Disclaimer: I do not own the Maze Runner.

Warning: Rated T for language

The Girl In The Glades

Chapter 4: Exhausting Job Tryouts

The next day, Newt woke me up to go meet with Alby. He said that it was important for my future in the Glade — I was scared when he said that at first, but then I realized that he was only being over dramatic. Thankfully, whatever he wanted to show me this time wasn't as important as seeing the Grievers since he let me sleep in.

I felt a lot better when I woke up that day. No thoughts of Grievers or hating the Glade haunted me. I didn't feel like crying at all. In fact, I felt glad. For some reason, the events I went through last night helped extremely, even though all I did was watch Chuck prank a Glader, got caught at the same time, intimidated by Minho and was accused by Newt that I liked him.

Somehow, it all helped me get over my homesickness and culture shock.

"So are you telling me where we're going this time?" I asked Newt as we walked across the Glade.

"Yes," he answered simply.

I waited for him to continue but he didn't. A minute passed and I asked, "So where are we going?"

"I'll tell you when we get there."

Rolling my eyes, I sighed and continued to trail behind him, not sure of where we were going. After my episode with the Grievers, I was sure that there was nothing else left for me to discover but perhaps I was wrong. Maybe Newt was going to take me to see some other monster that could spit acid and crush humans with their bodies like anacondas.

Anything could happen, right?

As we strolled through the grounds of the Glade, I noticed that lesser Gladers were staring at me. Every stare that used to make me uneasy and self-conscious were gone and replaced with friendly smiles. I felt my heart well up with joy and satisfaction at the change. Maybe they were starting to accept me and not think of me as an outsider anymore.

After a few minutes of walking and conversing with Newt, I saw Alby and a few other Gladers near the corner of the western wall, opposing the Deadheads. I caught sight of numerous tools, wood and concrete mixture. As we got closer, I also saw one large cement mixer among the many items.

"Hey, Alby!" Newt called out, gaining the attention of the Glade's leader and the few Gladers around him. Unconsciously, I slowed down, not thoroughly excited at the number of Gladers present. Newt smiled and greeted them all. "Morning."

"Mornin' to ya too, Newt," Alby replied, smiling, as did the other boys. Then, he turned to me and gave a curt nod. "Andrea."

"Hi," I said, smiling nervously. Being around too many Gladers still made me uncomfortable despite the lack of stares.

Alby turned to a tall, dark-haired Glader behind him and exchanged a few words with him. He turned back to face Newt and I and cleared his throat. "Okay, Andrea. As ya know, I've said on your first day that we can't have any girls mixing with the boys, right? So the only option is to build another Homestead."

I nodded, having an idea to what he where he was going.

"This is Gally," Alby introduced, gesturing to the tall boy next to him. "He's the Keeper of the Builders."

The tall boy walked forward, his face impassive. He gave me a welcoming nod and crossed his arms, aiming to look reputable. I narrowed my eyes; taking in his tall, lean stance and unusual curvy eyebrows. I found him to be suspiciously recognizable. I've seen him before but I forgot where.

"I know you," I voiced out, frowning. The Gladers behind him stiffened, as did Newt and Alby. Their eyes snapped to me, who was studying Gally rigorously. "I remember you…"

"What, Andy?" Newt asked, surprise and concern on his face. "What do you remember?"

I frowned at Gally, trying to remember where I saw him. All I could remember was my time in the Glade and nothing before, so something happened to me here, with him involved. My eyes widened visibly as I remembered and blurted out, "You're the one who embarrassed me on my first day!"

Exasperated sighs echoed through the field as I declared that. I heard Alby swear silently and felt his glare on me, but I didn't mind him. I kept my eyes firmly on Gally, crossing my arms to match him.

Gally scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. "What?"

"On my first day," I started, stomping over to him. "You embarrassed me at lunch."

"How did I embarrass you?"

"You told the other boys to move out of the line," I explained, still frowning. "I could've just lined up like every other person."

At that, Gally rolled his eyes and let out a scoff. "Glad to know you appreciated the help."

"I could've lined up. Like everyone else did."

"And embarrass yourself more by standing there like a lost person?"

I glared at Gally, feeling heat rush up to my face. "You're not nice."

"I helped you," Gally replied coolly.

"…whatever."

"You really like having the last word, don't you?" Newt interjected, chuckling.

Before I could retort, Alby cleared his throat loudly and walked closer to the two of us.

"As I was saying," he started in an annoyed voice. "Gally here is the Keeper of the Builders. He will be in charge of building the Girl's Homestead. Behind him are his Builders. They will be the ones making the whole shuckin' building."

"Oh, okay," I nodded, not knowing what else to do.

Alby turned to Gally and whispered a few words to him. I questioned my presence being there. Did he want me to join them in building or something? Looking at the wood and all the implements on the floor, I wasn't sure if I could actually do anything to help. Sure, it was exciting to think about having my own place and be apart of the crew that invented it but I wasn't sure if I could help create it.

If anything, I would probably ruin the whole place.

"Okay, Andrea," Gally suddenly spoke. "Do you have any ideas?"

