Subject of the Flame | Maze Runner [2]

THREE

[ MINHO ]

❧

Minho ignored the nervous chatter around him, mindlessly shoving spoonfuls of food into his mouth. His eyes darted around the room, looking for any sign of Electra.

Where could she be? He hadn't seen her since the night before and he was starting to feel worried. Did they find something wrong with her and were medically intervening? Did she get herself into trouble and was being locked away from everyone? Both options seemed perfectly valid in his head, and he couldn't decide which he favoured.

"Another Maze with only girls, eh? Wish WICKED had dropped me in there instead," Frypan joked, taking a bread roll from his tray and shoving it in his mouth.

"Look at that one lonely shank over there. He's been with the girls the entire time. Lucky bastard." Another Glader took his glass of water and sloppily drank it down, slapping the empty cup on the table.

Minho couldn't help but laugh, "You shanks are all talk. Go ahead, go talk to them right now. You have every opportunity."

Frypan craned his head over to the other table where all the Group B girls sat and quietly talked in hushed voices, sometimes sending suspicious glances around the room, "You know what? None of them are my type anyways."

Minho nudged his friend, "Yeah, sure."

The door to the cafeteria drifted open, and Minho expected more workers to silently file into the room. When it wasn't workers dressed in their drab gray pantsuits or doctors in their white lab coats, but a girl curiously striding into the room, Minho's heart skipped a beat.

At first, he couldn't recognize her. It'd been years since she looked so rested, so put together. So beautiful. But here she was. Electra.

The girls from Group B all stopped their whispering to stare at her. His best friend found him in the crowd and rushed over to him. Minho stood and she quickly wrapped him in a hug, and Minho could smell the shampoo in her clean curly hair. He'd forgotten she had curly hair. He'd also forgotten the last time she'd outright hugged him, and it'd never been in front of other people before. Minho's heart fluttered.

The hug was over before he realized it was happening, and Electra sat at the table with the rest of the Gladers. They all gaped at her as if she was an alien, and she groaned, realizing their shock at how she looked without bushels of matted hair and utter exhaustion weighing down on her, before speaking, "If any of you say anything, I'll punch you in the neck."

The boys at the table went back to their conversations as a worker placed a food tray in front of Electra. She grabbed the fork and took a couple of bites.

Minho leaned in close, "You look nice, by the way. Forgot you were actually human for a second."

Electra tried to hide a smile, "Shut up."

Minho's smile grew wide before he turned back to his tray of food, "So, how were your last 24 hours? About as boring as mine I assume?"

Electra's face shifted to anger as if a switch had been flipped in her body, "They took my knife from me."

"I didn't think they would let you keep it," Minho said.