Newt no longer had any free time. He was constantly bouncing back and forth between jobs, helping different people with different things. He helped the Builders hammer in nails and helped Zart plant seeds or get fertiliser. He helped Frypan wash dishes and helped Anne and the other Med-jacks patch up wounds. So, by the end of the day, he sometimes ended up being more tired than anyone else.

Anne felt pretty bad for Newt as she walked into the room he was currently in. He was helping Lincoln patch up one of the Slicer's who had gotten a pretty bad cut on his arm. He was lucky he still had the appendage attached to him. Anne couldn't help but wonder how he had managed to hurt himself that badly and winced at the mental image.

Clint asked them to keep the Slicer there overnight to keep an eye on him since he had lost a lot of blood. The poor guy was mostly drowsy and they had to keep him from falling flat on his face more than once. So, after making sure he was comfortable, the two boys left the room. Newt rubbed his eyes tiredly and yawned, indicating that he was realy sleepy.

A thought occurred to Anne suddenly and she wondered why Newt didn't just go back to his old job. Yes, he was hurt and he couldn't do much heavy lifting for now but why was he juggling half a dozen different jobs at the same time when he could just go back to his old one.

"Newt?"

"Hmm?" he turned to face her.

"What was your job?" She asked. "I mean, before you got... hurt?"

"Oh," Newt said, his face falling. "I was a Runner."

Anne's eyebrows rose in mild surprise but now that she thought about it, it did make sense. No one other than the Runner's were allowed out in the Maze and she remembered Clint telling her that Newt had gotten hurt in the Maze, but that thought had completely slipped her mind.

"Do you miss it?" She asked softly after a second of silence passed between them.

"Yeah," Newt sighed. "I guess I do. I mean, runnin'... It's nice, ya know. I mean it's scary out there with the buggin' Grievers and all, but..."

He trailed off and stared blankly at the floorboards under their feet. Anne felt a pang of guilt for bringing it up. She knew anything related to his leg was a sore topic. She wished she hadn't asked him about it.

"I'm sorry," Anne finally said, her voice barely above a whisper.

Newt looked up at her and gave her a small smile. "It's okay. You didn't mean any harm."

"Dinner time!" Lincoln called from ahead. "Let's go people!"

Newt joined her and Lincoln for dinner that night and Anne watched amused and a bit wide eyed as the two boys wolfed down their portions of spaghetti - which apparently was a rare dish in the Glade - and then looked over at her still half full plate after scraping theirs clean. They looked guilty as Anne gave them both some of her food. She wasn't that hungry and the portion that Frypan had given her was more than enough.

"Tomorrow's Greenie day," Lincoln nudged her. "You excited?"

Anne frowned in confusion at the two boys. "What?"

"It's been a month since you came, buddy," Lincoln said. "Another kid's gonna come up in the box tomorrow, so you won't be the Greenie anymore."

"Oh," Anne said. Had it really been a month since she arrived in the Glade. The days had passed so quickly that she hadn't even realised it.

"You think it'll be a girl?" Lincoln asked.

"Anne hopes so," Newt said, shooting her a look.

Lincoln turned to her. "I knew she'd get bored of us at some point. She probably wants someone to have sleepovers with. If you want, we can drop a note into the box and ask the creators for some nail polish. Then we'll have ourselves an actual girly party."

Anne laughed, rolling her eyes at her dramatic friend. "I swear, Lincoln. You shouldn't be a Med-jack. You should be an actor."

"Unfortunately, Nick doesn't offer that position," Lincoln said with a serious look on his face. "If he did, I wouldn't be a Med-jack."

"No doubt about that, drama queen," Anne said.

***

A loud alarm blared though the Glade halfway through lunch the next morning and Anne watched amused and a little confused as most of the boys around her attempted to finish their lunches as quickly as possible. Frypan and the other Cooks tried desperately to take the plates the boys were pretty much hurling at the window as they hurried. Once their plates were taken, they all but ran out of the Kitchens and out into the Glade tripping over their feet and anything that came between them and their destination. Anne turned to Lincoln who was also staring after the boys.

"Is this what it's always like?"

"Nah," Lincoln said. "It's not this crazy. I mean, everyone's always eager to get a Greenie 'cause that's just another poor kid they get to pick on but today... I think they all want to know whether it's going to be another girl."

The two of them finished their lunches and gave their plates to Frypan, though not as hurriedly as the other boys did and started walking towards where the boys were gathered.

"They must be really disappointed with how I turned out."

"What? No! You're awesome!" Lincoln shook his head.

