The next morning when I woke, I felt like I had been hit by a truck. My head ached from the inside out and I felt like if I tried to sit up the whole Pacific Ocean would spill out of my mouth and onto the floor. Surely this would buy me a day off work I thought to myself, but as if to answer my question, Newt suddenly pulled open the poorly made, tattered curtain that hung in our room exposing me to the blinding sunlight which only made the headache about 50x worse.
"Come on greenie time to get up" He said firmly
"Seriously?" I croaked
"Seriously, your hangover is self-inflicted and hopefully this has taught you to be a little less wild with the liquor" He said
"Well it's certainly taught me to how to defy the laws of gravity" I said as I rushed to the window throwing up my whole stomach contents.
"Looks like what went down is coming back up" the blonde smirked.
Who's the joker now? Is what I wanted to say, but I was too busy heaving chucks of idontknowwhat out of the window. God I hope no one outside saw this.
Instead of continuing with his lecture like I thought he would, New walked up behind me and pulled my hair back with one hand while he rubbed my back with the other. It was a kind gesture which reminded me of last night and what I had said to him.
"I'm so sorry Newt"
"Don't be" he said "I've seen some of the boys far worse than this. It happens to everyone"
"Not that" I started "About what I said to you last night, it was horrible and I didn't mean it" I could still picture the look of hurt in his eyes. The thought made me sad, he was the closest person I had here.
"It's already forgotten" he replied with a smile "but anyways I better head for breakfast. I'll see you there after you've gotten yourself cleaned up"
But before I could reply, he was already out the door. Something told me that he had not forgotten it.
After a shower, I headed to the kitchens for some breakfast. I took my usual spot next to Newt and smiled at him trying my best not to look like a zombie.
"Feeling better?" he asked
"A bit" I answered truthfully. The shower had done wonders, but I still didn't feel up for work.
"Good because you've got a busy day" Alby said from across the table
"Ah yes" I sighed "Who will I be trialling with today?"
"Well" Newt began as he picked up a piece of toast "We thought we change things up a bit to speed up your trials, so today you'll spend half a day with the med-jacks and the other half with the baggers"
"Sound great, when can I start?" I just wanted to get this day over with so I could sleep for 10 years.
"As soon as we're finished, I'll take you over to Clint" Newt said finally putting the toast in his mouth.
After we were finished, Newt took me over to the med-jacks hut to start part 1 of the day's trials. The hut was basically two rooms in a stick made hut which was surprisingly sturdy. I was to work with Clint the keeper who I met the first day I arrived. He was a short boy with mousy hair and green/grey eyes that glistened and Jeff who I had only met last night at the bonfire. He was dark skinned like Alby, but he was a much smaller and thinner build. Jeff was the other med-jack.
They spent a few hours telling me about different injuries that occur in the glade and how to treat them, most of which were inflicted on the slicers and the builders.
The next part wasn't quite as easy. Clint had brought out a large ball of material with a big tear in it. Jeff was standing by with a needle and thread.
"Cuts are the most common injury in the glade and knowing how to apply stitches to the wound is essential in being a med-jack" Clint spoke in an even, steady voice. "Now Jeff's going to show you how to stitch up the cut and then we'll get you to have a go"
I nodded in reply
Jeff's hand moved swiftly across the fabric. Puncturing holes, pulling the thread, bringing the edges of the severed skin together to close the wound. It looked as if he had done this a thousand times.
"Your turn greenie"
I took the needle and thread off Jeff and started on the cut. It was awkward to thread and all of my threads were spaced unevenly. In the end I had only made the cut bigger and probably inflicted a world of pain onto the poor material ball.
Well that's another job messed up.
After lunch it was time to trial with Bill as a bagger. I had only spoken to Bill once since being here and it wasn't a very long or happy conversation
Newt- "Greenie this is Bill. Bill is the keeper of the baggers
Me- "Nice to meet you Bill"
Bill- "Ok" and with that he walked off
"So what do you baggers do?" I asked trying desperately to break the awkward tension
"Guard the walls and discard of any dead bodies"
He started walking away, but I followed
"So are you kept busy a lot, or do you have a lot of down time as a bagger?"
He turned around just as he reached the doorway of the baggers hut
"Look, do you see any dead bodies lying around?"
"No" I answered looking around which was probably looked really dumb
"Well then" he said sharply "No bodies means no work and no work means you're done for the day"
As he said that, he slammed the door shut right in my face, but on the bright side I was finally finished for the day.
After dinner I sat with Ben on a bench underneath a tree near the homestead. I liked talking to Ben. He didn't treat me like I was the greenie or a girl. He treated me like I was just another person and I was grateful for that.
"Do you like being a runner?" I asked. We had been talking about my so far terrible failures of trials
"Of course I like it, it's my job he answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world
"Bill doesn't seem to like his job" I retorted
"Bill doesn't seem to like anything" Ben said with a laugh
"No he's like an angry little hobbit who hates everything and everyone" I added, we were both laughing now, but the laughter was short lived when Newt walked up to us clearing his throat
"It's getting pretty late and both of you will be working hard tomorrow. Time for bed." He said like a parent would to a child who has been up all night watching cartoons
"Yes dad" I said standing up causing Newt to roll his eyes, but I could see a grin on his face
"Good night "I smiled at Ben before heading off with Newt.
"Good night greenie" He replied
"You two are getting pretty close?" Newt questioned as we walked to homestead
"Yeah" I answered. "He a good friend and he doesn't talk to me like I'm the greenie or the girl who everyone's scared of and stares at like I'm an alien"
"Last I checked, I don't treat you like a bloody alien" He smirked
"Yes Newt you don't treat me like an alien and thank you for that" I try my best salute
"Alright Greenie, time for bed" Newt said as we entered our room "Hopefully tomorrows trial goes better than today"
"I'm sure that it will" not that it was likely
"Good night Newt"
"Night Greenie"
A/N: Hey guys, I've been reading the reviews and can not thank you people enough! It's so lovely seeing people write nice things about the story and it's definitely motivating me to write more! I've been up writing this chapter since 2am and I have the first day of term in 3 hours but I felt like getting this chapter out was a more pressing issue than sleep , but anyways I hope you like it! :)
p.s I'm trying to make the chapters longer