Maze Runner Trilogy 1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone, this is a new story. I know there are so many OC Maze Runner stories around but hopefully you can enjoy this one. There will be some pairing but I won't spoil it for you guys, otherwise it wouldn't be very fun. Also, I am aware there are a few other stories where the same character is also named Eleanor, but I like that name so I apologize if it annoys you.**

**I'm sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes I might have made.**

**I do not own any of the character except Eleanor.**

**Enjoy:) x**

Pain. That's the first thing she felt when she regained consciousness. Then came the panic, she couldn't see a thing, all she could feel was the cold hard floor beneath her.Scraping her hands along it she sat up feeling around trying to gain information, she could feel certain objects but she stopped touching around her afraid of what she might find. Her heart was pounding loudly in her ears supressing any option to think clearly.

Suddenly, a loud shrieking noise was heard, she raised her hands up to her ears covering them, She screamed loudly along with it, the sound making her dizzy, what was happening? She felt naseuos then as the floor started moving up beneath her, ascending painfully slow. She tried remembering how she got there but she came up empty, then tried to rememeber something, anything. The sound making her think she was in some small room, probably an elevator. Her breaths started to come up faster, her lungs feeling empty as she gasped for air, All she could rememeber was a word, so clear, so she focused on it, trying to steady her breathing: 'Eleanor'. Not sure how much time had passed she laid down again curling into a fetal position, fear paralising her yet again, she could feel wet tears runnning along her cheeks and falling down on her hair. She clossed her eyes tightly, tensing her whole body just whising, hoping for it to be over.

Finally, the place screached to a alt, her ears buzzing at the sudden silence, but it didn't last long, a new mechanical noise was heard as light started to fill the space blinding her, she recoiled back hiding away from the blinding light afraid of what was next, her back colliding with the wall behind her knocking the air out of her lungs. She could hear voices but at the same time it seemed like her world was on mute. The sound stopped and she was aware that the whole top of where she was in was open, she could see silouettes cutting against the light, human silouttes, she could hear their voices but couldn't make out what they were saying, her heart was pounding, deafening in her ears. Her sight was starting to adjust to the change of light and she could see she was in a huge metal box surrounded by boxes. A thud sounded and she snaped her gaze to the spot, a rope layed on the oposite wall of her, she did not know if it was meant for her to climb up or for someone to come down. She didn't move, too terrified to do something, her heartbeat was deafening her.

A few seconds passed, she knew they were talking to her but she couldn't make out the words, terrified out of her mind. She bit her lip drawing out the metalic taste of blood, frozen in place she was unable to do anything other than stare straight ahead at the rope along the oposite wall. Two big brown boots descending the wall entered her vision, she quickly hid her head down, her hair cascading down in the process. She could feel her body shaking, someone was coming to get her but even when the steps stopped in front of her she didn't look up.

"C'mon Greenie, or I'll shucking drag you out myself." A strong accented voice said.

Still shaking Eleanor raised her head, her eyes slowly coming in contact with his dark ones. He supressed a gasp.

"Bloody hell, it's a girl!"

Some kind of conmotion went up outside the box that Eleanor could not hear properly so she focused her attention on the person before her. His fairly long hair was dirty blond contrasting with his strongly tanned skin, his eyebrows were put together in confusion, but even then she could tell he was decently attractive, his strong cheekbones and defined jaw giving him a hard look, authority. He scared Eleanor. Who were these peple? What did they want from her? His eyes were moving, scanning her. He then extended a big hand towards her still shaking form, she flinched hiding once again almost entirely behind her hair.

"C'mon, you wouldn't want to stay here forever, would ya?"

Seeing no other choice, she shucked in a deep breath and took his hand.

When she was out every other person present started hovening over her, making her flinch back, almost falling into the box. The blonde stood in front of her, protective, while another, dark-skinned, shorter but bigger and more menacing, tried to calm them down, mostly by yelling. It wasn't really working, Eleanor covered her ears trying to block everything out. They calmed down slightly, but she didn't focus on their conversation she stared around, curious now, her heart still pounding loudly.

She noted there were around forty boys, all male, they were all in the middle of a field where a giant opening stood holding the place she just got out of. Several wooden buildings rounded the field, she could also see a large streching of woods by her right. But the thing that stood out the most, making her jaw drop were four impossibly tall walls surrounding the whole place, which gave her the impression of being in another box but bigger.

The males hadn't stop talking and she felt tired, all she wanted was peace a quiet, she was scared to speak but what else could she do.

"Where am I?" She said quietly, her voice slightly raspy like she hadn't spoken for a long time. The blonde turned around, she wasn't sure if he had heard her.

"Sorry girlie, what did you say?" He spoke loudly, silence fell then, she could feel all eyes on her, she crindged inwardly.

"What is this place? Why am I here?" She tried to control her voice, so they wouldn't notice how terrified she was but she didn't do a very good job of it.

"Questions for tomorrow, greenie. Name's Alby." The dark-skinned one said, "Newt wil be in charge of you."

* * *

"Hey, you ok?" She snapped my head at the sound of someone's voice, she had been so wrapped up in my mind she hadn't even heard his footsteps approaching. He was a blonde boy, not younger than seventeen, his short hair shinning with the light filtering throught the leaves of the trees. She had come here wishing for some time alone, no one would tell her anything and her nerves were about to explode. Newt had simply showed her where she was supposed to sleep and told her where to go when she got hungry, nothing else. Was that how boys acted all the time? Intimidating, scary and downright rude? And why wouldn't they tell her anything? Wondering once again what was wrong with these people she looked up to her visitor, his blue wide eyes gazing her, showing some form of concern,

"Umm yeah..." She replied shrugging, "I guess." She was obviously lying, they both knew it.

"Not really, no." She added, ducking her head down "I'm confused out of my mind."

"Hey, it's okay." He said sitting down next to her, he then dropped an arm around her shoulder. She visibly flinched, uncomfortable.

"Sorry." He said quickly taking it off her, "I'm not used to having girls around."

"It's ok." She replied with a small voice.

She slightly smiled, he actually apologized. He was definetly nicer than anyone she had met so far.

"We all had our first day here, I get it." He said smiling, trying to make her feel better. She looked down at her racked trainers. She wore long jeans, slightly too big for her and a loose fitting grey t-shirt, she wondered who had dressed her. It didn't look like something she would pick, _how would you know? you don't even remember your favourite colour, _she thought bitterly. She stared at the dirt around her shoes and started tracing patterns with her foot.

He didn't seem to enjoy the silence, "So, what's your name? Sure you remember as much." He said eagerly.

"It's Eleanor," She said still not looking up, "at least I think it is."

"Gally." He kept smiling and looking at her, she wasn't sure what to make of him yet but he was the only friendly face she'd seen so far so she told herself not to screw it up. However, she really wanted to be left alone. She got up without a warning.

"So, I get that you're not allowed to show me around or whatever, but I can still walk right?" She said a short smile playing at her lips, brushing the dirt of her jeans.

"I guess," He replied still sitting, "as long as you don't go beyond the walls."

"Well, see you later Gally." She smiled, slowly retracting "and thank you."

"Sure," he said smirking "and welcome to the Glade greeni- I mean Eleanor"

She smiled wider as she refered to her by her name while turning away.

* * *

When she finished walking around, the stares never leaving her, she had apparently missed dinner. Not that she had any appetite after watching those doors close. she had been avoiding getting too close to the walls, specially to the huge openings in those, she noticed how everyone else avoided them subconciously so she followed their lead, she definetly didn't like them, the loud tumbling noise of the doors closing could be enough to fill her nightmares for weeks and had her clamping her hands to her ears even moments after they finished closing. She was glad she missed dinner though, that meant less curious and mocking glares.

She got to a seemingly round building with a small door, she could trace the beginning of the roof with her hand if she extended it which made her believe the inside was built slightly underground, probably a cellar or a storage room of some sort. She tried the door but it must had been locked even though she couldn't see any lock or doorknob for that matter. Laying her head against the cold flat surface of the door seemed to calm her a bit.

Suddenly, the door left her forehead and she stumbled forward closing her eyes out of reflex. She fell into something, not something, someone; she could immediately tell because it was high enough not to be the floor and soft enough not to be the door. Or maybe it could've just been the male voice exclaiming "What the hell?"

She immediately blushed crimson red and tried to get back into her feet, task that seemed impossible given her feet were one step higher than the boy's making her knees bend awkwardly.

"I'm so sorry." she started apologizing quickly, "sorry."

His arms helped her get back on her feet, she noticed his toned muscles flexing as he did so and mentaly kicked herself for being so stupid as to notice that. Now back on her feet she did look at his face, hers feeling boiling hot. He was a fair skinned asian boy, around seventeen, maybe eighteen, his silk black hair refelcting the dim light from inside the room on his back. His eyebrows were raised but creased at the same time, but he was smirking slightly which confused Eleanor.

"If I'd had known you were so eager to get into my arms I would've gone to greet you long ago." he said, a joking tone on his voice, making her blush even redder. She noted how tall he was, even at their possition he was still taller than her.

"You can't come in here, sorry greenie." He was still smirking at her, she felt ridiculous under his gaze, she didn't know how to react.

"Sorry, I was just walking," she said looking down "sorry..."

She hated herself for being so fearful, why couldn't she stand up to them, she felt like they kept messing with her and she could do nothing but tuck her head down and apologize. Idiot. She kept feeling like a child being reprimended with the manners they were treating her. Her cheeks felt hot and she had the urge to cry yet again. She gritted her teeth forcing them back, feeling stupid and childish.

"Well, better learn your rules, girlie," he said seriously "or we'll have to kill you."

She was alarmed now, she really was alarmed, was he serious? Did they just kill people that did'nt follow their rules?

But then he laughed and the blood went back to her face as if it had never left.

"I'm just kidding, greenie." he said, that stupid smirk still on his face.

She felt humiliated as she felt tears coming to her eyes, she hated it, she absolutely hated it. Anger crept up screaming louder than her fear for the first time and without a word she turned on her heel and started walking back where she knew she was supposed to sleep and out of the trees,

"Hey, hold on a minute!" his voice called from behind, it didn't take long for him to catch up.

"You need to find your sleeping place, it's already late."

"Leave me alone." she said tears still threatening to spill out of her eyes. The boy jogged slightly and stopped in front of her, cutting her path-

"C'mon, I'll help you." he said extending his hand to her .

"I don't need your help, thank you very much." she told him angrily rounding him and continuing with her walking. He just laughed and followed her walking alongside, she kept looking straight ahead, her face in a scowl.

"Name's Minho." she heard him say but she remained silent, "oh, c'mon, if you don't tell me yours I'll keep calling you greenie."

She scoffed angrily but gave up "Eleanor."

He nodded but otherwise didn't give any other sign that he had heard her.

Outside the main building, Eleanor could see many of the boys already sleeping on their sleeping bags, she knew she wasn't going to be the exception and crindged at the idea of having to sleep next to all this rude and loud boys. She quickly spotted the sleeping bag that Newt had pointed out to her and dragged it with her, trying to get as further away from everyone else as she could. Minho was still following her. She was about to turn around to tell him to get lost when a figure approched her, she tensed but imediately relaxed as she noticed it was Gally.

"Hey Eleanor." he said cheerfully, and then added towards Minho "don't worry slinthead, I'll take it from here."

The latest sighed, nodding

"I don't need a baby sitter." she said, but the boys ignored her.

"Behave." was the only thing Minho said to Gally, who laughed at that.

Turning to Eleanor he added, "Don't trust him, he's full of klunk." and then sprinted towards the door of the closest building.

"Hey!" Gally shouted after him, gaining some protest from the ones trying to sleep and Eleanor found herself snickering.

* * *

When Newt woke her up the next morning Eleanor felt like she couldn't have slept longer then 5 minutes, so she was surprised that although the sun hadn't come out yet, there was a faint light covering the sky. Her wide confused eyes questiones the boy in front of her but he simply said "Follow me" stood and started walking away. Leaving Eleanor to catch up with him, she reluctantly followed, her legs feeling heavy and numb and feeling tired, she felt she could fall asleep whilst walking but she managed to stay awake enough to tag allong with Newt.

He was walking fastly, the slight limp she noticed yesterday barely notizable, he took gigantic steps which made Eleanor have to do a ridiculous trotting in order to catch up with the taller boy. When she was finally at his level she looked up at his serious face, the bag under his eyes not looking extremely inviting so she swallowed her questions knowing they probably wouldn't be answered.

Focusing on keeping up with his excruciatingly long steps, Eleanor noticed how hungry she was, she didn't remember the last time she ate, she thought maybe that was why she felt so dizzy, but it could also be the fact that it was dawn and she had just woken up, so she didn't dwell on it for longer.

When they finally made it to one of the concrete walls he stopped, so Eleanor did too. The wall was so large in comparasion to them, she felt very insignificant, she wondered how those things could even exist. Newt did not waste any time and proceeded to brush aside some ivy on the wall uncovering a small dirty window almost completetly opaque, Eleanor wasn't even sure anyone could see across from it. Newt beconed her forward and she slowly obliged, she had to step too close to him for her own comfort in order to see through the glass, if you could even call it that. Newt's body radiated so much warmth she wasn't aware a human being could. She then stopped to think about her companion and focused on what she was supposed to be looking at, which was absolutely nothing. After a while she could see some silouetes, it looked like a room with an opening on the side, the walls were made of concrete and ivy covered them. She couldn't see the ceiling so she figured that just like in the glade, there wasn't one.

They spent a few minutes in silence, he kept staring so intensly at the glass, Eleanor was sure she was supposed to be seeing something but she was getting impatient.

But just when she decided to speak she saw it "what are we-" the words gort stuck in her throat. A huge mechanical insect had just rounded the corner, her heart started pounding agaisnt her chest and drumming loudly in her ears. Though it was impossible to hear it from there, Eleanor could've sworn she heard the screeching and moaning of the creature. It was something robotic, but she felt like it was alive, their arms looked silvery and mechanic but it looked more like and animal than a robot somehow.

Eleanor was so grateful of the walls at that very moment, sure they trapped them in but they kept those things out.

But just as she had that thought the gigant spider started climbing the wall oppsite from the window. Eleanor let out a loud gasp and Newt spoke "Don't worry, they don't climb all the way"

She hadn't noticed he had been looking at her the whole time but she didn't have time to feel shelf-concious . She kept her eyes on that thing until she couldn't see it anymore, so she pressed herself further onto the glass to see it again.

Just then, the creature jumped so fast towards them she didn't have time to react.

Eleanor was aware of three things at once, one, the loud boom of the creature colliding with the window that she was sure was going to break but surprisingly, it didn't. Two, how extremely dizzy she felt as she fell to the floor. And three, Newt reaching out for her, his fingertips grazing her arms. Then everything turned black.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Maze Runner or any of the characters except Eleanor.**

**Here's the second chapter, this story will be a bit slow at first but hopefully I can pick a faster pace in a few characters.**

**Also, this story is mainly based of the books, that does not mean that I won't be including some things that happen in the movie.**

**I am sorry if some things get a bit boring but I try to explain as much as I can about the glade without being annoying, even though you've all probably read the book or watched the movie and already know all that stuff.**

**Anyway, please enjoy :) And reviews are very much appreciated.**

Fainting was a very strange thing to go through, you could be unconcious for hours and feel like only seconds have passed by, or you could be unconcious for seconds and feel like it had been hours. And you're not completely blacked out either. Eleanor saw images fly by her, memories or dreams, either way none of it stuck. To her, it felt like no time went by but at the same time felt like so many things had happened.

So when she opened her eyes, she was surprised to to see the sky had just started turning orange and she was lying on the same place she was just standing moments ago with Newt. Then, she realized she had fainted.

"Eleanor!" Newt's voice sounded making her turn to look at him, he was crouched, hovering over her figure. His voice sounded familiar to her as he said her name and she realized she might have heard him calling out for her in her knocked out state.

Eleanor sat up onto her eyebrow until she got to eye-level with him. Since she didn't respond he spoke again. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah," She said quickly "yes."

She could feel her cheeks heating up, she had actually fainted, she felt utterly embarrased.

Sure, those things were terrifying but Newt sure as hell didn't look like he had ever fainted. She was quick to stand up, eager to forget about the whole thing, Newt stood up along with her, his eyes not missing a single movement she made, surprisingly, his eyes weren't mocking, they showed concern, but that only heightened her embarrasment.

As soon as she was on her feet she realized something was wrong. The world started circling around her and she was quick to close her eyes expecting the impact of the cold ground once again. But the impact never came.

Newt's arms wrapped around her waist hoisting her up and she fell on his chest. _What is with me and falling on boys chest? _She thought.

"Are you sure you're ok?" Eleanor looked up at his concerned face, her chin resting on his chest, "when was the last time you ate?"

She simply strugged, knowing she shouldn't have skipped dinner the previous night. They separated but he grabbed a hold of her arms tuggin her along with him gently, his eyes never leaving her as if he was worried she might faint again. Eleanor's cheeks were burning up as he led her in what she asumed was the direction of the kitchen.

When they arrived a few boys were scrambled around eating breakfast. It seemed too early for Eleanor though.

"Why are they awake so early?" she felt brave enough to ask, he sat her down on a bench in front of a table and held up his hands, as if to say 'wait here', and left her there.

Eleanor huffed in annoyance, her head feeling heavy and dizzy, she couldn't make sense of anything surrounding her since she came out of that box, and those boys seemed to have all the answers but decided to conceal them from her.

Across the room a familiar face caught her eye and he smiled as he spotted her looking and winked in return. Eleanor imediately hid her face, letting her damp hair cascade around her head, red flush invading her cheeks. When she dared to look up again he was making his way towards her.

_Oh no! _She thought, Eleanor didn't know what to make of him, he hadn't been exactly nice when they had met.

"Hello, greenie." he said, the girn impossible big on his face.

"Hello Minho."

He seemed happy that she remembered his name. He wasted no time and took a seat across from her.

"How'd you like the grievers?" he asked. Eleanors was surprised by how straightforward Minho was, no one had ever mentioned the name of things in her presence as if it was all top secret, and here was Minho saying 'grievers' as if he used it everyday and it wasn't a word to descrive gigantic killing machines.

"Is that what they're called?" She replied, to be honest she didn't want to announce to the whole glade about her fainting episode. So she changed the topic, "why are you up so early?"

"That she-bean," he said, as if he held the secret of the unvierse, though to Eleanor he did held the secrets of this universe she happened to stumble upon. "is the perks of being a runner."

It was obvious he was being sarcastic, but she didn't understand, "a runner?" She repeated, questioning.

"You'll find out on the tour today." an accented voice said to their right and they both turned to stare at Newt. Said boy sat down next to Eleanor and pushed a plate in front of her.

"Eat." he ordered. It was filled to the top, she wasn't sure what with but at that moment she couldn't care less, the appealing smell made her stomach ache from need, so she was eagerly about to obey Newt when he added "Slowly, we don't know how long you've been without food."

But apparently it wasn't long because her stomach welcomed the food gladly.

"So greenie," Minho said "how'd you like the glade so far?"

"Hmp." she replied through mouthfulls of her breakfast, "s'orrible, eryone iz zo rude." She couldn't remember ever eating something so good, she swallowed, "They all look at me as if they either wanna kill me or kiss me."

Minho laughed loudly, and she caught Newt faintly smiling for a second.

"What about us?" the asian boy said still mantaining his smirk and patting Newt on the shoulders, "Do we want to kill you or kiss you?"

She took a good look at them, her hunger subsisding a little. They were both tall and well buillt, they looked tough with their tanned rough skins and their eyes, that had an edge to them, like they were much older than they looked.

They intimidated her, but at the same time she took into notice that smirk Minho's lips held and the way Newt had pronounced her name with that concerned edge.

Finally Eleanor spoke, "You." she started signaling Minho, his eyebrows shot up but his smirk never left, "You look like you enjoy torturing me with that simirking and sarcasm and the whole I know about what's going on but you don't. And you," She turned to Newt, "I know that you're forced to interact with me because it's your job or whatever but you could at least try to hide your annoyance. And it would cerntainly be very helpful if any of you could tell me what the hell goes on around here, instead of staring and snickering around, because why not? Let's just make fun of the girl who's terrified to death and has no freaking idea what's going on!" Eleanor was almost borderline histeric by the end, she quickly realized what she was doing and stopped talking, and then as if her mind had no control over her mind she said "Sorry."

She wasn't really sorry but it felt like a natural thing for her to apologize.

Her head dropped down and she started eating again, slower now. She was already full but she didn't think they'd appreciate her leaving food on the plate.

"Man," Minho started, breaking the silence, "you were doing so well and then you went and said 'sorry'." He chuckled.

Eleanor looked up at him ofended, _yeah, 'cause I have manners unlike you._ She thought, though she kept quiet.

Minho chuckled again and checked his watch, "Anyways shanks, gotta go." he wasted no time on standing up and leaving, waiting for no goodbyes.

Eleanor's eyes followed him til he reached one of the cracks where the walls met. As if on cue, these started opening, the whole glade vibrating along with them. She watched in awe as he slung a bag over his shoulders and took off running out of the glade. Eleanor gasped, immediate thoughts of those creatures lurking out there flashed her mind.

"He just-, why did he-, I though-" she tried to voice her thoughts but nothing coherent forming.

"I'm sorry" Newt cut her, her head snapped to look at him, surprised etched all over her face. She stared at him for a few seconds, Eleanor thought he looked handsome, when he showed emotion that is, which according to her experience wasn't very often. She wasn't sure why he just apologized, probably because of her rant.

"S'okay." She replied a small smile on her face, maybe they did have manners after all. But just as she thought that he abruptly got up and left her there, making her sigh. She looked at him as he walked away. His walk seemed pained, uneven, his limp all the more notizable.

"Morning greenie." a voice said to Eleanor's back and she turned to find who she thought was their leader, did that mean he was her leader too?

She vaguely remembered his name was Alby.

"C'mon," he said, nodding his head up signaling her to get up. "time for the tour".

* * *

Eleanor was counting down seconds til she could start asking questions. It was great for her to finally have someone explaining things but she had already walked everywhere in the glade, now she simply had the names for the places, and it didn't take a genious to figure out what they did in each location. But still she listened intently, trying to memorize everything he was telling her.

Alby confirmed to her that she was indeed the only female to ever come up in 'the Box' but she wasn't the only one, Every month a new greenie was sent up through it, and every week new suplies arrived.

"Do you get a say on what they send up?"Eleanor had asked.

"We leave notes, sometimes they listen" was Alby's response. She figured by 'they' he meant whoever sent us here. He had also mentioned them as 'the creators', but he assured her they had no idea who they were.

"Could I?" Eleanor said cautionsly, "leave a note, I mean." If she was going to be living there she certainly needed some things they probably wouldn't already have.

"We'll discuss it later."

"Later?" she asked.

"We're having a gathering, greenie."

"About me?" The thought of a bunch of boy coming together to talk about her unsettled her, "can I go?"

"Just keepers." he said harshly, "Now, no more questions until I finish."

And he moved on to talking about the Med-jacks. After he finished he took a deep breath as if bracing himself and said.

"Okay, you can ask now." He imediately looked like he regreted doing so. Eleanor didn't know where to start, she figured she'd start with the easy questions and maybe he wouldn't blow her off too soon.

"What is that?" She chose to ask, signaling the building where she had met Minho the previous day.

"The map room." He said as if that explained everything. Eleanor waited for him to add something, so when he didn't she said:

"So it stores maps, or what?"

"Something like that." he said and then added, "it's off limits."

_Of course it is, of course he's not going to explain._ She decided to go for the next 'easy question on her list.

"What are runners?" she asked, and by his reaction she immediately guessed she wasn't going to get a straight answer out of him, But he proved her wrong, his face turned into more of a scowl than it already was and he said:

"They run the maze." That world sounded like a bomb in her mind. _Maze_, a maze, a maze? She was sure her heart had stopped beating for a second.

Of course, _of course_ it made sense now. She could visualize it, a incredibly large maze with incredibly tall walls and deadly creatures trapping them in. Eleanor started thinking, someone had put all of them in there for whatever reason, and they needed to solve the puzzle and find a way out. Maybe they were all part of one big experiment.

But what if there was no getting out? What if they were trapped with only a way in?

No. There had to be a way out.

She then thought of Minho running the maze everyday, corridor after corridor for months, years even, those creatures lurking around corners. Somehow, that made her understand Minho better, and she felt a wave of respect for the older boy run through her.

Seeming surprised that she didn't ask any more questions, Alby spoke.

"Alright, greenie?" when she nodded he said, "Good, you'll start on the blood house tomorrow." Eleanor felt sick to her stomach but she didn't complain, one of the golden rules of the glade was to do your part and she didn't plan on making this lot of boys think she was in any way different than them.

"And remember," he added, "don't hurt anyone, and never leave the glade. Shouldn't be too hard, huh? Greenie?" Eleanor simply nodded.

* * *

At first she had been glad the tour was over, but after walking for what felt like hours she was impossibly bored, she had no idea what she was supposed to do for the rest of the day. She started debating whether or not to explore inside the buildings, because with Alby she had seen everything from the outside and she was curious about the inside of the places but she really didn't want to get in trouble and gather more attention. But she had been there for not even a day and she was already dying of boredom.

Eleanor headed for the biggest building which was conveniently the one closer to her. She recalled Alby had called it the "homestead", that name had stuck because it had the word 'home' on it, and frankly, it wasn't that hard to remember.

It was the biggest building but it wasn't nearly as big as Eleanor knew real houses were, even though she didn't remember her own house, or any house for that matter.

The homestead looked like it had been reformed several times so it had a certain look of inestability.

The inside was no exception, with almost no furniture, the walls were patched up as if it had been done randomly but the place was still standing so it worked, she gave them credit for that. The ground was almost completely engulfed with sleeping bags, hammcocks and clothes scatered all around, she could've sworn she saw some underpants lying around but she didn't dare the get closer to confirm it.

On the furthest wall there was a crooked set of stairs that were anything but inviting, nontheless Eleanor followed that path.

There were barely three rooms in the second floor all jammed up together, their doors pressing against eachother in a tiny corridor, all three doors were opened so she didn't think she was doing something wrong. The first two rooms were empty, a single bed (_if you could call it that_ she thought) in each of them and barely anything else.

As Eleanor took a step to peer on the last room she should've heard that someone was inside, she should have swallowed her curiosity and gone back outside, and she only realised all this things when her eyes came in contact with a shirtless torso and her lips parted to let out an involuntary gasp.

Both of them made eye contact at the same instant, their faces the description of surprise. Newt stared wide eyed at Eleanor.

"Shi-" she turned around flushtered "Sorry. I'm so sorry." her voice sounded high pitched and too loud for the silence that reigned. Her hands flew to her eyes, covering her face in embarrasment.

"Shuck, greenie!" She heard Newt said, as well as rustling behind her back "What the hell are you doing here?"

She didn't turn, she felt an amount of embarrassment she was unaware a person was capable of feeling.

"You can turn around now." Newt said to her, and she obligued, gazing carefully at the boy in front of her, but his skin was covered. That cleared her mind a little bit. She felt the need to apologize, as she was getting used to.

"I'm so so so so sorry." she rushed "I was just bored and looking around and I didn't know you were here, maybe it's your room or something, I don't know." knowing she had started rambling she stopped, took a deep breath and added "I'm truly sorry."

Eleanor was 100% certain her face was as red as she felt it hot, the image she'd seen a minute ago still burning in her mind.

"It's fine." Newt said, "You just, you just took me by surprise that's all."

"That makes both of us." she blurted and then blushed even harder if it was possible. An awkward silence fell between them which only lasted a few seconds befor she spoke again.

"Well I'm gonna go." she signaled with her thumb, "Sorry again."

And without waiting for an answer she had taken off, as she walked down the corridor she heard Newt sighing "Bloody hell".

* * *

"Hey Eleanor." Gally greeted Eleanor as he aproached her. She was waiting in line to get her food having decided that she would not be skipping any meals ever again, though she had almost regretted that decision as every single eye in the room bore holes into her entire body.

Eleanor smiled at Gally when he got to her, she realized she actually did like Gally, she thought he was nice and genuine which definetly was a improvement to the others,

"Hey Gally"

"Where were you this morning?" he said as the line advanced forward, "When I woke up you were gone."

"Oh." Eleanor was surprised he had been wondering about her, "Newt took me to see the..." she paused trying to remember "Grievers?"

He nodded, his face adopting a somber tone "So," he spoke, "how was it?"

"Terrifying." she replied, he nodded along with her words, "I actually fainted." she said quieter.

She was surprised at herself for telling him that, but she did feel like she could trust Gally, at least a lot more than she could trust the others.

"What?" he asked rather loudly "Are you ok?"

His concerned tone surprised Eleanor. "It's okay," she quickly replied, not wanting him to worry "I'm okay."

She gave her this look, like he actually cared, and then Eleanor felt glad that she at least had Gally in this scary and confusing enviroment.

