Chapter 5
Why is it that Newt always seems to show up when I need him? He was the first to find me after I had my suicidal thoughts, he followed me while I was swinging through trees and he caught me as I fell to my possible doom. Guess I'm just lucky.
"Are you alright?" Were the first words out of his mouth, he had caught me bridal style and hadn't made any attempt to put me down.
"Uh yeah thanks Newt." I smiled up at him
He didn't smile back.
"We should get you to the Med-jacks, you could have hurt something." He said as he started walking towards the homestead.
"Newt, I'm fine seriously!" I tried to argue but he wouldn't let me down so I sighed and let him carry me towards the homestead.
Once we came in the keeper of the Med-jacks, his name was Clint, came up to Newt and asked what was wrong with me. I tried to answer for myself but Newt kept on shushing me and Clint ignored me. Jeff, another Med-jack helped Newt take me over to a bed because apparently nobody trusted I could walk by myself. It was frustrating.
They made me lie in the bed for about an hour just to check if I had broken anything or twisted something which I could have told everyone in the beginning in less than five minutes but nobody would listen to a word I said. Newt left the room some time during Jeff was testing my bones for any injuries so we got to talking.
"You and Newt then, hey Greenie?" He said
I groaned in annoyance.
"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" I asked him
"You two just seem awfully close for two people that are just friends." he mused while he tapped a small hammer against my knee.
"He's just being nice by showing me around that's all." I said quietly
"Really? 'Cos Alby's the one that usually gives the tours around this place and I heard that Newt had to beg Alby to let him take you round the place." Jeff wriggled his eyebrows at the end
"That's probably just some stupid rumour someone made up for a bit of drama. I mean, you guys have been here what? Two years now and the second a girl shows up she just has to fall in love with a guy? Sounds stupid to me." I said
"Hey! I'm just saying a lot of people think he likes you."
"Then a lot of people must be jacked in the head." I said
"There's no way he would like someone like me." I whispered to myself instead of Jeff
I was allowed to leave shortly after that little conversation so I went down to the kitchen where Frypan was serving food to the gladers.
"Need any help here Fry?" I asked him
He shook his head and handed me a bowl of something before moving onto the boy behind me. I sat down at a table that was empty but was quickly greeted by Minho, Newt and a runner called Ben. We talked for a little and Newt kept on asking if I was okay even though I had continuously told him I was fine. That boy sure did have a lot of concern for someone who only fell out of a tree.
"So have you found a job you like yet or not?" Minho asked while we ate
"Not really but I guess working with Frypan wouldn't be too bad." I said
"You still have a few options though right? You haven't tried out all of the jobs yet." Ben said
"I guess." I mumbled
After we finished with dinner everyone went outside where the East doors were closing for the night and we walked towards the campfire sight to get it growing for the other gladers. The flames flickered and danced in the breeze and I found myself relaxing with the boys as we all joked around and talked.
Most of the gladers joined us as the sky darkened and the stars made an appearance and I could see a family as I looked at each boy surrounding me. They looked out for each other and cared about each other like a real family, they had small fights and big ones and they were close, closer than I could ever imagine a family in the real world being. It was nice and it was slowly turning into my home.
All of the boys got along with me really well and I was happy to learn that most were actually really cool people. One or two tried to hit on me a few times and each time I would feel Newt shift uncomfortably from where he was sitting on the log next to me. I was quick to dismiss all ideas the immature boys had about me and them getting together and I was thankful there were only a few people like that who would actually approach me.
Gally made an appearance during the campfire that night and he handed out a weird drink that everyone seemed to enjoy but I steered clear of, not trusting anything to do with Gally. A few people tried to get me to drink up the suspicious liquid but I refused and they eventually gave up. While most people were talking, a small group had formed just outside of the ring of logs around the fire and there was some loud cheering going on from the area. Nobody seemed to think anything of it but I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.
As I walked over I noticed their was also some booing going on as well as cheering which made me all the more eager to find out what was going on. Nothing too exciting was happening when I got to the front, there was just a ring drawn in the dirt barely large enough to fit two people in it and a pair of boys were shoving each other and trying to knock each other over in a weird game. I caught on quickly that what they were trying to do was shove each other out of the circle and get them on the floor.
I flinched when one of the boys, who looked taller and more well built than his opponent, charged into his stomach so that they both fell to the floor. The smaller guy let out a short cry of pain and tried to get the other guy off of him but the big guy had one since they had both fallen outside the ring with the smaller boy pinned down underneath the other ones weight.
