CHAPTER TEN
• a hard wake up call •
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MINHO INCHED CLOSER to the girl, leaning over so he could whisper in her ear. Evony, who was paying attention to their leader, side-eyed him before dismissing his presence. He was trying to distract her. She; however, was trying to listen to what the other gladers were saying.
"Pshh, Evy." He bumped her shoulder with his to try to gain her attention.
Without glancing over she whispered back to him, her voice filled with annoyance. "We're in a meeting," she told off.
"I know, but I have a question."
"Minho," she scolded in a quiet manner. This time she did turn her head, her arms crossed as she gave him an irritated expression. He copied her action, to which she rolled her eyes at his mockery. With the banter over, both teens listened back into the conversation around them. Alby and Newt were discussing the possibilities of the absence of the past greenie-what it could mean and how it could affect them.
"If there aren't any more greenies then we need to even out the amount of people at each job." Newt explained to the Keepers.
Evony nodded her head in agreement, but she still had trouble giving him her full attention as her runner friend was persistent on gaining her attention. He tapped her shoulder, this time questioning her without permission. "Who are you pairing with for Activity Day?"
She shook her head, not giving an answer back. Evony already knew who she wanted to ask; she just hadnt yet. She did think-or hope-that he would say yes though. That was unless someone else already offered, but she doubted that.
Thomas wasn't exactly the most popular glader at the moment.
"I say we distribute half the gardeners into different jobs-Zart can decide who goes where." Alby suggested. "All in favor say, I."
A chorus of I's were heard throughout the room, her own voice being one of them.
Once the room quieted down, her best friend continued nagging her. "I'm with Chuck," Minho informed with a shrug. She tossed him a shockful expression, fully not expecting him to pair with the younger boy. If she had to guess it would've been Ben-or even Max-not the curly haired spaz of a boy.
"Chuck? What about...you know?" she questioned him.
Minho shrugged again, "He's better for hide and seek." He was speaking directly into her ear, standing behind her while resting on a post. "Now, when are you going to ask Thomas?"
Evony blinked twice at him before shaking her head. She wasn't appreciating the teasing tone that was leaving his lips. "It's not like that," she muttered, gritting her teeth.
"Alright, the meeting is dismissed."
With one last look back she stalked out of the hut and away from the smirking boy. Evony and Thomas were just friends. Why did a simple friendship have to get over complicated? She had a close relationship with several of the surronding boys, and most of the time no romantic jokes were made between them. Why did Thomas have to be any different?
"Wait, Evony!" Minho called after her. She spun to see him jogging over to her. His face held a solemn expression, like he was guilty of the past things he said.
"What?" Her eyebrows rose in anticipation.
He ran a hand through his hair, "I didn't mean it like that-well I did, but I honestly was only wondering if you were going to ask him."
"Ask who?"
Both friends jumped at the sudden voice, turning to see the very brunete they were talking about. His eyes met hers, and a grin broke across his face. "Hi, Evs." he smiled contently. A few seconds went by in silence when the Keeper spoke up.
"I'm doing great, thanks for asking," Minho butted in, casually adding himself into the conversation as if he wasn't in it already. Thomas and Evony stared at him with blank expressions, swiftly glancing over to each-other after they did so.
His eyes traveled downward to his feet, not being able to make eye contact at the moment. Minho shot her a confused glare, gesturing to the boy that seemed to have frozen up.
Suddenly Thomas' head shot up, his eyes wide and face flushed as he rushed out his words. "You want to be my partner for Activity Day?" he finished with a sigh, relieved he had gotten that out before he froze up again.
Evony didn't need to look to know there was a settled smirk on her bestfriends face. Though she didn't care if there was; she was going to ask the boy anyway-the runner's reaction would've happened one way or another. "I'd love to."
"Cool..." Thomas rocked back and forth. The silence was becoming suffocating. So much so that she could hear the sounds of Minho desperately trying to hold in his laughs. The brunete pointed behind him, already starting to walk backwards. "Well- uh, I'm going to go. Newt wants to show me something in the garden...yeah, the garden..."
Neither had a chance to say goodbye before Thomas darted off, running with a slight bounce in his step. Evony prepared herself for the wrath of Minho, knowing that she was about to deal with another annoying comment the moment she turned around.
His lips were pressed together-presumably to keep himself from laughing-and his hands were clasped behind his back. "Looks like you didn't even have to ask."
"Oh shut it, slint-head," she snarked back, but as she strolled away she couldn't keep the wide grin from spreading across her soft, pink lips.
