A/N: I'm sorry if this might disappoint you, but in this book, there won't be an endgame YET! Guess what that means! 🥳 (of course there will still be romance in this book)

~

Eventually, I just slept next to Chuck in our favorite corner. I acted like I didn't notice Newt keeping watch on us from a distance, but felt genuinely fluttered by his protectiveness.

"Chuck!" I shook the sleeping boy awake in the morning. "There's gonna be a new Greenie! I have to give him the tour!"

Chuck groaned. "I already knew that."

"And I have a day off because of that!" I excitedly said, pulling the only half-awake Chuck off the ground.

Chuck rubbed his sleepy eyes. "I also knew that."

"I hope it's a girl." I smiled deeply.

"You made that very clear yesterday." Chuck sighed and wiped some dirt off his clothes.

"Oh, I'm sorry that I'm just excited." I crossed my arms. "Come on!"

Chuck was forced to go with me since I pulled his arm when the familiar alarm went off. Almost, I started running, but that would look crazy.

A few boys already stood there, looking down in the Box, which came to a stop with coming up. Impatiently I watched Gally and Newt open it and Gally jump in.

"Day one, Greenie." He grabbed the Greenie's shoulders. "Rise and shine."

By Gally's reaction, I could tell it was probably not another girl. Roughly Gally pulled the kid out of the Box, throwing him on the ground.

Well, that's definitely different from the way Newt treated me.

I caught a glimpse of the short brown hair, so unless it was a short-haired girl, it was a boy. A bit disappointed I watched the boy twist around, not being able to see his face yet. The boys circled him, all laughing and shouting.

"He looks like a Slopper to me."

"I could use some help in the kitchen."

The boy crawled onto his feet and pushed the Gladers out of the way, then he started running. They all started laughing loudly, pointing at the poor kid. Even Newt was laughing.

Shucking babies.

"Hey, we got a Runner!" Zart screamed.

If I had to be honest, the boy was fast. Not as fast as Minho, but definitely fast enough to be a Runner, until.. he tripped and fell. I winced, feeling his pain and embarrassment.

"Oh!"

The boys laughed even louder as the boy got up, his mouth falling open. He spun around, staring at the walls surrounding him.

"Take it all in!"

"No way back!"

I rolled my eyes at how childish those boys were and noticed Alby walking over to the Greenie, taking him with him, also rough. Why? They could be a little gentle! We only got one Greenie a month, so there's no need to handle them so roughly, right?

"Show's over!" Someone ordered. Soon they all walked away, not laughing or shouting anymore. It surprised me how fast everyone changed moods. I was cheerful most of the time, but that could also be because of Chuck, Newt, and Minho. They just cheered me up a lot, simple as it was.

~

I sat down against a tree, watching Newt and the Greenie shake hands. I was too far away to inspect the boy's face, so were still excited to meet him.

After a while, Newt walked over to me. "Alby told me to get you." He held out his hand which I gladly took, being pulled off the ground.

"He's all yours." Newt gave me a nod, but then his face dropped, eyes opening wide in shock. "Not in that way." He quickly added. "Don't make him yours." He muttered before rushing away in awkwardness.

I chuckled and watched the Greenie and Alby walk off, leaving me a bit unsure. Wasn't I supposed to give him the tour? But then I realized they were climbing up the tower.
I decided to wait for a few minutes before walking over to the tower.

"Hey, Alby!" I shouted, cupping my hands around my mouth.

Two faces leaned over the edge. "Jane!" Alby realized. Their faces disappeared again, meaning they were climbing down.

Once they arrived on the normal surface next to me, I was tapping with my foot, impatiently waiting to meet the Greenie. The boy jumped on his feet and turned around to look at me.

Some sweat stuck to his shirt, and brown hair to his forehead. He stood straight up awkwardly, watching me too, his dark eyebrows furrowing. Especially his nose was what I focused on. The top of it was curved up, which looked nice. Very nice.

The sleeves of his blue shirt were rolled up, a few buttons on the top open, showing a small part of his chest. He wore casual grey-brownish pants, wide ones.

It made me slightly sad that Greenie wasn't a girl, but the boy seemed nice enough.

At least he's a little good-looking.

Immediately I mentally punished myself for thinking that. I couldn't just think that about every shuck guy in the Glade!

"Jane." I held out my hand for the boy to shake, which he hesitantly shook, never taking his eyes off me.
"I'm sure you don't remember your name yet, do you?"

The boy scoffed lightly, still seeming a bit confused, stressed, and pale. "Will I ever remember it?"

I laughed. "You will someday."

I thought about the way I remembered my name. By bumping into Newt next to the bonfire, him landing on top of me. Nice first meeting for sure.

"What's over there?" The Greenie pointed at the Doors, already taking some steps toward it.

"Nothing for you," I replied a little too mean. The boy glanced at me.
"Sorry. Just saying you shouldn't go in there."

"What's in there then?" He curiously asked, never taking his eyes off the Doors.

I sighed and decided to just tell him, promising myself to answer every question the Greenie asked. No one explained me anything and I found it horrible, so I wanted to make this boy feel a little more welcome.

"I'll tell you that later. The tour is first." I decided, motioning for the boy to follow me.

"So you're the only girl in here?" He questioned, rushing after me.

"Unless Gally's a girl, then yes." I nodded. "Sadly I am the only girl."

"How long have you been here?" He asked as we walked over to the middle of the Glade.

"A month. I was the Greenie before you." I explained without using too many words.

"What's a Greenie?"

"The newest Glader." I sighed. "Get used to the name. Everyone will call you that except for Chuck and Newt. Did you meet them?"

"Only this Newt guy."

I chuckled at 'this Newt guy' and kept walking. "You'll like Chuck."

"And what's a Runner?"

I abruptly stopped. "How do you know about that?"

"This Newt said I had.. the chops.. to be a Runner?" He made it sound like a question, speaking very hesitantly, probably trying to remember whatever Newt said. "Until I face-planted."

"You indeed face-planted." I laughed.

"Don't remind me." The boy grumbled, looking down in shame.

"Now that's you're talking about Runners, it gets me to the jobs." I turned around to look at the Greenie. "We got Builders, Sloppers, Baggers, Cooks, Med-jacks, Track-Hoes, Slicers, and Runners."

"What are you?" He frowned.

"A girl."

He couldn't help to let out a small and nervous chuckle. "That's not what I meant."

"I know," I replied. "I'm a Runner."

"What do they do?"

I sighed and decided to just tell the poor boy. "That over there." I pointed at the Doors. "It's the maze."

"Maze?" He repeated with a gasp.

"Mhm. It surrounds the whole Glade. You're not allowed to go in there at any time, do you understand me? 'Cause you'll most likely die."

The boy paled up when I said he would die, but quickly nodded.

"Tomorrow you'll start with the jobs. Slicers first. I wish you luck." I chuckled and explained what the slicers did. "Then the next days you try out the other jobs and the Keepers will see what you will get to do."

"Keepers?"

I started explaining answering every shucking thing the boy asked, explaining it very detailed, and without even realizing it, hours flew past. In the meanwhile, I noticed that Greenie was a nice kid. He sure asked a lot, but he was funny and entertaining. I hoped we would be friends.

"Jane!" Chuck ran over to me after lunch, which the Greenie and I skipped. He said he didn't have any appetite at the moment and I wasn't that hungry, so we just kept on.

"I'm Chuck!" Chuck grabbed the Greenie's hand and shook it. "The youngest Glader. I was the Greenie before Jane, love to play pranks, and.. like to yell and bicker with Lizards and Mean Hoes."

The Greenie's eyes opened wide at Chuck's explanation. "Uh- I'm I don't know, I don't know, I don't know.."

Chuck laughed out loud. "I like you." He pointed at the boy. "And this is Jane."

"I already introduced myself, Chuck." I reminded him, but he ignored me and started explaining my whole damn life story.

"Jane is the only girl here, she is a Runner, we share a hut, is my best friend, likes to cuddle with Mean Hoes and Lizards.. not at the same time, luckily. She's in love with-."

I slammed my hand on Chuck's mouth before he even dared to finish that sentence. "No one." I finished with a polite smile. "Thanks for telling this boy my whole story, Chuckie. He'll like me much better now."

"No problem!" Chuck proudly said. The Greenie stared at us in confusion, cheeks a bit red.

