The day after, Nick officially made her part of the kitchens. Qiufeng was pretty contented with learning how to make stew and fry eggs, seemed like a much better option compared to slaughtering animals and looking at icky wounds. She shuddered at the thought of handling needles again and shook it off before she could think any further.
"Qiufeng!" Fry called and she snapped out of her thoughts. She still wasn't used to hearing her name in an accent.
"Coming!" She replied as she quickly finished seasoning the chicken meat and hurried over to the chef.
The Chinese girl looked curiously at the large spread of food that was already on the table, it was at least two times the amount of food they usually had on the few days that she had been here. She handed over the chicken she had seasoned and walked along the length of the table, admiring the feast that they had prepared. She wondered what it was for and tried to come up with her own answer, but nothing.
"Why's there so much food today?" She turned back towards Fry and casually asked.
"Oh, thought either Newt or Minho would've told you." The chef replied indifferently as he plopped the chicken into a pan. "Every time a Greenie comes in, they'll usually throw a celebration, but because the creators thought it'd be funny to throw in a shucking girl and confuse everyone, yours was postponed until today."
"C-celebration?" Qiufeng stammered, forgetting to play it cool while hoping they didn't have a thing where they embarrass the new kids. If she had known earlier, she would've just told them not to bother, she didn't really fancy being in the spotlight, especially amongst a group of boys she barely even knew.
"Don't worry about it." Frypan noticed her nervousness and laughed at her. "It'll be fun."
Qiufeng doubted it, but gave a small laugh to indicate she had heard the other.
Throughout dinner preparations, she could tell the rest of the glade was excited for the night. There was a vibe in the air as everyone did their jobs, and excited chatter wherever she turned. As Fry finally let her go for the day, Qiufeng looked up and noticed in the middle of the glade now there was a hill of wood. She wondered if they were going to have a bonfire tonight.
"C'mon greenie!" A voice called out to her from nearby the wood. It was Alby. "We're gonna light it up and you have to throw in one of the fire torches!"
She felt ticked off that half the boys were still referring to her as greenie even though her name was back already but headed down anyway. Her eyes darted about looking for either Newt or Minho along the way down. It was weird when they weren't around with her, they were the ones that were the closest to her at the moment, and the rest of the boys… She didn't know if she was thinking too much or if they all just seemed to avoid her. Qiufeng gave up looking for them as she approached Alby, turning her attention to what was in his hand.
Alby held out to her a piece of wood that was already flaming from the end and she took it gingerly, watching sparks of fire fly from the burning wood.
Minho and Newt who were a little way from Homestead, noticed her take the flaming piece of wood and stopped their business to watch.
"Remind me of the time we first lit the bonfire." Newt chuckled as he watched the fire dance in her eyes.
"You mean, almost set the glade on fire?" Minho replied dryly as the other shot him a glare.
There was a pause as Alby readied the other boys and they all took a step back, flinging the torches into the wood pile at the same time. There was a blinding white before it faded to red as the wood burst into flames, and the other boys cheered. Qiufeng gazed upwards, watching the flames hungrily lick at the sky. The glowing embers of the bonfire leaped and danced, flashing in the hot swirling air before cascading to earth, and she wondered if they were perhaps celebrating their freedom.
From the back, her fair skin was illuminated with a fierce glow, her short ruffled black hair dyed red and orange from the flames. Her silhouette was small against the bonfire but it seemed to hold a strength of its own, and as she glanced back at Alby, it was as though her eyes had turned a brilliant amber.
"She seems to belong with the flames." Minho murmured as he watched her from a distance.
There was a moment as they watched her laugh with Alby for a second before the leader moved on to interact with another group, leaving her alone by the bonfire. She stood there for a second, as if not sure what to do, before moving off alone to a side.
Qiufeng groaned as she sat down a little way from the fire, she felt really out of place here… Why on earth did the creators think it was a good idea to chuck her into a group full of boys?
"Hey, greenie." A voice sounded from above and she glanced up to see Newt and Minho standing behind her. It was Minho that spoke as they settled down beside her, one on each side.
"Greenie?" Qiufeng repeated a little too sweetly, inwardly relieved to see them. "Do you want worms in your food?"
"No thanks!" Newt laughed. "Why're you here anyway? Shouldn't the guest of honor be enjoying the party?"
She shook her head when Newt mentioned guest of honor, she was clearly no guest, and there was nothing honourable about being stuck in a maze with no memories. Also how was she supposed to enjoy the party when there was literally nothing to enjoy around here? The food was good tonight, yeah sure but besides that there was nothing else to do unless you had a bunch of friends to socialize with, and she was pretty sure the boys were avoiding her.
