Girls POV
Amy tipped her head back under the stream of water that flowed from the showerhead. She didn't know what she would DO without the privilege of having running water. Unlike in the books however, there was no electricity. "Hey Clara!" she yelled to her friend, who was on the other side of the small bathroom brushing out her hair in front of a small faded mirror.
"Hey Amy!" she replied sarcastically. Amy ignored this and continued her thought.
"Don'cha think it's cool that this is exactly how the movie was?"
"I guess I never thought much about it but… yeah... I guess it is!" There was silence once again except for the sound of the running water and Amy humming. Suddenly she gasped and there was the echo of the shampoo bottle hitting the floor. Clara shook her head, smiling at herself- until she heard Amy's next words.
"Clara this is not good… oh crap this is really not good…"
"Amy what'd you do?" Clara questioned worriedly, "Did you swallow something? I hate having to do mouth to mouth. Unless it's Newt, then I wouldn't min-"
"Clara this is serious! If this follows the movie then we have absolutely no clue what happens after we get out of the maze. We don't know if its going to follow the book so how will we find Newt to save him and how will we stay alive and how-"
"AMY calm down. We'll figure something out, okay? We have sonic screwdrivers and each other and some knowledge of the big events. Everything's going to work out- just you wait." Amy stepped out from behind the shower curtain wrapped in an old towel.
"But what if we die? What will happen at home?" Clara paled and thought for a bit,
"Well we could just wake up at home, or just disappear forever…" The girls looked at each other with wide eyes.
"Should we have come here… just to save a book character?"
Amy shook her head "There's nothing we can do about it now…"
Clara thought quietly for a while.
"Let's not think about that right now. We don't know when or even if the doctor is coming back for us. But I'm sure everything will be ok… Right?" Amy nodded. She still looked slightly scared, but better than before. Clara nodded at her, and then went back to examining the small bathroom.
"Anyway be thankful that they have a real toilet and not just a urinal!" Amy smiled then quickly dressed.
"Clara I'm STARRrrrRRRRrrrvinggggggggg can we go eat now?" Wow, Clara thought, someone sure go over her fear quickly! She laughed and nodded her head. "Me too! And Frypan's cooking really is to DIE for!" she replied, rubbing her stomach. Amy nodded enthusiastically. "ALLONS-Y!" she shouted and ran out the door towards the kitchen, Clara hot on her heels.
Once the girls filled their bowls with a hearty meat stew and grabbed pieces of crusty bread, they surveyed the Glade looking for a spot to sit. Newt waved them over to a cluster of boxes where he and a few other boys were perched. As they walked towards them, Clara whispered in Amy's ear, "How does my hair look?" Amy glanced up at it.
"Psh its fine… just relax! You look tense!"
"Well it is our first meal together so…" Amy tried to contain her laughter and snorted instead. "Clara can you see all the other boys sitting there and I'm going to be there too so it is DEFINITELY NOT a date!" Clara bit back a retort because they were almost at the crates, so she stuck her tongue out instead, then turned and smiled brightly at the cluster of boys. Newt patted the box next to him and Clara sat down excitedly. Amy glanced around, shrugged, and plopped down in the grass.
"Alright everyone, this is Clara and that's Amy on the ground- Amy why are you sitting in the dirt?!" Newt exclaimed. Amy calmly stirred her stew and retorted, "It's GRASS, not dirt, for one thing, and I like sitting here better because then I can stretch out my legs." She wiggled her legs from side to side to prove her point. The other boys laughed and Newt nodded apologetically.
"Sorry but you're the first girls that we've had here EVER, and I just wanted to sure you're being treated so." He glared at the other gladers, making a point.
"I'm sure that won't be a problem." Amy smirked. She shoveled a heaping spoonful of stew into her mouth chewed slowly. Clara took a smaller bite and promptly spit it back out, exclaiming loudly. "Holy snicker doodles that's hot! How did you eat it that fast Amy?!" Amy chuckled.
