You and Me - Gally short story

Part 2

Y/N's open mouth snaps shut as Thomas snickers, looking between her and Gally, and Y/N blushes, casting a look at Gally and starting in surprise when she sees him already ten meters away and walking quickly.

Then she looks back at the other three and sees the matching smirks on Thomas and Newt's faces and a knowing look in Teresa's eyes, the girl looking a little more sympathetic than the other two.

"Where am I?" Y/N asks softly, moving her mind off Gally and onto more important matters, like the fact she's in a completely unfamiliar place, surrounded by strangers, and her mind wiped of any personal memory.

Instantly Teresa steps forward, and wraps her arm around the other girl, glaring at the two boys who're still grinning like Cheshire cats. "This is the Glade; I'll show you 'round. As Newt said, my names Teresa, what's yours?"

"Y/N." Y/N answers, Teresa's friendly attitude easing slightly the tightness in her chest, and Teresa smiles. "Well Y/N, we can't tell you much about how we got here, because we don't know ourselves, but we all came up in that Box just the same as you; about twenty boys in the first lot, then one every thirty days. I came two months ago, and I was the only girl until today."

"Why haven't there been any other girls?" Y/N asks, and Teresa shakes her head, leading Y/N away from the Box and starting on her tour around the Glade. "We don't know, but for some reason the Creators -that's what we call the shuckfaces that sent us here- decided they didn't want to."

"What's a-"

"-Shuckface?" Teresa finishes her question with a smile, and Y/N nods, slightly put out, but warming up to the black-haired girl. "Shuckface is just an insult," Teresa explains, "Shuck is a curse, -you'll hear that one a lot- klunkhead is another insult, and klunk is another word for poop."

She wrinkles her nose at the imagination of a bunch of boys, then launches straight back into talking, never seeming to pause and draw breath. "Slinthead is another insult, -my personal favourite- Greenie is what we call the new kid that comes up every month. It's either that, Newbie, or Greenbean; or Shebean in my case, probably yours too. Shank is what we call each other, a bit like a community nickname, and 'slim it' pretty much means 'shut up'."

She snorts with laughter, a sound so natural and unshameful that Y/N smiles, her heart lightened as she listens to the nonstop torrent of words pouring out of Teresa, watching her animated hand movements as she demonstrates a point. "We say 'good that' when we agree with something or someone, -we're called Gladers by the way- 'Jacked' means messed up in the head, and we'll get to all the places and jobs when we come to them!"

She finishes triumphantly after rattling all this off and looks over at Y/N, noticing how much more comfortable the y/h/c haired girl looks, and smiles to herself. Good. She seems tougher than she looks, but now she'll be more ready to meet the others.

"You feel up to meeting some of the others?" She voices the question, "Or do you want me to show you around first?" Y/N feels her stomach tighten at the thought of meeting other people and quickly shakes her head. Teresa nods, disappointment flashing briefly across her face, but then smiles again, obviously delighted to have another girl to talk to.

"That's fine! You'll be meeting them tonight anyway at your Firstnight bonfire."

Y/N looks at Teresa but doesn't bother asking the question that springs to her lips, already knowing Teresa will elaborate. And she isn't disappointed. "The night we get a new Greenie we have a bonfire so they can get to know everyone a little better. We call it Firstnight for obvious reasons, and a word of warning-"

Teresa pauses, waiting for Y/N to focus on her, then continues. "Don't drink anything unless your absolutely certain it's water. Gally has a special drink he makes that gets you completely jacked after one sip. It doesn't smell much, just slightly vinegary; and it's mostly clear, so it's very hard to catch; especially in the dark with smoke and boy smell up your nose."