zigzag just a bit, tryna play it off but he doesn't seem to mind. "No," Mom deadpans, "You screwed up your life, Stanley Yelnats, and it's up to you to fix it. It's not gonna be easy, but you'd be surprised by what you can accomplish once you set your mind to it. Even Zero here isn't completely worthless."

"What about you Zero, what do you like to do." "Man I'm sick of you picking on Zero." I snap and everyone looks at me. "Just leave him alone for once man, he ain't do nothing wrong, let the poor boy be for once, damn." I bark out, irritated. "Alright then, K. J. Why don't you tell us what you like." Mom looks at me with a sick smile.

"I like putting adults who bully little kids back in their place." I glare at him and the guys chuckle as he glared right back at me.

~

I walked out of the rec room with the others, Armpit in front, dancing like he's in a music video. We cheer him on until he lifts his arms up, all of us ducking and plugging our noses. "Put 'em down!" Zigzag puts his arms down, walking away with a disgusted look. "Damn son you need a whole field of flowers to cover up that stench!" I yell.

~

"Hey look, a cloud." Squid points out, "Right there!" He points up at the barely there cloud in the sky. "Maybe it'll move in front of the sun." Zig says. "Wishful thinks Zig, wishful thinking." I keep digging, taking off my tank top to wrapping it around my waist the the upper half of my jumpsuit, leaving me in my sports bra.

Everyone notices Caveman looking at something and crawl up, checking it out. We look at the bullet shell with K.B. On the side. "Yeah, that's Kieth Berenger," Zig says, as someone says 'who's that's', "He was in my math class." We laugh. I zone out, not noticing a certain blonde staring at me as the others talk. I go back to my hole and start digging, sitting down and cringing as the rocks scrape me back.

"Hey, you almost done? I could help if you need?" I look up at Zigzag, his head blocking the sun. "It's a free country." I groan, getting up and starting to dig. Zigzag hops down and joins, his back facing mine as we dig. When we finish I barely have enough energy to stand. I sink down, basking in the small amount of shade I get from the hole.

Zig looks down at me in pity, "C'mon, I'll carry you back." He offers, helping me up. He lifts me up and out of the whole. My heads spinning as I stand up. I prepare to get on him back but he scoops me up in his arms instead. "Zig! What are you doing?" "You're far to tired to hang on to me. I can handle it, you just rest your pretty little head."

Every protest leaves my brain as his grip tightens on me, just leaning my head in his shoulder and fighting back sleep.

A/n: 3 chapters in one night? I must be crazy. Well I am, but we don't talk about that.