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The next two weeks went by smoothly-thankfully-and today was now the day the gladers had been waiting for. Yes, it was Activity Day. Field Day. Glader day-whatever you want to call it. Alby had established the three games that were going to be played-not including the food fight-and was currently arranging for the first one.
"Kick-the-ball-and-sprint-around-the-three-crates-without-getting-mauled-by-the-other-team," Minho explained, with too much detail. Evony pinched the bridge of her nose, Newt rolled his eyes, and the rest of the gladers stared at the Keeper of the Runners with perplexed faces.
She saw Thomas squint his eyes. "You mean like baseball?" he questioned with a hint of excitement behind his voice.
Minho came up and placed a hand on his shoulder, patting it twice. "If you want to be boring like that, go ahead." He turned to the group, "Fine, new name. Baseball-except-with-a ball-that-you-kick-instead-of-hit."
The gladers nodded around her, and she knew she just needed to let her friend do his thing-no matter how ignorant. Alby then emerged from the crowd, taking Minho's place and putting on his "leader" voice. "Thank you, Minho," he grumbled out, obviously annoyed like the most of them were. "Okay, since a majority of us know how this works, let's just get right to it."
She knew Alby knew that at least ten of the people there had no clue what to expect. She also knew that he didn't care, and that anyone out of the know would have to figure it out themselves. The game itself was pretty explanatory. That was if everything went according to plan-which it never did.
Newt handed over a grass woven basket filled with strips of paper with every gladers name. "Alright, here's the team captains." Alby reached into the bin and pulled out two slips. Unraveling them, he paused for a second, "Aaron and..." His voice remained clear. "Thomas."
Evony glanced over to Thomas who was staring wide-eyed. A couple feet away was the builder smirking devilishly at the brunette, puffing his chest out in pride. Then, like a light switch, Thomas' demeanor changed and he too-well attempted since he was a couple inches shorter-tried to make himself look threatening.
She could only sigh. Boys.
Another glader-a keeper, who she honestly didn't know all too well-stepped out from behind and pointed a finger at the newest boy. "How come he gets to be captain? He's just the greenie."
"The greenie who saved a life," Thomas shot back, starting a chorus of complaints amongst the others. Evony and Newt made eye-contact and in a split second they were both pushing back the boy who was trying to charge at the crowd.
"Tommy, what the bloody hell are you doing?" The blonde scolded, taking his hand off his shoulder. She moved her hand to his wrist, spinning him around so that he was facing her. Thomas stumbled on an excuse -which Evony couldn't make out-and dropped his gaze to the ground. He itched the back of his neck tensely.
"I'm done with them thinking I'm worthless," he muttered sharply under his breath. Newt peered over to Evony, and she knew he was thinking the same thing.
Her hand moved slowly up and down his arm, rubbing back and forth. "It's only because you're still new, I promise it'll get better."
He nodded in what she hoped was agreement, then watched his eyes trail over to Newts, who was glaring with a high intensity at the boy. The Second-in-Command rubbed a hand at the tip of his jaw, shaking his head in disapproval, "It'll get better if you stop snapping at Keepers." he said sternly.
Thomas muttered a small apology, then gazed once more at Evonys concerned face. Newt shook his head at the sudden change in attitude from the boy and walked away to deal with the triggered Keeper.
Evony continued rubbing his arm; Thomas was starting to feel floaty. "Newts right, but personally I don't think a couple necessary comments would cause too much damage."
He chuckled faintly, his eyes drifting down to where her hand was placed. Evony-seeing his fixed gaze on her hand-pulled it away in doubts of making him uncomfortable. She awkwardly patted his shoulder; the moment ruined. "Well," she coughed, "Let's go play kick-the-ball-and- you know what, never mind."
Fun fact: Evony and Thomas did not get to play kick-the-ball. Not together at least. The first thing they walked back to was Aaron yelling for Evony to come stand beside him. Of course she refused. That was until Alby made the point of saying one of the rules was the glader that's been in the Glade the longest gets to pick first.
She thought that rule was really stupid.
Standing as far away as she could from Aaron, she stayed adamant on showing her dislike for the decision. It was interesting actually-a couple months ago she had no problem with the builder, but now it seemed that her hatred was growing every time she laid eyes on him.
Thomas was also clearly annoyed; he had wanted to have his friends on his team. But he especially wanted to have her.
In the end, all the gladers were split up evenly into the teams. It was a lengthy process, consisting of Aaron choosing the people that would make Thomas mad, and Thomas having to point at random people since he didn't know everybody's name. The whole situation only increased the little fued the two boys had going on, and left the rest of the gladers dumbfounded at their idioticness.
