Tricked (t.m.r.)

1.9 - Cows and Corns

"That was really smart of you Primrose, challenging Alby over his status. Great going! You might as well throw yourself off the cliff!" I smacked myself on my forehead as I paced about in my room.

It's sometime in the middle of the night and I still haven't caught a wink of sleep yet, I was too stressed out because I couldn't think of a proper strategy for taking over Alby's place. Not that I wanted to take over Alby's place as the leader of the glade permanently, just enough to get everyone in the glade to take me seriously and stop shoving me when they think that I'm not looking.

I mean I did say I don't have my sight... but still!

I would ask for help, but I don't know anyone whom I could trust. Sure my closest friends are Newt and Minho, but they've been in the maze with Alby for far too long to shift their loyalty to me. And over a silly challenge I issued because I couldn't keep my mouth shut! It'll be unfair for me to ask for their help, I'm sure they wouldn't want to be wedged between this kind of petty issues anyway. They're probably just going to wait it out until I lose and get thrown into the slammer.

But, I don't want to lose.

And I don't know what to do to win either. It seems everyone here likes Alby and I don't intend to take over even if I do somehow miraculously win. Is there nothing else I could do besides waiting for my inevitable defeat?

I groaned in annoyance, finally crashing into my hammock when I didn't want to think anymore and because of my carelessness and lack of consideration, the hammock couldn't support the sudden weight that was thrown upon it, the strings broke and I fell towards the wooden floor; hard. I was too lazy to string the hammock back to make it start in the middle of the air, and decidedly slept on the floor for the night.

The rumbling noises of the maze door opening were my alarm of the day.

Trying to ignore the pain at the back of my head, I made my way towards the small window and took a peek outside. I could see the tiny specks of gladers gathering in front of the door before realizing they were runners as soon as I spotted Minho amongst them. Minho stood by and watched all the runners run into the maze; going last himself and disappeared behind the walls. The runners are already gone, which means Frypan had gotten up and was busy preparing breakfast for the remaining gladers currently.

I propped my hands on the tiny frame of the window of my room and stared into the glade that was slowly being illuminated by the Sun. The same troubles that lured me to sleep the night before came crashing into my head again.

The longer that I'm officially in Alby's shoes, the more I realized the decision to challenge Alby was a stupid move of mine. I have no idea what time he wakes up, no idea when he makes his appearance known, no idea if I should be scowling like him. Well, not that I would actually scowl at anyone. I have no idea what leadership is. You don't lead with fear, but you can't lead trying to please everyone either.

Frypan only gave me an encouraging smile that had a heavy hint of doubt as he passed me my breakfast.

"There isn't much advice I can give you, greenie." He wipes the sweat away from his forehead with the sleeve of his shirt. "But I say you're a shuckface for challenging Alby for his post. He was the one who kept it all together; along with Newt."

"I know, I know. Stop reminding me." I rubbed my palm across my face.

The bacon in my mouth suddenly becomes tasteless. I swallowed the remaining food in my mouth forcefully before taking tiny sips of water. With a whole zoo of wild beast in my stomach and my head buzzing with emptiness, there was no way on Earth I could swallow another bite, let alone a whole plateful. I glanced sadly at my untouched eggs and wondered if I really need them in my stomach to last the morning. A muscle twitched involuntarily at the corner of my right eye as I pursed my lips. I wanted to chew on my nails but found myself gnawing on the inside of my cheek instead.