"Scared princess?" Someone whispered in my ear mockingly
I turned around to see Gally standing behind me with a smirk on his face.
"Not really, are you captain?" I hissed back at him
His smirk faltered but the look of determination in his eyes only strengthened. He cleared his throat to get everyone's attention but very few could hear it over the loud laughter of the other gladers. It was clear Gally got annoyed quickly so I wasn't as surprised as some of the other boys when he shouted loud enough for the whole Glade to here him.
"Why is it that we have let this shank live with us? Everyone treats her differently than we usually do with Greenie's because she's a girl. She gets to chose the jobs she wants and doesn't want to try and because she's a girl. Are you all blind? She's trouble. The first girl to ever appear here and she can't remember anything not a shucking thing.
How is this girl going to help us? She's won't be able to do half of the things we can do or keep up with the work we do. She hasn't proved she will ever be able to do the same work as us so she's useless, pathetic and not fit to help us get out of this hell hole." With each insult Gally said he would get closer and closer to me and invaded my personal space even more.
It would be great if I could say that his words didn't affect me or if I said I didn't think his opinion mattered to me but they would be lies. His words did affect me but for the wrong reasons. I thought the other gladers would agree with him, think of me as a useless little girl that wouldn't be able to help them. I thought they would turn on me and all of them would hate me. I wasn't hurt by Gally's words, I was afraid for how the other boys would take them.
Nobody said anything for a while and Gally didn't stop invading my personal space while the silence stretched on. He spat on the ground next to my feet and leaned away from me which I was thankful for, his breath stank.
"Say something slintheads!" He yelled
Nobody moved
"So that's his opinion, what about the rest of you? Do you think I'm pathetic?" I asked turning in circles to catch everyone's eye.
I saw a few people shake their heads but most stayed as still as a statue. I sighed in annoyance and tried a different approach.
"Would you all prefer it if I was to prove myself? To show I can work just as well as the rest of you." I asked
"How?" Someone yelled
"I'll go against the best fighter you've got here." I said
I tried to make myself sound confident but inside I was klunking myself. I didn't know everyone so the best fighter could be some huge guy with a thousand pounds of muscle on him. I'm klunked.
"Nice one greenie, you'll be fighting me." Gally said with a huge smirk plastered on his face.
"Willow please don't do this." Newt said as I took a step towards the ring which the other boys had been fighting in. He grabbed onto my arm and held me in place as he begged me with his eyes to back out of the fight.
"I'll be fine Newt, I promise." I said, throwing in a reassuring smile aswell.
He nodded his head once and looked down, removing my arm from his grasp in the process. I sighed and rolled my shoulders before I stepped into the ring where Gally was already waiting. I tried sizing him up to see where any possible weaknesses could be but he was impossible to read since his body posture was almost too perfect and his face held nothing but confidence.
"Don't worry I won't hurt your girlfriend too much Newt." Gally sniggered as he looked past me to Newt who was standing directly behind me.
"He's not my - never mind lets just get this over with." I sighed
Gally scoffed as he stared down at me from across the length of the circle and all of the other boys started swarming around the circle. I could easily spot Minho and Chuck next to Newt and Winston wasn't too far behind them, all of the gladers looked worried.
"3...2...1" Someone shouted
"Wait are there any rules or -" I couldn't finish as Gally started charging at me and someone shouted 'FIGHT!
I had to move quickly to avoid being tackled by Gally so I side stepped him and he momentarily lost his balance but it didn't last long. As soon as he had composed himself from his slightly confused state he tried tackling me again but this time I was ready. While he got closer and closer to me in the small circle area I made it seem like I wouldn't move so that he would be even more caught off guard when I did make my move.
At the last second, as Gally made his move to lunge at me, I timed my move perfectly until one of his feet where on the ground as he pushed off so that I could dive down quickly and kick my leg out so that it would make him lose his balance. He fell to the ground and only just caught himself with his arms outstretched on either side of him. Nobody said anything so I didn't make another move while the Glade was silent.
I turned around to look at everyone, thinking the fight was over but I was wrong. In the dead silence an animal like battle cry pierced the air. I turned just in time to see Gally crouching on the balls of his feet but I wasn't quick enough to move out of his grasp that time around. I fell down onto the floor on my front but I was able to turn so that I didn't injure myself as badly.
