Free Forces of Nature by Nate Ball

What a Trip
    â€œT he answer is still no,” Zack said, stuffing a pair of jeans into the canvas bag that usually held his baseball gear.
    â€œJust think about it,” Amp said from atop a pair of rolled-up wool socks that sat on Zack’s desk.
    â€œWhat part of ‘no’ are you not getting?” Zack asked. “The n or the o part? It’s really a pretty simple word.”
    Amp stared off into space dreamily. “I’ve always wanted to go camping,” he sighed.
    â€œWhat?” Zack said, fixing his eyes on his tiny alien roommate. “Yesterday you had never even heard of camping! Now, suddenly, it’s your lifelong goal? Give me a break, Short Pants.”
    â€œWe Erdians are fast learners,” Amp said with a proud shrug of his little blue shoulders. He foldedhis arms behind his head and nestled deeper into the sock. “Besides, what an adventure! The chance to battle the elements, the opportunity to encounter wild animals, the daily struggle to find food? Who would pass that up?”
    â€œI already told you, we don’t struggle to find food.” Zack groaned, pulling a fistful of underwear from an open drawer and tossing it into his bag. “We bring about five hundred pounds of food with us. We’re not exactly hunting down beavers with bows and arrows.”
    Amp sat up and grabbed his antennas with excitement. “And to sleep on the ground in that little cloth house held up by sticks.”
    â€œYou mean a tent,” Zack said flatly.
    â€œYes!” Amp said, snapping his fingers. “A tent! I want to sleep in a tent.”
    â€œForget it,” Zack said, sitting on the corner of his unmade bed and holding his head in his hands. “Quit bugging me about this, okay? You know my family can never know you’re here. They’d freak out if they ever saw you. Call the park ranger. Call the cops. Call the government. Not to mention you’ve still got a little alien invasion to stop. Remember the whole reason you came to this planet in the first place? You don’t want the Erdian Army to arrive only to find their lead scout napping in the woods.”

    â€œCome on, a camping trip might be just the thing I need to get the creative juices flowing again.”
    â€œIt’s too risky. If anyone else sees you, they’ll take you away and dissect you like a frog.”
    â€œBut look at the size of me,” Amp said, standing up and doing a sort of jumping-jack motion. “I’m so little, they’d never see me. Plus, you know how good I am at staying out of sight.”
    Zack looked over at Amp and shook his head at his friend’s energy.
    His family had gone on an annual camping trip for the last three years, and each year had been a disaster. The McGee family just wasn’t the outdoorsy type. But every year Zack’s dad insisted they go. And every year, a perfectly good three-day weekend was ruined.
    Amp fell onto his belly and pressed his face into the fluffy socks. “I promise if you take me with you to the Crooked Forest,” his muffled voicebegged, “you’ll never know I was even there. I’ll be like a ninja.”
    â€œIt’s not called the Crooked Forest,” Zack said, rolling his eyes. “It’s called Twisted Grove State Park.”
    â€œYes! That’s it. I want to see the ghost, too,” Amp said, rolling onto his back and staring up at the ceiling. “I’ve never seen a ghost.”
    â€œThere’s no ghost,” Zack sighed. “That’s just a story people made up.”
    â€œYou told me the outlaw Nasty Ned hid his stolen gold in that forest over a hundred years ago, but could never find the spot where he buried it. Now his ghost wanders through the trees at night trying to find it.”

    â€œI was just reading you that stuff from the back of the park’s map,” Zack explained.
    Amp sat up. “The anger from Nasty Ned’s