"ᴘᴀɪɴ ɪꜱ ᴛᴇᴍᴘᴏʀᴀʀʏ. ɪᴛ ᴍᴀʏ ʟᴀꜱᴛ ᴀ ᴍɪɴᴜᴛᴇ, ᴏʀ ᴀɴ ʜᴏᴜʀ, ᴏʀ ᴀ ᴅᴀʏ, ᴏʀ ᴀ ʏᴇᴀʀ, ʙᴜᴛ ᴇᴠᴇɴᴛᴜᴀʟʟʏ ɪᴛ ᴡɪʟʟ ꜱᴜʙꜱɪᴅᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ꜱᴏᴍᴇᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴇʟꜱᴇ ᴡɪʟʟ ᴛᴀᴋᴇ ɪᴛꜱ ᴘʟᴀᴄᴇ. ɪꜰ ɪ Qᴜɪᴛ, ʜᴏᴡᴇᴠᴇʀ, ɪᴛ ʟᴀꜱᴛꜱ ꜰᴏʀᴇᴠᴇʀ."

"Look!! We got a runner!!" Zart yells as the boy in the blue shirt takes off across the Glade. His legs moving faster than maybe even Minho's. Not even halfway across the Glade however does the boy tumble. When he looks back up he looks around the Glade. 

The sound of boys shouting is what draws her out of the map room. Jogging up the path, she reaches the Glade to see a boy with dark hair and beautiful hazel eyes begin to be drug toward the pit. 

"Hey Ri" Newt says, giving her a pat on the back. "How are you?"

"'m good Newt." She says smiling kindly at the boy. "Minho should be getting back soon," She says "how is the bonfire coming?" Excitement flowing from her, making the sandy haired boy smile. 

"It's good, I think the boys are happy to be working on something else for once" He laughs, making her smile 

"I'm glad, I heard the shouting so I thought I'd come see. New boy huh?" She asks curiously 

"Why?" Newt laughs "Do you like him?" He chuckles, before pausing "Nevermind, I don't think I want to know that."

Laughing gently, she smiles at him digging the palm of her hand into the part of her chest near her shoulder subconsciously. "Do you want to come with me to see Alby?" Newt asks her gently, noticing her movement. "He's giving the new Shank a look around." 

"Sure, I really have nothing else to do." She laughs

Some might say that even before she reached the boy she knew she had seen him before. Somewhere, somehow they had known each other, the feeling became even more amplified when they made eye contact. 

"''ey Alby! You alright?" Newt asks, his voice carrying to the two figures standing only feet away. 

*Thomas's POV*

"This month, that's you Greenie. Congratulations." Alby says giving me a pat on the back. Seconds later though another voice can be heard feet from us, this time the voice is accented. Something that catches me off guard for just a moment. 

"Hey Newt, Ria!" Alby says giving a warm smile to the boy with sandy hair and the girl with red hair. 

"Saw the dash you made earlier, for a second we thought you had the chops to be a runner" The boy named Newt says with a laugh 

"That is until you face planted" The smaller girl, Ria, says with a laugh her accent the same as Newt's. What she says causes both Alby and Newt to laugh as well. 

"I'm kidding Greenie, I'm sorry you're here with the rest of these stupid shanks" Ria says, causing Alby and Newt to give her a look. I laugh which makes the look from the two boys turn on me. 

Ria laughs loudly "Don't look so scared Greenie, they can't hurt a fly." She says before turning to Alby "We'll go find Chuck Alby, have you gone to the super secret hangout spot?" She asks making me confused..."super secret hangout spot"?

Alby rubs his face "One time Ria!" He shouts as she begins to walk away "I was drunk, one time!" He exclaims, but all it elicits from her is a laugh half of the "Glade" as they call it could hear. 

"Who is she?" I ask, watching her as she walks away 

"That's Ria, shuckface." 

"Well, yeah I know but-" Alby cuts me off this time 

"As I said before shank, you came up late today. Let's keep going with the tour, some of your questions might get answered that way." He says, and I nod following him to the base of a wooden ladder. One that leads up a tree that has a platform surrounding the trunk at the top. "Super secret tree house" I think, hearing Ria's laugh in my mind. 

With a smile, I begin to climb.

*Ria's POV*

I watch as the Greenie climbs the tower, when he gets to the top I smile slightly to myself before turning back to Newt as he talks to Chuck about going to help the new Greenie. 

