Born Again

Chapter forty nine

After having to drag Newt out of bed, Thomas convinced him to get dressed and go to school.

   Thomas knew that was the best thing for his friend. He could tell how hard it was when Newt sat in silence. He could tell he was overthinking what had happened to Winston. Going to school would be good to get his mind off of everything.

So Thomas made him get out of bed and ready for school.

"Remind me again why I'm still going to school," Newt grumbled as he swung his backpack onto his shoulder.

   "Same reason I am," Thomas answered. "Get your mind off it. Plus, I think something is going to happen today. You were there."

   "Oh, yeah?" Newt asked, walking out the front door. "Why's that? Have a dream last night?"

   Thomas nodded, following his friend down the street.

   " 'bout what?" Newt asked when Thomas didn't elaborate.

   "The Right Arm," Thomas answered.

He dreamt about arriving, about meeting Vince for the first time.

It was strange though. Thomas rarely dreamt about the other one, when he and Minho had to be blindfolded and kidnapped before taken to The Right Arm. He hoped that meant it would be the better version.

He voiced his thoughts to Newt.

   Newt just grunted through a yawn. Thomas couldn't even tell if he had been listening.

   "Did you sleep last night?" Thomas asked, looking at his friend with concern.

   "I'll be fine," was his only response. "Don't worry about it. Let's go find this right arm of yours."

~~~

The Right Arm ended up finding them.

   After math, Harriet and Sonya came up to Thomas and Newt with fliers.

   "Hey guys!" Harriet said, handing Thomas the flier. "Are you interested in joining The Right Arm."

   "What's that?" Thomas asked, looking at the paper.

  Join The Right Arm today! Find out how you can help cure our world if its many toxic addictions.

Thomas handed Newt the paper, looking up at the girls again.

   "It's to help kids with addictions," Sonya answered. "You know, since we had cranks here recently. We thought it'd be a good idea to provide help to anyone else who needs it. Are you guys interested in joining the support class?"

   Thomas looked at Newt.

   He shrugged casually. "I don't know. Your choice, Tommy."

   Thomas didn't really have any urge to interact with more cranks. But he joined The Right Arm in his dreams so he didn't really have much of a choice in the matter. He figured if he said no, Sonya would make Newt join anyway, who would make Thomas join with him.

   "Sure," Thomas said, forcing a smile. "Why not?"

   He could practically hear Newt rolling his eyes next to him.

   "Great!" Harriet said, completely oblivious to Thomas' lack of enthusiasm. "We're meeting after school to get everything started. Oh, and make sure you tell Minho about it. See if he wants to join."

~~~

"Sure," Minho said when Thomas asked him after school. "I'll join if you two are."

   "Yeah, but don't you have track?" Newt asked, walking down the hall.

   "Yeah," Thomas said, surprised that Minho had even agreed in the first place. He'd only asked because Harriet told him to. He hadn't expected a yes. "It's going to be at the same time as practice."

   Minho gave the two of them a curios look. "You didn't hear?"

   "Here what?" Thomas asked, looking at Newt to see his friend was equally confused.

   "There's no more track team," Minho answered. "After Janson kicked Thomas, we started leaving. Nobody wanted to be on a team that kicks people for tripping."

   Thomas stared at his friend in shock. "Really? You guys did that just because of me?"

   Minho swung an arm across his shoulders, giving him an ironic squeeze. "We sure did. It wasn't as fun without you, anyway."

   "Great," Newt said, rolling his eyes at Minho's sarcastic affection towards Thomas. "Let's go see Tommy's Right Arm then."

   Minho pinched Thomas' right arm. "It's right here."

   "Funny," Newt said flatly, though he was stifling a grin.

   Thomas whacked Minho's hand and pushed him off.

His friend snickered.

   They arrived at the library a few minutes later. Sonya had told them to meet inside right after school for the first official meeting. There, they would be recruiting new members.

   Thomas looked at the table inside and wasn't surprised to see Aris, Teresa, Brenda, and Frypan there, along with Sonya and Harriet, of course.

   "Where's the teacher?" Thomas asked, taking a seat next to Brenda. Minho sat on the other side of him.

   "He'll be here soon," Harriet answered. "By the way, he might come off as a little harsh sometimes. But he just wants the best for everyone. I promise."

   Before Thomas had time to respond, a man with long blonde hair walked into the room. Thomas immediately recognized him as Vince.

   "So this is the group?" Vince asked, taking the seat between Harriet and Sonya. He looked at Harriet. "You trust all these guys to help us?"

"I know he will, at least," Harriet answered, nodding at Aris. "I trust him."

"And I know everyone else," Sonya added. "They'll be good."

Vince nodded. "Alright. Check them."

"Wait, check us?" Thomas asked. "For what?" There was no flare virus in this world. Why would Vince need to check them for it?"

"Check you in," Vince explained. "You all are officially apart of the team. Welcome to The Right Arm."