Danielle's P.O.V
The Greenie, Gally and I arrive at the edge of the forest in little time, most of the other builders scattered around either chopping wood, looking over some designs or on the other half of the field actually building.
Gally is the first to stop, the Greenie stopping opposite him as I continue walking over to the nearest tree stump to sit.
"I'm guessing Dani has already explained the training situation?" Gally asks the Greenie, who shakes his head no. "Was about to, but then fell asleep." I admit from where I was sat, raising my left hand into the air.
"Well. It's simple enough. You're given half a day with each keeper, learning how a small portion of that job works. After the 3 days you've spent training, all us keepers speak with Alby and agree which role you suit best. It always changes, but the one thing that is definite right now is that you won't be given the role of a runner. So there is no need to train as one." Gally explains.
"Why?" The Greenie asks, making Gally's expression change. One thing Gally does not like, is being challenged or questioned. I only just get away with it at times. "Rule one with training and working as a builder. Don't question me." Gally snaps, not having much patience already.
It's not a secret that Gally doesn't like change. Which is always so confusing for both him and the rest of us when a new Greenie arrives. He's always so excited to see the new guy, thinking that he in himself has changed since the last time and is more patient now but the second the greenie questions him (which everybody has learnt not to do except for Alby, Newt and surprisingly me) he snaps and in a way loses it again.
"Gally..." I say in a sing-song voice, grabbing his attention. "Take it easy on him. He's only been here a few hours." I say softly, not wanting to add anymore tension to the situation.
Gally nods his head and takes a deep breath, turning back to the Greenie. "Alby doesn't want any more Greenies becoming Runners for the time being. But, we are always in need of Greenies being in other jobs. Like building. So, first thing I need to do is see how strong you are. To do so, I need you to carry Dani to the other builders and back without dropping her." Gally orders, gesturing for me to stand up.
I slowly saunter over to the man and raise my hands up a little. "I still don't get why they have to carry me of all people." I huff, already knowing what Gally's response was going to be.
"Because you're small Dani. Small and light." He responds, saying the exact words I knew he was going to. "I'm not that small!" I protest, standing beside Gally which was completely counteracting my point. Gally looks down at me with an eyebrow raised. "You don't count, you're one of the tallest guys here! I mean, I'm not the shortest person here." I explain, Gally's eyebrow still raised.
"Danielle, being taller than Chuck does not count. The guy is 13 years old. You're 17." Gally bickers back, basically winning the debate. I sigh loudly and shake my head with a smile, turning back to the Greenie who was watching our interaction intently.
"You're going to want to lose the shirt. We don't have any spare clothes for you yet and you're going to be sweating by the time you get back." Gally says to the Greenie, side-eyeing me as he says the last part deliberately to tease me.
"Hey!" I shout, slapping his arm as hard as I could (which I knew whouldn't do any permanent damage) and making Gally squeal. "No, I meant in this heat, Princess. You weigh nothing."
I smile again and the Greenie rids himself of his shirt, tossing it to a nearby tree and opening his arms for me to go into. "How do you want to do this?" He asks as I approach him. "Depends if you want to be a builder or not." I reply.
"What do you mean?" He asks. I lean forward to whisper in his ear. "I mean, if you want to be a builder then you're going to have to impress Gally. Therefore giving me a piggyback isn't a preferable option." I whisper, pulling back so that the Greenie could choose. He nods his head and motions for me to wrap an arm around his neck, which I do, and he lifts me off my feet with ease. "They're just there." Gally points out, and the Greenie breaks into a jog.
He carries me there and back with ease, the heat surrounding us making him sweat a little bit but by now I'm used to it.
"I see what he means, Dani. You really don't weigh anything." The Greenie says with a chuckle, somewhat making Gally smile. "See. I'm not the only one who thinks it." Gally says as the Greenie places me back on the floor.
"Ok, whatever." I chuckle, sassily rolling my eyes. "Am I done here?" I ask, feeling a little bored. Gally throws me a look over his shoulder and slowly nods his head. "Uh... Yeah. Tell Newt I said to annoy you a little extra today." Gally says, somewhat disappointed. I laugh and shake my head. "Later Gally. Bye Greenie."
~~~~~
Before going to the fields, Jeff and Clint called me into the Med-Jack hut to assess what they were doing. Winston happened to get bitten by some of the livestock we have, and they weren't entirely sure how to take the situation. Whether it was a big thing or not. Turns out, it wasn't as fatal as they were thinking it was. It was merely a small bite that needed dressing. And when I was done there, I went across the field to where the gardening fields were, spotting Zart by one of the edges.
My feet beeline for him, and once I reach him he looks up with a smile. "Hey. Is New-" I start, but don't need to finish as he was already answering me. "He's over there." He says, pointing to the field to the left of us. And, as I follow his finger I spot Newt gardening on the edge of his plantation.
