Hey guys! Another chapter, woo! I've never updated this fast in my life; I hope you guys are loving the story so far! I had fun writing this chapter so I hope you all like it as well! Thanks for the reviews/follows/favorites!

"Shuck it," Minho grabbed onto Mary's shoulders and shook her a bit to wake up. He poked her shoulder at least fifteen times and she didn't even budge, though after that he knew he was going to have to find someone else to wake her up.

Being moved like that didn't sit well with Mary, her breath caught in her throat and she clutched onto Minho's shirt and almost slapped him across the face. For a few moments she had no idea where she was but slowly started to relax and remember what had happened the previous day.

Glancing to the window of the room she saw there was barely any sunlight entering the room making her groan and layback down. "Let me sleep," she mumbled quietly. Her eyes were closing and she tried to crawl back into the warmth of the bed.

"C'mon, Greenie. There's something you gotta see, after that you need to be up anyways." Minho smirked at her response; she obviously wasn't a morning person. As she followed him through the Homestead and across the Glade she looked like a zombie. Her shoulders were sagged, her head tilted to the side with her eyes barely open, and she kept grumbling; it was the most adorable thing he had ever saw. Or remember seeing, anyways.

Mary, on the other hand just wanted to close her eyes for a little longer and maybe have a bat to whack Minho with so he could let her stay in bed. She finally was starting to be able to open her eyes when she saw Alby up ahead, by the entrance of the maze. She caught up with Minho and the two walked in sync before approaching to their leader.

"You sleep well, Greenie?" She gave Alby an exasperated sigh, but kept herself from repeating her name as she saw Minho's smirk and just nodded.

"Well enough," she replied. In all honesty it felt like she had just fallen asleep five minutes ago and she was aching for a shower and new clothes.

"Well, we've got a busy day today but it'll get better." She nodded again at Alby's words and turned to Minho as another boy jogged over to them and stood at Minho's side. If she remembered correctly his name was Ben.

"Alright, Shorty don't get so gloomy without me around." She rolled her eyes at his wink and Ben broke out into a grin as the two runners jogged out into the maze. She watched them for a moment before they took a turn and disappeared into the maze.

"C'mon Mary, you need to see something." She followed Alby as he spoke and walked till they came to a corner. She was about to ask what was so special when she noticed that there were names carved up on the wall, she recognized a few, others she never heard of before and they were crossed out.

"We're a family, here. We have to treat others with respect and follow the rules. The only way we can live is together, you got that, Mary?"

She nodded at his words and her respect for him went up tenfold; he was just full of wisdom for someone their age and always looked for the better of the Gladers. She almost forgave him for talking about her last night. Almost.

He handed her a knife and she looked up at him in surprise, "Go on." He said and she smiled back at him before moving towards the wall. She found a small space and began carving her name; it didn't take too long, thankfully. She was quite proud with the finish product and took a moment to see her name amongst the names of the other Gladers and it made her smile softly.

She heard Alby cleared his throat and turned to face him, the smile slowly falling from her face at the look he gave her. It wasn't mean or threatening but it wasn't happy either. "There's some things I'd like to talk to you about, before the gathering we have tonight."

"Gathering?"

Alby nodded in response and sat down by the wall, motioning for her to do the same. "A meeting with the Gladers where we come to decisions and such. Tonight we will be talking about you."

That made her stomach clench and her hands fidgeted a bit, "Just me?" When Alby nodded she sighed softly and rubbed her arm. "I'm… I promise I'll try and do everything I need too, I really mean that." She looked to Alby, she was earnest and that much was evident. She didn't want to cause trouble for the Gladers, not now.

Alby gave her a slight smile at that, "Mary, you have to try and understand some of the boys. We've been here a year and only got a working system a few months ago after some disastrous tries. The boys are just worried that with you coming here it can ruin things like in the past, I'm sure once they see your work it'll change their minds. Don't let what said today get to you too much. We aren't going to punish you for coming here."

She let out a breath that she had no idea she was holding and felt herself relax a bit, "Alright. Guess I can deal with that…" And she could, it would just be a group of boys throwing around ideas about her fate… She shook that thought off. What she would do to have a girl's company at that moment, or any moment at this point.

