You Make Me Brave // Gally x OC

Chapter Six:: Grass Bracelet

Newt was pleased to see me come in and sit with everyone at the table once again, then spotted the bracelet on Minho's arm.

"What's that?"

"Greenie made it," He smiled proudly. "I think I'm her favorite."

"I thought that was me?" Newt faked offense, gasping for effect. "Why don't I get a grass bracelet?!"

"I can make you one too, Newt," I softly snickered. "If you really want one that badly."

"Want what? I want one!" Chuck sat at the table with us.

"Grass bracelets for everyone, then!" I laughed, a real laugh. Which made all of the guys smile and laugh as well.

Except for one across the mess hall sitting with his band of builders. Gally shot a glare my way. Why? I have no idea and I don't want to know.

I'll just keep my distance from him until he figures himself out.

"Where's Dory?" I asked Chuck when he sat down across from me, a bowl of Frypan's 'Famous Stew' in his hands.

"Dory?" Newt and Minho said in unison, both thoroughly confused. "Did you nickname another Glader?"

"Is it a crush?" Minho nudged me, turning my face bright red.

"What? Crush?" Newt frowned a little and sat up. "Who?"

"My goat!" I laughed with a scoff.

"You... have a crush on your... goat?" Minho raised an eyebrow, confusion and entertainment smothering his face.

"No! Ugh," I facepalmed, then spoke with my head down. "Dory is what Chuck named the goat. My goat."

"Oh!!" Minho laughed, nearly choking on his stew. "Okay. I get it now. Cool!"

"She's in the animal pen eating with her friends," Chuck smiled. "Don't worry, Winston knows she's in there and won't kill her."

"Anyways," Newt cleared his throat, changing the subject before it got too graphic or gross for a dinner table. "Did ya like any of the jobs, greenie?"

"Um, well," I sighed. I was gonna say I wanted to be in the gardens with him because that seemed like the most logical option. But then I remembered Zart and changed my mind. "I don't know."

"Well, that's alright, because it's Glade policy to try every job at least once for a whole day. That way you find a good fit," Newt explained. "Tomorrow you'll start in the gardens with me."

The thought of working with him made me smile, but yet again it faded almost immediately. I got a weird vibe from Zart and I wasn't sure why. All I knew was I didn't feel safe around him and wanted to keep my distance.

Thankfully, the mess hall doors opened and in came an older boy with dark chocolate brown skin and a muscled figure. Despite how intimidating he looked, he had kind eyes. He smiled at me when he approached the table.

"Hey, greenie. Sorry I haven't been able to talk to you yet, we had an issue in the homestead I couldn't leave right away. Now that it's all taken care of, once you're finished up here we should talk," He finished his paragraph with another smile. "Alby, by the way. I run this place."

I glanced over to Newt for approval, he nodded and swallowed his bite of stew.

"Said I was second in command," He told me. "He's the main bloke here. Been here the longest."

"Issue in the homestead?" Minho leaned towards the inner part of the table to speak to Newt in hushed voices. "What's that about?"

"Later," Newt waved him off, nodding towards me. I wasn't paying attention, instead I glanced back at Gally, seated at his table with the builders.

Still glaring at me. Has he been doing that the whole time? Why does he keep doing it? What did I do to him?

"He's scary," Chuck shared, nabbing my attention away from the brooding boy in the back. "And mean. No one knows what his deal is. One day he came back from the maze and- ow!! Newt?!"

Newt had kicked him under the table to prevent him from finishing his story. Another secret. Lovely.

Suddenly I didn't feel like sitting with these guys anymore. Newt especially. With him preventing me from knowing anything, he was losing my trust and fast.

I stood up with my bowl and took it to Frypan. I disposed of the leftover food into a bucket labeled 'pigs' and rinsed off my bowl. Frypan frowned slightly.

"You alright, greenie?"

"Hm? Oh," I faked a smile. "Yeah! Just tired. Today was a lot of info to take in."

"Yeah, the tour can be overwhelming. If you ever need someone to blab to, my kitchen door is always open!"

I gave him a real smile this time and a wave. Maybe I'll work with him in the kitchens. He's so relaxed and chill and friendly and doesn't seem to be weird in any way.

Sure he's a little clumsy but at least he doesn't keep secrets from me or is very scarily identical to me. Plus, he doesn't work with a weirdo. He's by himself. Which I'm sure gets stressful too.

I spotted Alby walking around the mess hall talking to different tables. I approached him nervously, he smiled and nodded, then we left the mess hall together.

Newt watched after us as we left.

—

"So, don't have your name yet?" Alby asked curiously, a slight sigh in his voice as he already knew the answer.

"No," I muttered quietly. He was leading me by torch light to one of the walls. As we got closer to it I noticed there were a ton of names etched into the stone.

Some of them were crossed out. Which explained itself. Frypan said something about Gally being a jerk because he's lost friends. Maybe these names were his friends.

Alby watched me take in the wall and the names. He could see the gears turning and nodded a little when I turned to him.

"There's so many crossed out..." I breathed out, my heart racing. It looks like there's more death here than new names. My hands started sweating.

"Once you get your name, we'll put it on this wall, we call it the family stone," Alby explained, running a hand along some of the crossed out names.

Even in the dark with the dim glow of his torch I saw hurt in his face. In those eyes. Those kind eyes.

"How?" I asked, looking back up at at the crossed out names, my eyes scanning over each one as if committing them to memory.

"Lots of things," Alby sighed again. "Some got sick. Some accidents in their jobs. Some... too violent to keep around. And others... got stuck in that maze trying to find a way out."

My heart sank and I suddenly felt very nauseous. The maze. Of course. I was silent.

"That was a daring move you made, greenie."

He's referring to the mad dash I made into the maze on my first day here.

"I didn't know..."

"That's a rule we have here. But because you're new, we won't punish you."

Suddenly I wanted to know every rule here. I didn't want anything to do with any kind of punishment they could whip up here. At all.

Just as I turned to speak, Alby cut me off, explaining the rules and what they mean for the group.

In the distance, boys began filing out of the mess hall, eager to start the bonfire.