I blinked at him, the thought finally registering in my mind that I might not have a name. Almost every single person had a name here I'm guessing. Why was I the only one without one? Why can't I remember?

"Uh." I sputtered. "I kinda...I-I..." I trailed off, knowing that my sentence was either going to result in a snarky comment or me crying. I would rather not get on these guys' bad sides, and I would also like to not cry in front of fifty of them.

"It's okay if you don't." Newt spoke up again, taking a step forward from behind the dark-skinned boy. I looked up at him, knowing that he could probably sense the vulnerability in my eyes. I wasn't sure if I was okay with that or not. "All of us have gone through the same thing you're going through."

"But you're all dudes." I spat out without thinking. After the words escaped from my mouth, I bit my tongue harshly, mentally face palming myself for being so stupid. Why was I spitting sassy comments at the guy who literally saved my life? Without him, I would probably still be in that box hyperventilating and just wishing that I would die.

Newt blinked and then bowed his head into a nod, letting out a breathy laugh. "Th-That's true. But—uh—I didn't remember m-my name when I came up in the Box, so I'm saying that if you don't remember yours for at least a couple of, uh, hours, that's completely fine. You know—"

"Newt." The dark-skinned boy placed a large hand on his shoulder. "Slim it."

I pursed my lips together, trying to hold back a sympathetic smile, realizing that I sent the boy into a panicky rant. The least I could do was be nice to the guy.

"I'm Alby." He slid his hand off of Newt's shoulder and started to walk towards me. I clenched my jaw, trying to keep myself from running away from him. On the outside, I was trying to hold my ground. Or, a piece of it. On the inside...I was screaming. "So...girl shank?"

"What?" I asked with a monotone voice. I could hear a few boys in the back giggle at me, and my eyes flicked towards them for only a moment before I wondered if what I had said was funny. I didn't think it was.

"You're a girl. We call you girl shank." His eyes narrowed in on me as he crossed his arms, trying to seem intimidating.

He was succeeding.

"What are we gonna do with you?" He asked himself, letting his eyes quickly graze down my figure. I inhaled a shaky breath at the thought of these boys looking anywhere other than my face. I didn't know what I looked like. I could either be freaking attractive, or I could be the ugliest person in the world. For some reason, I don't think that would stop them from staring.

I cleared my throat, causing his eyes to dart back up to my face. I gave him a cheeky smile, and pointed to myself. "Eyes are up here, buddy."

From the corner of my eye, I saw a hint of a smile flash across Newt's face. But it was overpowered by Alby's scowl. He started towards me, his eyes holding a crazed look as I stood my ground, my newfound confidence starting to shatter with every step he took.

"Whoops." I muttered to myself as he was now a foot away. But still, I didn't step back. I let him tower over me, his grip on the collar of my shirt as my eyes widened, immediately feeling my feet lift from the ground. Some of the boys from behind Alby started to walk towards us, but he ignored them, keeping his cold eyes on mine.

He nodded intending to threaten me. "You think you're funny, do you?"

I shrugged, pulling my head back enough so that I couldn't feel his breath mix with mine anymore. He smelled of sour milk. "To be completely honest, I don't really know what I think of myself right now." I looked past the boy holding me in the air and to Newt and some other guy who was advancing towards the pair of us. "But I know that I would like to be put down. So if you'll just..."

My voice trailed off as I felt Alby's body be pulled off of mine, and his fist finally is pried open enough that I could yank my shirt away from him. I started to smooth the fabric of my thin orange long-sleeved shirt, thankful that I had some piece of clothing underneath it. Along with everything else that has gone on today, I'm not sure that I want to add being overheated to the list.

"Get Chuck." A voice sounded from in front of me. I lifted my head again, seeing Newt speak to some other boy before turning to Alby. "The best idea is to have a Gathering. Chuck can watch her."

"I don't need someone to watch me." I furrowed my eyebrows at the boy. "I'm perfectly fine by myself. I sure as hell don't want another one of you creepy people watching me as I explore."