"Quick rules for Glader-Ball," Alby announced to the group. Minho went to object about the name but the Leader held out a finger, "One team is on the field while the other is kicking. Three tags or catches and you switch positions."
Evony heard a couple dirty-minded boys laugh from behind her, making her roll her eyes. Alby continued on with his speech, telling about the different positions you could be in. Finally-finally-when he was done he sent the two groups off into their designated spots. Aarons team-the team she was on-was currently taking the field while Thomas's was kicking.
She stood at the third crate, tracing her foot in the grass while she waited for the first person to kick.
Turns out the first person was actually Max. He was one of the runners that was on that team. Alby had decided that to make it fair the twelve runners would be split up amongst the two teams. The blonde stepped up, waiting with a bounce in his step for the ball to come his way. Aaron was currently pitching for their team, so he rolled the ball towards his direction.
Max's foot made contact with the object and it went soaring over her head and several feet past her. He began running around the first crate, his team cheering behind. Although by the time he got to the second box, somebody in the back had already thrown the ball back to the pitcher and he was forced to stay where he was.
Chuck went next; miss-hitting the ball and sending it behind him several times before he actually managed to project it forward. The one time he did however, the ball ended up making a deadline to the first crate, where Winston caught it with ease. He tagged the younger boy with the ball and that certified the teams first out.
A couple other gladers went and one more out was made. That very outcome was by Minho aggressively pin tackling Ben as he tried to slip by the first crate. Everybody laughed, and the two boys blushed as they pulled themselves up from the compromising position.
Then Thomas was up.
Even from where she was standing she could see Aaron clenching his fists as he prepared to roll the ball. The brunete was readying himself by crouching into a runners position. His hands rubbed against his pants and then together. Then Aaron rolled the ball-much faster than he should have-and Thomas slammed that ball straight through the boy's legs and into the outfield.
He sprinted around the boxes, a bright smile on his face as he did. Seeing him happy was contagiously making her feel the same; her insides warming at the sight. He stopped at her crate, where he leaned his body over the structure to catch his breath.
"Hi," he panted out, giving the best wave he could manage at the moment.
Evony stood there arms crossed. The ball got sent back to her, but since he was already safe she opted for throwing it back to the middle. "Hey," she greeted with a laugh mixed in. She went to congratulate him on doing good when the next person came up-Zart-and kicked the ball straight to the second crate.
Thomas took off again, sliding his way onto the home plate and cheering when he got there. She saw Newt and Frypan come and clap him on the shoulder, along with Max who had also recently made it all the way around.
It continued like that for only a few more seconds and in the next moment Zart was lying helplessly on the ground. Aaron had somehow gotten ahold of the ball and chucked the thing over to the gardener. Obviously that was the point of the game. The only problem was his placement, and how it hit the poor boy square in the privates.
"Alright," Alby blew his whistle loudly. She didn't even know where he got a whistle from-she was guessing he asked the creators for it at some point. "Switch places; Zart, you sit out until you're functional again."
The boy in question nodded while the two teams changed positions. Now Evony, Minho and everyone else on her team were getting ready to kick. She was standing in line-fourth from the front-behind Minho, who was cracking his knuckles in anticipation. He leaned back so he could speak to her. "I'm going to hit a home run," he wiggled his eyebrows, "Just you wait and see."
"I'm sure you will," she taunted back with a scoff. There was no doubt in her mind that the boy would be able to run around all three crates and make it back to the start. He was one of the most athletic people in the glade, after all.
Evony spotted Thomas passing the ball back and forth in his hands, shifting on his feet as he prepared to roll the ball. Somehow the boy had become a pitcher for the team; she figured it had something to do with getting revenge on Aaron.
The first person up was Jeff. His turn went perfectly normal, and he ended up at the second crate. Then Gally was up. The builder gave a running start before sending the ball high into oblivion. She watched him take off around the first two crates, but just as he came close to the third, the ball was thrown by Thomas and hit the older boy directly in the back.
The brunete fist-pumped at his victory, a bright smile on his lips. His eyes lit up with excitement, looking at her with the same expression. She gave him two thumbs up in return, and somehow his grin got even bigger.
Next was Minho.
He winked at her, mouthing a quick 'watch this' before he stepped up to the plate. Thomas rolled the ball.
Minho kicked the ball.
