𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡 / the maze runner

𝟎𝟐

"am i going to be punished?" chelsea asked with a roll of her eyes to hide her sudden fear.

alby shook his head. "not this time. you're the only greenie who's gotten that far, though. lucky for you the runners came along then. next time, though, there will be a punishment."

chelsea narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips, but said nothing.

alby took her down to the ground again. a whole party set up was laid out in the dusk, the gladers moved to set stools and food and wood for the fire up. alby left her to take care of somethings, so she stood and watched the bustle of activity.

almost all of the boys looked her up and down at least once as she stood there. she sent them all glares.

a huge bonfire leapt in the centre of the gathering. all the boys seemed to have temporarily forgotten about her, or at least hadn't noticed her sitting on a log a little ways form the fire where the shadows could keep her concealed. food was served by a pleasant-looking black boy and some other cooks. she hadn't gotten any herself, but the black boy had come up to her and in a very friendly way introduced himself as frypan, and gave her some food. she'd tried to refuse but he wouldn't hear a word of it.

"no, no," he said stubbornly, pushing the plate towards her. "if you don't like it, you don't have to eat it, but at least try it."

so she gave in and took whatever meat was on the plate. she nibbled on it, then her eyes widened as the flavourful food flooded her mouth. she immediately wolfed it down, her stomach letting her know just how hungry she actually was.

frypan smiled triumphantly and gave her the whole plate. "enjoy," he told her, flashing her a surprisingly white smile.

"thank you," she told him earnestly.

"no problem. sorry, do you remember your name yet?"

chelsea nodded. "it's chelsea," she told him.

frypan smiled. "pretty name," he complimented.

"thank you."

frypan gave her one last smile and turned and walked off, meeting up with a few other gladers and laughing at some joke.

chelsea wolfed down the potatoes, corn, and the rest of her meat in the dark. she wiped her hands as best she could on her jeans and the grass around her.

not too much later, newt cautiously approached her. a mason jar of some unappealing amber liquid was in his hand.

she didn't say anything as he sat down next to her, grunting slightly as he settled down. he cast a glance at her face to see her reaction to him sitting there, but she didn't even turn her head, just watched him out of the corner of her eye.

"you alright there?" he asked after a few seconds of silence.

she nodded.

"alby said you remembered your name."

"it's chelsea," she said, still hardly looking at him.

"chelsea." newt tasted the name for himself. "that's a nice name."

"thank you." she was being blunt and trying to make him go away. she didn't trust anyone here, not even alby.

"so uh, look, about what happened earlier," newt began, giving her a concerned look to see how his words would be taken. chelsea just stiffened and narrowed her eyes, still refusing to look at newt.

"which part?" she muttered.

"well, all of it, actually," newt admitted, shaking his head so his blonde hair moved out of his eyes. "first of all, what scott said about sharing you, no one's owning you, and no one's sharing you. alby and i won't let that happen."