Only Herself to Blame...

Chapter 18 - The Surprise

I woke up early the next morning, but felt fully relaxed.

Minho was still asleep, so I quickly and silently got dressed. I put on some plain black leggings, a baggy grey top and a black jacket over the top.

I was ready for another day of running.

I laced up my white sneakers and ran down to the kitchen, to make myself and Minho lunch.

When the sandwiches were made, I carried them back to our room and packed both of our backpacks for us.

Once I had finished, I decided to wake Minho. Obviously, I didn't do it in the whole 'nice and gently shake your shoulder' way.

I rolled under his bed and just had enough room to bring my knees to my chest and push my feet up with as much power as I could.

My feet jolted his matress and I heard him groan. I did it again and looked to my left.

Thump.

Minho had fell off his bed.

"What the shuck are you doing?" He groaned.

"Rise and Shine, sleepy! Running time."

Minho groaned again. "You stupid Shuck!! We haven't got to go running today!! Ben and George are covering our bits."

I was confused. "Why?" I asked.

"Wait and see, Zoe, wait and see." How was he still snarky and witty when he was half asleep?

***

I had to wait all day. On my own.

Nobody would tell me what was happening. They made me sit in the Deadheads and every half an hour or so, someone would come and check on me.

"Please, Ben?" I begged. "Tell me pleassseeeee?"

Ben laughed. "We're almost finished, Zoe."

I sighed and sat on my own some more.

After another hour, Gally came.

"Hi." He said, sitting next to me.

"Hey." I was a bit weary of Gally. We hadn't talked in about a month, since he shouted at Alby and I.

"The surprise is ready."

"About time." I grumbled. He smiled.

"What have you been doing all day?" He asked.

"Absolutely nothing."

He laughed. "Come on." He took my hand (even though he shouted at me for holding Minho and Corby's hands) and lead me towards the big clearing.

I gasped. "It's wonderful!"

There was eight poles, that stood about 6 feet tall, wrapped in white and pale blue ribbon. On the top of each one was a balloon that had the number 17 on.

Ribbon hung from the Homestead and trees, and balloons coated the floor. I spun in a circle, taking everything in.

There was a small pile of boxes all wrapped in blue paper, with big white bows on each.

On the opposite side of the presents, were two tables with food on. In the middle of each one, was a huge three tiered cake. Each said "Happy Birthday Zoe!" on, and was decorated in pale blue icing.

"Happy Birthday!" The Gladers shouted.

I look at their faces. They are glowing with happiness.

"What?" I whispered to Gally.

"The Creators sent us all this up in the Box with a note saying it it was your birthday, so we decided to throw a party for you!"

"Thankyou guys!" I say.

I run to Minho and hug him. I then hug Alby and Newt and Ben. I find Corby and Jai and hug them too.

I find myself hugging every Glader and thanking them, even though I didn't know some of their names. I couldn't beleive they had done this for me!

Lastly, only Gally was left. I smiled at him and put my arms around his neck.

"Thanks, Gally." I whisper.

"No probs, Shank." He whispers back.

I pull back and smile. "Which present is from you then?"

He laughs and takes me over to the pile. After rummaging a bit, he brings out the second biggest present.

"There you go." He says.

"Thanks." I sit on the ground and rip off the paper. Inside, there was lots of colouring books (about 50) and tonnes of colouring pencils.

"I think there is one for everyone!" I say.

"But, it's your birthdat present." Newt says.

I found a note on one of the books:

Happy Birthday Zoe.
I really hope you have a good day, and enjoy the presents, but I would just like you to know that for some of them we thought of everyone and they are all joint presents.
Love, The Creators.

I passed the note around and soon, everyone was sat in a huge semi- cirlce, watching me open my presents. I passed them all a colouring book each.

"Open this one next." Newt says and he passes me a quite small one.

It was a necklace! It had an owl on a silver chain. From Newt, it said on the tag.

I spent about 20 minutes opening all of the presents. There are a few more joint ones:

Packs of biscuits with icing, sprinkles and chocolate to decorate them with. (Frypan was especially please with this one.)

New duvet covers and blankets for each bed, with a different colour for each person. There ware a few arguments about who got what colour, but they were soon settles and compromises were made.

Lots of paper and pencils for drawing and writing.

A CD player with lots of music to play.

After I had opened all of the presents, Alby put on some music and I cut the cakes, handing everyone a slice.

Frypan had done an excellent job at preparing all the food, and it was amazing.

We all stayed up late into the night, dancing and singing and eating. It was one of the best days I had ever had (that I could remember anyway).

We then sat down and coloured and drew and wrote silly little messages to eachother, which turned into an amazing game, and brought me to tears of laughter.

We didn't sleep at all, and we stayed awake, playing silly party games and we made up our own games.

When the sun rose the next morning, we all stayed in the clearing, eating the rest of the food for breakfast. The atmosphere was anazing; everyone wa talking and laughing and singing. My stomach hurt from laughing, and my cheeks ached from smiling.

I had grown closer to a lot of Gladers that night, Minho and Gally included.

When the sun had fully risen, the runners (and I) packed our bags with the remainders of the food and were just about to set off into the maze, when a woman walked out from behind the trees, followed by about 8 men, all with guns pointed straight at my chest...