Subject 0: The mistake

The Potential Friendship

-Will you still love me, if I go completely crazy?
-Well, don't you love me even if I'm already completely crazy?

I woke up the next day at the sound of rustling leaves. You can safely assume that half of my mind was still in dreamland because my situation didn't quite register until the approaching footsteps were directly next to me.
Who could it be in the middle of the forest? Can't they see I'm sleeping?
Without really completing the thought, I was falling back to sleep.
"Klunk! You shank tree with your shank roots!" An angry voice exclaimed out loud, followed by the sound of jumping.
My eyes immediately shot open, my flight or fight mechanism finally activated. I shot to my feet, hair half falling into my eyes, my breathing ragged and my back pressed against the Glade's wall (just my luck). I looked in front of me frantically, anxious about who it was exactly that found me, alone and vulnerable, in the middle of my slumber. My heart skipped a beat, (in a non-romantic, mostly anxious way) when I saw that the intruder was none other than Gally, Keeper of the Builders and self-proclaimed (probably) macho man-man of the Glade. At around that point my mouth started opening and closing like a fish out of water. Why was Gally in the far end of the Deadheads?
"What are you doing here, Greenie-Girl?" He asked, one foot in the air and an almost cute pout on his otherwise stern face.
"Ummm... I was just... sleeping?" I answered, still kind of sleepy and obviously confused.
"You asking or you saying, shank?" He replied irritated, but with both feet on the ground now.
"Saying?" I replied once more, even less sure.
I hadn't really talked to Gally that much since the events of the Bonfire, so I was suddenly finding myself feeling self-conscious and insecure, in the middle of the forest with practically a stranger and probably the worst bed-head in the history of bed-heads.
He looked at me with an irritated look and stepped incredibly close to me, basically trapping me between his body and the wall. I closed my eyes tightly, actually kind of scared, but I could still feel his presence in front of me. My breathing started to become quick and I felt tears prickling at the corners of my eyes. I felt him slightly touching my hair.
"You're a mess." He said and suddenly he was out of my personal space.
I cautiously opened my eyes, my breathing slowing down to a normal pace. Gally was standing in front of me a twig in between his fingers, spinning it absentmindedly.
"I thought girls were supposed to be nice and clean, and here I found you sleeping in the middle of the Deadheads, with half a tree in your hair." He commented, the hint of a smirk on his lips.
"Guess you thought wrong." I answered with a smile of my own.
"Ha!" His bark of a laugh echoed around us, actually putting me at ease "Guess you're just different! But I should have figured that one out when you handed me my ass at the ring!"
"No hard feelings right?" I asked with a full on grin, suddenly feeling giddy.
Gally was actually nice to me, who would have thought?
"I'll get my rematch sooner or later." He answered waving his hand dismissively. "What are you doing here anyway?"
"I don't know I was just feeling overwhelmed... I didn't wanna see anyone so I just came here." I shrugged, not really wanting to analyse the internal crisis that tormented me the previous night.
"Lover boy too much for you to handle, huh?" He said and turned around, starting to head out of the woods and back towards our tiny speck of civilisation.
Blushing slightly, I hurried to follow him.
"What?! No, no Newt is not my 'lover boy'" I insisted, catching up to him easily, now both of us walking side by side.
"Ha!" Spitting out another bark of a laughter, Gally turned towards me with a slightly mischievous look in his eyes.
Oh oh
"I actually meant that perverted little piece of klunk, Alex..." He trailed off resuming his walk "Suppose you're pretty popular around here though, you lost track!" He said teasingly.
"I... I don't really like being that sort of popular..." I said my mood dampening.
"Well if it's any help I don't get what either of them see in you", he bumped me with his shoulder almost making me trip.
"You're an ugly piece of klunk and a pain in the ass if you ask me. One of the guys, I'd say." He finished
Looking at him, I found myself actually smiling. Gally is a secret sweetheart, who knew?
"But I guess they both have their reasons: Newt likes you for your personality, while the creep likes you for your ass."
And an obvious asshole, who didn't know?
"Very funny, thanks, you certainly know how to make a lady feel better about herself" I deadpanned, hitting him in the back of the neck.
"Hey! I told you I don't see you as a 'lady'" He said hitting me right back at the top of the head.
We were at the beginning of the Deadheads now, the Homestead visible. The Homestead, where I was supposed to be working, helping Newt. Newt, who would be worried about me disappearing and probably mad at me.
Great I'm so ready to face everything today (not).
I sighed deeply preparing myself for the inevitable doom that awaited me, the moment I stepped foot inside the Infirmary. (Yes I'm dramatic, deal with it)
"Why couldn't you have just left me starve in the forest?" I whined slightly.
"Tsk. Are you stupid or something? If I hadn't found you someone else would have and not everyone is as nice as I am."
He started walking towards a group of guys, right outside the Deadheads, that were in the middle of constructing some sort of desk. The rest of the builders, I realised, already hard at work.
"What were you doing there anyway?" I asked him curious.
"Checking if any branch had fallen. Do it every day, we need all the wood we can get." He answered.
We were now in front of the group of boys and Gally was quick about inspecting their work, giving a nod of satisfaction.
"Keep it up you shanks! When you're finished go grab some food, I'll make the chair with the Greenie" He instructed.
Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to look at me with surprised and curious eyes.
"Back to work!" Gally's shout snapped them out of their stupor and the buzzing of their work continued.
Gally put a firm hand at the top of my back and guided me towards another improvised work station where some pieces of wood where scattered.
"You handy, Greenie?" He asked rolling up his sleeves and gathering up all the necessary tools.
"Huh?" I asked, slightly overwhelmed and disoriented.
"You handy? Can you build or is the chair going to break the moment Minho's fat ass sits on it?" He explained, already sawing through a piece of wood that he deemed too thick.
I realised he was giving me an excuse to not go back to my reality just yet. I could just stay gone for a little bit longer.
"I don't know, but I can help if you show me..." I trailed of, readjusting my hair in it's ponytail and following his lead with the sleeves of my own shirt. I stepped up next to him and held together the two planks he wanted to nail.
Getting yelled at could wait, I was actually content with helping Gally for the rest of the day.
"Watch closely then Girlie, and try not to lose a finger, we do need all ten." He joked grabbing a hammer.
Without even warning me, he hammered down a couple of nails with incredible speed, stabilising the planks.
"Wow there!" I exclaimed, my eyes opening wide in alarm, but my hands not wavering.
"Steady hands, nice." Gally commented absentmindedly, grabbing another plank and shaping the back of the chair.
"You forget I'm a Medjack." I remarked smiling at his subtle praise.
"Don't get cocky now Greenie, I can build a chair alone, in my sleep."
Silence settled among us, a feeling of serenity in the air.
"You... you can call me Luna, you know..." I trailed off, not really sure if we were quite there yet. This was Gally for Glade's sake, he wasn't exactly mister friendly.
"Yeah I know..." He replied.
That's that I guess.
It took a while, with Gally having to explain basically everything to me, but around the evening, we had finished building the chair (and by we I mean he), so he started quickly sanding it down.
He didn't really need any help with that part, so I just remained silent and left him to his work.
I started walking around the work station, looking at supplies and admiring all the tools. Something caught my eye in a dusty bin, full to the brim with presumably useless pieces of wood and metal.
"What's this?" I asked and picked up a thin piece of light brown wood.
"Swamp Ash" he replied barely even looking up from his chair in the making.
"Excuse you!" I exclaimed both offended and slightly amused.
"No, that's what the wood's called. They use it to make guitars and stuff." He explained while finishing up and coming to stand next to me.
"How do you know all this?" I asked amazed.
He simply shrugged "Someone has to"
"And how come you haven't done anything with it?" I asked again.
"Not exactly camp rock here, Greenie, no one needs a guitar." He took the wood from my hands and placed it back on the bin, but I wouldn't just drop it.
"But it could be fun! Instead of fighting each-other during Bonfires you could sing some songs!" I exclaimed picking the wood up again. "Can you make it?" I asked hopeful.
"Yes but I won't! Look it's not even enough for a guitar!" He raised his voice a little fed up.
"A ukulele maybe?" I insisted, basically jumping up and down with excitement.
"I don't even have strings!" He exclaimed, face red with frustration.
"I can make the strings or maybe we could ask the Creators to send some up with the next supplies. Please, come on Gally, please please please! If you can't make it no one can! And I'll love it soooo much!"
I was acting like a child, pleading with their parents for extra dessert, annoying but hopefully convincing.
"Fine! Ok just stop! I'll make it! Gosh you're annoying, when did you become such a brat, Luna?!" He exclaimed.
As soon as the last word left his mouth he closed it tightly, eyes wide with the realisation of his mistake.
"You just called me L-" I started with awe.
"If you stop talking I'll make it for you!" He slammed my mouth shut with his hand "But you'll never speak of this to anyone. Understood Greenie?" He pronounced clearly.
I nodded my head, my smile so big it was still visible, even if his palm was half the size of my face.
"Don't complain like a bitch when it ends up awful." He grumbled rampaging through a backpack.
He threw something in my general direction and I struggled to catch it. Looking at it I realised it was a sandwich. As if on cue my stomach rumbled loudly as if suddenly remembering how hungry I was after not having eaten anything in more than a day.
"Thanks" I said unwrapping it from the silicon cover and starting to eat.
"You owe me." He clarified.
"What do I owe you?" I asked, with a joking tone.
"As I always say: a sandwich for a sandwich you shank" He said with a hint of a smile on his lips.
We finished eating in silence, cleaning up at the same time.
"Are we done here?" I asked looking at the darkening sky.
"Yeah, yeah" He dismissed waving a hand through the air.
"I guess I should face the music now, huh?" I said more to myself than him looking towards the Homestead.
"You like music sooo..." Gally teased me, nodding towards the wood he would use for my ukulele.
"Yeah I guess." I smiled back and started walking towards the Homestead. A couple of steps later I stopped.
"And Gally? Thank you, today was... fun." I looked at him and gave him a smile.
I don't think he ever responded, or at least I didn't hear his response, but that was the day I realised Gally was a nice guy that I would like to call a friend, someday.
With my thoughts fuzzy I entered the Homestead and went up towards the Infirmary. I didn't see Clint and Jeff, but I could see the light coming out of Newt's closed room.
Great
I slowly turned the knob and pushed the door slightly open.
"Newt? Are you awake?" I whispered, hoping he would be asleep.
"What do you think, Luna?" His voice answered me from inside the room, cold and reserved.

Oh klunk...