She rolled her eyes. "Well, I mean I don't know if you guys couldn't tell, but I literally only know less than ten boys around here."
"So?" Newt raised an eyebrow. "Make friends then!"
"It's. Awkward." Qiufeng envied at how easy it sounded, just make friends right? Says Newt, the boy whom was already friends with everyone.
Minho laughed as he stood up and offered a hand to her. "C'mon, I'll show you how to break the ice with those shuck-faces, ain't too hard."
She glanced at him for a moment before at his hand and then tried to take it as casually as she could while Newt looked at Minho suspiciously.
The Korean brought them over to where a bunch of boys were gathered, making a rather big racket. She raised an eyebrow at him as he pushed his way through the ring and beckoned to her from the front. Qiufeng looked weirdly at him, but followed, until she was in clear view of what was happening in the ring.
There were two boys standing inside a poorly drawn ring in the sand, and they were tussling together, head to head. The smaller of the two was Charles, a runner, and the other was a boy she had seen around before, but had never talked to. The bigger boy obviously had an advantage, and there was a moment of tension before he pushed Charles outside the ring, inducing loud cheers from the crowd.
"Gally." Minho called and the bigger boy looked up, chest heaving from the tussle. "Mind if I have a game with Qiufeng?"
"What?" Newt sounded incredulous as he made his way to the front. "You can't do that you shuck-face, she's a bloody girl!"
Qiufeng seemed taken aback by Minho's sudden challenge as well, but she had a poker face hiding her disbelief. Did he really think she would be able to bond with the boys by scuffling with them?
"So?" The Korean made his way to the other side of the ring where Gally had cleared off to stand at the side. "It'll be fine, I'll make the rules simpler for her."
"Instead of having to push my whole body out of the ring, as long as she gets any body part out, she wins."
He turned his eyes to the girl who was trying her best to continue poker facing, despite her heart hammering against her chest. "That okay with you?"
"Yeah." She nodded, trying to keep her voice steady. There were cheers as she gingerly stepped into the ring, what had she just agreed to? Tussle with Minho?
"Ready?" He asked with a grin.
Obviously freaking not?
"Yeah okay." Qiufeng breathed.
"Go!" Someone yelled, and all she saw was Minho dashing right at her. She panicked, but couldn't react, and felt him ramming into her. The next thing she knew, she was on the ground. Her mind urged her to avoid embarrassment and she sat up quickly, spitting out sand. Qiufeng wiped her mouth with the back of her fist.
"Aww, go easy on her man!"
"Yeah c'mon you shuck-face, she's just a girl!"
She gritted her teeth as someone hauled her up. "You okay?" Minho asked as she shook her head and regained her balance.
"Yeah, I can go again." She took a deep breath and faced Minho who looked a little awkward, perhaps he had used too much strength than he had intended.
"It's okay, just do what you did again." Qiufeng reassured as she quickly formed a plan in her head. It may not be a win, but she could at least try.
They went back to their positions and she took a deep breath to calm her nerves. She could do this.
"Go!"
Minho didn't change tactics, dashing right at her, but she ducked right as he came near enough. She shoved her elbow into his chest and he staggered backwards at the sudden attack. Coming back up, Qiufeng felt an adrenaline rush as she stepped sideways and with all her strength, pushed the larger boy unto the floor.
There was a short 'oof' coming from Minho as he hit the floor, but he wasn't done. Quickly propping himself up, he twisted his body upright and swept the floor with one leg, feeling it connect with Qiufeng's feet.
Then in a split second as he watched his opponent fall he realized, he was tussling with a girl! In the excitement of a fight he had forgotten again and went all out for a moment. He winced and prepared to hear a thud as she hit the ground, but there was none.
Qiufeng felt her body twist instinctively in the air, and she landed on her hands before flipping herself backwards once, and then tumbling over uninjured. There was a moment before some of the boys began to cheer.
"Not… Bad." Minho eventually said as he breathed.
"Hey! Minho's hand is out of the ring!" Someone called out and the Korean glanced down to see his palm just on the outside of the circle.
There were louder cheers this time as the boys crowded around Qiufeng and passed her a drink, patting her on the back. Some were saying good job, and some calling her name, the girl felt a little disorientated as the rest of the boys were finally able to connect with her.
"See? I knew she'd be okay." Minho said through short breaths as he stood beside Newt and watched the girl make a face at the drink.
"Haven't seen a handstand in ages." Newt commented. "Think she might've been a gymnast?" He joked.
Minho shook his head, such words didn't have a place in their world now.
AN: Trivia time! Hope you guys paid attention to the chapter, a small part of it has some relevance in the future :
Please consider leaving a review if you guys have enjoyed this chapter, it really means a lot to me! (: