Chapter 5-The bonfire

There's a loud knock on my door, and I sit up in bed. I rub the sleep from my eyes. I groan and stand up, trudging over to the door. I pull it open, expecting Minho, Newt or Alby, but instead I'm greeted by Gally.

"Um, hi...Gally. What's up?" He shrugged and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Alby told me to come get you for the bonfire tonight." He said calmly. I yawned and croaked out

"Hm? Bonfire?" And he nodded.

"Yeah. Come on greenie, its time to go." He said, nodding towards the hallway. I followed him out, smoothing down my hair as much as possible. He closed the door behind me and we walked out of the homestead. My focus is immediately drawn to the large group of boys clustered around a . Gally shouts over to to them as we get closer.

"GREENIE"S HERE!" Alby turns around, when his eyes meet mine a smile spreads across his face and he yells back at the boys. They throw a burning spear into the fire and it slowly ignites. After a few minutes of cheering from the crowd, the log pile is engulfed with fire, the flames reaching out to touch the pitch black sky.

"Whoa," I whisper, and a strong arm is slung over my shoulder. Minho smiles down at me.

"What do you think greenie? Pretty cool, huh?" I nodded, not taking my eyes off the flames just yet. He motions to the entire group. "This is for you greenie! We do this for everyone, but Alby wanted it to be special for our first girl greenie. Here," He said, pressing a jar into my hand. He turned and started walking off to his friends. I looked down at the jar in my hand. It looked gross, like pee. I set it down on a log and sat down, pulling my knees up to my chest and wrapping my arms around my legs. I set my head on my arms and watched the boys for a bit. Some of them were laughing and talking. Others were drinking out of a few of the jars. I glanced at the drink next to me and shuddered. It looked nasty, and it had to be some kind of alcohol based on how the boys were acting. I kept watching the boys for a while, a few would come over and ask me how I was doing, and I would tell them all I was doing fine, then they would smile and walk away. At one point the heat from the fire and the constant sound of the boys laughing made me start to fall asleep. My head slumped onto my arms, and my eyes closed. An arm tapped me on the shoulder and someone sat down next to me.

"Hey, Greenie, you okay?" Alby asked, slouching down and turning to me.

"Oh, yeah, yeah, im fine. Can you do me a favor and help me stand up, I don't want to fall asleep." He nods and stands up, taking my hand and pulling me up with him. I shake my head a bit, trying to get blood flowing to me brain.

"Come on greenie, lets go wake you up." Alby says, motioning for me to follow him. He leads me through the crowd towards the group of boys dancing around the fire. Minho comes running past, grabs my arm and twirls me in a circle. I wasn't expecting it at all and stumble a bit, which makes both Minho and Alby laugh. Minho smiles at me and jogs away to his friends, still smiling and calls over his shoulder, "Come on, greenie! Have some fun, this is for you!" The spin from Minho woke me up a bit, and I smile, looking around at everyone.

"Yeah, there you go Greenie. Maybe Minho should come back and spin you a few more times just to make sure you're awake." He teases, poking me in the shoulder. I smile, suddenly feeling semi-energized.

"Come on, let's go see what's going on." Alby pulls me towards a large crowd of boys. He pushes his way through the group so I can see, since im shorter than pretty much all of the boys there. Gally is throwing a boy to the ground. I don't know who he is, but he's not doing well. Gally taunts him, watching the boy slowly get up off the dirt. He brushes his long brown hair out of his eyes and charges at Gally, who dodges out of the way. When the boy runs past him Gally turns and thumps him on the back with his fist and the boy face plants into the grass again, to the cheering of the crowd. A few boys grab his shoulders and help him off the ground, dragging him out of the circle. Gally turns, his arms open as he shouts.

"Hey! Who's next?" Alby nudges me in the back.

"What do you say greenie? Give it a shot?" He smirks and crosses his arms. "Gally likes to fight all the greenies. Or are you just scared since you're a girl and he's....Gally." he raises an eyebrow as if challenging me. I raised an eyebrow back at him.

"Excuse me? What does being a girl have to do with this?" Alby shrugged.

"Well I mean, Gally is stronger than most of the boys here. No offense green bean, but you're a string bean." He tapped my arm. "Not much muscle there. What makes you think you can take down Gally?" I turned back to Gally, watching him walk around.

"He's slow. He thumps his feet around like a giant. I'm small, and I'm quick. Not to mention that when he hit the boy before, he didn't put up any defense. He relies on hitting the other person, and that they wont fight back. He's too cocky, and he doesn't try to protect himself at all. If he doesn't catch me, he can't win. There's no way he'd catch me." I turn around, facing Alby again. He's giving me a small smile.

"Okay, then go get him greenie." He pushes me put into the center of the circle, and everyone turns to look at me. A whisper runs through the crowd and Gally smirks.

"Well look, if it isn't the new greenie." He scoffs, "Why are you here. You don't think you stand a chance, do you?" I clear my throat and square my shoulders.