"Um…I don't know?" I blinked unintelligently. Just so I wouldn't sound too stupid, I added, "Do you have any ideas?"

"I figured we could make it in style of a ranch," Gally said without hesitation. "The Homestead stairs broke too many times before. I don't think girls would appreciate that."

I nodded at his wise notion. "Yeah, that sounds good."

"We wont make it too big, since we don't actually know for sure if a girl is coming next month or if a shuck boy is. Maybe they'll switch between sending girls and boys, or just send five more girls and stop. I don't know, no one does. So just to be safe, we won't waste the Glade's supplies unless we're completely sure."

I didn't know why he was explaining all that to me, but something told me that I should ask a question to not seem ignorant. "What if more girls do come and there isn't enough space?"

"Then we'll expand it," he shrugged. "Not that hard."

"Okay," I answered. "That's great…have you come out with a layout?"

"Yup," Gally nodded, looking pleased that I asked that. "There're a few shucky sketches but basically, it'll consist of separate accommodations—not like the current Homestead—because I'm pretty sure girls are more…demanding when it comes to privacy. It'll also be design in a square shape, so each room will be on the sides. I predict about three rooms on one side and about two or three shuck girls in there. That's enough for time being, I guess."

"Okay."

I stood there, staring stupidly at the Builders and the tools lying around. My head spun as I thought about the Girl's Homestead. Scrutinizing the tools on the ground and the space provided, it was hard to picture a Homestead standing there. Alby seemed to have confidence in Gally though, and Gally looked like he had everything planned out.

"Do you want anything specific?" he asked when he noticed me staring at the Girl's Homestead site, looking pitifully confounded. "Door carvings? Window positions?"

"I can…do that?" I blinked. "Ask for something particular?"

"Sure, why not?" he shrugged nonchalantly. "You're already getting your own room since you're the first girl."

My eyes widened visibly at the fact. "Seriously?"

"I've just said it, greenie. Yes," Gally said, looking mildly annoyed. He turned to Newt and asked, "Is she always this…slow?"

I heard Newt's small chuckle before her replied, "Yes."

"I'm not slow," I said immediately, frowning. "It's just…a lot to take in."

"Not really," Gally scoffed. "You know, the other boys would be ecstatic if they had another Homestead. Instead you're here like you don't even care."

"I do-"

"Psh, she's sleeping in my room," Newt interrupted me, crossing his arms smugly. "Why would she care?"

I whipped my head around to give Newt a glare. He saw me and winked, making me roll my eyes. A smile threatened to rise in response to his ridiculous attempt at a flirty wink, but I bit my lips to prevent it.

"You are so full of yourself, you know that?"

Newt smiled, unfazed by my insult. "If by 'yourself' you mean alluring charm, then yes. I guess I am full with that."

I shook my head, rolling my eyes once more at his cocky comment. The boys around us looked from Newt to me suspiciously, some of them wearing smirks on. Deciding to ignore them and Newt, I turned back to Gally who was waiting patiently for my answer to his earlier question. I cleared my throat nervously to reply.

"Everything seems great. You look like you've figured everything out and I don't want to get in the way of that," I said. "And I don't think there's anything specific I want. You can just…do what you planned."

Gally nodded, rubbing his hands together. "Good that. Makes it easier for us."

Alby then made his way over to Gally and they started talking in low voices—too low for me to hear. I bounced lightly on my feet, wringing my hands and gazing at the grass to avoid the stares of the Builders.

"You don't look excited to know about the new Homestead," Newt's voice said from behind my ear. "Any particular reason for that?"

I rolled my eyes at his teasing tone. "Even if I did have any particular reason, it wouldn't involve you."

"Ouch," he faked a silly pout that made me smile slightly. Newt saw that and grinned. "Ah, see that? You do like me."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Newt," I sighed heavily with a roll of my eyes.

Newt snickered, observing my constant eye roll. "Keep doing that and your eyes will pop out of their shuck sockets."

"I'll be waiting for the day that happens," I retorted, smirking.

Newt chuckled and stood next to me, waiting for Alby and Gally to finish up their conversation. A series of confused expressions and jerks of heads were exchanged between the two as Gally pointed to the site and to the implements on the ground. When they seemed over with their talk, they both nodded at each other and turned to Newt and I.

"Okay, greenie. It'll take approximately 3 weeks to build the place. If we work harder, it'll probably even be lesser than that," Gally explained.

"Oh, it's okay," I said instantly, shaking my head. "Take your time." As I said that, I saw Newt's grin widen as he observed me closely. Scrunching my eyes in confusion, I asked, "What?"

"Nothing," he replied, smirking slyly.

"Seriously, why are you—no," I deadpanned, realizing why he was smirking. "I did not mean it in that way."

"In what way?" Newt asked innocently, his smirk still playing on his lips.

"In…that way," I said hesitantly, flustered. "In the way you're thinking about it!" Newt didn't respond and only continued smirking smugly. "Seriously, I just meant, you know…no pressure or anything!"

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Andy," Newt retorted, using my line earlier.

I huffed. "It is not because I want to sleep in the same room with you."

"What made you think I meant that?" Newt replied.

Alby suddenly cleared his throat, breaking the banter between Newt and I. "You two seem to have gotten close," he remarked.

