A Way Back - The Maze Runner (♡Newt)

Chapter 10

Cally's pov

"Come on, Newt!" I whined. "You said I would be given a chance to prove myself!"
     "I didn't say when, Greenbean."
     "You said: 'Not tomorrow. Maybe in a few days. Good that?'" I tried my best impression of Newt's British accent, earning an eye roll from him. "And I agreed to it. It has been six days, I think six days are a few."
     Newt and I sat down on a picknick table in the Homestead. Newt taking place beside Alby and I had sat down on the other side of the table facing both of them.
     It had been six days since we had talked about me wanting to become a Runner. We hadn't talked about it since then, I suspected the blonde boy was trying to avoid the topic, but I was done waiting. The moment Newt had come out of the Maze and was done in the Map-room, I had basically stalked him all the way to the Homestead. Hoping against better judgment that irritating might get him to give in to my request.
     "I said maybe, so slim it and wait."
     "That's not fair! I did my waiting, six days are a few days, I want to try it."
     "Want to try what?" Alby asked us, Newt opened his mouth to answer, but I was first.
     "Being a Runner."
     "So, our Newbie wants to be a Runner?" Minho had come back and sat down beside me.
     "Yes, I do. At least I want to try, but Newton here won't let me."
     "I don't think it's a good idea." Newt said casually.
     "Why not? You said I could be good at it the first day I got here. Why back out now?" My frustration showing more than it did before.
     "Yes, Newton. Why back out?" Minho said in a teasing way, clearly aiming at some kind of inside joke. Newt sent an annoyed glare his way in response, but I decided ignored it. For now.
     "Did you change your mind? Do you think I don't have what it takes to be a Runner?"
     "No, that's not-"
     "Then what's the problem?"
     Alby decided to say something again. "If you think you can do it, and Newt thinks you've got it in ya. Then I think we should test you."
     My eyes grew wider for a moment, and a smile came on my lips, "what's the test?"
     "You shall see." Alby said with the hint of a smile on his lips before taking a bite from his chicken.
     "Okay, can you tell me when?"
     I looked at Alby, who looked at Minho and Newt for a moment before answering me. "Tomorrow morning, in front of the Homestead, don't be late. Good that?"
     I nodded, "I'll be there."
     In the past six days, I had tried almost all the jobs there were in the Glade. A few things became clear to me, I'm not a good Builder, I will never get the image of a slaughtered cow out of my head and I'm never, ever, complaining about places that aren't completely spotless ever again. Sloppers really are some of the hardest working people in the Glade.
     When I looked over at Newt with an absurdly big smile on my face, he just gave a small, forced smile back before turning his attention to his food. Making me frown.
     What's his problem? I thought, questioning why he of all people does not want me to do this. He was the first person to give me the idea after all, and now I want to do it he's against it. Eventually, I just rolled my eyes. Boys.
     "Hey, Newbie! Get that dog of yours under control!" The boy who had called to me was one of the Sloppers, Bark had gotten a hold on his chicken and now she was merrily chewing on it a few feet away from the table. Not aware of any harm done. Or at least acting like it.
     "Bark, come here." I called to her. She looked up at me with big, guilty eyes. She knew what she had done. After I called her again, sterner this time, the dog came walking to me with her head low and her tail between her legs. I grabbed the chicken out of her mouth and offered it to the Shank. "You want it back?"
     The boy looked at me as if I was crazy, a disgusted look in his eyes. "That's disgusting."
     I laughed at him as I gave the piece of chicken back to Bark. Who happily took it from me and lay back down. "Here you go, small one." I said lovingly, petting the top of her head.
     "Are you going to wash that hand?" Minho said with a judgmental look on his face, but I knew he was teasing me.
     "Are you going to take a shower?" I asked while wiping my hand on his shoulder. Minho backed up when he realized what I was doing.
     "Get that bugging hand away from me."
     "Ow, you mean this hand?" I stuck my hand out to him again, only for him to immediately slam it away.
     "Yes, that one. Slinthead." I laughed as I returned to my plate of food.
     The past few days, Minho and I have been teasing each other all the time. He reminds me so much of my brothers. We may be acting silly most of the time, but it makes me laugh, and I've found out that every laugh in this place is valuable.
     Even though Minho made me laugh, I preferred Newt's company. I don't know what it is about him, but I feel saver when he's around. At some moments, it even felt like we had met before, but I shook that feeling off the moment I had it. We hadn't met before, that was impossible.
     From the corner of my eye, I saw Jeff go upstairs. A few minutes later, Clint came down. After he got his food, he sat down at our table. "How's Gally doing?" I asked him.
     "The shank's fine. He's awake right now. Was planning on bringing him some food after I finished mine."
     I shoved my last piece of chicken and green beans in my mouth and got up. "Where are you going?" Newt asked.
     "I'm going to go bring some food to an old patient of mine. You coming, Bark?" The dog stood up by hearing her name and followed me as I took some food and walked back to the stairs. The moment we passed the table again, Bark tried to steel some of Clint's food. "No Bark, down." Bark looked at me for a moment before obeying me. She's so adorable.
     I knocked on the door before entering. "What are you doing here, Newbie?" I got greeted by Gally, who looked at me with murder in his eyes. Which did little to impress me, let alone intimidate.
     "Well aren't you a ray of sunshine." I said in an overjoyed voice, making clear I did not intend to be hostile nor judgemental. "I'm here baring gifts," I placed the plate of food on the nightstand beside Gally's bed.
     "You've got nothing for me?" Jeff asked teasingly, a big smile on his face.
     "Slim it, you already ate." I said to him with a glare.
     "Well, you brought the food, now go away." Gally seemed to refuse to touch his food, even though I could hear his stomach. He really is a joy to be around... yeah not so much.
     "No need to ask again, I get the hint. I just wanted to thank you for the bed."
     Gally looked at me confused, "bed?"
     "You're Keeper of the Builders, they made me a bed, so thank you."
     "You should thank Cally," Jeff started, "she's the one who saved your sorry ass after you knocked out Clint."
     The moment he had brought it up, I immediately wished he hadn't. I really didn't want to remind the big moody wolf about something he might be embarrassed by.
     Only Gally did not expload with anger as I thought he would, instead it seemed like Gally did not know how to react.
     After some silence, I smiled at him. "We'll call it even. Right, Gal?"
     "Yeah, whatever." Gally eventually brushed it off.
     "Good, well, I'm going again, you need to eat, get some strength back." I turned from Gally to Jeff, "see ya later, Jeff." I tried to sound happy and positive, but the moment I closed the door behind me, I let out a heavy sigh.
     "Well, he's a guy with an attitude..." I mumbled at Bark, who looked up to me with her big brown eyes, "I start to understand why most people don't like him." Bark was still looking at me, she didn't understand a word from what I was saying, but I didn't mind.