"Well I just kind of went with it because Newt had just finished saying how they wanted us to act like ladies . It would be kind of ironic if I just spit out a huge bite of some of the most wonderful stew ever in front of everyone!" Clara looked sheepish as the boys all burst into laughter.
"Especially in front of my CRUUUUSH!" Clara glared at her friend fiercely as the boys oohed.
"Already? Who is it?" Zart stood up and flexed his muscles.
"It's obviously me." He boasted as he winked at Clara. Amy's eyes widened. She knew Clara hated it when boys tried to flirt with her. Clara smiled sweetly with a dangerous look in his eyes.
"You know what I do to my crushes?" Zart shook his head, uncertain. "I stab them with forks and knives." Amy laughed as Zart went pale and sat down quickly.
"She's kidding" She said. All the boys relaxed. Clara piped up, "Only half kidding."
Before anyone could respond, Frypan and Teresa walked up and sat down next to Amy on the grass. Teresa eagerly spooned the stew into her mouth and just as eagerly spit it back out.
"Whoa that's hot! Careful everyone- hey what's so funny?" She asked. The crowd had burst into laughter once again, with the exception of Frypan and herself. Clara explained to her still giggling slightly. They smiled and Frypan berated them for not waiting, and then shoveled in a huge spoonful himself. Soon everyone's attention was on eating the stew as fast as they could and as much as they could. They were soon full of the hearty stew, and Newt started to formally introduce them to the small group of boys sitting. He noticed with confusion they seemed to already know a lot about them. He tried to brush it off. They both seemed so sweet and innocent. Amy was more quiet then Clara, but not by much. She seemed to have a genuine interest in the others, like she wanted to get to know them better. Clara was so free spirited in such a terrible place and was always trying to make everyone laugh, most of the time succeeding. And yet, when he came around, she seemed so shy. Even now he saw her glance at him quickly before ducking her head. Could it be because… no don't get your hopes up. Yes they were too innocent to be up to anything. Yet something inside him told him otherwise. He shook his head to clear it and started pointing out the gladers.
"Alright here we have Frypan, the cook," Newt nodded towards the hairy black guy who was seated on the grass. "And up here we have Winston, keeper of the slicers." A black haired boy waved cheerfully and went back to eating his bread. Newt nodded to the blond who was seated on the same crate as Winston, "This here is Zart, keeper of the track-hoes."
"That's gardening for you shanks who don't know what 'track-hoes' means." A small fat boy said to them, but he said it almost as if he wasn't comfortable using the terms himself. He had big brown eyes and a head full of curly brown hair. Both Clara and Amy knew instantly who he was, but didn't say for fear of being discovered. Newt nodded. "And this here is Chuck our… um… well he's our…" Newt trailed off, unsure. Chuck looked at him with a slight frown on his face.
"Mascot," Frypan supplied. Newt nodded.
"That'll work for now" he said, then shoved the rest of his bread into his mouth. Clara smiled reassuringly at Chuck. He blushed and concentrated on scraping the last bits of stew out of his bowl. He felt a bit shy around the new gladers. Although he would never admit it, he secretly had a cruch on Amy. He thought she was the prettiest girl he had ever seen. Now that he thought about it, she was one of the two girls he had ever seen, or at least remembers seeing. He looked at her with his big brown eyes and tried not to blush. Clara looked at Amy and placed her hand on her heart and mouthed, "awwww." Amy nodded, then glanced up at the sun. Zart noticed.
"It's about 1:00 now- lunch is over." Amy smiled at him and nodded her thanks. She could have easily pulled out her phone and checked, but the boys weren't supposed to see them yet. She estimated that Thomas and Minho would be getting back around four o'clock, so they still had some time to get to know the other gladers. They all stood up and walked back to Frypans kitchen, where they gave their dishes to a cheerful boy named Dave. Newt decided that the girls should take a break from working in the fields for the day and try splitting them up. He set Clara up with Frypan in the kitchens, where they got busy preparing some sort of rice casserole dish. Amy he placed with Gally. Right before he left he patted her shoulder reassuringly. "You'll do fine with Gally, greenie. Just listen to what he tells you because he can get a little scary if you don't." With that he walked off, leaving Amy standing awkwardly by herself in the building site. Great, she thought to herself, this is juuust great. She took a deep breath and walked over to where Gally and his squad were laughing as they finished their lunch. Gally looked up sharply and narrowed his eyes.