Over lunch Gally explained what he did as the Keeper of the Builders, he introduced Eleanor to a couple of his builders and they chatted for a while. Though Eleanor still felt out of place, it was the most confortable she had been since she'd gotten there, mainly because of Gally. Not to mention the food was delicious, she had met the Cook, a hairy and impressibly big dark skinned guy who just scared Eleanor. He didn't smile but his eyes had been warm which she apreciated. Still, he was very intimidating.

She ended up spending the rest of the afternoon with the builders, mostly watching them work but it was something to cure her boredom, and when Gally wasn't too busy he was a source of conversation for Eleanor. She could feel herself growing fond of him by the minute.

By the time dinner came around however, Gally had to go to the Gathering. He had explained it was that late because they had to wait for Minho, who she'd learnt was the Keeper of the Runners, to attend it. But a couple of builders asked her to eat with them so at least she had company.

They had already started warming up to her and no longer acted like she was an alien on earth.

Once again, Eleanor was glad she had befriended Gally.

* * *

"So?" Eleanor assaulted Gally as soon as he was out the door. She had been waiting for the 'Gathering' to be over, she knew they were talking about her and that made her feel uneasy.

As her foot tapped nervously on the ground she had wondered what they would be saying about her, would Newt tell them about the fainting scene? That thought made her blush in embarrasment. They would think she was weak, though she knew she was; but she was certain they didn't apreciate weak people.

Her nerves were killing her, so as soon as the door opened she jumped forward. The first ones out had been Alby and Newt, the latest didn't even spare her a second look, Eleanor was glad, she was so embarrased and the thought of the sight she had witness just a few hours before made her cheeks burn red.

So when Gally came out she sighed in relief and basically attacked him.

"So?" he replied.

"What happened in there?" she anxiously asked. Gally laughed at her eagerness.

"You know, normal stuff." he simply said, when Eleanor raised her eyebrows at him he continued, "Just a few ground rules, respect the girl, no peaking while she showers, stuff like that."

She blushed, she hadn't even thought about that. _Now that I think about it,_ Eleanor thought, _a shower would be perfect right now._

"Okay, Anything else?"

"I don't think so," he said "apart from that you're like one of us".

"Did they say if I can ask the Box for things?" Eleanor asked, remembering what Alby had said.

"No, not that."

"What?!" She preactically screamed, almost terrified at the idea. When she realized she was being too loud she dropped the volume, "But I need things!"

Gally chuckled, but he at least look apologetic, "like what?" he teased, "A mirror? Make-up?"

Eleanor knew he was joking but that comment irritated her, as if she had to be reminded of how she was different from them all.

"Oh, I don't know." she said, sarcasms obvious on her voice, "a tampon, maybe?"

Gally's reaction was so priceless it made Eleanor forget all about her irritation. He turned a pale shade of green, his eyes were popped open and his eyebrows were raised impossibly high on his forehead.

"I'm gonna go talk to Alby, then." She couldn't hide her smile and her amused tone, he slowly nodded. His face hadn't changed and it looked like he was having some sort of mental breakdown.

"Well, see ya later, shank."

* * *

After Alby agreed, Eleanor decided to take a shower but she had no idea where everything was so she went on a search for somehow who could help her, show her where the showers were and maybe even get a towel and clean clothes.

Something was up around the glade, they were putting wood in the centre of the clearing as if to build a fire. She didn't think too much of it, after all she didn't know everything they did, it was simply her second day there.

Her first choice for help had been Gally but he seemed to be in charge of whatever was going on and all the other builders were busy following his orders.

Newt and Alby were out of the question, that left her Minho, she knew it was a horrible choice and one she was going to regret, but it was the only one she had.

He was sat in by the kitchen chatting away with a blonde boy that was just as tall as him, they had apparently been eating dinner.

Minho's companion spotted her first, "Hey greenie." and when he spoke to her Minho turned too, when he saw her a smirk invaded his face, one that she was getting used to seeing, and god, she hated that smirk.

"Hey, greenie." he greeted, sighing she replied, "It's Eleanor."

"Sure, greenie."

Eleanor gritted her teeth in annoyance.

"You look cute when you're angry." said Minho, that everlasting smirk never leaving his face, his blonde boy chuckled at the interaction.

Eleanor scoffed, "I'm not cute, okay?"

"Sure you're not, greenie." he said "You're so tough." and for dramatic effect he ruffled her hair.

She glared daggers at him, but he wasn't done:

"How cute is our little greenie?" he said in a ridiculous voice to his friend who laughed.

"Oh, shut up!" Eleanor said hitting his shoulder, though she was sure she did more harm to herself.

She then turned to the other boy deciding to ignore Minho, "I'm Eleanor."

"Ben."

She smiled at him. "If you excuse me," she added, "I have to borrow him for a second."

Both their eyebrows shot up but she didn't give them time to react. She grabbed Minho's arm and dragged him with her, he luckly followed her.

"I need your help." she told him.

Minho seemed to like that a bit too much, "is that so?"

When she stole a glance at him she saw that his eyebrows where raised. She spoke:

"I just need to shower, okay?"

Minho laughed, "And you need me?" he asked, "to do what? Rub your back? Not that I'm opposing."

Eleanor's reaction only made Minho laugh more.

"What? No!" she released his arm from her grip so she would stop touching him. Her cheeks felt hot once again.

"Relax, greenie. I know what you mean." He said a bit more serious now, though he still wore that ridiculous smirk. "We should hurry, though" he added, "wouldn't want to miss the party?"

_Party?_ aParty, huh? She wasn't sure she liked the idea. But one thing was sure, this could get interesting.


	3. Chapter 3

**New chapter, yay! It took me a while to write this because I'm still deciding where I want to go with this story. Thank you so much for everyone who followed and favourited. I would love you forever if you wrote me some reviews :)**

**Again, I apologize for any spelling or grammar mistakes.**

**I'm sorry this chapter is a bit shorter than the other two but I wanted to end it in a clift hanger. I hope you enjoy it anyway. xx**

"Party" was an awful choice of word for what took place that night. Sitting with Gally in a racked wood-stock for over and hour watching a bunch of adolecent boys wrestling and cheering as they humiliated and hurt each other wasn't Eleanor's idea of a party.

At least she felt a bit better then, she was clean and changed. She had managed to find a clean set of clothes thanks to Minho, who turned out to be more helpful than she would have liked to admit. Her clothes were still too big but it was an improvement. She wore a blue button up and some jeans, both of which had to be rolled up several times in order to fit her form. She still wore her worn out trainers since they hadn't been able to find a single fit for her.

Eleanor supposed she had been lucky with Minho, he had been a great bodyguard, no matter how much she didn't appreciate small talk while she was showering, and only a small wooden wall separated the runner from seeing her naked form. But at least, he had done his job and no one had come in.

Gally had stopped talking. She stole a glance at him and found he was longingly looking at the other boys. She could see he was restraining himself from going over and joining then. Even if she wasn't really enjoying herself, she wasn't going to keep her only friend from having his own fun.

"Go on." she said. He looked back at her coming out of his inner thoughts. "Go with them." she added, nodding her head towards them.

"What? No, no," he replied shaking his head, "I'm fine here with you." She raised her eyebrows at him.

"We've been together all day, c'mon, go!"she nudged him with her shoulder.

He let out a shaky laugh, "alright, alright!" Eleanor watched with a smile gracing her lips as he joined his friends on the chanting and a few boys patted him on his back.

She felt very overwhelmed all the sudden, alone, the threats they all faced suddently felt very real in the darkness. As she watched the boys' shadows dancing in the light of the fire her heart swelled up and her breath caught in her throat. How did they all do it? How did they all not lose their minds in this secluded place with nothing but their lack of memories and their pressing thoughts eating away their minds? And in that moment she was sure she couldn't do it, that she wasn't strong enough to handle it all.

But as she watched Gally's smile lit up at something one of the others said, she understood. They were just kids, scared, terrified kids like her but they had eachother. They were friends. They were _family_. But not her, she wasn't part of that family, to her they were simply strangers. Loud, obnoxious and a little mad strangers. She believed she might've had friends outside of that place, a mother, a father, maybe even a brother or a sister. But no matter how much she tried, how much she forced her mind until it hurt her, she couldn't remember a single name, or a face, or anything at all. A tear ran down her cheek and down into her lap, and once one got out more soon followed. She turned around hoping no one would see her crying.

She thought by now she would've made sense of things, but she hadn't. She now knew what went on, how things worked and roughly where she was. But _why?_ Why was she there? Why were they there? At least they followed a pattern, they were all teenage boys, some older some younger but they were all the same. But her, she was most definetly not a boy. Maybe someone had made a msitake, maybe she wasn't supposed to be there. That possibility made things even worse. She thought she didn't deserve to be imprisioned here, but she also doubted the others did deserve it.

But why weren't there any other girls? Maybe they would start sending them up next. Though she wasn't sure she would get along with girls either, but at least they would be more alike. Still, she didn't believe she would last a whole month here, by now her sadness was eating her away. She felt really lonely, she didn't even know who she was. She simply knew her name. She didn't even know how she looked like, she knew she was short at least she had to look up in order to have a conversation with the boys. She knew her hair was dark because she could see it, but that was it. She didn't know what colour her eyes were. She didn't know how old she was. She didn't know whether she had a family, whether she lived in a house or a flat, she knew nothing of herself.

She was startled as she saw a figure moving in the dark, as it got closer his tall form and blonde hair became more visible.

She was quick to dry her tears with the back of her hand, but it was too late, Newt had seen them. He stopped and stood still, as if wondering what to do. His face barely iluminated by the flames. She watched as his brows furrowed in confusion. Quickly, She threw her head down, using her hair as a shield to avoid his sight, a technique she had apparently perfected, praying he wouldn't go over to her.

After a while she looked up again and he was gone.

* * *

Living in the glade didn't get any easier for Eleanor as days went by. She was a lot more busy which she was thankful for but she wasn't necessarily good at the things she was told to do. The first day in the blood house had been a nightmare, to say slaughtering animals wasn't her call in life was an understandment. Winston was surely not going to let her back in the blood house after he had to spent a whole afternoon trying to get her vomit of the walls. And it had been sure to give her nightmares for weeks. She had tried almost every job in the glade but none of them stuck, she was to weak for a builder, and not smart enough to design things, so sadly she hadn't been asigned with Gally.

Being a cook was the one thing she had been good at, but she hated it, she got so bored, and Frypan wasn't exactly the best of bosses when it came to his kitchen, so she was sure that was not going to be the place for her.

Med-jack was out of the question, which was kind of a disapointment because both boys who worked there were the nicest she had met in a while. Jeff and Clit had been sad to see her go too. But getting dizzy while curing a simple cut and having to sit on the injured's chair instead of them wasn't exactly healer material.

So, she was mostly spending her days in the gardens. It wasn't such a bad job, she liked the plants and no body bothered her there, but since she wasn't the strongest Zart wasn't really happy with her being there, and because he said she distracted the rest of the track-hoes. In her defense planting and watching plants grow wasn't the most entretaining thing to experience, and she found herself singing words she didn't even know she remembered.

Zart made her stop as soon as he heard her, but Eleanor simply dropped her tone. It made her feel better, singing, so anything that helped was more than welcomed by Eleanor. Also, if she had to endure the pain in her back from all the bending down she was sure Zart could handle a little singing.

Things seemed to move too fast in the glade but at the same time every day was the same as the one before. She saw the same faces one day after another. She had started getting to know them, she now knew who to wave to, who to avoid and what things annoyed them and what things made them laugh.

The days were gettine easier, but the nights... The nightmares cut like knifes in the dark, the shadows crept around her heart like demons waiting for the lights to dim. The voices in her head grew louder as the night progressed. She found herself jolting awake drenched in sweat every day after the next. And afterwards, she would simply pretend she was okay, she would curl up in her mat, her eyes opened, staring at nothing until dawn would break in.

She couldn't even make sense of her fears, it wasn't something specific that haunted her dreams, it was the feeling that came along with it. That feeling of dispair and agony that was a lot easier to ignore in the day time, with Gally or Minho or any of the others.

But those were just the easy nights, there were other, much worse, when she barely got any sleep, when she would find herself screaming herself awake until her throat burned, her cheeks wet with tears and she was sure to wake the entire glade. No one protested, at least not that she was awareof, but she knew she woke them up. Maybe they understood her, she didn't know. But none of them dared to say anything.

Except Gally.

The first night she woke up screaming her lungs out was the night she had overheard one of the keeper say they didn't know what to do with her, they couldn't find a place for her and perhaps they should throw her in the maze, "Maybe we should feed that shank to the grievers". They had laughed, it was a joke, but Eleanor knew it was true, she didn't fit, she knew it wasn't their fault, she did not blame him for saying that. But that was not her place, and she did not know what to do to change that.

So she woke up with an aching in her chest, the voices echoing in her mind. Her own scream ringing in her ears. She didn't have time to regain her breathing befor Gally was at her side holding her, desperately asking what was wrong.

She didn't speak, she couldn't. She didn't know herself. There was nothing to say.

So she clinged to him, her face in his chest, her fists wrinkling his shirt. And they lay there, silent. Eleanor trying to control her breathing and Gally waiting, praying for her to say something.

"I hate it here." she whispered, "I don't belong here."

Gally hugged her tighter "None of us do."

"Then how?" she said, "how do you do it?"

"It gets easier." was his answer. She didn't reply, but he could feel her body tensed up.

"It's okay." he added, "You'll be fine."

She simply nodded agaisnt his chest. She didn't feel like it would get better, but she hoped it did.

"You've got me" he said. Eleanor's eyes filled with tears because, it was true.

She felt closer to Gally than she had felt any of those day. She knew she was lucky to have him, she didn't know where she'll be if it wasn't for him, she probably would've gone mad. She wanted to tell him that, she wanted to somehow let him know how much he meant to her, how glad she was of having his warmth on that cold night. How lucky she was to have him. But she didn't.

"Thank you"

And then she hugged him tighter, eventually they would both fall asleep.

After that night, Gally made sure to be by her side every time it happened, It was like her scream had become his on personal alarm. She felt awful for waking him up every time, but she couldn't just tell him to leave. She needed him, she felt horrible and selfish, but she knew she needed him. He kept her sane, And he didn't mind.

That way Gally not only made her days worth living, but he made her nights bearable.

* * *

On the day of the accident, Eleanor had been in the glade for almost three weeks, she knew that because Alby had told her that same morning how the "box" would come the following day and she would find out if the creators had listened to her requests.

That day she was helping Zart in the garden, as she had gotten acostumed. He had sent her to the woods to get some more soil, which was the code for 'leave me alone for a while I need my sanity back'. Getting soil was the worst job as a track-hoe but Eleanor did not mind. She liked been on her own, every once in a while, which was something that rarely happened in the Glade. She took her time on her duty, dreading the moment she would have to go back to Zart.

She liked the woods, at least in the day light, they were empty, no gladers wandering around. But most of all it was natural, it didn't look forced or theatrical like everything else in the glade. It reminded her of freedom.

She took her time, wandering around, enjoying the smells and the peace she felt. She reflected on her days in the glade, life was getting easier, she had Gally, of course. But then there was Minho, she thought she could call him a friend, though with him it was always hard to tell. He had become her own personal bodyguard for when she needed to use the showers and he had yet to comlain once. She was lucky to have him too. He made her laugh, he made things seem normal and laid back which was something Eleanor surely apreciated.

She didn't really interact with any other keeper outside of the protocol, except for Zart but that was a given, and it wasn't something either of them enjoyed. The builders were her friends too, she guessed, though she wasn't sure if that friendship stood if Gally was not around, but it was something, at least.

Then there was Newt, he hadn't talked to her at all, nor had she talked to him. She wasn't sure why. Maybe they were still embarrased about her barging in into his room (something she was most definetly doing again), and it wasn't like they had a great aquaintance before, but it bothered her. Everyone seemed to love Newt, and he seemed to be there for everyone, he was second in comand, he was everywhere all at once. But at the same time he seemed to avoid her. Maybe she was reading too much into it. But it bothered her and she did not know why.

She couldn't have been in there for longer than an hour she heard her name being shouted. She turned and made her way in the direction of the sound confused. She heard it again. This time closer and clearer, she thought she recognized that voice.

"Minho?" she questioned out loud. Just then he made his way through the trees and aproached her. He had been running, she could tell, his breathing was quick and uneven and his face didn't hold his infamous smirk he usually carried around her.

She wondered if she had lost track of time, maybe she had been there for hours, if Minho had come back from the maze it must be pretty late. But the light was still as bright as ever. And as he arrived to where she stood, she could tell, something wasn't right.

"What's wrong?" she quickly asked, "Are you ok?"

He shook his head, " No, I mean, yes, I am" Eleanor urged him to continue "It's Gally."

Worry filled Eleanor's mind. Her mind quickly racing with millions of possibilities about what could be wrong. She was about to ask but he continued "He's been stung."


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys:) I'm so happy with the response I'm getting with this story. There isn't a lot of action in this chapter, and I apologize but it is necessary to explain the characters and to lead to where I want to go with this story.**

**Thank you so much for reading and please, please. let me know what you think, what you liked, didn't like, what you would like to happen.**

**Once again I apologize for all the mistakes I might have made. Enjoy! xx**

"You know, you should really eat something."

Eleanor had been sitting next to Gally for two days now. She had barely slept, Gally's screams keeping her awake. But there was no way she was going to leave. She owed it to him, he had put up with _her _screaming. And even if she didn't owe him, it did not matter, she wanted. She _needed _to be there. She was scared if she left something bad would happen to him.

She had a horrible headache and she felt she could collapse in any second. But no matter how awful she felt, she knew she wasn't suffering as much as Gally was. Even when he wasn't screaming his face contorned in a mask of pain, black veins populated his neck and part of his face and she had heard Jeff say they covered almost his entire body too.

She watched as he pulled agaisnt his restrains, whatever was happening inside his mind was like a torture to him. Eleanor's eyes filled with tears as he watched him mutter under his breath.

* * *

As Minho had come looking for her she had followed him without a second thought, her mind going crazy at the thought of something bad happening to Gally, to her friend.

"What's happening to him?" she asked as they watched Jeff and Clint hovering over Gally. He lay very still, his skin was starting to turn a greenish colour and his eyes were rolling around in their sockets.

"He was stung." Alby said from across the room. He stood with Newt at the other side of the bed, both of them carrying matching worried looks. Everyone else was waiting outside the homestead, following orders from Alby (well, more like threats). She had no clue as to why they had let her in but she was incredibly thankful they had.

"What does that mean?" She asked. Minho had already mentioned he had been 'stung' but she did not know what that meant. But watching Gally she knew it was something bad, really bad.

"It means a griever got him." spoke Newt. She looked up, her wide eyes meeting his sad expresion, in any other circumstance she would have been more than surprised to hear Newt speaking directly to her but nothing else but Gally was on her mind.

"A griever?" she said, "But he... How?" she did not understand, Gally was a builder, he didn't go out in the maze and the griever didn't go inside of the glade, did they?

She was staring intently at Newt waiting for his answer, but it was Minho who spoke,

"We're not really sure." he said, "The builders said they heard something in the north corridor. Maybe Gally thought it was a glader, I don't know. I just found him there." His voice trailed to silence.

"He went into the maze?" she asked disbelievably. He went to save someone who wasn't there and got hurt in the process. He was attacked for nothing.

"What's happening to him?"

"We've injected him with the serum." Clint said, still taking care of Gally, "It's the antidote, or it's supposed to be."

"What does it do?" her voice had started to sound more and more broken, adopting a desperate tone. It was taking her all of her willpower not to burst out in tears.

"We're not sure." Jeff was the one to answer this time.

"Not many shanks have been stung."Alby said.

"And even less have survived." Newt added. Alby glared at him, not appreciating his input.

"What happens to them?" she asked.

"They go throught the Changing." Alby answered, but before she had time to ask what it was Minho explained,

"They remember."

They remembered? As in before they woke up in the glade? She didn't have time to dwell on it. And she didn't really want to, all she wanted was for Gally to live.

"But he will be okay, right?" she asked almost desperately. She knew the answer before they spoke but she needed them to lie to her. She desperatly needed to know he was going to be fine.

"Even if he is," Newt said, "He will certainly not be the same."

* * *

"You know, you should really eat something." Clint said as he entered the room and found her sitting next to Gally's bed as if she had never left, which she hadn't.

"I'm not hungry."

And she didn't feel hungry at all. She was not sure how long she'd been inside the racked room inside the homestead watching Gally go through the Changing and both med-jacks going back and forth.

It was a lot easier for her to handle when Minho was with her but he had a job to do, and he couldn't very well ignore the first rule of the glade just to keep her company. She knew she should follow his lead, get some air, strech her legs, maybe even work. She wasn't exactly helping Gally in any way but she couldn't bring herself round to leave him. Plus, no one had come looking for her, or for Gally for that matter, except Jeff and Clint, and the ocasional visit from Alby. She knew Gally had friends, and he was respected and nice to everybody so she knew they cared about him. She guessed they didn't want to see him in that state, maybe they thought he wasn't going to make it. Eleanor knew it was a highly probable outcome, Minho had told her the few gladers who had survived the changing hadn't survived the memories, whatever that meant. So there wasn't anyone still alive who had gone through what Gally was going through.

But she thought that if maybe he survived this, if maybe he lived, then she would help him cope with the rest. She'd help him with his demons just like he had done with hers.

It took a total of three days for him to wake up. He had been mumbling in his sleep for the previous two but hadn't totally regained full concience. She was staring at his face because he had been calm for once, his face looked almost normal, like he was sleeping. Eleanor thought he looked peaceful, and then his eyes opened, slowly. He didn't scream or shot up his eyes tinted with red, no. He woke up as if nothing had happened, as if it was simply another day.

Eleanor held her breath, scared if she made the minimum noise she would disturb him.

She watched as his eyes wandered around the room before finally settling on her.

"Eleanor?"

His voice sounded raspy and pained, but in that moment she thought it was the best sound to grace her ears. A smile broke its way through her lips and she felt a tear roll down her cheek. He looked confused for a moment then his eyes filled with that warmth she knew only Gally could have. But it was quickly gone as Jeff and Clint walked through the door.

"He's awake." Jeff said, "tell Alby."

Clint obeyed and left the room. Eleanor gave Jeff him space to check on Gally and let the med-jack do his job but she did not leave. He was alive, he was okay, she felt she could breath again for the first time in days.

When Alby arrived things quickly turned caotic, Eleanor stood aside as they hovered over Gally. Once Alby got the green light from Jeff, he stepped closer to the bed.

"What do you know?" He demanded, Eleanor thought she didn't like his aproach but kept quiet. She shifted so she could watch the exchange better. Gally stared up at the ceiling, not looking at any of them, but he didn't look thoughtful, he looked vacant. When he spoke, his voice lacked any emotion.

"There's no way out," He said, "They won't let us leave."

The atmosphear of the room turned quiet, too quiet, every outside noise sounded muffled to Eleanor, like she was underwater. Their attention was solely focused on Gally's words.

"What did you see?" Alby questioned again.

But Gally seemed to have said everything he wanted, he did not answer. Alby wasn't pleased, he stepped even closer and grabbed his arm to catch his attention. Gally wasn't faced, he kept staring straight ahead.

"Gally, what did you see?" He spoke slowly as if he was talking to a child. Gally's eyes snapped to him so quickly and unexpectedly Eleanor slightly jumped.

"We can't, we're all dead. We can't leave." And then he kept repeating, "We can't leave. Don't make me leave. We can't leave. We can't leave..."

He kept saying those words so fast they mixed between eachother. His voice was frantinc and his eyes looked so scared it broke Eleanor's heart. Alby tried asking more questions but he didn't stop talking, they would both raise their voice over the other's.

Eleanor stepped forwards, her eyes locked on Gally's panicked face, she was scared, not for herself, but for him. He looked crazy with the way his lips were moving and his eyes drifted from one place to another so fast it was hard to keep track. Alby's yells mixed with his deafening her.

"Stop!" She yelled over their voices, "Leave him!"

The room felt silent, too silent, and they all stared at her. She looked at Alby, her angry stare boring into him. He looked ashamed to have lost control. He nodded at her and stepped aside to leave her space. She looked at Gally but his expresion was so different from before, he looked confused but slighty indifferent. Eleanor then thought she didn't recognize Gally in those eyes, and she remember Newt's words as he had said Gally wouldn't be the same.

She had been so worried about him living, she hadn't given any thought about what would happen when he did. She told herself it did not matter that he looked different, she knew her Gally was in there somewhere. He couldn't have just become a different person just because he now remembered some things. She just had to help him go back to who he was.

"Are you okay?" she asked him.

The light in his eyes changed for a second and a flare of hope shot through Eleanor. It was soon gone but she was sure he had recognized her, he had looked sad but mostly he had looked like _her_ Gally. But that light was soon replaced by a mask of harshness making her wonder if she had imagined it.

"Leave."

"What?" she asked, startled.

"You!" he said, his eyes were drilling holes into her so there was no doubt who he was refering to, "leave."

His voice was low, menacing. She flinched back, he hadn't screamed but she felt like he had. That was not Gally, that was not her friend. How was that possible, he had recognized her when he woke up.

"Go away." he repeated.

"C'mon Eleanor" Clint said.

He walked to her and grabbed her arms leading her gently out of the room. She couldn't speak, she heard Gally's voice screaming at her now to leave once again. She closed her eyes and let Clint guide her away. Gally's yells following them outside. But that was not Gally, she told herself. She let Clint take control of where they were going and away, away from that boy's screams. That boy she no longer recognized. That boy that sounded like his best friend, but he wasn't.

* * *

She didn't know how she had gotten there, or why. But somehow her feet had led her to the Northern door of the maze.

She simply sat there staring straight ahead, her tears long gone. The sun was still fairly high up in the sky so she knew it would be a while before Minho came back from his runner duties.

She knew some gladers were staring at her from afar, wondering if she had gone mad, wondering what she was doing so close to the doors. But none of them approached her, and she was glad they didn't.

It was a while before she heard anything other than her own breathing and the thoughts inside her head. She heard someone's footsteps next to her but she didn't look, she kept looking straight ahead hoping they would leave, but they didn't. She felt them sit beside her and she closed her eyes still praying they would let her be. It didnt work.

She opened her eyes and looked at them, she was surprised to see Newt but she didn't show it. It didn't even matter anyway, all she could think about was Gally and all she could feel was sadness.

"Here." he said, dropping a something in her lap. Whatever it was felt warm and was wrapped in a napkin so she guessed it was food.

"What are you doing here. Newt?" her voice sound tired, and she was. She just hoped he would leave her alone, "If you're worried I'm going to run out don't worry. We both know I don't have the guts to go out there anyway."

He didn't speak for a few seconds, She almost felt like apologizing but she didn't. He didn't get to ignore her for weeks and then simply drop by as if nothing had happened. Not when she felt like she just lost her best friend.

"I'm sorry," he said, "about Gally, I mean."

She felt a pang in her chest like she had for the past days.

"Me too." she said.

They were silent for a while. Eleanor wondered why he was there, they weren't friends, it didn't make sense. She could feel that wave of sadness coming to her again and she gritted her teeth.

"Please Newt, just leave." she said, her voice sounding incredibly sad even to her own ears.

"I will." he said, "As soon as you eat something."

He nodded his head towards the package still resting in her lap. She took it in her hands examining it, it was poorly wrapped. As she took the napking off, she observed a badly made sandwich that looked more like a mess than a sandwich. She wondered if Newt had made it. She grabbed it with both hands hoping it wouldn't fall apart and despite the lump in her throat she bit into it.

Her throat felt so sore it screamed for her not to eat any more but her stomach greeted the food gladly so she ate more. Despite its poorly appearance the taste was acceptable, though it was nothing compared to Frypan's cooking. She almost thanked Newt, but she stopped herself. She didn't know why he was doing that, cooking for her, worrying about her.

Once she finished, she looked at Newt waiting for him to go. She had followed her side of the deal, so he had to follow his. None of them spoke as he got up, but before he left, he spoke.

"You're wrong, you know? You do have guts." And he was gone.

She shook her head, she knew that wasn't true.

Eleanor suddenly felt really cold so she hugged herself. She felt awful, she hadn't realized how Newt had distracted her and made her feel slightly better, but now, she was back to page one. The chilly evening air surprised her, it was never cold in the glade. But she knew why it was, Newt's body irradated so much warmth, she had noticed it before, that when he left he took it all with him.

But no matter how cold she felt, she didn't move.

* * *

She waited there until Minho came and found her hugging her knees trying to keep herself warm and trying not to let the voices in her head win. She hadn't seen him come, she hadn't heard him jog up to her.

"El?" he said.

She looked up upon hearing her nick-name. It was something Minho had started using very recently. It was something Gally had started and it was a simbol of friendship and intimacy. Minho and Gally were her friends and she loved when they called her that. But just then it was a word that cut deep inside of her, twisting, like a knife. And when Minho said it she could almost hear Gally's voice in her mind.

Seeing her face made Minho crunch down to her level. Not sure if it was finally seeing her friend or after everything that happened that day but as soon as their eyes met, Eleanor started crying. Her breaths started coming out fast and pained. As soon as he noticed Minho grabbed her face between his hands.

