Chapter 35: A New Runner
Eventually, Leo gets kicked off stacking the wood. Frypan just piles it up haphazardly. It drives Leo crazy, but that just makes it even more fun. For half an hour, he goes on about how Frypan doesn't stack the wood properly, and then that of course turns into an argument between four boys about how to properly stack wood and pointing out that Leo takes too long to do it, so he has no right to complain.
Then the Doors close. Sitting on the ground in front of Newt, my back against his good leg, I cover my ears and watch them close. No going into the Maze for me tonight. Tonight, I stay. Tonight, I'm a Glader, and these are my friends, my family. Tonight, Newt puts his hands over mine and kisses the top of my head, and I watch as the spikes on one side of the Doors slide into their holes on the other, blocking the way to the Maze until morning.
Then I lower my hands from my ears and Newt rests ones of his hands on one of my shoulders.
Leo's still arguing with other boys about how to properly stack wood, so Alby gets off the picnic table and goes to light it himself. It's not long after that before someone starts in with the drums. It's enough to instantly draw Leo from the stacking wood argument as he comes over and pulls me to my feet and away from Newt before I can even realize what's going on.
I stay close to Newt, in his sight. And every few seconds, I glance back at him to make sure he's still there. But I do dance, with a lot of others. Just like always, none of the Runners dance. They get enough of a workout when they're running the Maze every day. Instead, they all sit at the picnic tables, talking and hanging out with Newt and other Gladers who are just relaxing tonight.
"Are you aware of how that boy looks at you?" Leo asks me at one point.
Slightly out of breath, I turn to look at him. "And how does he look at me?" I question.
Leo's grinning as he leans down and whispers, "Like you're the full moon on a starless night. Oh dear gods." Leo straightens up, looking past me, a strange look on his face.
I look over my shoulder to see what he's looking at, then I jump, gasping and whirling around to face the scene completely, my hands flying up to cover my mouth. "Oh my gods!"
A few feet away, Graham's sitting on top of the picnic table that Newt's sitting at. He has hold of Ben by the front of his shirt and they're kissing. And, strangely, I don't think anyone else has even noticed yet.
"Did that happen while we were gone?" I ask, looking back at Leo, who looks just as surprised as I am – except also very amused.
"From the look on Ben's face, I'd wager not."
And I turn back around to see that they have pulled apart, and Ben look just as baffled and surprised as I imagine I do.
"What are they saying, what are they saying?" Leo questions me.
"I'm not going to listen in on my friends!"
"Oh, don't pretend you don't do it all the time when you're bored. Now, what are they saying."
I huff, "They're not saying anything."
"Dear gods, they've rendered each other—oh good gods!" Leo throws up his hands, because now Graham and Ben are kissing again, except this time Ben started it, his hands on either side of Graham's face. I can't help but laugh, partially because others are finally noticing. Alby's so shocked he jumps clear off the table, almost falling forward in the process, and Newt just rolls his eyes and shakes his head, mumbling something like, "About bloody time."
"We find love in hopeless places," Leo says quietly, with a strange little calm smile.
"What about yours?" I ask Leo, turning to look at him. "You've said before that we both came here for reasons. What was yours?"
Leo smiles strangely at him, secrets and riddles clear in his eyes, but unsolvable by me. Maybe by anyone. "A very important one," he says. Before I can ask him anything more, he turns and is gone. I watch him throw himself into the thickest of the Gladers, shouting and hollering and dancing like wild lost boys in Neverland.
"Hopper," Minho calls, making me turn. He's now sitting at the table Newt, Alby, Graham and Ben are at. Except Ben's gone now, and Nick and the other Runners are there, and Newt's looking very suspicious. Narrowing my eyes in my own suspicion, I creep over to the table.
"What's going on?" I ask cautiously as Newt wraps his arm around my waist, pulling me closer to his side even though I'm standing at the end of the table.
"There's some business to discuss," Nick starts.
Before he can say anything else, I whine, "Now?"
"This is her first night back, can't we just let him have one night off?"
"Well, tomorrow everyone's back to work as usual," Nick says. "And that includes Hopper and Leo."
I shake my head, "Okay, but why are all the Runners here? Why just the Runners?"
"Because," Graham speaks up, glancing at Newt. "Now that our Keeper can't run anymore, we need a new Keeper and a new Runner."
"I've been voted Keeper, since out of the Runners, I've been here longest, after Newt," Minho says.
"And you've been recommended for Runner," Nick adds to me.
"No," Newt immediately shakes my head.
"Don't be ridiculous," Leo says, throwing an arm over my shoulder.
"Where do you come from?" one of the other Runners asks.
"There are multiple theories about that," Leo says almost dismissively.
"Leo, you don't even have a say in this," Alby sighs, rubbing his eyes tiredly. It is exhausting dealing with Leo.
"Of course I do, I have say everywhere," Leo says simply. Everyone at the table looks at me, silently asking me to make him go away.
"Oh, like I can get rid of him!" I whine.
"Continue on with your discussion," Leo waves his cup of Gally's moonshine at the table.
Since no one else seems to want to believe that we're stuck with him, I'm the first to speak up again. "So you'll finally make me a Runner?"
It's enough to pull Nick back to the matter at hand. "You've already been in the Maze…broken rules multiple times to get there." I look down, feeling my cheeks turn pink. "And we need you out of the Glade once a month anyway, if we want you to keep your hearing."
"But, I'm kind of a slow runner…" I point out reluctantly as Newt tries to protest, "It's too dangerous for her out there."
Newt's comment, of course, goes ignored because everyone knows by now that I can fight the Grievers, and only Newt knows what fighting does to me anymore. "You're fast enough to make it back before the doors closed, that's been proven," Graham says.
"It's also been proven that she'll stay…" one Runner tries to argue then stops, squints in confusion, then looks at me, "You're a girl?"
Leo drops to the ground, laying face first in the grass. Minho sighs, rubbing his hand over his face.
"Yes, yes, Hopper's a girl, catch up, man!" Alby sighs impatiently.
"What were you going to say, Chris?" Nick asks the Runner.
Chris continues, "It's also been proven that she'll stay overnight in the Maze for no good reason."
"I won't anymore," I say quickly. I'm not losing my chance to become a Runner. I may not want to fight the Grievers, but the Grievers rarely come out during the day. Newt's hold tightens slightly, and I know he's hating the idea of letting me go into the Maze, and I'll have to talk to him later to stop him from worrying so much, but for now, I just have to convince Nick and the others to let me be a Runner.
"There's not really any other option," Graham says. "Nobody's as good as Hopper."
"Well that's certainly true," Leo says, popping up to cross his arms over the table's surface and rest his chin on them. I have no idea what happened to his drink.
"Then we're all agreed?" Minho asks in a voice that leaves no room for disagreements. "Hopper will be the new Runner. She'll start tomorrow."