For the next few days, the boys eventually learnt not to mess with a girl on her period, it was clearly worse than dealing with a stung shank. At least a stung shank you could still tie to the bed, was incoherent, couldn't argue back and only lasted for three days, four days maximum.
A girl on her period? Even a usually calm girl like Qiufeng, piss her off and she would argue the klunk out of you until you literally have nothing else to klunk out. The worst part was that anything could set her emotions off during this period, and you wouldn't even know what had set her off (be it an action or the surroundings, or whether it was just your face) until it was too late. There was even once Newt had witnessed her bursting into tears out of nowhere and rushed to her side in alarm, only to find out it was because there was no more milk in the fridge.
"It was as if you stepped on a cat's tail and it sulked for a week, scratching your face off whenever you go too near it before the week is up." Minho liked to put it, having gotten the brunt of the flaring ups due to his sarcastic nature.
A day after hell week had ended, Qiufeng decided to get up early. Even before the runners were up, to take care of some business that had irked her throughout the week but she didn't feel like doing anything about it then because period.
She glanced down at her lunches and felt self-consciousness wash over her. How was she going to tell the others that she had made these for them later? She wondered if it was too weird to be packing lunches for the runners all of the sudden, and felt heat rise up to her cheeks at the thought of them judging her. She shook her head quickly to dispel all unwanted imaginations.
"It's normal!" The girl insisted to herself out loud as she wrapped up the lunch boxes. "You just saw the runners packing leftovers for themselves and decided it was unhealthy for them, especially since they're running out there for the whole day, like, what if they get a stomach-ache right? Then they wouldn't be able to run and then we'd be stuck in here longer!"
Qiufeng nodded to herself, seemingly satisfied with her own justification. She piled up the boxes on top of one another and with new found enthusiasm, turned around to place them on the table. To save herself embarrassment and having to explain herself, she'll just leave the lunches here for them to collect themselves later.
"So I, not being able to take it seeing them take leftovers anymore, decided to pack them lunches, clearly for my own-eek!"
She squeaked and almost dropped everything she was holding as she made eye contact with Minho who was leaning forward, folded arms supporting him against the table. To her further horror, she saw the rest of the runners standing a little way behind him, struggling not to laugh. The corner of his mouth was twitching a little, as if he was trying to hide the amusement on his face.
"H-how much of that did you hear?" Qiufeng demanded in a fluster, her face felt like it was on fire. She hastily setting the lunch boxes right in front of his face.
"Enough." Minho laughed as he stood up and took the pile of lunch boxes on the table and handed it out before sending the other runners off first. As they left, they in turn thanked her with amusement all over their faces, and told her not to worry too much about it, eventually leaving her alone with Minho and her humiliation.
Her eyes darted to and fro from Minho and the surroundings, as if she couldn't look him in the eye for too long just yet. "W-what?" She eventually stammered defensively as the other stayed put.
"Can't I thank you personally?" He raised an eyebrow as he took off his backpack. She stayed silent, not very sure of how to respond and still very much flustered from before. Fiddling with the little strands of hair that were settling around her neck, she wished he would leave her alone to lament her loss of reputation, again.
"Your hair's getting a little long isn't it?" He commented as he unzipped his backpack and put in the lunchbox.
Qiufeng blinked as she combed her fingers through her hair once, noticing the slight difference in length since she had arrived at the glade. "I… I didn't, notice."
Minho laughed. "Louis is going to be cutting the gladers' hair soon, but even I'd say you wouldn't make such a bad girl in long hair."
Long hair? She hadn't really thought about it.
"Gotta go, thanks Feng." He grinned and with a cheeky wink, turned around and jogged away.
As soon as he was out of sight, and making sure that no one else was around, she quickly grabbed the nearest pan and tried to find a good angle to look at her reflection. There weren't any mirrors around the glade, so the reflective surface of the metal would have to do, as burnt as it was.
She frowned as she tried to picture herself with perfect long flowing ebony black hair instead of the messy bird nest that she had on her head now. She often woke up with a horrible bedhead and usually just ran a hand through her short locks to untangle it, but the boys still teased her regardless. Even through the burnt marks she could see that a few strands of hair were sticking out randomly, and she tried to smoothen it down the best she could. However eventually she gave up trying, the pan was too burnt to see anything further.
Later that day when Newt came to visit her at the kitchen during lunch, she poured out the entire incident to him in a fluster, needing an outlet to her emotions. "Oh my god, first last week happened, and now everyone's going to think I'm a weirdo, talking to myself like that in the morning." She groaned, throwing her head unto her folded arms on the table.
Newt chuckled at the girl's laments as he shook his head and patted her on the back. "Don't worry you shank, I'm sure they appreciated the gesture."
She peered out at him and sighed in defeat. "…Well, I guess but I still got caught talking to myself."
"Trust me, you're not the weirdest." The blond reassured. "Louis from the track-hoes once got caught using the spade as a mic and singing away like some kinda popstar."
