~𝓐𝓴𝓻𝓪𝓼𝓲𝓪~

3.2

3rd person

"C'mon Greenie, it'll be fun!" Athena whispers as she tries to drag the Greenie out of his sleeping bag. "No. I want to be able to wake up before lunch time." He mutters, turning his back on her. "Fine, I'll just ask Zach instead." She sighs, waiting for the rustle of his sleeping bag as she turns away. "Wait." He grumbles rolling his eyes and unzipping himself from the warmth of the bag. "Fine." A grin spreads across her face before she catches herself and gets rid of it. "Great! C'mon."

She jogs off towards her hut and disappears inside, returning with an armful of supplies. The Greenie smiles at the sight, grabbing half of it from her. "What do you need paint for?" He asks following behind her as she walks to the kitchen, climbing onto one of the counters to grab a large bucket and a roll of cling wrap. "What the hell?" Raises his eyebrows looking between her and the items. "Just wait." She smiles sweetly at him, putting the plastic all around the inside of the bucket and putting the rest of the roll back.

"Well let's go." Athena mutters, still quietly making her way through the glade. She walks over to a wall and places the things down, sitting on a stump. "Here, hold this." She orders handing him a balloon. His eyebrows draw together in confusion but he takes it nonetheless, interested in what she's planning.

While Athena's getting the rest of the supplies ready the Greenie let's his eyes wander in the dim light. The Glade seems to be not half its actual size. While sitting far from the used area, this makes the Greenie wonder just how long they'll be trapped in this place. Just how much will the population grow before then? Moving his eyes from the sleeping area he looks back to his right, his eyes landing on the cement wall towering over him. They wander over the surface of the wall, tracing every crevasse he can find until they trace out faint letters. Those of a name, George. But the letters have a line through the middle of them. The boy's eyebrows furrow, he can't seem to recall meeting anyone named George in his time here. Or even hearing the name from anyone's conversations in two days. He recalls seeing more by the opening of the maze, but why is this one so far away?

    "Hey, what's wrong?" Athena asks the boy who looks as though he's having an existential crisis. He looks back at her, smiling slightly and shaking his head. "Nothing. What are we doing exactly?" He dismisses her, not wanting to go through the embarrassment of asking her a name he'd forgotten already. Her smile lights up and she bends down grabbing a type of funnel, and taking the ballon from him. "We...are going to have some fun with the builders my friend." She mutters handing it back to him with the funnel in the opening of the rubber. "Hold this while I pour." She commands, a look of concentration taking over her features.

Athena's POV

"You think that's enough?" I ask wiping my forehead with the back of my arm, looking at the almost full bucket of colorful balloons filled with different paints. "I think that's more than enough." The Greenie chuckles from beside me, his eyes sliding to mine and then blatantly down my form. Eyes are up here Casanova. I smile a little at his boldness but shake it off, smearing my paint covered hand down his face.

His expression changes from shock to amusement, a mischievous glint taking place in his eyes. He picks up the can of purple paint at his feet, dipping his whole hand in it. "Oh shit." I barely have time to say the words before I'm running through the Glade, desperately trying to evade the boy.

As a last resort I dart into the woods zigzagging around trees and past bushes, knowing that I have the advantage now. A grin spreads further onto my face when I see the tree I needed. Gotcha. I listen for the sound of his rapid footsteps hearing only a faint pitter patter. I have time. I bolt to the tree, weaving through the branches, making my way about halfway up and going around the other side of it and mapping my route down. I let my breath calm as I feel the bark beneath my palms, the way it feels on my bare hands, the small patch of sap next to my left hand. The way my toes curl around the branch through the worn soles of my shoes.

I hear his footsteps approaching, still rapidly. I break a twig that had gotten caught in my hair on my way up the tree and he stops dead in his tracks. He looks around, trying to place the source of the sound, looking every direction except up. Dumb ass. Absolute dumb ass. I think silently chuckle as I pick another from my hair and throw it through a small gap in the branches. He apparently doesn't hear the twig fall because he keeps looking around cluelessly for another sixty seconds before he jogs off again.

I sigh, leaning against the branch behind me and let my legs swing back and forth. "Yoo-hoo!" I say in a singsong voice, cupping my hands around my mouth. He comes sprinting back, the same way he did earlier he looks around the himself, almost refusing to look up and walking away. I groan pretty loudly, bored of this game but not wanting to ruin my hoodie with paint. "Look up buddy!" I shout, as he approaches again.

I pull the hoodie over my head and hang it on a branch a little ways above me. Now left in a thin tank top and leggings I shove slightly and look back down towards the greenie only to see he's gone. That can't be good. That can't be good at all. I think looking around for him and straining my ears for any movement. Just in time I hear the branches toward the bottom of the tree rustle and the sound of the metal can hitting wood. The grin overtakes my face again and I start to slip back down the tree, going at a slow, careful pace as to not make noise.

Once I reach the bottom I walk under where the greenie is still making his way up the tree, passing where I was only minutes ago. "Whatcha doing up there Greenie?" I shout up tree and start to back out of the splash zone for the thick liquid. "Just looking for a pretty girl. Who you running from?" He asks slowly making his way back down to me. "Oh just a psycho with paint who wants to ruin my clothing." I answer running off against my tired body's protests. "I'll get you!" He shouts, but I'm too far to try and reply without waking everyone up so I just keep going, slowing my jog to a walk while I approach the canteen.

***

The smell of bacon fills my nostrils and a pleasant smile settles on my face as I walk through the door. "Hey- what the shuck?" Fry cuts himself off mid-sentence and puts the back of his hand to my forehead. "It's not noon." He states his face twisted in fake confusion. "Shut up Fry." I mutter my smile not fading when I swipe a piece of bacon off the large plate of the already done meat.

"Have you even slept yet?" He asks turning back to the stove and putting on what looks like toast of some sort. I don't answer his question, knowing that he'll ask why if he knows that I would have to tell him what my plan for the brain dead boys we all love so dearly was. He shakes his head, my silence being it's own answer. "If your brother finds out I will not cover for you this time." He says over his shoulder as he flips the bread causing it making a sizzling noise. "You won't have to. Because he won't find out!" I chuckle looking out the window to see a tired looking Greenie going back to bed. I mentally celebrate and jump down to go get the paint can from him.