It was strange how I hated everyone for acting like I was super weak and the way they were way too sweet toward me. Except for Gally. Alby could force a smile instead of his stern face and talk nicely instead of yelling commands all he want, and Clint could be concerned and careful with me, but both of them received angry responses from me. Except for Gally.
He wasn't his usual rude, arrogant self. He was way too sweet. Sweeter than I had ever seen him be toward anyone. And I let him. But I didn't understand why.
Well, I did, a little. He must've felt bad for me and, like a normal human, acted nice. But it kind of hurt that people could only act nice after I tried to kill myself, and not before that.
"It's nice weather outside, Val. Yesterday you told me you love hot weather. Come outside!" Gally begged a few days later. He had visited a few more times, and we just talked.
"Everyone's gonna stare."
"If I walk next to you, my eyebrows will draw a lot of attention off you."
"They're used to your eyebrows. They're not used to my limp. Or my face that they haven't seen in weeks."
He crossed his arms triumphant. "See? You've been here for weeks, so it's better to come outside. You can't keep hiding forever."
I let myself fall back down dramatically. "I can if I want to."
"But you won't. I'll carry or drag you."
A scoff escaped my mouth. "You can't carry or drag me."
"I can drag you with one single hand. Bet I could carry you in one arm?" He grinned, raising an eyebrow.
"Show off." I rolled my eyes.
"It's not show off. It's the truth, definitely. You're like half my size."
I frowned. "I'm not. You're like six-feet-two. I'm six feet."
"You barely make it to five seven."
"I'm five-feet-five, that's not small! It's one hundred sixty-five centimeters."
"I'm one hundred eighty-eight."
"I give up."
"As you should, Ginger."
I sighed, not knowing what to do. Even I knew I had to come outside sometime. "Fine, I'll come outside. But if they ask, I'll blame you."
"You're not forbidden to go outside. They won't ask you why you are." He chuckled.
With another exhale, I climbed out of bed and looked down at my clothes. Black shorts and a white vest. That was fine. And then I looked up at Gally.
Maybe I was quite small after all.
I barely came an inch above his shoulder. But it wasn't just his tallness that made me look small... no, he had broad shoulders and a nice pair of arms (and muscles). I didn't know why I hadn't realized it before, but not I definitely knew he was strong. And big. Newt might've been taller than him, but he was slim. Very slim, compared to Gally.
"Ready?"
"Nope."
"Awesome, Ginger. Let's go." He took my arm.
"Woah!" Realization hit me deeply.
"What?"
"I'm standing."
My eyes widened and my heart began to pound.
He scratched the back of his head. "Looks like it."
"No, but like, I'm standing. On my leg." I looked down at the thing. It was less bandaged by now, and less thick.
"Can you walk?" He asked.
I shrugged. "I hope. Haven't tried it yet."
"Then we will now."
It didn't hurt to stand on my leg, but the thought of walking and putting weight on it scared me, making me shiver. It felt so weird. "This is scary."
"If you fall, I'll catch you." He reassured me, though I wasn't reassured. "Trust me."
"I don't," I muttered. Eventually, I took a deep breath and stepped forward with my left leg, the one that wasn't broken. Well, neither of them was broken anymore, but you know...
"Aah," I yelled at the weird feeling. "I don't like this."
I looked at Gally, who was searching through a notebook. My notebook. His eyebrows were furrowed, but his eyes were playful.
"Give that back!" I ordered, afraid and angry at once. "That's mine and no one else's, so you should not be reading that."
He took steps away from me. Each time he did, I took steps forward at him, only focusing on the notebook.
He grinned. "Didn't know you could write poems, Ginger."
"Give me that," I said through my teeth. It didn't impress him in the slightest.
He walked all the way away from me until his back hit the wall. I kept walking toward him, grabbing the notebook out of his hands.
He still grinned. An unusual lot, staring at something behind me. I turned around and found my bed multiple feet behind me. My breathing got stuck in my throat.
"You can walk. All the way across the room."
"No, but you- no!" I stammered, ashamed he could distract me like that. "You distracted me. That's not fair."
"Does not change anything about the fact you walked here. And why wouldn't it be fair?" He chuckled in victory.
I shook my head, hoping to look angry, even though I was proud I did it. "Just do not open my notebook again."
"I'll think about it." He replied. "Now, let's go outside."
Before I had the chance the grumble, he pulled me with him by my arm.
Walking didn't feel the most comfortable, but the pain wasn't that bad. Each time I stepped forward with my left leg, a ton of weight made my limp sting. When I stepped with the right one, it felt like a spark of... electricity hit it.
He opened the front door of the Homestead without giving me a warning, and daylight brightened my eyes. I blinked a few times, afraid I would get blinded. The sun immediately fell on my skin, giving a warmth, but also uncomfortable dampness.
"Can we go back?"
"No."
"But-."
"Nope."
I sighed, a natural habit by now, and tucked some hair behind my ear. "What are we gonna do then? I won't be having a tea party with everyone if that's what you expect."
"We'll get lunch."
"And then?"
"Eat it."
"Wow, Captain Obvious."
"You asked what we would do."
"Who are we gonna sit with?"
"I see a table with Ben and Winston. You like those two, right?"
"They're fine."
"Awesome."
He took my arm again. I looked down, he told me to look up. I walked tiredly, he told me to look confident.
He was definitely big compared to me, jeez. His head just towered over me and I looked like a little bug.