"You're taking all things rather well," Alby said and she could tell that most of the Gladers were thinking the same thing.

She gave him a weak smile and shrugged, "What? You rather deal with a crying girl who demands answers? Or even better, throw anything at you all telling you to get away?" She let out a humorless laugh and wrapped her arms around herself, "You think that I'm honestly as fine as I'm holding up? That I'm not freaked out that I can't remember anything or that you all don't care about me because I'm a girl and would just throw me out of here?" She wasn't even looking at Alby anymore, she felt tears starting in her eyes but she was trying so hard to fight it. "You don't think that I haven't thought about my family? Or why I was put here? Who put me here? Why am I the only girl? –I don't know if you know all those answers, heck, I don't know if you have any answers but I know that you must get these questions every month and there's no reason in bombarding you with stupid questions." She took a deep breath when she finished and laid her head on her knees, feeling defeated. That was till she heard a slight chuckle.

"… You're full of surprises, Greenie. You'll do just fine, I can tell." For the first time she saw a genuine smile from him directed to her and she felt herself finally unwinding. If he truly thought she would do well, then she believed it as well.

Mary was lead to her first day of work, she was introduced to Winston who was the Keeper of the Slicers and despite her best efforts she had to leave to vomit after about an hour. Winston was determined to make her work till they were done but after some compliments in how she thought he was really strong to do this kind of work he let her sit for the rest of the time. She thanked him graciously for it, she was sure if she didn't get some air she would empty her stomach once again.

She lifted her arms to open up her chest and took in deep breaths, once the dizzy spots in her vision cleared she noticed Newt had planted himself besides her causing her to jump in fright. "—Jeez! Warning next time?"

He chuckled at her and nodded to the Bloodhouse, "Heard what happened, you alright, Mary?"

"I'm fine, they're about finished so Winston let me have a little break."

"You must have done something really good to get out done this early," Newt grinned in response causing her to pout slightly.

"C'mon, I swear I was about to faint. Plus, I did work quite a bit, you know. It's just not my—"

"Not your thing," he finished in response causing her to smile back and shrug, it was a familiar thing to say now and it was going to stick with her. Looking at Newt, examining his face carefully she noticed he was quite good looking. He was probably someone she can get very used to being around, he was probably the nicest to her and she wanted to consider him a friend. She supposed by the end of the Gathering tonight she would know who was truly on her side or not.

"Hey… I don't know if I told you already but, thank you. You know, for everything." She probably seemed over mushy, especially since these kind of moments probably never happened in the Glade but by Newt's small smile he didn't seem to bothered and more simple amused.

"No problem, Greenie. Just don't let me down, okay?"

"I promise."

She hummed lightly as she sunk into the small bathtub, letting the warm water engulf her. It felts so good to get clean again so she took her time and washing her hair, taking out all the tangles and lathering up her body in soap. After awhile though, her peace was disrupted when she heard voices and she sunk deeper into the tub, her head being the only thing poking out.

"You saw her go in right?"

"Yeah, a little peek won't do any harm right?" She started panicking at the thought and saw her shoes she had taken off beside the tub and threw it at the door hard, making a loud thump sound.

"Go Away!" She shrieked and she heard the noises of all the boys bolting away from the shock of the sudden noise causing her to relax just a bit, but she hurried up and got out. She opened up a small bag that was given to her by a red faced Gally, he found it in the box when she came up and it was full of things that a girl needed and it was then did she realize that being the only girl had more struggles then the obvious ones. She'd also have to talk to Newt about the boys trying to peek at her… Shuck… this was going to be hard.

Mary went up in the Homestead, in Minho's room, looking out the window waiting for the runners to come back. When Minho would return the Gathering would start and her stomach began to clench again. All the boys would be there, and she really didn't know how she was going to handle it. So far she just came to the conclusion with trying to be as quiet as possible.

When Mary finally saw Minho come up to the Glade, with Ben on his side she started making her way down to go say hello to him and maybe have him lead her to the Gathering and give her some advice.

"Minho!" Mary called out; waving a bit before he saw her and smiled. She quickly made it over to the two runners and smiled a bit, nodding a hello to Ben who merely smirked a bit in response causing her to feel a bit self conscious but spoke up nevertheless.

"Glad to see you guys made it alright."