"Andy here likes me," Newt spoke up immediately, flinging an arm over my shoulder. I gasped inaudibly at his sudden action. "But she's too shy to admit it."

I tried to shrug Newt's hand off me in vain. Huffing, I blew my hair out of my face and grumbled, "Newt's delusional."

Alby gave Newt a stern look, to which he responded with a casual shrug. Shaking his head, Alby smiled slightly. "Whatever. You two go continue your love spat somewhere else," he said, making me frown. "Preferably, the greenie's next job tryout."

I groaned immediately as he said that. I almost forgot about job auditions.

"Right," Newt said, clasping his hands together eagerly. "Let's go, Andy. Your tryout today is rather…interesting," he grinned deviously, making me dubious. "It's all easy today, full with leisure. You'll enjoy it, I think."

The mischievous glint in his eyes did nothing to reassure me.

Newt was apparently joking about his earlier comments when he left me at the Blood House. Before I could even refuse to tryout for a Slicer, Newt handed me over to Winston and fled—even after I told him to not leave me. The fact that he ran made me disgruntled.

Winston was the Keeper of the Slicers and excluding his quiet, expressionless and creepy demeanor, he was relatively nice. Newt left me with him after the meeting with Gally and Winston's laidback self helped me feel not so awkward. Unlike Zart, he didn't brief me shortly about the job and left me alone to tryout. He took it upon himself to show me around the Blood House and explain what, where and how every job was done.

"This is where we keep the animals, as you know," Winston said, leaning on the stockade. "There are cows, chicken, some lambs and pigs…that's it. We have Michael—hey Michael!" he waved to a little boy inside the enclosure before continuing. "He takes care and watches over the animals…if it's sounds easy, it's not."

"Why?"

"One, we have quite an amount of animals to take care of. Two, they lay their klunk everywhere."

Reason number two made me scrunch my face in disgust. "Eww, okay. That's…not for me."

Winston released a small laugh and nodded. "Yeah, I don't think so," he then started walking towards the Blood House door. "Come on, I'll show you inside."

As I entered the Blood House reluctantly, the foul metallic smell of blood and flesh penetrated my smelling organ. The pungent small made me wrinkle my nose in disgust. I decided to scan the place to distract myself from the horrible smell.

A long, flat slab of wood was in front of me and I felt my stomach lurch as I studied it in detail. The wood was stained with red and smelled rotten as I neared it. Beside the wooden table were metal hooks that I assumed were used to hang fresh meat. On a tray by the table were sharp cutting tools—knives, scissors and multiple blades that made me shiver.

"This is where we slaughter the animals," he explained, gesturing to the meat hooks and a giant bloodstained cutting board. "We call it the Slaughterhouse."

I let out a groan. "You serious? This place is already called the Blood House, and now the Slaughterhouse?"

"Lots off things in the Glade are self-explanatory," he stated, a smile playing on his lips.

"No shit," I scoffed, agreeing with him.

Winston cleared his throat as he started sharpening a knife. "There are two types of slicers—meat slicers and slaughterers. Meat slicers just cut the raw meat from the hooks and send them off to the kitchen. Slaughterers slaughter the animal, skin them, clean them up and all that. Got it?"

I couldn't listen carefully with my mind still getting used to the smell and demeanor of the Slaughterhouse but nodded anyway. "Got it."

Suddenly, I heard a loud clang and the clucks of a hen. I turned my head to see a metal cage on the floor containing a vicious hen on the inside, struggling to escape. My eyes widened as I reckoned what it was going to be used for.

"Now," Winston exhaled, picking up a knife. I averted my gaze from the hen to him, feeling a sense of dread run through me. "It's time to slice."

Seeing Winston hold the knife up expressionlessly made me imagine countless scenes in movies where the psycho killer kills the girl. It would be so easy for him to kill me, skin me and give my meat to the cook so he can cook me. He could bury all my hair and clothes somewhere and label my meat as lamb meat or something. No one would notice my disappearance if he said that I just left and disappeared. Winston had been here longer; the Gladers were surely going to believe him.

"I'm not going to kill you, you know," Winston assured, laughing when he saw my fear-stricken face. "I'm just showing you how to slice meat."

As if that's any better, I thought but put on a smile to cover up my terror. "Sorry, I just…you looked…scary."

"It's okay. It happens most of the time when a greenie works for me," he brushed it off and smiled, making me feel guilty for thinking of him badly. "I'm going to show you how to slice now. Watch closely. It's not that hard, really."

With that, Winston put on a pair of clear gloves, turned to the wooden table and grabbed a fresh chuck of meat from a metal hook. I gulped when I saw him placing the thick slab of meat on the cutting board. He placed the knife on the red flesh and positioned it carefully. Without wasting time, he pierced the meat with the knife and started slicing it back and forth in a continuous rhythm. I clenched my eyes shut as I heard a thunk as the knife hit the bottom of the board and the meat was now divided into two.

The juices and remaining blood from the meat oozed out as he pressed on both of them and started slicing them into smaller strips. I gazed at the meat being sliced easily by Winston and made up my mind.

