The Girl

Chapter Forty Three

  "We're doing this," Minho says as he drops our plan from last month on the table. I sigh.

"Minho, that was weeks ago. We all know there's no way we can go through with it," I reason. He shakes his head.

"I found a way." He tells me everything. How to sneak past Alby, how to cover ourselves when we're gone, how to slip back unnoticed.

"That's... that's genius! Are we initiating it tomorrow?" I beam. Finally some good news. Minho nods his head.

"Now that that's out of the way, we need to talk," Minho switches his tone to serious. He gestures for us both to take seats and we do.

"What's wrong?" I ask him. He shakes his head.

"That's your question to answer."

"What do you mean?" I question, confused.

"What's going on with you, Beth? Staying out all night, disappearing for hours, coming back with too many cuts and scratches for it to be an accident," He describes all my unorthodox behaviours. I swallow dryly. I stare at him for a beat before dropping the act and telling the truth.

"What the hell do you think's going on?" I say, smoothing back my ponytail.

"It's Newt, isn't it?" Minho says. I roll my eyes at him.

"Obviously, you dumb shank." I try to play it off playfully but Minho knows I never use that glader slang. He knows somethings wrong.

"Ugh, Beth. Are you really gonna make me spend a half hour telling you how you're worth so much more than him? I'm not in the mood for a motivational speech, but if you need it," Minho complains.

"No, no. I just miss him, you know? It's hard to go from not going a day without talking to someone to... hardly even seeing them..." I trail off and quickly wipe two tears off my cheeks. Minho covers my hands with his and I look up to meet his gaze.

"I know how you feel. He's been my best friend for... well... as long as I remember. And now, he's been avoiding me like I'm some kind of monster."

"This entire thing started because he cared about me and wanted to keep me safe, but now he's shut me off altogether. Aside from the occasional glances at the dining hall he doesn't even acknowledge my existence," I explain.

"He's probably trying to forget about you, but he never will. He loves you so much, this is probably damaging him more than you could imagine. The only person he'll even talk to is Alby," Minho explains.

"Wait, what? How do you know?" I ask accusingly.

"It's not hard to see it. He shakes everyone off, ignores everyone, dismisses everyone. He's losing touch. If only he would listen to us," Minho longs.

"I need to talk to him. I need him to listen. I need him," I cry. I get up from the table and make my way to the door.

"No!" Minho shouts and practically falls over himself trying to catch me at the door. He grabs my forearm and harshly pulls me back. I turn to him with gritted teeth. "Beth, you and I both know that's not a good idea. He won't listen to anything. This would probably make it worse. We need to get this operation done first. Then we can go back to him. We need to avoid him for now."

"But Minho... I miss him..." I long.

"I... I know... he's my best friend, I miss him too. But we need to get this done. I can't have him change your mind-"

"He couldn't. I want to get out of here just as much as you do. Nothing he could say could make me not go. I just, I'm going mad without him," I plead.

"Well, what the shuck do you expect to even say to him, Beth?" He asks sassily, crossing his arms. I open my mouth to answer but nothing comes out.

"I don't know. I just want to see him," I explain.

"You see him everyday-"

"Talk to him! I want to talk to him! I want things to go back to normal!" I practically shout in his face. I can feel hot tears of anger threatening to spill over my eyelids.

"Beth, there's nothing we can do. He's dead set on keeping us safe. He cares too much-"

"If he cares about me, then why has he cut off our communication? We went from being so wrapped up in each other to not speaking."

"He knows talking to you will only make you aggravated. He's torturing himself by shutting off his communication to keep you safe," Alby walks in through the door and shuts it behind him. Minho swiftly picks up the papers with our new plan on them and dumps them in the day 6 trunk.

I stand, dumbfounded at the realization. I know he wants to keep me safe, but this? I just... I just...

I want Newt back.