And then Thomas was wiped flat on the ground, holding his hands over his stomach. Her eyes went wide; the ball had made a beeline for the boy's stomach, making direct contact with his gut.
The Keeper-knowing the pitcher was distracted-continued to run gleefully around the three crates until he made it back to the home plate. His hands went up as he cheered in a victory dance with his fellow teammates. Evony gave a quick nod of accomplishment but kept her gaze firmly set on the greenie out in the field.
He was clenching his knees up to his chest as he laid in the fetal position. Seeing him laying there still made her debate running over to help him. However, Newt beat her to it, him crouching down and helping him stand back up.
Stumbling a tad from getting the air wiped out of him, Thomas dusted his back off and picked back up the ball that someone had rolled to him. He glanced over to her again-like he had done earlier except now with a drowsy expression-and softly smiled at her. Reluctantly she gave back a thumbs up, half laughing when he pouted his lip in return.
The sound of Albys whistle shrilled against her ears, the piercing noise being much closer than she would've thought. Turns out he was standing almost directly behind her, ordering the boys in the back of the line to stop messing around. "Thomas, back on your feet! We have a game to finish."
A couple boys guffawed at his statement to which the leader whistled again-this time in their ears. "Rule number two!" he yelled at them.
"We weren't attacking him-"
Another whistle. "Verbal violence is still harmful to some egos. Jake, go sit out."
Evony stifled a laugh, bringing a hand up to cover the grin that was peeking through her lips. Even Minho scoffed from next to her, "Shanks," he muttered slowly.
The game went on, and after many tackles and whistles Alby finally called it quits on that activity. In the end, the total score was 6-3, with her team in the lead. Sure she was proud that she had won, but she hated-hated-seeing Aaron get the applause. Though she knew she couldn't let that feeling linger, because next was the food fight; chances were someone would get there pay-back there
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"You're actually going to let us use all of this?" Evony asked in astonishment. She sat with her feet dangling off the Cookhouse counter as she watched Frypan count the amount of bags of flour he had laid out. Scanning the area she saw several more food objects that were soon to be used. The large quantity actually shocked her; Frypan didn't like to give up his food, well up till now.
"Apparently so," he gruffed, "If we all starve to death do not go blaming it on me."
She laughed, hopping off the counter and crouching down next to the supplies. There were baskets of soft tomatoes, bowls of smushed potatoes, some sort of brown sauce, and bags of flour. And that was only what she could currently see.
Frypan walked around the hut to the back. "I also made three helpings of my stew for us to use." He hung his head with a sigh, "Such perfection gone to waste."
Evony grabbed a ladle from one of the shelves and dipped it into one of the soup bowls. Bringing the liquid up to her lips, she slurped it down with a smirk. "It really is a shame; this is really good."
He sarcastically laughed back, placing a hand over his heart, "I appreciate the sentiment, Evy."
"I'm always here." she said, mimicking back the hand over heart action. The door to the hut then swung open; in walked Newt and Alec who were both blushing a very bright red. There was only a moment of confusion though, because as soon as she looked down she saw their connected hands; she smirked.
"Hi, boys."
Alec waved with his free hand but stopped when he proceeded to get dragged over by Newt. Evony wasn't even trying to conceal her smile; neither was Frypan, it seemed. He gestured his head towards them questionably and she nodded back, clarifying that she was seeing exactly what he was.
Newt picked up a bag of flour and passed it over to a charcoal haired boy, keeping their hands intertwined the entire time. "Do we need to get more help? How much do we have to work with? Newt fired out the questions with a raised eyebrow. Alec stayed silent by his side, his face becoming more red by the second. Again she glanced down; the blonde was now rubbing small circles on the back of the boy's hand.
Evony kept quiet, silently beaming with excitement at her friend's actions. "I think we should be fine. Probably a couple trips to carry all the supplies, though."
Newt nodded, and the four of them began the tiresome process of carrying all the baskets and buckets out to the picnic tables. Outside was where the rest of the gladers were waiting, chatting amongst themselves to pass the time. She spotted Thomas talking with Chuck-away from the main cluster-both laughing at something.
Deciding to join them, she waved goodbye to Frypan and the smiley boys and made her way over. When she did get over there, Thomas was in the midst of telling Chuck something-she could tell from the excited hand movements. She snuck up behind the younger boy, placing both hands on his shoulders and making him let out a high pitched scream.
"Who- Evy! That's not funny!" He whined, crossing his arms with a pout. Chuck scrunched his nose at the girl, peering over his shoulder to Thomas. "He was in the middle of telling me his plan."
She eyed the brunete, "You have a plan? For what?