Alby held a hand up in my face. Literally, right in my face. I crossed my eyes and tried to stare at his palm, making sure there was nothing there that he wanted me to check. I shook my head at him. "You don't have shit on your hand, Alby. Now, will you get it out of my face, please, and thank you?"

A few of the boys laughed at this once again, but it just caused Alby to glare at me. This time, I did take a step back, not wanting him to pin me in the air again. He removed his hand from my face, and instead resulted in pointing to me. "Two things." He started. "Never. Ever. Talk to me like that again. Got it? I'm the leader around here, you don't want to get on my bad side."

I stared into his eyes, wondering if I should test him again, it seemed like these kids didn't get a lot of laughs around here. Maybe I wanted to change that by messing with him. But then, I remembered how I've only been here for less than an hour, and I was already getting on the leader's bad side, exactly like he warned me not to. So I just nodded, crossing my arms across my chest.

He sighed, relieved that he didn't have to snap at me again. "Good that. Now, the second point, you aren't going to explore."

"Why?" I asked, letting the words flow out of my mouth before I had time to catch them. Alby scoffed, glancing at Newt, who smirked at me and rubbed his bottom lip with his thumb, silently listening to us bicker.

I still couldn't shake the feeling like I knew him from somewhere.

"Why?" Alby's words broke me out of my trance. "Because you're new, and you're a shucking girl. Do you see any other girls runnin' 'round this stupid hellhole? Nah, ya don't, because you're the only one."

Thanks, captain obvious, I thought. I bit my bottom lip at the comeback, willing myself not to say it and get myself into any more trouble. Instead, I just sighed and shifted my weight onto my left leg, feeling bored with his speech already.

"Plus, you could get yourself in some real trouble if you go wandering around here during the day. I ain't gonna save you when you—"

"Alby." Newt interrupted him from going any further, making my eyebrows furrow, but I didn't speak. Was he gonna say something? Tell me something that he shouldn't have?

But he just shook his head, trying to calm himself down by waving his arms frantically around his head. "Someone just go find Chuck and tell him that he gets to take care of the new Greenie. Keepers go to the Council Hall."

Just as I was about to ask what I was gonna do in the meantime, everyone started to walk away, getting a few last-minute glimpses at me as I cocked my eyebrow at all of them, silently telling them to scram before I throw hands. But my knuckles still hurt from banging against the ceiling of the Box for so long. And now I was out, in what seemed like a much scarier box. Even if it was bigger. I bite the inside of my cheek, taking another look around at the walls. What was behind them? Why would I get in trouble if I wandered around?

Feeling a pang in my chest, I looked down at the grass, trying to get my thoughts away from what lurked beyond the grey concrete. I focused on trying to say girly names under my breath. I tested them on my tongue, feeling defeated when none of them struck a nerve. I wanted to be called something other than Greenie, or...what was the word they used?

"Girl shank?" I muttered to myself, wondering what the word meant.

But when I heard a faint chuckle from beside me, I looked up, feeling a blush crawl across my face. "It's best not to use the Glader slang for at least two weeks. It spares all of us the embarrassment." Newt smiled as he took a few cautious steps towards me.

I bowed my head and allowed a small grin to form on my lips. Suddenly, it all hit me like a ton of bricks. When I thought of it before, I had been interrupted by Alby and Newt trying to ask me questions or giving orders to other boys. But now that I was alone with Newt, and with nobody around to interrupt my thoughts, I finally had time to somewhat process that I was in fact in some sort of prison with fifty boys. Fifty teenage boys. Who all had hormones. And I was the only girl. And this girl didn't even know her own name, let alone whether she was good looking or not. I didn't know what happened to me in the box, or why I found it so hard to breathe when I got scared. I didn't know where I was, why I was there, or why everyone was having a "gathering" to decide what they should do with me. Why is it so strange to have a girl around?

"So..." He spoke again, finally less than a foot away from me, but still keeping his distance. "How are you?"