"Hey, hey, hey." he said, his thumbs caressing away the tears that escaped her eyes, "What's wrong? What happened?"

"It's Gally" she managed to say between breaths, "He's awake."

Minho looked confused, "but that's a good thing, right?"

She nodded in his hands, but she couldn't stop crying. Minho sat down and wrapped an arm around her, she sinked into him. She was so glad to have Minho there with her, he was like a band-aid, he couldn't fix her but he helped protect the wound.

"He's not him" she said through her sobbing, "he's not Gally."

He was silent for a moment, they both held their breaths as the doors started to close. When the glade fell quietonce again, he broke the silence.

"I know." He said, "But he _is_ alive."

He was right, she knew it.

So what if they didn't get to be bffs anymore? So what if he was not her friend? She was being selfish, he was alive, that was supposed to be all that mattered. So she would accept it, she would accept that she might have lost a part of herself as long as it meant that Gally was fine. She'd live, and so would he. So she nodded forcing back her tears.

She rested on his now wet shirt and she realised what she was putting him through. He was supposed to be in the map-room, she knew that. But he had stayed, for her. A warmth spread through her and she felt her care for the runner growing. She wanted to apologize for being a burden to him, for alway being the whiny girl who was no good for nothing. She wanted to tell him how lucky she was to have him, and how much everything he did meant to her. But like always, she never said as much as she wanted to.

"I'm sorry, Minho." she said, "I wet your shirt."

Then, she heard Minho's chuckle and she felt at home once again.

"Why do you always apologize?" He questioned.

"I don't know." She replied, slightly smiling.

They sat there for a while, she felt bad for keeping Minho from his dinner but she didn't want to move. And if she had asked him he would have said the same. But when Minho's stomach made a grumbling noise the moment was broken. She laughed, and was surprised to see Minho blushing in the dark. They got up and headed towards the kitchens in an unspoken decision. On their way, Eleanor decided to ask him something that had been bothering her since day one.

She didn't seem to be able to cope with her feelings the way the rest of them did, so maybe there was something she was doing wrong. Maybe there was something she could do to feel better and stop being so sensitive that she always annoyed herself.

"Minho?" she said, he glanced at her as they walked and offered a simply questioning look. "What do you do when you're feeling stressed or sad?"

He stared at her for a few seconds wondering where that had come from and when he answered he let out a loud chuckle and smirked. And when Minho smirked, the world was okay again.

"What else?" he answered, "I run."


	5. Chapter 5

Running was even worse than Eleanor had imagined it would be. She couldn't imganige how someone in their right mind would submit themselves to that torture. She wasn't in shape, that much was obvious. Her chest hurt, her legs ached and she felt she would collapse at any second. She felt she had been running for a long time, but she knew if she had a watch no more than fifteen minutes would have passed. And Minho did this everyday? She hadn't told him she was going to run because she didn't want him to make fun of her. She wasn't really runner material and they both knew it, well everybody knew it. She had hid herself away within the woods of the Glade hoping no body would see her attempting to run.

She thought she would feel a lot better, more accomplished, but she didn't. She felt even worse. She couldn't even run a whole lap around the forest. She didn't stop.

Her legs screamed for her attention, begged her to stop but she didn't. She refused to give up. She was weak, but she would change that. She would not stop. She would run until she collapsed. She needed it. She needed to hurt, she needed to feel the pain. And maybe then she could stop being afraid of everything around her. She wasn't tough enough for the glade? Well, she was going to make herself tough enough. She knew she wasn't really trying to be a runner, the thought of the maze scared her to death. She was punishing herself, she deserved the pain. She deserved it for being useless, for always being scared, for always needing Gally or Minho. Maybe that way she'd learn to be a glader like the rest of them.

She had been running for a long time now, her thoughts consuming her. She had scratches on her arms and legs from the twigs she run into, but she didn't care. She felt so tired her vision had started to go blurry. But she didn't stop. She screamed to herself in her head. _Keep going! Keep going you useless klunk! _Her thoughts rang so loud she started screaming out loud.

She crashed on the ground, panting heavilly. Her lungs felt like they were going to explode. She lay there on the ground, every inch of her body hurting, but she didn't care. She knew she was getting mud and leaves on her hair, but she didn't care.

Then a wave of peace she hadn't felt before washed over her. For the first time in such a long time she could think clearly. It felt like she had a broken dial in her mind that had been blasting a non-stop buzz in her head and it had finally stopped.

She was still scared, and lonely, and she felt utterly incredibly small. But she was angry. Oh, she was very angry. She was angry at herself, for being so shucking sentitive about everything. She was angry at the gladers for treating her differently and looking at her like she was worth less than them and whispering things behind her back. She was angry at Newt for ignoring her ninety percent of the time, and the other ten percent treating her like a child. She was angry, she was so angry at Gally, for getting stung. She was angry at the boy who looked like Gally but wasn't him.

But most of all she was angry at whoever put her there, whoever took her life away, whoever took her freedom and her privacy away. Whoever was probably watching her right on that very moment. Her mind still couldn't phandom the thought of anyone doing that to a group of children and yet, it was her reality.

She stayed on the ground for a few more minutes, eyes closed, gritting her teeth. She slowly calmed down and a numbness started taking hold of her body but that was to be expected after all that running. When she finally stood up her tired legs almost gave in under her weight, but she felt calmer, she felt better, a lot better.

She hadn't realized how late it was, as she stepped into the clearing of the Glade she was surprised to see the sun had lowered considerably since she last checked, she must have ran a lot more than she thought. The doors hadn't closed yet but she was sure the runners must've been back by then.

She cindged at the idea of dinner with all the boys and contemplated once again skipping it. She knew it wasn't a very wise idea considering the exercise she had done. Plus, she had already skipped a considerable amount of meals for the week and she knew some people were starting to get suspicious. By some people she meant Minho, because she doubted the others cared much about her abstence. Still, she was very aware she needed to eat, specially if she wanted to continue with her running sessions.

But at the same time, she really needed a shower and what a better time to do so than when everyone else was preocupied with having dinner. Plus, she could always grab something from the kitchen after hours, she knew Frypan wouldn't be too happy if he knew but it was better than starving or having to be social. So, it wasn't such a hard decision to make.

* * *

The cold water against her skin felt incredibly good. It awoke her entire body and almost made her smile, almost. As she washed away all the dirt and sweat she enjoyed her moment alone. The light had dimmed and only a faint light came through a window on her right, barely illuminating the silouettes. She enjoyed the dark, she liked the night because it was the only time she felt alone, out of prying eyes and judging stares. Out of Alby's grumpiness. Out of whispering voices following her around. Out of Gally's vacant eyes and stoic expression.

She pondered over how much had changed over the course of only a few days. To put it simply, she had stopped trying to fit in. She didn't get them, they didn't get her. She no longer felt the need to be accepted, and she no longer wanted to be. If she was being honest, the only boy she actually talked to was Minho, unless you counted Zart's grunted orders, which she didn't. And even so, she didn't hang around Minho a lot, he liked being with the rest of the runners, not to mention he spent the whole day running in the maze. So she didn't really see him that much.

She still did her job, and worked very hard on it so no one would have any complaints about her. She did not complain either, she did as she was told. She didn't take breaks, she didn't stall, she no longer sang, so Zart mostly left her alone to her own doing.

She longed fot the nights. She had secluded herself away from the rest of the Gladers. If she was being honest with herself she knew what the reason behind dragging her sleeping bag all the way to the other side of the homestead was. It was Gally. It was always Gally.

She needed to be as far away from him as possible to feel like she wasn't suffocating. It had been a week since Gally had woken up from the Changing and it had only taken Elelanor a day to confirm that he was no longer the same boy. He looked like him, he sounded like him but it wasn't him. His cold menacing eyes gave it away the most but even his tone was different. He spoke differently, he behaved differently, he even _walked _differently. He had become quite the solitary figure himself but she could see that he was starting to make friends again, different kind of friends, but friends non the less. She guessed in the Glade snapping and glaring around earned you friendship points. She rolled her eyes. It was simply unfair, or perhaps she just couldn't understand. After all, she wasn't a boy.

She hadn't spoken a word to Gally since he kicked her out of the med-jack hut. And she didn't want to. Well, that was not entirely true. She sometimes found herself imagining what she would say to him, but she was terrified to even try. She hated that feeling, but what was the point? She didn't know this version of Gally, and she wasn't sure she wanted to. That did not mean she didn't feel a pang of pain in her chest everytime she got a glance at him.

She closed her eyes tightly, the water hitting her face, clearing her mind. She was hurt, she knew it, she knew she was sad, but she couldn't let herself give into it. It was her own fault. If she hadn't been so weak and needy, she wouldn't have become so dependant on Gally. She should've know better than to put her well-being on someone else's hands. Her eyes stung as she blinked away tears. Well, at least now she knew. She had learnt it the hard way but she knew not to get too involved with anyone. Not here, not inside that awful place they lived in, not with a freaking maze trapping them in.

She turnt the lever down, cutting the water stream. She knew she couldn't stay in the showers for too long, dinner did not last forever. But she knew she still counted with a good fifteen minutes or so, so she didn't worry a lot.

She squeezed her long hair with her hands trying to get rid of as much water as she could. She loved her long hair, it was comforting and protecting, and something that made her different. But it was really starting to get in the way and she thought that maybe she'd have to cut it. She let herself enjoy the cold air on her naked body for a second. Just as she turned around to grab her towel. Someone burst through the door. She gasped, quickly covering herself as well as she could with her hands.

"What the-?" she exclaimed. He stood there wide eyed, simply staring at her. She was incredibly thankful it was nightime so the light was limited, but she could see him, so she was pretty sure he could see her as well.

"Newt!" she said once more, drawing him out of his thoughts. He quickly shook her head, a crimson colour had invaded his face.

"Shuck- I-" he mumbled, "I mean- Bloody hell- I-"

She could tell her was trying to look everywhere but her. His eyes shiftly moving around. Her own face felt hot as he tried forming a coherent sentence. It then ocurred to her the towel was a better form of coverage, so she grabbed it and quickly rolled it around her body. That seemed to draw him out of whatever trance he was in and without a word she turned around and left, almost running into the wall in the process.

She scoffed annoyed, she couldn't understand why he always did that, a small sorry wouldn't have hurt anyone. Why did those things always happened with Newt? It was like whenever she embarrassed herself he was always there to witness it. And why did he always just left her hanging? Wasn't he capable of human interaction? Maybe it was because she was a girl, but to her it sounded like the lamest excuse ever. Maybe he was scared of her, it sure seemed that way, but it was ridiculous an made no sense at all.

_Don't be ridiculous,_ she told herself, _he just doesn't like you._

Even if it enraged Eleanor, she knew it was true. Newt didn't like putting up with her, and even if she didn't like being treated that way, she understood. It's not like she actually made an effort to get along with him either, she didn't see the point. But he didn't get to walk in on her naked and walk away without so much as a sorry. She angrily started dressing up, her mood not letting herself enjoy the luxury that were clean clothes in the Glade. Thankfully, the creators had started sending smaller clothing up in the box that actually fit her, so it was a big improvement. But nothing could top the joy she felt when, instead of the requested pads or tampons, they found a box of pills labeled "Girls" within the medical suplies, with the instructions to take one once a month. Alby let her have them, but he insisted on keeping them with the rest in the med-jack hut. She didn't complain, she was simply happy to have them.

Once she had made sure her skin was covered, she burst out of the door searching for the blonde source of her anger, slipping on her shoes along the way. She furiously searched around for him, the only place where she could actually see people were the kitchens, so she decided upon that direction. Perhaps she should have pondered on it more, taking into account every single member of the Glade was having dinner in that very place, but in the heat of the moment, she couldn't care less. She was fuming.

"_Newt_?!" she yelled as she entered the room. All eyes turned to look at her but she didn't care. Her own eyes searched around the room until they spotted that mane of touseled dirty blonde hair that belonged to the only person who was avoiding her stare.

Eleanor made her way over to the keepers' table lighting whispers as she passed by. Once she got to her destination she raised her eyebrows, only looking at Newt, crossing her arms infront of her. She waited until his eyes slowly came in contact with hers to speak.

"Aren't you going to apologize?" she demanded, his eyes held a mixture of embarrassment and fright. She didn't shift her judging stare, she watched as he looked around the table to his companions searching for something to say. When he didn't reply, she felt her rage growing.

"Oh, so that's how it is?" She said, "If this is a payback for walking in on you shirtless quite frankly that's a little bit childish."

His eyes widened at her statement, and she could see Alby raising his eyebrows in a questioning look, but she wasn't finished.

"And you don't get to see someone naked and walk away without so much as a sorry."

That did it, many gladers started talking between eachother about the new revelation. Newt was so red, she thought he might have stopped breathing. Eleanor blushed, immediately regretting sharing so much information with all the boys. Newt looked like he was going to explode, but Alby was the one who spoke.

"Wait, what?" He asked confused, and then signalled to his friend, "You? And you?" he pointed to Eleanor, she felt herself blushing madly and tried to supress it, without much success. The whole room felt silent once again, awaiting their response.

Newt was quick to intervine, "It was a bloody accident!"

"Well, if it was a freaking accident, you could at least say sorry." she said, angrily once again.

"I- bloody-" he seem to struggled with his words, "I'm sorry" he said, it didn't sound like he was sorry at all, but it was enough for Eleanor. She decided to let slip by his quiet mumble of 'shuck-face' that was more than clearly meant for her not to hear.

Eleanor fake smiled, "That wasn't so hard now, was it?"

Newt didn't glare at her, but he did the closest thing to it so she could tell he didn't apreciate her. Satisfied, she turned to leave, but as if remembering something she turned to the table once again.

"Oh, and one little request." she said to both Alby and Newt. Alby looked annoyed but didn't interrupt. "I want a lock in the showers."

Seeing Alby about to retort she added, "Because I might start walking in on you all, and let's face it," she let her stare drop lower onto Newt's body, "There's not that much to see."

With that she smiled sweetly and she finally turned on her heel and walked away, leaving them with their mouths opened. Voice erupted all around her and she could very distinctly spot Minho's loud laugh in the background. She ignored them all and kept walking. It wasn't until she was outside that she felt the smirk on her face.

She almost laughed. She kind of felt bad for Newt but doing that had given her a weird rush of power. If she could stand up for herself like that maybe she would be just fine.

"Wait up" she heard someone call up to her. She slowed down but she didn't stop. Minho easily caught up to her. When he did he drapped an arm over her shoulders.

"That was quite something, shank" she could help but smile at his amused tone, "I knew you had it in you."

She rolled her eyes, "Are you ever going to call me by my name?"

He laughed, "Do you think that's likely?"

"Ugh." she groaned and threw her head back onto Minho's arm. Even without looking at him she knew he was smirking, the bastard.

"How was your day?" she asked him, she had barely seen him all week, and she'd never admit it to him but she missed the runner.

"Was alright" he replied nonchalantly, "not as eventful as yours aparently."

"What do you mean?" she asked confused. She wondered if anyone had seen her running and had told Minho, but she doubted it, she had been very careful not to attrack attention.

They had made it to her sleeping place. Minho took his arm from around her and plopped down on the ground, leaning onto the back of the homestead. She sat down next to him, her whole body felt tired so she was glad she could finally sit down.

"I mean Newt" he clarified, "did he really see you naked?" Eleanor simply nodded.

"Poor shank," he said, "he'll have nightmares for months."

Eleanor gasped, letting her mouth fall open. She hit him on the shoulder, which only made him laugh.

"Way to boost my self confidence, slint-head" she said.

He chuckled, "You know I'm just joking, girly." She smiled at him.

She felt the tiredness of her body weighting her down. She yawned loudly and laid her head on Minho's shoulder. He moved his shoulder up and down making her head bounce. She whined only making him smirk more.

"Minhoooo..." she complained, her head bouncing lightly. Chuckling he stopped.

"What happened to you?" he asked, "you look knackered."

"I am" she replied, her eyelids feeling heavier, making it harder for her to keep them open. They fell into a comfortable silence, listening to the sounds of the night. But her peace didn't last long.

"El?" he asked.

"Mm?" she mumbled.

"When am _I_ going to see you naked?" He asked, she could hear the smile on his voice.

She snorted unattractively, elbowing him on the ribs. He slightly twisted away from her reach chuckling, but trying not to move his shoulder, which in her tired state Eleanor appreciated.

"In your dreams, Minho" she said.

"You can count on that" he replied. She looked at him and he winked down at her. A laugh scaped her lips. She kept her head in the same possition, enjoying the rare moment of calmness and listening to Minho's breathing.

"Min?" she said.

"Since when do you call me Min?" he asked chuckling lightly. The were nearly whispering by then.

"Since now" she said, "Deal with it."

He laughed, "alright, alright."

"We should hang out more." she said. And she meant it, she really liked Minho, he was laid back and funny. And never failed to make her feel better, even if he was an annoying pain in the ass, and all he did was tease her. She closed her eyes. She was on the verge of falling asleep.

"Done, shank" she heard Minho say. A smiled slowly made her way through her face.

**Hey y'all. I'm sorry I took longer to update this chapter but I hope you like it anyway. Hopefully in a few chapters the story will pick up. **

**If you review you'd make me very very happy, and if you have any request, idea o an opinion that you'd like to share please feel free to tell me. **

**Thank you for every single one of you that actually spend time readin my story. Lots of love x**


	6. Chapter 6

When Eleanor woke up the next morning Minho was long gone. She could barely recall him laying her down on her sleeping bag in the middle of the night, she must've not been completely concious, so she couldn't be sure if it had actually happened, but it must have because she woke up the the warmth of her sleeping bag around her body. She grogily smiled, sometimes it was hard to see it but Minho actually had a heart and she knew it.

She groaned as she turned, trying to get away from the faint sunlight, it didn't really work. She knew she had to get up but she didn't want to leave the warmth of her covers. She felt the fabric of her jeans pressing into her hipbone and she immediately regretted falling asleep without changing her attire.

She extended her arm out of the bag, the cold hitting her skin like tiny needles, and quickly retrived some spare clothes from the small backpack she kept next to her sleeping place. She proceeded to change clothing inside her sleeping bag, something she had become surprisingly good at. When you live in a secluded place with forty boys you have to learn those things.

When she arrived at the kitchens she was bummed to find that Minho had already left for his runner obligations. She must've slept in more than usual. She sat down in one of the few empty tables once she had grabbed a plate of food. Still feeling sleepy, she waited no time to start eating. She was so hungry she felt like her own stomach was devouring itself from the lack of food. After everything that had happened the previous night she had fallen asleep without eating anything at all.

When she was almost finished, she started to feel a bit better. A noise in front of her made her snap her gaze from her food to the person standing in front of her. She was surprised to see one of the builders sitting across the table from her. But looking around she found the rest of the tables were mostly full by then so it wasn't really that odd.

"Hey, Eleanor." he said shyly. She looked at him surprised that he was actually talking to her.

"Hey, Joe." She replied, her tone unsure.

He was a young boy, around fourteen. He had a round face full of freckles and he tended to have a scared look on him. He looked like the child he was. His complexion, however, didn't match it. He was tall, and his shoulders were decently wide, he looked quite strong. Probably the reason he was a builder.

She knew him, he was Gally's friend, or at least he used to be, before the accident. She had hung around him and his friends a few times, but he had never spoken to her, not directly. She felt clueless as to why he was doing so now.

"How are you?" It felt as he was scared to talk to her, he was just a shy kid.

"I'm good." she replied, kind of awkwardly, "how are you?"

"Good." he replied, nodding his head slightly.

Eleanor guessed he wanted to say something, he kept pushing the food around his place with his fork and that was weird in itself because those boys devoured any food as if it were their last day on earth. But she had also caught him opening and closing his mouth a few times, like he wanted to say something but he stopped himself.

She decided not to pressure him, if he wanted to say something, he would. So she kept eating her breakfast, even though his nervousness was making her anxious. What didn't go unoticed was when he stole a glance across the room at the builders table. She didn't follow his gaze, she knew he was looking that way but she didn't dare to look, afraid to exchange glances with someone in praticular. So she waited until his gaze returned to her. She shot him a questioning look, when she did, he finally spoke.

"We miss having you around." he said, and immediately looked down like he was ashamed of what he just said.

Eleanor was more than surprised, she was not expecting that. The builders missed her, that was odd. She had been sure they only liked her because Gally did, and now that Gally was this new version of himself, she didn't fit there anymore. She opened her mouth to say something but the words didn't come out, she didn't even know what to say to that. The thing was, she liked the builders, some of them were actually quite nice, but she wasn't sure she missed them. She couldn't separate them from Gally in her mind. To her, her friendship with the builders was something that came along with being friends with Gally. But now she wasn't friends with Gally anymore. She sure as hell missed Gally, but not this Gally. Could she even be friends with them without dealing with him? It didn't seem like a probable outcome. She settled for smiling at him, letting him know she appreciated. And she did. She thought she should say something to him, because this encounter already felt too awkward for her morning self. But before she got a chance to, someone cleared her throat on her back.

"You have work to do, shuck-face."

She was turning to see who it was, but she froze, recognizing his voice. She could've recognized that voice anywhere. She felt her blood was frozen inside her veins and an actual coldness started hovering over her. She knew she was being ridiculous but it was like she had no control over her own body. She felt frozen in place, she couldn't move and she wasn't sure she wanted to. She had been avoiding him like the plague, and now here he was, just a few inches from her. The hair in the back of her neck stood up, alert.

"But I haven't eaten yet." protested the younger boy across the table. She could tell Gally scared him.

"I don't care." the coldness in his voice didn't surprise her one bit, but it made her heart sink in her chest. She couldn't get used to hearing his voice sound so... mean. How could someone change so much overnight? This kid used to be his friend and now he was bullying him down like he owned him. Whoever this new Gally was, he was an asshole.

She tried to ignore her sadness so she focused on the other strong emotion she felt, anger. She turned around to glare at him but he didn't even spare her a single glance.

"But..." Joe tried to protest but Gally's expresion didn't change, like he had a scowl constantly engraved on his face.

"Now." he said, he hadn't raised his tone but his voice sounded incredibly menacing. Like he was threatening him. How dared he treat people like that?

"You know what, Gally?" she said. And just as she started she immediately regretted every word she was saying. But she knew she had to defend Joe, she couldn't let _him _walk around thinking it was okay to treat people like that. "Why don't you leave him alone?"

She tried sounding calm and collected, and reasonable. She tried acting the way Newt would, because Newt might've been a slint-head but there was no denying he was a good ruler.

Gally's eyes snapped to hers, she felt incredibly exposed, his stare boring into her. But she didn't look away, she tried to keep her expresion neutral, but she wasn't sure she was doing a very good job of it. Gally didn't speak right away. For a moment, she could've sworn she saw some kind of emotion flash behind his icy blue eyes, sadness maybe, but it was gone before she could be sure. She knew she couldn't trust her own eyes. Gally was not that boy anymore, why was that so hard for her to grasp? He was just a shell of the boy he used to be, now filled with anger and hatred.

He opened his mouth to retort and she braced herself for what was coming.

"Okay, okay" but it wasn't Gally's voice, it was Joe's. It sounded urgent, beside her. Soon he was infront of her, blocking her view of Gally. "I'm going." he said.

Gally nodded but still managed to glare at him, he wasted no time to turn on his heel and walk away not before throwing her one last hateful glare. She felt her insides twisting.

"Bye, Eleanor." he said quietly, as if he was afraid Gally would yell at him if he heard.

"Bye, Joe." her voice sounded so pained, she immediately closed her mouth and tried to swallow the bump in her throat as she watched them leave.

* * *

That day she kept stealing glances at the builders across the glade as she worked. The wheat had fully grown by then, ready for them to harvest it. Zart had given her an easy job,which normally she would've been slightly insulted by but that day she was grateful for it. She simply had to cut the useable part of the plants. Though he had been weary about giving her the knife, she could tell he was begininning to trust her more and more. Well, she had been in the glade for almost a month so she figured it was about time. Her duties that day were slightly more entretaining than they usually were, setting aside the scratches it was leaving on her hand, but she wasn't really focused on her work. She kept stealing glances at Gally, which translated on a few deep cuts on her skin when she got distracted by something he did. She hadn't realized before how much of a dictator he had become, she thought 'dictator' was a word as good as any to describe his brand new personality. He was constantly barking orders around and insulting the boys who didn't do things the way he wanted them to. None of the boys seemed too happy, but they didn't question him. She didn't blame them, he was their keeper, there wasn't much they could do.

At that moment Eleanor felt really glad she was a Track-hoe. Zart might've been a pain in the ass, but he was definetly a better keeper than Gally. _Speak of the devil_, she thought as said glader blocked her view of Gally. She hadn't realized she had stopped working so she quickly set back to it.

"Are you alright there, greenie?"

She sighed, that word again. _Just a few more days,_ she thought. She kept cutting, hoping Zart wouldn't see the cuts in her hands. The last thing she wanted was for him to think she couldn't even handle the simplest task.

"Yeah" she answered non-chalantly.

"I meant-" he said, when he paused, she looked up at him only to find him looking away from her, "I meant with what happened this morning."

His voice felt such awkwardness Eleanor felt herself growing nervous. She was sure she was blushing, of course everyone had seen that, they had nothing better to do than to gossip around. She swore sometimes they were nothing more than a bunch of old ladies.

"I'm fine" she didn't lie. Well, not completely.

The air around them turned tense. The both could tell the other was not comfortable.

"Why are you even asking me that, Zart?" she questioned. She knew there must've been a reason behind it, because they weren't friends, and they both knew it.

Then, something weird happened, he didn't just look uncomfortable, he looked nervous, and Zart never loked nervous, at least not around her. She raised her eyebrows at him, forgetting all about her work for a moment.

"Somebody put you up to this." she said, it wasn't a question. He looked around a small look of alarm crossing his face.

That was enough answer for her, she curiously looked around trying to figure out who would do such thing. Gally crossed her mind, but she immediately rejected that idea. She couldn't let herself into the false hope that he still cared, because he didn't. But when she spotted a pair of golden brown eyes looking at her from across the field patch she had her answer. He quickly tore his gaze away from hers but it was too late, she had caught him looking.

"Newt?" She questioned, surprised.

Zart released a big sigh, slumping his shoulders.

She felt slightly annoyed, why would Newt want to check on her? The answer would have been fairly simple had it been regarding any other glader. Newt was a nice guy, and he worried about the well-being of everyone in the glade. But when it came to her it always felt like there was something she was missing. And she couldn't even bring her mind around why he would worry about her after the scene she put on the previous night. He always confused her and she didn't know what to think of their awkward encounters. There were moments when she felt she could trust him, it felt like he cared and that maybe they could even become friends, but then he'd usually leave her without warning, and he'd just ignore her for days. And quite frankly, she was getting relly tired of it all.

"Well, you can tell Newt that I'm fine, I can take care of myself." she said, "And if he wants to check up on me, he can do it himself."

With that, she began cutting again. After a few seconds, Zart left.

* * *

It was common knowledge that exercise was good for your health but Eleanor wondered if it was all one big lie that people were led to believe, because she didn't feel good, she felt awful. Her muscles ached like she never knew they could as she made her way through the glade. Sure, she had been sore from planting and harvesting but this was in a whole other level. Her mind had started to come up with hundreds of excuses for her to turn around and go back to where she came from and forget about the whole thing. But she had set her mind onto commiting to her daily runs and she had to prove herself she could actually do something right for once. So despite her screaming limbs she made her way to the woods.

The light was going down and the air around her was turning colder which she was more than thankful for. She had sweat enough as she worked in the fields she didn't really need to collapse while running because of the temperature.

Her second run went even worse than her first but she still managed to run for a decent amount of time before she felt like she no longer could stand, so she alowed herself to feel a little bit proud of herself.

Maybe she would never be as fast as Minho or she wouldn't last as long as any of the runners but she was proving herself that she could do it and that was good enough for her. And it was going to take some time but she promised herself she would do her best every day until she no longer felt as useless at everything as she did. This was something that was hers, and only hers, and she wasn't about to give that up.

As she collected herself from the ground some movement up ahead caught her eye, she thought she saw something through the trees. But she couldn't be sure and she felt to tired to even care. So she went back out the forest, the flash of something golden she thought she had seen burried in the back of her mind.

**Hi readers:) I'm so sorry this chapter is a bit shorter but I'm already writing the next one so hopefully I'll put it up tomorrow. Next chapter will be very interesting so you can look forward to that.  
I want to thank you all so much for reading this story, it really means a lot to me that you actually enjoy what I write. Thank you for everyone who has followed or favourited, or maybe even review, or thank you for simply reading I love you all.**

**softball007: it makes me so happy that you noticed that between Newt and Eleanor. Newt is one of my favourite characters but I can't confirm nor deny if they will end up together, I guess you'll have to stay tuned to see what's going to happen! :)**

**By the way, I posted a maze runner video on youtube, so if you want to check it out you'll make me so very happy. ** watch?v=imfWY8EAiJk

**Also if you want to follow me on twitter or tumblr the links are in my bio. Thank you guys! x**


	7. Chapter 7

Eleanor had been waiting for this day for so long she thought she would feel a lot better than she did. She finally wasn't the greenie anymore. But showing the new greenie around wasn't exactly how she had planned on spending her day. Alby had still been the one to gave him the tour, as it was accustomed. But apparently it was sort of a tradition for the old greenie to help the new-comer.