"Aw, don't tell me you worried, Shorty." She made a face at Minho before crossing her arms.

"Don't confuse your dreams with reality… Shuck-face." It felt so weird to be using Glader slang, and it took a few run downs to finally get it right but she knew that it sounded weird coming out of her mouth.

The two boys burst out laughing and Ben literally clutched onto his side before patting her on the back, "You're not bad, Greenie. Not bad. Can see why this Shuck-face can't stop thinking about you." He winked at her before running off before Minho could say anything else. She merely smiled in response and turned to the Asian boy in front of her who shook his head at his friend's words.

"Lesson number one, don't listen to a thing Ben ever says, he's a downright shuck."

She rolled her eyes at him before she remembered why she came down in the first place, "—The Gathering?.."

Minho's eyes suddenly widen a bit, remembering about it and took her arm, leading her. "Okay, just as a heads up, try not to talk too much, if at all, okay? It might cause more people to get riled up." She nodded at his words and was glad because that was exactly what she was prepared for. As long as she wasn't kicked out, she would deal with whatever conclusion.

Right before they entered Mary took ahold of Minho's hand and gave it a small squeeze, "I'll be okay… Right?" She hated showing vulnerability, but she just needed some reassurance and this didn't feel as humiliating as it was with Alby. She didn't know why but she felt safer with Minho then she did with anyone else. He gave her a warm smile in return, giving her hand a small squeeze before entering. She waited a minute before following as well. Right as she stepped into the room the whole place went silent. Her step slowed considerably as she was taking the place in; the keepers were all sitting in the back of the room in a semi circle as the other Gladers sat in rows near the front of the room facing the keepers. She also saw Alby and Newt sitting amongst the keepers and saw a lonely chair up in front of the stands facing the keepers. She caught eye contact with Newt and glanced at the chair; he gave her a slight nod and she sat in it before he legs gave way and she fell to the ground.

"Okay, now that everyone is quiet and here… I'm sure you all know why were here, we have to make some rules regarding that Mary is here as well as well as what is going to be happening now that we have a girl with us."

There were a few murmurs here and there but they got shut up really fast by Newt who told them to, and she quoted, 'slime it'.

"Anyone want to say what they think first?" Alby turned his attention to the Keepers seeing who would speak first and coincidentally Minho, Gally and Winston cleared their throat at the same time causing her to smile just the tiniest of bit.

She watched at the three of them look at Alby and since Winston was on the end he let him go first and they would just go around from there.

She glanced at Winston but the nervousness was getting to her so she just looked down to her lap and listened intently.

"To be honest, I didn't know what to think when I saw her come out of the box. We never had a girl before and now that we've been finally stable I just kept thinking the creators trying to mess it all up with a girl? Still, she hasn't done anything to let me think that anymore then just being a girl. Maybe they always had a plan in bringing in a girl. Plus, she's determined. Despite feeling terrible while working she still did her part as best as she can."

Mary looked up to Winston as he stopped talking a smiled a bit, his thoughts were rational and she was glad that even though she didn't work to the end with him he still thought she did a good enough job. She felt much more at peace that she didn't even notice the other Gladers reaction to Winston's words. Next came Gally and this was the nerve-wracking part she was waiting for.

"The thing you're missing though, is that the Greenie didn't finish helping today. What if her best isn't enough? We have everyone do their part, and she obviously can't."

This made her more then upset, her hands that were folded nicely were now clenched together and she had to remember to hold her tongue. Let them deal with it… Even if she had to spend a night in the Slammer to appease Gally, she would do it with no protest. She just wanted this meeting to be done with.

"She only worked for one day, you can't make a decision already and expect all of us to agree." She turned when she heard Minho's voice and she constantly wondered why he was always so supportive of her. She only been there a day yet it they felt comfortable with one another.

The rest of the meeting was a blur for Mary and the next thing she remembered was Alby's voice saying that they would deal with what work she would do after she tried out all the jobs. Maybe even a new job can be given to her if she had other talents that the boys did not possess. This pleased practically all the Gladers and that was put to rest.

"Now, we said there were only three rules here at the Glade but we think a few other should be made or one to be worded a bit better." This caught her attention and she sat patiently as she saw Newt stand.

