Juniper wasn't intentionally distancing herself, but she needed to process everything that had happened in the last 48hours.... and she had to process it alone. She had felt quite rude but she knew she needed some alone time, as soon as Newt had showed her the room she was staying in she had all but shut the door in his face, ignoring his disheartened expression. She didn't see any point in getting close to anyone or making friends, it would only make it harder when Nick finally got his own way.
Apparently due to lack of space she did unfortunately have to share the room with another Glader, and Glader just so happened to be Minho, but due to his running duties he was supposedly only around to sleep. Secretly Juniper found herself quite happy she had at least been paired with someone she knew to some extent even if her and the sassy runner got off to a rough start.
She had found herself leaning up against the door she had closed only minutes beforehand, Newt had told her that the builders were in the process of making her bed, so she decided to take comfort in the splinted wooden floor, sinking down onto her bum.
Finally getting time to process everything Juniper felt quite overwhelmed, after all a lot had happened in the last couple of days:
~ She woke up with no recollection of who she was
~Found out she was the only girl, surrounded by 30+ boys
~Tried to escape but instead got herself hurt
~Discovered she was in a maze with seemingly no escape
~And had already been threatened a number of times by the leader
Letting out a dry humourless chuckle she finally realised how utterly screwed she was deciding to allow herself a little time with her thoughts, How am I meant to build a life here? The leader hates me, I am the only girl and for all I know they could all be lying and planning on using me in some sacrificial ritual....
Shaking her head free of any over dramatic ideas that seemed to surface the girl took yet another deep breath and decided to drag herself over to the small window overlooking the Glade. Juniper decided in that moment, that she must've enjoyed being a people watcher before getting her memories wiped, as she found a great sense of familiarity wash over her as she overlooked the Glade and the people in it. She could see a group of boys messing around near a small shack to the far left of the Glade, squinting she noticed that it looked as if they were pushing each other around, rolling her eyes at their boisterous behaviour.
Averting her gaze she noticed a familiar limping boy making his way towards the Gardens, subconsciously she felt a smile tug at her lips. Now she was alone she could finally acknowledge the dull tugging she had felt at the back of her head when gazing into Newts eyes... he seemed, well familiar, in fact the whole Glade seemed familiar. This brought a pit of unsettled worry into the girls stomach, she had a feeling she should keep the feeling of familiarity to herself, not wanting to give Nick or anyone else anymore reason to hate her.
Juniper took a moment to glance around the room, once again letting her mind wander and her eyes zone out. There was a small bed in the far right corner with messy sheets, presumably Minho's, next to the bed was a fairly large makeshift set of drawers. At least I have somewhere to put my clothes, she thought before realising that the only clothes or items she even had were the clothes she was wearing. Letting out a frustrated growl Juniper lightly kicked the dresser.
'I'd prefer if you don't abuse my handy work' A voice piped up from behind her causing, whip lash to almost form from how hard she span around. Stood before her was a tall boy, with a rather muscular build and some of the most ridiculous eyebrows she had ever seen, but he had kind eyes.
'Who are you?' Juniper timidly spat out, suddenly very aware of the fact that she didn't know the boy before her and that she also had nothing to protect herself with.
'Relaxxx Greenie' He spoke raising his arms up in surrender, 'I ain't here to try anything, I just need the measurements for your bed.... I'm Gally by the way,' Gally said sticking his hand out in form of a handshake.
Visibly relaxing at the news of him building her a bed, Juniper firmly stuck her hand in his, 'I'm Juniper- it's urm nice to meet you,' She inwardly cringed at how awkward she sounded.
'Yeah I know who you are, shuck the whole Glade knows who you are, after your little dash .... as well as being the only girl, which is all the other boys are talking about ' Gally spoke with not only an eye roll but such confidence in his words, making his opinion stand out clearly to Juniper. She was glad that by the sound of things he wasn't going to treat her any different, in fact he almost seemed disgusted by stuff the other boys had said.
'How long have you been here?' She suddenly questioned out of nowhere, after watching him examine the area for a few minutes,only now realising she had no time frame on how long the others had been trapped for.
'Mhm good question, about two years, I was one of the first group of boys up along with a few others.' Juniper felt her mouth slightly drop open, Two years?! And they were still trapped, She could feel her hope and will evaporating leaving her with a disheartened expression.
'Hey it's not all bad,' Gally spoke up noticing her disheartened look, 'according to Minho he thinks he's close on a break through in the maze.... plus Frypans food isn't all bad...' He tried to joke with a nudge at the girl.
She tried to crack a smile but found it hard with the current situation, How could they not have found a way out yet? Juniper decided at that moment that she would do whatever it takes to get involved and help the boys escape, wanting desperately to prove herself to not only Nick but also whoever sent her up to the maze. With this newfound determination she turned to glance out of the window, only to notice the sun , that looked a bit too artificial, starting to dip below the horizon of the tops of the maze walls. How did I miss lunch? I swear I've only been up here 10 minutes.
'Hey Greenbean, you ok? You seem a bit spaced out?' Gally questioned gently grasping her arm, his dark eyebrows furrowed together in concern.
'Huh oh yeh sorry, I just well I didn't think time had passed so quickly ahah,' Juniper cut off with a chuckle, trying to re-assure the boy.