~.~.~

Newt's pov

Cally got up from her place between Minho and Clint. "Where are you going?" I asked her.
     She answered me as she started to walk towards the kitchen, "I'm going to go bring some food to an old patient of mine. You coming Bark?"
     The moment she had left the room, Clint started talking, "she really is worried about the Shank."
     "I hope he's not gonna spoil her, I like her this way." Minho said while chewing on his chicken, glancing up to see her disappear inside the M.R.
     "He won't spoil her," I started, but I couldn't finish my sentence since Minho talked over me.
     "'Couse you wouldn't let that happen. Right, Newton?" He used the name Cally sometimes calls me in a mocking voice. As he always did since the first time she called me that.
     "What I was gonna say, Prettyboy. Is that she's feelin' responsible. Besides, I don't think she even likes him."
     "Yeah," Clint began, "before the Shank got brought to us, she said she never even talked to him. It's hard to like someone you never talked to."
     Out of nowhere, Alby started laughing, "Come on, Shanks, let's quit the gossiping. You sound like a bunch of pre-school teenage girls."
     "You're right," I said. "Let's talk about somethin' more important. Like what are ya plannin' on doin' with our purple haired Greenbean tomorrow?"
     Alby nodded towards Minho, "that thing you used for Ben, you still know how it goes?"
     "Of course I do. You really think she's gonna make it?"
     Alby shook his head, "I don't think so. But the shank wants to try Running? Let her try. Failing will teach her that she's not invincible, and if she succeeds, well, I guess we'll have a new qualified Runner."
     "Would be a shame if she succeeds, I mean, I could use a shank like her for the Med-jacks." Clint piped up while he dropped his fork on his plate. "I'm done eating. And since my duty to baby-sit Gally is over, I'm leaving. See you Shuckfaces later."
     After those words, Clint left the Homestead, soon followed by Alby. Leaving Minho and me alone on the table.
     "Why are you so worried about her?"
    I looked up at Minho, "I'm not."
     "You are, dude. No need to try and hide it from me, you care about the Shank."
     "So do you, and so does Alby and Clint and some other Gladers. So what's your bloody point?" My patience was running out completely.
     "Yeah, we all care about her, but you're trying to protect her."
     "I'm not!"
     "Oh, come on! Then what's the reason for not letting her try Running?"
     I was so done with this discussion, "I just got a bad feelin' about it, okay? Like she shouldn't go in the Maze. I don't know why, I just do. Now slim it."
     "A bad feeling? You don't want her to do something she's presumably good at, because you've got the fe- " Minho stopped talking and looked behind me. "Speaking of the devil, here she comes."
     I looked behind me to see Cally walking down the stairs while talking to Bark.
     "Hey, Greenie!" Minho called to her, drawing her attention to him. She smiled, came to us and sat down beside me.
     "And how's he doin'?" I asked, happy to chance the subject.
     "He is awake..." she said, sounding a bit hesitant.
     "What is it? Is our Gally not doing so well?" Minho asked, a trace of cynicism in his voice, as always.
     "No, he's doing fine. I guess. It's just... I think I start to understand why most of you don't like him." I shot Minho a silent 'I told you so,' on which he responded by shrugging his shoulders.
     For a moment I thought Cally had noticed, but if she had she ignored it.
     "Anyway, at least he'll be fine. That's what matters." She said while twirling some of her hair around her fingers.
     "Are ya ready for tomorrow?" I changed the subject.
     "Hell yeah! Well, I think so, I don't know what's going to happen. So not completely ready, but ready enough."
     "That's the spirit." Minho said while getting up, "I'm gonna try to get some more food from Frypan. You coming with me?"
     Cally shook her head, "No thanks, I'm heading to my room. Don't feel like having an angry Frypan. See ya guys later."
     "Later, Cals." I said as she and Bark left the room to go upstairs.
     "Are you down, Newt?"
     I also shook my head, "I just ate. I think I'm headin' for my bed. Good luck stealing food."
     "I don't need luck, I've done it enough times to know how to do it."
     I shook my head as Minho walked away before I stood up and headed to my own room. As second-in-command, I was supposed to stop him, but as his friend, I could see how much he enjoyed outsmarting Frypan and did not want to take that away from him. Besides, like he said, he had done it many times before, and if that Shank had sat his mind on something, he was gonna be stubborn about it.

                                     ~.~.~

Published: 19/03/2018
Edited: 17/05/2020