As always Chuck agrees, happily and ready to go. "Chuck should get a sucking award I think" I say as Chuck grabs some things to take to the new Greenie. 

His little cheeks turn rosier, and he smiles. "Head on over there, we'll see you tonight okay?" I say pressing a kiss to the kids top of the head when he walks past. 

"You treat him like a kid. You know that right?" Newt asks with a laugh 

"He is a kid Newt. He's younger than any of us, and they just took him from his family and stuck him in here." 

"They did that to all of us." Newt reminds me

I don't answer, knowing he's right. Instead, I watch as Chuck walks across the Glade toward the tree house. Dropping and then picking things up as he goes. With a laugh I turn to Newt letting him know he'll see me tonight before heading back over to the mapping hut. 

Soon after I sit down, Ben and Minho come in. "Waiting this whole time for me?" Minho asks

"Ahhh yes, I even asked the mirror on the wall who the prettiest of all is and it said you" I laugh 

"You read one book and suddenly my perfection is a joke to you" He laughs 

"What perfection?" I ask jokingly 

"WIll you two stop bantering like siblings?" Ben laughs "I'm trying to remember something" He says. 

Letting out a laugh I nod, "You boys get to work I'm-" For the second time that day a shout is what snaps me away from what I'm doing. 

"Oh my God, what now?" I ask, Minho heads to the door and I follow him. All three of us walk from there to the Glade where near the walls a bigger group of boys stand. The newest Greenie in the middle. 

"Oh my God, he's trying to get out" I say 

"The walls are closing" Minho states, right as a rumble comes from the walls signaling it's time to stay in and safe. 

"Alby was there" I say, pointing to a his figure walking away from the doors. "The new Greenie must be scared out of his mind, none of you boys are exactly the friendliest welcome. Well, besides Newt." I say "I'll be back soon." I say "Good job on the run today, remember to get what you remembered down." I tell him beginning to walk away. "Oh and Min Min?" I shout back, making him spin on his heel to look back towards me 

"You better take a bath, your shirt is soaked with sweat." He groans with an eye roll before turning back around and walking inside the hut. 

I smile as I walk away, headed toward the Glade doors that have closed and the new Glader that stills stands in front of them as though something else might happen and he doesn't want to miss it. 

"Hey, you alright?" I ask 

"Hmm?" He grunts, turning around slightly to me

"Are you alright Greenie? It's been a bit of a day for you."

"I'll uh- I'll let you know about that a little later." He says, finally turning towards me. 

"It gets better you know?" I try to reassure him. "We'll find a way out of this place in no time." He nods, and I smile when he looks back to the wall. 

"Do you remember your name?" I ask him 

"No" He whispers sadly

"It'll come back" I tell him, grabbing his hand in the fading light. Then letting it go quickly once I've realized what I've done "Now come on, they're about to set things on fire. That's always fun to watch, also its something I definitely need to be there for. Knowing them they'll burn the place down by accident."

The Greenie chuckles slightly, nodding before walking with me towards where the other boys are. When I get there they all shout with excitement. 

Alby hands me a stick with an end wrapped in cloth and on fire. "To new beginnings, and a new greenie!" I shout, throwing my stick into the middle of the bonfire stack of wood. The other boys following my lead. 

We all talk through the night. Laughing, I swipe the feet out from underneath Gally. The boys laugh, until Gally gets back up shoving me gently backwards out of annoyance. I trip though, falling backwards and right into Thomas's arms. 

I giggle drunkenly, "Nice catch" I tell him. He smiles setting me back on my feet. "Newtieeee!" I laugh when I see Newt. I attach myself in a hug to him, vagally hearing him tell Gally that I can't have anymore. 

"What about you Greenie, want to give it a try?" Gally asks as Newt steadies me after I step back from the small hug. 

"Careful, we don't want to hurt this pretty face" I say, patting the greenies face. Everyone's eyes grow wide, but soon Gally begins to chant "Greenie" taking the attention off what I've said. 

"You come with me." Newt says steering me toward the private room I have. Being a girl in a group of boys can sometimes have benefits. I think, but try to revise that in my head. Hoping what I've said in my head wasn't self detrimental in some way. 

Newt gets me into bed telling me to sleep it off and that he'll make sure that I get lots of water at breakfast in the morning. 

I hum, happy to be in bed. Even the small blankets that don't provide much heat, feel warm as I drift off. 

That night I dream of the hazel eyed boy. Of who we were, who we are, and the hopes of who we might be

𝟙,𝟞𝟞𝟡 𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕕𝕤