She woke up with a start and a gasp, her lungs burning as though she had been holding her breath while she slept.
She sensed movement to her left and realized that when she had woken she had also surprised a nearby boy out of his own slumber judging by the his confused look and the wobbling of the stool he sat on.
She had time to take two more deep breaths and give the boy a quick examination-messy blonde hair, dark eyes, slim build-before he regained his wits enough to react to her wakeful state.
She also unfortunately had time to take note that while much improved, that painful buzzing in her brain had not totally ceased.
"Easy there, don't fall off the table," The boy warned, reaching out to steady her just as she realized he was in fact correct and she was teetering dangerously close to the edge.
He had an accent, pleasant and musical that her mind was somehow able to identify as British.
"Great," She thought, scooting cautiously back towards the middle of the table without getting unnecessarily close to the boy until she had more time to asses his intentions. "I can remember enough to place accents but not enough to know who I am."
But almost as soon as the thought crossed her mind, she felt her head clear slightly. The buzzing had faded again, and the added clarity allowed something deep inside her to protest that her complaint wasn't true.
She did know her name.
Ada.
Her name was Ada.
"Ada?" The boy repeated. "Is that your name?"
Ah. So apparently she'd said that out loud.
Ada considered carefully before responding. She didn't know anything about this boy. Hell, she still didn't know anything about herself beyond her first name. Still, he hadn't tried to hurt her yet and it was better to trust him at least temporarily rather than bolt for God knows where on her own.
So she nodded, indicating that he was correct in his assumption.
"Ada," He repeated once more, seemingly rolling the short word around on his tongue to test it out. "Right, well I'm Newt. And you're in a place called the Glade. I'm sure you have a lot of questions but right now it should be just about time for breakfast. I think we should get you some food and go from there, alright?"
She hesitated, but finally settled for nodding again. Now that the heaviness of sleep and the pain had both faded she could feel a gnawing hunger building in her stomach.
"Good that," Newt offered her a half smile. "I missed my dinner last night to keep an eye on you, Greenie."
Ada frowned but didn't bother asking for an explanation of the strange name the boy...Newt had referred to her as. She had bigger concerns like getting some food in her stomach and figuring out where the hell she was and why she couldn't…
Ada's stream of thoughts were caught off unceremoniously when Newt pulled away from her and stood.
The buzzing pain was back.
It was bearable. In fact it was subtle enough that yesterday she could have mistaken it for lingering effects of an injury sustained in...whatever that thing she'd come here was.
But no, this was something else and she was finally starting to piece together the fact that the pain's intensity or lack thereof was directly related to how close she was to the boy standing in front of her, seemingly uncomfortable under her critical gaze.
Ada squinted her eyes at him, attempting to give her brain time to sort out what was so special about him that her very physical well being seemed tied to his proximity.
"What?" He asked, shifting awkwardly at the intense scrutiny.
"Just let me try something," Ada muttered, determined to find the answer to at least one of the thousand questions currently rushing through her mind.
She could see the inquiry starting to form on his lips but before he could ask what exactly she planned to try, Ada was leaping forward arms outstretched.
"Ompf," Newt exhaled hard, all of the air being forced from his body at once as she made impact with his chest.
He didn't do anything for a moment, too shocked to react to the crazy greenie suddenly launching herself at him.
For her part Ada, pushed back slightly, bracing a hand on each of Newt's shoulders, embarrassment burning somewhere in the back of her mind. She might not remember much but she had enough instincts left to know that this wasn't exactly normal behavior. This was just a dull echo however; and easy to ignore behind the dominating thought pulsing through her brain now that she and Newt were in direct contact again.
The pain was completely gone. Again.
As soon as they were touching the pain disappeared. If they were close to each other the pain was still around but receded significantly.
"It's gone," She murmured to herself, examining the face of the boy that was now so close to hers, searching for any hint of what connected them.
He seemed to examine her back for a moment, his own stare less quizzical and more anxious before he appeared to fully grasp the situation.
"Whoa," Newt somehow managed to both grab her hands and remove them from his shoulders and hop back at least a foot at the same time, putting significantly more space between them. "What are you doing?"
It might have been comical if Ada hadn't been distracted by the hint of pain that had returned as soon as their contact was broken.
"The pain," She reached upwards with one hand to point helplessly at her forehead, giving it a quick tap for good measure.
"I'll get Clint," Newt offered, making to step around the table she still rested on. "He's keeper of the med-jacks, he might have something…"
"No, you don't get it," Ada interrupted, leaning over to block his path. "When I'm touching your or...you're touching me...it stops. The further away you are the worse it is."
Newt frowned, the corners of his mouth pulling downward grimly even while one eyebrow shot up illustrating his skepticism.
"What now?"
"I don't get it either," Ada shook her head as if to clear it, but in reality she knew that was a vain hope at this point. "I don't get anything right now. But it's true."