Thomas froze, "Uh- it's nothing."
"No it's not!" Chuck squealed, "He's going to dump a bag of flour down Aaron's pan-"
A hand slapped against the little boy's mouth-Thomas' hand. The brunete glanced wearingly up at a wide-eyed Evony. Her head shook back and forth, "I don't even want to know."
"He didn't actually mean it, it was a joke." Thomas pleaded, "I'm dumping it down his shirt-"
"That's no fun," Chuck cut through. Both teens met the sloppers gaze before they met each -other's. Thomas pressed his lips together, running a hand against the base of his jawline. Evony on the other hand held a scolding look in her eye. "As much as I would love to see that go down. I don't know if it's a good idea."
Chuck perked up, "Why not?" he asked, voice filled with disappointment.
Evony paused, "You know what, never mind what I said. You go ahead and do your plan."
"Really?"
"Really." she clarified. Thomas grinned mischievously and within a second he and Chuck ran over to the table where the bags of flour were located.
Boys.
She has been saying that a lot today.
Then Alby blew his whistle, and the fight was on. In a matter of second food was everywhere. Red splattered across the majority of the gladers shirts from the tomatoes. Whatever sauce Frypan had scrounged up from the kitchen was staining the white shirts of some of the boys. And the stew. The stew was everywhere, just like the mashed potatoes that somehow ended up in her hair.
She cupped her hands together and scooped a handful of stew before sneaking up behind Ben and splashing it on his shirt. Out of pure fright, he spun around and flung the bit of flour he had in his hand at her face. The powder-white substance coated her cheeks and eyelashes, which she had to blink off to be able to see clearly.
"Evony?"
"Ben?"
"Evony!"
"Ben!" she yelled back, except the boy wasn't there. Confused, she turned her head searching for the missing person. It was only nearly seconds later when he came back with a handful of stew and dumped it on her back just like she had done to him.
"Shuck." She wiped off the bits of food off of her lower back, shaking out her shirt in the process. Ben tauntingly waved goodbye and ran off towards the direction of Gally, spooning another handful of the meal on his way. Her gaze then drifted to the right, where she saw Thomas sneaking up on Aaron. He stayed as low as possible as he came up the builders backside and dumped the containments down his shirt.
One second. Two seconds. And by the third second the builder had gripped Thomas by the collar of his shirt, reached behind him for a handful of mashed potatoes and shoved it down the poor boy's pants.
The brunete jumped up and down at the unpleasant feeling, his hands waving to the side in a panic. Aaron had already left, leaving the boy alone with his new problem. From where she was standing Evony was bursting out laughing, completely unable to hold it in.
She jogged over to him, grabbing his wrist and pulling him away from the crowd. He was covered head to toe in a mixture of stew, flour and tomatoes, yet she could still see the anxious tone his whole body took on.
"Help, please- oh my- shit," he stuttered out, still moving uncomfortably from the mushed substance.
Evonys eyes widened at his first statement, shaking her head side to side, a teasing grin still on her face, "Sorry, Thomas. I can't help you with that."
He muttered out another string of curse words which made her chuckle. She was so caught up in watching the exhilarating scene in front of her that she didn't notice someone come up behind the two of them. In a matter of seconds a layer of brown liquid covered both of their heads. Thomas yelped and bounced around some more while she searched for the culprit.
There, standing in front of her, was none other than Alec. His eyes were wide, and it seemed as if he was desperately trying to keep a grin from appearing on his face. "Evony- I shouldn't have done that." he rushed out.
She gave him a look of reassurance, "You're all good, that's the point of a food fight, anyway."
She couldn't help notice the way he was more confident around the blonde rather than when he was talking to her or anybody else. Alec quickly nodded then sprinted back off into the crowd-probably to find the other Second-in-Command.
The fight went about another five minutes before Alby blew his whistle and called everybody back in a huddle. Thomas had still been struggling with his pants, so she gripped him by the wrist and dragged him over. Just like how she always did.
"Now that's over we will move onto the next activity. I want no complaints; this was highly voted amongst the Keepers," he ordered them all. Their heads nodded in sync as he spoke, agreeing to the terms.
Evony was excited-more excited than she had been for the other two games, because this one was her favorite. She gripped Thomas' wrist tighter, pulling him another step closer to her.
"Go find your partners," the leader commanded, "It's time for some old fashioned hide-and-seek."
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MAE's FUN NOTES
this was so chaotic and
I love every bit of it.
anyway thoughts on
Evonys hogwarts house?