Author stuff: Just a reminder, after chapter 20, I will be taking a weeklong break from posting. That'll be the break between parts 1 and 2.


Chapter 17

In Which Flirting Is The Topic Of Conversation

The Greenie's name was Harry, and he was one of the most annoying people to ever step out of the Box. He asked her far too many questions, and he flirted very openly. She was about ready to punch him. She just needed to form a plan.

"How long would I get in the Slammer for knocking him out?" she said at dinner after his first week. She clenched her fist as if to illustrate her point.

"Well, first of all, you'll end up breaking some fingers that way," Newt said, taking her hand and fixing it for a proper hit. "Second, no more than a couple of hours. I honestly think Nick might get to it before you. He's getting tired of hearing about it. If he doesn't, I'll do it myself."

Gally snorted into his bite of potatoes.

"That or Gally will do it for you," Zart said, pointing his butter knife to the other boy.

"I can fight my own battles, thanks," she said. "Besides, all Gally would have to do is scowl at the Greenie and he'd klunk himself."

"I'm not that scary, am I?" Gally said, not bothering to swallow his mouthful. She fought the urge to scooch away from him. He was too warm and too close. But, then again, she liked that he was too warm and too close.

"Keep talking and we'll see," Newt said.

"No, but you can intimidate people," Flossy said, glancing up at him through her lashes. "But, seriously, you think just a couple of hours?"

"Maybe even one. Maybe five minutes. We'll see how much Nick dislikes the slinthead by the end of next week."

"On the positive side, he sucks at gardening," Zart said. "You won't have to see his klunk face very often. Just at meals and around the Glade."

"He has just one more day of tryouts," Gally said, "and it's with Fry. Fry can make his day miserable, if you just ask."

"What, have Fry put him on onions and potatoes?" she said.

"I wasn't aware that potatoes were a punishment," Graham said, slowly setting his fork down on his plate.

"Graham," Newt said solemnly, placing a hand on his shoulder and shaking his head, "we have something to tell you."

Zart tried to cover up his laugh by coughing. He failed miserably.

They all joined him. It felt good to laugh.

Minho plunked down across from her, digging into his food before his bottom even touched the seat. He didn't speak, just raised his brows and nodded in greeting. She could only watch on as he ate, her face twisting into one of disgust.

"What?" he eventually said, his mouth full.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, you shank," Newt said.

"Always have before."

"We have a girl in the Glade, remember? She doesn't want to see your food."

In retaliation, he opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue. She scrunched up her face.

"Very impressive," she said.

Minho smiled at her, pushing the chewed up potatoes between his teeth as he did. Newt reached across the table and smacked him on top of his head. Minho rose to fight back, but Newt had already backed away. Both of them wore playful grins.

"Alright," she said, "that's enough. You'll end up hurting one another at this rate. Or one of us. Mostly Graham."

"Your perpetual flirting is giving me a headache," Zart said, rolling his eyes at their antics.

"Oh, we aren't the only ones giving people headaches with our flirting," Newt said. He tapped the tip of her boot with his own, making her look up at him. His eyes darted between her and the boy sitting next to her – Gally – and wiggled his eyebrows.

She felt herself blush at that. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. She did not flirt with Gally. She did not know how to flirt, period – which meant that she could not flirt with Gally. Newt was seeing things. He was delusional. Yeah, that was it.

She looked over to Minho and Zart, who both wore the same expression. Oh, she hated these boys. They were all delusional.

"Who else is flirting?" Gally said, looking between all of them. Okay, she didn't hate all of these boys. But she did not flirt with Gally. No way, no how.

The thought of it made her blush again. She was going to die of embarrassment, that was for certain, if they continued to tease her with those looks.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Archie's expression as he looked between her and Gally. It changed and morphed into… something, realization. She and Gally really didn't flirt, did they? It was just banthering, right? And niceties? Or…

Or what if it was actually flirting? Did she somehow manage to figure it out? All on her own? If she did, how?

She wanted to find a hole and bury herself in it.

"Who else?" Gally said when no one responded to his question.

"Eh, you'll see," Newt said. To Flossy, he added, "You finished?"

"Huh?" she said, looking down at her plate. It was mostly empty. Gally snagged the last bit of her potatoes before she could voice her affirmation. "I guess I am."

Newt took her plate and dumped it in one of the bins they used for dirty dishes. He returned and offered her his arm.

"You coming?" he said.

She looked between the boys and shrugged. It was just Newt… who would probably tease her for her blushing and flirting. But it was Newt. He was relatively harmless.

"Yeah," she said, getting up and taking his arm. "Good night, everyone."

A chorus of voices followed her as they departed. She turned back to wave and saw Gally's face. He looked… uncertain and a bit hurt. She wondered what for. So, she smiled and waved especially for him. He returned the wave, but his smile was a bit sad.

They were halfway to the Homestead when Newt spoke.

"I saw that," he said quietly.

"Saw what?" she said.

"Don't think the rest of us are quite so oblivious. You like the Keeper of the Builders."

She quickly shushed him and looked around, eyes darting about wildly. Any other boys not at dinner – Baggers on guard duty, mostly – were too far out of earshot to have heard him. It didn't stop the blush from returning. She didn't want everyone in the Glade to know. It was her personal life. She was allowed to want to keep it, well, personal.

"Okay," she said, "so I have a crush. I have a crush on Gally, so what?"

"And the flirting?"

"He clearly doesn't think that it's flirting. I mean –"

"I think he was waiting for you to say something."

"Yeah, well…" She gestured with her hands, unsure of what she was trying to express. She wasn't entirely sure how to feel about the whole matter. Well, she sort of knew how she felt, but she wasn't sure about him. Gally wasn't the type to openly discuss his emotions with everyone around him. He hadn't even broached the subject with her. "He clearly doesn't see it – us – in that way. At all. So, just… drop it, okay? Besides, I don't think Nick or the other Keepers would approve."

"None of us would judge you for it. Besides, you like him."

"And?"

"And?"

"What should I do?"

"I think you should tell him." It was as if the answer was that simple to him. As if it could be solved by her just admitting her feelings.

Nothing was ever that easy.

"Like I think you should tell Minho how you think of him," she said, stopping and crossing her arms.

"Minho?" he said. "I don't like Minho like that. Don't get me wrong, he's a nice looking shank, but he's not my type."

She raised her brows. She honestly hadn't been expecting such honesty from him.

"So," she said slowly, "who do you like? Who is your type?"

"Wouldn't you like to know." He gave her a sly grin as he tapped her on the nose, continuing to the Homestead. She followed after him, jogging to catch up. "Are you going to shower tonight?"

"Come on, Newt. You know who I like. Fair's fair. Please?"

"So, is that a yes on showering then?"

"You know it is. But, Newt –"

They stopped just outside of the door, a figure blocked their passage inside. She would recognize him anywhere, despite the fact that they only spent a minimal amount of time together. He didn't seem to want to be around her, though she couldn't understand why.

"Evening, Alby," Newt said.

"Evening, Newt, Girlie," Alby said, nodding to both of them in turn. They didn't go inside until Alby disappeared from view, Newt watching his retreating form and sighing.

She looked at Newt and then Alby, slapping him on the arm. He gave a cry of surprise. As if he couldn't be more obvious in his ogling. Any of the other Gladers could notice – probably already had, to be honest. She was surprised no one had said anything before.

"You shank," she said, grinning at him. "It's Alby, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"And?"

"And?"

"Does he like you back?"

"What do you think?" he said, going inside and giving her a cheeky grin. He led the way to her room.

"Don't know. I haven't been able to spend a lot of time with him."

"Girlie, think back to your first night here. The bonfire?"

She thought about it and gasped.

"You ditched me to – Newt, you are a horrible person. The worst person in the Glade. Of all time. Ditching a girl for another boy. I am appalled. And intrigued."

"Yeah, well, don't get too comfortable talking to me about it," Newt said. "We're keeping it quiet. Don't want any of these shanks getting the wrong idea and thinking there's any favoritism going on."

"What? That's stupid!" She opened the door and gathered what she needed. "You just told me that no one would judge me and… and Gally. No one would judge you and Alby either."

"It was Alby's decision."

Her shoulders drooped.

"Do you want me to go beat the klunk out of him?" she said. "I'm betting Minho would hold him down for me. And Gally. And Archie and Graham and Frypan and… all of our other friends. They would help me. You know they would."

He laughed and pulled her into a hug, pecking her on the forehead. She was a little surprised by the show of affection, but she returned the embrace a little tighter. Newt always seemed like he needed a good hug. She would be happy to provide it to him whenever she could.

"Boys suck," she said into his chest.

"Yeah," he said, "they do."


She really hated these boys.

"Lessons?" she said, crossing her arms in front of her.

"Yeah, lessons," Nick said. "A lot of us agreed. I mean, you've been here over a month and, thankfully, nothing has happened since you came up. But we still think you should be able to, you know, defend yourself. Just in case."

She wanted to argue, she really, really did, but just because no one had tried anything yet didn't mean they wouldn't in the future. It was always a possibility. One she didn't want to think about, but it lingered there, uncomfortably within reach.

She drew her shoulders in and sighed.

"Alright," she said. "Who's going to teach me? You?"

Nick snorted.

"I'm much more of a pacifist. I've already asked someone to teach you."

"You… you asked Gally, didn't you?"

Nick shrugged noncommittally, his eyes glittering mischievously behind his glasses.

"I really hate you for that."

"Don't worry, Girlie. You'll thank me later." He reached out and ruffled her hair. She swatted at him, missing him entirely. He chuckled. "He's setting up a quiet spot in the Deadheads that'll give you a bit of privacy."

"Privacy?" she said, fighting back a blush. "Are you sure that's smart? Won't people think we're sneaking off to do… something?"

"Some might," he said, "but you can't be any worse at sneaking off than Newt and Alby."

She snorted.

"Yeah, I'm not sure how I didn't notice that before."

"Oh, good. I was hoping I wasn't going to be the one to break it to you."

"Yeah, found out last night."

The two of them shared a look and then laughed.

"You should probably be heading over. Gally's probably wondering where you're at."

"You aren't worried that something might… happen?" she said, raising her brows.

"Not really," he said, shrugging. "I mean, I hope that you'll both be smart and make good decisions, but I remember when I was your age."

"I'm pretty sure you were older than me when you first arrived in the Glade, and you don't remember anything about life before coming here."

"Trying to keep two people apart is more difficult than just allowing them to be together and allowing them to make their own mistakes. Besides, Gally's a good shank, and you being around has brought out a different side of him."

"I really hate you, I want you to know that."

"Just, promise me one thing, Girlie."

"I'm not going to like hearing this, am I?"

"Promise me I won't have to give anyone the talk. I don't want to go over how and where babies come from."

"I'm leaving now. Thanks for nothing, Nick."

"Have fun!"

She rolled her eyes and quickly walked away, her eyes scanning for some trace of Gally near the Deadheads. It took her a few minutes (and help from a sniggering Zart), but she managed to find him tucked away in a little clearing not too far from the rest of the Glade. As Nick had said, it offered them some privacy.

She… wasn't sure if she liked that or not.

Gally was straightening out a few things he'd set up around the clearing. Mostly, it was a sand pit ringed with a long strand of rope, not unlike the one that was set up for bonfire nights, and a couple of logs that stood on one end of the pit to act as a table and chairs for resting and water.

She waited a moment, waiting for him to notice her. When he didn't, she cleared her throat. He jumped and looked around with wild eyes.

"Flossy," he said, "hey, hi. Uh, Nick told you, yeah?"

"Uh, yeah," she said, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "Self defense. Said it was, um, it was important that I learn some. And that you would be my teacher?"

He cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck, looking everywhere but her.

"Yeah. I, um, I volunteered. I mean, I figured it was between me and Minho, and that you'd feel more comfortable with me over Minho. You only see the shank during meals, so… Uh, yeah."

She hummed and looked around, biting on her bottom lip. She caught herself before she could rock back and forth on the balls of her feet.

"So, um, self defense? Where do we start?"


Author stuff cont'd.: I don't know how many people follow me on tumblr, but my dog has been having some problems for the past year. Between injuries and people in the neighborhood setting off fireworks, she hasn't been able to have a normal walk schedule with anyone.

We found out on Saturday that she has cancer in one of her toes. We have her scheduled for a chest X-ray to see if there is cancer there, as that's where it normally starts.

I'm… not sure how I'm feeling about everything or how I'll handle things. For now, we're going to stay positive.