Guys! Hello! How are you – this is a one way conversation. OKAY! I'll keep it short. Aiming for monthly updates, hoping for more than that but no promises. Thank you for you beautiful, supportive comments, it's just fantastic, I really appreciate it. Honestly, it's been a little awkward trying to write chapters because I was gone for so long and I can't remember a lot of what I had planned! oh dear, hahaha, it's all coming back (slowly 0.0), also, new ideas! It's so good to be back and writing this tho. NOW, on with the story.

What the shuck is going on...

Joanne had lost count of the amount of times she'd said that since coming to the Glade. It wasn't even a question anymore, it had just become a statement. She felt like the protagonist of a really bad movie that had no idea where it was going with its story line. She could only hope that she would hit the climax soon and that everyone and everything could just chill out.

She'd been avoiding basically everyone since her incident in the Maze last week. Minho kept a watchful eye, but seemed to understand that she just needed a little room to breathe. Which was something she was realising she'd been forgetting to do with everything being thrown at her from every which way.

Alby had spoken with her after her falling out with Newt, or at least, he'd tried to. Joanne was feeling pretty done at this point however and he could definitely tell that she wasn't listening to a word that he was saying and just gave up.

It probably wasn't the best way to deal with everything that was happening. She knew it wasn't but she didn't care. Tired and angry and scared, which is a combination that equals out the subject no longer giving two clunks about the situation that they are placed in.

Joanne kneeled in one of the gardens, finding it rather therapeutic to pull weeds up. She put all of her frustration into the weed in question before pulling it out of the ground and throwing it into a growing pile of its brethren. Of course, it wasn't as easy to do the same with the concerns in Joanne's mind, yet, it seemed to do something for her.

A shadow covered her smaller frame, boots came into her line of sight. She dared to look up, root still in hand, squinting slightly from the direct glare of the sun. Still, she could make out Gally's unmistakeable face.

She leaned back on her heels, taking a rest.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of your company, Gally?"

Before she knew what was happening, he'd grabbed the front of her shirt, easily pulling her to her feet.

"What happened out there Greenbean…spit it out" He asked suddenly, voice low.

Joanne was genuinely surprised, "what do you mean?"

She tried to pull her shirt down to cover her breezy midsection but to no avail. Gally wasn't going to let her go anywhere until he got his answers.

"Don't play dumb with me. Out in the maze, something must have happened. Don't think I haven't noticed your lack of interaction with Newt and Alby. What did you find!"

"Unfortunately, I think the truth is far less interesting then you think it is." She replied blankly, "could you let go of me now, please"

His grip slowly loosened, "I don't believe you. You may have the rest of the Glade fooled, but I know the truth. You are hiding something and never forget that I know that"

With that, he was gone. Storming off somewhere else to do whatever he was supposed to be doing. Joanne wasn't sure what she felt. She surely wasn't telling the truth, only from fear of being thrown into the Griever pit. Even then, was she truly lying when she didn't know what the message meant in the first place?

She wondered if Gally had somehow seen her with the paper the other night or if it was simply that he didn't trust her to begin with. She was worried. What if he had seen her and what if he tells someone.. She was withholding information, but she wasn't sure how to bring it up when she couldn't trust anyone in the Glade besides maybe Minho. Even then, how much power did he have in a place like this?

The root she'd been holding fell to the ground in her thoughts. What was the right thing to do? She wasn't sure that she knew anymore. She was even sure if there was a right and wrong at this point anymore.

Whatever the right thing was to do, it wouldn't matter if Gally got word out about the paper. Joanne could imagine the uproar that it would cause. She was going to have to get to the bottom of this and she was going to have to do it quickly.

"Greenie!" Needless to say, she jumped out of her skin.

Turning quickly on her heel she came face to face with Minho. His eye narrowed, eyebrows knitting together as he judged her face.

"did something happen? You look like you just saw a ghost"

"huh?! Oh no, its nothing really!" Joanne quickly sputtered out.

"okay well, it's time to eat, lets go. I'm shucking starving" thankfully Minho wasn't one to pry.

Walking into the Glade's makeshift dining hall, Joanne's eyes met with a certain blond who she'd been more or less avoiding lately. She couldn't help but shift her gaze away, feeling a mixture of guilt and anger from his hurt look.

He didn't bother her though, his head dropped a little before going back to his conversation with one of the other Gladers. Perhaps she was being too hard on him. She did miss his company in all honesty, but she couldn't get over what he had done.