"What." He spat out. Amy gulped, wide eyed, then realized that she had nothing to be afraid of- they were in the middle of the Glade and someone would come running if something was to happen. She straightened her shoulders and raised her chin.
"Newt said I'm supposed to help you for the rest of the afternoon." Gally frowned and shook his head.
"Don't need help from you…"
"Why?"
"Because you're a girl… obviously." Amy set her jaw and huffed, "First of all, RUDE. Second of all, Newt SAID I HAD to help you!" Gally huffed angrily and motioned for her to follow him. Amy gulped and tried to calm herself down as she followed him down the path to the construction site. It's gonna be fiiiine, you'll live… I think…
Upon arrival at the site, Gally turned around and folded his arms. "So." He said
"What do you want me to do?" Amy decided to take a respectful approach. It seemed to be the right thing to do. Gally wasn't expecting that at all and he seemed slightly surprised.
"Oh… uhh…" he replied slowly as he looked around the site. "Well today we're just repairing one of the animal pens but we hafta clean it out first." He nodded over at a shovel. "You can start by scooping them out." He took a step back, pursed his lips and raised his brows, ready for an outburst. To his surprise, Amy just nodded and walked over towards the shovel. We won't go into what happened next, but Amy got filthy. It was a combination of cleaning out the filthy pens and the wind blowing everything around that did it. However, as the afternoon went on, Amy noticed Gally's attitude changing toward her. He stopped ordering her around and started asking her instead. She even witnessed him cracking a joke! That was when she realized that this was the real Gally. WICKED was controlling him to act differently, but when he was around the friends that he had had for three years, his normal self shone through. WICKED couldn't take that away, and it was then that Amy admired how strong he was. Not just physically, but emotionally and mentally as well.
After Gally ran out of jobs for her to do, she volunteered to go get some snacks from Frypan. Gally grinned. "That would be great…" he hesitated. "…Thanks!" Amy grinned back, nodded, and started walking toward the kitchen. That's when she heard Clara singing. "Uh-oh." Clara sometimes could be a little over-excited when she was singing, and this tended to freak other people out. "Poor Frypan." Amy muttered as she sped up her pace, trying to stop the inevitable disaster. That's when she heard Frypan singing.
"Oh... my… gosh…"
"CAN YOU FEEL, THE LOOOOVE TONIGHT…" Amy tried not to bust out laughing. Fry was horribly out of tune, and Clara wasn't doing much better. Amy crept in and found Frypan standing on the table using a spoon as a microphone. Clara was beating some dough in time to the 'music'. Amy stood to the side, trying to contain her laughter. One snort got past her defenses and Fry turned very dramatically toward her, fully expecting to see one of the boys. When he saw who it was he froze and just stared at her in shock. Clara was now twirling around the kitchen, stirring something in a bowl, still singing. She stopped when she heard she was singing alone. "Oh hi Amy!" she chirped.
"Looks like you're having LOTS of fun while the rest of us are working our butts off." Amy teased, "Now I need something to sustain those hard working boys in the building industry."
Frypan, by this time, had climbed off the table and had started grabbing snacks and cups for water. After he assembled everything on a tray he quickly handed it to Amy. "I think you sound amazing! Like a diva!" Amy smiled at a reddening Fry.
"Thanks." he whispered. Amy turned to walk out but ran into Teresa.