"Are you serious?" Qiufeng sat up and giggled, intrigued by his recounting of the other glader's embarrassing moments.
"Yeah, we didn't let that shank ever hear the end of it." Newt's eyes twinkled with amusement. "But we limit ourselves, don't want him to cut flower patterns into our hair."
"Oh right, he cuts your hair?" The girl asked, thinking back to the morning where Minho had mentioned that Louis was going to be cutting hair for the gladers soon.
She instinctively reached for the little strands of hair that were curling around her neck and Newt noticed. "Yeah he does, do you think our hair stays short magically?" He laughed. "In fact, he's cutting hair tomorrow for a few gladers, wanna get yours cut?"
"Oh right." Qiufeng mused as she played with the ends of her hair for a moment before glancing up at Newt. "Do you think I should?"
He studied her for a moment. Right now, with a good scrubbing and some hair wax, Qiufeng would probably look like those kind of young pretty boys that appeared back in the day in host clubs and entertainment venues. If she grew out her hair, it would probably distinguish her from the rest of the boys, though he wasn't sure whether it was a good thing or not.
She was still fourteen after all. She had hardly matured to a point where anyone could clearly tell she was a girl on sight especially since she had short hair like the rest of them. If not for the fact that her voice was clearly female, they would've just thought she was another shank albeit feminine in the box when she arrived.
"It wouldn't make a difference to me really, you'll still be Feng anyway." Newt eventually said. "Although if you grow out your hair you'll obviously look more like a gal."
He paused, wondering if he should add on and decided to shuck it. "You can't really tell otherwise asides from your voice." Newt chuckled, earning himself a whack on the back from the indignant girl.
"Anyway, I'll leave you to it, need to get back to work." He laughed, getting up from his seat and heading off. "Don't think about it too much, you'll still be Feng to us either way."
She watched him go thoughtfully, before slipping back behind the kitchen counter and grabbing the pan again. Sitting down on the ground back against the counter, she stared at her barely visible reflection through the burn marks, frowning as she struggled to come up with an image of herself. Eventually she started to move the pan around, up and down, and tried looking at herself through different angles to find a spot where she could see herself the most.
"Qiufeng?" Someone called, and she dropped the pan in panic.
She picked up the pan hurriedly, but Fry had already heard the loud clanging sound and poked his head out from behind the corner. She gave him a sheepish smile. "Hi."
"What the shuck are you doing?" He gave her a suspicious look as he put down what he was doing and approached the guilty looking girl.
"I-I knocked into the pan!" Qiufeng laughed nervously.
Fry raised an eyebrow as she continued, insisting that it was true.
"Qiufeng…"
"Ah…" Her face fell when she realized it wasn't going to work with Fry. "Okay okay! I was trying to look at my reflection so I could try to imagine myself with long hair!" Her confession tumbled out of her rapidly and she heaved a big sigh at the end, covering her face with the pan.
"Long hair?" Fry raised an eyebrow, before remembering that Louis was going to be cutting their hair the next day. "Why would you want long hair?"
"I-I mean." She took a deep breath. "You know… I am a girl after all…"
"Then keep your hair?" Fry looked flabbergasted, he couldn't see why this was a dilemma for her.
"Wouldn't it be weird if I kept my hair long?" Qiufeng shifted uncomfortably under the table. Like, she was amongst a bunch of boys after all, perhaps fitting in was better. That and she was quite comfortable with her relationships around the glade right now, a boy, like the rest. Would things change if she decided to be more feminine? Would they isolate her again? What about Newt and Minho? She didn't want things to change between them either.
"I see nothing weird about it, you're still going to be you." Fry laughed. "Of course if you do, you can expect some shanks around here to try their luck eventually, bunch of hormone filled shanks."
She laughed, that was another reason. But… At least to the people closest to her, she was still going to be her. That made her feel better about whichever decision she was going to make. Yes, she would still be Qiufeng, long hair or short hair regardless, and she felt confident that Newt and Minho wouldn't treat her any other way.
"Nothing wrong with a girl wanting to look a girl." He reassured her as he took the pan away. "Now get your lazy ass up, the kitchen needs cleaning, and your clothes ain't gonna cut it!"
"Yeah yeah." She smiled as she got up from the floor and dusted herself off, before reaching for the broom. Fry went back to what he was doing, and she started to sweep the floor and along with it, her worries away.
The next day as she was preparing food for the runners again, Newt jogged up to the kitchens. There were already a few people walking around in the half-light, having awakened earlier to have their hair cut. A chair was set up a little way from the centre of the glade, where one boy sat still and another snipped away at his fringe.
"C'mon Feng, it's almost your turn to cut." The blond called a little way from the kitchen, placing both hands on his hips.
Qiufeng looked down at the ground for a moment, before looking back up at him with a smile. "It's okay Newt! I'm not cutting my hair anymore!"
AN: Hey guys! :D I hope you enjoyed this chapter of Redamancy, I know it's a little slow but please bear with me ^^; what's your favourite part of this chapter? :
Also don't forget to leave a review to show your love! (: