ACT I SCENE VI
ANDROMACHE

CASSANDRA WAS UNCEREMONIOUSLY AWAKENED by a poke in her side. She jerked, blinking her eyes blearily. When her vision came into focus, she could see Minho sitting in front of her with an arm resting on his knee. He smirked.

"Gooood morning, Greenbean."

She groaned in annoyance and shut her eyes as she continued to lie on the ground. All she wanted to do was to go back to sleep but Minho was having none of that. Eventually, she sat up, yawned and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Newt had already gone ahead of them for breakfast and Gladers were rousing all around her. Minho poked her once again then stood up, clapping his hands together.

"Come on, Greenbean, you can do it!"

She scowled unhappily at him before slowly pushing herself up to stand. Minho grabbed her arm impatiently and pulled her to her feet. "Man, you're heavy," he teased.

Cassandra gave him a pathetic punch in reply. Grinning, the boy turned her around and started guiding her towards the Homestead. After cleaning up, they grabbed their food to join Newt and a couple of others at a table. Minho was the only one who was not half a zombie, chattering excitedly about one thing or other. She really wondered where he got all his energy from, whereas she felt as if she was going to face plant into her scrambled eggs at any given moment.

"You know," he started. "I'm almost tempted to not go out into the Maze today just to watch Gally boss you around, Greenbean."

"No, Minho, the fate of the Glade rests on your shoulders," Newt replied for her.

"I know," the older boy sighed dramatically. "It's tough being the hero all the time."

It took her an enormous amount of willpower not to roll her eyes; Newt had no such reservations though. After breakfast, they parted ways and Cassandra steeled herself before seeking out Gally. The tall, bulky boy was chewing on a blade of grass and leaning against the Wall when she found him. He spat the blade out of his mouth and walked forwards, sizing her up as he did so, before stopping right in front of her with folded arms.

"Let's see what you got, Greenie."

He hadn't even told her to do anything yet and she already felt like giving up. First, he handed her a little pouch of nails and a hammer. Her first task was to help him inspect the Homestead and she would just hold up planks while he hammered away at them. After that, the tough part started; they were going to build a tower.

Gally made her run around the entire Glade picking up pieces of wood, metal, bits of stuff, basically anything that they could use. He was the worst taskmaster anyone could ever ask for. When he caught her taking a breather, he'd bark at her and make her carry more stuff. He also made her the water carrier for the day. The entire time, Gally would just be leaning against a tree or something, watching them like a hawk.

She was an inch away from throttling him with whatever energy she had left. The other Builders weren't much help either as they took a cue from their Keeper and stacked piles upon piles of wood into her arms. And because she was the lightest of them all, they strapped a harness on her and pulled her up to the top of the tree they were building their tower against to secure the ladders.

Cassandra had to admit though; they were really good at their job as they were almost half done at the end of the day. Mercifully, they remembered to bring her back down to the ground where she promptly collapsed onto the earth. Gally came over and looked down at her indifferently.

"Well, you weren't completely useless," he said, as if as an afterthought.

"If I weren't so exhausted, I'd shank you," she replied breathlessly. "You shank."

"Ha!" he laughed. "I'd like to see that, Greenie."

Then he walked off. Newt came over a moment later and poked her cheek, not even bothering to hide his amusement. His eyes danced with it.

"I hate Gally," she complained.

"I dunno, I'm pretty torn about it," he said, grinning widely. "You look like klunk, Greenbean."

"Gee, thanks," she replied bitterly.

"Hey, Minho!" Newt yelled, waving the other boy over as he re-entered the Glade.

The Runner was back slightly earlier than usual; Cassandra turned her head to the side and could just about see Minho stop in his tracks. He took one look at her, pointed and doubled over in laughter. She made a disgusted sound as the boy walked over to them.

"Aw, man, I tried getting back early but l always miss all the fun!" he dropped down next to Newt and poked her cheek.

"Will you all stop poking me!" she swatted at the air.

"Yeah, Minho, they tied her with a rope and pulled her up the tree," Newt pointed. "Gally's really good at terrorising Greenies. Last month he made Jim climb the roof of the Blood House."

"I remember that, he fell into the pig pen," Minho guffawed at the image. "I swear he smelled for a week!"

"Greenbean here didn't do so bad," Newt said. "Not as fragile as she looks, eh?"

"Oh, yeah? Wanna test that out?" Minho looked up with an evil glint in his eye.

"No, Minho. No," she said warningly. "Don't you dare."

He stood up and placed his hands on his hips, grinning like a cat about to eat a canary. She started to push herself up before he could do anything but a sharp pain shot through the tip of her toes up to her ankle. Her entire body froze and she started crying out in pain. "Ow, ow! My foot! Cramp!"

They looked at her, startled, then were at her side in a flash. Minho told her to stretch her foot upwards to stop the contractions; he should know, he used to get them all the time from running. In the end, they helped her back to the Homestead anyway. After dinner, Cassandra collapsed onto her hammock and blacked out completely.

A wide river stood before them and escape.

She frowned and turned to her right, looking at the boy beside her for answers. He blew out a breath, steeling himself before glancing back at her with a hardened glint in his eyes that looked out of place on his young face.

"Take my hand," he told her. She did as he said and they took a step into the freezing water together.

The sun dipped beneath the horizon, taking some of the day's light with it. An orange fire seared through the thin clouds, making the sky look ablaze. They were halfway across the river when they heard screams behind them. Refusing to look back, they picked up their pace until she lost her footing and plunged into the tide. His grip on her hand tightened and he went after her, trying desperately to bring her back up to the surface. Her head broke through the swirling depths and she took a deep breath.

"Hold on to me!" he cried, kicking his legs out behind him.

She clung onto his shirt as they swam towards the opposite bank as the screams grew louder, pierced with maniacal laughter. "Run!" he took her hand again and they sprinted into the scorched woods. They ran and ran until they could run no more before taking refuge in a burrow under a dead tree, collecting dried leaves to pile at the entrance of the hole. Night fell around them and it grew eerily silent, the drumming of their own hearts filled their ears. They held onto each other and waited for another dawn to arrive.

Someone was lightly tapping on her shoulder. She slowly opened her eyes and saw Minho smiling beside her, the dimples in his cheeks showing. A faint morning glow surrounded them, catching the highlights in his hair and making his brown eyes a shade lighter. She yawned sleepily and rolled onto her back, rubbing her face at the same time. The Glade was still and quiet, interrupted only by a couple of snores from nearby. She turned back to Minho who was still smiling and narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"Why are you staring at me?" she asked.

"I found something yesterday," he said in a whisper. "In the Maze."

She blinked several times and slowly sat up, eyes now wide with curiosity, then he held up his hand to show her a bright yellow flower between his fingers.

"Where did you find it?" she asked in an equally hushed voice.

He shrugged. "It was growing out of a crack so I took it. Thought you'd like it. Girls like that, right? Unless my memory's totally shucked up."

He placed the flower in the palm of her hand and she beamed at him happily. There wasn't much she could do with it but it was pretty and it made her feel all warm inside. It would most likely wilt by the end of the day, but it was something- something that wasn't horrible or depressing like everything else in this place.

"Thanks, Minho," she said gratefully.

He looked at her and how her smile lit up her eyes. In that moment, he felt as if he had known her all his life, the only sliver of light in the blackhole of his existence before the Glade. As ridiculous as it sounded, he couldn't imagine it otherwise. Minho didn't care what anyone else would think of him, he was going to protect this girl with everything he had.

She needed it anyway, with how small she was. Some of the boys wouldn't hesitate picking on her if they found her on her own. Alby had been an inch away from throwing her into the Slammer with the way she was acting in the beginning. And he still couldn't forget the way she had called his name the first time they met. The way she looked at him, that can't be made up.

"Come on," he stood up from his crouch. "Time for wake-up, Greenbean."

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Awww she's starting to grow on him. If you think Minho is being a little eager then good, it's deliberate and you'll see why later ;)

Each review will be given to the Builders to build a giant treehouse because that would have been awesome xx