𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗨𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗥 𝗚𝗜𝗥𝗟 ᐅ 𝙣𝙚𝙬𝙩

𝘀𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗻

Newt's eyes meet mine, and I fall into a pool of deep brown, lost in his soft gaze. A small blush creeps onto his cheeks before he tears his eyes from mine, flipping off Minho with his middle finger. "Yeah, I did actually," Newt says blankly.

"Ya look like klunk," Alby adds as he trudges into Frypan's.

"Gee, thanks, Alby," Newt rolls his eyes. "That's mighty nice of ya."

Our table all laughs at Newt, who sends us an annoyed glances which only makes us laugh harder. I look over to see Chuck, to see him grinning ear to ear, humming excitedly to himself. I tilt my head. What on earth could he be looking forward to?

"You're excited today, Chuckie."

"It's game day."

Winston picks up on my confusion and explains, "Once every two weeks or so, we all play games all day and then go and help Fry for dinner."

"Gally runs it," Minho says.

"Gally?"

"Yeah. It was his idea, surprisingly. Ya didn't hear that from me, though."

❀

"Hide and seek time!" Minho calls, running into the huddle of Gladers and screaming. We're all gathered in the middle of the Glade in one big circle, listening to Gally's instructions. We're all pretty out of breath, we just played tag for two hours, and now we're playing hide and seek, but with a twist. Once you're found, the seeker has to tag you. If you can get away, you get to go and hide again, but if you get tagged, you are chucked in the Slammer. The first one to get tagged is it the next round, and the winner gets the 'pride of winning', which according to Clint, is very worth it. We all begged to differ.

"Are we five years old?" Gally asks, raising an eyebrow at Minho.

"Chuckie's close enough," Frypan says.

Chuck throws his arms into the air before letting them slump beside him while the Glade erupts into laughter. "Hey!"

"You're being blasphemous, Gally!" Jeff exclaims.

"You can never be too old for hide and seek," Newt agrees.

"Dibs hiding with Thea," Jeff says, almost jumping on me and using my shoulders to bounce him into the air. I push him off with a laugh.

"I don't think so," I chuckle. "Find your own spot."

The Gladers are stuck in an argument about who's going to seek, and I take the time to properly consider where on earth I could hide where no one could ever find me. The only advantage that I have over these boys is that most of them are quite burly — which means all of the small hiding spots will be open for me to fit into. There's plenty I can think of.

"Rock paper scissors to see who gets to push Newt in the Slammer?" Minho whispers in my ear.

"You're on," I say, grinning at him. Rock, paper, scissors, shoot! I smirk at him when I shoot paper and he shoots rock. Minho scowls at me. Newt raises his eyebrows at the two of us, and I shoot him an innocent glance, one that he sees through immediately.

"Who's seeking?" one boy says.

"Everyone race to the wall and back, whoever's last is seeking," Gally says.

Choruses of 'Chuck's it' ring throughout the Glade, making me giggle as he throws his arms in the air again in defence.

"I don't appreciate the slander!"

"We know, Chuckie, but it's too damn funny," Clint says, giggling as Jeff slaps him upside the head. Chuck tells me that Jeff has a massive crush on Clint, and in all honesty, I'm not all that surprised. They'd make an adorable couple.