"How am I?" I raised my head and scoffed, "How am I? I just came up in a...a metal cage, and I literally felt all of my memories go like...out of my brain. I don't even remember what my own name is, and now I'm in this giant box thing with a whole bunch of guys who don't know me, and I don't know them, and I don't know what the hell they're going to do because you're all hormonal teenagers from what it seems. I still have no idea where the hell I am and why I'm here, and to put the cherry on top of all that, everyone is having a stupid gathering about what to do with me, and I'm not even there! I have to wait for some kid named Chuck who could easily be as much of a threat as the rest of you, and I—"

"You think I'm a threat? I think you're one too." A new voice interrupted my annoyingly long rant. I groaned and tilted my head to the left, surprisingly seeing a smaller kid. He was about five feet. He was wearing raggedy clothing that made him look like he was less than everyone who lived here. He had freckles dotting almost every inch of his chubby face and curly brown hair that sat on top of his head, bouncing as he rocked himself on the heels of his feet. His big chocolate eyes stayed planted on my face, something I was grateful for.

I cocked my eyebrow at him and turned my body towards the kid, mentally examining the height difference. He was about to the middle of my bicep. Why would they put someone as young as him in here? He looked like he was ten.

"You must be...Chuck?" I questioned, wondering if this was the person they were talking about. The one that was supposed to watch me as everyone decided what to do with me. But the boy nodded, immediately saluting me.

"Nice to meet you, lady shank." He bowed and started to walk closer to me with a cheeky grin on his face. I raised my eyebrows and looked at Newt, who shook his head with the same kind of grin Chuck had.

"He's gonna be watching you while we have a meeting." Newt told me. "Is that okay?"

I rolled my eyes. "How would you feel if you were just told that you would have a room full of guys talking about you secretly?"

His face dropped, and his hand flew up to the back of his neck as his cheeks turned a shade darker. "N-Not great, I imagine."

"Mhm." I agreed and sighed, looking back at the pudgy little boy still standing in front of us. He had his hands behind his back, and his chest puffed out as if he were trying to prove that he was a big kid. "How old are you?"

Chuck turned his head to me, and his lips quirked up. "I think I'm twelve. How 'bout you?"

"Twelve?" I almost yelled in shock. "Are you sure you aren't ten?"

Newt let out a chuckle and looked at Chuck, who now has his eyebrows furrowed and his lips pursed, his hands coming down from behind his back to his front as he crossed them in front of his chest. "I'm twelve, thank you very little. Now do you want me to watch you, or do you want the rest of these shanks breathing down your back for the rest of eternity? Cause I'm fine with that. It doesn't interfere with me and my lunch.."

I pursed my lips and turned to Newt, pointing my thumb at the little boy. "I think he and I are going to get along just fine. You can go to your meeting now." I twinkled my fingers at a smiling Newt. "Bye-Bye."

He turned to Chuck. "You know the rules, Chuck."

The boy nodded furiously. "Yep. I got her all taken care of, Newt."

"Excuse me, I don't need to be taken care of." I shot back at the twelve-year-old.

Chuck raised his eyebrows. "At least I think I got her taken care of..."

Newt chuckled once more before turning away from both of us and heading towards a building in the corner of the field, where two of the stone walls met. I watched him carefully, noticing the way that his familiar sandy hair blew with each step he took. He wore brown pants that were way too short for him, and an orange tank top underneath his white shirt...if that's even what you call it. But the more I watched him, the more I noticed the strange way he walked.

He had a limp.

I furrowed my eyebrows towards the boy who was getting smaller the more I kept my gaze on him. Why did he have the limp? It's not something that someone's born with, so why did he have one?

"Alright, girl Greenie." Chuck's high pitched voice spoke from my side. I looked down at him, and back up at Newt who disappeared through the wooden door of the Council Hall. I licked my lips as I started walking towards it, needing some answers. Even though I hadn't asked a question yet, there were certainly enough of them swimming in my mind.

"Wh-Where are you going?" Chuck jogged to keep up with my long strides. My hands were in fists as I traveled across the large grassy area.

"Where does it look like I'm going?" I shot back. "I'm going to get some answers."

