"Day one Greenie. Rise and Shine." Gally took hold the boy's shirt and with one great tug sent him thudding up to the surface. Quite roughly I might add. Yet there he lay at the mercy of at least thirty boys...and me.

"Gally!" I scolded, shooting him a stern glare. "I said be careful." Gally rolled his eyes, not giving a shit about the kid he practically threw upwards.

"Whatever y/n. You wanna baby him be my guest." He lifted himself out of the container, joining the other boys who had gotten a lot meaner in the last minute.

They surrounded the kid, stabbing and poking with their words. Almost animalistic in the way they treated him, each boy wanting to get a word in.

"He looks like a Slopper to me." A chorus of goonish laughter followed. I held fast to stay close to the boy.

"You know me, I could use some help in the kitchen!" Frypan snickered. Even Frypan was joining in!

Newt wasn't doing anything about it. Just looking the greenie up and down. Enjoying the hazing. Gally stiffly crossed his arms off to the side, stance all square like. Help came from no one. Well I wouldn't stand for it. Stupid insensitive Bitches.

"Shut up!" I demanded, digging half moon circles into my palms. "You're freaking him out, slim it!" The guys just cackled like hyenas, ignoring me.

"Lighten up y/n!"

"Yeah! Be glad they didn't bring us a nicer girl!"

"Choke on your own spit Randy!" I snarled, flipping the bird off to him. Then I remembered the boy. Right, the boy...who was right beneath me. I could kick him I wanted. Slowly I kneeled down, as to not scare him, sitting myself down on my legs. "Hi Greenie." This was the moment. The moment where he'd realize that we'd be best friends. I hesitantly reached out a hand to touch him, practically trembling. "It's okay-"

He left. Literally left. My touch burned him like an iron. He jumped away and scrambled up to his feet, now standing above me. With a flash he broke through the crowd, sprinting for his life...right towards the maze doors.

"Hey we got a runner!" Zart shouted as he was spun aside. Good to see he wasn't wallowing, at least not on the outside.

The boy. I couldn't let the boy leave. I'd be a failure if I let my greenie run towards death. I always froze in situations like this, but not this time.

I hopped up onto my feet and followed the kid, desperate to get him away from the evil leering doors that had an appetite for teenage boys.

The one problem was that I usually sucked at running. I hated it. My lungs burning, muscles aching. I was practically subjecting myself to torture for this greenie.

I focused on the back of his shirt, willing my legs to move faster as the walls grew nearer. Then with some fucking miracle I did it. I caught the fabric. Never letting go.

I ripped him backwards, forcing him to topple, knocking me down with him in the process. Cheers erupted from the mob as we both lay in the grass, side by side.

Coughs crackled out of me, stinging the back of my throat. The boy rose to his feet, circling around and around. Taking in the dull atmosphere that was now his home. My chest lifted rapidly, heart beating faster than a drum line.

"Fuck! Last time I run-" I cut myself with a gasp for air. "I swear." Boys began to jog over, one after the other, Captain Gally included. Oh great.

"Hey, you okay y/n?" Chuck, my guardian angel was looking down at me.

"Fine and dandy Charles. Now how about you help the lady up."

"Alright." Chuck obeyed, bringing me back up to stand. I brushed my dress off, my heart rate starting to drop back to normal. All ready to face the greenie when I saw two gladers shuffling him away.

"Hey!" I scampered after them, blades of jade grass tickling my ankles as I swished through. "You can't just take him!" Apparently they could, heading straight for the slammer as they disregarded me. Throwing my hands up, I shouted after them. "Come on, he didn't know any better!"

"Y/n!" Shit.

There was the old captain, right on cue. Bright and cheery as ever. Uh oh. A hand pressed into my shoulder, forcibly whirling me around. "The hell were you thinking?!"

"I ran after him and caught him. Big deal."

"He could've hurt you, he'd just gotten out of the box! You can't mess with people like that."

