I woke and felt a mix of emotions without even opening my eyes. Still no name and Newt does not like me, but on the bright side I get to work in the morning again. I sit up and see the morning light slipping through the cracks of the hut walls. Better hurry. I throw on my shoes and jog to the kitchen, today we made oatmeal for breakfast and the green mush for lunch.
As I slip away, Gally crosses my path," Hey Greenie."
"Oh, Hi Gally," I smile.
"Where you going?"
"Uhm, nowhere."
"I'm on my way to eat, if you want to join."
"No thanks, I already ate," I slide around him. "I hope you like it though," I make my way towards the Deadhead.
The wind whips around me, I pull my jacket tighter. Maybe I should just go to the Med-hut... I turn and head towards my bed, no need to freeze two days in a row. I walk in and see it's a full house, a Slicer is getting his hand bandaged by Jeff while Clint poking at Ben's leg on my bed.
"Ow," the Slicer moans.
"Stay still," Jeff commands, rewrapping his hand.
"Hey guys," I call to them as I walk around the beds.
"Hey Greenie," Jeff responds.
"Coming in early again?," Clint asks while looking completely focused on Ben's leg.
"It's too chilly to be outside," I say as I strip my jacket off. "What happened?," I sit on the third bed.
"Tripped," Ben said.
"You'd think a Runner would know better," I said and Ben chuckled.
"Stay still," Clint instructed, sounding exactly like Jeff.
"How did you trip?," I pull my legs onto the bed.
"A vine," he responded, gritting his teeth to Clint's touch.
"Does this hurt?"
"Yeah," Ben gasped.
"Not broken," Clint stands up," but sprained."
"So...?"
"So no running," Clint finished. "Take a few days off."
Ben runs his hands through his hair and lays back on the bed.
"Sorry, Ben," Clint says and goes to Jeff. "Adam, seriously, stop moving."
"Shuck," Ben muttered into his hands.
"Maybe a few days off will be good," I say, which earns me a look from Ben. "I mean, you've been so busy lately, it might be good."
"Yeah, maybe," he sits on the edge of the bed.
"At least it's not broken," I try to find a positive.
"That's true. I've still got that going for me," he runs his hands through his hair again, clearly frustrated.
"I'm sorry," I say defeated.
"It's not your fault, it's mine. Such a slinthead, I should've seen it."
"Hey, it happens. People trip." Ben nods, his good leg jittering, Is there anything I can say to cheer him up? "It's better then almost getting knocked out from a girl running away."
Ben lets out a sigh mixed with a laugh" You got that right," he sits up, is dimples showing from his smile. Good, he's cheered up. "Heard you got caught in the rain last night."
I throw my hands up," Literally everyone knows everything here!"
"Like I said, there are no secrets in the Glade."
"I guess," I stick my hands between my legs and the bed. "I swear it's not as dumb as it sounds... it's worse."
He laughs," As dumb as tripping on a vine?"
"Dumber."
"Good to know I'm not the only one here," he smiles.
"Believe me, you're not alone."
I woke up in the middle of the night to someone breaking glass on the floor of my room.
"Ahh," I screamed, clutching my chest. Run!
"Ouch, Oh god!," the shadow started hopping. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!"
"Get out! Get out now!," I leap from the bed, ready to escape if needed.
"Gosh, greenie, stop screaming. It's me! It's Jackson."
"Jackson?! What are you doing!?"
I just... damn, that hurts," his figure sat on the bed beside mine. "I just wanted to talk to you... privately."
"Why didn't you just talk to me earlier? During the day?," I shuffled around him to get the torch. The fire let me see Jackson's face, that's Jackson. I also saw the glass scattered across the floor. "Damn," I place the torch in it's holder and start picking up the pieces. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. I didn't mean to scare you, I'm sorry."
"If you didn't want to scare me, you wouldn't creep into my room in the middle of the night!," I snap at him
"You're right. Yeah, I know," I just didn't want anyone to see us talking."
"Why not?," I place the shards into recycle basket. "Embarrassed?," I tease.
"That's what I need to talk to you about!," he said massaging his foot. He's not joking, I feel a tension rise in my chest.
"Well then, tell me."
"Okay, so that night, when you slept on the tower?"
"Yeah?"
"And I was there..."
"Yeah...?"
"Well, Aidan and Billy saw us sleeping and they... well they...," his voice faded out.
"They what?!," my chest twinged.
"They think we are a couple or something..."
A couple! Why would they think that! That makes no sense!
"A couple!?"
"Yeah, like we're together or something..."
"And you didn't clarify?!," I shouted.
"Greenie, keep it down," he reminded me. "I did! I told them we just fell asleep, that we were just friends!"
"And they didn't believe you!," I start pacing at the foot of the beds.
"I thought they did, but they keep making jokes about it so I tried to stay away from you so they would stop."
"But they haven't stopped?"
"No...," Jackson shifted and looked away," They might have... have said something about it to one of the Builders..."
The Builders? That's why they were so weird when I was talking to Jackson... They think we're dating!
"Oh god, Jackson!"
"I'm so sorry!," His head whips back around," I didn't think they would drag this one so long, I wanted to fix it before it became a problem."
"God Jackson! That's so stupid, you should've told me!"