"Thanks, Zart." I respond, giving him a kind smile before patting his shoulder gently and moving past him to take the spare wheelbarrow they always have. I might as well make myself useful while I'm here.
I practically run down to where Newt was working, skidding to a stop once I reach him.
"Hey, love." Newt greets, not having to look up to know it was me. "Hey." I reply, sitting a little across from him and reaching forward to start pulling the mature vegetables from the ground and toss them into the spare wheelbarrow.
"What's the new Greenie like? What's your bets?" He asks, joining me in tossing the vegetables into my wheelbarrow. "He's sweet, and funny too. I can already tell he'll get along with us with ease." I respond, going to continue before I get a weird look from Newt.
"What?" I ask, smiling at him. "He's sweet? What do you mean?" He asks, turning back to the vegetables in front of him.
"I mean he knows not to question things and is good at throwing a bit of banter. Why? You jealous, Newtie?" I tease, knowing I probably shouldn't be annoying Newt while he was working, but then again that was what our whole friendship was based on.
Newt looks at me and starts laughing. "You think I'm scared that he'll steal my best friend? Nah, I'll let him deal with you. You can be quite a handful. I'd give him 2 days of having you annoy him and he'd hand you straight back." Newt replies, as deadpan as he can.
I let my bottom jaw hang open wide as I let out a fake laugh. "Ow! I'm so hurt!" I say sarcastically, putting my hand over my chest. "You should be Dani, you're the hardest to control of all the shanks here." Newt continues, a cheeky grin breaking through his serious expression. I fake being even more hurt and think of what I can do to get him back. Only seeing the vegetables and the-
Dirt.
I sneakily grab a handful of dirt and throw it at Newt, having most of it hit his cream shirt and a little hit his neck. I laugh mischieviously as he stands there shocked, only being there for a few seconds before grabbing some himself and throwing it back, having it hit my boobs and my hair.
My hands grip my hair and I look into it, seeing the dust, dirt and a little bit of mud that was now mixed into its usual dark colour. "Newt! We've just had shower day!" I cry, not usually being one to be so girly seeming as I have no memories of any girls to be like. Newt pouts meladramatically and brings his hands to his face, wiping a little dirt onto it. "Oh no..." He says in a baby voice, "Did I get it in your hair?" He mocks.
I smile despite myself and grab another handful of dirt, making sure to get a little mud in there too, as secretly as I could before standing up and walking over to Newt. He watches me carefully until I am stood right in front of him, his eyes going wide as I dump the handful of dirt onto the top of his head.
I giggle uncontrollably. "You're going to pay for that..." He murmurs, then grabs me by the waist and throws me over his shoulder, his fingers attacking my me. "Stop!" I squeal between my boughts of laughter, wriggling in his tight grip.
Out of nowhere we hear shouting from the treeline, which makes Newt stop immediately. He places me carefully back down on the floor and the two of us make our way to the inside end of the fields, seeing Zart running towards us.
"Dani! Newt! It's Gally and the Greenie!" He shouts to us, making Newt and I break out into a sprint immediately.
I outrun Newt easily (due to his limp and partially down to my own speed) and reach the crowd of people in less than a minute. "Move!" I shout to the crowd, shoving through them to reach the two in the middle.
Gally was getting pretty close to the Greenie as the Greenie was saying something from through his teeth. Whatever he was saying was angering Gally, and if I didn't step in now I knew that they would have thrown some punches.
"Stop!" I shout as loudly as I can, stepping inbetween them and pushing their chests hard so that they had to take a step back and be far away from eachother. The Greenie doesn't stop though.
"I told you to stop calling me that name!" "I told you I'd happily call you a shank instead." Gally seethes, trying to push my arm out of the way. "STOP IT NOW!" I shout again, holding my arms as open as I can.
"DANIELLE! STAY OUT OF THIS! I DON'T WANT TO HURT YOU!" Gally yells at me, making me waver a little under his gaze as I wouldn't put it past him to actually hurt me in the crossfire. Thankfully, Newt pushes through the crowd and stands behind me, his hand replacing mine on Gally's chest as he carefully moves me out of the way.
There aren't many people Gally won't pick a fight with around here, but Newt is one of them. The younger boy's status of authority scares him a little. It just sucks that I am still one of those people Gally will fight, even though I'm one of the only people who can actually calm him down effectively too. He and I are basically cat and cat. One minute we are great together and then the next when the other is mad at something we can either calm them down or get ourselves into our own fight.
"Gally, remember rule 2 and 4." Newt barks, staring the older boy in the eyes. Gally doesn't back down, instead sending daggers to the Greenie through his eyes.