"Hey Amy! Just the person I needed to…" she trailed off as she caught sight of Frypan. "H-hi… she stuttered with a charming blush. Fry turned beet red, waved his hand in greeting, and turned his head away to nervously pick at the wooden countertop. Amy raised her eyebrows and Clara grinned. This was the grin that was only used by fangirls who's OTP was becoming reality. Clara started singing again. "Caaan you feeeeeel the loooooooove tonightttt…" This earned her a smack from Frypan. Amy grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the kitchen, leaving Teresa and Frypan alone. The girls grinned wolfishly at each other. Amy clapped a hand over her heart, raised her eyes, and sighed dramatically. "I ship it so hard." Clara nodded in agreement, a giddy smile on her face. They heard Frypan banging around and listened closely to what they were saying. Fry's voice sounded slightly nervous. "Um… well… I'd better get back to work… this dinner wont cook itself… unless this pot turned magical… whoa that'd actually be pretty cool…"
"…Yeah it would!"
"…Yep…"
"Uh-huh."
"Okay…"
"Um… yeah." There was silence for a moment, then Teresa straightened her shoulders and turned to go. Amy heard the silence, turned towards Clara and mouthed, "RUN!" They both took off running towards the woods, laughing breathlessly the whole time. By the time they made it to the tree line, Teresa was standing outside the kitchen with one hand on her hip and the other scratching her head. Clara threw her head back and dove deeper into the trees. They slowed down and she leaned against a tree for support as her breathing slowed.
"What are you doing?" Both girls shrieked and turned to face the speaker. They relaxed visibly when they saw Chuck's familiar fat face.
"Oh my lanta Chuck don't EVER do that again!" Clara said with wide eyes. Chuck grinned sheepishly.
"Sorry. But you did come charging in here like stampeding elephants…" The girls exchanged glances, their noses wrinkled in confusion.
"What?!" Amy exclaimed.
"We couldn't have been THAT loud…" Clara pouted. Chuck just nodded, sure of his ground.
"Trust me- you were."
"No we weren't."
"Yes you were."
"Nuh-uh."
"Yuh-huh."
"No."
"Yeah."
"Nope."
"Yep."
"AAAANYway…" Amy butted in. "What are you doing in the middle of the woods?" Chuck's eyes darted to the left briefly.
"…Nothing." Both girls raised their eyebrows. "I was just…walking…somewhere…" Clara turned away dramatically and sniffed.
"Well if you don't trust us enough with your secret, then I suppose we'll move along and just wonder what it would be like if our dear friend Chuck would trust us." Chuck looked at his feet, taking Clara's little speech as rejection. Amy put her hand on his shoulder. "She's only teasing," she assured him kindly. "We understand if you need some alone time." Clara nodded her agreement and Amy squeezed his shoulder, making the pudgy boy go pink. The two girls started walking away but Chuck ran after them. "Wait!" They stopped and turned around. He twisted his shirt in his hands nervously. "Can you keep a secret?" Clara laughed. "Kid, secret keeper is my middle name." Amy rolled her eyes. Chuck giggled. To both girls surprise, he grabbed Amy's hand and started dragging her deeper into the woods.
"Come on!" he yelled back to Clara. He hurried to catch up. Amy looked like she was about to shed tears of happiness.
"Mayday! Mayday! Overload of cuteness!" Clara whispered to the overjoyed girl. Amy barely managed a nod. After a few minutes of half jogging, half walking, Chuck let go of Amy's hand and motioned to the trunk of a very large tree. "C'mon we're almost there!" His eyes shone with excitement. He ran around to the other side of the tree, which was about two and a half feet thick, and disappeared. Hey slowly followed him around the tree and were surprised to find him… gone. They frowned at each other, then Amy tentatively said, "Chuck?"
"Well what're you standin' around for?!" Came a reply from down by their feet. Both girls squawked and looked down. Chuck's head and shoulders were sticking out of a three foot tall hole in the base of the tree. Clara gasped. "CHUCK! YOU'RE BEING EATEN ALIVE BY A TREE OH MY GOSH!" He just giggled in response and shook his head, his curls bouncing. Suddenly a voice cut through the trees.
"AA-MYYY!" It was Teresa. The trio glanced frantically at each other.
