When you're ready

Chapter 3

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***

The next evening the welcoming party for Elias took place, so a few hours before it would start we were all busy preparing food and getting wood for the big campfire we traditionally held. Gally, being a builder, was ordering everyone around as usual, although the work we had to do certainly did not require for us to have a 10-year university education in 'building'. It was simply stapling wood on top of each other and moving a few tables from the cafeteria. But he still took great pride in being the Main Character when it came to Building. I did not like Gally.

'Hey Alex, drive up the tempo a little', he started picking on me when I handed some wood to Clint, who was standing next to me, 'I notice you barely have any work to do as a med jack, so I'd appreciate it if you could spend all your piled up energy by properly helping us out, at the very least' he barked.

I stared him down, eyebrow raised; 'that's right, princess, I don't really have a lot of work to do. Maybe you could help me with that by, I don't know, breaking every single bone in your body?' I deadpanned, 'I'm sure I'd have my hands full with that, but of course not as full as when you'd try to get that stick out of your ass, which I'm sure would hurt a klunkload more'.

Gally was about to (try) to send me to hell with his response, but his red ears were too funny to take whatever he would have to say seriously anyway, and fortunately one of his builder buds was there to calm him down and keep him from embarrassing himself even further.

I continued to work on the campfire as I tried to hide my smirk.

***

The campfire started off pretty well. I was warming myself up next to it and watched the boys take part in their usual physical games, which I personally didn't quite enjoy participating in.

'Enjoying the view?' I heard someone say next to me, and I slightly jumped in surprise before looking up, an all too familiar handsome face looking down at me.

I figured hiding the tension I felt whenever Newt talked to me would be the best decision. So I smiled as he sat down next to me on the branch I was sitting on, 'of course, nothing better than a bunch of teenage boys wrestling in the mud, if you ask me' I said and it earned me a chuckle from Newt.

'You're not joining them?' I asked next, tucking my hair behind my ear awkwardly. I hoped he wouldn't notice that was a nervous habit of mine.

Newt shrugged as he looked at the play-fighting going on before us, 'You know it's not really my thing' he began, 'I'll just let Minho roll around in the dirt in my stead'.

Speaking of Minho, I saw he had noticed us and was heading our way now, hair messy and his skin dirty as if he hadn't showered in years.

'What're you love-birds chatting about so happily like that?' he asked with a grin, and me and Newt just sort of scoffed it off. This kind of teasing I had underwent so many times in the 6 months that I'd been here, with people fantasizing about me and all kind of guys, that ignoring it had become a habit. Although whenever someone implied that I had something going on with Newt, I could never really get it out of my head. I knew everyone said these types of things as a joke, but the simple thought that it might really seem like that to others never failed to make an uncomfortable knot form in my stomach.

Minho sat down next to Newt a little too abruptly and 'accidentally' pushed him against me. His shoulder crushed into mine and the hand he had been leaning on lost its support, involuntarily shoving behind my back.

Newt quickly got back into his previous position and although it was obvious that Minho had done it on purpose, neither of us said anything and we both just acted as if it had been an accident. I could vaguely notice Newt giving Minho the side-eye and Minho wiggling his brows in response, but I pretended I didn't see that.