LANGUAGE BARRIER

“ Tina, guess what. ”

“ What? ” I say, while thanking the Cook who lazily splattered a spoonful of stew into my bowl.

Fry grabs a piece of bread, throwing it at me. It bounces off my shoulder and falls onto the ground with a thump.

I stare back, unimpressed.

“ You were supposed to catch that, by the way.” He says, while placing another one delicately into my bowl.

“ I'm using both hands to hold your god forsaken stew. ” I point out, my nose wrinkling dramatically as I take in a whiff of the meal.

“  Good point.” He says, winking at me, then turning towards another guy.

I shake my head in confusion, then eye the crowd at the tables. I don't see anybody I'd like to talk to right now, so I walk over to the Tower, where no one seems to be eating.

I get a few weird glances as I walk by, my presence disrupting people's routines, but I ignore them. At this point, I'm so mentally exhausted from everything that I can't seem to even acknowledge the lookers.

I take a bite of my stew, my stomach curdling like spoiled milk at the taste. I've noticed my tolerance for food in general has gone down, not just for eggs anymore.

Distracted, I take another bite, not hearing Alby and the mystery kid approaching until too late.

“ Look Greenie, I don't have all shucking day
If you don't stop asking all these questions, then I won't be able to explain.”

“ Who's she? ”

I quickly force the food in my mouth down, running my tongue over my teeth, checking for debris.

“ Look's like you'll have your hands full, Alby. This kid thinks he's Sherlock Holmes or something.” I quip, placing my bowl on the ground.

“ Well, whatever he is, I've had enough of it.” Alby spits out, obvious not amused.

The Greenie pipes up, his voice shaking as he talks.

“ Who are you? ” He says, repeating the question.

Rolling my eyes, I finally turn to face the newest arrival.

I wish I hadn't.

In the box, I had perceived him as guy with brown hair, moles and freckles dotting his face. I had deemed him average.

But up close, he was absolutely breathtaking. Not handsome in the jaw dropping, palm sweating way. He wasn't attractive in a way that would had everybody drooling over him. He was handsome in the way his eyes gleamed in the sun, my reflection dancing in front of me in them. His eyebrows, furrowed in the way that gave him a thoughtful, almost wise look. And his nose. Oh God, his nose. It's perfect little slope flipping off towards the sky, the way a little crease had formed on the bridge, as if he had a habit of pinching it.

I'm fucked, I think, my head feeling like its spinning off its axel.

“ Is she the only girl? Why is she here? What's her name? Why is she the only girl?” The Greenie rapid fires most of the questions.

Alby looks at me as if to say ; You see what I'm dealing with?

I force a little smile, still feeling like the wind was just blown out of me.

“ I'm Valentina.” I say, decidedly not putting my hand out for him to shake.

Alby beckons the Greenie up the treehouse ladder, talking as he does. “ She's off limits. That means you too, Greenie. No exceptions, or you'll wish we had banished you to the Greivers.”

The boy blushes, his eyes wide. “ I wasn't - I mean, I wouldn't - Wait, Greivers?” He stutters out, looking from me to Alby.

“ They're the cutest little kittens we keep in that hut over there. ” I deadpan, walking away.

“ See ya, Tina. ” Alby calls, turning his attention from me to the Greenie.

I immediately make a beeline for the Homestead, ignoring everything and everybody else. I run inside, leaving the door wide open. I maneuver my way around some of the kids eating in here, and open the door to Max's room in a huff. He looks up from his notebook, his eyes the size of saucers.

“ Max. Max, I don't care what you're doing right now, I need your help.” I look down at his notebook, where almost indecipherable handwriting is scrawled all over the pages  “ What are you doing? ” I ask, genuinely curious.

“ Documentation. You understand, like a biography. I hope to write a book once I go home. What's wrong with you, Valentina? You are tomato.”

“ I'm tomato?” I parrot, my eyes getting closer to my nose as my face scrunches up in confusion.

“ Yes. Very much so.” He mumbles, looking back down at his work.

“ Okay, sure, I'm tomato.” I say, moving the conversation along. “ Have you seen the new Greenbean? ”

“ Ah! The one who wishes to die?”

“ Y- Wishes to die?”

Max just nods, as if that statement made perfect sense.

“ Max! ” I yell, startling him from his documentation

“ What's going on? ” Minho says, waltzing into the room with Steven in tow.

“ Apparently, I'm tomato.”  I say, frowning down at Max.

“ You mean, you are a tomato?” Steven asks, a small crooked smile creeping onto his face.

“ No Stevie, don't be ridiculous. I'm tomato. ” I repeat, looking pointedly at the french boy, who still has yet to look up.

“ Oh. He gets sayings like that mixed up. Yesterday he told me he was going to find some Z's. I think he meant catching Z’s, as in sleeping, but I have no idea. He was probably comparing you to a tomato. You kinda are pretty red.” Steven fills in.

Before I can reply, shouts erupt into the room from outside.

“ What the shuck?” Minho yells, running outside.

I decide to lightly jog out, with Max walking beside me.

God knows where Steven went.

The shouts seem to becoming from one of the Doors. I see Gally, Newt and…

The Greenie.

Suddenly I'm sprinting, my legs carrying me faster then my breath can run. I'm wheezing, but I don't care.

This kid is going to be the death of me

I get there just in time to see the Doors close, marking another day in my calendar titled emprisonnement.

“ Next time, I'm gonna let you leave. ” Gally spits, storming off to god knows where. I look in between him and the new kid, but he's surrounded by others, and I can't bring myself to abandon Gally.

“ Keep away from him, Valentina. There's something off about the new Greenie, and I don't want you getting pulled into whatever he's trying to do.” Gally grunts out before I can even catch my breath.

“ What? ”

“ Just do this for me! ” He shouts as I flinch backwards, his hands coming down hard on my shoulder.

“ Okay. Okay, it's fine, I'll be wary of him. What's wrong with you? ”

“ I'm fine. I'll see you, Valentina.”

He leaves as quickly as that whole interaction seemed to have passed.

I look back at the Greenie, fast enough to see him  divert his gaze from where Gally was standing. I make eye contact with Minho, who shrugs, then goes back to talking with Newt

I turn to the Greenie for another time, and he must have sensed me looking, because his gaze immediately snaps back to mine. His mouth opens like a question is about to spill out, but I shake my head.

I'll be wary pops back into my head.

I turn around, heading towards the kitchens.

Leading a fucking shit show of a life really starves you

a/n

unedited, sorry for typos

i apologize for the wait, aswell.

as always

stay safe

xoxo claire