"Quick in here!" Chuck grabbed Amy's arm and yanked her inside the tree. She found that she could easily stand up. Chuck whispered to Clara, "We'll be up there," then started climbing up the side. Amy followed him with her eyes and was surprised to see a ladder carved into the wall up to an opening, about 15 feet up. She climbed up after him as fast as she could. Once she reached the top, she crawled through the opening and found herself sitting on a flat platform. It had roughly the same dimensions as the lookout tree, but a tad bit smaller. She looked at Chuck, who was staring at her, and mouthed "how?!" He spoke quietly," Newt and Gally built it for me when I first came up. All the other boys liked to tease me and make fun of me, so they made me my own secret hideout." He frowned slightly. "Gally wasn't always so mean, y'know." Amy nodded. She had seen some of Gally's nice side earlier that day when she was working with him. Teresa's voice lifted up to them and they crawled to the edge to watch the confrontation.
"Oh hey, Clara! What're you doin'?"
"Oh… h-hi Teresa. I was jussst… walkinggg." Clara thought frantically. "And then there was a bear! Yeah, a big bear with gnarly teeth and sharp claws. So I chased it."
"You chased it?"
"Umm… yeah! Becaaause… it had a thorn in its paw. So I just haaad to get it out!"
"So where is it now?" Clara stared blankly at her for a moment.
"It… flew away. I guess its dad was a bear and its mom was a… unicorn Pegasus. Cause it had… wings… and a horn… with sparkles." Now Teresa stared at her blankly. "Sooo then I got lost… and… here we are! Wow I'm so glad you found me!" Clara gave her a big cheesy grin. Above them, Chuck struggled to contain his laughter while Amy covered her face and shook her head. "Idiot…"
"We better go help her out huh?" Chuck looked at Amy with wide adoring eyes. Amy sighed and winked at Chuck. They started to make their descent.
"Okaaay… well… have you seen Amelia?" Teresa asked Clara. I need to talk to her."
"Ummm… she got EATEN by a… a TROLL!"
"WHAT?!"
"No I wasn't." Amy called as she and Chuck stepped out from behind the tree.
"Oh Amy I'm so glad I found you! We need you!" Amy looked puzzled. "Who needs me and why?"
"The med-jacks do. They wanted us to take a turn watching Alby so they can take a break." Clara's eyes widened. "Go quick, Amy!" Teresa dragged Amy away from the blonde and the curly brown head.
"Clara was saying the strangest things… is she ok?" Teresa asked concernedly. Amy held back a smile and tried to frown instead. "I think so… what did she say?"
"Something about a bear-"
"OHHHhh… yeah I saw it too!"
"You- you did!?"
"Oh suuure."
"Um… o…kay…" They walked briskly to the med-jack hut. Hey both stooped under the low doorway and walked in. Alby lay on a table unmoving except for his chest which rose and fell with each breath. He looks very… peaceful. Amy thought. Clint stood next to him, wiping his face with that Amy assumed was cold water. He looked up when they entered and nodded at them, then went back to his task. Teresa walked over to a small table in the corner and poured three glasses of cool water. She handed one to Clint and one to Amy, then took a long drink from hers. Clint downed his in one gulp, then looked out the window at the sun. He yawned and said, "Well I think I'll take a short nap before the doors close. Wake me if you need anything- my hammock is right over there." With that, he walked out, leaving the two girls alone with their unconscious leader.
Clara leaned back against a crate and closed her eyes. Chuck was next to her, half- asleep in the lazy afternoon sun.
"Clara?" He said hesitantly.
"Hm?"
"What's it like out there? Do you remember?" He sounded small and childlike. Clara sighed. "I think it's safer in here."