I did not want to be a Slicer—not at all.

"See? Neat slices," Winston said and placed the knife down after the meat was cut into neat squares. "Wanna try?"

"No," was my immediate reaction. "What's…um…the other job?"

Winston flashed me a wicked smile before averting his gaze to the hen in the cage.

My eyes bulged and I instantly regretted asking that.

Opening the cage, Winston seized the hen's neck harshly. He roughly pulled it out of the metal cage and walked back over to the cutting board. I felt like running away as he slammed the hen down on the wood and grabbed a larger, sharper knife. The hen in his grip only clucked loudly and thrashed around violently.

"Before pulling out the feathers and skinning the bird, we have to slaughter it," Winston said, focusing on the flailing hen. My heart raced as he lifted his knife. In a low, chilling voice, he muttered, "Watch."

I decided at that moment that I couldn't watch so I opened the door and ran away from the place just as Winston brought his knife down onto the chicken. The last thing I heard was the muted cluck of the hen as the knife embedded into the wooden board beneath it with a thunk.

The Glade's Builders were strewn across the Girl's Homestead site. On the ground, sticks were laid out to mark the width of the base of the upcoming Homestead. Several Builders were sawing blocks of wood and passing it on to others who chopped it into thinner rectangles. A cement mixer was spinning and churning newly inserted cement powder, gravel and water into concrete.

Gally was on the ground, with papers scattered to his left and long twigs being tied up to his right. In his hands were strands of thick ropes. He was tying the twigs together with the ropes, pulling tightly and firmly to keep them from falling apart. Occasionally, he would look back at the papers and change the position for the twigs to be tied.

"Hey."

Gally immediately stopped what he was doing and looked around, squinting his eyes for the voice. After a while, he shook his head and went back to tying the twigs, probably thinking it was just all in his head.

"Pst…! Hey!"

This time, Gally didn't stop what he was doing and continued on nonchalantly. His eyes however, averted from his work to secretly scrutinize his surroundings.

"Gally!"

The Keeper of the Builders frowned and straightened up to look around, head whipping from side to side as he scanned his surroundings for anything suspicious. The builders gazed at him quizzically but with a glare from the Keeper, they straightaway went back to their jobs.

I poked my head out of the pile of wood I was hiding behind and waved my hand at him. "Gally!" I whispered loudly. His head snapped over to me and his eyes widened. I continued waving and motioned for him to come closer. "Come here!"

Gally frowned in confusion and dropped his rope and twigs. Hesitantly, he stood up and walked over to me. Once in a while, he would look behind him before looking back at me suspiciously. That gesture made me roll my eyes. As he got closer, he crouched down to my height and observed me skeptically.

"Andrea?" he asked in confusion. "What are you doing here?"

I smiled back sheepishly and shrugged. "Hiding. Don't make it too obvious that you're talking to me. Oh, and it's just Andy."

"Why?" he asked after getting over the fact that I was there.

"Because Andrea's a mouthful, don't you think?"

Gally sighed and shook his head, looking slightly miffed. "No, I mean why are you hiding?"

I blinked, not knowing how I should explain that I ran away from Winston to save my innocent eyes from bloodshed. "Um…I'm not hiding."

"You just said you were hiding," he retorted, raising a curved eyebrow.

My eyes lit up at his curvy eyebrow quirking and I giggled. "Hah. Your eyebrow looks funny. I can do that too you know—look."

I quirked one eyebrow, grinning. When Gally didn't respond, I wriggled it up and down continuously to procrastinate. Gally crossed his arms and sat down on the grass, seeming tired from crouching down. He looked at me expectantly, his eyebrow still raised and face still curious.

"Ugh, fine," I muttered, stopping my eyebrow movement. "They'll take me back to Winston."

"What happened with Winston?" he asked suspiciously.

"He was about to slaughter a chicken…or hen, I don't know," I explained, only for him to give me a disbelieving look. "It was innocent! He was about to slaughter an innocent, harmless chicken!"

Gally snorted. "What, you're a vegetarian?"

"No," I replied haughtily, flicking my hair over my shoulder. "I just didn't want to see it choke on its own blood and dying."

Gally rolled his eyes and asked, "Why are you here then?"

"Like I told you—hiding," I replied and sighed defeatedly, leaning against the pile of thick wood. "This job thing isn't working out for me. Mind if I be a builder?"

As I studied the Builders earlier, I saw that they only assembled sticks and twigs together and sawed wood. Remembering Winston slicing the bloody meat, the thought of slicing wood wasn't that bad. There were many builders so I wouldn't have to do all the works. Maybe I could just do easy ones like tying things or watch the cement mixer.

"With those shucking hands?" Gally scoffs, looking as if he wanted to laugh.

I frowned and looked at my hands. They were small and thin, but I had long fingers.

"What about my hands? You guys just tie up twigs and stuff, right? How hard can that be?"

Immediately after I said that, Gally narrowed his eyes at me. For a moment, I thought I had offended him in some way. A few minutes after he stared me down, a flick switched on in his eyes as he suddenly smirked devilishly. I felt intimidated for some reason and my gut quickly alerted me that I just earned myself a death wish.

"Okay, greenie," he smirked challengingly. "Let's see what ya got."

An hour later, I was sweating and cursing under my breath as I tried to construct a wooden birdhouse.

Gally had told me that he would need to see me work before I could be a Builder so he gave me the easiest job a Builder could have—assembling. He stated that it used the least amount of physical strength unlike sawing and collecting wood from the forest or be in charge of managing the cement mixer. He had chopped some long, rectangular pieces of wood and provided me with some rope.

I had to admit that he chopped and sliced the wood perfectly—with minimal jagged corners and splinters.

"I hate building," I grumbled as I tried to get the long pieces of wood to stand up straight so I could tie them up nicely. Each thin slice of wood was supposed to be tied together to create a stable pole for the birdhouse to settle on top but in that moment, I was failing.

"Stop complaining," I heard an amused voice speak from behind me.

Gally was lounging against the stack of wood I had been hiding behind earlier and was commenting on everything I did since I started. He would randomly criticize my work whenever something looked like it was out of place and chastise me whenever I complained.

"How can you even do this?" I spoke up, ignoring him as I tried to tie two pieces of wood together, only to have them stand up crookedly and fall apart when I tried to tighten the ropes. "Ugh, look at that. I hate this. I'd rather go bathe in the dead chicken's blood."

Gally didn't respond. When I turned to make sure he was still around, he threw a small, short stick at my face, hitting my nose. He laughed as I cursed and rolled my eyes, rubbing the spot where the stick clashed.

"I hate this. So many twigs and splinters," I mumbled underneath my breath, my hands red from pulling on the ropes tightly. "How can you even do this?" I asked Gally, my voice louder. "I bet you have ugly hands. Rough, scratchy, deformed hands…and fat, bruised, ugly fingers since I'm pretty sure you all must've accidently hammered yourselves at least once!"

The ridiculous silence emitting from Gally made me huff angrily. The rope in my hands finally tightened but as I erected the boards, it stood crooked. I cried out in exasperation. "Are you kidding me? Ugh!"

"It's been an hour, greenie. I should be checking on your creation by now but…" he opened one eye, peeking at the wood I had in my hands. "Seems like you don't have any."

"Oh, shut up," I glowered, my grip tightening on the wooden planks. "This is stupid. It's hopeless, troublesome and makes me sweat so much! I bet you all stink. Even the Runners smell better than you. You all reek of sweat and…cement…and smelly armpits!"

My rant continued as I tried yet again to tie the wooden staves together. Just like my previous efforts; it was to no avail. I wrapped my hands around the four narrow planks and hugged it tightly, attempting to tie it as it stood stably. Unfortunately, just as the rope wrapped and knotted around the planks, it loosened and made the planks fall apart on top of me.

"Oh my god…th-this…monster won't stay still!"

Gally snorted. "It's a plank."

"It's a monster plank!" I retorted Gally's comment heatedly, vigorously throwing the rope to the ground. "I give up. Make this birdhouse yourself."

"That? A birdhouse?" Gally laughed out mockingly. "Looks more like a pile of klunk."

I frowned and felt my face getting hot, not appreciating Gally's derision. "Shut up. I tried my best."

Just after I said that, I threw a broken piece of wood at Gally, barely missing his forehead. His eyes followed the tiny airborne wood splinter and scoffed as it landed on the grass soundlessly.

"You can't even throw properly," Gally mused.

Before I could retort or come up with a witty remark, I heard someone calling my name. I heard the voice from my left and averted my gaze to see Newt. He was jogging over to Gally and I, a relieved expression on his face. I groaned inwardly, not thoroughly excited with him seeing me hopelessly trying to build something—anything, for that matter.

"Andy," Newt breathed out, catching his breath slightly as he stopped in front of Gally and I. "There you are. Winston was wandering where you went off to," he paused for a moment, examining my exhausted figure on the ground and a perfectly healthy Gally leaning casually against a stack of wood. His eyebrows scrunched in suspicion. "What are you doing here?"

"Nothing-"

"Building," Gally answered quickly, smiling smugly as he sat up straightly.

Newt's eye widened in visible surprise and he raised his eyebrows at me. "Building?"

I shot a deathly glare at Gally and regarded my abruptly interesting shoes, too embarrassed to look at Newt. "I didn't enjoy it."

"Huh, seems like you know your way to job tryouts," Newt commented, smiling slightly as his eyes trailed over to the number of wooden planks and long ropes scattered across the grass. He turned to Gally and asked, "How is she, Gally?"

"Just like her masterpiece," the Keeper answered, jerking his head towards the poor creation I had put together. "Horrendous."

I felt myself grow defensive and shot a biting remark at him, "Oh, that's a big word for you."

"And that's a sad excuse of a towel hook," he replied coolly.

"It is not a towel hook," I grumbled, standing up. "It's a birdhouse. Birdhouse!"

When he heard me say that, Newt laughed. He laughed a loud, silly, lighthearted laugh that was easily likable by those who hear. I couldn't help but smile but quickly dropped it after realizing that he was laughing at me. Crossing my arms, I waited for him to finish his laugh-fest patiently.

"You done?" I asked sarcastically when his laughter subsided.