She had squinted her eyes at Alby as he told her.

"Well, that's funny." she had said, "no one bothered to mention that fact when _I_ arrived."

Alby had given her that look. That Alby look that said he was done with you. She didn't feel like arguing with him so she did as she was told.

The greenbean had come up early in the morning asking more questions that she thought anyone was capable of asking. Most boys had been hoping it was another girl, something she had overheard more than one boy saying, but no one wanted it more than she did. But instead she got to walk around with the living proof that she continued to be the only girl amongst that army of boys.

The newbie was called Pablo. She guessed he was around sixteen, he was tall and slender but looked decently strong non-the-less. She was sure he'd find a decent job soon enough. She had promised herself she would be nice to him, because she vividly remembered how much she could have used that when she came up in the box a month before, but it was proving to be a lot easier said than done.

He didn't react like she thought all newbies would, he certainly did not react the way she had. He didn't look scared or shaken up like she had been, he seemed constantly angry and he was down-right rude and demanding. It was more than unnerving, and he made Eleanor really nervous. It was like walking around a time-bomb. She then thought she could introduce him to Gally, they'd make a lovely pair.

Still, she braced herself with as much patience as she could muster and managed to hold of until lunch. As soon as they both had their lunch plates she made her way over to the table where most Track-hoes were eating lunch and she cleared her throat. They all looked up surprised.

"Guys," she started, "this is Pablo."

Zart raised his eyebrows at her questioning, but she ignored it.

"Pablo, these are Zart, Mark, Leo, Louis and David."

He nodded letting her know he'd heard her.

"Okay, bye." She quickly said. And left, ignoring the protest behind her back. She was more than certain Zart was going to kill her but she didn't really care. She was so glad she had freed herself, she smiled as she made her way outside to eat under the sun. Thankfully, none of them followed her outside.

* * *

That night there was a bonfire, just like when she had come up in the box. So much had changed over the course of that last month she felt like a completely different person. She felt better and worse at the same time.

After she showered, washing the sweat and dirt from her run, she put on her nicest set of clothes. Well, they weren't specially nice, but they were her favourite: a pair of dark jeans that were the ones that fit her best and a green cargo jacket that she carried around in her arm for when the night got colder, then she wore a simply black tank top they she never usually wore because it made her feel self-concious.

But today things felt different, it almost excited her. She wasn't the greenie anymore. She had even managed to find a pair of old worn out black boots that were quite loose on her feet but they were definetly an improvement from the wrecked trainers she usually wore and that looked like they were falling apart after all her runs in the woods.

Excitement was in the air, she could feel it. Gladers running around and laughing everywhere. It was contagious.

When she exited the showers Minho was still keeping guard, true to his word.

"Well," he said when he spotted her, "don't you look nice?"

She doubted it was true but she blushed anyway.

"Thanks, Min."

"I know I look ravishing. You don't have to point it out." he said, his infamous smirk invading his face.

Eleanor laughed. "You always do, Minho, you always do."

"Thanks," he replied, "I know."

They started making their way to the centre of the glade where the boys had already lit the fire.

"By the way, greenie." He spoke as they walked. "Love the shirt." He added a wink for desired effect. She blushed.

"You're not allowed to call me greenie anymore, rememeber?"

He chuckled, "Right." After a dramatic pause he added, "shank."

She rolled her eyes.

"Ugh." She groaned, shoving him as they continued walking, "You're impossible."

"Impossibly good-looking you mean."

That made her laugh, "More like impossibly insuferable."

"Ouch." He said as he put his hand on his heart.

She just laughed and blew him a kiss walking ahead of him.

When they made it to the bonfire, Minho set his hands on her arms and lead her to an empty wood stump and sat her down.

"Wait here, m'lady."

She snorted as he took of and left her. She had no idea what he was going to do but with Minho you never knew. The only thing for her to do was to sit there and wait for him to come back. She looked around, almost every single member of the glade was scattered around the fire. Some gladers were playing some beats and a few of them were dancing, she laughed starting to feel gidier, watching teenage boys dance was a lot more amusing than she would've thought.  
When Minho got back, he was holding to jars filled with a golden liquid. He carried a smile on his face which made Eleanor squint her eyes in suspicion, Minho rarely smiled. When he took a seat next to her before he got any chance to pass her a jar she quickly said,

"I'm not drinking that."

"What?" he said startled, the smile falling from his lips, "Why not?"

"It looks like pee." She replied with a grimace.

"You're such a girl." he said scoffing. She slightly gasped, ofended. She hated when the boys said stuff like that, like it was a bad thing being a 'girl'.

"Is that meant to insult me?"

"C'mon," he pleaded, "Just try it."

He handed her one of the jars, she didn't miss the detail that it was the less full one. She sighed but took it in her hand. She inspected it through the light as if expecting to see something suspicious.

"What is it, anyway?" she questioned Minho.

He groaned, and rolled his eyes. "Would you just drink it?"

He had already drowned down two long sips and he seemed fine. She tentativily raised the border of the glass to her lips and took a small sip. All the different outcomes that had run through her head did not prepare her for the burning sesation in her mouth and throat as she swallowed, she soon regretted doing so. The shock of such bitter drink made her cough repeatedly. Minho patted her back, laughing.

"How can you drink that?" she almost shouted.

He chuckled, "Trust me, after one drink, you'll be begging for more."

She looked at her drink accusingly, but she lifted it again. A second chance never hurt anyone.

* * *

When she had finished her jar, Minho had already drowned around three of them. She felt slightly dizzy so she declined it when he offered her another. A few runners had joined them aswell, and they spent a good amount of time sharing embarrasing stories about eachother. Eleanor couldn't remember ever laughin so hard. None of them dared to tell a bad thing about Minho, even though he had his fair share of stories about the others, she guessed they didn't want to get on his bad side. She didn't blame them one bit. After all, if there was something everyone knew about her friend was how short-tempered he was. And those boys worked with him so she bet they knew him better than anyone.

Suddenly, Minho stood up. Making Ben fall quiet and everyone look up at him, not expecting that. Minho had clearly had more than enough to drink and had gotten bored of sitting down.

"C'mon," he told Eleanor, "let's dance."

She laughed, "What?"

He grabbed one of her arms and started pulling, "C'mooooon."

She laughed again but let him drag her away, "I don't dance, Minho."

He smirked and slowly inched toward her ear as they walked to where the music, if it was even considered that, was playing. She slightly shivered as she felt his hot breath in her ear. She felt herself blushing.

"Neither do I." He whispered, making her laugh once again.

She felt all eyes on them as Minho attempted to dance, which basically looked like him flailing his arms around and moving his head. Eleanor couldn't stop laughing, but she felt her cheeks boiling from all the attention they were getting. Her eyes locked with Alby's and then Newt's beside him, she looked away embarrassed. But then Minho grabbed her hands and started spinning her around, making her forget about the world around them.

By the time Minho got tired of dancing Eleanor was so out of breath she had to take a moment to recompose herself. Her stomach hurt so much from laughing she thought she would be sore the next day. The rest of the gladers had all mostly moved away to watch some of them wrestling eachother, she could see them crowding around a few meters from them. Minho seemed to have his attention on them too when she looked up at him. He returned her gaze and nodded his head towards them.

"Let's go." he said.

Eleanor's smile fell from her lips, she knew Gally was there and she really didn't want to be within ten meters of him. But Minho had already started walking that way and she didn't really feel like going to bed. She convinced herself nothing bad could happen and followed Minho to the group of boys. They stood next to the rest of the runners. Much to Eleanor's displeasure, Gally was in the middle shoving around another builder. She frowned, she could think of a million better things to be doing at that moment.

"Wanna try, Eleanor?" she heard Ben say to her right over all the noise.

She shook her head, snorting, "Not a chance."

He laughed, "What about you, Minho?"

Minho smirked, "I could kick all your asses blindfolded."

Eleanor and Ben both laughed. She knew Minho loved to brag about his abilities but she did not doubt he was more than capable of beating the rest of the boys. He was the keeper of the runners after all.

"I think we have a volunteer." A voice said in front of them.

Eleanor closed her eyes tightly for a moment and cursed Minho's loud speaking. She slowly opened her eyes to reveal Gally standing over them. He did not look at her but that didn't stop a shiver from running through her body.

Gally was bigger than Minho but the later did not seemed fazed.

"Are you sure, Gally?" Minho took a step forward.

Eleanor had the urge to kill Minho right then, why did he have to be so goddamn proud? She knew he wasn't one to back up first so she predicted any of it could end well at all.

Gally backed away into the circle signaling around with his arms, giving Minho space to join him. Minho didn't stop smirking as he walked forward ready to face the challenge but Eleanor shot forward and grabbed his arm. She couldn't watch her only friend fight _him. _She wasn't even sure which one of them would win but she really didn't want to find out.

"Min, don't do this." She said quietly, but everyone was focused on her action so she was sure they all heard her. She didn't care, she didn't mind looking like a whiny idiot as long as she could stop what was unravelling.

"Why don't you listen to your girlfriend, huh? Shank?" Gally's voice held so much bitterness she felt her gut clentching.

She didn't tear her gaze away from Minho, trying to ignore the taller boy in front of them. But she knew it was a lost fight, Minho glared at Gally with such passion she was surprised Gally didn't flinch. But it didn't take long before a wicked smirk covered his face again. She thought she didn't like the look of that smirk, it wasn't like the one he usually wore. It seemed meaner.

"Jealous, shuck-face?" He spat at Gally.

Eleanor's breath caught in her throat. Gally let out a bitter laugh.

"You can enjoy my leftovers." He said spitefully, "I've already tried that and I'm not impressed."

Her breathing stopped all together, his words twisting like a knife inside her heart. Time seemed to stand still as she stared at him not believing her ears. She felt Minho shaking with rage next to her but she was faster. She took a step forward and slapped her palm across his face with as much strengh as she could.

How dare he? Who did he think he was to talk to her like that? She had shared her deepest fears with him, he had held her as she cried herself to sleep, they had stayed up for hours talking about everything. How could that same boy treat her that way, and infront of everyone else? That was something she didn't think she could ever forgive.

She felt some gladers inching closer, alert to what was going to happen, ready to break up any fight, but Eleanor did not plan of staying.

"Fuck you." she spat, channeling all she felt into those two words.

She waited to see some form of reaction in Gally's eyes but she saw nothing but anger. She felt the tears in her own eyes and turned quickly, pushing boys aside as she walked away. The last thing she wanted was to let them see her breaking down.

She wasn't sure where to go, she just knew she had to keep walking. Her tears cascading down her face made it difficult for her to see but she kept walking. The boys were yelling where she'd left them, arguing about something, she didn't care. She kept walking. She heard Alby shouting for them to shut up and go to bed. She kept walking. She heard someone run after her, shouting her name, shouting for her to stop. She kept walking. She didn't stop until Minho was right there in front of her, standing in her way. She ducked her head down hoping to hide her face.

"Eleanor." he said softly. She didn't look up.

"Eleanor!" He said a bit louder.

She snapped her head up, "What? What?! Why can't you just leave me alone?!"

She immediately regretted her words but the damage was done. She bit her lip, hating herself for the pained look on his face. It soon turned into a scowl.

"Well, excuse me for trying to help!" he snapped back.

She closed her eyes, she didn't really need this right now, specially then of all times. He frowned and let out an angry scoff.

"Goodnight, Eleanor." His voice sounded so harsh it made her let out a pained sigh. He left her there, hurting.

She felt miserable, the best night in the glade so far had turned into something worth of her nightmares. How could something good turn completely around in just a few minutes? She hated Gally, she hated him with a burning passion. And she hated herself, she shouldn't have snapped at Minho like that, he was just trying to help and she had ruined everything as usual, and now he'd probably hate her. Maybe it was for the best, maybe she wasn't meant to have friends in that hell hole. It had proven to be the perfect way not to get hurt. Maybe not being lonely wasn't worth feeling so bad.

Her whole body felt tired as she slowly walked forward once more. She had barely any control of her own body as she found herself inside to showers. It was a good hideout, no one went inside at night. She turned one of the showers on and sat on the floor. The water splashed agaisnt her head but she didn't mind. The coldness was almost soothing in a way. The water mixed with her tears as she brought her knees up and hugged them.

Eventually, she turned of the water flow but she stayed there, not wanting to move. She felt her body shivering but she didn't have the strengh to move. She unexpectedly heard the door open and her eyes moved in search of the sound. Newt came into the showers panting, like he had been running. As soon as he saw her he gave a big sigh of relief.

"We've been looking everywhere for you." He spoke loudly, a tone of reproach tinting his voice.

She flinched at the loud sound. He felt silent. Sighing once again he took of his jacket and crouched down to her level. She tried to look away, embarrassed, but his pained eyes were drawing her in. He set the jacked on her soaked shoulders and helped her up.

"C'mon," he said, "You should get changed and get some sleep."

He spoke a lot quieter now, almost in a whisper, as if he was afraid he would break her. She felt too tired to feel pathetic, but still, she felt the need to apologize.

"I'm sorry, Newt." she said, just as quietly.

As she let him guide her all she could think about was how useless she continued to be. As it always seemed to end up with someone cleaning up her mistakes, because she was too emotional to do it herself.

No more tears. She had to try. No more crying. She needed to be strong. They don't cry. You shouldn't cry either.

No more tears. No more tears.

* * *

**There you have it, as promised. I really hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please let me know what you think about how the story is going. And if you have any suggestions please feel free to let me know.**

**Thank you all so much, lots of love! :) x**


	8. Chapter 8

_Water, freezing cold water. All around. _

_Her legs moved desperately trying to stay afloat. She felt her hair sticking to her face, her white dress floating around her form creating its own isolated waves, and water, water everywhere. She could see nothing but the dark blue waves crashing around her. The cold engulfing her, hurting her, like tiny needles burried deep inside her entire skin. Suddenly she wasn't floating anymore, her vision became blurry as she drowned, the light growing further and further away. Her lungs screamed for air until she no longer had the strengh to hold her breath. She let the water in. She felt nothing but cold, she saw nothing but darkness. _

_Cold. Dark. Cold. Dark. Cold. _

_Cold. _

_Cold._

Eleanor opened her eyes, gasping. The bright sunlight hitting her eyes, spreading a burning feeling, but she didn't feel hot in one bit. She was quick to close them again, the image of her dream still imprinted in her mind.

Groaning, she lifted her hand to her face. She didn't know where that dream had come from. She felt incredibly cold and her head felt like it was about to explode. She massaged her temples and streched her toes, her body slowly starting to wake up. She felt awful, all she wanted to do was curl up and disapear. She felt as if someone had run a srewdriver through her head. The coldness made things even worse, goosebumps ran through her entire skin making her shiver. She thought it was odd, sure, she was usually cold in the early mornings but never that much. She was freezing.

She closed her eyes tightly, trying to keep away the sunlight that didn't help her state at all. She cursed her luck, she knew she had to get up.

As she lay there, trying to make the most of her remaining moments of inactivity, events of the previous night flooded through her mind. She felt numb, she couldn't really decide what to make of things. She wanted to feel angry, she wanted to hate Gally, she wanted to hate them all. But she just couldn't. Sure, she was no longer the over-sensitive little girl she was when she arrived, but that didn't make her a bitter person. She wanted so much to be furious but it was like she wasn't capable of it. Maybe it wasn't in her nature.

She wondered how she was going to face the gladers after everything that happened. But she knew she couldn't avoid it, she had a job to do. And she wasn't about to break the rules and get on their bad side even more.

Only one thing was clear on her mind, she had to apologize to Minho.

Making use of all her will-power she got out of her sleeping bag. She spotted a pile of her damp clothes from last night lying on the ground. She groaned again, she had forgotten about those. Why on earth had she thought taking a shower completely dressed in the middle of the night was a remotedly acceptable idea? Of course, she hadn't been in her best shape to make decisions, but still, stupid. Her clothes lay there, still wet, all tangled up. She felt like they were mocking her.

Eleanor sighed and grabbed a hold of them in her arms, the coldness hitting her bare arms and making her shiver even more. As she made her way to the showers she noticed she seemed to be attracting a lot of attention from the gladers she crossed paths with. She simply kept her gaze fixated ahead and tried to ignore the pressing feeling on the pit of her stomach.

When she entered the showers, she made a beline to the three sinks on the right side of the room. Luck seemed to be on her side as she found a bar of soap resting on one of them, one of the sloppers might have forgotten it there by accident, which wasn't exactly that surprising. The boys weren't exactly the neatest.

She grabbed a hold of it and proceeded to get to work. She knew she didn't have much time judging by the considerable amount of sunlight that was already reigning down on the Glade. She closed her eyes shortly trying to slightly supress her head ache.

When she opened them a glint of white caught her eyes from within the pile of clothes, how hadn't she noticed it before? With one of her hands she lifted the light textile separating it from the rest and she examined it on the light filtering through the windows. She furrowed her brows, she did not own a white shirt. But then like an elastic band it came back to her. It was Newt's. She had forgotten she had kept his jacked last night. She blushed, feeling her fingertips hot, as if the bit of cloth was burning her. She almost released it from her hold, but she didn't. _Stop being stupid,_ she told herself, _it's just a jacket._

She grabbed the soap with her other hand and started scrubbing the white fabric. She focussed her attention on it, trying to ignore the throbbing feeling hammering her head.

Her thoughts drifted off to the fair-haired with the puppy dog eyes. He confused her to no end. She just couldn't figure him out no matter how hard she tried, so she had stopped trying. And just when she thought she was done trying to understand him, he would waltz in with a self-made sandwich for her, or send grumpy Zart to check up on her, and now there was that stupid jacket in her hands. He had come looking for her at that very same spot just to find the sight of a sorry excuse for a girl with damp hair clinging to her face, reddened eyes and racked breaths. He should have laughed, he should have yelled at her for being so pathetic, he should have just left her alone, but he didn't. He had to be all rightful and nice and take care of her. Why? Why did he do that? He had no reason to care for her, they weren't friends, she was sure he didn't even like her so why would he do that? It frustrated her, the not-knowing. She felt like she owed him, like he was doing her a favour, but that was stupid, she hadn't asked him to do that.

She was furiously scrubbing the wet textile by then, when she realized, she quickly changed the preassure. The last thing she wanted was to ruin the jacket.

Why did he get her so worked up? Sure, he did some confusing things but why did it bother her so much?

Well, he seemed like a nice guy. Everyone liked him, everyone was friends with him. He was kind and compasionate but strong and focused all the same. She simply wondered why it had to be so complicated between the two of them. Did it really make that much difference the fact that she was a girl? Because she couldn't think of any other reason to explain the situation. She couldn't think of any other reason why he would treat her so much differently to everyone else.

She finally stopped scrubbing and washed away the rest of soap on the jacket under the water stream. She let the jacket hang on one of the other sinks and switched to her own clothes, scrubbing once again. The round-eyed boy entirely populating her thoughts.

* * *

"Eleanor, please, just go to the med hut." Zart begged her for the fifth time.

His tone had acquired an angrier tone with each time he said it. Eleanor sighed, shaking her head once more. Zart was convinced she was sick, but she insisted on keeping on working.

True, her head hurt like crazy and she was constantly shivering from the cold, even though the rest of the Track-hoes were now all working on their under-shirts and sweating like it was the end of the world. Eleanor knew Zart was right, she wasn't feeling well, but she simply refused to be sick. If she had been stupid enough to react that way last night, she should suffer the consecuences. Also, she just didn't like the thought of someone having to take care of her. And being momed by Jeff and Clint didn't appeal to her one bit. But she could tell Zart was starting to lose his patience, which wasn't so rare, his patience was originally lacking.

Seeing she had no plans on following his orders, he rolled his eyes, sighing.

"Fine," he warned, "then I'm telling Alby."

He turned around and started walking. Eleanor scoffed.

"So you're going to tell on me?" she said disbelievingly, getting up from her crounched position.

"It's for your own good." was his reply.

She looked up ahead to where he was going. And found him walking towards Alby and Newt across the patch. They sometimes helped the Track-hoes when the days were uneventful, which wasn't such a rare thing. So she wasn't surprised they were there. But her eyes widened in alarm. Alby, she didn't mind, but Newt was another story. She didn't really want Newt to know she was sick, and she didn't feel ready to face him just yet... She knew she had to give him back his jacket but she had pondered on leaving it on his room while he wasn't there. Real mature right? She knew she was being stupid, but when it came to the second-in-comand she didn't mind being a coward.

So she quickly shot up behind Zart, running up ahead and trying to cut his path. She knew they had caught the attention from the Track-hoes working around but she kept her eyes on the keeper.

Seeing no way out of it, she sighed, "_Fine_, I'll go."

Zart smiled in victory and she groaned.

She made her way to the med-jack room, shoulders slumped. _Stupid Zart. _

She dragged her feet tracing patterns on the dirt, being in no hurry to get there. But inevitably she arrived at the door. She stood before it, bracing herself for what was about to happen.

She knocked softly on the door hoping they wouldn't hear it, she didn't know why she was being so childish but she knew she didn't like the situation. It was ridiculous, she didn't feel well, but she felt well enough to keep on doing her part and not giving the gladers any reason to antagonize her even more.

But agaisnt all her wishes, the door swung open.

"Eleanor, hey!" Clint said as soon as he came into view, "What are you doing here?"

"Zart sent me." From her tone of voice, Clint could tell she wasn't very happy about the idea.

She could feel his eyes travelling around her face, taking in the aspect of her face. She felt incredibly tired and she was sure it showed. By the look on his face she was sure she wasn't going to get out of this one. He stood aside, leaving room for Eleanor to pass through the open door.

"Come on in."

Giving a defeated sigh, she obligued.

* * *

She rolled around on the mattress once more, well mattress was an understandment, it was more of a thick blanket than anything. The sticks of the wooden base dug into her back and legs, and there was a strange pointy preassure on her hips that no matter which way she turned wouldn't go away. Still, it was the closest thing to a bed Eleanor remembered ever been in, and it was most definetly an improvement from the racked old sleeping bag she usually slept in.

Clint had ordered her to lay down for the remaining hours of the day telling her he'd check up on her before dinner. He'd told her she had a fever. At first he had simply brushed it all off as the effects of what they had been drinking the previous night but when he had taken her temperature he realized it was more than that so Eleanor had been forced to confess her late night showering, and she had been sent to sleep. To her it seemed like such a ridiculous solution, but she had to admit she did feel a lot better lying down and despite her pressing head-ache she had drifted off to sleep a couple of times. But not as much as she had wanted to sleep.

She felt extremely bored doing nothing, trying to pretend she was asleep and ignoring the pair of med-jack pacing around the room organizing supplies.

She hadn't been able to sleep for a while and she couldn't stand just lying there doing nothing. Plus, she really wanted to go for a run, her daily runs had become the high-light of her day, which was kind of sad if you thought about it. She groaned inwardly and was determined tell Jeff or Clint or whoever was closer that she wasn't going to stay there any longer. But just as she opened her mouth the sound of the door was heard, making her sigh once again. Maybe she could have convinced the younger boys but if you threw another glader into the mix, she doubted she could get away.

"How is she doing?"

She heard someone ask. She knew that accent, what was Newt doing there? She closed her eyes and held her breath, trying to stay still and pretend she was asleep. She heard the door again and someone walking out

She heard Jeff answer, so that meant Clint was the one who had left. "She's resting."

If she didn't have her eyes closed she would have rolled her eyes, she was fine. She just wanted to leave.

"But she'll be fine, right?"

The concern on his voice surprised Eleanor, it wasn't like he never showed concern, but it was a lot less obvious. Now it was like he wasn't trying to hide it, the only time she had heard him speak like that was when she fainted on her very first day. It surprised her that she was the one it was directed to. Jeff laughed.

"Nothing food and water can't fix," he spoke, "she'll be perfect in a couple of days."

A couple of days? She couldn't handle being there for an hour more, let alone two days. Though hopefully she wouldn't have to stay there until she got well. She heard Newt sigh in relief. Her whole body felt tense and she forced herself to relax it otherwise she would blow up her cover.

"Zart said he had to practically beg her to come here." said Newt.

"Yeah?" Jeff was still moving around, organizing.

"She doesn't seem to have any bloody self care." he said, Eleanor's stomach clenched. "I'm worried one day she's going to do something crazy."

So that's what it was, he was worried something will get out of her hands and he'd have to clean up her mess. Maybe she was jumping to conclusions but it made sense. She couldn't blame him for thinking that, she wasn't even sure why she did half the things she did, it seemed like she enjoyed torturing herself. She knew it probably wasn't adviceable, her way of handling things, but she wasn't hurting anybody so she wished they would just get off her case.

"Cut her some slack." Jeff said, "Can you imagine what it would be like being the only boy with a bunch of shucking girls?"

Eleanor almost smiled. _Exactly. _She could've kissed Jeff right then.

"I know," he replied, "Are all girls that complicated?"

Jeff laughed, "How would I know?"

She heard Newt chuckle, "Right..."

Eleanor was getting sore from all the not moving, and she had started feeling a bit guilty from eavesdropping on their conversation even if they were in fact talking about her. The door swung open and someone walking in. _What is this, a freaking museum? _Eleanor thought.

"Jeff," said the new comer, it sounded like Clint, "Can you help me out here? Ben sprained his ankle again?"

Eleanor almost laughed, of course he did. Ben seemed to enjoy twisting his ankle at every chance he got. Minho would be so pissed he couldn't run, _again_. Eleanor looked forward to teasing them both to no end. But then she remembered Minho was probably mad at her and her face fell.

She heard them go out the door and close it and she almost jumped from her joy. Alone _at last_. She turned around finally, her muscles aching, to check that they were gone and immediately regretted doing so. Newt was still there. He stood next to the door and his eyes moved to hers as she turned around. She almost shut her eyes again, but she knew he had seem her. She couldn't pretend to be asleep. But she wasn't about to admit she had been awake the whole time.

"Newt?" she asked, innocently. The raspiness on her voice giving her an 'I just woke up' sound.

"Oh, hey, Eleanor." He said, a nervous tone in his voice. "How are you feeling?"

"Umm," She still felt quite bad, though the resting had actually eased her pain a bit and she no longer felt as cold. "I'm fine." She lied.

"Why are you lying?"

That took her by surprise and she was sure it showed in her face, she didn't think it was that obvious. His tone wasn't angry but he sounded slightly annoyed.

"I'm not." it scaped her, taking defense.

He gave her that look that read 'seriously?'. But he didn't seemed faced, he seemed to be expecting her to lie. "You look like klunk." he said.

"Hey!" she said, ofended. "Well, you look like a griever's ass."

She knew she sounded like a child and hated herself for it. A faint smile crossed his face but he seemed to remember he had to be serious and repressed it.

"Why do you do that?" he asked, "We just want to help Eleanor. If you don't trust us, we can't help you"

So it was a 'we' now. 'They' wanted to help her. Of course, how could she think he was worried. It was all about the balance of the Glade. It was all about order, as always. Somehow that annoyed her. She hated that mentality. Well, she didn't hate it. She just didn't understand it, she wasn't part of their group. And she was annoyed she had thought Newt could simply care about her, when he didn't.

"I don't _need_ help."

"Would you bloody stop that?" he said, he had raised his voice which was very rare coming from Newt.

"Stop what?" she raised her voice as well, out of reflex.

"Stop lying." He replied, "Why are you lying? Why?" His voice cut through the silence that followed. And then realizing how loud he was being he dropped his tone. "What are you afraid of?"

She locked eyes with him, wondering where that question had come from. It was true, she was afraid, constantly. But she had been so careful not to show it. She thought she had done a good job, but apparently she was wrong.

"I'm not afraid." she said, but she knew she didn't sound convincing. She felt tired, and her head had started hurting even more under his gaze. She noted she wasn't cold anymore, but that was probably nothing to do with the argument and more to do with Newt himself. She always wondered how he could irradiate so much warmth, and it wasn't like they were standing close to each other. She didn't have the energy to fight him and she was getting tired of it. "I don't want to be." She whispered.

The room felt silent, she knew he had heard her. She avoided his gaze, immediately regretting her confesion. But after a few moment in silence she hoped he would say something. She looked at him again. His face had changed, he looked a lot sadder, and lot younger. She sighed, she didn't want his pity.

"I know how you feel." he finally spoke.

Eleanor quietly scoffed, she doubted he did. He was Newt, he was the second-in-comand, he was like a keeper, he was the best of the best. She doubted he understood how she was feeling but she didn't contradict him. Who was she to determine how he did or did not feel? Maybe he did actually understand.

"You do?" she asked him, unsure.

He nodded, "It's like no matter what you do or who you're with there's this pressing feeling in your chest that won't go away."

She didn't take her eyes off of him as she nodded. Newt sat down on her bed and she moved her legs to give him space. She couldn't find her words, but she didn't have to. He spoke again.