"New Greenie, huh?" Minho and Ben jogged past us, coming out of the maze.

Minho glanced at the new kid. "Don't touch, Jane!" He shouted before sprinting away.

With my whole face turning a deep red, I watched Minho. The way some sweat stuck on his forehead and shirt, he breathed heavily, and the muscles were very visible on his arms.. god!

"Who was that?" The Greenie asked as I still got all my attention on Minho.

"Now that, my boy." Chuck sighed and put a hand on the boy's shoulder, who gave Chuck a confused glance. "Was Minho, aka 'Mean Hoe'. Keeper of the Runners.. and Jane's madly in love with him. They even-."

"Chuck!" I hit the back of his head, cringing at what he said.

"Did you meet Newt?" Chuck asked the Greenie, who nodded yes. "Awesome! So Jane's in love with him too, and also-."

I palmed my face, full of embarrassment. "Chuck, I will seriously avoid you for the rest of this week if you don't stop telling this boy that I don't even know for a day all my secrets!"

"Don't worry." Chuck acted as if I overreacted. "He'll shut his mouth. I'll tell him what kinds of pranks I can do. He'll get scared and zip his mouth forever. Am I right?"

"I hope so," I mumbled. "Now leave, Chuck. Please."
The boy obeyed and walked away.

I sighed and looked at the Greenie, who was still standing there awkwardly. My whole face was still bright red. "Sorry 'bout that."

"Two guys, huh?" The boy grinned.

"Oh, shut up." I snapped.

"I will." The boy chuckled. I noticed how he felt more in his place by the second, looking a bit more comfortable and less tense.

"Good that." I breathed. "So tonight we'll have a bonfire during dinner."

"Sounds great." The Greenie nodded.

"Make sure you do not tell Newt and Minho anything, because I'll kill you!" I ordered through my teeth, pissed at Chuck.

"I think I understood the message." He nodded, a small scoff coming out of his mouth. "Can I walk around by myself now?"

"Yeah, I guess-." Before I even got to finish the boy walked off, but when I saw where he was heading, I quickly jogged after him, toward the Doors.

"You can't go in there!" I shouted from a distance when he stopped in front of the gap.

"Just looking!" He replied. His eyes widened when he saw the scary, kind of dark maze in front of him.

When the Greenie took a step closer, I realized the Doors would close soon. If he went in, he would be trapped for the night!

"Hey!" Someone roughly pushed the Greenie, who flew through the air and landed on his back. Gally. My favorite person in the Glade, obviously.

The Greenie crawled over the floor, giving Gally an angry look, which he deserved. He threw him through the shuck air!

Gally stepped toward the boy, each leg on one side of his stomach. "We gotta stop meeting like this, Greenie."

"Get the hell off me!" The Greenie slid out of Gally's grip.

He tossed around with his arms as Gally held his hands up. Some boys heard the shouts and ran over to us.

"Alright! Calm, calm, calm..."

Jeez! How many times can he say 'calm'? And he pushed the Greenie, so it's his own fault! No wonder the Greenie gets angry!

"What the hell is wrong with you guys?" He crawled on his feet and looked at the crowd of boys that gathered around him.

A lot, trust me.

"Just calm down, all right?" Newt motioned for the Newbie to calm down.

His accent, oh god.

Awkwardly I watched things happen in front of me, trying to hide my blush by hearing Newt say that with an accent.

"Why won't you tell me what's out there?" The boy panicked, breathing heavily.

"We're just trying to protect you. It's for your own good." Alby said, calm like always. I wondered how he even managed to do that.

The Greenie started frowning. "You guys can't just keep me here."

"I can't let you leave." Alby decided. He was right. The Greenie would most likely die in the maze at night. Everyone would.

"Why not?" The Newbie yelled, but then the ground started to tremble. I quickly caught my balance and listened to the unpleasant noise of the Doors closing, watching it happen too.

The Greenie stood there, sweating even heavier. Again, his face was paler as he looked at the Doors close with a small boom. Then everything went silent and calm again.

"What the hell?" He muttered.

Gally sighed and walked past the boy. "Next time, I'm gonna let out leave." He added.

After that day, I for sure knew the Greenie asked a lot, was interested in the Runners, and very curious.