𝗚𝗥𝗢𝗪𝗧𝗛, gally (tmr)

Chapter Five

A month flew by in what felt like the blink of an eye.

Ada felt like she'd fully settled into the Glade by now, as much as she can be. She has her job, her routine, her friends. Although, she hasn't spoken to that many people.

She's joint at the hip with Frypan. It was the shared love of cooking that pulled them together, and there's never a moment spent in or out of the kitchen where they're not roaring with laughter.

Newt's like a brother to her. He pretty much adopted her as a little sister because of their accents, and Ada's more than happy with having the blonde boy to look up to.

Through Newt, she's become good friends with Minho, who introduced her to Ben. They're definitely her favourite Runners; and Alby pretends not to notice when she slips them some extra bacon in the morning.

Alby has a soft spot for the girl. Maybe because she gives him extra bacon sometimes too. And she's more than a little clumsy in the kitchen, leading her to befriend the two Med-jacks as well.

But that's it. She has spoken to no one else - no more than a few sentences at least. A friendship with Zart seemed hopeful at first; but then he made a pass at her which the girl instantly shut down. No one found out, and she's just avoided him from then on.

Despite her interest in the Keeper of Builders Gally, the most contact they had shared was on the night of her arrival to the Glade, in which he wasn't even addressing her. She had only ever seen him building: ordering the others around, deadly focused, muscles looking great. At most, they had shared a few glances, brief but still leaving Ada with a strange sensation in her stomach.

And here she was, a month after her arrival,  stood at the next Greenie's bonfire by herself.

The Greenie after her was a small chubby boy, with brown curly hair and an enthusiastic nature. Since she was the Greenie before him, she was tasked with showing him around the Glade and helping him to settle in. This led him to follow her around the whole day, like an excited puppy, and tire himself out so much that he was fast asleep instead of attending the bonfire in his honour.

When she learnt that it was tradition to help out the Greenie that arrived the month after you, her mind was of course filled with questions of, 'why wasn't I helped by whoever arrived before me?'. But she didn't need to ask them. The look on Newt's face when he told her of the tradition, told her everything she needed to know.

Obviously, the boy before her had died.

Ada was at the outskirts of the chaos. It was particularly wild this time, considering Minho had a day off the following day, meaning he was able to let loose and get as drunk as he possibly could. This only meant Newt had a lot more work to do in having to look after the mess of a Runner.

"Ada!"

The Runner in question had spotted the girl hanging back and sending wistful glances towards the quiet of the Deadheads, and chose to swoop in and direct her instead into the midst of the party. She let out a sigh but didn't verbally protest otherwise, letting Minho drag her onto a log beside him.

"I've been thinking-"

"-That's dangerous."

She jumped into his already slurring speech, earning a death glare and a sloppy shove to the shoulder. Biting her lip, she raised her eyebrows to tell him to continue.

"I've been thinking, that you need to start making the best of this place." She furrowed her eyebrows together and tilted her head to one side. The boy sighed, taking her confusion as a sign to further explain. "You've barely talked to anyone here, Ada!"