"And that no matter how surrounded you are, the thoughts are always there. That you don't belong here. How can you shucking relax when you're trapped in a bloody maze? No matter how many twists and turns you take, hoping in the next one you'll see a way out, but there's never one."

His eyes were glazed over, he was staring off in the distance. His words didn't make a lot of sense to her and she had a feeling they were no longer talking about her. He seemed to be caught up and vulnerable. She didn't want to interrupt him, and she didn't have to. Looking at him like that made her realized that he was just a kid, even if it sometimes didn't feel that way. She felt bad about herself, but she couldn't imagine how hard it must be to be there for as long as Newt and some of the boys had, and to have as much responsibility as he did. To watch kids die, to hope everyday for a way out that never comes.

But then he turned his head to look at her, and her breath got stuck in her throat. She felt as if his eyes were seing a lot more into her, and she felt soemthing inside of her stir.

"You can't give in to those thoughts, Eleanor." he said, "You can't."

The pain in his eyes alarmed her. Something might have happened to him, something that justified that look on his face. Eleanor's stomach twisted, she almost couldn't bear seeing him that way. But she didn't look away. She didn't know what to say, so she did as she always did.

"I'm sorry." She said, she wasn't sure why she felt sorry, but she did.

He sighed, rubbing his face with his hands. And without warning he shook his head and stood up. And with nothing but a "Get some rest." He left the room.

Eleanor stared at the door for a while after he was gone, trying to wrap her mind around what had just happened.

**Hello, finally updated! Woo-hoo! I'm sorry this chapter is not very action-packed. And it's basically about Newt and Eleanor' relationship. I'll try to update soon.**

**I hope you are enjoying the story so far. Please let me know, it means a lot to me to hear what you think. So please review and I'll love you more than Minho loves his hair.**

**Thank you so much for reading! Love x**


	9. Chapter 9

When it was time for dinner Eleanor practically begged Clint to let her out of the med room. Since Jeff had made pretty clear she shouldn't get out of bed she tried her luck with Clint, she knew out of the two he was the easiest to convince. Plus, he seemed to like her a lot more than Jeff did. Although, it wasn't like Jeff didn't like her, but he just didn't seem to take her very seriously.

"Please, please, please, please..." She begged as she tugged on his shirt sleeve. He tried to hide it but Eleanor saw the smile on his face, "pretty please Clint."

"You're sick Eleanor." he said, trying to sound stern. He stole a glance at the corner of the room where Jeff was currently busy doing god-knows-what with some herbs.

"I don't feel sick, I feel fine." She tried reasoning with him.

He shook his head, his face showed he was sorry which prevented her from getting angry. Upon his denial, she let out an exagerated sigh and plopped down on the wannabe bed.

"I need to get out of here," she said, "I'm going crazy!"

Clint laughed, but she didn't so he soon stopped.

He looked uncomfortable, like he didn't like the situation, but that didn't make Eleanor feel better. She just wanted a bit of fresh air, some movement for her legs. But apparently that was too much to ask for. She felt like a prisioner.

"Just...Okay, hear me out..." She said seeking Clint's gaze, "We go to dinner. I stay within eye-sight from either of you and I promise that whenever you tell me to go to bed I will obey, without resistance."

She looked up at Clint with a hopeful look on her face, but his face hadn't changed. Her hopes crashed down in her mind and just as she was about to give up, Jeff spoke from the corner.

"_Fine_." He said.

She snapped her head to look at him, he was still focused on the herbs. A smile made its way into her face making her cheeks almost hurt. She wasted no time on standing up, she didn't speak any more words for fear of making them regret their decision.

She waited patiently for them to finish their work so they could all go to the kitchens. Because there was no way they were going to let her go on her own, even though she felt fine, she didn't want to push her luck. And by waiting patiently she meant swaying on her toes and playing with her hair, braiding and unbraiding, until Jeff couldn't take anymore of her pacing and informed them they were leaving. As they did so, Eleanor thought to herself she liked Jeff but he wasn't the most patient glader around. She couldn't blame him though, she knew she could get pretty annoying. However she was lucky Jeff and Clint were the med-jacks because she wasn't sure she could've handled being trapped all day with two other gladers.

* * *

When she had gotten her food she wondered where she was going to sit, it wasn't early so all the tables were mostly ocupied by then. She normally didn't eat inside when there were that many gladers but she didn't want to break her deal with Jeff.

She knew where she had to go, the Runners table. Last night had proven that the runners were nice boys, a little full of themselves, sure, but nice non-the-less. And they weren't as intimidating as you go to know them. Getting to know them was the hard part, but thanks to Minho she had gotten a chance to.

Minho. How had she even befriended Minho? It didn't really make sense to her, Minho didn't have that many friends, he was tempered and intimidating and hard to deal with. He seemed like the total opposite to Eleanor, but somehow they were good together. And sure, he was too smug and sacrastic and too much of a pain in the ass for his own good, but he was also protective and funny, and he liked to make her laugh.

Minho. She had to apologize to him. A lump formed in her throat as she thought about the previous night. She knew he was just trying to help so why did she snap at him? She knew Minho didn't like being confronted, he didn't have a temper for it. She felt utterly ridiculous but she knew she had to talk to him so she willed her feet to move and made her way to the furthest table on her left.

A runner named Will stopped in the middle of whatever he was saying as she arrived. She could feel every set of eyes lock onto her. Nervs crawled under her skin as the table fell into a loaded silence. She focused her gaze on Minho, sitting across from her. She was thankful for the plate of food on her hands, otherwise she knew she would be fidgeting uncomfortably.

She wasn't sure whether it was a good idea to apologize to Minho in front of all the runners. She knew Minho wasn't the most reasonable surrounded by a bunch of males. It's not like Minho was specially reasonable, but there was something about a boy around others of his kind that made them want to be the toughest Macho man. And everyone could see Minho didn't enjoy exposing any kind of weakness, so having a heart to heart with the only female probably counted as sentimentalism in his book. So she opted for something else.

"Hey guys. Can I sit here?"

She stared hopeful at Minho, but his face didn't show any emotion aside from his usual cockiness. Hopefully it was a good thing, but it was definetly unerving for Eleanor, the older runner was usually like an open book.

"Sure," Ben said, smiling.

She threw him a grateful smile and sat down as said boy and another brunette, whose name she had forgotten, moved apart to make space for her. The silence that followed was so awkward she thought they could all hear the gears in her mind turning, trying to come up with something to say.

"Hey Ben," she said turning to her left to look at him. "How's your ankle?"

She heard a groan across from her and immediately knew it was Minho. She laughed along with Ben.

"Much better, thanks." The bright smile he gave her made her smile in return.

She could feel her liking for Ben growing. He was that kind of person that just oozed good energy wherever he went. He just made everyone feel better with just his presence, and he wasn't hard on the eyes either. _Shut up, Eleanor_. She told herself, _Don't be such a teenage girl_.

Last night, she had expected the runners to be broody and boring, but they were actually quite cheery and fun. Which had been a pleasant surprise.

Soon, their chatting continued and Eleanor could breathe properly again. She started to calmly eat her dinner. The boys tried to include her in the conversation several times, which she was grateful for. But they mostly talked about other Galders and she didn't really feel comfortable with gossiping. They weren't exactly saying bad things but still, she didn't really want to talk about people that weren't there. However, she filled in with nods and smiles whenever she was adressed.

"Hey Eleanor," Said the boy sitting on her right, she really needed to learn his name, "What's up between you and Gally?"

She coughed, bits of food flying across the table. She was too surprised to feel embarrassed. She felt a kick to her shin and a sharp pain made its way up her leg.

"Ow!" She exclaimed, looking accusingly across the table.

Minho's surprised eyes locked with hers. Did Minho just kick her? But judging by his alarmed face, the kick was probably not meant for her. She observed many runners wore an annoyed expression towards the boy who asked the question.

"What?" He defended, shrugging his shoulders.

Some runner cleared his throat but none of them spoke. She could feel some of the stares on her. Surprisingly, she didn't fell angry or annoyed. They were just curious. Living in the Glade, they didn't have the same personal boundaries that were internalized in her mind. Whether it was from living in the Glade, from previous education or from whatever reason, she didn't know.

"Well," she spoke, she caught on the way Minho's eyebrows shot up, surprised that she was answering. "Me and Gally are not friends, if that's what you're asking."

She swallowed the lump in her throat. Will it ever get easier for her to talk about him? She had expected an awkawrd silence to follow her response but to her surprise she heard Ben's laugh.

"Well, that's obvious!" He said, "Great right hook, by the way. You can pack a punch, greenie."

She heard words of agreement across the table. She slightly smiled, knowing they were trying to make her feel better.

"Will you ever stop calling me Greenie?" She asked, though she didn't sound serious with the smile gleaming on her face.

They laughed, "If you keep putting Gally in his place, we might." Will said on Minho's right.

Minho smiled at her, not smirked, smiled. He had a proud glint on his eyes, like he was happy his friends liked her. She smiled back at him. She didn't feel out of place either, which was a lot coming from her. She felt better, a lot better. That awful day would maybe end in a good note.

* * *

"I can't believe I actually _slapped_ Gally." Eleanor said.

Minho and her were sitting against the wall of the homestead, next to her sleeping bag. That had become their meeting place, aparently.

They were alone. Well, alone as they could be. At least, they were out of sight and out of ear-shot from the rest of the Gladers which was good enough for her. She had been lucky enough to be realeased by the med-jacks. She felt fine, a lot better. Her head barely hurt anymore and she no longer felt cold.

"I can't believe you didn't do it sooner." He laughed.

She was glad Minho didn't enjoy sentimental talks. He hadn't asked her how she was feeling and she was thankful for it. She didn't think she wanted to go down that path.

"I can't believe I didn't do anything." He said, he sounded a lot angrier.

She wished he wouldn't, she didn't like that side of Minho. Even though she had to admit it looked good on him. _What's up with me today?_ she thought, _Stupid hormones._

"I'm glad you didn't," She said, "I can fight my own fights."

He nodded laughing, "Oh, I saw!"

She smirked at him, she allowed herself to feel slightly proud. Minho wasn't mad at her like she thought he would be, maybe he was a lot more used to fighting with his friends than she was. Well, it's not like she had a lot of friends. But maybe boys were different in that way, or maybe he was just not one to hold grudges. Still, she had to apologize. It would bother her if she didn't.

"Min," she said softly, "I'm sorry I snapped at you last night."

He simply looked at her, "Don't be a slint-head, there's nothing to say sorry for."

She looked back at him. She felt then she didn't appreciate Minho enough. She wished she was more like him. More confident, less scared. She wished she wouldn't be so affected by everything.

"Thank you." She told him, trying to explain how she felt on those two words.

He scoffed, "for what?"

She smiled, but didn't reply. He didn't seem to be expecting an answer.

They sat in a comfortable silence for a while, listening to the sounds of the Glade.

"Hey,"

"Hmm?"

He pointed to the white folded jacket ontop of her sleeping bag. "Is that Newt's jacket?" Minho asked.

Her eyes widened, she had completely forgotten about it. She didn't know how Minho knew it was his jacket, but it didn't surprise her. After all, those boys hardly changed their clothes.

"Yes." She replied, then groaned tiredly, "I have to give it back."

He chuckled, "Why do you have Newt's jacket?"

She laughed, trying to sound non-chalant. She didn't feel like telling Minho about her weird encounter with Newt, or her stupid decision to have a midnight shower. She knew he might find out. There weren't many things that stayed secret in the Glade and news travelled fast. But it was a conversation she was more than willing to avoid.

"Nevermind." She said, getting up.

She could feel Minho's stare, she knew he was confused as to why she would have anythin of Newt's. It was understandable, she wasn't exactly best friends with the guy. She bent down to grab the jacket. She knew she had to return it, but she didn't want to. She wished she could save herself from yet another weird and embarrassing encounter with the taller boy. Specially after their confusing conversation earlier that day. But she knew she didn't have much of a choice.

Minho got up as well.

"Alright..." He said, dragging the word, clearly confused, "I'll see you tomorrow, then."

Eleanor sighed, glad he didn't question her any further. That was one of the perks of being friends with someone who didn't care too much about anything.

"Sure." She said.

He hugged her briefly, his arms completely engulfing her. She felt her heart skip a beat. Then, he was gone.

She shook herself out of the shock of Minho hugging her. She told herself it wasn't a big deal, they were friends, friends could hug eachother. She made her way to the homestead's door trying to ignore just how much she had liked that hug.

* * *

She knocked softly on Newt's door praying he wasn't there.

But despite all her wishes, the door swung open revealing a tired looking Newt. He looked surprised to see her there to say the least.

"Eleanor, hey?" He said, making it sound more like a question than a greeting.

"Hi." She replied. She crindged at how lame it had come out.

She willed herself to be quick and be done with it. All she wanted was to escape the awkwardness that seemed to come with the blonde boy. She extended the jacket to him.

"Here."

He imediately grabbed it with one hand, she let it go as soon as he did. She looked at him but he was inspecting the piece of clotthing.

"You cleaned it?" He asked.

She nodded.

"You didn't have to."

She knew she didn't, but she wanted to. After all, it was her own fault it had gotten wet and dirty. She didn't bother with answering him.

"Thank you." she said, "For last night."

"You don't have to thank me." Was his response.

He looked at her with such intensity she felt an urge to look away. But she didn't, she held his stare.

"I do."

He sighed, shaking his head and looking at the jacket once more. Their eye contact was broken, making Eleanor blink, trying to clear her mind. He didn't look up at her, and she observed as his fingers played with the clothing. He looked nervous which confused Eleanor.

They heard footsteps as Pablo, the new greenie, crossed the corridor, looking weirdly at them as he passed their side. Eleanor stepped back, blushing, even though she hadn't been standing close to Newt. Said boy cleared his throat.

"Umm," He started, scratching the back of his neck. "Do you want to come in?"

He spoke quieter now. He stared at her, awaiting for her answer.

"I don't..." She started.

"Please?" He said, " I want to talk to you."

His voice shook, Eleanor thought it was all kinds of odd that he was so nervous. No matter how many encounters she had with the second-in-command she was always caught off guard.

"Okay." She said, even though it sounded a lot more like a question than she had intended it to.

He stood aside and she proceeded inside. His room was surprisingly neat and organized. It was very small. Eleanor had gotten used to open spaces in the Glade so she felt odd sharing so little space with Newt. She stood on the side unsure of what to do. Newt shut the door but he didn't sit, not that there were a lot of places to sit aside from the bed. The tension was almost palpable as she waited for Newt to speak, his nervousness making her nervous.

"I wanted to apologize." He said, "For earlier in the med room."

She looked at him,_ really_ looked at him. He seemed tired. His eyes filled with an emotion she could decipher.

"You don't have to apologize," She said, "I just wish I understood, is all."

She imediately cursed herself, she hadn't meant to share that last part.

"What?" He questioned.

Eleanor sighed, "You."

She watched as he frowned, his eyebrows creased together.

"What do you mean?"

"You just confuse me." She replied.

He slightly chuckled, "_You_ confuse me."

"Do I?" She said, and then laughed, shaking her head "I guess we're even, then."

Newt smiled and Eleanor returned it. She hadn't come close to figuring him out at all but she felt a lot more comfortable around him in that moment.

Maybe they weren't so different after all.

* * *

**I'm not very proud of this chapter. I feel like this story is getting kind of boring so I'll try to spice it up within the next hapters, maybe flash forward a little bit.  
However, I hope you could enjoy it. Please review, I love to read your thoughts, it helps me a lot.**

**Thank you so much for reading as always. I'll try to update very very soon, I'm already writting the next episode.**

**Also, I've been wondering whether or not to make a trailer of this story so I ask you, Would you want me to make one?  
(Again, my Twitter, Tumblr and Youtube links are in my profile)**

**Love you all xx**


	10. Chapter 10

**Finally! It took longer to write this chapter than I thought it would. And I'm still not entirely satisfied with how it turned out. Hope you like it anyways! x**

**Sakura A. K: OMG, Thank you so much for your review, I'm so so happy to read all your good thoughts and it's helped me a lot because I was doubting this story lately and it's so lovely that you actually enjoy my writing. Can you please message me? I would love to talk about what you told me! x**

**Thank you so much for reading! I love you all:)**

"Minho, stop that!" She screamed as she felt his fingers tickling her sides.

It hurt, in a strange way, but she couldn't stop laughing and squeaking. She wished he'd stop so she would stop sounding like a pig being slaughtered. Minho's loud laughs could be heard all across the forest, echoing around the trees. But Eleanor did not mind, she somehow knew they couldn't be heard.

Minho finally stopped digging his fingers on her sides just when she thought she couldn't breathe any longer. They both laid there, side by side on the surprisingly soft ground, panting and laughing breathlessly. Eleanor closed here eyes, enjoying the warmth of the sun on her face.

Minho rolled on his side, plopping himself up on his elbow to observe her better. She felt his gaze on her face, making her cheeks tint themselves red, a hot blush creeping up her neck. She had a funny feeling in her stomach, whether it was from his gaze or her own laughter she did not know. She wished he would stop gazing at her that way so her heart could settle back into its normal beating rhythm. When she was about to break eye-contact with the runner, his hand shot up, faintly touching her jaw-line, lighting her skin on fire. An army of tiny ants marching underneath her skin.

The soft touch prevented her from tearing her stare away, instead, she settled her gaze onto his face, exploring the intricate patterns on his almond eyes.

Their smiles were gone from their faces.

"You're shucking beautiful." Minho's whispered words made their way into her mind.

Her breath caught in her throat. His fingertips still grazing her skin, intoxicating her mind, obstructing her train of thoughts. She couldn't break free, she was long lost on the adoration in his stare, the warm chocolate that was his eyes drowning her in.

She felt herself leaning into his warmth, feeling his warmth breath on her lips. The curious feeling on her stomach multiplying, growing stronger and stronger.

Closing her eyes she touched her lips to his, lightly, slowly, and then deeper, stronger. She felt his lips responding to hers. Mouth to mouth. Breath to breath.

His hand moved slowly to the back of her neck, caressing her skin in the process. Eleanor felt herself shivering at the touch. His hand settled there, his fingers painting goosebumps as they touched her.

Then, Minho bit her lower lip, and her body came alive. Her hands came up, tangling themselves on that perfect hair he liked so much, messing it, nails softly tracing patterns. He groaned in response, grabbing her waist and in one shift movement, pressing her body against his. Her breasts colliding with his chest, their legs tangling up together.

Eleanor felt her body on fire, thinking she had never felt so much warmth inside. But then, something weird happened. She could have sworn she heard her name being called, but that was imposible. She knew they were alone.

She detached her lips from Minho's, focusing her hearing on the noises around them, trying to find out it she had actually heard something or it was just a product of her imagination. Minho didn't seem to mind, he appeared to have a found a new place for his mouth to be entretained in. Eleanor supressed a gasp as his lips grazed a sensible spot right below her ear. She closed her eyes, letting herself give in to her emotions.

"Eleanor."

Her eyes opened again. She had definetly heard it this time. She looked around trying to locate to source but they were alone. Minho seemed unfaded as he continued kissing down her neck, her knees were feeling weaker and weaker by the second.

"ELEANOR!"

Her whole body shook, as her eyes shot open. She felt as if her entire skin was on fire, the butterflies still fluttering around her stomach. Unsure of what was happening, her gazed focused onto Clint's face, hovering over her.

"Sorry for waking you up," he spoke, "I had to check on you."

She blinked slowly. Where was Minho? Why was Clint there? She started realizing she had been dreaming. But she wasn't entirely awake then either, her brain felt lazy, not being able to process the world around her.

"Huh?"

Clint chuckled slightly as Eleanor squinted her eyes against the light. She felt the palm of his hand on her forehead and frowned unsure of what the young boy was doing.

"You are still hot but not as much anymore." He said.

"What?" she asked, her voice raspy. She cleared her throat, "I'm hot?"

Clint gave up a short laugh, and she observed as a red blush started invading his freckled nose. Her mind started clearing up, and she wondered why he would blush.

"I meant- You-" He stuttered, he coughed before he spoke again, "I meant you barely have a fever anymore."

Eleanor was feeling a lot more awake now, and she started to understand that the med-jack was just checking up her state.

"Oh, okay." She said, "That's good, right?"

"Yeah,"

Eleanor thought it was cute how flushtered the younger boy was, but she prevented herself from laughing.

"How are you feeling?" He added.

He drawned back as she started to sit up, willing her body to wake up. She thought about it. Her headache had subsided over the last few days and it barely hurt anymore. She could honestly say she felt fine and not lie about it. She could now remember Jeff had finally let her sleep on her own place that night, but informed her that they would check up on her in the morning to determine whether or not she was healthy enough to work in the gardens again.

"I feel fine." She said, giving Clint a short smile. "Really good actually."

He smiled back at her, "Alright, then. I guess you can work today."

Her smile grew larger and she beamed at him. "Thanks Clint."

He gave a short chuckle as he got to his feet, ready to leave, "Alright, just come see us if you start feeling sick again."

She nodded still smiling, happy she was finally off the hook. The past three days had been extremely boring for Eleanor. Once thing came out of it though, she felt closer to the two med-jacks, specially Clint. It was a good thing, and she was surprised they hadn't pulled eachother's hair out, having to practically spend the full three days together. But Clint was a very nice boy, and extremely patient, which was a contrast to Jeff. That's probably the reason they made such a good team.

As she watched him leave, a strange motherly pride overcame her thinking of such young boys taking care of everyone and being so good at their jobs.

Suddenly, her smile fell and her eyes widened, her dream coming back to her. She was definetly awake enough now to know she had dreamed about kissing Minho, Minho. She raised her hands up to her face and rubbed her eyes with her fingers. Where had that dream come from? She had never thought about the runner in that way. They were friends, nothing more. She cursed her subconcious for putting images in her mind that weren't hers. Now, she couldn't shake how much she had liked feeling his lips against hers and his touch on her skin. But that hadn't happened, for all she knew kissing Minho could be a disgusting experience. She was sure she prefered her usual nightmares to these hormonal dreams involving her friend. Why couldn't she dream about anyone else? She would gladly dream about Ben or Will, hell even Zart, if it meant her friendship with Minho wouldn't become incredibly awkward.

Now that she really thought about it, she should've known it was a dream. Minho would never call her 'beautiful'. 'Hot' maybe, 'sexy', perhaps, but never 'beautiful'.

She willed herself to forget that dream. Telling herself it was just her stupid teenage hormones. Which actually made sense given the fact that she wa on that time of the month, an her magic pills didn't supress her adolecent thoughts. But she wish she could simply reset her mind and forget her dream. She didn't usually remember her dreams so why couldn't this be the same. Eleanor groaned, throwing herself back into the sleeping bag once more wishing she could get the image detached from her brain.

* * *

"You're doing it wrong, Eleanor." She heard Zart's voice behind her, immediately making her roll her eyes.

Newt laughed on her left at the pronouced scoff that her face had turned into. She turned around, settling her fists on her hips, her right hand still holding the large gardening knife. She looked up at the taller boy now in front of her, her face clearly stating she wasn't planning on making any friends.

"Then, how am I suppossed to do it, _Zart_?" She asked, raising her eyebrows at him.

Zart scoffed but seemed slightly amused, "Watch and learn." He said.

Eleanor then thought she prefered grumpy old Zart to this new cocky bossy side. She shared a look with Newt who seemed visibly amused by the whole exchange. Eleanor still hadn't gotten used to seeing the blonde smile in her presence but she very much liked this side of him. Well, it's not like they were suddenly the best of friends, but they did find themselves together in several situations now. Mostly in the gardens, which Eleanor was thankful for. Having someone to share her work with was a lot more entretaining than her usual working routine. Still, it had only been a few times but she had started growing fond of the strange older boy.

They both observed as the Keeper of the Track-hoes cut some plants by their tails in the suposedly proper way to do it. Eleanor rolled her eyes once again.

"That's what _I_ was doing." She protested.

Zart shook his head, standing up once again, "You have to add more swing to the cut."

She took a deep breath, "Whatever." And crouched, starting to work once again on her side of the patch.

"Don't be so hard on her, mate." She heard Newt defending her, "She's doing fine."

She shot him a grateful smile but kept working. She heard her Keeper groan.

"Don't encourage her."

The blue eyed boy soon left them to check on other Glader's work. She heard Newt settle into work next to her. And just to annoy Zart she started singing, loud enough for her know it all boss to hear, knowing how much he hated it when she did it. She felt Newt's gaze on her but she kept working. Her mood had definetly improved.

When it was almost lunch time, Zart aproached them again, as they were finishing up their task. Newt and Eleanor both stood up, dusting their palms on their pants, dirt flying around.

"Eleanor please can you get the rakes from the Tool-shed?"

She shot him a questioning look but quickly realized it was a payback, from her singing. He knew she was finished and she could go to the kitchens to eat. She knew the boy too well by then to know he was punishing her. But she didn't want to give him the satisfaction of seeing her sweat.

She smiled brightly at him, "Alright, sure!"

She made her way through the patch waving and shouting out 'See you later's to the rest of the Track-hoes.

* * *

The door of the shed moaned on its hinges as she pushed it open. She had never been inside the room before but she never really wanted to, it wasn't specially an appealing place. The inside was the size of a cupboard with tools and boxes piled one ontop of the other, and scrambled around the three oposite walls. It contained too many objects to seem organized in any kind of way. The whole place smelt of rotting wood and moisture, it wasn't really inviting.

She let the door stay open letting the sunlight illuminate the room, in order to properly see the inside. Even then, it took her a while to spot the rakes within the mane of long poles. She proceeded on gathering some on her arms, trying not to drop any of the tools resting on that same wall in the process.

The sound of metal against metal muffled the sound of footsteps agaisnt the wooden floor behind her. Not until the door shut close, and the light vanished around her did she realize she was no longer alone in the small room. She turned around, arms now filled with rakes. A short gasp scaped her lips that remained slightly parted as her body collided with another. The tools were released from her hold, clattering around the floor, filling the silence.

"What the? Who's there, shank?" She heard a deep voice ask in front of her and two big hands pushed her backwards, making her collide with the close wall on her back.

Some pole dug into her back, knocking the air out of her lungs. Her eyes hadn't adjusted to the darkness yet but she did recognize the owner of the voice.

"Gally?" She questioned almost out of breath from the blow she took.

She closed her eyes tightly, wishing for the mysterious boy to deny it, say he was someone else, anyone else. But all she got was silence. When she opened her lids, her eyes could faintly distinguish some of his features, confirming her recent fears.

Eleanor thought any awkward moment she could've experience in the Glade up to date failed in comparison to that moment. Her nerves light up her insides, goosebumps covering her entire skin, alert, keeping her body on edge.

"Can you let me through?" She said softly, her mind screaming for her to get out of there, run.

She felt the familiar pang on her chest that came around whenever she was in his presence, but then it felt like it was suffocating her and she didn't think she could handle it.

He stood aside as much as his broad complexion allowed him. She walked to the door, concentrating her efforts into not touching him in any way.

She dragged her hand around the flat surface of the door, trying to find the doorknob. After what felt like an eternity, her fingers collided with something. She twisted the knob and pulled the door making use of her free hand. She needed to get out of there. When it didn't buldge she pulled harder, and harder, until she was practically hanging her full weight from the door.

After a few tries she concluded she wouldn't be able to open it and stood aside. As far from her former best friend as she could.

"I can't open it." She admited, defeated.

It came as a surprise when he didn't scoff or laugh at her. He simply walked forward and grabbed the doorknob himself. She stood aside letting him do his thing. He gave a few tries but the door did not give in.

Knowing how agressive Gally was, she found it surprising when he didn't shove the door. Instead, he opted for sitting down on the oposite wall. She stared at him, confused.

"Is it locked?" She asked him, her voice trembled and she cursed herself for being so volatile.

She watched him shake his head, "It's stuck."

"Has it happened before?"

"Yes." He spoke, "One time, Alby got stuck here for a full night."

She heard him chuckle lowly and she frowned. Poor Alby. She didn't want to follow the same fate. She desperately needed to get out of there. She had started feeling like she was suffocating. She walked forward, standing in front of the door once again.

"Don't bother." She heard him say, "It opens better from the outside."

She decided to ignore his imput. If she couldn't open the door, she would yell for help. Her fists started pounding on the door.

"Hey! Guys!" She yelled, "Someone! Anyone! Help!"

She kept yelling but no one seemed to be around. She cursed her luck, knowing it was lunch time and all the remaining Gladers were probably by the kitchens, so no one would hear them until they finished. But she wasn't about to give up. She kept pounding. She could hear the builder groaning behind her but she ignored him.

Suddenly she felt other hands on hers, dragging her away from the door.

"Hey!" she protested, quickly tearing her hands away from his hold.

His touch burned in her mind and she didn't want him to touch her under any circumstance. She shot to the opposite side of the room, as far away from him as she could. A look of hurt crossed his features but was quickly covered with his usual vacancy. But this time, she was sure she hadn't imagined it.

"Don't do that! You'll break the door!" He spat at her.