"How so?" Anne asked, coming to a stop halfway to the box.

"You have a badass 'I'll kick you where the sun don't shine if you come any closer' kinda vibe," Lincoln said, forcing a serious look on his face.

Anne burst out laughing, doubling over with her hands on her knees. She straightened up a few seconds later, forcing the laughter away as she wiped tears from her eyes. She saw Newt walking over to them, a curious look in his eyes.

"What's goin' on?" He asked, watching Anne wiping tears away.

"We're talking about her badass vibe," Lincoln answered simply. "She thinks everyone's dissapointed with how she turned out. You're not, right?"

"Of course not," Newt answered a bit too quickly, prompting Lincoln to wiggle his eyebrows at the boy. Newt's cheeks flushed a light pink. "You know what I mean. You're fun to be around."

"Thanks, Newt," Anne smiled, ignoring Lincoln.

Lincoln interrupted the two of them, pointing eagerly towards the box. "You wanna see the Greenie or not?"

"Not really," Anne answered, not wanting to get stuck in the middle of a whole group of boys who would no doubt take the chance to either try and touch her or stare at her butt the whole time. But she was also a bit curious.

Lincoln either hadn't heard her or chose to ignore what she said because he grabbed her arm and quickly pulled her in the direction of the Box.

A gasp left Anne's lips when she stumbled, nearly falling to the ground. She reached behind her and grabbed Newt's wrist in a desperate attempt to not get dragged away. Newt stumbled slightly before getting his feet under him.

They had reached the outskirts of the crowd of boys when Anne dug her heels into the soft Earth, haulting them. Panic was now overpowering her curiosity. "I really don't wanna go."

Lincoln took one look at her face, noticing her panic filled eyes and dropped her hand looking guilty. "Sorry, I thought you were kidding."

To his credit, Lincoln did look really upset so she just shook her head at him. "It's okay. You can go if you want. I'll watch from the Homestead."

Waving to Lincoln and Newt, she ran to the Homestead and up the stairs to one of the Medjack rooms, peeking out the window. The Box was pretty far away but she liked the view better from there instead of within a bunch of horny boys.

She watched as Alby and Nick lifted the doors up, revealing the dark interior of the box she had arrived in a month ago. Nick jumped in and a while later, the boys lowered a rope into the box and pulled the new kid up. Anne was disappointed that it wasn't another girl and it seemed as though some of the boys were too. A few boys left while the others still hovered around the box, whispering to each other as they watched the new kid like he was some exhibit in a museum or something.

She felt bad for the poor kid who was staring around with worry and fear written all over his features. All the boys laughing and throwing snide comments at him didn't help him one bit.

Newt was the one who came to get her about an hour later. Clint had told her that since it was the day they got a new Greenie, Nick let them take the evening off to get ready for the bonfire.

Anne was pretty excited as she followed Newt down the stairs and towards the Box where a small group of boys were helping each other unload some crates.

"We get marshmallows and crackers," Newt explained as they watched a boy carry one crate towards the kitchens. "Specially for the bonfire. Nice of 'em isn't it? Send us to a deathtrap and give us marshmallows."

Anne didn't know how to respond to that or the empty look on Newt's face so she stayed silent. She wondered if she should comfort him or ignore it all together. Newt was confusing sometimes. One minute he might be smiling happily while in the next, he would be upset about something.

"Where's the new kid?" Anne asked, changing the subject instead. Though he tried not to show it, Newt looked a bit relieved that she did. His eyes searched through the crowd of boys before pointing towards the place where boys were gathering wood for the fire.

"There."

Anne could see him more clearly now. He had dark hair that stuck to his forehead and green eyes that were still attempting to take in his surroundings. His eyes met Anne's and she turned away immediately. When she looked back, he was still watching her. This time though, his head was tilted slightly to the side as he watched her curiously. He must have realised there were no other girls around.

Anne felt uncomfortable with him staring at her, especially when he refused to look away even when he was caught. It sent chills down her spine. She grabbed Newt's arm and quickly tugged him towards the kitchen, still feeling the gaze of the boy on her.

×××

Guys! This book has 250 reads! That is so weird! You get what I'm talking about, right?

And this chapter is so boring? Literally nothing happened other than a new kid showing up. And Newt told Anne about him being a Runner before, which isn't that exciting...

Questions

What do you think is going to happen next?

Is this kid someone you know?

Does Lincoln (not so) secretly ship Newt and Anne already?

That's it cause this chapter is just that boring! Don't worry. Actions coming. (wink)