"What? Woah." Chuck suddenly sprinted for a few seconds, stopping only when he got ahead of me and stood in my path. I stopped walking, only looking down at the boy for a second. "Look, I know how you feel. This is how we all felt on our first day. Except, you're the only one I haven't seen cry like a baby. On my first day, I was a mess. I mean, I klunked my pants about three times before—"

"Chuck." I interrupted his rambling. He shut his mouth, holding his hands in the air. "I need answers. Nobody seems to want to give them to me, so I have the right to go in there and ask."

He laughed. "No, you don't. Look." My eyebrows furrowed even more as Chuck sighed, thinking over his words. "I get it, you're the only girl, and you break the pattern. Every month a new guy comes up in the box. Obviously, you're the first girl. It's strange for all of us. But that doesn't mean that you can just go running around this place like a mad...a mad girl, I guess."

I stayed silent for a few moments, letting his spurt of confidence linger. A new guy every month, I thought. And I broke the pattern. What does that mean?

"Your point?" I asked him, placing my hands on my hips sassily.

Chuck groaned and threw his head back. "Look, just trust me. You don't wanna go in there right now. It'll only cause you to get a night in the slammer, or even more. Hell, they might put you in there for the end of eternity if they decide to do that..."

"You're making me feel a lot better here, Chuck." I threw him a sarcastic comment at the thought of me being thrown into a slammer. What even is that?

He placed his hands on his hips as well, imitating my actions. "Well what do you want me to tell you? That they'll welcome you in there like their long lost best friend? By all means, go in there and see for yourself. But just don't throw me under the bus when you get shucking destroyed for it."

Only then did my eyes flicked back down to him. Maybe he was right. I've already gotten into enough trouble today. If I walked through that door, it would probably just look like I was looking for attention, which was the last thing I wanted in a place full of guys. I just wanted to go home...wherever that is. I wanted to wake up from this terrible, terrible nightmare, and live each day with the thought of knowing that I was safe, and there were people I could trust. But hey, sometimes we never get what we want, right?

I sighed in defeat and turned on my heel, starting back towards the wooden building surrounded by trees. When I heard footsteps pick up from behind me, I knew Chuck followed. Only then did I slow my walking down to his speed, letting him catch up.

"So what even is this place? Some kind of prison?" I finally let a few questions slip from my mouth as we walked across the grass.

He shrugged. "I'm not exactly sure. It could be. I've only been here a month, I was the last Greenie."

I nodded in understanding, not blaming the boy for knowing so little. Since he was a lot younger than what the other boys seemed, I wouldn't be surprised if they kept a few things from him. So far, that's the smartest decision I've seen these guys make. Although, if I were Chuck, I would probably be dying to soak up new information, exactly like I was now.

"So..." I turned my head towards him as I continued to walk beside him back towards the wooden building. "What do you know about this place?"

The small boy shrugged. "Only a bit. But I'm not really supposed to tell you anything. It's against the rules, and—"

"Against the rules?" I groaned. "What is it with you people and your rules? Aren't boys supposed to be rebels or something?"

"The rules are the one thing that's been keeping us together." He told me, opening up the door of the building. "Without the rules, I think these slintheads would have gone crazy a long time ago."

At the mention of another strange word, I turned to Chuck, letting a harsh breath escape from my mouth as he walked into the room. "What the hell does that mean? Those weird words? Like do you people have some sort of secret language or something?"

Chuck laughed as I walked in behind him. "No. It's just Glader slang. You know, certain words we use to call people. For example, shank is like a friend, or something of the sort."

I nodded at him while silently inspecting the building I had just walked into. Everything was wooden. The floors, the walls, the staircase that led to a second floor...although there were traces of ripped and dirty wallpaper that occasionally lined the walls. There was a dusty painting of a lady in white just beside one of the windows. The picnic tables sat in the middle of the room, some looking poorly built while others looked like they had some time put into them. Beyond the tables sat a small opening in a wall. The more I looked at it, the more I recognized some of the supplies. I slowly advanced towards the opening and examined what's inside. I think it was a kitchen. I lifted my head up and turned back towards Chuck, deciding to ignore all of the broken windows that topped off the structure of the rickety building.