I do not own The Maze Runner or any of its characters

Alby: *after he locked up Lauren* I need to talk to you.
Lauren: Not now, not ever.

Lauren
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(This chapter takes place a week and a half after my last one)

I was up on the second floor of the Homestead, finishing up the repairs after it fell down when the world decided to make me deaf.

"What the finch?" I looked at my companions for the day for answers.

"Looks like you're not the Greenie anymore." Alec laughed, then went back to his work.

"What does that mean?"

"That sound means one thing. We've got a new Greenie coming up." Leo finished what he was working on, then left the room.

Alec and I finished later and I followed him out to the Box.

"We've got a Greenie coming up. I've really been here for a month," I told Peter and Gally when I found them in the crowd.

For some reason, 'Greenie' worked better than 'Blondie' when describing the new kid.

"Shuck, you have," Gally commented.

"Can't wait to see you and Minho have your rematch at the bonfire tonight!" Peter grinned.

"Oh, I'm definitely going to win again." I crossed my arms.

The conversation died, but it was a peaceful death. I stared at the Box, thinking of when I came up. It was scary. The thing hurtled up so fast you felt like you were flying, but with a bad feeling of not knowing where you're going.

You didn't feel free. You felt trapped.

I shook the thoughts from my head. I didn't need to dwell on them.

After a while, the siren stopped.

A couple of guys, including Gally, went forward to open up the Box. It took a second, but I finally got a look at the latest addition to the Glade.

"Is he crying?"

"Dude, it's a shucking baby!"

"Send him back!"

"What's the matter Greenie, you missin' your mommy?"

Peter and I managed to inch a little bit closer to the Box to see better.

"He's a kid. A finching kid." He couldn't have been much younger than Carl.

Peter didn't say anything, but I felt like he echoed my thoughts.

Alby dropped the rope, and the kid grabbed hold. He was on the heavier side, and Alby and the others seemed to struggle a bit to get him up.

The crowd swarmed. I was pushed forward, but Peter was able to stay back for some miraculous reason. The guys were, how should I put it, fascinated. Hands were swarming the Newbie. He was still crying, but the tears were slowing.

Newt finally put an end to it.

"All right, let's give him some buggin' space." He started pushing the guys back, and then Alby started talking.

I tuned him out. I was busy studying the kid.

He was scared, his legs were quaking, and he looked at Alby like he was the most important thing in the world. To give the kid credit, he didn't say a word the entire time. He was doing better than me.

Once Alby was done with his speech, and the crowd was dispersed, I heard my name called by Newt.

"Yeah?" I pushed through the crowd.

"Take the Greenie to get somethin' to eat. His Tour's later." Newt instructed me.

"Do you think I could do his Tour?" He'd be scared half to death by Alby. He's not, well, gentle.

"No. The leader does the Tours, and last I checked, you're not a leader. Do as you're told." Alby left in a huff, with Newt behind him.

" 'Last I checked, you're not a leader. Do as you're told, Lauren.' " I mocked. It was a bit much.

The kid gave a small chuckle.

"Lookit that. Something other than a sniffle. C'mon, Blondie. I bet I could get you two cookies from Frypan." I gave him a smile and headed towards the Kitchen.

"Frypan!"

"Lauren! Whaddya want?"

"You know me too well. Can I have a meal for the kid and," I leaned in like it was a drug deal, "could you throw in an extra cookie? It's been a rough 7 minutes."

"Coming right up."

"You're the best, Frypan!"

I turned back to the Greenie. "Okay, kiddo. Here's a basic once-over for the Glade. Frypan? You'll want to be friends with him. Me? Single-handedly the greatest person here. Alby? Just shut up around him, nod like you understand what he's saying, and you'll get along swimmingly. Newt? He's friendly. He'll probably answer your questions."

The kid nodded. "I wish you could do my Tour."

"I tried."

Frypan came back with the Greenie's sandwich and water bottle, with three cookies in hand.

I took the extra cookie. "You see? This. This is why you be nice to Frypan. Got me, Greenie?"

He nodded.

"Listen to Lauren, kid. She knows what she's talking about." Frypan gave us both a smile and disappeared back into the Kitchen.

"Let's go to the Deadheads. I want to warn you about everything not to do on your Tour." I took a bite out of my cookie.

Once I felt comfortable with the Greenie's knowledge about Alby, we went back to the Box. He was already there, and I could feel his anger.

"It's my fault, Alby. Don't take it out on the kid. I just got too chatty." Finch it. The poor kid.

Alby didn't say anything, but we stood there staring at each other for a bit. The Greenie was looking at the two of us like it was a tennis match.

"Please."

He finally looked away. I let out a breath of relief.

I gave a reassuring smile to the kid, then walked away.

"He's totally gonna get eaten up by Alby." Peter didn't have as much hope as I did.

"Lauren probably scares him more than Alby does." Gally had a different take on the matter.

"I have faith in him." I looked over to where Alby was explaining the ins and outs of the Glade. I hoped that he wouldn't scare the living daylights out of the kid.

He was growing on me.

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It's Chuck!!!

Honestly, I loved the dude. A) We have the same humor. B) Aaaaand that's about it. It's probably my maternal instincts that get me attached to smol children I read about in books. Colin Creevey from Harry Potter? (or however you spell his name) I LOVED him! With his little camera, and just AGH. I can't really think of any other instances in books right now. I'm tired and it's only 8:16 when I'm writing this.

I felt really bad just calling Chuck kid or Greenie, but I literally had to stop myself from typing in Chuck twice. I actually had written out an entire scene where Chuck got his name back, but I was like "Too soon, dude. Not everyone is Lauren."
Heh.

Questions!!

-Who's gonna win the rematch?

-Did you guys like Chuck?

-Will Frypan get drunk at this Bonfire?

Okay, but like I have this ELABORATE headcanon that Frypan ALWAYS gets drunk at the Bonfires because he has this like secret herb or magical cooking thing that helps with the hangover. I LOVE IT and I FIRMLY believe that it's canon and y'all can fight me on that.

I WILL GO DOWN WITH THIS. PERIODT.