"We all know we can't hurt another Glader and that we need trust. If anyone tries something with Mary and it's clear she doesn't want anything to do with it then you leave her bloody alone. No funny business, period." She couldn't help but think back to when she was bathing, at least now she wouldn't have to tell Newt to consider having a new rule, it was too embarrassing to even think about let alone talk about.

There was nothing the Gladers could really say in protest despite the few mumbles she heard, she knew that at least the leadership of the group had her back on that one. Even Gally seemed on board with that so she didn't feel too worried anymore.

Newt clapped his hands and nodded, "Right then. We got everything figured out so everyone start heading on to bed." After a few moments everyone started to disperse and Mary finally felt at ease. She was safe for at least a week and hopefully she would prove to be good at something before then.

The Keepers stayed back a little while so Mary made her way up to Minho's room and slid under the covers. She took this opportunity to stare out the window and to the moon. She let all her emotions wash over her and she felt a few tears fall from her eyes. Despite having the need to be strong her heart still felt heavy and as the hours gone by it just kept getting heavier. She wanted so bad to know why they couldn't go home. She wanted to know what was so bad about the maze. She wanted to know why there weren't any girls in the Glade. It was a natural feeling to want to know, it wasn't her fault that she was curious, she couldn't remember anything for Christ's sake.

Still, despite her troubles she found that she fell asleep before Minho came up to the room but this sleep was not like last nights where she fell deep into unconsciousness.

She felt like she was drowning, she screamed and pounded on the glass, the need for air was too much but nothing changed

She saw a boy standing on the outside, a girl as well. She couldn't really make out their features but she saw the girl's piercing blue eyes. When she thought she made eye contact with the boy, she pleaded with him through her facial expressions and all he did was look down to the ground. The girl only did one thing, she came close to the glass and mouthed a phrase that she could never forget.

Wicked is good.

Then she felt intense burning and she saw the girl was repeating the words causing her to scream louder as if she knew that it was false.

She woke up with a start and felt that tears were already streaming down her face, trying to catch her breath quietly wasn't working either but she did her best. When she heard movement on Minho's side of the room though she stood still, the tears though, kept going.

"—Mary? Shuck, are you alright?"

She tried to wave it off but as she did a small sob escaped her throat, it was too much but she knew she had to stay quiet, there were boys sleeping on the other side of the walls. Before she knew it though, Minho had moved over to her bed, holding her close to him while rubbing her back in small circles. His movements were awkward at first, as if he didn't know if he was doing it right but she slowly melted in his arms, letting him comfort her. The tears slowed but they still fell from her face in droplets. His hand on her back became more soothing as well and she rested her head in the crook of his neck, trying to even out her breathing.

"I-I'm sorry for waking you-"

"It's alright, Mary. It happened to all of us at first, you know. Don't think you're weak for it." She merely nodded a bit at his response, not knowing if he was speaking the truth or just being nice but it was what she needed to hear. Soon, they laid down together on her bed, the sheets around them and fell into another dreamless sleep.

((Minho's POV))

Minho woke up as he heard some movements in the room, since coming to the Glade he became a light sleeper. It was the reason he preferred sleeping alone, and being a keeper that was one of the privileges. Seeing the sight of Mary though, it reminded him to all the other Gladers that had such a hard time adjusting. Just because she acted though didn't mean she had a heart of steel and they should have noticed that.

He was quickly at her side, but then he realized he had no shucking idea how to comfort a girl. Slowly and carefully he held her close, leaving plenty of room for her to reject him, remembering the new rule, or modified rule. When he saw no protest he brought her a bit closer and couldn't help but stare at her. She was clean now, her feature more distinctive then they were the previous day. Her hair was cute and looked very pretty, he almost moved a hand through it but he stopped himself. She wasn't a skinny girl but he also liked that, her curves were distinctive and were all in the right places but he tried to put that out of his mind. She couldn't possible think that about any Glader so soon and even if she did, she seemed too good for any of them.

He had to stop and wondered why he thought that though, why he trusted her so soon. Hopefully as time would go by she would show herself as trustworthy so he could stand on his feelings. As he felt that she was starting to drift away, he realized his eyes were closing as well and soon he fell asleep with Mary safe in his arms.

Hope you guys liked this one!