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

Lauren: Let's go around the room and tell each other secrets. about ourselves
Lauren: I'll go first.
Lauren: *looks at Zeus* I hate you.

Lauren
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke up on my own this morning, still in shock about what happened yesterday. 5 Keepers wanted to fight over me, and Abra spoke an actual sentence.

After getting dressed, I opened my door to find Clint about to knock on it.

"Ah, I don't have to wake you up. Great. I've heard stories." He put his hand down. "Come with me."

"I- breakfast?" I tried to call. I sighed and followed him.

Clint turned the corner and disappeared inside a room I hadn't been in before.

"There's a problem." He gestured towards a bed, holding Henry, still asleep.

"How so?" Please let him be fine. I don't wanna get Banished.

"Henry hasn't woken up yet. And," Clint stopped. "Some people are calling for you to get punished. Now, I know you didn't mean to put him in a coma, but you have broken one of our rules."

"I-"

"I'm sorry, Lauren. I just figured you wanted to know. Before, you know, all hell breaks loose. I'll try to stall, but if he doesn't wake up soon, there's nothing I can do." Clint sighed. He left the room, leaving me alone with Henry.

There were a lot of things I wanted to tell the sleeping guy, none of them good. I eventually settled on my best death glare I had and stormed out of the room.

|~^-^~|

"Lauren, you're not gonna get Banished. How'd you even know about that, anyway?" Gally told me, later at breakfast.

"Uh, Minho mentioned something." I lied.

"I said what?" Minho came to our table. "Finish up, Greenie, you're with me today."

"What?" Gally asked.

"First come, first serve. Those were the rules, right Greenie?" Minho told our table.

"I was actually going to work with the Med-Jacks today. Clint got to me before breakfast. Better luck next time." It wasn't completely lying, but I wanted to talk with Clint.

"Fine." He left.

I don't know why I wanted to work with the Med-Jacks. Maybe to keep an eye on Henry and find out for myself if he was in a coma, but I just knew that I didn't be the cause of another Gathering. Once was enough.

"Why did Zeus transfer to become a Track-Hoe? And when?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Well, he first was put in the Slammer for a half-day." Peter said.

"Should've been more." Gally muttered.

"Then he asked Newt if he could become a Runner."

"Minho shut that down."

"So then Zart took him, just to save him from embarrassment. His friend joined too." Peter finished.

"Poor guy." I said sarcastically.

"Yeah. Anyway, we gotta get to work." Gally stood up from the table.

"Me too."

|~^-^~|

I found Clint quickly in the Homestead.

"You cool if I work here for the day?" I knocked on the door.

"Uh, sure."

"Great. What am I doing?" I asked.

"Uh, nothing too hard. We need you to change the sheets in rooms 3 and 5, and after that check in on Henry, make sure he's alright. Once you're done, check back in for your next assignment." Clint informed me.

"Shouldn't be too hard. Where do I take the sheets?"

"Find Lee, that's one of the Sloppers' job. There are extra sheets in the storage closet on floor 3." Clint left.

"Right."

Grabbing the sheets, I set out to find Lee. It proved difficult since Sloppers were everywhere, and no one had seen Lee since last night.

I got lucky talking to a Track-Hoe.

"I saw Lee not too long ago over near the Slammer. Hope you find him, those sheets look mighty heavy."

"They are. Thank you!" I called, walking towards the Slammer. I had seen it during my Tour and hoped I'd never spend time there.

"Lee!" I yelled.

"What's up?" Lee stood up at the sound of my voice.

"Clint said you guys took care of the laundry?" I asked hesitantly.

"That's right. Just these sheets?"

"Yeah. I can carry them for you, if you want." Lee didn't look as muscular as most guys in the Glade.

"Nah. I got it." He took them and walked towards the Kitchen for some odd reason.

"Thank you!" I headed back to the Homestead.

"Third floor, third floor, third floor." I muttered as I climbed the stairs. I opened a door that didn't look like a storage closet. But I was drawn into it for some reason. So I walked in.

It didn't look exceptional and was very sparsely decorated. There were things strewn around like someone had lived in it for quite a while. One of the drawers on a dresser in the corner wasn't closed all the way. My eye caught a journal on top of it. I walked back out into the hallway to make sure no one was coming, then I grabbed the journal and flipped through the pages.

Most of them were blank, and the spine of the journal wasn't even creased. I almost gave up hope on finding anything until I saw my name. Lauren. A whole page dedicated to me.

