I've been a Track-Hoe for about a week now and I have started to figure some things out. It didn't take me long to realize that I have to put on a tough act in front of some of the guys to get them to actually respect me. Zart helps me out in that area by letting me act as a back up Keeper in case he isn't around to yell at the boys. Thanks to that, I get to boss some of them around and and therefore get a little bit more respect from them. With my friends though, such as Newt, Minho, Winston, and Zart, I don't have to put on any act. I can just be my normal carefree, goofy self. Those two facts led me to another, I am a really good actress. I can put on a show that could convince anyone. Well... Almost anyone. I get the feeling that Minho can see through most of my acts. Something else I have noticed is that most of the Gladers seem to have gotten used to me. There are still a few of them that stare as I walk by, but I can usually scare them off with a glare. The final thing that I have figured out, and probably the most important one, is that long hair is incredibly annoying. It gets in the way of everything. When I am eating if there is even the slightest bit of wind my hair flies into my face, while I am working it gets caught in plants and tangled up in vines, and even when I am sleeping its just so wild that I have to constantly move it. I am sitting in a tree in the Deadheads thinking about all of this when I realize that the boys must have something that they use to cut their hair. I climb down out of the tree and then walk out of the Deadheads. Everyone is on break for lunch right now so Newt should be at a picnic table. When I look over there I see Newt sitting down and talking to another Glader. I think his name is Dave. As I approach them Dave stops talking and casts his eyes down as if he scared to look at me. I decide that the best thing to do is act natural. I sit down next to Newt and neither of them talk.
"Hey Newt." I say breaking the silence.
"Hey. What's up?"
"I was wondering what you boys have to cut your hair with."
"We have some scissors. Why?"
"I want a hair cut."
"I don't know how to cut a girls hair."
"Just cut it like you do for the boys."
"You want short hair?"
"Yeah."
Newt gives me a look. "Alright. Then lets go cut your hair."

It took a little longer than I thought it would, but eventually Newt had finally cut off all of that long, annoying hair. As I look at it all laying on the ground at my feet I realize for the first time that I have red hair. I guess I never really took the time to look at myself. Newt looks at me and nods.
"I think I did an okay job." He says.
"Yeah. We will see what the others think about it."
We both walk out and I make my way back to the Garden. As I do I feel the boys watching me. Staring at me as if I am some strange creature. When I make it to the Garden all of the other Track-Hoes had stopped working and were staring at me.
"What you shanks looking at?" I say, "Get back to work."
They hurriedly get back to doing their different tasks. I see Zart walk towards me.
"You got all your hair chopped off."
"Yes I did. How does it look? Did Newt do a good job?"
"Yeah. He did a great job. I like it."
"Thanks. So-" I was just about to say something else when I hear a noise coming from the Box. I look at Zart questioningly and he smiles.
"What is going on with the Box?" I ask him.
"Come and see." He says and leads me to it. When we get over there the Box doors have already opened and some of the other Gladers are there too. As I look around I notice that most of them are Keepers. I see Newt and Alby climb into the Box and start pulling stuff out of it and giving it to different people.
"Every week the Box brings up new supplies for us to use. Sometimes if we write something down on a sheet of paper and then put it in the Box we will get whatever it is that we requested. Last week we requested some Squash so I hope that we get some." Zart explains to me.
"I have been here for two weeks though. How did I miss it the first time it came up?"
"I dont know. Maybe you were on break or something."
It takes a few minutes for Alby and Newt to pass out all of the supplies, but when they finally get to us we see that they did give us some Squash.
"Great! I know exactly where to plant this!" I tell Zart.
He laughs. "Of course you do."

After I help Zart and the others plant the Squash the rest of the evening seems to go by pretty fast. One minute I am helping plant some Squash and then the next I start to see the Runners coming in. As I walk out of the Garden to get some dinner, I see Minho come back into the Glade. He starts to make his way towards that building that all the Runners go into right after leaving the Maze. Right before he enters he makes eye contact with me. We stare at each other for what feels like a couple minutes before he looks away and walks into the building. I shake my head a little bit and then go and get my food. Once I have something to eat I find Newt and Winston and sit down with then.
"Wow Greenie! Nice hair cut." Winston tells me.
"Thanks."
"See. I told you I did a good job." Newt says as he nudges me.
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever."
"Seriously though. Now you don't stand out as much." Winston says. "Was that why your cut? So that you wouldnt have half of us staring at you?"
"Not really. I just got annoyed with having long hair. It got in the way of everything. Why do some of them still stare at me? I think that they have had enough time to get used to me. "
"Your the only girl in a Glade full of teenage boys. I am pretty sure that at this point the boys that are doing that are doing it because they like you. I mean, I wont lie, you are really pretty and now that you've got that new hair cut you look like a pretty tough shank." Winston explains.
I roll my eyes.
"What? You don't believe me?"
"Its not that I don't believe you. I just don't want all that attention."
"Yeah. I don't like attention either."
"Is that because your embarrassed by how much acne you have?" I ask jokingly. Winston blushes deep red and Newt tries to hide a laugh with little success. I see Minho walk up to the Homestead and wave him over to us. By the time he gets here Newt has already failed at trying not to laugh and is cracking up beside me as Winston turns an even darker red.
"What happened?" He says as he takes a seat next to me.
"I made a comment about Winston's acne and Newt started laughing. I don't know why though. It wasn't very funny."
"Well apparently to him it was." Minho says as he starts to smile. He looks back at me and I see his eyes look at my hair.
"What do you think?" I ask him.
"About what?" He says sounding distracted and still looking at my hair.
I roll my eyes. "About my hair."
"Oh." He laughs and ruffles my hair as if I were a little kid. "You look tough Greenie."
I duck my head out from his hand and laugh. "Thanks shank." I say.
"Who you calling shank, shank?" Minho says as he pushes me off the bench. I look up at him shocked and see Newt laughing with him. Winston looks as shocked as I feel.
"Oh really!" I say as I start laughing with them. I jump up and tackle him off the bench. I pin him to the ground and look down at him. Now its my turn to laugh at him as he looks shocked. I feel him move to flip us over so that he will be pinning me down instead of the other way around. I jump off of him before he has the chance. Then I see him grabbing for my ankle. I take off at a run before he can. When I look back over my shoulder at him I see that he is chasing after me. I laugh again and keep running even though there is no point in running from a Runner. It doesn't take long for me to feel his body crash into mine as he tackles me to the ground. I look up at him and feel his chest shaking against mine as we both laugh. He pins me against the ground and puts his face right next to mine.
"Do you give up yet?" He asks.
"Yes. I give up! Now get off me!" I say, still laughing. He gets off me and holds his hand out to help me up. I take his hand and get up, brushing myself off.
"Alright you two. Enough messing around. It's time for bed." I hear Newt say from behind us. I turn around and see that he still has the hint of a smile on his face.
"Alight." I say. "See you shanks in the morning."