"Good." She said, starting to get angry. "Then I can get out of here."

But she didn't move. She knew Gally didn't care about many things, but his work wasn't one of them. She guessed he had probably built that very shed, and even though she was angry at him, she would respect that. If only someone would come looking for them. She couldn't relax with him there. She had to get away from him.

Seeing no way out she slid down the wall, sitting unceremoniously on the floor, in defeat. None of them spoke for a long time, both trying hard to avoid the other's gaze. Eleanor's nervs crawled beneath her skin, making her want to jump around and destroy the whole building just so she could scape the situation.

"I thought no one was here." He said after a while, his tone did not sound apologetic. "You're so... short."

In any other circumstance Eleanor would've laughed at that statement, but she couldn't believe this was happening to her. Her brain couldn't even process the fact that she was sitting in a very small and secluded room with him. She couldn't bear to look at him and see the boy he used to be now turned into hate and anger.

"What happened to you?" She said, her own tone had an angry edge to it. She felt tired of the situation.

"What?" He said confused. He seemed taken aback by her question.

She was ready to drop the subject, not wanting to make things even more awkward. But could they really get any more awkward? No, she wasn't about to back down, not this time. She deserved answers. She wanted to stop being afraid? Well, she had to start facing her fears, sooner or later.

"What happened to you when you went through the Changing?" She said boldly.

It was time she got some real answers out of him. She was tired of the not knowing, tired of the hurting, tired of the sadness. She deserved the truth and he was going to give it to her right then. Eleanor was sure of it, she would not back down so easily. Not this time.

She observed as his face turned, sadder, somber, maybe even frightened. She almost wished she hadn't asked, but she didn't. She would be selfish for once.

"Shut up." He said lowly. She imagined he meant to be menacing but he didn't fully achive the desired effect. He sounded scared, almost like a child.

But she wasn't faced, "No. You know what? I won't shut up! Because whatever it is that you remembered, whatever you saw, I have the right to know. We all do. Because you're the closest thing to knowing what the hell is out there and you don't get to keep that information to yourself! And I would very much like to know what the hell turned my best friend into a shucking ridiculous asshole that only cares about himself and treats other people like klunk. So, please, please, Gally, enlighten me!"

She expected him to be angry. She expected him to yell at her, maybe even hurt her. But he didn't do any of those things, he barely even moved. He stood still for a while. Eleanor sighed, trying to steady her breathing. Great, now he was ignoring her.

But he spoke, and when he did, Eleanor's insides twisted painfully.

"Please, stop talking."

He sounded so broken. Tears swelled up in her eyes, and she didn't try to stop them. What kind of things had he seen to maybe him sound that way? To turn his back to every one of his friends and put up a hate farçade.

"What happened to you?" She almost whispered.

He looked up at her. She could feel her tears run down her cheeks but she didn't wipe them away. She tried searching something in his face, something that could help her understand the boy in front of her. But all she saw was sadness and fear.

Suddenly, the door burst open, bathing the place with blinding sunlight. Eleanor threw her hands up, to cover her eyes.

"There you are." She heard someone said.

She blinked slowly trying to distinguish who was at the door. She watched as Zart and Newt stared back and forth between herself and Gally. She quickly dried her tears with the back of her hand, knowing they had already seen them. Thankfully, none of them said anything. She watched as Gally swiftly stood up, taller than the two other boys and left, pushing them aside, without a single word.

Eleanor sighed, trying to compose herself and got up too, accepting Newt's hand. The second in command pulled her up without a question. She left the room as fast as she could, eager to get out of there.

She willed herself to breathe normally, the image of Gally's vitreous eyes was sure to hunt her for a really long time.


	11. Chapter 11

The rest of the day Eleanor was left to work on her own. No one bothered her, and she was extremely grateful they didn't. Zart didn't even approach her, and he went as far as taking the rakes himself. Although, it made her feel bad, not following his orders, she couldn't bear to go inside that place again. She knew her Keeper probably thought she was an emotional basket-case. And if she was being honest with herself, she was. But she couldn't help feeling the way she was feeling.

She was sure her expresion was anything but apporachable. Anger, sadness, despair and everything else that came with a gut-cletching feeling, was pulsating throught her mind. Blurring her thoughts together and making it hard to focus. She was more than certain it showed on her face, hence no Track-hoe dared to come within five meters of her.

However, That didn't mean that they didn't stare at her. She could feel the looks boring into her skin, bringing up her nervs and jumpiness.

After crossing looks with Zart's scrutinizing stare and Newt's concerned eyes observing her every move for the seventh time. She turned around, working on the other direction. Hoping that way, she would block out the world around her. But even then, she could feel their gazes prickling on the back of her neck.

She started working more instensely, knife cutting through the plants, louder, faster. She focused her mind on the simple action, willing for the world around her to disappear.

She had actually had a conversation with _him._

Cut. Her arm swinged, blade cutting through the tails.

Well, if you could call it a conversation.

Cut.

Why had she backed down?

Cut.

Why didn't she press him further?

Cut.

Why did she have to be so shucking emoitional?

Cut.

He didn't deserve her tears.

Cut.

He hadn't given her any answers.

Cut.

Only more questions.

Cut.

_More. _

Cut.

_Goddamn._

Cut.

_Questions!_

She gasped, as steel cut through something that wasn't a plant. Blood started flowing, creating red patterns on her skin. She watched red drops painting the green. The leaves tinted with new dots of scarlett blood.

She gazed at the deep cut on the palm of her hand and quickly diverted her gaze. Her stomach turned, and a strange warmth started conquering her chest. The world swayed around her, her sight blurry, her dizzy thoughts entirely populated by red.

She closed her eyes trying to steady her breathing. she knew she didn't like blood, she had found out as much as she was trying out to be a Med-jack. But her dizziness watching Jack's wound was nothing compared to what she was feeling then. She knew she would be sick if she glimpsed her blood again. So, she kept her eyes closed, willing for her nausea to die down.

She cursed herself. Why was it thats she always let her emotions get the better of her? She should've been paying more attention, actually focus on her job for once instead of always suffering and pitying herself. She had to learn how to control it. Somehow.

Her thoughts soon drifted away. The stinging in her hand demanding all her attention. She kept breathing calmly. Maybe it was the dizziness, but she actually felt a lot calmer. Her thoughts had died down, no longer screaming at her in an attempt to be heard over the rest. And for a short while, all she felt was physical pain. And it felt oddly refreshing. She almost felt good, it it weren't for the sick feeling in her stomach.

She felt a soft pressure on her shoulders making her lids snap open. She turned her head, her eyes locking with the dark, walnut orbs whose visible concern could only belong to Newt.

He furrowed his eyebrows at her, their proximity making her notice the creases in his forehead.

"Are you alright?" His accent mixed with her dizzy mind.

She then made the mistake of staring down at her hand. Red still flowing down her palm lines. Her gut clenched once again, rejecting the sight. Her eyes moved upwards, once again. And cursed her luck as she observed the blonde boy staring down at her bleeding hand. His alarmed gaze snapped to hers, making her flinch.

"Bloody hell, Eleanor." He said, "You're bleeding!"

She bit her lip, teeth grazing her skin, hoping she wouldn't be sick right there. Watching the glaced look in her eyes, he could probably tell what she was going through. He took her by her upper arms, helping her up.

"Here." He said as he started leading her away.

She didn't bother with putting up a fight, knowing it was a lost battle. She knew she needed to get it cured, even thought the thought of someone coming remotely close to her exposed wound made her anxious. She frowned slightly, thinking her reactions strange. She didn't know any other Glader that got so affected by blood. It made her feel embarrased and ridiculous.

She barely even registered as they made their way across the Glade, eyes following their path all around, as they neared the Med-jack hut. She was constantly aware of New'ts soft touch on her shoulder blade, everything else blurred in the background.

"Hold on, we're almost there." He said into her ear.

She knew the door had opened when she heard it bang against the wall. She fixated her gaze ahead as the world swinged around her and she was sat on a hard surface. Her eyes focused and unfocused on Jeff's face as she felt his cold fingers on her hand. She was certain then that she would be sick. She toned down their conversation and forced herself to stare away, her gaze settling onto the person who brought her there. She willed herself to steady her breathing trying to control her body. As she felt Jeff work on her hand she kept her stare focused on Newt's, said boy never left her side, with the concerned expresion she had learnt to recognize still engravated on his face.

* * *

"Alright, you're all set." Jeff said, standing up. "How are you feeling?"

"Much better." She said, and it wasn't a lie. "Thanks, Jeff."

The dizziness had faded almost completely and she only felt a small pang of inestability at the pit of her stomach. She shot him the most genuine smile she could muster at that moment. He nodded at her.

"Well, a couple of things." He said. "You can work tomorrow, but make sure not to make it worse. Also, try not to use you hand at all."

She nodded and sighed in relief, thankful she didn't have to spend another day off duty. After having been sick for three days, the last thing she needed was more free time.

Newt eyed warily as they exited the hut. She expected him to leave, but he didn't. She was unsure of what to do, with the second in command watching her. She wished he would leave her be so she could maybe go for a run. The rest of the gladers were finishing up their tasks and she knew it was around the time when she usually went to the woods. She hadn't been able to exercise for days and her body was weridly enough craving the strange burn it brought her.

"Try not to do too much activity today, alright?" Newt's voice dragged her out of her inner wishes.

He hadn't stopped staring at her and she got the feeling he could see right through her. She didn't like it. She was almost annoyed at him but she forced herself not to be. It wasn't Newt's fault she had cut open her hand and couldn't run because of her own stupidity. She scoffed at him.

"What do you suppose I do, then? I won't sit still for hours. Specially now that i've been released from prision." She tried to keep her tone neutral, but still managed to come across slightly annoyed.

"You're such a drama queen." He said, laughing lightly. "You were sick, Eleanor. You were resting, not imprisioned. You need to start taking care of yourself."

"Oh, c'mon, Newt." She replied, rolling her eyes. "The slicers cut themselves up worse and you don't tell them to take it easy."

She gazed at him, eyebrows shot up, and for the first time, he diverted his stare. He started walking. She followed curious as to what his response would be.

"It's different."

"How is it different?" Eleanor asked.

"I just don't want you to make it worse, that's all." He said stopping and turning to gaze down at her once again.

He stood considerably taller than her, staring. Eleanor thought a month ago she would have been intimidated by his presence, but now, she was almost comforted. She didn't understand why he worried, why he cared. And althought it still made her nervous, she had started to grown acostumed to said nervousness. She smiled up at him, hoping to come across as challenging.

"What do you suggest I do then, oh Mighty Second in Command."

The blonde boy laughed but didn't seem faced by her sarcasm. He looked around at her question, his eyes then stopping somewhere.

"Come with me, love." He said. His accent all the more notizable.

He started walking away, leaving her to follow. Her eyes widened slightly, processing his thoughts. She almost gasped.

"Did you just call me '_love_'?"

* * *

"So you, Alby, Gally, Minho and Frypan were the first ones here?" Eleanor said making Newt look at her.

Their feet dangled on the edge as they watched the night come to life below them. It was almost dinner time and most of the colours had already drained from the sky. Despite the sun being gone, a red glimmer still reigned up where they sat, lighting Newt's hair on fire. Red mixing with gold. She wondered why she hadn't decided to come up that racked tree house sooner. She probably didn't think it could hold any more weight than its own. Also, she didn't know much about her life before the Glade but she didn't think she liked heights very much. But here she was, several feet below the ground.

Newt didn't seem to enjoy heights either, but despite all that, there they were. She thought perhaps he believed the best way to tell her their story was where they could see most of their home. At least, as much of the story as he remembered. She couldn't recall how they had reached that topic but she didn't mind it in one bit.

"Well, yeah." He said, answering her question."And a bunch of others."

He sat proped up on his hands, his feet swaying over the edge, back and forth. Not in a nervous gesture, she knew Newt rarely got nervous. It was more of a monotone action, comforting.

"What happened to them?" She asked but she could soon tell it was the wrong question to ask. So she spoke again."Sorry. You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

"Things weren't always as they are now." He said. He didn't sound too emotional. She guess he had told that same story several times, and it no longer affected him as much. "It took a long time to establish order."

"How did you do it?" She asked, her eyes searching for his face. Trying to desciper the enigma that was the boy sitting next to her.

She mimicked his posture as she waited for his answer, leaning back onto her good hand. Her bandaged palm resting carefully on her lap.

"It wasn't easy. Nick did so much." Newt replied. And before she could ask any further, he added. "He was the leader before Alby."

"Oh..." It scaped her. She wasn't sure how to react to that. She knew something bad had probably happened to 'Nick' and she didn't dare to ask. It was certainly a subject neither of them wanted to get into.

So she settled for the only thing that seemed appropriate to retort. "I'm sorry."

His eyes flew to her, his lips curving vaguely into a faint smile that lasted long enough for her to know he appreciated it. His eyes moved away then, but hers stayed glued on him.

"How could you handle it?" She asked. Her voice sounded small, and she hoped he had heard her because she didn't feel brave enought to ask again.

It took him a while to answer.

"I didn't, not always." He answered, he seemed to understand where her thoughts had drifted without her having to elaborate any further.

"At first it was caotic." He added. "But we had hope, hope that we would get out. But as time passed it became harder. I mean, we were finally organized but we also realized we would be here for longer than we thought."

His gaze stayed fixated up ahead and without having to look she knew he was staring at the Maze walls. They were silent for a while, Eleanor listened to the sounds of the Glade as she watched the boys milling around, getting ready for dinner. When she thought he had moved on from her question, he spoke again.

"That was almost three bloody years ago."

His voice sounded sad but he managed to hide it well enough. Neither of them said anything as they continued watching the world below them. Eleanor couldn't even begin to imagine how it must've been like for the orginial group of Gladers, being trapped in there for so long watching death come an take away their friends. She wished with all her heart she wouldn't experience what it was like. But she knew she might, this was her reality. She tried not to dwell on it for long, knowing it didn't do her any good.

Eleanor stayed silent, aware that Newt wouldn't apreciate her pity. After a while, she willed herself to pluck up the courage to ask the question running through her mind.

"Do you still have hope? Even after all this time?" She spoke, conciously avoiding his gaze. Scared of what his answer might be.

"I do." She heard him said. She could feel his eyes on her. "Without hope, we're nothing."

She turned to look at him. She didn't know why, but that was not the answer she was expecting. Maybe he was lying to her but if that was the case, she was glad he did. She desperately needed to hear there was a way out of there. And if Newt believed so, she might make herself able to do too.

She kept her eyes on him, trying to imagine what it must be like inside his head. It was a tough thing to do, she had never been able to understand him, not fully. He was constantly surprising her. She observed as his eyes milled around, watching the gladers walk around, talking and laughing.

"You really care about them, huh?" She asked, trying to change the conversation.

She watched as his eyes didn't shift from his friends down on the ground.

"They're all I have." He said. "They might be a bunch of klunk-heads, but they're family."

Eleanor couldn't hide her smile as she watched the glint in his eye. She knew he was being truthful and it warmed up her heart. She wished she could be more like Newt. More like the kind boy who took care of them all, even after all they had been through, his good heart prevailed.

"They're lucky to have you." She said, trying to sound as honest as possible hoping he wouldn't think she was joking.

However, she wasn't surprised when he snorted.

"You know." He said, not really paying mind to what she said. "You're family too, whether you like it or not."

From the way he stared at her she could tell he wasn't lying. She looked away, suddenly feeling self-concious. Maybe they were family, but it sure didn't feel that way for her. She smirked at him, trying not to seem unapreciative. But the intimate look in his eye made her nervous and she was sure she didn't want to go down that path.

"_Not_." She mocked, making him laugh.

* * *

Her stomach grumbled loudly as she waited for two particular runners to exit the Map room. She had grown tired of pacing and was now sat on the grass leaning against a large tree stump, playing with the hem of her slightly bloodied shirt. She felt dirty but she just told herself she would clean it in the morning. She was too hungry to do it now and was starting to think she might just head out to the kitchens without them. It's not like they had been inside the room for a long time, but she just really wanted to eat something. After the scene in the tool shed she hadn't really been able to choke down more than three spoonfuls of mashed potatoes for lunch. But her stomach had finally settled, mostly thanks to her time with Newt but she would never admit that outloud, and she felt ready to eat whatever crossed her way.

If only those stupid runners would come out already and join her.

At first she had thought of avoiding the runners completely and having dinner on her own as she was used to doing. And even though it made her feel uneasy she was forcing herself to stop being childish and face her friend. She dreaded seeing Minho. After her dream that morning she had found herself thinking about the runner at radom moments as she was working. Of course, being trapped with Gally and injuring herself had easily taken her mind off such trivial teenage thoughts.

But she knew she had to see the Keeper of the runners sooner or later, and she valued their friendship too much to avoid him because of some stupidly wonderful imaginary kiss that she wished she could just erase completely from her mind. She was determined to not let herself feel different towards her friend. So she had decided to come look for Minho and Ben, because she also knew Ben started running again today after he had injured his ankle and she wanted to know how he was doing. However, that didn't mean she didn't feel incredibly nervous and embarrased. And it didn't stop her mind from visualizing the pathetic imaginary outcome in which Minho would just find out about her dream simply by the look on her face. So to say she was a tiny bit paranoid was an understandment.

Finally, the metal door opened and the last two runners exited the room looking tired. Minho was laughing loudly at something Ben said but she could still notice the look his eyes adopted after a long day running. Eleanor willed herself not to blush upon seeing him, she had promised herself she wouldn't act like a stupid teenager, although she was positive she did not succeed. They closed the door behind them like they always did so she could never see the inside of the room, which usually made her roll her eyes. They only noticed her presence when she stood up from her sitting spot making herself visible. The faint light that came from the torches of the Glade barely illuminating the three of them. She had been stiting out there long enough for her eyes to get acostumed to the lack of light. But not the runners, she could see it took them a few seconds to realize who she was.

"Hey, Eleanor." Said Ben.

Then they shared a look, making Eleanor frown. When smiles slowly grew on their faces she thought she didn't like the michievous glint that took over their eyes. They slowly turned back to stare at her and took a small step towards her.

"Guys...?" She started, panicking slightly. She didn't trust the look on their faces, not in one bit.

Before she barely had time to take a step backwards, they were on her, tackling her to the ground; two different arms grabbing her by the waist. She could do nothing but close her eyes, bracing herself for the fall, as she let herself fall on the ground. Knowing if she had tried to fight it it would have been worse. At least she remembered to keep her wounded hand up, knowing Jeff would probably kill her if she had to pay him another visit. The blow on her back wasn't as strong as she expected it to be and she realized they had been a lot gentler than she thought they would.

The gasp that escaped her lips was a mixture of shock and laughter. They laughed, watching the expresion on her face and rolled off on their backs, releasing her from their hold.

"Ugh" she groaned on protest as she proceeded to smack both boys as they laughed at her expense, "I hate you."

That only made them laugh harder. She scoffed and sat up rolling her eyes but couldn't stop a small smile from overtaking her lips. She quickly supressed it. Blush flooded her cheeks once again as she felt Minho's leg against hers. She shiftly stood up, making use of her good hand and stared at both boys now sitting on the ground waiting for her reaction. She shook her head at their raised eyebrows and chuckled.

Eleanor extended her hand towards Ben, because she really didn't feel ready to touch Minho just yet. The blonde runner stared at her hand confused, as if no one had ever offered him help standing up before. When he didn't take her hand, she scoffed again.

"C'mon," She said, "I'm hungry!"

Minho laughed and stood up himself, and Ben finally took her hand and she pulled him up, mentally thanking him for making most of the effort because she wouldn't have been able to pull him up herself with only one hand.

She stared at them both and shook her head at them once again. "Next time, I'm not waiting for any of you."

"Oh, come on El." Minho said, drapping his arm around her shoulder as they started walking towards the clearing. She tried to supress the nervous feeling in her stomach. "You know you love us."

She rolled her eyes which caught Ben's eye, making him wink exaggeratedly at her. She couldn't help but laugh. As they reached the open space, the kitchens coming into view, she grabbed Minho's hand and took his arm off her shoulder, ducking her head. She watched as he set his face in a fake hurt expression that unwillingly made her stomach turn. But soon enough, his smirk was back at full force.

"Don't tackle me again," She threatened. When she watched their amused faces, she added. "Don't forget I know where you sleep."

She tried her best not to laugh at the slightly panicked look on both their faces, but she wasn't strong enought to cover her faint smirk. With that, she walked ahead of them, eager to finally have something to eat.

**Loves, I know you probably hate me right now. I'm so sorry it took me so long to update. I hope this chapter didn't disapoint. Thank you much fo reading, and special thank yous for all you out there who follow, favourite and review (I had a few lovely reviews and they made my day, seriously. So thank you very much for your kind words!). It makes me so happy to know that some people actually enjoy the story! I love you x**

**Please, keep sharing your opinions because I actually put a lot of time into writting and it feels great to have your work recognized:) Also I only have a few videos up on my youtube channel (mazer runner and teen wolf related) but if you would like to see them the link is in my profile.**

**Lots of love x**

**Ps: Also, I've been wondering if I should start writting a Harry Potter story. Maybe like a second generation one, so if any of you like the idea or think it's a horrible one, please let me know!**


	12. Chapter 12

She ran in the woods. She was getting stronger, faster. But she didn't run to be fast. She ran to vent. She had learned to love the adrenaline, the blood pumping in her ears, her head feeling hot and her legs screaming for her to stop when she took it too far. It was like therapy in a way.

Eleanor was more than glad she had asked Minho for advice because it really did work. And it also didn't hurt to have something to be proud of for once in her life, or at least the amount of life she remembered. It was surprising no one had noticed her scaping to the safety of the forest and coming back hours later red faced and drenched in sweat. Elanor had thought someone would have noticed it by then, but they were boys. They wouldn't notice something different with her even if she'd grown another head. And the only ones who ever paid little to none attetion to her were the runners, and they were still out in the maze. Well, and Newt, she guessed. But he was usually pretty busy. She knew Zart wouldn't even bother to think about her, he was more than glad to forget about her as soon as she left her working place,

That day, running was specially exhilarating, she felt like she really needed it. That's why she took the chance to sneak into her safe spot as soon as possible, she didn't even care if someone saw her that day. She needed her therapy. It was a lot easier for her to ingore the fact that someone had sent a childs to a secluded unsolvable puzzle with electronical monsters lurking around when she was in the middle of the woods. Those things didn't exist when she ran. She was free when she ran. She decided her route, she controled her life. Although, she knew that illusion would inevitably vanish as soon as she stepped out of the trees. It probably wasn't the healthies thing to do either, to pretend something wasn't real, but it helped. So lying to herself was good enough for Eleanor.

She was in the middle of her last lap when she noticed it again. The glint of gold. She had seen it a few times before but always attributed it to a trick of the evening sun rays. But this time she was sure, she had seen it. And before she had time to make a decision, her feet were already carrying her over.

She almost screamed as she felt something on her boot but quickly caught herself when she realized it was a simple 'beetle blade'. It was a stupid name, that was for sure, but glader slang was never know to be very original. And she guessed it was a fitting name, as good as any. At least that's what Minho called them. To her, they looked more like cockroaches than beetles, but the blade part was definetly right, she had a scar on her finger to prove it. She was quick to continue her search for something gold, she didn't like those things one bit and she was more than happy to put some distance between her and those robots.

That's when she heard a rustling in the leaves. She had been so focused on what she was seeing, she hadn't stopped to listen. It sounded like someone walking, or running most likely. She didn't hesitate on changing her path and speeding her pace. The mysterious golden glimmer forgotten.

She forced herself to go faster but the footsteps were always one step ahead and too far to distinguish anyone. She tried to get her legs to move faster, but they were already screaming for her to stop after her long run. She had no doubts however, it was definetly someone, so she did not stop.

Just when she knew they had almost reached the limit of the trees and the stranger was going to dissapear into the busy glade she saw it. A glit of gold. Except it wasn't gold. The same reflection she had been seeing for weeks was not something, it was someone. All this time wondering what the gold light was and she had never considered to possibility of someone being there, someon watching her, watching her run.

The realization made her stop in her tracks for a moment. Someone had been _spying_ on her.

When she plucked up the courage to continue her search she knew it was too late. If she wasn't going to catch him before she would definetly not catch him now. Her legs felt weak and she had to hold on to a tree to keep herself blanced. She knew whoever it was had already faded into the crowded Glade. She felt violated, and embarrased, but at least she knew something for sure. He was blonde.

* * *

Almost two months, it didn't feel like that long. In two days, a new greenie would come up, but Eleanor could have sowrn only a couple of days had passed. Her first month in the glade had been excruciantingly long she'd thought it would never end. And it had been an eventful month aswell, with the new eviroment, the new people, Minho, Gally... But then, she had gotten used to the place, as accostumed as you could get to a place like that, she suppossed, and nothing extremely out of the ordinary had happened: no way out found, no accidents, no griever's attacks. So when Newt announced over dinner that they'd have a new greenie soon she was surely surprised.

It was one of those rare occasions on which the second in command joined her for dinner. It had been a long day of work for her, which meant she had to work after everyone was done with their dinner, which Eleanor was sure it was just the product of Zart being annoyed at her. Eleanor hadn't felt like arguing so she'd followed his orders obligingly.

Newt had showed up with a small smile and tired eyes, talking about a reunion with the runners and no dinner. She didn't really mind his reasons, she was glad she didn't have to eat on her own.

_He is very talkative today,_ she noted. That was weird in itself, it's not that Newt never talked but he didn't chit-chat. He was usually the one to voice short but useful imputs to someone else's ranting. He was never one to ramble, at least not with her.

Eleanor observed him carefully. He looked far too invested in the conversation, managing a smile every time he stopped to catch his breath. Eleanor reaturned the smile as sincerely as she could but it was hard to focus with the odd picture in front of her. She chewed and swallowed her food, trying to pay more attention to his speech.

"And then the hen broke loose and you can't imagine how long it took for us to catch it." He laughed, rather loudly.

She tried to smile in return. Newt rarely laughed, specially not so openly. Smirks? Sure, chuckles? Yes, but laughing was another story. That's when her sight drifted down to the fork on his hand, his food merely untouched, his hand gripping the utensil, squeezing. She followed the marked veins on his hand and arms that gave away how much pressure he was actually applying. She had been so focused on trying to find something in his expression she had barely noticed he hadn't eaten a single bite since he had sat down.

"Are you okay?" She asked suddenly, surprising the pair of them.

Newt's laughter stopped and his smile faded completely for a second.

"I'm sorry," She spoke again, "you just seem... tense."

She guessed "tense" was a whole lot better than "weird".

"No." He said, "No, I mean, yes, yes, I'm fine."

He sounded sincere enough, but the younger girl was not convinced. His face was the definition of innocence, only Eleanor knew better. She dropped the fork she was holding and shot her hand forward covering his own, her fingers wrapping around his fingers and the fork.

"The fork is innocent," she said, smirking slightly. "You might want to let it live."

She could feel his muscles relax under her touch once he processed her words and the surprise from her acts had died down. The metal clattered on the table as it was released.

Newt let out a short chuckle, that sounded more nervous than anything. "Honestly, I'm alright." he spoke again, "just a bit stressed, that's all."

She narrowed her eyes at him, it was obvious he wasn't telling the truth. It didn't take a genious to figure that out, but she knew Newt enough to accept she wasn't going to get a straight answer out of him. He had strange ways of coming clean and none of them ever involved an interrogatory. However, she didn't tear her gaze away from him, as if by staring she would be able to descipher the boy in front of her. But that technique had never worked for her before, so she should have known it would not work then.

Newt avoided her stare, visibly uncomfortable. Only when his hand twitched under hers did she realize she was still touching him. She shiftly pulled her hand away, crimson red invading her cheeks uninvited. Why could she never act normal infront of that boy? It was infuriating.

The blonde boy then looked at her, and it was her turn to look away. Her fingertips still tingled, remembering the warm touch from moments ago. She willed herself to stop getting distracted with minor details.

And then, as if an angel had dropped from the sky to save her from the awkwardness, someone arrived and he certainly made a loud arrival, ploppong down next to Eleanor, making her almost jump up.

"Hey shanks, how's it going?"

Eleanor turned to look at Minho, he had spoken very cheerfully, which was odd in itself. But the cheerful greeting was a contradiction to the expression he wore. He looked... angry. He dedicated her a big smile as he saw her looking but still did not look happy in one bit. Then he turned to look at Newt. With Minho's eyebrows raised at him, the second in command now looked visibly uncomfortable.

_My god_, thought Eleanor, _these boys are as good at conceling their feelings as Zart is._

If Eleanor didn't know any better she would have thought the runner was trying to intimidate Newt but she knew better. Minho and Newt were not as close as Newt and Alby but they were undoubtedly friends. She couldn't think of any reason why Minho would be crossed with his friend. In fact, no one was ever crossed with the second in command, he was always the good guy. And it was true that Minho wasn't exactly a pacifist but she was sure he couldn't hate Newt. Hell! Not even Gally could hate Newt!

"Hey Min," she said trying to act normal, "Have you eaten?"

He looked back at her and she wasn't sure if she was imaginning the twinkle in his eyes she had only seen on one occasion, when he was picking a fight with Gally at Pablo's bonfire.

"Yeah," He replied, "Ben fetched us some sandwiches when we got back."

She tried to ignore the feeling in her gut when she realized their shoulders were touching. She blamed those stupid dreams again. It had been weeks since her first one and sine then she'd had two more. She really despised those dreams because they made her look at the runner in a completely different way. Minho, above all, was her friend and she did not wish for that to change.

She tried to distract herself and noticed how Newt's eyes followed their interaction, his expression still odd. She smiled at him, trying to make him feel better even though she knew nothing of what the blonde glader was thinking. Newt managed to produce a small smile in return. When Eleanor looked back to Minho, she found his eyes were squinted in suspicion as he regarded them.

_What is up with these two today, seriously? _Eleanor thought. They were both acting specially weird. In Newt's case that was normal for her, but Minho was always like an open book.

"So.." She said, not liking the awkward silence. "What was the meeting about?"

She then caught Newt gulping even though he had yet to touch his food. She had hit bull's eye, something about the meeting had him acting tense and jumpy.

"What meeting?" He asked in an almost perfect innocent tone.

She frowned, "You said you and Alby had a meeting with the runners."

"Did I?" He said so convincingly, he almost belived him. "Well, it wasn't a meeting, really."

It was perfectly clear he wasn't going to talk about it ans she didn't want to push her luck.

"Okay." She said deciding to turn to her friend next to her for answers. "I suppose you won't tell me what it was about either."

Minho laughed, "Oh, El." He said, throwing an arm over her shoulder. It was such a familiar gesture that she didn't even think twice about it. "You know me so well."

What she did not miss was the look he dedicated to Newt, smug somehow. She sighed, she had had enough of their weird behaviour which they obviously didn't want to talk about.

"You two are acting really weird right now." She said boldly, and then added, "Well, weirder than usual... I'm leaving"

She took one last bite of her food dramatically, trying to make a statement and stood up. Minho's arm falling from her shoulder in the process. She only got more odd looks that she couldn't make sense of.

* * *

Eleanor kept thinking about their strange behaviour the following day. Newt still looked on edge about something and he kept being extremely nice to everyone, which wasn't anything weird in itself but Eleanor knew something was up. And judging the way he had resumed on avoiding her, she knew she was right. Some of the other boys seemed on edge aswell but Eleanor atributed it to the arrival of the new greenie on the evening to come.

She thought about Minho's odd acting too, but since he usually left too early in the morning for her to see him, she hadn't been able to check if it had been just a one time thing. Whatever the reason behind their moodswings, Eleanor was kind of glad it gave her something to think about. It was a particulary hot day and anything that could distract her from her job and for the fact that she had been there for two months was more than welcomed. Except Zart, she much rather he did not talk to her at all. She was actually surprised he hadn't complained about her yet that day.

She looked for him through the field wondering if maybe her keeper had fallen prey to some unknown sickness, but she spotted him working as usual. And sweating, a lot.

It didn't take long for her to stop staring, a sweaty Zart was not something she enjoyed watching. She couldn't blame him, she, herself, was sweating strongly. She cleared her bangs out of her eyes as she resumed her wroking, hoping to at least take her hair away from the sweat but it was impossible. The rest of the track-hoes seemed to be going through the same thing as she was. Eleanor, distracted from her task again, wondered how Newt wasn't melting as she observed the older boy. He was always so warm, he must have been boiling.

Only when her eyes spotted honey did she realize Newt was looking back at her. But before she could look away, he did, with a nervous tremble of his lip. As the bright sun reflected in his golden locks, she froze. She had seen it, the glimmer. But no, it couldn't be. She couldn't very well accuse Newt of spying on her just because he was blonde.

Also, why would Newt spy on her? It made no sense. Sure, the boy was weird but he wasn't a stalker or anything like that. Plus, he rarely paid any attention to her on a day to day basis so why would he be insterested on her schedule after work.

_But who else could it be?_ She thought as she began working once again.

There was Zart, but the taller boy could barely stand the sight of her while she was wroking. She couldn't imagine him creeping up on her behind a bush. He was definetly out.

Clint was out as well, the med-jack could never go anywhere without his keeper. She swore sometimes Jeff and him looked like they were attached at the hip like two school girls. She wouldn't be surprised if some day she'd find them swaping friendship chains. She supressed a giggle but kept working.

Who else was blonde? Ben! No, Ben couldn't be. He always came back from the maze after her runs. And even if when he arrived earlier, he had to be in the map room. Also, she could not picture th cheery boy following her into the forest. She could not picture Newt either but on the other hand he had looked very nervous around her lately. But what about his limp? Could he outrun her with his bad leg? The truth is, she had never seen him run so he might've been able to. But why on earth would he watch her run? For weeks even! The boy was odd but he wasn't creepy. Also, would nobody notice if the second in command was missing everyday?

It made no sense, but then again she couldn't make sense as to why anyone would want to spy on her. He hadn't planned on running that day, scared of someone observing her, but it was clear that she couldn't ignore the situation. And what a better way to solve a mystery than to go back to the scene of the crime.

* * *

A few hours later, a tired and sweating brunette young girl made her way through the clearing towards the shower, scorning herself for thinking whoever had been watching her would do it again after being caught. She had stayed in the woods for longer than she was used to in hopes of catching the mystery person, so she had missed dinner, again.

She tried shaking it off her mind. She wanted to get to bed early. The following day would surely be eventful.

**Hi everyone! I'm back. Please, dont' kill me! I'm so so sorry I haven't updated in such a long time. There's just been so much going on in my life. I know this chapter is quite short and not very fast paced. I promise I will try to write the next chapter very very soon.**

**I'm so sorry again. Thank you for all the favourites, follows and reviews. You guys are amazing! Please, please, keep reviewing, I want to know what you think. **

**Thanks guys, you're the best! x**


	13. Chapter 13

His wide brown pupils circled all around as the small boy came into view. Eleanor's disappointment that it was yet another boy imediately dissipated as his glaced over eyes, glistening in the morning sun, collided with her own. She couldn't even bring herself around to feel sorry for herself, it made two months since she had came up on that same box already. She couldn't pity herself, not when there was someone else down in the box, someone suffering the same fate as herself, someone hovering back on one corner shaking and scared out of their mind. Eleanor's gut took a leap as she observed the new-comer, taking in his floppy hair and racked clothes drenched with sweat and dirt. The stench that followed the opening gates of the box, made the situation even worse.

His stare bore into her for a small second in time but it was enough. It was more than enough to see the evident panic his mind held. The fear, a head sliptting, agonizing fear that paralized Eleanor's entire being just by watching its reflection on his eyes. Her nerves were on high point. Suddenly, she was that boy. A young boy inside a stinky rusty box. A boy without a past, being stared down by dozens of strangers that could do nothing but taunt and joke around ignoring the panic and confusion emanating from this young soul. A boy with a fear so strong, he couldn't feel embarrassed for his body's reaction to the unknown. He couldn't because his fear was the only thing occupating his mind, eating away everything else and leaving a bitter tingle of despair.

Eleanor felt frozen for a moment, terrified herself, because she knew she was not so different from that boy.

Alby and Newt had already started talking to the new greenie but she couldn't focus. A few boys were laughing, _laughing_. The laughter started getting louder in her mind, as if someone had taking their free will to turn up a dial. She knew she was letting herself prisioner to her emotions, but how could she not? He was so... young. She was surprised no one else seemed outraged by the situation. She guessed he wasn't the first boy to arrive so young. But still, how could they be so cold about it?

Of course, Eleanor was aware of the fact that they knew what they were doing a lot more than she did, after all, she had only been there for two months. But she didn't think she could even stop feeling that empathy that made her stomach turn and her breathing stop. If she was being honest with herself, there was a part of her that did not want that to change. Sure, she was sensitive, but that was part of what made her who she was. She didn't want to stop being herself. Because then they would've won, and she couldn't have that.

Although, she couldn't fool herself, she had already changed. But perhaps not enough to make her insensitive to the torrent of emotion that assaulted her every once in a while. There were some moments Eleanor couldn't feel like a glader, and the times the alarm blared once every four weeks, signalling the arrival of a new poor victim to that hell-hole was one of them. Pablo's arrival was nothing like this. This was worse, so much worse. She didn't understand how the gladers could joke about it, place bets, laugh...

She supposed it was better than everyone covering around in every corner and crying, but it still made her feel sad.

After a while, she willed herself out of her mind to descipher parts of their conversation with the newbie.

"Can you remember your name?" Alby's voice rang a little clearer now in her ears.

The short rounder boy looked up to meet the leader's stare, the teardrops leaking from his eyes gave away how scared he found the dark-skinned boy. Eleanor held her breath, an unexpected urge to flee appeared in her mind unannounced. It was getting harder and harder to ignore it as she observed the new greenie. She hadn't realized she didn't wish to know his name until his lips were already parted and formed a stuttered word.

"Ch- Chuck."

Eleanor had backed away considerably, she noticed she was now standing a few meters away from the rest of the boys. And just when she didn't think she could handle it any longer, she ran.

* * *

"Ok, what's your problem?" Elanor said, chasing after Minho.

She had been waiting for him to come out of the map room as she sometimes did. She had been meaning to ask him about his strange behaviour since he had talked to Newt and herself. Although the second-in-command had been acting oddly aswell, she had a feeling both boys had two entirely different matters on their minds. But no matter how hard she had tried to approach the runner it had all been in vain. He had been avoiding her like the plague.

That's why, when her friend exited the map room walking straight past her without even sparing her a second look, she didn't find it strange at all. However, she would be lying if she said she said it didn't hurt her in the slightest.

"Hey Min." Nothing. He didn't even turn, if anything, he picked up the pace.

"Minho!" Eleanor shouted now, almost running up to catch him.

"Sod off, Eleanor."

Said girl almost stopped dead in her tracks, they were so rare the ocassions in which Minho called her by her full name when he was adressing her directly. But that was not what she found to most distressing, it was the hatred in his voice, that anger that the boys sometimes exhibited and still managed to catch her off guard. She forced herself out of her shock, sure she had seen Minho mad before, she was pretty sure every glader there ever was had seen Minho angry more than once. It was the fact that he sounded angry towards her that turned her stomach into knots. She swallowed hard as she chased after him once again.

"Min, what's wrong?"

Nothing.

"What is it? What did I do?"

To this he finally turned to face her, Eleanor almost collided against his chest making a rerun of the first time they met tu she caught herself on time.

"Shucking..." He seemed to take a second to regain his thoughts but by the words that came out of his mouth afterwards she guessed his anger won. "You know, Eleanor? Not everything has to be about you."

Eleanor furrowed her brow, where did that come from? He had never treated her like that. A flash of Gally laying in the med-room bed screaming at her flashed in front of her eyes. _No,_ she thought, _not again._

"Why don't you go and ask your beloved Newtie what's wrong?"

If Eleanor wasn't taken aback before she certainly was now, "What? What are you...?"

She was sure she looked like a fish out of the water, with her mouth gaping open, as her best friend walked away from her.

She stood there for five good minutes trying unsuccessfully to make sense of that interaction. She wanted to cry but she didn't, she was pretty sure she didn't do anything wrong, and she would continue to think that way until somebody gave her reasons to think otherwise. She would remember doing something that had Minho in such a state towards her.

But if the matter didn't concern her, then what was it? And why did Minho have to mention Newt like that? Like he was angry at him, like he accused Eleanor of paying more attention to Newt than to him. But surely that could not be the reason, there was no one else whom Eleanor spent more time than with Minho.

Maybe the matter really did not concern her at all. Maybe she was missing the puzzle completely. She guessed she could allow them to have some off days, she had them herself but that couldn't stop her from worrying about her friends.

Actually, it wasn't just Newt and Minho, many of the other keepers had been acting weirder than usual over the previous two days. Specially now that the new kid had arrived. But that didn't mean much, only one more kid in the mix, one more month gone by.

And suddenly, just like that, it dawned on her.

How didn't she think of it sooner? For her it made two months, but not for Minho or Frypan, or Alby... or Newt. That was her explanation, so clear before her eyes, she couldn't believe she didn't think of it sooner. It didn't just make one month more for them, it made three years.

Three years of unanswered questions and stolen freedom. Three years without finding a way out. Eleanor felt so ashamed then, how could she had thought Minho could be simply jealouse of Newt. He was right, not everything was about her.

"Shuck!" She couldn't help, the now familiar word from scaping her lips.

"Damn, Eleanor, I don't think I've heard you use that language before."

She turned around startled, to find a certain blonde runner smirking at her, Jack, one of the younger runners trailed after him. He dedicated Eleanor a short smile which she tried to return as sincerily as she could.

"Hey, Jack. Hey, Ben"

"What are you doing in the middle of the woods?" He asked her, never losing his trademark smile.

Eleanor snorted, "This is hardly the middle of the woods." She said, then she sighed "I was trying to talk to Minho."

She couldn't completely conceal the edge of sadness that tinted her voice. Both boys presented her with sympathetic smiles knowing how well that could have gone.

"Just give him a few days, he'll come around." Ben said.

"Yeah, we're all on edge." Jack added.

Eleanor smiled at both boys, appreciating their concern.

"Anyway." Ben said, "Is there a party tonight or what?"

Eleanor laughed as he offered his arm. Jack shook his head and walked ahead, seemingly embarrassed of his fellow runner. Eleanor took his offer, feeling a bit better, as she let herself be led away towards the glade.

* * *

_Two months, two full months in that hellhole_. That's all Eleanor could think about as she watched half the glade walking around, drinking, fighting... Her gaze drifting from one boy to the other. She watched as the newest addition to the glade walked around, trying hard to blend in. Some galders blew him off, but some other actually entretained him. She sadly smiled, at least he was doing better than she had done so far.

"He's so young..." She said softly, more to herself than out loud.

"Yeah." She heard Ben reply to her left.

"How can they send someone so young?"

"They're monsters." And it sounded like he meant it.

"All of you seem like you don't care." She said, and immediately regret her words, she knew they weren't true even if it sometimes seemed that way.

"It's not that, Eleanor." He replied, "No one should get special treatment, that's the way things work."

"I get that, but it wouldn't hurt for Alby to show a little compassion for the poor boy." A tear scaped her eye, uninvited and she quickly brushed it away.

"Hey, are you ok?"

"I don't know." She sighed. "I just wish there was a way to make them feel better."

Eleanor's sight focused on Minho across the pit. A few of the runners sat together in their usual spots for the bonfire. But there was nothing usual about the image. Some runners weren't even there, like Ben and Jack who sat with her not wanting to bother them. Their familiar loud chattering and snickering could not be heard, instead, the ported matching grim expressions that kept the rest of the gladers away. Another look around told her Alby and Newt were no leader and his second could be seen huddled together, whispering things to one another. The older boy looked troubled and showed his branded 'don't come close if you appreciate your life' look. Newt, on the other hand, looked concerned, and something else she wished she could descipher.

"I don't think there's anything we can do." Eleanor turned to look at Clint who had spoken as she took another sip of Gally's mystery recipe. He didn't even look at any of them as he spoke. He sounded non-chalant enough, but Eleanor was no fool. She gazed at Jeff, now sitting with Zart and Wiston, the keepers were close together, barely speaking. She knew the young med-jack was sad he couldn't do anything for his best friend and keeper but she didn't know what to say to him. She felt helpless just the same. Her gaze went unwantedly back to the runner. She missed seeing his usual smile on his face. He looked so... angry.

It wasn't long before Alby called it a night and everyone retired to their sleeping places. Not many people complained, and the ones who did soon fell back to silence at the look they recieved from Alby.

* * *

Eleanor laid awake in her sleeping bag unable to fall asleep. She was extremely tired but found herself tossing and turning. And it did not matter how many times she tolde herself she had to get up early the following day, she was simply unable to fall asleep. After several more turns she couldn't take it anymore.

"Fuck it." She said outloud as she threw her sleeping bag open.

_Why am I doing this? _She thought to herself as she stood infront of the door inside of the homestead. She put her fist up to knock on the door but quickly put it back down, rethinking her late night decision. She inhaled and quickly knocked before she could regret it.

She waited.

She felt her heart pounding in her chest and felt ridiculous even if no one was around to observe what she was doing. No answer. She closed her eyes tightly, plucking up the courage and knocked again.

Still no answer.

Before she could talk herself out of it, her hand found the door knob and she was inside the dimly lit room.

"Eleanor, what the hell?!" Minho exclaimed, sitting up on his bed.

Eleanor's orbs widened as she observed he was shirtless, hot blush crept at her cheeks but she forced her mind off of those trivial matters and focused on fixing her friendship.

"Look, I know I shouldn't be here. And I would understand if you're mad at me. But I couldn't sleep."

Minho just looked at her, he didn't seem angry, just surprised, so she went on.

"I can't sit back and do nothing while I see that you are suffering. I get that you don't want to talk about it, and you don't have to! But please, Minho, don't shut me out." Tears sprung to her eyes but she did nothing to stop them. "Minho, you're my best friend. I'm not going to let you throw that away. That might work with the others but not with me."

She willed her voice not to crack, but she was having a hard time. "And I understand, that I can't help you with what you're going through but I can be there for you."

She paused breathing, "So let me."

They were silent, as some remaining tears rolled down Eleanor's cheeks. After a few seconds, Minho got up, the sheets pooling down on the bed. He walked up to her, and all she did was follow him with her eyes. Bringing his hands up, she felt his thumbs caressing away the tears, his touch so gentle, so unlike Minho. His eyes were sad, and the limited light allowed her to see they were glazed over. She softly smiled, a sad smile. Maybe she still had her best friend.

Then, his arms were around her, and her own imediately went up around his middle. She felt his nose in the crook of her neck as he buried his face on the side of her head. She laid her own on his chest as she felt his wet tears on her exposed skin. None of them spoke as she traced circles on his shoulder blades, hoping to calm him down.

None of them spoke as they held eachother through the night.


	14. Chapter 14

Eleanor woke up to sunlight streaming through the windows.

_Wait, windows? _

She was soon awake enough to recognise she was still in Minho's room. She freely blushed at the thought of having slept in Minho's bed, with Minho, when she noted that the runner was no where in sight. And judging from the amount of light already present in the room, she guessed he had long since gone to take care of his runner duties. She made sure to be quick in leaving Minho's room, not before making his bed, something she was sure he wouldn't even notice but she felt like she had to do anyway. She didn't know how long she had been sleeping so she couldn't afford to take her time to wake up and get up as she liked to do. She quickly closed the door and froze.

Two pairs of eyes watched her as she turned around. She could see them gazing between her and Minho's door, and could do nothing to stop her blushing at the smirks and raised eyebrows of the two gladers. She was about to go into the 'it's not what it looks like speech' but decided not to. She didn't owe them any explanations. It's not like they had said two words to her before. She knew what it must look like, seeing the only girl coming out of one of the boys' room but she didn't care. It's not like any of the boys had never gossiped about her, so screw it. _Let them say what they want. I have absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about._

Although by the time she was heading for the patches to meet Zart, she wished she had been a bit less careless on her way out that morining. Apparently, over breakfast, news spread like wildfire. You would have thought they would be pinning over the new greenie but little Chuck was as overlooked as ever, Eleanor was almost jealouse of him. She had tried to ignore the quiet side comments, and the not so quiet ones. But the stares were another story. She felt like on her first day all over again, except now it was much worse. These were people that she now knew, people that she lived with, that were treating her like a piece of meat. Or boys that had never spoken to her before shouting 'hey, Eleanor' with a suggestive tone as she walked by, or simply whistling like she was some kind of animal.

She felt violated, and even though she tried to ignore them she may or may not had given the finger to a few boys that decided it was the best time to try and flirt with her. It was so infuriating she desperately wanted to come across some familiar faces. She knew that boys were pigs, living with around thirty of them for two months had proven as far, but she now knew they could be completely disrespectful. That's why for the first time since she was assigned to be a Track-hoe, she was genuinely glad to see her keeper.

"Zart, please tell me I'm on soil duty today." She fastly said, as soon as she reached him.

"Well, 'good morning' to you too, Eleanor." Was his response. He didn't even look up to greet her, which was nothing new to her.

"Ugh," She groaned. "Good morning Zart"

Her over-cheery voice and fake smile went completely unnoticed as he still didn't return her gaze. She sighed, and decided to use what she called the 'annoying twelve-year-old's voice'.

"Zaaaart." she whined, "send me to get soil today, pleaseee."

Said boy still did not look up, apparently too busy, organizing tools. She simply kept her gaze on him as he frowned.

"Why? You hate getting soil." He moved along the gardens as she followed close behind.

"Just, please. I'm pretty sure no one wants to be on soil-duty, so let me."

As she watched him, Eleanor thought. _How many times can you put the same tool in its place?_

"I was going to send the new greenie to do that." He spoke.

Eleanor noticed how he didn't sound like himself at all. In a normal conversation with the keeper he would have been more than annoyed at her by then. Then, after watching him put a rake in the ground for the third time she realized, he wasn't orginizing, he was keeping himself busy. Busy from what? From looking at her? The previous day she would've attributed such a strange behaviour to the three year 'anniversary' but there was something so unusual about his behaviour that resembled more a nervous slopper than his usual self, and knowing precisely what the topic of conversation was over breakfast that morning she was more than sure why he was avoiding her gaze. She blushed at the realization but frowned, if there was someone she did not expect that from, it was Zart.

_He is a teenager after all,_ she told herself. Sometimes she forgot there were just kids. One thing she was certain of, she was never going to comfront her keeper about it. She'd rather they stayed out of the fragile awkwardness zone.

"Oh c'mon Zart." She argued. And on a sing song voice added. "I'll get out of your way."

He groaned, "Fine!"

And for the first time in the whole interaction his eyes met hers, but soon drfited away as if regretting the action. His embarrasment towards her felt like a punch in the stomach. _Don't be ridiculous,_ she told herself, _you have not done anything wrong. _Feeling ashamed for something she hadn't do would only make her feel worse than she already felt.

"Thank you, thank you." She quickly said and took off before he could change his mind.

* * *

The rest of her morning went by a little bit better than it had started. She spent most of her time in the solitude of the Deadheads. She did have to go back to where the Track-hoes were working a few times to bring back the soil for the plants, but she made sure to be quick about it and ignore the persistent stares from the Galders. Sadly, her time alone was coming to an end as lunch time approached. She considered skipping it, but she was considerably hungry and knew she shouldn't let some inmature idiots deny her the pleasure of Frypan's cooking. Eleanor resolved she would just grab her food and eat outside so she made her way towards the kitchen.

After an infuriating wait for her food, where she had to pretend she wasn't surrounded by stares and whispers. She grabbed her plate and made a beeline for the exit. There was nobody in the room who she'd rather have lunch with than by herself. She was almost out of the ticking time-bomb that was the kitchens when she noticed someone sitting alone. Against her better judgment, knowing she was going to regret that decision and hoping the rest of the Gladers would leave them alone, she approached the table.

Wide brown eyes looked up as she left her plate on the table, and she could feel eyes burning her back. She shifted uncomfortably knowing she was the centre of attention.

"You're Chuck, right?" she said, after clearing her throat. "Can I sit here?"

He looked shocked as he blinked up at her but a genuine smile quickly made its way through. Eleanor's heart clenched, _you don't deserve to be here._

"Ye-yeah, sure!"

Eleanor didn't need to be told twiced, she sat down dedicating him the sincerest smile she could muster. He started speaking as she began to eat, which didn't stop the young boy from eating.

"Yeah, I'm Chuck. But everyone here calls me Greenie." She regarded the boy's cheeks, rosy with excitement and had to suppress a giggle or two. She was about to tell her her own name and explain to him that being called 'greenie' was a normal thing but he barely left her time to interrupt, she kept herself from replying then and focused back to her much needed meal.

"Well, Alby said they'll call me that for a month but I don't really mind, at least that way they won't forget my name. You're Eleanor, right? The only girl. I've been hearing a lot about you."

She lightly coughed and swallowed the food still in her mouth, trying to get over the surprise at his bold statement. She looked at the perfect image of innocence in front of her and knew whatever Chuck had heard about her was either completely harmless or he just didn't understand the double meaning behind some of the Glader's gossip. She was willing to bet for the later.

"They talk too much, don't believe everything they tell you." She warned. Seeing how sweet an innocent the newbie was, she knew they wouldn't have a hard time messing with his head, so she added, "Actually, don't believe _anything_ they tell you."

They kept eating. The young boy looked like he had a lot more to say but was restraining himself, so he made himself busy with his food. Eleanor followed his lead and did the same. When she was finished, she bid her goodbye to Chuck and raised from the table. Ignoring the constant stares, something she was getting exceptionally good at, she left her empty plate on the counter and left the kitchen. She couldn't remember a time when she was more glad to be out in the burning sun. But her peace was soon shattered as she discovered someone approaching her. Her frowned matched her visitors as he reacher her side. She hadn't talked to Newt for over a few days now so she was clueless as to why he would be seeking her then. She certainly hoped it had nothing to do with the stupid rumors floating around, because the last thing she needed was for the second in command to get on her case.

"Hey." He said, as he reached her.

"Hi." She replied, eyebrows raised, as she gazed up at him.

"Zart said to tell you you can take the rest of the day off." He sounded uncomfortable which made her feel unsettled.

"Okay..." She said, "That's weird. Did he say why?"

"No, sorry." He said.

She was about to ask why on earth her keeper, who usually hated her, would give her half a day off when a loud voice interrupted her.

"Hey Eleanor!" Newt and Eleanor turned their attention towards the young builder standing a few meters away. "Does your boyfriend know you flirt with other boys when he's not here? Do you only go for keepers who have their own room or do you make exceptions? There's plenty of room in my sleeping bag given the right motivation!"

Eleanor's mouth fell open in shock. How dared he? The nerv of some people. Her cheeks blushed with embarrasment and anger.

"What the-?" She heard Newt say, and as she saw him take the first step in the boy's direction, she grabbed his arm, stopping him.

"Fuck off, Pablo!" She exclaimed. She didn't exactly oppose to Newt putting Pablo in his place, but she knew he wasn't the only boy who dared to say similar things to her so she couldn't very well let Newt antagonize half the glade. Besides, she could fight her own fights. "I wouldn't touch you, not even with a stick."

If he was shocked by her lame comeback, he didn't let it show. "Ah, so it's just keepers then."

Eleanor clenched her fist, if he didn't shut up Gally wouldn't be the only Glader who had been hit by a girl. Suddenly, like a ray of good karma, a wooden pannel hit the back of Pablo's head making him turn around with a loud 'Ow'. The keeper of the builders held the other end of the pannel over his shoulder, if he had done it on purpose, his face didn't tell. Gally simply grunted a the attention he now recieved and barked, "Get back to work!"

"All of you!" He added to the builders scattered around watching the interaction.

Not wanting to anger Gally any more than usual, they obeyed, Pablo's complains and hisses could be heard by Eleanor, who slightly smiled, even though she wasn't completely satisfied with his punishment.

"What was that about?" Newt said next to her, snapping her out of her reverie.

"What?" She asked.

Newt signalled back to the builders, with an expresion that said it was obvious what he was talking about. As if summoned, Pablo looked at her again and winked, with a stupid smirk on his face. Eleanor frowned and took her gaze away and back to the blonde boy. "_That_." He said.

"Ugh." She groaned. "Just stupid rumors going around."

Newt stared at her with the same questioning look, her explanation not having cleared the subject in the slightest. Eleanor sighed and braced herself, trying to come up with the way to explain. She should've known Newt wouldn't listen to gossip, but she had guessed he would've known about it by then.

"Half the Glade is under the impression that I had sex with Minho last night."

His reaction to her words was so priceless, if she hadn't been so embarrassed, she would have laughed at his face. His eyebrows shot up and his eyes widened, there was no trace of his signature frown or his usual half smile. His face started getting red, to a point that made Eleanor wonder whether he was actually still breathing or not.

"Not you too." She said, shaking her head. "Nothing happened, okay? We just slept together. I mean... Gosh, I slept in Minho's room, that's all! If I had known this would be the reaction I would get, trust me I would've never done it."

Newt took slow steady breaths as his colour went back to normal and his frown was back into place. She wasn't sure why she had just justified herself to Newt. All she knew was that she didn't want the older boy to think that of her. But that confused her to no end, that fact that she felt the need to justify her actions. She was a big girl, she didn't need to give anyone explanations. Although it wasn't Newt's fault but her own, he hadn't asked for any. She had just went ahead and rambled.

"But you know what? This is all very ridiculous." All the events of the day were catching up to her, and even though she knew she would regret venting to Newt, she did it anyway. "Everyone's acting as if I did something wrong. As if I should be ashamed of something. And that's only when nothing actually happened. If I had in fact had sex with Minho, it wouldn't be anybody's business but ours. And it certainly wouldn't be anything to be embarrassed about. I think we're old enough for all this stupid little snickering and taunting."

She sighed throwing her head back, Newt was looking at her with pity and understanding, and sad as it was, it was the nicest look she had gotten all day.

