Complicated

Chapter 5: The Bonfire

I was standing at the back of the crowd, watching what was going on. Newt, Alby, Gally, the guy she hit, he was forming a nasty black eye, the quiet serious Asian guy and a few others all stood around the huge pile of wood. They each had a torch in their hand. Alby held his up, and the guys went quiet. He didn't have to be mean to be intimidating, the guys seemed to respect him. All eyes on him, he cleared his throat.

"We made it another month! This fire is for the newest Greenie! Welcome to the Glad Shanket!"

The guys all threw a fist into the air cheering. Alby cocked his arm back, ready to throw. 

"LIT EM UP!" He yelled. 

All the guys standing around threw their flaming torches into the pile, it lit on fire instantly. Throwing warm light all around. The guys cheered and whooped and hollered. I stood at the back, eyes flicking back and forth, trying to take it all in. They seemed to leave me alone, which I was relieved. They seemed to almost avoid me, glancing at me and then scurrying away, like I had some kind of dieses they could catch if they were too close to me.  I had my arms crossed tight over my chest, watching. Newt and Fred materialized out of no where, Newt was holding two jars of something light brown. 

"Come on Girly, lets go sit." Newt nodded his head towards the logs that were placed around the fire. 

"Come on! Stop being so...closed off!" Fred chuckled. He followed Newt. I reluctantly followed the boys. They sat down leaning against the log. Fred patted the ground in between them. I didn't want to, but Newt leaned forwards and grabbed my wrist and pulled me down, making me flop to the ground with a groan. 

"That's better. Your too up tight, relax. Here, try this, it'll put some hair on your chest." He chuckled and handed me one of the jars. It was more like shoved it into my hands. 

"What is it?" I asked, smelling it. I instantly wrinkled my nose, it smelt like rubbing alcohol.  Fred was watching me intently. Like he was waiting for something. 

"No idea." He giggled. 

"I don't even know." Admitted Newt.

He raised his own jar, and gave me an expectant look. I resigned my self to this, these guys weren't going to let me off the hook. I saw almost everyone had a jar in their hands. I looked down at the liquid again. What the shuck? I'm already in a nightmare, might as well add poison to the list. I raised mine and clinked the jar to Newt's. Fred joined in, both guys gave me a look. I slowly lifted the jar to my lips. I took a mouth full, and chocked it down. It made my throat burn and my eyes water. I felt the heat all the way down to my stomach. It really was rubbing alcohol!

Both boys threw their heads back and laughed loudly. 

"This is disgusting!" I chocked out, and then immediately took another sip. I liked the way it made my limbs warm and tingly.  

"What is it?" I asked again. It wasn't too bad in smaller doses, I mentally made a note to not take a mouth full again. 

Newt shrugged, "It's Gally's recipe. It's a trade secret." He nodded his head towards the blond Ox boy, he was standing by a table handing out the jars and ladling more into jars from a big barrel. 

"Yeah. Well, he's still a jerk." I muttered. 

I was still watching Gally when he turned and caught my eye. Instead of looking away I stared him down, I wasn't going to be intimidated by a bully. Someone called his name and he broke the star down and turned towards the boy. 

"He saved your life today. Trust me. The maze is a dangerous place." 

"I wasn't going to go inside. I'm not stupid." I snapped.