"You call that a birdhouse?" he released another short chortle. "You're bloody bad at this."

I scowled, glaring at both of the amused boys.

"Come on, we still have time for the Med-jacks," Newt said, looking at the darkening sky. "Clint should be able to-"

"No!" I snapped instantly, shaking my head and standing up. "I've had enough for today. Winston took the life of a harmless chicken because of me, and that slinthead over there made my hands kill themselves. I'm done. I'm going to go take a nice, long shower and hopefully see you boys tomorrow."

Without hearing another word from any of them, I stomped off, heading to the showers. My hand was stinging from the scrapes I obtained from the splinters in the wood but I shrugged it off, repressing it until I could soothe it with some water.

Looked like both Slicing and Building didn't work out for me.

"She called me a slinthead," Gally stated, frowning. "She's really bad-tempered, isn't she?"

"Mhmm," Newt nodded affirmatively. "I was about to say that Clint could take care of her scratches and scrapes…" he trailed off, looking at Andrea's figure walking off in the distance.

Gally snorted, leaning back against the stack of wood. "She's just weird."

That night—after a long, freshening shower—I decided that it was time for me to stop moping around in Newt's room and possibly get some food to eat at the dining area. This time, my stomach was in full agreement. The hard work I did for Gally that evening was harsh and exhausting. Right after leaving his building site, I immediately felt hungry and had to hold it in while I washed up.

The sky was already dark when I left the Homestead. A few dim fires lit up the Glade, as did the cable of lights hanging from several poles to make paths to places. However, the dark surroundings of the Glade wasn't spooky or frightening, thanks to the huge amount of Gladers bustling here and there.

I made my way to the dining area, right beside the Kitchen where the cook handed out our food. Maybe it was my hunger taking over my instincts, because my feet seemed to remember exactly where to go.

When I arrived at the dining area, I noticed the short queue in front of the food table and looked around carefully to search for Gally. Fortunately, he was nowhere to be seen. Taking in a deep breath, I walked over to the queue and lined up behind the boys.

A few boys passed by me, holding their bowls of food. They halted and gave me a friendly wave. For a moment, I was stunned since no one had actually been friendly to me since I woke up in the Box—except for Newt, Chuck and maybe Winston—but it felt nice. Smiling, I waved back at them. After that, more boys started smiling, waving or greeting me when they saw me.

I had to say, it was a great feeling.

The more the Gladers acting kind and pleasant to me, the more I felt accepted and not like an outsider.

The line quickly evaporated as everyone got their food and it was finally me left standing in front of the table. The same dark-skinned boy from my first day stood behind the stand, a smile playing on his lips when he saw me.

"Finally get to see you again, girly," he said, grabbing a bowl of stew from his side. "Thought you were dead. Not eatin' and all."

I smiled sheepishly, taking the bowl from him. "I was just getting used to everything," I said. "But I guess my hunger's too strong to ignore."

"The name's Frypan," the cook held his hand out for me to shake. Hesitantly, I took it. "I heard you're Newt's new roommate?"

"Oh…I'm guessing the whole Glade knows?" I asked, scratching the back of my ears.

"Don't let 'em fool ya," Frypan said, jerking his head towards the dining area where all of the boys were. "Those shucks may look like dudes but they still gossip like little girls."

I nodded, glancing cautiously at the area where everyone was eating. I briefly wondered what else they gossiped about.

"Know what? Wait here," Frypan ordered and without wasting time, walked back into his kitchen. I frowned in confusion but stayed where I was supposed to, waiting. After a few long minutes, Frypan came out, holding a plate of two folded waffles. "Here, a lil' gift for the newbie."

My mouth hung open as he set the plate of waffles down. "Seriously? You can make waffles here?"

"Yup. Don't do it often though, since its too much work and a waste of batter," he explained. "Go on, take it. Stuff yourself full for tonight, uh, shank."

I looked at the delicious smelling waffles and smiled at Frypan. "Thank you. I can't wait to taste them."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm over that polite klunk. Go on eat."

With one last smile to Frypan, I grabbed both the bowl and the plate of waffles in each hand and walked towards the dining area.

Just like my first day, it was crowded and everyone seemed to have friends to sit with but me. I thought of finding Newt, but then cringed at the thought of him pushing me away to sit with his group of boys. Then, I remembered Chuck and smiled. My eyes scanned the area, searching for the little, pudgy boy with curly brown hair. My eyes squinted as I focused on a little boy at a table, not alone, but also not joining in whatever the others were talking about.

In fact, it looked like Chuck was purposely being left out by the group of boys at the table.

Exhaling determinately, I started to walk over to Chuck to sit with him, despite the other boys.

On my way though, a familiar teasing voice spoke, making me halt. "Well, well. Look who decided to come out of the room."

I looked to my right to see Newt at a table, grinning widely. To his left were Alby and Minho and opposite him were Zart and a boy I didn't recognize. I gazed at all of them one by one nervously. When my eyes landed on Minho, I immediately looked away, still embarrassed about last night's event.

"Oh, hi," I greeted, barely audible because of the raucous chatter all around the place. "I was hungry."

