1. FIGHTER - the maze runner, newt

Chapter 14

Alby deeply rolled his eyes in annoyance before muttering under his breath, "Too much time with Minho."

Then, what made my life complete, was when he turned around and jogged off to Homestead to get Minho water.

"He lets you boss him around like that?" I heard Thomas ask Minho from behind me.

"You scared of that pip-squeak? Dude, you got a lot to learn. Freakin' newbie." Minho shrugged.

"Hey! I've talked back to Alby more times than I've actually even spoken. And I showed up like four days ago." I chuckled with no humor.

That's when I realized...

it's only been four days.

It feels like four years.

So much has happened.

"But that's only 'cause you're hangin' around me too much." Minho smirked at me.

"Isn't he the leader?" Thomas asked, trying to hide the hurt in his voice. Minho didn't seem to notice it, but I did. It must've been from Minho's comment before I said anything.

"Leader?" Minho barked of laughter, "Ame, can you believe this?"

"Actually, I've been kinda wonderin' the same thing." I told honestly.

That just made Minho laugh even more. "Then sure! Yeah! Whatever! Call him leader all you want! Maybe we should call him El Presidente. Nah, nah- Admiral Alby. That's it!" Minho wiped his tears of laughter away.

I grinned at my cackling friend, shaking my head at his lack of respect for Alby.

"Well, then who is the leader?" Thomas asked.

"Greenie, why don't you shut it before you confuse yourself even more." Minho sighed.

"Well, someone didn't sleep on the right side of the bed." I teased, knowing why he was cranky.

"Gee, I wonder why," Minho shot back making me laugh, "Why do you shanks always ask questions? It's so annoying."

"What do you expect?" Thomas scoffed at the same time I did.

"Do what you're told, keep your mouth shut. That's what I expect." Minho stared at Thomas dead in the eye making Thomas shifted uncomfortably.

I kept my mouth shut knowing that Thomas needed to handle this all on his own. I've been coming to Thomas' rescue since the first day he got here. It's time for him to handle this klunk on his own because if I keep coming to his rescue the Gladers will bother him even more. Or even worse, they'll get suspicious. Then they'll continually bother us until we spill that we find each other, including the girl, familiar. That's the sort of trouble that we need to avoid.

"Yeah, I'm sure that's exactly what you did as a newbie." Thomas told him off.

Minho looked him over carefully before speaking with venom lacing his every words, "I was one of the first Gladers, slinthead. Shut your hole till you know what you're talking 'bout."

He's joking. Minho is bullshitting Thomas. I don't know how I can tell but I did. Maybe it was because I spent eight hours with him and his dark humor.  I'm not sure but I'm going with the latter.

Thomas went to stand but just as I thought, Minho grab his arm and said with a grin, "Dude, sit down. I'm messin' with you. It's fun messin' with newbies. You'll see when the next newbie...," Minho trailed off when realization hit him, "Guess there won't be another newbie, huh?"

"Guess not." Thomas and I said together. It surprised the both of us, making us snap our heads to each other.

It was a coincidence. I thought to myself, turning back to Minho who was squinting at us curiously.