"What are they?!" Newt says firmly, as I look between the two boys. Gally sighs and looks down to the floor. "Don't harm another Glader and don't touch the girl unless she has given you explicit consent to do so." He says, closing his eyes to pass the rest of his anger.
"Good." Newt quips, turning around to the crowd once more. "Ok, back to work." He says to the others, making them disperse so it was just the four of us.
"I think you both owe Dani an apology." Newt says, his assertive side coming through seeming as Alby wasn't here right now. "Sorry, Dani..." The Greenie mumbles, stepping away from my hand to reveal a dirty handprint on his bare chest.
I look to Gally as he steps away from Newt's hand, revealing the same handprint on his chest. He wraps his arms around my body, proving a little hard due to the large height difference in us. "Sorry, Dani. I lost myself again didn't I..." He whispers into my hair. I hug him back and nod my head. "Yeah, you did." I say, slightly annoyed. "Thankyou. Both of you." He says, looking between Newt and I. We both nod our heads and I step away from him, turning my attention to the mess Newt and I were both in.
"I don't know if it will happen agai-" Gally starts to say before Newt cuts in. "We aren't leaving you two alone now. We will stay here with you, I can tell you that now." Newt looks to me as I nod my head agreement, looking to the Greenie and gesturing for him to come over. "We'll go and get some water for us to clean off. You two stay here and cool off." I say, grabbing the Green Bean's arm and dragging him away from Gally.
We walk in silence for the first part of the walk, reaching the Med-Jack hut without uttering a word to one another. It was only when I was filling up a basin with luke water that he finally said something. "I only asked him to stop calling me Greenie." He mumbles, making me sigh.
"We have nothing else to call you until you remember your name so-" "I remembered." He says, looking down to his hands. I raise my eyebrows and he notices when he glances up. "I was trying to tell him I had remembered but he just blew off at me before I could tell him. I lost it and shouted back..."
I take a deep breath and sit beside the boy, placing my hand on his shoulder. "Gally has anger issues in some sorts, he can't neccessarily control it all the time and that was definitely one of those times. You've just got to learn when those moments occur. But the more pressing question is, who are you then?" I explain.
"Elijah." The Greenie says, making me smile once more. "See, I told you it would be something unique." I say, nudging his shoulder with my own which makes him smile. I get up again and head back to the sink, turning the tap off and tossing a few cloths into the water for Newt and I to clean ourselves with.
"Hey, Elijah?" I ask, turning around again. "Yeah?" He asks, peeling at the dead skin on his hands. "Look at me a second." I tell him, and he lifts his head to look at me. I notice a small cut on his cheekbone and a graze above his top lip, and a frown appears on my face. "Did Gally do that to you?" I ask, turning back to my shelves and grabbing an antiseptic cream.
Elijah laughs and shakes his head, taking the basin of water away from me as I tried to carry that and everything else in my small arms. "No, he didn't. Though I'm sure he would've added more if you hadn't of stepped in in time. Actually, I accidentally hit myself in the face with an axe. Handle side to my face thankfully, but still." He chuckles, following me across the field again. "Oh, Eli..." I laugh.
Our laughing fizzles out after a few seconds, and just as we were approaching the others again Elijah continues to talk. "Eli... I think I like it." He says, mentioning the nickname I had just called him. I smile proudly and walk past Newt and Gally, motioning for Eli to put the basin of water on the tree stump as I threw everything else to the floor.
I drop my hands into the warm water and grab one of the cloths, taking it out and wringing it before facing Elijah again. "I feel like it's a lot easier to say than just Elijah." I smile, wiping away the dirty handprint on his chest. Once I've cleared that away I dab the cloth on his cheekbone, just as Newt and Gally make their way over.
"I agree, it has a nice ring to it." Eli agrees, watching me as I threw the cloth back into the basin and grabbed the cream. "What are you guys talking about?" Newt asks, crossing his arms over his chest. "Greenie's name." I say happily, wiggling my eyebrows. My fingers press the tube of cream so that a little pea appears on my finger.
"Well? What is it Greenie?" Gally asks, a little bitterness in his voice. "Sorry, this is going to sting." I whisper to him as I bring my finger to the cut on his cheekbone. He winces as I dab it onto his cheekbone, his tongue whipping out over his lips as he readies himself to answer the question. "Elijah." Eli responds, having the two guys behind him nod their heads.
"I'll tell Alby as soon as he's back." Newt says, stepping behind me. His hand presses against the small of my back so he wouldn't fall over, leaving a little tingle in his wake. I add some of the cream to my thumb and carefully cup Eli's chin, rubbing my thumb over the graze above his top lip.
"There you go. Gally, come here." I order, gesturing for Gally to come over. I hold my hand out towards Newt, so that he can give me a cloth which I then use to wipe the dirt mark from Gally's chest. "Right, get on with it then you two." I smile, turning back to Newt.