"…Oh…" They sat in silence for a moment. Clara turned her head to look at Chuck. He was asleep. She smiled to herself, then leaned her own head back and closed her eyes. She soon drifted off. She awoke to find that Chuck had shifted in his sleep and his had now lay on her shoulder. She nearly died from the cuteness. She fell back asleep instead. When she woke the second time, she heard footsteps. Right below them. She nervously held her breath and nearly choked when the steps stopped right near the entrance of the tree. Chuck still slept on her shoulder and she would've woken him if she wasn't frozen in fear. She nearly fainted when she heard someone coming up the ladder. Squeezing her eyes shut tight, she tried to breathe evenly. The person was almost to the top now, so she opened her eyes a crack.
It was Newt.
She opened her eyes and sighed with relief. "I thought you were gonna be someone else!" Clara said quietly. Newt smiled and shook his head, then sat down right next to her. Clara couldn't believe her luck. Here she was, sandwiched between the two people who were probably her favorites out of all the Gladers. She sighed happily. They were quiet for a few moments, then Clara spoke up. "Sorry if you've been looking for us for a while- we kinda got distracted."
"Hey it's alright." There was silence again broken only by the distant sounds of the Gladers at work and Chuck's soft snores. Then Newt spoke again, "I found Amy almost right away and she told me." Clara nodded. "Hey Clara…" Newt asked softly
"Hmmm?"
"I was wondering…. If…." Clara turned to look at him
"What"
"If we could be friends…. Just until we get out of here." Clara smiled tiredly
"of course…. Wait what do you mean until we get out?" newt just stared at the ground thoughtfully.
"Newt…. Newt…. Hey salamander boy…. HEY!"
"What did you just call me?" Newt asked with a small amused smile. Clara shook her head.
"Don't question it. What did you mean by-?"
"I meant that we're both too young." He blurted out. Clara was about to ask another question when she processed what he had said and just stared at him with her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open.
"… Don't you agree…. I mean if you don't feel that way-"
"No….. I do…. To both questions." They both smiled at each other. Clara put on a mock serious face and stuck out her hand. "Friends?"
Newt took it with the same face and shook it.
"Friends"
Clara laughed softly and yawned. Newt yawed too. They both smiled and then drifted off to sleep.
Amy was bored out of her brain. She didn't have anything to do in the dimly lit hut except stare at Alby's still form. Teresa had long since fallen asleep and Amy didn't want to wake her. She stood and looked out the small window. Everyone was busy with their tasks, and there was no one to see her. She walked back over to her chair and pulled out her phone. She couldn't take it anymore. She quickly typed a message to Clara and sent it.
Bored out of my brains here. Nothing happening. U?
Clara soon sent a reply- and a picture.
Well I'm dying of cuteness over here!
Amy looked at the picture- it was Clara with Chuck sleeping on her left shoulder and Newt asleep on her right. She had a big goofy grin on her face. Amy quickly snapped a picture of Teresa sleeping and sent it.. Clara replied with a laughing/crying emoji. Amy sent a smirk, then sighed and locked her screen. She glanced over at Alby but he was in the same position he had been in when she arrived about an hour ago. She groaned. This was taking forever.
Clara woke up to Newt gently shaking her. "C'mon. Let's go watch 'n wait for Tommy and Minho to get back." Clara nodded and Chuck stirred. He opened his big brown eyes, then closed them again as he gave off a massive yawn. Then he rubbed his eyes sleepily. Newt and Clara watched him with amused expressions. He stared sleepily at Newt for a full ten seconds before it registered with him. "Hey!" he said, "Where'd you come from?!" Newt chuckled and Clara tousled his hair. "C'mon, Chuck. Let's go find Thomas."
Thomas and Minho were walking toward Newt, Chuck, and Clara. Clara was trying her best to figure out Minho. Thomas looked very serious (as per usual), but Minho was looking at her with a half amused, half confused expression. "Yo Minho, come over here for a sec!" Newt yelled. Minho jogged over, Thomas following.
"Yo Newt, what's up?" Minho asked, never taking his eyes off Clara. Newt was obviously annoyed at the attention she was getting.
"Minho, this is Clara. Clara, Minho."
"Hey." Minho waggled his eyebrows. Clara was not amused. To spite him, she looked over him quickly, nodded carelessly, then turned her attention to Thomas.
