Chapter 12

As me and Jeff walked through the Glade we passed many people who either smiles, waved or nodded in our direction. Jeff's arm was still hanging over my shoulders but anyone could tell we were just friends, he was one of the closest friends I had in the Glade despite us not spending a lot of time together, he was fun and easy to bounce meaningless insults at. Of course he was only a friend but I thought of him more as a brother, like how I pictured I would have been with Caleb if I remembered him.

People were already crowding around the bonfire sight with long sticks with flames on the end so me and Jeff joined them. We stood at the front of the soon to be a lite stack of logs, waiting for the keepers to throw in the burning sticks so the bonfire would start. On Alby's shout the keepers through the sticks into the logs, making them burn almost immediately.

I was smiling and laughing when I saw Newt standing directly opposite me on the other side of the fire. While everyone around him cheered and talked and laughed, he stood still and stared at me with such a fierce emotion blazing in his eyes. As soon as our eyes met he seemed to snap out of whatever he had been originally thinking and pushed past the crowd of people around the fire and he jogged towards the lining of the deadheads, away from everybody else.

As I watched him, his limp became more visible to me and I wondered how it hadn't been so obvious to me before. I had noticed it but I just hadn't really thought about it too much. I broke away from Jeff and chased after Newt, hating the expression of hurt and anger he had worn on his face before he turned around and ran away. I followed where he had gone exactly and found him sitting in a small empty clearing on a log with his back to me and his head in his hands.

"Newt?" I asked gently

His head snapped towards me so quickly I was afraid he would get whiplash from it. He stared at me with no emotion on his face but his eyes alight with anger and... betrayal?

"What's wrong?" I asked as I came and sat next to him on the log but as soon as I sat down he stood up and he turned to face me, not hiding the anger in his eyes anymore. It was written all over his face how he was feeling now but I had no idea why.

"You! I told you I liked you, and I thought you meant it when you said you actually liked me too. I thought I could trust you with my secret that only two other people know about! I didn't think you would use me like this." He fumed

I was taken back by what he said but hid the sadness I felt as he stared at me with such distaste and hatred so I could find out what was really wrong.

"What did I do Newt?"

"Your flirting with every bloody guy in this shucking place! I told you I didn't want to share you this morning and then you go around with other guys laughing and flirting while I watch you." He said

"Flirting? Newt if your talking about Jeff he's just a friend and you have nothing to be jealous about. Okay?" I said calmly

"Just a friend? I don't see you cuddling up with Chuckie next to a bloody bonfire at night and being all bloody romantic with him, do I?" He was still very angry

His anger was started to get me aggravated and annoy me more than it should have. He was accusing me of flirting with other guys and hinting that I was cheating on him with Jeff of all people he could be jealous of he had to pick the one guy I think of as an actual brother.

"You actually think that I would think as Jeff as anything more than a friend? Okay fine maybe I do think of Jeff as more than a friend but not in the way you think! I told you that I had lost my brother and had been next to his dead body without realising who he was yesterday. I spilled my heart out to you yesterday and do you think I would do that to any boy that was here? Do you? Because as far as I can tell you are the one person in every single one of my memories that I actually remember. You are the one boy in this whole Glade that I have been comfortable sleeping next to and you are the one boy that I have ever thought of as more than a friend in the way you think.

"Jeff feels like a brother to me okay! A flaming brother so don't go around here thinking I'm cheating on you or flirting with other boys because I'm not. I'm making friends and trying to be happy around here which is something a very few of you seem to want to do." I huffed

Newt looked taken back by my outburst once again and wouldn't meet my eye as I stood up from the log just like he had. His head was hanging low and his shoulders were sagged and I took it as a sign of defeat but I didn't want him to feel guilty of annoyed or anything other than relief so I walked over to him and cautiously put a hand on his shoulder and willed him to look up at me. Once he did I gave him a small smile and that was all it took for him to pull me to him and engulf me in a bone crushing hug. It took me a few seconds to react but I eventually wrapped my arms around him torso and hugged him back just as tightly.

"I'm sorry, I need to trust you." He whispered

"'Tis okay." I mumbled

I leaned up and pecked his lips lightly, making the corners of his lips turn up before he pulled me back to him and kissed me again, this time for longer. My hands went to his neck as I tried to minimise the distance between us and his were on my waist, crushing me into him as much as possible. We had to break apart however, when a loud gasp came from a few feet away from us.

I turned my head to see who had caught us and saw Minho with his mouth agape and his eyes practically popping out of his head.

"My eyes my beautiful beautiful eyes! God why must you punish me!" He cried as he covered his 'beautiful' eyes with his hands and stumped backwards.

"Slim it Minho!" I hissed

"But my eyes!" He whined

Then a twinkle came to his eyes and he sprinted out of the dead heads screaming at the top of his lungs:

"SKYLAR HAS A BOYFRIEND AND HIS NAME IS NEWT! SKYLAR HAS A BOYFRIEND AND HIS NAME IS NEWT!"

I sighed and chased after him with Newt hot on my heels as we tried to shut the screaming boy up. When we finally caught up to Minho he was already in the centre of the Glade and almost every boy was staring at me and Newt as we ran out of the trees.

"Do you think they know?" I whispered without moving my lips

"I think so." Newt said sarcastically

"What do we do?" I asked. Newt shrugged and started walking towards the homestead so I followed him. Minho continued shouting out the same chant over and over again and running over to every boy to tell them that me and Newt were together. As the shouts and yells became fainter and fainter the further away we walked, I realised I didn't care that the boys knew I was with Newt because it meant they would know I was his.

Newt intertwined our fingers together and started swinging them in front of us as we walked towards the homestead and I smiled at how calm he seemed. Once we got to the homestead I didn't hesitate in removing my boots and throwing the jumper I had been wearing all day onto the floor. Newt followed suit in removing his own shoes and his shirt so I got a good view of his defined six pack on his sculpted chest. He saw me staring at him and chuckled deeply in his throat, making me blush because I was caught.

He climbed into the bed we shared and beckoned for me to follow so I did, snuggling in close to him with my head in the crook of his neck and my hands balled into fists on his chest. I let out a loud sigh as I visibly relaxed next to Newt's body and let the heat radiating off of him envelope me in a warm embrace much like the one I was already experiencing with his arms wrapped around me.

"How long do you think it will take for everyone to know we're together?" I mumbled into Newt's chest.

"I think they already know." He muttered into my hair

I sighed and nodded my head a few times before looking up into Newt's sleepy eyes and smiling softly.

"Tomorrow should be fun then." I said

A small chuckle escaped his lips, making me smile even more as his face broke into a smile of its own.

"You could say that." He said