"Sorry Newt." she said. "Some times I really hate boys."

At this, he laughed. Although his cheeks were still a little blushed, he was almost back to his usual self. If the second in command was good at something, it was at making others feel better.

"Don't worry, it'll blow over." He said. "I just can't wait to see Minho's reaction."

"Oh, god." She said, she hadn't even thought of that. "Do you think we'll have to stop him from killing anyone?"

He laughed. "I think he'll be happy to know he just became the most envied guy in the Glade."

Eleanor blushed, unsure to what extent he meant that statement.

* * *

She ran that night. Eleanor hadn't risked running before dinner for fear of getting caught, knowing that day the attention was generally shifted towards her. This meant the light was limited and she almost fell a few times, but caught herself just in time. Trees really got in the way, but they were really handy to grab onto.

Minho had been more than amused to hear about the gossip of the day when she went to greet him after his runner duties. Ben and him had teased her to no end, but it had oddly been the most normal time she had had all day. Mostly, because she knew they were joking and did not look at her any different than they normally did. She was glad they gave her a reason to not give up in boy kind. Although, nothing could be perfect. Minho hadn't even bothered to clear up the rumours, he had in fact entered the kitchen with the biggest smile his face could allow and an arm around Eleanor. She had quickly swatted him away, annoyed at her friend. But his reaction was so like Minho, that she was secretly happy to know his attitude towards her had not changed.

When she finished her run, the light had almost completely faded, the only shimmer left came from the torches of the Glade that could be seen in the distance. She knew most Gladers had gone to sleep by then, and she was ready to do just that. Forget the shower, it had been a long day.

As she was almost through the limit of the trees, she noted there was someone ahead of her, in the clearing. She narrowed her eyes, trying to deschiper who it was, when she noticed he had looked back at her. He was a Glader she didn't think she had spoken to at least once, one of the slicers she thought. She didn't even know his name. _Will, or something,_ she thought, _Yeah, thanks that's very useful._

Before she had any chance to react, he approached her.

"Hey, Eleanor."

Said girl observed his nervous demeanor, wondering why he was speaking to her at all.

"Hey." She replied, a little unsure.

They were still in the edge of the forest. Shadows danced around them, so she couldn't properly see his face, but his voice sounded nervous so that gave it away.

"How are you?"

"Um, I'm good." She said. "You?"

She did not know where this conversation was going, all she could think about was getting to her sleeping bag. Her day had been bizarre enough.

"Good." Will, or whatever his name, softly replied.

And then, too fast for her tired mind and her unaware senses. He leaned his head in an locked his lips with her. It took Eleanor three full seconds to realize what was going on. His weight had pushed them backwards and her back had been pressed against a tree, the wind partly knocked out of her. She lifted her arms and tried to push him away from his shoulders but he was either too lost in the moment or had decided to ignore her attempts. She tried again, harder, her lips resisting against his.

"Hey!"

Her lips were finally released, as he looked away at the person who had spoken. Someone quickly made her way throught the forest with long strides. It wasn't until, he was right next to them and had dragged the boy away from her that she recognized who it was.

Gally pushed the boy who fell unceremoniously on his butt. He quickly managed to get up, frightened. He took one look at her face and his eyes opened even wider.

"Oh, shuck." He said, quickly, "I'm so sorry. It was a dare, Pablo said. I- I didn't- I'm so sorry Eleanor."

With one last look at Gally, he quickly turned of his heel and ran away. The older boy started to go after him, but she stopped him.

"Don't." She said, hoping it was loud enough for him to hear her.

Apparently, it was because he turned, with a disbelieving look on his face. "You can't let him get away like that."

Eleanor closed her eyes for a second. No matter how scared she had been and how much it hurt her that her first kiss, at least the first she remembered, had been with a boy she didn't even know and because of a _dare_. She had seen the expression on his face and she knew he really hadn't meant to hurt her. It didn't excuse his actions, but she would not go after him.

"He didn't realize I didn't want to kiss him back." She said in a small voice. "I wasn't strong enough to push him away."

"This is not your fault, Eleanor." He said. He was soon in front of her. He didn't make any move to touch her, to comfort her, and she didn't expect him to, not anymore.

A few tears scaped her eyes. She was disapointed at herself, she thought she could protect herself, but she was wrong. She was always so weak. And no matter how much she tried to change it, it still remained that way.

"What is it? Are you hurt?" Gally had seen her tears.

"No, no." She said, "I'm fine."

After a few minutes of trying to compose herself, she proped herself up from the tree. She tried to keep her emotions in check, at least until she was alone. Gally nodded towards the homestead.

"C'mon." He said. "I'll walk you."

"Thanks." She said as they started walking.

She wasn't sure how she felt about what Gally was doing for her, and how he was treating her, but she really did not want to think at that moment. They were almost reaching their destination when a question occured to her.

"What were you doing in the forest in the middle of the night?" She asked.

He didn't look at her, as they kept walking. His face stone cold. "I could ask you the same thing."

_Touché, _She thought and was ready to let the subject go until she noticed the way his lips were pursed and his fingers were moving in nervous patterns.

The realization made her stop dead in her tracks, eyes wide. He walked a few more steps when he realized she was no longer with him, so he turned confused. She looked up at him, a torrent of emotions cursing through her.

"It was you, wasn't it?" She said. All this time, and she hadn't even considered him a possibility at all. "All those days, in the woods."

The alarmed tone his face changed into told her everything she needed to know. It made no sense, but it was clear to her now. It was him, but _why?_

"It was _you_. You've been spying on me."


	15. Chapter 15

_"It was you, you've been spying on me."_

* * *

"I don't know what you're talking about." Gally said. His tone adopting his usual angry tone.

He had been behaving like a normal, functioning human being only a few minutes before, but he was soon back behind his normal brooding farçade. But Eleanor now knew that was all it was, an act. He used that voice that made Eleanor want to turn around and leave but she knew that's what _he_ wanted her to do. He wanted her to be scared of him so she would leave him alone, so he wouldn't have to hear what she had to say.

She forced herself to stand her ground.

"Yes, yes you do."

"Why would I spy on you?"

He was full on glaring at her now and even though she knew he was just trying to intimidate her she was finding it harder now to return his stare.

"You tell me," Eleanor forced herself to reply, feeling less and less brave with each passing second. "´cause that's what you were doing."

"Oh, really? Have any proof?"

The taller boy looked almost mocking and Eleanor was starting to feel a familiar knot forming in her throat.

She closed her eyes, willing herself to be strong, to be brave for once.

"I know it was you." She said accusingly. "I just want to know _why_."

"There's no reason because it did not happen. I don't care what you do." He took a step towards Eleanor, towering over her. It took all in her not to flinch at the new proximity. "I don't care about you."

Eleanor felt like an air-knocking punch had hit her stomach.

But then she was irritated.

He didn't get to have the power to make her feel that way, not anymore, not after everything he'd done to her. She was so sure it had been him following her around in the Dead-heads and she was not about to let him make her doubt herself.

"If you didn't care, you wouldn't have pushed that boy away." She stated, her angry tone now matching his. "I don't know why you keep acting like you don't care but you don't fool me, not this time."

"I _don't_ care about you."

"Then stop acting like you do!" She yelled, tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

She turned around before they could and walked away before he could see her tears, cursing herself for being to volatile.

_Useless, _she thought,_ why can't you ever stand your ground?_

She had soon reached her sleeping spot and with nothing else to do but try to sleep she laid down on her sleeping bag and watched the night pass through her open lids and a knot in her stomach.

* * *

After a few weeks, Eleanor wished she could say she had gotten over her altercation with Gally. Life in the glade resumed back to normal for Eleanor, with the addition of the new green-bean who gave her someone to talk to at lunch time- Well, more like someone to listen to, Boy! Could the shank talk!

Chuck had been assigned to be a slopper which did not seem to discourage the boy, he was as happy as ever. His determination to fit in and be accepted was admirable. Eleanor did not share it, but she could appreciate it. She tried to always be as nice as she could to the curly haired kid, not because she felt sorry for him, which despite herself, she did; but because she actually liked him and he deserved such niceness.

Still, Eleanor felt kind of bad for the kid, she knew it couldn't be easy but he pulled through, better than anyone she knew.

She was aware she had been extremely lucky with her job. Zart was not the best boss in her book but at least she didn't have to clean the toilets. Eleanor shuddered at the thought. She wasn't sure why she had been chosen to be a Track-hoe, she hadn't been very good at it at the begining, and each Keeper was the one supposed to choose the new worker. It seemed unlikely that Zart had willingly chosen her to work with him but she guessed Minho and Gally had had something to do with it back then, _hell_! Maybe even Newt. Sometimes the second-in-command seemed to be on her side.

_Speak of the devil, _she thought as she spotted the tall boy aproaching.

She flipped her considerably longer hair out of her face as she resumed her job whilst waiting for the second-in-command to reach her side. The light had drained out partially, indicating the day was reaching its end.

Eleanor cursed Zart for making her work so late, although without her daily runs it's not like she had anything else to do. Quitting them had been more of a subconcious decision than a rational one. It's not like she expected Gally to spy on her again, she was more than certain the builder wouldn't be approaching her anytime soon, but still it felt wrong and she didn't really want to think about her former friend. She still ran sometimes as to not jeopardice how far she'd come, but it wasn't very often.

"Hey." Said the blonde as he reached her.

"Hi, Newt."

He watched her work for a few seconds before he spoke. "You don't have to do that, you know? We can finish it up tomorrow."

"That's okay, I'm almost done." Eleanor replied not stopping her actions. "It gives me something to do until dinner."

She had no idea what the boy wanted but experience told Eleanor he had to want something. The taller boy rarely paid her any mind just because he felt like it.

"You mean until Minho comes back." He stated, one look at him showed her his raised brows.

Eleanor would have been annoyed if that statement had come from any of the other gladers. After all, with nothing out of the ordinary happening, her late night shenanigans with Minho hadn't really been forgotten by the rest of the Gladers. But this was Newt, and she knew the older boy meant no harm by it, so she simply scoffed.

"Am I that transparent?" Resuming her work, she added. "It's not just Minho though. I happen to like the runners."

She could feel him nodding from the corner of her eye as she redirected her attention back to the task at hand. She felt him get to work besides her.

"You could always hang out with me, you know?" He said, his hands now busy as he helped her pull roots from the ground.

Eleanor lifted her gaze and as she observed him a soft smile invaded her lips.

"Thank you." She said sincerely.

A comfortable silence settled between them as they worked. At least Elenaor thought it was comfortable, until she heard Newt breathe in and speak again.

"You know, Gally told us what happened a few weeks ago." He said as he regarded her.

He did not stop his movements, but she did upon hearing his words.

"What'd'you mean?"She asked slightly panicked, standing upright.

"I mean," He started, raising up to his full height too, the roots forgotten. "I mean what Will tried to do."

She was taken aback, expecting a different answer. Eleanor thought his eyes looked concerned and a little bit angry, and she took a second to gather her thoughts, wondering what her reponse should be. She hadn't really forgotten about it, as if she could forget someone stealing her first kiss because of a dare.

"Well, nothing happened, so..."

"I know," He quickly replied noting how awkward it was making her feel. "Still... Alby and I had a talk with the builders."

Eleanor frowned slightly at that. And he resumed, "They won't be bothering you anymore."

The young girl scoffed and nearly glared at him.

"Great!" She exclaimed, "You know? I don't really need you to defend me."

She watched, raised brows, as he shook his head.

"I know you feel that way, but you can't really blame me for worrying." He said. "Specially when I had to find out from someone else what happened. How am I suppossed to help if you don't come to me about it?"

Newt hadn't raised his voice even a little, yet Eleanor could tell he was fairly angry. But she wasn't far behind.

"Well, maybe I don't need your help."

He stared down at her, and his gaze almost made her take her words back, then he spoke again.

"Well, it's not just about you. It's about order."

Eleanor nearly snorted at that, even if she found nothing funny in that situation. "_Of course._" She said, more to herself.

"Which reminds me..." If he heard her comment he didn't show. "Alby wanted to be the one to tell you this but I volunteered, since I know how he can be sometimes."

Eleanor stared at him in disbelief.

_You can hang out with me, _he had just said. _Liar, _she thought. Of course he would not just come to see her because he wanted to, it had to be because of his stupid job. Because him_ and Alby _decided someone should talk to her.

"Well, spit it out then." She said, completely aware that she was full on glaring at him.

"Umm," He seemed a bit taken aback, "There's been rumors going around about you and a certain glader..."

Eleanor couldn't have stopped the gasp that scaped her then even if she had tried. She didn't let him finish.

"I can't believe this is what it is about!" She almost yelled, "It's Minho, you can say his name. And I seem to recall I was the one who told you about it. And I'm pretty sure I also clarified how untrue the rumors were."

He seemed to ignore that last part. "Yes, well, Minho-"

"Minho and I, yes, Minho and I happen to be friends."

"Well, friends or not, you can't..."

"I can't what?!"

"You can't spend a night in a Glader's room, Eleanor." He replied, still speaking infuriatingly calm in repose to her anger.

Eleanor couldn't believe her ears, she would have expected this from any other Glader, but not from Newt. She could feel the anger and embarrassment pulsing through her as she took one step closer to him, tapping his chest with her finger.

"Let's get one thing straight," She said, she didn't even bother with yelling anymore, she imitated his calm edge. "I can do whatever the_ fuck_ I want."

Newt recoiled a little bit, but stood his ground. "There are rules."

"Yes, and as far as I'm concerned I follow those rules." She said. "I do my job, I do not harm anybody even when I really should, and I have never stepped a foot outside of those doors."

"Don't be difficult, Eleanor."

Said girl shook her head, she hadn't even realized how close they were to each other. She could feel Newt's body heat warming her, like it always did whenever he was close to her. She tried to ignore those pointless thoughts as she replied.

"How am I being difficult? If my crime is spending time with my friends then of course I'm going to complain. What if I had fallen asleep in your room instead of Minho's, huh?"

It didn't scape to her the way his cheeks tainted upon hearing her comment. She took a deep breath trying to be calm and make her point come across.

"I just don't get why it has to be so different just because I'm a girl."

Newt regarded her for a moment and then he slightly smiled. He was opening his mouth to say something when loud voices were heard. They both turned their heads towards the commotion and noticed a few gladers had gathered near the Easter entrance to the Maze. Eleanor frowned and Newt simply muttered a "We'll speak later" and took off towards the growing group of boys.

Eleanor was considering ignoring the boys but then the screaming started, and she couldn't follow the second in command fast enough.

* * *

All Eleanor could remember thinking was,

_"Not Minho, please, not Minho!". _

It echoed in her head, like a prayer, maybe at some point, she had even repeated the words outloud. The time it took for her to reach the crowd of boys felt like an eternity, different scenarios playing themselves in her mind. Visions of the runner, bloodied and mangled, giant mechanical spiders looming over him. Eleanor knew something might happen to her friend eventually, that was what came with his job. She never expressed those fears to him, however, she knew he was doing something important, far more important than anything she could ever do, and she admired him for that.

When she reached the running second-in-command, he was already crossing the circle of boys making his way towards Alby who was in the centre yealling orders. But Eleanor couldn't deschiper what he was saying, all she could hear was _"Not Minho. Not Minho. Not Minho-"._

She finally spotted the runner and her relived sigh got caught in her troat. Minho was staring down, eyes narrowed, his hands moving over ripped sheds of cloth, cloth covering something red. Minho's hands were getting tangled in it, the red invading everything in her line of vision.

She returned her gaze to his face and she realized he was shouting something. She didn't understand. Then he looked down and she suddenly comprehended what her best friend was yelling for. And the sound came back to her like an elastic band returning to its original place.

"JEFF! CLINT!"

Eleanor stood there staring down at the boy on the floor. She hadn't considered an option worse than Minho being attacked, but what she hadn't thought of was that there were other options that were equally as bad.

_Ben_, sweet, charming, Ben lying unconcious, blood coming out of horrible looking wounds, and a round hole in his stomach, the size of a tennis ball. Or maybe it just looked bigger in her mind since it was the only thing she could see. A hole she had only seen once in her life, in another blonde boy she cared for. The force of what was happening nearly knocked her down to her knees, at least it would have if she had the ability to move at all.

And then he was being moved away. She was confused. She felt like she was inside a bubble, like she was underwater and everything besides her was muffled and in slow motion. The rational part of her brain told her it was necessary, they needed to help him.

Eleanor observed as Minho fell to the ground, bloodied hands now staining his head, pulling at his hair. And for a moment, she had the ridiculous thought that she had never seen him with messy her before.

Then she took a step forward, heart clenched, and then another.

Without knowing when or how she was on her knees arms around Minho, blood now invading her own dark locks. And the one single thought that stood out from all the noise in her head was,

_not again._


	16. Chapter 16

It had been a while since she had been able to breathe properly, without a heavy weight on her lungs and a painful knot in her throat.

Eleanor had taken up residence in Minho's room. Screw Newt, screw Alby and screw all their stupid rules. They wouldn't allow her in the med-hut to see Ben, so she'd be dammed if they took this room and a much more comfortable bed away from her. Besides, it wasn't like he was always in the room with _her _because, unlike her, he was indeed permited to visit the runner.

If she was being honest with herself, Eleanor knew if it was up to her she probably wouldn't go anywhere near that building, she was about ninety-nine percent sure she would not be able to handle seeing another one of her friends going through the changing. Just the thought of Ben, sweet, innocent, beautiful Ben; strapped down to that ragged bed, his face gosthly white, with black veins invading his skin; shaking, suffering... How could someone as kind and loving as good old Ben deserve such a thing? And what would happen when he woke up? _If_ he woke up. Would he be changed, like _Gally_? Bile rose in her throat and she had to shallow it down.

But she wasn't about to tell them that she didn't want to see that. Because she was well aware they weren't keeping her out for her sake, they were keeping her out so she wouldn't "disturb". Although, apparently, no one else was suffering such restriction. And that pissed her off. So no, maybe she didn't want to see Ben. Maybe she wanted to see Minho.

She took several deep breaths. She couldn't break down. This kinds of things were always happening in the Glade, and would continue to happen. She had to learn to cope with them, but she didn't know how any human could be able to cope with any of this. They were _people, _their lives mattered; or at least they should matter something. Then, how could she not give it the importance she believed it deserved? How could she watch young boys, boys she knew, boys she lived with; maybe even her friends, like Ben, or Minho, or Jeff or Clint; maybe even Newt... Hell! Even Zart! How could she watch these people suffer, or if things came to worst, even watch them die, and continue with her life?

She couldn't. She couldn't survive getting attached to these boys if it also meant she might have to watch them go through something horrible. But at the same time, she was perfectly aware she could not survive it without friends either. Just the thought of going through all this without Chuck's sweet smile, without Newt's confusing kindness, without Ben's, well, Ben being Ben. Without Minho... A shiver ran through her that had nothing to do with the Glade's temperature. She would not think about that, there was no point.

A loud siren starttled her, she flinched, closing her eyes tightly. It took her brain a while to register what it was. _Was it really time already? _With all that had happened she had forgotten it had already been three months since she had first heard that same sound. But she immediately knew what it meant, new supplies, a new young boy cursed to the same fucked up hell they all shared. She already knew it was going to be another boy, and even if it wasn't, she couldn't afford to think she might have some female company and then get her hopes crushed into the dirty ground, she had already been through that. She would continue to think she was destined to be the only girl unless proven otherwise. No matter how depressing that thought was.

However she did not move from Minho's bed. She knew no one was going to miss her anyway. She closed her eyes once again and after a while, sleep claimed her unbearable thoughts.

* * *

A loud scream woke her up, and she knew not much time had gone by. She knew it had been Ben screaming, she also knew she could do nothing about it. She stayed still for a few seconds, wondering if she could make herself fall back to sleep. But her stomach ached, signaling it had been way too long since she last ate anything. She pondered on skipping dinner but she knew she shouldn't, it had been more than a whole day since her last meal. So she got up, and though she did so very slowly, a sudden dizziness overtook her. Yup, she definitely needed to eat something.

Eleanor could barely wait to leave the kitchen before she started attacking her sandwich. It had been hard resisting the temptation of devouring it before she had exited but her will to get away from the rest of the Gladers won against her inmense hunger. It didn't take her long to finish it, and she felt hungry not even a second after. But she'd be damned if she went back in there. The actual minute it had taken her to get her food was more than enough, even though mosy of the boys didn't pay much attention to her, she had seen the way Newt and Alby had looked at her, and she wasn't ready to face their pity. Pity that she felt coming specially from the former.

However, for the first time in two days she did not want to go back to Minho's tiny room. Then, staying outside, with the stars blinking down at her she felt like she could breathe a little bit better. Maybe it was the food, maybe it was the fresh air, maybe it was both but she didn't feel like she was suffocating. Still she didn't want to have to small talk with anyone so she resolved the best idea was getting away from the kitchen entrance. And while she was at it, away from the clearing. So she was to the only place she knew she could feel like she wasn't going crazy.

Elanor was almost by the edge of the trees when she noticed someone sitting with their back against a tree, his head was in his hands and all she could identify was a mop of dark hair. Her first instinc was to turn around and flee, but he snapped his head up before she could do so, and she found herself facing the brown eyes of a boy she had not seen before. Against her better judgment she aproached. Eleanor considered herself to be the oposite of social, or she had learnt as much during the previous three months, but she was seeing something in the boy's eyes, and although he didn't look particulary scared or vulnerable (not more than what was expected on a Greenie), something about him reminded her of herself.

"Thomas."He said as she watched her aproach.

Eleanor took a seat across from him, crossing her legs and quickly busied herself with the task of yanking bits of grass from the ground.

"Eleanor."

"You're a girl."The surprise colouring his tone did make her look up from her hand movements.

"I'm glad someone else noticed."She snorted. And only because it had come out harsher than she had intended, she briefly smiled at him.

He didn't smile back, and his eyes left hers to roam freely around the visible part of the Glade."Sorry."

Thomas sounded defeated, and she suddenly felt bad so she could help asking, "How are you doing?"

"Okay, I guess..." His response came out quickly. And Eleanor knew he did not mean it.

"You seem better than okay. Definitely better than I was," She said, "when I came here I cried for a whole hour."

He did look at her then, giving a breathy chuckle, in response she arched her eyebrows and pointed her finger at his face.

"If you tell any of the boys I will gut you."

He gulped, but still slightly smiled. "Noted."

She sighed, her own eyes now leaving his to observe the clearing. Some boys were already exiting the kitchens, but she knew there were still a few minutes left before the runners came back.

After a while, and mostly for his benefit, she spoke, "Don't worry, it gets better. It does."

She risked looking back at him, but he was not looking at her. He was actually facing the other way. She knew he was looking at the walls, and she had a pretty good idea about what was going through her mind.

Then, mostly for her own benefit, she added, "Piece of advice, stay away from Gally. And don't get fazed by those macho men, they're really just softies on the inside."

"Oh, I've met him. That Gally guy." He said, his expresion changing . "I might have actually called him _Captain Gally_."

Eleanor let out a loud laugh, before she could stop herself, "You what?!"

He smiled as he watched her laugh and she did too after her laughter died down. She hadn't laughed or smiled since Ben's attack. It felt good, good to be with someone who didn't even know the horrible thing that had happened only two days before. It made it less real.

"Frypan wasn't too happy about me invading his kitchen," Chuck's voice interrupted her train of thoughts.

He took a seat next to Eleanor and extended the sandwich to Thomas. Said boy hesitated for a while but took it.

"I see you've met the girl." He said.

Elanor gasped, grabbing Chuck's head on a head-lock, "You do not call me '_the girl_' again, Chuckie boy."

Chuck laughed and scrambled away from her grip, laughing. Thomas' loud chewing filled the silence after he stopped.

"Ah, man," Thomas mumbled through a mouthful. "I was starving."

After, he had finished his frist sandwich, he went for the second one. Eleanor felt her hunger like a punch in the gut. A sandwich had definitely not been enough for her empty stomach. Thomas noticed her eyeing him hungrily and soon separated it in two halfs, offering one to her.

Eleanor thought of refusing, he probably hadn't eaten in a while too. But she did not think she could resist. So she grabbed it, muttering a soft 'thank you'. Thomas didn't seemed bothered as he shrugged.

"What's actually wrong with that _Ben_ guy? He doesn't even look human anymore."

And just then, her hunger didn't seem as important anymore, but she forced herself to keep eating, preventing her from speaking.

Chuck glanced at her before he spoke. "Don't really know," he muttered absently. "I didn't see him."

"Well, you don't want to see him, trust me."

He continued to eat, as he studied the doors that stood tall away from them. As if he hadn't said something that had completely torn Eleanor from the inside.

She toned down Thomas' questions about the Glade, letting Chuck take the job. She focused all her attention in eating what was left of her food and trying not to picture the state of her friend at that very moment.

She was lost on her reverie until Thomas got to his feet and started walking toward the eastern opening. "Well, no one said I couldn't look around."

"Whoa, wait!" Chuck cried, running to catch up.

Eleanor considered leaving Chuckie in charge of this one. But eventually she admitted to herself that wasn't the right thing to do. If the Greenie took off into the Maze, the little boy would take the blame. She groaned and rolled her eyes and slowly got up as well. It didn't take Eleanor very long to catch up, as they had stopped several meters away from the door.

"...the Runners'll be back soon; then those big walls are going to move until the gaps are closed."

"You're jacked in the head," Thomas muttered.

Eleanor laughed at this as she came to a stop next to them.

"Oh, that, he is. But what he said is true." She told Thomas.

"This is called the East Door," Chuck added, visibly proud to have some imput that the new guy did not know.

Thomas however didn't seem to be listening anymore as his gaze examined the openings. Although to be fair, Eleanor had kind of stopped listening, as she usually did when he went on one of his monologues. It was no surprise he was doing so right then. She opted on examining the Greenie's reactions instead.

"...one heck of a grinding noise. Same thing happens out in the Maze—those walls shift every night, too."

Thomas' gaze snapped to Chuck, his attention suddenly awokened by a new detail, and turned to face the younger boy. Eleanor resisted the urge to face palm herself.

"What did you just say?" at Chuck's _'huh?'_, he added, "You just called it a maze—you said, 'same thing happens out in the maze.'"

Chuck's face reddened. "I'm done with you. I'm done." He walked back toward the tree, leaving Elanor alone with him.

_Great! So he drops the bomb and leaves, perfect!I'm gonna kill you little guy._ Eleanor thought, and then prayed that the Greenie's questions were too bad. To her surprise, he was still analysing his surroundings, and he didn't seem to be paying her any mind.

Suddenly, her attention too was peaked as she watched one of the runners getting close to the opening. From her place she could already tell it was Minho. And she actually felt a weight being lifted of her shoulders. She had been waiting for this moment all day.

He was covered in sweat, his face red, clothes sticking to his body, but all she wanted to do was run up to him and hug her friend. Minho did not slow his pace as he entered the Glade, but then he saw her, and to Eleanor's surprise quickly changed his path to meet her. She knew he had to go straight to the Map-room before he could do anything else, but she wasn't about to complain. Eleanor barely had time to take a few steps before he reached her.

She wasted no time and wrapped her arms around his middle, inhaling his scent. It wasn't nearly half as bad as she had expected and she almost giggled. She felt him kiss her hairline. She let out a long breath. Breathing came easier now that she was with Minho. Everything was easier with Minho.

"Come." He said. Not bothering to remove his arm from around her he lead her away.

Eleanor didn't even think about refusing his offer. She glanced back and saw Chuck had come back to Thomas. Good. Before they were out of earshot, the last thing she heard was the Newbie's alarmed voice.

"Who are those guys and what were they doing? What's in that building? And why do you live inside a _freaking_ maze?"

_Good luck, Chuck. _She thought, she would have been amused if she didn't know what Thomas was feeling then.

* * *

The sound of the doors closing acompanied them on their way to the Map-room.

"I'm glad you're back." Eleanor said, after they had.

Minho smirked down at her as they walked. "It's only been a few hours, El."

She exhaled, "I know. But I missed you."

She let her head fall on his shoulder, and he kissed her head again. Eleanor knew they looked like a couple, she knew why the Gladers thought they were dating, and why Alby and Newt wanted her out of the runner's room. But she couldn't care less. They just did not know, they did not understand. He didn't ask about Ben, and neither did she. There wasn't anything new to say anyway.

Soon they had arrived at the round building. Eleanor tore herself from Minho, although it was the last thing she wanted to do. She knew she could not go inside. Another place she wasn't about to go. _Stupid rules. _

Minho must have seen her expression because he looked apologetic.

"One day I'll show you the inside, I promise."

She lightly scoffed at that.

"As if you would break the rules. _Oh_, Mighty Keeper of the Runners." She said only half joking.

He frowned a little bit, faking offense. She smiled feeling exhausted once again.

"Anyway," She spoke again, "You go renew you suscription to Alby's fanclub. I'll wait for you in the room."

He laughed also half-heartedly. He was tired too, she could tell. But he smiled warmly at her.

"Good." He said.


End file.