Gally didn't give me much time to react to his sudden attack and before I knew it, another battle cry came from his lips and I had to roll to one side to avoid being hit with a fist. Yells and shouts of all of the gladers were filling me ears, each boy was shouting something different about the fight I was taking part in. The majority were on my side and were outraged by Gally's actions but some of the boys I had seen him hang out with where cheering him on.
After I rolled to the side I had to get up quickly and move so I was less vulnerable but Gally was quicker than was. He met me half way to standing up and sent another fist in my direction and this time I couldn't move out of the way. I heard the sound of his knuckles hitting my face before I felt it. There wasn't a crack of any kind and no bones were broken but he did land a hard blow to one side of my face that had my whole face turning to the side from the impact. Blood filled my mouth and I had to spit it on the floor before I glared up at him while he smirked in my direction.
I had fallen backwards after he punched me while he remained standing so I used this to my advantage and crawled behind him while he faced away to encourage the boys that were on his side to yell louder. I got right behind him and then brought my leg up to the back of his legs and had him buckling to the floor in seconds. He landed on the floor again so I got up and kicked his stomach hard enough for him to start weezing and then crouched next to him so I was closer to his height while he lay on the floor in the foetal position but I was still taller than him.
"Was that enough proof for you?" I whispered
He didn't answer but glared up at me without meeting my gaze. I smirked down at him and walked towards the centre of the circle to face all of the boys that had their jaws hitting the floor as they stared at me in shock.
"Anyone else want to prove I shouldn't be here or can I go sleep now?" I asked, projecting my voice so it could be heard by everyone
Nobody said anything so I took it as my cue to walk away. I pushed past the gladers that wouldn't move and walked towards the homestead. I could hear footsteps behind me when I was half way towards the rickety shack so I turned to see who was following me.
"Greenie you just broke one of the rules here." Alby said as he walked towards me at a quickening pace.
"In my defence he made the first move, I wasn't going to hurt him until there was a shucking fist coming straight for my face." I said
Newt had explained the three rules of the Glade to me on the tour so I did already know what they were.
"I know, I know. It was impressive to see you do that really. Good job." He said shooting me a smile I guessed was very rare for Alby.
"You're not mad?" I asked
"No that was shucking brilliant greenie. Best fight I've seen here in a while. You did good." He clapped me on the back and then walked away, back to the campfire where the rest of the gladers were all talking and laughing again.
I made my way back towards the homestead in silence without any interruptions but I knew somebody was behind me. I didn't bother turning around to see who was following me because somehow I knew they weren't a threat despite the distance they were putting between us.
I went straight up to the room I shared with Newt and sat down on the bed with my elbows resting on my knees. I touched my bottom lip to see if the bleeding had stopped and it hadn't so I swiped it with the back of my hand to get rid of the beads of blood that were gathering from the cut. While I checked myself for further injuries somebody knocked on the door of the room so I only yelled 'come in' while I was preoccupied, feeling bruises on my stomach, legs and arms.
Newt walked into the room and saw me with my top rolled up just before my breasts while I inspected the bruises that were already deep purple colours. His face flushed red and I rolled my eyes at him and then went back to feeling how painful each purple area was.
"The Med-jacks could help you with that." He said after clearing his throat awkwardly
I shrugged my shoulders and pulled the top back down to cover myself better so that I could talk to Newt without him being the colour of a tomato.
"I think a decent shower would be better," I said "I look and smell like klunk right now."
A small chuckle escaped his lips and I loved the sound of it but pushed those thoughts out of my head once again to focus on the bigger picture. A small smile formed on my lips as his laughter filled the room and somehow made me feel better after the fight.
"I can take you to the showers now if you want." Newt offered after his laughter died down
"Could you 'cos I don't think you want to fall asleep next to me right now." I said
More laughter filled the room after I started to furiously fan my nose back and forth. Newt walked out of the room and beckoned for me to follow him so I did and we walked out of the homestead towards the lining of trees. We were walking for about ten minutes before Newt stopped me outside of a small hut with a moulding door that looked ready to break off if any amount of pressure was put onto it.
Newt waited outside while I walked into the hut and I was grateful when he told me he would stand guard so the boys couldn't get in while I showered. The small room had minimal item in it. There was a small wooden shelf on one wall that had a bar of soap on it and a thick log was underneath it which I presumed would be used for hanging up towels. As I looked around and evaluated the conditions the shower was in, I realised I hadn't brought anything in with me to change into or a towel to dry myself off.
"Uh Newt? Do you think there would be any spare clothes around here for me to change into?" I spoke through the door
"Bloody hell I forgot about that! I'll be right back Willow just get started with your shower and I'll bring you some clothes and stuff." Newt said
I heard his retreating footsteps almost immediately and I hoped that no other boys would want a shower while I was in there. I started undressing pretty quickly and then hopped into the shower which was only a small tap high up on the wall. The water was freezing cold and took a while to get used to but I was happy to ignore it as long as I got clean.
After a few minutes under the freezing water I heard boots stomping through leaves and breaking twigs getting closer and closer towards the hut. I panicked and tried to step out of the water to reach for my clothes but my foot slipped and I fell to the floor. I landed on my back but it didn't hurt too much because the ground was soft, that isn't to say I didn't let out a small cry of pain, because I did.
The footsteps quickened and I barely had enough time to grab my top from the floor and hold it against my body while I pressed my knees to my chest to cover everything.
"Willow are you alright in there?" I heard someone shout through the door
I was relieved when I figured out the owner of the voice was Newt. I was able to breathe easier once I was reassured the person that had been walking towards the hut wouldn't harm me.
"I'm fine, just slipped is all." I said through the door as I gathered my bearing and stood up from the floor.
"Good that." He said, his voice at a regular volume instead of shouting.
I heard him put something on the floor before his footsteps could be heard walking a few paces away from the hut.
I bent down close to the door and opened it slightly so it was ajar so I could slip my arm out to grab the items Newt had left me without him seeing me in my birthday suit. Once I retracted my arm with the items in my hand I sat on the floor and rummaged through what Newt had brought me. Everything was in a neat pile stacked nicely and folded very precisely. On the bottom of the pile was some new clothes which was some baggy grey pants and a lose white top. Then on top of the clothes was a towel and on top of the towel was a box. There wasn't anything special about the box, it was a simple wooden cuboid that seemed polished to perfection and was only about twenty centimetres long but in so many ways it was the most eye catching thing I had seen in the glade so far.
Stuck to the top of it was a note that I immediately read;
The clothes are mine so they might be a bit big sorry 'bout that. Found
the box in the box when you arrived. Nobody's opened it.
-Newt
I let out a slow breath and put the note to the side so I could focus on opening the box which wouldn't seem like such a big task but it felt like the lid weighed a ton and was being held down by the strongest of magnets. Slowly, I lifted the lid and let it fall backwards while I looked through the contents of the box. Inside of it was everything I would need for the next month or so.
I carefully packed the things I didn't immediately need back into the box and left out the things I would use while I showered. I stepped back into the cold water and squirted a small amount of the shampoo into my hair and massaged it into my scalp, loving the feeling of just getting clean. Once I washed all of the shampoo out of my hair I grabbed the body wash and razor and started shaving anywhere that needed shaving and then washed the rest of my body.
After I finished in the shower I turned the water off and wrapped the towel around my body while I brushed out the tats in my hair and ringed it out to get as much of the water out as possible so it would dry quicker. Then I got dressed in the clothes and I had been given and put my hair into a braid so it was out of the way.
Once I was finished I grabbed the clothes I had arrived in the Glade in and the towel I had used with the box as well and walked out of the hut to find Newt leaning against a tree with his eyes closed. I cleared my throat and his eyes snapped open and I let a small smile form on my face as he walked towards me.
"Thanks for waiting for me." I said as we walked back to the homestead
"No problem Low." Newt
"Low?" I laughed
"Yeah. Well I wanted to give you a nickname, something only I get to call you. Thats what I came up with." He said
"Thats cool. I'll just have to think of something for you." I said
Newt rolled his eyes at me as we walked and it was mostly silent as we went back to our room. In less than ten minutes we were back in the room and Newt was kicking off his boots while I was climbing under the scratchy covers of the bed.
"Night Newt." I whispered as he climbed into the bed
I rolled onto my side so I was facing the wall and felt Newt shift his weight also so I presumed he faced the other way.
"Night Willow." He mumbled
A/N - Hi guys, I know it's been forever since I last updated this story and I just wanted to say thank you for all the reviews/comments on this. I forgot my password which sort of made it impossible to post anything but everything is sorted now and I plan on posting more frequently. I have been writing while I haven't been on this and I have had some new ideas for this story.
I was thinking of changing the name of the main character (Willow) to Skylar. A few of you have been asking why it has Skylar in the bio and then Willow in the story and that is because I wasn't sure which name I liked better. Please tell me what you guys think and if you think I should change the name or keep it the same.
Thank you so much for the support I am getting on here and I will be updating soon. Bye x