"Hey Thomas I'm glad you're back!" Thomas colored slightly while Minho glowered at his dismissal.
"Th…thanks…"
"Amy was juuuuuust telling me how much she miiiissed you and hoped that you were safe." Clara grinned as Thomas's face turned an even darker shade of red as he ducked his head bashfully.
"Well I missed her too…" Clara grinned wickedly as he continued. "B-but I missed you too- and t-the others-" he stammered. Newt rolled his eyes as Chuck and Minho snickered. "I'll be off then," Thomas said as he awkwardly saved. "Bye." He quickly made his escape.
"He's so awkward I want to die." Clara murmured. Minho snorted. "Oh yeah- like you're any better."
"WhatEVER."
"Girl PLEASE." This made Clara raise her eyebrows. "Is this a sass off I'm hearing?" she challenged. Minho stuck out one hip and struck a pose so ridiculous Clara busted out laughing.
"Maybe it is!" he drawled. Clara stood closer to him and stuck her face up in his.
"I wouldn't dream of going up against a sissy." Minho glared at her with a twinkle of fun in his eyes.
"Klunk head."
"Gnome face."
"Bean brain." With each "insult" they got louder and closer to each other's faces.
"Chicken butt!"
"ORANGE PEEL!" Newt finally pushed in between them just as their noses were about to touch. "ALRIGHT! Settle down! Minho, I can't even believe that you would pull an orange peel on a girl. Real mature, man. Real mature." Clara snickered and stuck her tongue out at her competition, sure that she had won. Minho ignored her and snorted at Newt. "Getting jealous? Cause it's obvious you like her." Newts face flushed as he said, "Of course I like her." Clara snapped her head up. Minho "ooohhed" under his breath. Just then, Frypan walked past, not paying them any attention. He began singing again. "Caaaan you feeell the looooove tonight…" Clara stared at him with her mouth wide open. Newt and Minho exchanged confused looks before busting out laughing.
"Everyone likes her!" Newt said between chuckles. "Even you!" Minho nodded, still laughing as Clara glowered in their direction. Newt slyly looked at Minho. "But as for your first comment…" He smacked his head with the handle of his hoe.
"OW! That hurt!" Minho looked to Clara for sympathy.
"I'll help you feel better," she said cheerfully. She promptly smacked him right in the solar plexus. Minho gasped for breath. "See doesn't your head feel better?!" she crowed as Newt laughed.
"You two were made for each other." Minho stated as his eyes twinkled at both of them. Newt tried to cover his embarrassment by rolling his eyes. Clara, however, felt that a bond had been made between her and Minho right then. A friendship. And she was very glad. Minho saw that they both liked each other, but also saw the attempt to keep it at a friendship level. He thought they were crazy. Clara would certainly brighten the place up a bit, especially Newt after… what happened. He tried to think of those dark days and shuttered internally. But maybe now wasn't the right time… he would wait. Suddenly they were aware of a commotion behind them. They turned and watched as Thomas and Gally started yelling at each other. Clara looked over at Minho, who rolled his eyes. "Hold up, Newt said britishly, "here come Amy and Teresa."
The two girls ran up with Teresa in front. "IT'S ALBY!" she yelled, "He's awake." Amy's head popped over Teresa's shoulder and she nodded emphatically. "YEAH!" All the boys went dead silent for a full ten seconds, staring at the girls. Amy slowly shrank back down behind Teresa. Newt spoke up. "Alright well we're not all gonna be able to see Alby at the same time, so I'm gonna pick some of ya. The lot of ya who don't get called can go back to work." Newt pointed at the three girls, Thomas, Gally, and a handful of others, then gestured for them to follow him. Clara glanced at Amy and noticed Gally walking towards her. Newt beside her raised his eyebrows.
"Gally seems to have taken an unusual interest in Amy." Clara snorted. "So do you think there's anything…" He left the sentence unfinished. Clara shook her head.
"Heaven forbid! If he EVER even THINKS of trying to talk to her… I'll… I'll…"
"Stab him with forks and knives?" Newt asked with an amused smile.