'Hmm- yeah time does seem to slip away here and whiz by, how about I walk you down to dinner? You must be hungry you've been holed up in here for the last 6 hours, you even missed lunch!, Then whilst you eat I'll go put together the finishing touches on your bed?' Gally explained, starting to leave the room and indicating with his head that Juniper should follow.
She just simply nodded in reply and followed him out of the room, but she wasn't listening to whatever the boy was going on about, she was too busy submerged in her own thoughts, cause Juniper knew one thing and one thing only, she couldn't for the life of her recall what had happened in those 6 hours she was in that room alone..... and that scared her.
*************************************
Dinner went by relatively well, after Gally had left her to rush over to the builders hut, she awkwardly stood near the kitchen entrance for a number of minutes, making awkward eye contact with all the boys surrounding her on the many picnic benches. She didn't really know what to do, not feeling comfortable enough to sit with any of them.
She didn't like how they were staring at her like a snack, almost drooling into their plates and just when she prepared herself to snap at one of the boys who had a particularly nasty glare, Newt had swooped in like a guardian angel to save her. As Newt had grasped her elbow and lightly dragged her over to grab some food she felt a heavy awkwardness that wasn't there before surround the both of them.
'Urm, I'm sorry for shutting you out earlier, I just uh I just need to absorb everything and well I think I've accepted that now...' Juniper quietly spoke up after grabbing a plate piled high of delicious smelling food from Frypan, not being able to take the tension that surrounded them any longer.
Newt stopped his almost manic searching over the picnic benches, clearly looking for someone and instead pulled his attention to Juniper. His blue eyes shining in reassurance.
'It's alright June, really I-I understand, it's a lot to process I'm sure the last thing you needed was to be suffocated by anyone's presence, I'm glad you've accepted it all though, you've managed that a lot quicker then most of these shanks.' Before Juniper could even register the fact he had used a nickname or even come up with a response, both their names were called.
'Oi Newt, Greenie!!! Over here!' A loud obnoxious voice shouted, Juniper glanced up and to no surprise found the owner of said voice to be a very smug Minho, who had gained all the attention of the other Gladers... Drama queen.
Rolling her eyes, something she realised she did an awful lot in the runners presence Juniper timidly trailed after Newt, trying to ignore the burning gazes of everyone else, arriving at the table which contained 3 other boys, who looked completely embarrassed by Minho's outburst.
Within 5 chaotic minutes Juniper had acquired all the knowledge she needed on the other 3 boys. You had Alby, who was supposedly Nicks second in command, despite Nick's evident dislike towards the girl Alby seemed more then happy to talk to her, although he was awfully blunt. Next to Alby and opposite Juniper, you had a boy called Ben, he was a runner alongside Minho, Juniper decided she liked him not only did he seem kind but also made quite a few jokes. Finally on the end of the table was a boy called James, he didn't talk much but she had found out from Minho that the boy worked with the Slicers, he looked only to be 14 but had one of the kindest smiles she had seen.
Juniper had pulled the short straw and had to sit in between not only Newt (Not that she was mad about that) but also (unfortunately) a rather ecstatic Minho, apparently he was looking forward to all the 'sleepovers' the two of them would be having due to the rooming situation.
For the remainder of the meal all Minho did was make silly comments such as 'I cant wait for us to paint each other's nails' 'We can stay up allllll night and read magazines' Juniper found it increasingly difficult to keep a scowl on her face and not break down laughing like the other boys. She finally cracked into hysterics when he let out such a high pitched giggle followed by a 'OMG we can gossip about all the boys we like tteeehee'.... maybe staying here wouldn't be too bad.
************************************
'So like what if the shucking creators put you in here for like all the boys to have a gladiator style battle for your hand in marriage or something'
This was the seventh stupid thing that had come out of Minho's mouth since the two of them settled into bed that night, not that she was counting. Juniper was more then ecstatic when Gally had told her, he had made the bed and it was waiting for her upstairs, more then ready to settle in for the night until Minho started talking.
While Juniper knew the boy was only joking about, she could feel her eyes getting heavier and she didn't know how much longer she could take of his tired rambling jokes.
'Minho if I admit that I think you are kind of funny... will you shut your pipe-hole?' She huffed out, aggressively rolling over to face his outline on the other side of the room. Hearing no response apart from a choked out snort Juniper contently shut her eyes.
Only sleep didn't seem to want to come anymore, instead she ended up tossing and turning every other minute. Her mind deciding to suddenly be over reactive.
'If you don't stop moving soon, I'll drag your shank ass out into the glade and you can sleep there, with the other boys... some of us have jobs to do tomo Yknow.' A very Grumpy Minho grumbled out causing her to freeze mid roll like a deer caught in headlights.
'Sorry,' she mumbled out,'.... hey Minho?' Juniper whispered after a couple of minutes, once again facing his shadowed figure.
'What?' He huffed out, also rolling over to face the girl, not that she could see his face in the darkness.
'Do you actually think there's a way outta here, I mean you have been looking for nearly 2 years?' Juniper didn't mean to be so negative, but her tired state gave her no filter and she was generally curious as to what the runner had to say, especially after Gally said he was close.
'Yknow what Juniper, when I find that answer myself, you'll be the first to know,' and with that the runner rolled over, making it very clear the conversation was over.
She just stared at the ceiling of the half broken building more confused then ever...
until sleep finally evaded her senses.