He did distract me again. By talking, so I could ignore all the glances and stares. "You seem very happy. Is that really not supposed to concern me?"
"No. I have bad times and good times. Today, it's warm. That's good. Plus, I'm outside for the first time and no one has made a comment yet. I did not trip over anyone, almost get dr- uh, I mean... almost get... checked out?"
I shucked up. I did.
No one else knew what had happened in the woods the other day, and that they basically joked about drowning me. But, that wasn't too b- it was. They grabbed my wrists as I was crying and begging for them to let go. That's not a joke.
He didn't seem to notice I betrayed myself. Or he just hid it very well and didn't care either. I let out a relieved breath.
"Yo, Fry." Gally greeted. He seemed more cheerful than usual.
"Hey, Gally." His eyes widened. "And Valerie."
My cheeks gained a blush. "Hi, Frypan."
"Well, welcome back." He smiled warmly.
That was good. He didn't act weird, just surprised.
"Thanks." I smiled back, not fake, for once. It felt so strange to be happy and just like Gally told me, it was quite concerning that I was happy so fast.
"Lots of food because you had to live on the remnants all those weeks." He put bacon, a sandwich, some salad, and sauce down on my plate.
It indeed was a lot of food. But my appetite came back and it looked amazing. "Alright. Thank you, Fry."
Gally and I continued our way to Winston and Ben. I stared straight forward, ignoring glances and whispers as Gally's grip on my arm tightened.
And then we passed most of the Builders.
No one stuck their foot out. No one threw food. No one called me names. All they did was stare and share some whispers, too. Gally pretended like they didn't even exist, forcing me to walk past them faster.
"That was okay." He assured. "Can't confirm they'll always stay like this, but for now, it's okay."
I nodded right before we stood at Ben and Winston's table. They looked up by feeling Gally's shadow fall over them. First, they seemed surprised once they saw me, but then they smiled.
"Gally, Val." Ben started. "I was just convincing Winston to not kill Josephine. Sit down and help me, please."
I already let out a laugh and sat down next to Ben. Gally sat with Winston. "Who's Josephine?"
"A chicken," Ben explained. "But not just a chicken. She's tame."
"Aren't most chickens tame?"
"Josephine is special. I can pet her. Winston wants to kill her. Slaughter her!"
I giggled. "I'd like to see Josephine, then."
"Ben, you love chicken wings. Shut up and let me do my job." Winston told him.
He shook his head. "No. Josephine is built different. Josephine's wings aren't edible. Oh, and there she is."
He pointed at a small chicken. Her feathers were light brown, mixed with white, and she was tiny enough to disappear into Gally's arms (I speak out of experience).
"Ahw." I smiled.
"It's a chicken." Gally spat out. "Not a dog. Dogs aren't cute either, though."
"Cute doesn't even exist in your vocabulary and it doesn't surprise me," Ben confirmed. "Val, help save Josephine. We'll adopt her."
"We will."
"What?" The other two their faces dropped.
But Ben already took a piece of bread and made noises toward Josephine. "Come on, Josy. I've got foodddd."
The chicken casually walked over to him and started picking the bread on his hands. "Val, you try it too."
I laughed again, getting some peanuts out of my salad and feeding them to the chicken. She poked in my hand softly, making noises.
"Ew. It's a chicken and she likes peanuts. I don't like her. Peanuts are disgusting. Chickens are too." Gally pulled a face.
"Ah, shut up," Ben commanded. "Josephine is-."
"If Minho will see you drooling over a chicken, he'll probably ban you from the Runners." Gally cut him off.
"Then that's too bad."
As if it was nothing, Ben took the animal in his arms and let me pet her, causing me to laugh even more.
"Yep. She's officially adopted by us now." Ben grinned. "So Winston, if you kill her, I'll throw you off the Cliff."
"Scary." He rolled his eyes. "But fine. Josephine will not be killed."
"Awesome! But you better not kill Dorothy."
"Dorothy is on your plate. Like, right now." Winston motioned at the meat on Ben's plate.
The boy's face fell. His eyebrows scrunched and he held his chest, pretending his heart was broken. "My Dorothy."
"It's a pig."
"You're a pig."
"Says you."
Dinner with those two was surprisingly fun, turned out. And Gally kept mocking about how he hated peanuts and chickens. And then-
"Are you seriously going to eat all that?"
Happy mood; gone.
I looked up, meeting Carl's eyes. The hell did I ever do to that dude that made him hate me so much?
"Yeah. Any problems with it?" I snapped.
Everyone else on the table fell silent, except for Josephine. Ben almost dropped her, though.
Carl leaned in and whispered to just me, "No, I don't. Maybe it'll make you gain weight so next time you'll actually drop dead."
The color drained away from my face and goosebumps formed all over my body as Carl wandered off again.
"What did he say?"
"Nothing."
"Valerie."
I stared right back at him. "Gally."
"What did he say?"
Why would I tell them such a shameful thing? My happiness of being alive ebbed away again. Indeed, I should've been dead. All I did was walk around the Glade and pet some stupid chicken.
"Val."
"Gal."
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and opened them again. "Tell us what he said."
"So you can go beat the klunk out of him?"
"I will if I have to."
"You don't have to do anything to-."
"Guys." Ben interrupted. "Let's just not, okay? Gally won't beat up anyone, and Valerie won't tell us what he said if she doesn't feel comfortable."
"I don't like that idea."
"I like that idea."