Darkness. That's all that Franky could see. She felt around, only to feel cold metal on all sides. The only thing she could hear was the grinding of metal gears. After twenty or so minutes of quiet (besides the gears) she could see a light from above, as it grew brighter so did the voices she heard. "Wonder…What's…Greenie…Job…Keeper…Shuck…" She could only catch a few words from above at a time. What's a greenie? Shuck? While Franky couldn't remember much she was sure that she had never heard these words before. As she rose in the metal box and the voices got louder, she grew more and more anxious of what she would find above, finally the box stopped moving. She heard a loud clang above and watched as a handsome Asian boy with muscled arms pry open one of the metal screen doors while standing on the other. When the first door was open he jumped down into the box beside her. "Oh, shuck," She heard him say. That's the voice I heard earlier! The one who used those weird words! Franky thought. "Oh shuck oh shuck."
"What the shuck is wrong, Minho?" a deep voice said from above.
"It's a girl!" He yelled. Immediately she heard several murmurs and whispers from the people she assumed were crowding around the box.
"You better not be joking, Slinthead." The same deep voice said as a rope appeared in the box from about fifteen feet above. The boy- Minho- put one arm around her waist and grabbed the rope with his other. Fanky felt something stirring in her stomach at him being so close and touching her.
"Whatever, just pull us up." He told them.
When Franky finally made it out of the box she found that, as she presumed, she was circled by the people she had heard talking earlier, what hadn't even crossed her mind though, was that they were boys, all boys, not a single girl. She looked around, examining the glade and the buildings in it, the animals, and finally, the walls. That is what surprised her most, so far, the massive walls. They looked as if they had been there for years. How long have they been here? She wondered. "Where am I?" She asked them.
"We call it the Glade-" The deep voice from earlier.
"Welcome to hell, hun" Minho said. "This here shuckface is our leader, Alby. As you probably guessed, I'm Minho. And you are?" He asked dramatically.
"Franky… I don't remember anything else."
"It's okay, none of us do. This slinthead will be giving you your tour of the place." Alby explained.
"How old do I look?" Franky asked.
"Um, I'd say about fifteen, maybe sixteen. And in case you were wondering, bleach blonde hair, blue eyes. And uh, speaking of eyes, you're not bad on the eyes either." Minho blushed. Numerous groans were heard from behind them."
After her tour, Minho explained how the jobs worked. "Well normally the Greenie would start working as a slopper tomorrow, but considering you're the first girl- ever- you will probably spend all day by either Alby or Newt's side- Newt's our second –in-command. We're having a Gathering about you during dinner- that's where all of the keepers meet and discuss something important." Franky nodded. "You know I like you- and it's not just because you're the first girl I've seen in over a year- you don't ask a lot of annoying questions- I'm pretty sure you haven't told me anything besides your name-, you listen well too. Alsoyou'repretty." He blushed.
"Okay… alright then. Thanks, I guess," Frankie blushed. "and I talk more once I get to know you, at least I think I do- used to- I don't know." She sighed, "My brain hurts." She smiled for the first time since she had arrived. Minho smiled back.
Minho coughed into his hand to cover up the awkward silence, "Well you should probably head to dinner now." He pointed towards where all of the other Gladers were heading. "I'll be over there with Alby and Newt if you need us." He pointed to the Map Room.
She got her food and sat down at one of the wooden tables outside alone. She was almost finished eating when she heard footsteps behind her. "Hey, gorgeous." She rolled her eyes and continued eating, pretending she hadn't heard him, without turning around. "Hey I was talking to you." He sat down. She still didn't look at him. "It's considered very rude not to respond." He said arrogantly.
"F…Shuck off." She said.
"Aw look at the Greenie, trying out our words!" He cooed. He grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look at him. She noticed not that a crowd was forming around them. "Hey I-" She abruptly punched him in his arrogant jaw.
Meanwhile the keepers were just leaving the Map Room and noticed the crowd. "What the shuck is that?" Newt asked.
"I don't know, but I have a bad feeling I know who." Minho said running off in the direction of the crowd. Alby and Newt followed, but with Newt's limp and Alby just not being fast, they quickly fell behind.
"I told you we shouldn't have left her alone." Alby told Newt.
When Minho reached the front of the crowd he laughed at what he saw; The idiot -who's name he'd never bothered learning- was sitting on the floor, holding his out-of-place jaw while sending furious glares at Franky, the Greenie for goodness sake! When he managed to catch his breath from all of the laughing he said "Well, what have we here?"
"He was hitting on me- I told him to shuck off, he didn't, so I punched him in his jaw. I think I broke it." She shrugged. Minho broke into another laughing fit.
By this time Newt and Alby had arrived, along with many of the other keepers. Alby looked at the scene in front of him and coughed into his hand to cover a grin spreading over his face. "What happened?" he asked Minho.
"The shuckface wouldn't leave her alone so she punched him." He said through a smile.
Newt didn't bother trying to hide his grin, everybody hated the kid anyways, "Med-jacks," He called and the crowd parted to let the med-jacks through.
"Yep, she broke it." Clint said after examining the poor kid's jaw.
"No one bothered warning me that she was a psycho." The kid remarked, spitting out blood. Franky rolled her eyes.
"Hey, it's not like you had a shot anyways." Minho said in mock-sympathy.
"Better shot that you," The kid mumbled.
"No," Everyone turned to look at Franky. It seemed everyone had forgotten that she was there momentarily. Well, almost everyone.
"Huh?"
"You're wrong, Minho does have a better shot." Frankie said quietly. Minho immediately had a huge grin across his face and the kid had a look of shock across his face.
The med-jacks took the arrogant kid to the homestead where they could fix his jaw.
Later that night Franky had been given her own room in the homestead, right next to the room that Alby and Newt shared, so that no one else could bother her. She was laying on a cot, crying, trying to fall asleep when she heard the door open. "Did you mean what you said?" He asked.
She contemplated lying, but what was the point? Sooner or later he would find out. "Yes," She said quietly.
"You know," he said, rubbing his neck with one hand. "I like you too." He turned to leave.
"Minho, wait." He paused. "Stay… please?" He had secretly been hoping she would ask him to stay.
"Okay," He said as he lay beside her on the floor. "It'll get better you know, being here. You learn to live with it."
They both fell asleep like that, her on the cot, him on the floor.
