Disclaimer: I don't own The Maze Runner.

Chapter 5

These guys weren't very good at whispering. Declarations of disbelief, cursing, and questions crashed down on her at full volume. They were, however, excellent at staring.

Athena kept her chin up high and didn't make eye contact with anyone in particular as she walked into what had been referred to as the "mess hall" alone. She even left her staff outside so she wouldn't seem like a threat. Part of her wished that Newt or even that Minho kid was here with her, but maybe it was better to face the mob by herself. It wasn't like she could constantly have an escort or as if she even wanted one. Being constantly followed would've been horrible.

She glanced around, trying to figure out how the mess hall worked. Back in the Courtyard, they all ate around the same table and shared the food family-style. Here it seemed that they were through a line and then headed back to a few scatted tables, all of which looked handmade.

Eyes followed her as she made her way to the line; she could feel the weight of their collective gaze on her skin. Or maybe that was just her heavy winter clothes. It was so much warmer in this maze, it almost didn't seem fair. Hah. Fair. That world never applied to a maze. She knew better.

Shedding her jacket, she stepped up to one of the tables and glanced around at the unfamiliar faces that were ogling back at her. She pointed to a spot on the bench. "Mind if I put my jacket down and save a seat?"

"Uh, well, who…who are you?" one of the boys stammered.

"I'm Athena," she said, and then shrugged. "I'm new." As if that wasn't obvious.

"You can put your jacket there if you tell us why you're here and why you're a girl," said another boy. He was tall, with squinty brown eyes, short brown hair, and a scar on his neck. "We don't have girls here."

Athena raised her eyebrows. Oh hell no, she wasn't going to put up with that kind of attitude. She understood they were going to be curious and suspicious, but that didn't mean they had to be rude. She picked up her jacket, and walked over to the next table.

"Are you more polite?" she asked the three boys sitting there.

One of them scooted over and gestured for her to take the empty spot. "I'm Lincoln, and over there's Clint and Oppie. You can sit here."

"You can sit anywhere," said Oppie. He was a tall, lanky boy with red hair, freckles, and glasses, plus a lopsided and welcoming grin. "Did you come up on the lift? It's not the right day, though. So you're from somewhere else? How'd you get here?"

"Dude, chill out," Clint said, shaking his head, "Give her a chance to get food first."

"Thank you," Athena said, giving Clint a tense half-smile. Honestly, she didn't want to answer any of their questions, not after having been interrogated by Alby for the past half hour. Actually, slinking off into a corner and hiding until morning sounded like a decent plan, but she wasn't the type to run from her problems. Or hide from them.

She was more of a fixer, which was why she had been a medic back in the Courtyard. Meeting problems head-on was really the only way to deal with them.

She turned to go get her meal and found a tall, dark-skinned boy standing there, holding out a pre-made plate.

"Sit, sit," he said, "You're Athena, right?"

"Yes…" she said cautiously, wondering how he already knew her name.

"Newt sent Leo to tell me about you," the boy said. He leaned past her and set the plate down on the table. "He said you might not be that hungry but to feed you anyways. I'm Frypan." He stuck out his hand.

A nervous laugh escaped from her. "Seriously?" She took his hand and gave it a firm shake, still smiling a little. "Your name is really Frypan?"

"Yeah," he said, smiling back at her, seemingly not insulted by her sudden laugh. "Fits, seeing how I cook all the food for these klunkheads."

Oh great, more slang. She was going to have to use her notebook to keep track of all this. Or she would if she was staying, which she definitely wasn't. "Thanks for the food. It looks good."

"I need to ask for more spices," he said, shaking his head, "It could use more flavor."

"Yeah, 'cause dog vomit isn't a good taste," teased Lincoln, earning him an eye roll from the maze's cook.

"Stuff it, shank," Frypan said with a good-natured grin before heading back off to the serving line.

Athena sat down at the table, avoiding the stares of the boys around her, and began eating. She was actually a little hungry now, seeing how breakfast had been a while ago. Would sleeping be difficult tonight? She was on a different time schedule, after all. She just needed to make sure she got up early enough to go and try the wall that would lead her back to the Rust.

"Now that you're fed," Oppie said, leaning forward, "How exactly did you get here?"

Between bites of food and sips of water, she explained her story to the boys sitting at her table, knowing that others were listening in. It was the exact same story she had told Newt and Alby, and hopefully this would be the last time she would have to tell it. The boys could tell each other after this.

"That's crazy," Lincoln said, shaking his head, "A whole other maze. I thought we were the only one."

"We thought we were alone, too," Athena said with a shrug. Maybe there were hundreds of other mazes out there, all filled with teenagers trying to survive.

"Hey, you said you were a medic, right?" Clint said, pointing a fork at her, "That's what I do."

"Really?" Athena said. She perked up a little. "Maybe we can share some tips."

"Yeah," Clint said with a nod, "I don't know a lot, but I'm picking it up as I go."

"I've got a first aid book, and that's where I learned everything," Athena said, patting her bag, "Maybe you could ask for one, too." If it was anything like the request system back at the Courtyard, they should be able to get small stuff like that.

"I'll try this week," Clint replied.

"Hey."

Athena glanced up as a new boy stepped up to their table. He had fierce razor eyebrows, a bulbous nose, and clear blue eyes that were currently regarding her like she was a snake he had been told to deal with

"Can I help you?" she asked, one hand wrapping around her bag. While she didn't have her staff, there was enough stuff in her bag to make it dangerous. Plus, she had a fork. She could turn a fork into a weapon if she had to.

"Yeah, you can," he said, crossing his arms over his chest, "You need to answer some questions, greenie."

Ugh, hadn't she dealt with enough questions? And who was this guy, anyways? He wasn't the leader, that was Alby, so she didn't owe him any answers. Athena went back to eating the skin of her baked potato. "I'm not a greenie."

"You're new to the maze, so that makes you a greenie."

"I'm Athena," she said, her tone flat and emotionless, "I won't answer to anything else."

The boy leaned down, one of hand on the table, getting in her face. All of her senses went on alert at his close proximity, and she had to clench her bag to keep from lashing out and pounding the heel of her palm into his face. "You're going to start answering to something worse if you don't answer to greenie."

"Back. Off," Athena said quietly, not looking at him.

"Gally, I'd do like the lady says," said Alby's voice a moment before he appeared. Athena spotted Newt and Minho near the serving line, both of them discreetly watching the scene yet not getting involved. Alby turned to address the gathered group. "Look, you've all noticed we've got a new face here. Athena's new, and she's a girl, as you might've figured out." That got a few chuckles and a couple mutters, and Athena met Newt's eyes across the room. He gave her an encouraging half-smile, and she smiled a little back at him. "We're going to treat her like any other Glader, got it?"

"But she's a girl," someone said.

"Yeah, so a couple things will be different, but she's going to pull her weight and everything," Alby said, shooting a frown in the direction the voice had come from. "It's going to take some getting used to, but I expect all of you shanks to treat her with respect. Or else."

She doubted that Alby really trusted her yet, but at least he was asking the others to accept her. But if Athena had her way, she wouldn't be here after the morning. This was just going to be a random, failed attempt to get out of the maze, not a permanent switch.

She didn't want to think about being stuck here without her friends in a whole new maze with new rules.

A/N: Gally will eventually mellow out...he's just suspicious right now, lol.