"What makes you think I don't stand a chance.." Everyone holds their breath and Gally smirks again, cracking his neck.

"Just a guess." He says, looking me up and down.

"Don't judge people before you get to know them." I said firmly, realizing my mouth is set in a smirk.

"That's good advice. Have you been judging me?" He asks, a hint of curiosity on his face.

"Yeah, actually. And I think I know just how to win this fight." I say, smiling slightly. His face changes from surprise, to determination.

"Alright then greenie, lets do this." He says, motioning for me to step forward. "Here are the rules. You try to hit me, and I try not to bash you into a pulp," He says, walking closer until he's a few feet away. "Like...this!" He says, walking forward and attempting to shove me backwards, but he's so slow I move over to the side easily, and all he does is shove my arm slightly. The crowd starts talking to themselves, and Gally looks surprised. He tries to shove me again, but I duck under his arm and stand behind him, tapping him on the shoulder. He whips around to face me, confusion written across his face. I smirk slightly, and cross my arms over my chest, daring him to move. He cracks his knuckles and charges towards me again, this time his knee connected with my stomach and I fell to the ground. A few boys tried to grab me and help me up but I waved them away and stood up shakily. Gally jumped around, shifting his weight from foot to foot. He put his hands up.

"Okay, shank. You've done pretty well so far, but you're all defensive. How about you try to hit me." He smirked. I nodded and slowly took my hand off my stomach, and took a deep breath. I glanced at Gally, who was staring at me, and ran at him. He put his fists up, as if he was ready to block a punch, but at the last second I dove to the ground and ducked between his legs, popping up behind him. Before he knew what happened, I kicked the back of his knee and he fell to the ground. The crowd roared and Gally laid sprawled in the dirt. I heard a few of the gladers cheering.

"Greenie! Greenie! Greenie! Greenie!" They screamed, laughing their heads off and drinking some more of the weird drink from the jars. Gally turned around and stood up, his face a mix of surprise, confusion and admiration. He walked over to me, slowly, like he was debating what to do. He stopped a few feet away, but I didn't trust him. I crouched down and kicked his own legs out from under him, and he landed on his butt in the dirt again. The crowd cheered even louder, and I stood up, slowly. He didn't try to get up at first. He just sat on the ground, his chest heaving. I walked over and helped Gally up off the ground. He wiped off the dirt from his pants. He didn't say anything, just turned up the corner of his mouth in silent judgment. He looked me up and down. I felt my heart beat a bit faster, wondering what he was thinking. Then his mouth tilted upward, he took my hand and smiled down at me. It took me by surprise. I was expecting him to knock me to the ground or something, but he didn't. He clapped a hand on my back, and before I realized what was happening, multiple pairs of arms lifted me into the air. I was sitting on someone's shoulders. They had black hair, and based on how strong they were, I'm guessing the person was Minho. I was carried around the bonfire for a while. Hands would reach up to give me a high five and I would high five them back. After a few minutes Minho let me get down off his shoulders, and he set me down on a log, which he sits on next to me.

"That was pretty impressive greenie, that's the first time someone's taken down Gally in their first week here." He says, slumping his arm around my shoulder. I smile and look up at him

"Really? I'm the first one? But he's so slow. He doesn't put up any defense when he lunges after someone. All you'd have to do is make sure he doesn't hit you and and then hit him right after." I explain. Minho raises an eyebrow at me.

"you noticed all that tonight? Like, you figured all that out?" I nodded. "Nice, greenie. Well, I'll admit, that was really impressive. You're light on your feet, you'll make a good runner." A tall blonde boy walked up behind Minho and tapped him on the shoulder. Minho turned to look at the boy, a smile on his face."Oh, hey Nick." Minho said, and the boy plopped down onto the log next to him."Hey greenie. My name's Nick. Me and Alby run this place together, but I usually help with the greenies around here. If I had known the greenie this month was going to be a lovely young lady like yourself this month I would have helped even though I was sick. I cant imagine being the only girl here, these shanks can get on your nerves." He looked around and whispered. "That may be why I didnt really try to get better. I didnt feel like taking care of another clueless boy this month." I laughed, and Minho nudged Nick in the sides."Does Alby know about this?" Nick laughed and shook his head."Nah, but I needed a break. If Alby needed one I'd give it to him in a heartbeat. Newt too, he's technically more in command than me though, so if he ever needs a day off, have him let me know and I'll take his spot for a while. I did just take my break....for a week...don't tell either of them please." Me and Minho glanced at each other and nodded."No promises." Minho said. Nick's face flashed with a hint of worry and he opened his mouth to say something but I laughed."We're kidding, nick. Your secret is safe with us." He smiled and let out a relieved sigh. Then he put his hands on his knees. "Okay, well, I should go see what's going on with everyone else. Nice job fighting Gally to night greenie." Nick said before standing up and walking away. Minho nodded and turned to me again."He's right greenie, that was impressive. Nobody is ever going to forget that around here." He nodded towards the group of boys. He looked me up and down."Seriously though greenie, what else can you do. One of these days are you just gonna look at a shucking griever and it'll curl up and die?" I shot him my most intimidating stare."Exactly. I'll just look at him like this. Maybe it'll kill you too" Minho raised an eyebrow and said sarcastically,"Oh, wow, im so scared." He said and I laughed again. "Well, I should go, josh said he needed me so he should be here any second. Have a good night." he said before flashing me a smile. I smiled back and gave him a quick hug.

