❝just a washed out finish❞

MINHO WAS REALLY STARTING TO PISS JEM OFF. Actually, a lot of people were starting to, and he did not really know why. Actually, that was a lie. He knew exactly why, but he refused to say it out loud or even think about it. He could not stop himself from staring at Iris at every chance he got, and his gaze automatically turned angry when she was talking to other guys for some reason.

"So, I told him to get the shuck out of there, and—" Gally started, but he cut himself off when he noticed that his best friend's attention was somewhere else yet again. That was the third time that conversation that Jem had drifted off. "Are you even listening to me?"

"Yeah, yeah," Jem assured him, even though he did not even make an attempt to make it seem like he was actually paying attention.

Gally shot him a look that showed that he did not believe him, but Jem could not even see it because he could not tear his eyes away from the scene of Iris and Minho laughing and smiling as they talked. A weird feeling swelled in his stomach as Gally groaned, "No, you're not. What is up with you, man?"

"What do you mean?" Jem questioned, finally turning his head and forcing himself to stop looking at the girl. He raised his eyebrows at his friend, wondering what he meant by what was up with him. He was perfectly fine. Nothing had happened recently...

"I mean your head's been up in the clouds lately, and every time I look at you, you're looking somewhere else," the Builder explained, and halfway through, he noticed that the dark-haired boy was looking away again. Gally finally just followed his gaze to see what the hell he was so focused on. "Like, right now, you're looking at — Oh, my God."

Gally's jaw dropped when he saw it, and Jem, hearing his exclamation, spun around to look at him to make sure that nothing had happened. "What?"

"You like Iris?" the boy with the buzz exclaimed, causing his friend to look around frantically and make sure that no one heard him because that would be really really bad. He could not have Iris thinking that he liked her because that would make things very weird and awkward, not that they weren't kind of awkward then.

"What?" Jem scoffed, waving off Gally and trying to play it cool. Playing it cool was kind of his strategy to do anything, and it worked about a third of the time. It was not the most effective method, but it was the one that he was alright at. "No, I don't. I hate her."

The Builder deadpanned at him, and it was obvious that he did not believe him. He was kind of scrambling, which meant that he was really antsy about it."You're looking at Minho like he just killed your cat. And the other day, you got all defensive when we were talking about her."

"Because I hate her and don't want to spend our quality time talking about her," Jem responded, shaking his head.

Gally seemed amused at the kid trying to make up excuses, and it was honestly entertaining because he had never seen Jem stutter and stumble over his words so much. "Since when do you give a crap about 'our quality time'?"

"I do not like Iris," Jem insisted finally. "She's annoying."

"Whatever you say," Gally responded with a shrug, but he was clearly not convinced. His smug grin got to be too much for Jem to bear, and the boy finally just scarfed down the rest of his food and headed to bed early. The whole night, however, all he could think about was what Gally said and what had happened in the Slicer Hut earlier that day.

《 ✢ 》

THE NEXT DAY WAS GREENIE DAY ONCE AGAIN. Around the late morning, they heard the sounds of the Box coming up. A crowd began to form around the grates as people waited eagerly for the new arrival. Iris pushed herself to the front because she told Minho that she would describe everything in great detail.

The machine made a whirring sound as the gate opened, revealing the cage-like top of the Box. She stood next to Jem, who just glanced at her quickly. She made eye contact with him for a split second before they looked down at the new guy.

He was holding up his hand, shielding his eyes from the bright light after being shut in the dark Box. Some people chuckled as they pulled open the top, and Gally was the one to jump down. He leaned over the boy who had scooted back, away from him.

"Day one, Greenie. Rise and shine."

There was some chatter and laughter as Gally grabbed him and threw him onto the grass above. He landed on his back and began scrambling away as he stared up at them with fear and confusion in his eyes. Frypan said, "I could use some help in the kitchen."

They all groaned in amusement when the Greenie climbed to his feet and just began running in a random direction, which happened to be toward one of the openings in the Wall.

"Hey, we got a Runner!" Zart yelled as they watched the boy in the blue shirt sprint away. Jem laughed loudly, but once he noticed Iris's eyes on him, he shut up. After a couple more seconds, the Grennie tripped over his own feet and face planted onto the ground.

Iris winced as the whooping continued and the boy climbed to his feet, spinning around and staring at his surroundings in question. Newt was on her other side, and they watched as a couple of guys headed over to where he was standing. She muttered, "Well, that went well."

"Yeah, we'll probably have to put him in the Pit for a bit to get him to calm down," he told her, which was not unusual because they had had to throw a good amount of people in the Pit after they came up. He shouted to the guys near the Greenie, "Hey, grab him and throw him into the Pit until he calms down!"

"I mean, they usually freak out, so he's not totally out of the ordinary," she pointed out with a shrug. Hopefully, the poor kid did not completely embarrass himself on his first day there. Teenager boys were merciless though, and she learned that the hard way.

"He'll have some fun living off that faceplant, though," Newt chuckled out, but he then realized that they had a job to do and he should probably take charge somehow while Alby dealt with the new kid. "Now, get to work. Start unloading."

Iris turned to him stiffly and brought two fingers to her head to salute him. "Sir, yes, sir."