Newt didn't say anything at first just stared at her as if if he did so long enough she would take back what she'd said and admit she had been playing a joke.
Well, Ada had no intention of doing that. She just wanted to understand what was happening to her. And who "her" was while she was at it would be nice.
Finally Newt sighed, reaching up to ruffle the hair at the nape of his neck in exasperation he probably didn't want to be as obvious as it was.
"Look, you took a good tumble in the box and you just woke up," He spoke to her in a calm, soft voice, the way you might talk to an animal you were worried about spooking. "Can we just get some food in you? In both of us? We can figure out the rest later."
Ada hesitated. As hungry as she was how did he expect her to think about anything else, even food, when she had just woken up in a strange place, with a strange boy, no idea of who she was or what was happening to her?
Her stomach made the final decision for her by letting out a loud rumble at that moment, earning her a tiny smirk from Newt and a blush rushing to her cheeks.
"Ok," She decided, hopping off the table awkwardly.
For his part Newt had started to reach out to steady her then thought better of it and withdrew his hand, clearly torn between the instinct to help and the desire not to touch her again unless absolutely necessary.
Ada decidedly ignored his indecision, not wanting to make herself anymore of a burden than she already was. She didn't know if she could trust him but it seemed that she needed him for the time being and not just for the food he had promised.
And so instead of reaching out and grasping onto some part of Newt, any part of Newt, to ease the slowly returning subtle buzzing in her mind Ada simply followed him out of the cabin as close as she dared.
Newt tried to ignore the stares of the other gladers as he led Ada into the mess hall but they didn't make it easy on him.
The place went silent upon their entrance then immediately launched into the kind of noisy quiet that only comes from a room full of people all whispering at the same time.
Ada was walking close enough to him that he felt it when she tensed under their interested gazes, and he fought the urge to flinch at her proximity. She would adjust, they always did. None of the previous greenies had clung quite this close to him, but it wasn't a picnic for any of them.
Alby half rose from his seat and Newt held up a hand to indicate he had the situation under control before steering Ada by the elbow over to where Frypan was dishing out oatmeal.
"Newt," Frypan gave him a nod of acknowledgment as he handed over a bowl which Newt promptly passed on to Ada before taking another for himself. "Greenie."
Ada met the nickname with a blank stare, her fingers clutching tightly at the bowl.
"Is she ok?" Frypan stage whispered, earning him an eyeroll from Newt.
"She's fine," Newt answered firmly, using his free hand to once again steer Ada by the elbow this time towards the only empty table on the far end of the mess hall. He didn't want to take any chances that she'd start spouting off that klunk about touching him in front of the rest of the gladers. He knew they would never let that go and they had enough to gossip about for the time being.
Ada sunk down onto the bench next to the table with a grateful sigh, seemingly just as eager as he was to no longer be standing in the middle of a room with all eyes turned to them. Newt followed suit, on the opposite side of the table, pointedly ignoring when the whispers started again from all around them.
Ada was twirling her wooden spoon around in her bowl examining its contents with a skeptical eye.
"It's oatmeal," Newt chuckled. She was like a little kid not wanting to try food until she was sure what it was. "They sent up supplies at the same time you came up so enjoy it. Stuff like this never lasts long."
"Who is they?" Ada leaned forward.
Newt sighed and gestured towards her bowl. He was going to get some food in her if it killed him.
Now it was Ada's time to roll her eyes but she acquiesced to his silent request and shoved a spoonful of the oatmeal into her mouth.
Newt took the time to take a scoop for himself, ignoring her frustrated stare before he cleared his throat.
"We call them the creators, but we don't really know who they are," He explained. "All we know is someone sends up the box every month with a few supplies and a new guy...or girl in your case."
"There haven't been any other girls?" She demanded, leaning forward again.
Newt nodded pointedly at her bowl and couldn't help but chuckle again as she groaned in annoyance but obeyed his insistence that she eat. She might be a little crazy but she was good for a laugh.
Once they had each had another scoop of oatmeal, Newt continued.
"No, greenie, you are our first and only female glader," Ada started to open her mouth to ask another question but Newt rushed on before she could get anything out. "No, I don't know why there have never been any other girls or why things changed now. Why do you think every shucking guy in here is staring at you?"
Ada blushed and dropped her gaze to the table.
That was cute. If you liked that sort of thing. Which he might. Or not. It wasn't like he had anything to compare it to.
"Why does everyone keep calling me that?" She asked when she had recovered from her embarrassment.
"What, Greenie?" Newt shrugged, shoveling more oatmeal into his mouth and talking around it. "It's what we call all our new arrivals. Next month they'll be a new greenie and everyone will call you by your lovely name, don't worry."
That earned him a small smile and Ada resumed eating.
"Speaking of which, Alby's going to want to know that you've remembered what you're called," Newt told her, finishing up his oatmeal and rising from the bench. "Come on, let's get you sorted."