Now this was starting to get a little embarrassing, Gally chastising me like I was a badly behaved child in front of practically everyone. His loudness didn't help my simmering face.

"If it weren't for me he would've ran out in the maze! Politely fuck off please! Ugh!" And with that I wrestled out of his grip, trailing off to find Chuck.

_____________________________

They were up there. On the tower. Alby and the new kid. They had been for the past five minutes. I checked. He was kind of cute, in the classical way. Very pretty boy model. However I only liked Gally, and he liked me. So I obviously wasn't even going to touch the kid. I'd be the boy's mentor instead, friend even.

Stupid Gally had my heart, no matter how frustrating he had been earlier. He'd always have my heart. The locket around my neck proved that. I'd been twiddling around with the chain, smiling all stupid when I heard Alby's voice.

"Hey y/n!" He shouted. "Come meet the new greenie!" It was happening. Really happening! I jogged on over, unable to hide the pleased look on my face. Alby had taken the boy down the ladder so now they were on the ground. Safe.

I slowed down towards the end, not wanting to scare the boy with my excited pace. Falling to a stroll I approached them. I was close again. Now I could really look at him.

A dark brunette with a medium cut. Eyes the color of October pressed against olive skin. He wore a blue tunic like shirt and a fascinated look on his face.

My heart wanted to jump out of my throat. I had so much I wanted to say to him. The paragraphs and paragraphs I had dreamt had disappeared, no where to be found.

"Hi." Was what I pathetically summed all of that up with. Idiot. Still I had an unresistable urge to...

"Oh!" Popped out of his mouth. Suddenly my arms were around his middle, embracing him in a warm hug. Remembering my manners, I quickly removed my grasp.

The floodgates were removed, allowing for every word I'd thought of to be puked out.

"Hi I'm y/n and we're going to be best friends!" I took hold of his hand, giving it a firm hyper handshake. "I've been waiting for this day for forever! Oh my God you haven't met my friends yet but they're the most amazing people! Oh you probably won't know you're name for a while so don't worry about that. It took me forever to remember mine! It came to me when I fell out of a tree! Before that people just called me greenie or shebean or shank or knife girl but that's only because I cut Gally with a knife on my first day here and oh my God I'm rambling I'm sorry..."

"Oh you're uh, you're fine." The boy took my rant surprisingly well. He seemed kind of...sweet. Alby alternated glances between us before rubbing the top of his head.

"Right. Well I'm bored with all of this so you can take care of the shank from here. Just get him set up alright."

"Sure!" I chirped. He patted my shoulder, pushing by me, leaving me with the boy. I motioned him to sit next to me in the grass. Clovers and blades prickled at my legs, a beetle blade running over my skin.

We stayed in silence for a while, partially due to the newness of the situation and partially due to me not wanting to frighten him more than he had been. He kept looking me up and down, scanning the glade.

"You're the only girl here." What other people would have questioned, this boy pieced it together as a statement. His hypothesis was true. Smart.

"As far as I know." I smiled softly as I played around with my rings, letting them dangle on the tips of my fingers.

"Why?" His rounded brow furrowed.

"I don't know why. Maybe you can figure it out Einstein." I giggled, poking him on the shoulder. He flinched, but saw that I was only being friendly and softened. Schedule. There was a schedule and I needed to follow it."Hey, let's go get your hammock set up. Maybe after you can have some of the stuff I baked this morning."

"What did you make?"

"Everything. Shortcake, cookies, donuts, who knows what else. I didn't know what you'd like so I made it all!"

"Oh. That's uh nice of you."

"You're welcome!" I helped him up, making sure I didn't have any stray grass companions myself. Before I turned to lead him to the hammocks I paused, saying. "Greenie, if there's anything you need rain or shine, don't hesitate to ask okay."

"Okay. Cool." He nodded, his hair tousling with his movements. "Hey y/n?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."