"I know, I know! I am so sorry Greenie. I was going to mention it the other day when we were eating but I just clammed up, I just didn't want things to get weird, you know. I like our friendship... I didn't want you to think I was like... I don't know. It just didn't want it to change."
"How was it going to change?," I cross my arms. "You think that just because people think we're together that I would magically want to be with you or something?"
"No, nothing like that," Jackson sighs. "I didn't want it to change in that you act different towards me, like your scared someone will get the wrong idea. I don't want you to be on edge when we hang out... "
Oh... My cold heart thawed for a moment. He hid it from me so it wouldn't affect our friendship... that's sweet... but stupid.
"Look, Jackson," I stand in front of him. "I understand why you hid it from me, but I don't like it. Don't do it again! I deserve to know what people are saying abut me."
"Yeah, you're right," Jackson drops his head. "How do we fix it?"
"I don't know," I started pacing again. So the Gladers think Jackson and I are a couple. We can't avoid each other because that's stupid and won't solve anything. If we just say it's not true will people believe us or think we're lying?
"I'm so sorry, Greenie," Jackson says again.
"Stop... please. Stop apologizing," I lean against the wall and close my eyes.
"I don't know what else to do."
"That makes two of us...," I slowly slide down to the floor
"I-I...," Jackson rests his head in his hands, he looked so stressed.
"Maybe we should just ignore it...," I let the idea simmer in the air. "I men, I don;t really talk to any Builders and I don't want to announce the truth, who would believe that?"
"I could just talk to Billy and Aidan. Tell them to knock off or-..."
"No, absolutely not," I veto his idea. "You had all this time to fix this, now we have to do it together."
"Okay... yeah sure," he stands. "So we just pretend everything is normal?"
"Everything is normal. We aren't a couple, just friends. And I really don't want to change our friendship, I mean, i only have a few...," I share a small smile.
"Greenie...," I look up to him as he heads to the door," I'm so s-..."
"EH! Don't say it again."
Jackson huffs a empty smile and leaves the Med-hut. I crawl back to my bed, but I never fall back asleep. My mind is runs through what is being said about me, about Jackson and I. They think we're together... that we kiss and that we... God! That's just so weird? Me and Jackson? NO! I wonder how many people have heard this... Alby? Siggy? Oh god, Newt?! No wonder he doesn;t like me, he thinks I'm with Jackson... So stupid.
My thoughts run nonstop until I see the light shine into the room. I get ready quickly and dash to the kitchen, hopefully Siggy isn't weird. Maybe Joseph knows too! When I entered the kitchen, Siggy was buisness as usual and I was running around doing chores. No matter what I did, it didn't help the time pass, seconds ticked like hours and I audibley groaned when I realized we hadn't even served breakfast yet.
"Watch what you're doing," Siggy scolded lightly after I dropped a pan on the floor.
"Sorry, my mind is...," I pick up the pan and silenced the doubts in my head.
"It happens, I remember one time we were making bread, but I left the wheat outside and it all...," Siggy was laughing at his old mistakes but my full attention was still bundled in my own dilemma. Out of the corner of my eye I see more Glader approaching , then I noticed who it was, the Baggers!
"I'll be right back," I shot out of the kitchen like a bullet before Siggy could protest. Jackson sees me first and his face fills with worry, but I don't slow my stride until I am face to face with Aidan and Billy. Both of them seems confused to see me but I speak before they do," It seems we all need to have a conversation." My voice is low and uneven, my anger cracking through without warning. Billy and Aidan look at each other and then to Jackson.
"Come one," he ushers them to a table. I know Jackson was also startled to see me, I hadn't told him I was going to talk to Billy and Aidan, but then again, I didn't even know myself.
"Okay," I sit across from the three of them. "What are you saying about me?" Billy's mouth drops and Aidan looks away from me, they look just like the Builders. "Seriously, tell me."
"Well...," Billy exhales deeply. "I just was joking around with this one here," he hit Jackson in the chest," about some of the stuff we saw in the tower."
"But you didn't see anything. There was nothing to see!"
"Thats why it was all jokes," Aidan chuckles.
"You can take a joke, can't you Greenie?," Billy smiles, but it wasn't friendly.
"If it's funny...," I cross my arms and my eyebrows draw together. The smiles from there faces fall away," Why don't you tell me the joke and, I'll tell you if it's funny."
"Seems like you've already heard it," Billy cocks his eyebrow.
"And I'm not laughing," I say evenly. Reel it back, no need to make anyone here mad.
"Greenie!," Siggy called from kitchen. "Let's go!"
"Yeah, I'm coming!," I respond with breaking my stare with Billy. "Listen, Jackson and I are friends, nothing more. Stop telling people we are together. Stop spreading lies about me, about both of us," I gesture to Jackson too. His hands are in his lap and I can tell he is uncomfortable, but I couldn't stand by and let them sat these things.
Billy glances to Jackson who finally speaks," She's right Billy. Greenie and I are friends, nothing more. If people think were a couple, they'll start to be weird and stuff. Gladers already think were weird, I don't want things to get worse."
Billy lets out a low chuckle," Alright...," he raises his eyebrows," I'll stop. I didn't know ya'll were just friends..." Billy says the words but his eyes tell a different story, but I didn't think much of it.
"Thank you," I take a sigh of relief. "Thank you," I get up and dash back to the kitchen.