"What the actual finch." I whispered. I read it.

'Lauren.

She's always nice until someone hurts someone she loves.

She has a smile that could bring even the saddest people joy for a minute. I've been on the other end once. I haven't forgotten about it.

She stresses about some of the smallest things, and it's kinda cute.

She packs one hell of a punch.'

There were more on the page, but I closed the journal and walked out of the room.

"Looks like you've got a secret admirer, Lauren." I went to find the storage closet.

|~^-^~|

"Took you long enough. You find the room alright?" Clint commented when I came back with arms laden with sheets.

"I got lost, but I found it eventually. You didn't give me the most specific directions, by the way." I responded, walking to room 3.

"Hey, Jeff." He was inside restocking the shelves.

"Sup, Greenie."

I bit back a retort and went on dressing the bed. I thought about the journal page about me. One guy said he wanted to marry me at the Bonfire, but he didn't seem the type to write out a page. He'd write a whole book. My mind wandered, thinking if anyone flirted with me, but I couldn't think of anyone else. Henry was in a coma, and I was sure Zeus wouldn't write something as sweet as that.

I went on to room five and decided not to think about it. The journal was private, and I shouldn't have looked at it. That's it. Case closed. I shook my head and went into Henry's room.

I checked his pulse and made sure he was breathing okay. I was about to walk out when I saw a bowl of soup on the counter.

"You've got to be kidding me." I sighed deeply. I was almost about to walk out of the room. But, putting my ego aside, I grabbed the bowl and pulled up a chair.

Halfway through the bowl, Clint came in to check on me.

"Well, I'll be shucked. I owe Jeff my bacon tomorrow. You actually did it." Clint stood in awe.

"I don't want to cause another Gathering. And, I like working as a Med-Jack." I admitted.

"You could've asked for a favor, but if you want to do it, go ahead. Once you're done with that take your lunch break."

"Will do." I turned my attention back to Henry. "I really hope you don't remember this."

I finished up and took the bowl back to Frypan.

"Hey, Fry!" It was always great to see him.

"Greenie! How are you doing on your first day? If it's terrible, take a cookie. If not, still have one. The first days always suck. Don't let anyone tell you differently." He said wisely.

"It's not that bad, but I had to spoon-feed Henry right before this." I mock sighed. I could get two cookies out of this.

"Girl, take two."

She shoots, she scores.

"Thanks, Frypan. You're the best!" I called, walking to my table.

"How, the actual shuck, did you get two cookies out of Frypan," Peter said in awe.

"I have a special set of skills. Skills that I have acquired over a very long period of time." I answered, flexed my fingers.

"Too bad those skills go to waste." Gally sat down and grabbed one of my cookies before I could do anything about it.

"I would kill you, but I'm being the bigger person today." I stuck my nose up haughtily and ate my sandwich.

We ate lunch without any more casualties, and once we were done, we went our separate ways. I walked to the Homestead, thinking about what I would do next as a Med-Jack.

"Lauren!" Newt jogged to catch up with me.

"Newt! What's up?" I stopped and turned around.

"Let's not talk about this here." He led me to the forest, looking around as we went.

Once we were deep inside the forest, Newt decided we were 'safe' enough to talk.

"There's gonna be another Gathering. Tomorrow, if Henry doesn't wake up." He said quietly.

"I-uh, why?" My worst fears were confirmed. These guys couldn't be that petty, right?

"Some of the Gladers are calling for 'justice.' They say you're going around breaking our rules, and not getting punished for it."

"But those guys start it! If I don't shut the stuff down now, it's only going to get worse." Why doesn't he see this?

"Hey. I'm not the enemy here. In fact, I agree." Newt said gently. But his face told me a different story. "But, you have to see it from their point of view. Most guys seem to think you guys walked up to Zeus and started a fight. They don't know the backstory. Same thing with Henry."

"It seems like you're not trying to fix that," I muttered bitterly.

"Lauren, this whole thing is mostly for show. Anyway, this time it's not gonna be just Keepers at the Gathering. The Council is going to meet. It's made up of mostly Keepers and a couple of Gladers who we, as in me and Alby, deem worthy of makin' the big decisions around here."

"It kind of feels like your guys' judgment is flawed." I walked out of the forest.

|~^-^~|

"I've got a weird question for you, Clint," I asked later.

"Ask away."

"Are you on the Council?" The more people I knew on there, the better.