Newt looked to the bowl in my hands to the plate of waffles in the other before smirking. "No kidding."

"Well, I couldn't stay cooped up there without eating, can I?" I asked Newt pointedly. "I tried that yesterday."

"True," he nodded, gulping down some water from his cup. After finishing, he asked, "Why don't you sit here with us?"

My eyes warily observed the table—it was occupied by five boys. I only knew two if Alby counted as an acquaintance. I didn't know if I could say I knew Minho since we've only met two times, and one when I pranked him with Chuck. For the two extra boys, I didn't even know them properly.

"S'okay," I said, shaking my head. "I'm actually gonna go sit with Chuck."

"Chuck?" the boy I didn't recognize suddenly spoke in disgust. "The kid Slopper?"

My eyes narrowed at his condescending tone. "Yes," I confirmed steely. "The kid."

Newt saw me glaring at the boy and quickly intervened. "That's Clint, Keeper of the Med-jacks. Excuse him, he's a rightful shuck." I sighed, not really caring. Before I could walk away to Chuck's table, Newt asked, "Why don't you bring Chucky over here?"

"You want Chuck…here?" I repeated his question, glancing at the table with my eyebrows raised.

"Sure, why not? Clint's finished eating anyways," he looked at Clint's empty bowl before smiling back at me. "Yeah, go on. Bring him over."

I looked at Newt weirdly before slowly nodding. I smiled timidly at Zart, who was beside me, and the others as I placed my bowl and plate down. Turning to Newt, I narrowed my eyes warningly.

"Don't touch my waffles."

Newt snorted in response. "I'll try not to."

I made my way to where Chuck was sitting and eating his food silently. The three boys at the opposite end of the table laughed merrily, ignoring Chuck's presence completely. I frowned, wondering why no one wanted to befriend the cute, happy, little boy.

"Hey, Chuck," I greeted happily as I tapped his shoulder, ignoring the stares of the other boys at the table.

Chuck's gloomy face instantly lit up when he saw me. "Andy! Hi!"

"You're not finished eating, are you?" I asked, glancing down at his bowl.

"No," Chuck shook his head. "Not yet. Why?"

"Because we're sitting somewhere else," I revealed, bouncing lightly on my feet. "Come on, grab your bowl. Follow me."

Chuck swiftly stood up and held both his bowl and a cup of water in both hands respectively. Smiling, I turned back to lead the way to Newt's table. As we got closer, Chuck gasped.

"We're sitting with the Keepers?" he squealed, jumping up and down enthusiastically. "And leader!"

I laughed at Chuck's excitement. "Yeah."

We reached the table and I saw that both Clint and Zart were already gone. I felt a teensy bit guilty at them leaving but then remembered that I wasn't really close to Zart and that Clint badmouthed Chuck before. I let Chuck slide onto the empty bench first before sitting down myself, facing Newt. He smiled at me before looking at Chuck.

"Hullo, Chuck," Newt addressed, smiling.

Chuck beamed at the greet he received. "Hey!" he replied excitedly, then looked over at Minho and Alby. "Hi Minho, Alby."

Minho managed a small nod at the boy while Alby asked, "How are ya, Chuck?"

"Great. Everything's great," Chuck replied, grinning. "Work's going smoothly. I'm not klunking my pants anymore."

I smiled and took a bite of the chunky stew Frypan cooked as Chuck continued chattering. His food lay forgotten as he talked and talked, finally glad that someone was listening to him. Minho and Alby looked annoyed and Newt shot me a look, one that said 'seriously?' I suppressed a laugh and continued eating my stew.

I felt eyes on me as I ate and snapped my head up to see Minho observing me closely. It made me feel uncomfortable and I slowly lowered my head, wishing I could hide by dunking it into the bowl. When I gathered the courage to look back up at him, he would smirk slightly or grin. It went on for a long time before Newt caught what was going on.

"What's going on with you two?" Newt asked, glancing back and forth between Minho and me suspiciously.

Alarmed, I stiffened. I secretly hoped Minho wouldn't tell him the events of the night before—it was embarrassing. Before I could make something up though, the Keeper spoke.

"Didn't she tell you?" Minho asked, his lips curling into a smirk. "The greenie pranked me last night."

My face turned red as mortification washed over me. Newt's incredulous gaze landed on me. "You pranked Minho?"

"I didn't know it was him," I said immediately, trying to defend myself. To lift the attention off me, I added, "It was all Chuck's fault."

"Why me?" the said boy inquired confusedly, munching on his food.

"It was your brilliant plan," I replied mockingly. "I just followed. Besides, you didn't even tell me anything before pushing me into the whole thing."

"Oh yeah…" Chuck trailed off, smiling sheepishly. "But you had fun, though."

I laughed. "Yeah, I had fun, except for the aftermath," I gave a pointed look at Minho, who smirked and took a gulp of his water.

Newt looked between us curiously but didn't ask any further questions. He started conversing with Alby while I finished up my stew. Chuck would come up with a random topic once in a while and we would talk while eating. Minho also joined in the conversation. Despite his vague and odd self last night, he was actually fun to talk to. He made sarcastic remarks frequently and liked to scoff but overall, he was an extremely humorous person—quite entertaining too.