"Maybe I will." She tossed her hair sassily. Newt laughed and shook his head. By this time, Gally had caught up with Amy and was talking to her.
"So Amy…"
"Yeah?"
"You never came back with those snacks-"
"OH MAN I toootally forgot about that! I'm so sorry!" Amy said with a shake of her head. The corner of Gally's mouth tipped up.
"So are you gonna tell me what happened?"
"Well, long story short, Teresa came looking for me and then she and Frypan-"
"Wait. Teresa… and Frypan?!"
"Yep! So me and Clara ran and met Chuck in the woods." Amy looked at him with a strange expression on her face. "He showed us the place that you made for him." A muscle in his jaw twitched.
"So?"
"That was really nice of you." She placed a hand on his arm. "Really."
"Hey guys what's going on?" Thomas jogged up behind them and pushed in between them. He had observed them talking quietly together and when Amy put her hand on Gally's arm he knew that he needed to get between them… NOW! Amy brushed her hair out of her eyes shyly.
"Hi… nothin' much." Gally huffed and marched off. Thomas stared at his stiff figure.
"So… what were you guys talking about?" Amy's eyes narrowed suspiciously as her head whipped around to look at him.
"Why?"
"No reason… just wondering…" Thomas said unconvincingly.
"….Ok."
"So how are you doing in here?" Thomas asked, his eyes flicking nervously from hers to the ground.
"Oh… fine" She blushed and sought the round. "I'm kind of scared."
"Me too…. So you and Gally…..?"
Amy's eyes narrowed.
"Unbelievable." Amy muttered under her breath. "Look I've talked to you ONCE. Now's not the time to get jealous."
"W-wha-what? I'm NOT jealous."
"Yeah you are!" Clara piped up from behind them. Newt elbowed her. She looked at him and then turned pink as she realized that she had been eve's dropping- along with just about everyone else in the group.
"GO AWAY CLARA!" Amy yelled harshly.
"Yeah, Clara!" Yelled Minho from the back of the group. Clara shook her fist at him threateningly. When Amy turned back around, Thomas was avoiding her gaze. Great. She thought. Juuuuust great. Why is Clara's relationship going great while mine is struggling? The group walked in silence the rest of the way to the med-jacks hut. They entered and saw Alby sitting on the edge of his bed, staring intently at the floor. Newt immediately went to him and tried to make eye contact, but Alby just kept staring blankly at the floor. "Alby?" Newt said tentatively. No response. Newt stood and backed up. Thomas knelt beside Alby.
"We think- me and Minho- think we may have found a way out." He said softly. "Alby we can leave this place." Alby shook his head as tears filled his eyes.
"We can't leave." He said it so softly it was almost a whisper. "They won't let us."
"Whaddya mean- who won't let us?" Thomas exclaimed. Alby just put his head in his hands and started rocking himself back and forth. It was then that the small group noticed the growing commotion coming from outside. Thomas glanced once more at Alby, then stood and strode out the door, the rest of the group behind him.
Outside was chaos. Everywhere there were Gladers running with torches and spears. Thomas yelled at Winston as he passed them.
"What's going on?!" Winston glanced around nervously.
"It's the doors- they aren't closing." He ran off towards the blood house- presumably to get some of his famous knives. Clara and Amy slowly turned to look at each other nervously. Things were about to get difficult.
The grievers were coming.
I'm so so sooo sorry that we haven't uploaded anything since forever ago (like 6 months!)! Life happened… at one point my computer crashed and I lost all my current work. Then we both went on vacation but we actually managed to get a TON of work done, but we were camping so we had no electronics so we were writing it on paper and then we had to type it up and then edit it and we wanted this chapter to be longer for you and- and-
Anyway I hope you liked this chapter. We had a blast writing it! We have no update schedule currently (obviously) but we might start updating on Wednesdays… but you might get a surprise chapter here and there ;) And thanks to all who read and review- you're da bestest ever!