"Nah. I'm usually needed here when they call the meetings. Shanks 'round here keep getting hurt, and there's only two of us. Three, actually. Before you ask, Jeff isn't on there either." He answered my next question.

"Do you know who's on there, though?"

"Uh, lemme think. There's Zart, Winston, this one kid I just call Freckles, Frypan, Newt and Alby, obviously, there's a Bricknick on there too, two other guys I don't know, Gally, and Minho." He listed them on his fingers as he went.

The Council wasn't too bad, but the Gathering still scared me. Peter said Newt would fight on my behalf, and from what the conversation told me, he seemed like he was one of the people calling the Gathering. I don't care what he said about being on my side; his face told me the truth.

"Why are you asking?" Clint brought me back to reality.

"Newt told me the Gathering was going to happen tomorrow night if Henry doesn't wake up." This time I couldn't stop the voice crack.

"Woah, Lauren what's the matter?" Clint looked over at me.

I started crying before I could stop it. "Um," Sniff. "Absolutely positively nothing." I tried to wipe my face, but the stupid tears kept falling. "I just have this irrati- irrational fear of getting Banished." Sniff. "And it-it doesn't help when I've hospitalized 2 guys and now there's going to be a-a Gathering tomorrow because of it." Sniff. "And a guy who I thought-" Sniff. "Who I thought was on my side is on the wrong side of this."

"Oh." Clint handed me some paper towels from the cabinet and a trash can and guided me to the bed. He didn't say anything, and I was grateful for it. It was silent for a couple of minutes as I cried everything out.

"Gosh, you must think I'm so weak." I tried to smile and stop the tears at the same time.

"Shuck no. I'm shocked it's taken you this long to break. Most Greenies have cried more times than I can count before the first day is over." Clint told me.

"Really?"

"Why would I lie?"

"To get me to stop crying on these new sheets."

"Maybe they'll actually be clean now that they've been washed with clear water." Clint laughed.

I gave a small chuckle. My emotions were fried at the moment.

"Why don't you take the rest of the day. Go take a nap or something. It looks like you might need it." Clint ushered me out of the door. "I don't want to see you again!" He shut the door before I could respond.

I stood there, my arms full of paper towels. I dropped them in a trashcan in one of the rooms and walked out into the Glade with no set destination in mind. Wandering around aimlessly, I noticed that the Box was up, and Gally and some other guys were emptying it.

I wiped my nose and walked over. "Hey, Gally!"

"What's up?" Gally looked at me, thoughtfully, "Were you crying?"

"I stubbed my toe on one of the beds in the Homestead." I lied. "I'm alright, though. Perks of working with the Med-Jacks."

"Oh. Can you take this to 'em?" He handed me some supplies.

"Sure! Hey, where do you put requests for stuff?" I asked. There were some things I already needed.

"Right here." He pointed at a wooden container in one of the corners of the Box.

"Thanks!"

I walked back to the Homestead and gave the supplies to Jeff. I grabbed the journal that I had found a couple of days ago in the drawers in my dresser. I tore a sheet out and wrote some things down.

Lady supplies (one of you people should know what that means.)
A better hairbrush and ponytail holders
Something to listen to music with
Some books?

-Thanks, Lauren

I had absolutely no idea if they would get me what I wanted, but I folded the paper up and walked back to the Box. I dropped it in and walked back to my room to take a nap.

|~^-^~|

"I now declare this Gathering begun." Alby started the meeting. "We are here today to discuss our latest Greenie and what we should do about her actions in the past week. We'll go around the room and everyone says their opinions. We know the rules, as does our Greenie. Zart, go ahead."

Zart cleared his throat. "While I know she did what she did in retaliation, we still can't forget the fact that she did injure two Gladers really bad. I say stick her in the Slammer for a week with two meals a day. Rules are rules, everyone knows that." He looked uncomfortable, but I still couldn't muster up any pity.

Keep your mouth shut. Don't make this worse than it already is.

"Is that your official statement?" Alby asked. Zart nodded. "Frypan."

Frypan didn't have a smile on for the first time. "I really don't understand why we're having this Gathering. Everyone here knows what type of guy Henry is. And Zeus is worse. No punishment for Lauren. They deserve what they got." He sat back in his chair.

"Go ahead, kid." Alby motioned to the boy next to Frypan.

"Well, I don't really know what happened. But it seems like Lauren beat up the guys for some harmless things they did. I'm for Zart's idea." This kid was already getting on my nerves.

Mouth shut, Lauren.

Winston was next in line. "Lauren broke a rule. Plain and simple. I'm with Zart. We can't bend the rules. Even for a girl."

Down the line we went, more people for Zart's idea than Frypan's. I was having a harder and harder time keeping my mouth shut. Most of these people were misinformed about what happened. And they were making decisions on false info. Great idea, guys. Let's put people in power and have them make decisions based on what they think. Don't bother to correct them. I wanted to scream, and I wanted to cry at the same time.

Then it was Gally's turn. "I agree with most of ya. Lauren broke a rule. But if you're going to stick her in the Slammer, stick me in there too. I was the one who had the punch that knocked Zeus out. Lauren didn't. But it seems like you shanks don't know that. And Newt, you have my opinion on the whole Henry thing. I agree with Frypan."

I wanted to go over and hug him.

Minho was next. He was slumped in his chair and looked like he wanted to do anything other than be here. He sighed and started talking. "I have absolutely no idea what you guys are talking about, so I withdrawal from saying anything."

Thank you, Minho.

It was finally Newt's turn. The one I was dreading the most. "Well, I was there when Zeus catcalled Lauren. She broke the rules, even after buggin' I told her not to." He sighed. "And Henry physically touched Lauren, so she shouldn't get punished for that. But still, Zeus didn't actually do anythin'. So she should be in the Slammer for 3 days, two meals per day. And Gally, you'll be in there for a day."

Mouth shut, mouth shut, mouth shut, mouth shu- Finch it.

I stood up and knocked my chair over. "I am sorry, for interrupting your 'precious' meeting, but most of you guys are poorly misinformed. Kid, 'Harmless things?' Do you really think that catcalling a woman for doing her job and invading her privacy big-time are harmless?" I stared down at Freckles. He looked like a fish out of water.

I turned back to the group. "I can't even begin to tell you how degrading it is to have someone treat you less than a human. And if I let it go, unchecked, those guys are only going to get worse. They're going to multiply, and they are going to mutate. I am not a toy to be played with, and I am so not here for your entertainment. This whole entire thing is beyond stupid, I swear we're getting dumber in here. I should not get a different treatment from people just because I was not born a male." I was fuming.

"Lauren, sit down," Alby demanded.

"No! Call this entire thing off. That's my opinion on the matter." The room was deathly quiet. In the corner of my eye, I saw Frypan openmouthed in shock. Gally was halfway out of his chair, and Minho sat up, actually paying attention to the meeting. Freckles still looked like a fish out of the water, Zart was looking from Alby to me like this was a tennis match, and Winston looked mad.

"Lauren, you're only making things worse," Newt told me.

I stared down Alby, waiting for him to adjourn the meeting.

"Last time, Lauren. Sit. Down." Alby finally said.

I didn't respond. I stormed over to the door and walked out of the Homestead.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
wellllllllll? Was it worth the wait???

I really hope so XD.

This underwent a LOT of editing bc I wanted Lauren to respond like a human being and not this majestic OC that doesn't have feelings and is always strong. Bc, she's not. And that's not how people react to things. (Some people need to take notes) And I touched on a really sensitive subject, so I wanted it to be the best I could write it. I was SO not going to just half-write it and be like "oh well, on to the next thing"
No! This is going to be something that's going to haunt Lauren for a while, and this is a really big subject, not just in The Maze Runner.

*takes a deep breath*  My heart goes out to all the women that have experienced something like Lauren or even worse. You guys are in my prayers. (Also my DMs are always open if you guys need more specific prayers or I need to pray for someone else.)

Questions-

-Fav/least fav person so far

-Do you hate me bc I wrote Newt opposed (if so, NO PERSON IS PERFECT- even Newt :))

-Opinions on Clint (truly wondering bc we don't see a lot of him in the books or movies so I'm pretty free to do what I want...)

-Are you for Zart's idea, Frypan's, or Gally's? (Let's do some healthy debating, please do not hate on people's ideas, I will delete your comments faster than you can post it.)

-Questions, comments, CC?

I'm going to try something new today...

Author Confessions:
In the VERY early stages of this book, I, the author, had Lauren speaking in French. She did speak English, and I have a very distinct memory that she had "forgotten" how to speak English with the mind swipe. AND FOR SOME REASON, FRYPAN SPOKE IT TOO?? It was either Frypan or Newt, I'm not sure. But yah. It was a fiasco.

The worst thing is, it was in the past like year that I had that up. It wasn't even that long ago. Glow-ups, amirite?