Newt wasn't the only one paying attention to her there either. She could feel a glare coming from another Glader that she had just recently had a conversation with. She was thanking Minho internally for being with her in the moment. She knew that with him around Gally wouldn't bother her.

It reminded her however, of her little problem. Making her realise that this was not something that she could just easily let go. She had to get to the bottom of what he knew, as this could be something major in her original plans.

After listening to Minho ramble on about one thing or another through diner, Joanne decided to ditch everyone and find an opening to get Gally alone.

Just as she was excusing herself with a rather poor excuse, thinking she was in the clear, Minho grabbed her hand before she could make it out of the building.

"What's going on with you?" He said in the rather low voice, making sure not to be over heard.

Joanne inhaled sharply, eyes widening at the unexpected contact.

"You've been quite all evening, and you keep zoning out" Minho continued.

"It's nothing really" she said again

Minho looked around, obviously feeling much too exposed, as he then pulled her into another conjoining room that was out of sight from the other Gladers.

"You know that you are terrible liar, right?"

Joanne huffed, and looked at from the taller boy. She tried to think to something to get him off her case quickly, but nothing came. Instead, Minho hand gently slid down her wrist, slipping into her own hand to play with his smaller fingers. Her breath hitched for a moment, feeling a blush rise to her cheeks and a surprising amount of comfort from the small gestor.

He didn't let go. "Promise me you'll tell me if it's something important…you can trust me. Remember"

That got her attention. Slowing she dared to look Minho in the eye again. She honestly felt comfortable with him since day one, she always felt like he had some amount of needed control over any given situation. It wasn't until that moment however, that she had considered the possibility that she may have been attracted to him.

Of course the idea was foolish. She couldn't be attracted to someone, not with all the accusations roaming around about her possibly being a creator. There was no room for her to "fall in love", or so to speak.

She'd had a similar feeling towards Newt, back in the Gardens. Perhaps, it was just her loneliness getting the better of her.

Whatever it was, it needed to stop.

She pulled her hand softly out of his grasp, "I'm fine"

Her words were firm, but not unkind.

With that said, she left him standing there in the aftermath of the situation. Her heart beating rather fast in her chest as she attempted to get her brain straight.

She needed to find Gally. That was what mattered right now, that was what she needed to focus on.

Fumbling into the outside world, she took a deep breath, looking around. She'd seen Gally leave the building a few moments before Minho had caught her, so she figured that he couldn't be that far. Though, it was dark, and there was a lot of places that he could have gone. Even if she did find him, that didn't mean that he would be alone. She had to try.

Walking around for a while, she gave up hope. Until, she wandered into the homestead, and low and behold the one and only boy that she needed a word with was there and alone. It looked like someone was on her side that night.

"Gally" She said, her voice a little more hushed then she'd normally be "Can we talk"

"About what" He replied harshly as he leaned against the wall across from her, looking rather smug.

"About earlier"

He seemed intrigued so she continued.

"I don't know if it's just that you have a problem with me… for whatever reason… but, I want to know, what you think you know"

"Ohh, is the greenie starting to feel nervous" he grunted, smiling wickedly to himself.

Joanne shook her head, "I have nothing to hide, I just simply insure you that you are wrong"

She really hoped that she wasn't as bad at lying as Minho said she was.. either that or Gally wasn't as good at picking up on lies.

Gally shook his head, suddenly striding towards her, "No. You have something to hide. I know you do, I've seen it"

Joanne's blood ran cold. He'd seen the note.. but how? She couldn't know. Maybe he was just talking in a general matter.

"so there is something…"

Shuck.. If he didn't know, he surely knew now. She debated the effort that it would take to convince him otherwise and realised it wasn't possible.

"I found a note in the Maze"

He didn't miss a beat, "what did it say!"

"I don't know- it didn't make any sense"

"What. Did. It. Say"

Joanne bit her bottom lip, before pulling the crumpled up piece of paper out of her back pocket and handing it to him.

His eyes quickly scanned over it. Use it on one of them.

"Alby will like to see this" He was rather proud with himself

Joanne shook her head, thinking fast, "He already knows."

Gally's arms crossed, his eyes squinting at her before he snorted in annoyance.

"I told you, I have nothing to hi-"

"Don't think this means you are off the hook, Girl. This doesn't mean anything to me"

With that, he made his exit, bumping shoulders with Joanne on his way out. She let out a breath that she didn't know she'd been holding. For the most part, everything had worked out. For now at least.

If only she knew then the damage that would be done in the morning.