"Thanks Minho." I said. A boy ran by, tapping Minho's shoulder and he stood up. The boy grabbed Minho by the shoulder and pressed a jar of the alcohol that all the boys were drinking into my hand. Minho turned, winked at me and ran away. I sat down in front of the bonfire again, stretching my feet out towards the heat of the fire. I looked down at the jar in my hand, and brought it up to my eye, looking at it. It didn't look too bad, so I brought it to my lips and took a very small sip. The sudden bitter taste made me gag, and I spit it into the dirt next to me. I started coughing, not sure what was in the jar, but wanting to get it out of my mouth. A hand rubbed my back slightly, and yet another boy slid down next to me on the ground. I turned to look at him, as I finally stopped coughing. Gally looked down at me, a smirk on his face.

"What, you don't like my drink?" He said, placing a hand on his chest and faking being offended.

"Oh shuck no. It's terrible." I said, wiping my mouth on the back of my hand. He laughed, throwing his head back. I giggled, and Gally took the a swig from the jar I had set next to me. I shook my head and he nodded.

"Yeah, I can see that. It takes a while before you get used to it. Come on, try some more." He said, holding the jar out to me. I shook my head, forcing it back towards him, but he insisted.

"No no no, come on greenie. I'm not leaving until you drink at least half of this." He said, putting the jar up to my lips. I turned my head, not wanting to try the drink again. I set the drink down.

"Okay, alright greenie. I see how it is. If you don't take a sip I'm going to plant a big kiss on your cheek." I must have made a horrified face, because Gally laughed and put the jar up to my lips again.

"Oh come on greenie, it's a tradition around the glade here." He said. I turned my head away from him, trying not to laugh. "Okay, here comes the kiss." He said, puckering his lips and leaning over to me. I screamed, putting my hand up to block him.

"Okay! Okay! Give me the jar!" I said, laughing loudly. I grabbed the jar from his hand and looked at it. Ew. I shuddered and took a small sip. I was about to put the glass down but gally tipped it back, making me drink more. When I needed to stop to take a breath he took the jar away and I coughed, gagging again. He clapped a hand on my back, trying to help me clear my throat. When I could finally breath he laughed and held up the jar, which was nearly gone.

"Nice job greenie. Now you're one of us." I laugh."Now? I wasn't one of you when i took you down earlier?" I joked, poking him in the arm. He laughed."Well that was pretty cool, but until you drink this you aren't a true glader." He said, holding up the drink. "By the way, I meant to tell you earlier. You're pretty cool, anyone that can take me down in their first week here is someone I want to know better." I smiled, and we talked for a while. After probably 30 mins of talking, he pulled me up off the ground, and over towards the group of boys dancing around the fire. He spun me around as the other boys kept dancing. I laughed, stumbling, my head slightly foggy from the drink.

"Whoa, you okay greenie?" I heard Minho chant as he ran past me, stopping to grab my arm to help so I wouldn't fall.

"Thanks Minho." I giggle, and he laughs with me. Gally crosses his arms over his chest and laughs too. Gally elbows Minho in the side and Minho swats Gally on the back of the head. They start to wrestle and Gally pushes Minho, who trips over a rock in the dirt and falls backwards, knocking me over with him. I start to fall to the ground but two arms grab me and hold me up.

"You alright love?" A familiar British voice sounds from behind me. He helps me stand up, but I cant seem to find my balance. The boys all look at me and I stumble a bit, the glade spinning around me slightly.

"Greenie, are you okay?" Minho asks, raising one eyebrow.

"Yeah....I...I'm....fine...m..mango...." I stutter, giggling. The three boys laugh hysterically for a while and Gally throws his arm around Minho's shoulder, still laughing loudly.

"Wow.....Minho" he pauses to laugh. "I mean, Mango....whew...that's...that's your new name, shuckface." He said before before laughing hysterically again. Minho punched him on the shoulder playfully, but smiled. I giggled again. The glade swayed beneath my feet and and I reached out, grabbing onto Newt's sweater to steady myself. He wrapped his arm around my waist, and I giggled again.

"Maybe you should go to bed, love." He says quietly. Minho and Gally nod, and then I feel strong arms wrap around me, and start to carry me back to my room. I persist, trying to free myself from their arms. I try to twist out of their hold, but eventually I give in, cuddling up into the boys chest, and I fall asleep, before I even figure out who's carrying me.