When I was almost finished with my stew, I saw a hand creeping to my plate of waffles from the corner of my eyes. "What do you think you're doing?" I asked Minho, who froze his hand.

"Uh…"

"Those are my waffles," I said, narrowing my eyes.

Minho suddenly grinned and said, "Wow, you're really perceptive, aren't you? Do you always point out the obvious?"

It took me a moment to recall where I heard that line. "Hey, I said that," I smiled, remembering me saying it to him on my first day. His hand slowly crept forward to the plate and my smile flattened. "Nu uh. Those are still mine."

"But sharing is caring!" Minho moaned, looking dejected when I slid the plate of waffles closer to myself.

"Good thing I don't care about you then," I retorted, taking a huge bite out of one waffle.

I heard Newt and even Alby snicker as Minho glared at me. I chewed on the waffles slowly, purposely teasing him. Smiling innocently, I took another bite of the waffles. After a few minutes, Minho's glare broke into a smile.

"Are those waffles?" Chuck asked, eyeing the stack eagerly. I nodded in a response. He smiled hopefully. "Can I have some?"

"Su-"

"No," Newt answered sharply before I could. "Frypan made those for the new greenie—her. Not you."

"But I didn't get any when I was a greenie," Chuck said, confused.

"Too bad. Guess Frypan didn't like you."

Chuck's smile faded at Newt's comment. I sent a dirty look at him right away for upsetting my first friend. I then tore the second waffle in half and placed it in front of Chuck's face. His glum expression turned into a happy one as he took the waffle from my hands and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Thanks, Andy," Chuck said through his full mouth, giving me a grin.

I grinned back at Chuck and turned to Newt, sending him a heated glare. Newt lifted his hands in defense, shrugging slightly. He mouthed an oblivious 'what?' at me and I rolled my eyes.

"Wait, so Chuck gets waffles and I don't?" Minho asked, frowning.

I let out an exasperated sigh and flung the other half of the waffle to him. He didn't seem to expect that, and it was reflected in the sudden alarm in his eyes as he scrambled to catch it. He caught it just as it was about to pass his head and exhaled in relief.

Minho then narrowed his eyes at me. "It's not good to throw your food."

"You caught it didn't you?" I shrugged indifferently.

Minho rolled his eyes, muttering a 'yeah,' before munching on the waffle. He sighed in satisfaction as the delicious taste of syrup and crisp battered cake streamed down his throat.

"Thanks," Minho said, smiling, and proceeded to take another bite.

Newt looked at the waffle in Chuck and Minho's hands. He turned to me optimistically and asked, "What about me?"

I looked down at my plate, seeing the small, final piece of waffle. I bit my lips, wondering if I should give it to Newt. My stomach still wanted it though, and Newt was rude to Chuck just now, so I sighed and picked it up.

"Sorry, Newt," I said apologetically and stuffed the last of it in my mouth. "You're too late."

Minho and Chuck laughed at Newt's somber face, as did I. Alby also cracked a smile and patted his friend on his back. I smiled ruefully, hoping he wasn't too begrudged about it. I nudged Newt's leg under the table when he looked away, frowning. I kept nudging until he faced me. The corner of his lips were curved, so I knew he wasn't actually mad.

"Just you wait. One day, you'll be asking me for something, and I won't give it to you," Newt said playfully.

I just smiled.

Author's Note:

I know that book-Gally and movie-Gally are really different, so since I like Will Poulter's portrayal of Gally, I'll be picturing him as the Gally here. And also, the first few chapters will be about Andrea and her life in the Glade since the story is about her…Thomas and Teresa will come a bit later. Next chapter will have more Minho, I promise. :)

Replies to Reviews:

ptl4ever419: Thank you! It's nice to know you love it! Hope you continue that. :)

FrenchTifa: Thank you for the review! You're so kind. It's nice to know that you think I write well. It means a lot. Oh, and I'll try continuing with long chapters! Hope you liked this one! :)

Lottielue1: Thanks for reviewing! Gally is going to be…a bit of both I guess. He won't be as bad as he was in the books because that was just from Thomas's point of view and Gally just hated him because he was suspicious. He'll be nicer in the beginning but back to the Gally we know when Thomas arrives.

Maddie: Thank you! It's relieving to know that you like the long chapters. I always try to shorten but…can't. I don't know. :)

TheCoconutSlinky: Sorry, I didn't realize that! I literally just took that out of the book where Thomas said there were at least fifty boys. Don't worry, I'll take care of that…I'll just make something up later on. Thanks for pointing that out though. :)

IvyMoore: Thanks for the review! Team Newt? I'm leaning a bit towards them too. How about you come up with a ship name for them? If you want…it's okay if you don't. I'm being totally pushy. Sorry…but seriously though, if you would. :)

Sam0728: Thanks for reviewing! She just met Gally there! She will run…not as a runner but there will be…something. Yeah, I'm planning fun times with her and Minho.

: Thanks for telling me! I'll make sure to do something with those two.

kimzie-kitty: Thank you for the review! First review for chapter 3! It made me so excited. :)

Guest: Thanks for the review!

And like always, thanks for reading! :)