CHAPTER ELEVEN
• muddy thoughts •
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THOMAS FELT INCREDIBLY stupid as he snuck away from the group to go change his pants. He felt even more dumb when he realized Evony had seen him leave and followed after him.
"Thomas!" she called out to him. He heard her banging on the bathroom door, a loud grunt leaving her lips when he didn't answer. Panicking, he shrugged off the material and slipped on another pair of pants that were recently cleaned.
"Uh- I'm coming, hold on," he replied, struggling to pull up the zipper. Evony chuckled from behind the door; his heart skipped a beat at the sound.
Stay focused, Thomas. Get your pants on.
"Alby already started counting," she informed, her tone set more serious, "And i'd kind of like to win; I did horrible last year."
Even though he was aware she couldn't see-he nodded. His heart was thumping against his chest as he rushed to hurry up. It was taking too long, and the last thing he wanted to do was be the cause of Evony losing.
It would crush him to find out she was upset because of him.
"Sorry! I-" his voice got cut off by the sound of another's laugh. Minho's laugh.
Shuffling sounded from outside the bathroom. His ears perked as he tried to distinguish what the two were saying. He wobbled over closer to the door, attempting to not only listen but get to the girl quicker so they could go hide.
"Thomas in there?"
A pause. Evony spoke next, "Yea."
Another pause. "What's he doing?"
He heard a deep sigh come from the other side of the door. Thomas held his breath, wondering what was about to come out of the girl's mouth.
"He's peeing." Evony replied nonchalantly; Thomas felt like an idiot for not trusting her.
"He's taking a while to pee, don't- Chuck my dude! Get over here!"
Thomas pulled the zipper all the way up and hobbled to the door handle, swinging it open. His eyes were met with Chuck's big brown ones, the little boys going wide as their foreheads almost smashed together.
"Sorry, I was fixing my pants," Thomas stated, glancing over at the three people in front of him. Chuck tilted his head in confusion, Evony rapidly shook her head, and Minho smirked down at the boy. He went white, the blood rushing out of his face as the older boy's gaze stayed lingering on him. He wasn't sure what he had done, but it seemed that it was sending Evony into a panic.
The girl grabbed at his wrist, proceeding to drag him away to hide. "This has been fun, but we got to go," she rushed out, taking a quick glance at Minho. Thomas was looking between the two, searching their expressions for what he had done to make things so awkward.
However, before Evony managed to get them away, Minho grabbed both of their shoulders and pulled them back. "Did you say you were fixing your pants?"
"Yeah?" The brunete said questionably-he didn't know what was so bad about that. There was no way the other boy found out about the food fight incident, right?
Minho nodded slowly at Evony while she shook her head back. Chuck stood between the three of them with a bright smile, not sure what was going on but still happy to be with his friends. One more glance was shared between the two best friends, ending with Evony letting out another sigh. She gripped his wrist tighter and began to walk away, flipping Minho off as she did so.
"Why was he acting so weird?" Thomas asked the girl when they had gotten far enough away. They were now walking across the open grassland towards the box.
Evony muttered out something that he couldn't catch and kept pulling them in the same direction. "Keep walking." she instructed,l. Thomas did just that.
He let her drag him around for a couple more seconds-the amount of time he could bear to go without asking his next question. "So...where are we hiding?"
"The box."
Her blunt answer took him by surprise, since he had seen how excited she was when they first announced the game. He remembered how the corners of her lips curved up and how her eyes had brightened. He knew not to say anything though, in fear that it might make matters worse.
They kept quiet until they made it to the top of the box. Inside was the excess crates that the creators sent up with the supplies. All of them were empty, seeing that the items had already been taken out and put to use.
Evony dropped his wrist; he watched as she lowered herself down into the bottom of the crate. "Get down here, pretty boy." She waved him down, the smile on her face seemingly to have returned. Thomas' stomach tightened for a split second while, likewise, his body started to heat up. He; however, pushed aside the giddy feeling and followed after her.
"Where are we-'' he started to ask but immediately after saw the girl begin lowering herself into one of the crates. She slipped her body into the wooden box and pulled the lid halfway over her. Half her head peaked out-so that he could only see her eyes-before dipping back down out of sight.
Thomas smiled and skidded over to place his hands on the edge of the crate she was in. Looking down, he could see Evony resting with her knees pulled to her chest with her arms around them. She extended her hand out to him, inviting him to join her.
He stepped quickly into the box, grabbing her hand but at the same time laughing at the gesture. "I got it," he reassured, but Evony didn't drop his hand.
"You trip over air, I'm ninety-nine percent sure you don't 'got it'." she remarked back. His eyes rolled as he made it into the box and squeezed himself inside the confined area. Shuffling was heard next to him, but he couldn't see what she was doing since the lid to the box was now closed.
The air stilled around them, both clinging onto their legs as they tried to make as much room for the other as possible. Silence filled the box for what he roughly guessed was an hour when he heard her begin shifting around. "I need to move," she confessed. Her voice was the lightest whisper imaginable; it sounded so close, almost like she was saying it directly in his ear.
Thomas gulped, nodding until he realized she couldn't see that. "Okay, what do you want me to do," he said softly back. No answer; instead she shifted again and her leg brushed against his.
"Just stay still."
"Okay.."
She moved around some more-he figured she was probably spinning herself around-when a bang came from her direction. His first thought was that she hit her head, so instinctively he reached his hands out to feel for her.
His hand made contact with her arm, wrapping his fingers around it. "You okay?"
"Yeah I just-" her voice dropped into blank nothingness. He felt her hand fold over his and gently pull it off her arm. His nose scrunched up in confusion at the sudden silence; immediately going to that she didn't like him touching her. Even though he thought this, he couldn't bring himself to let go of her fingers. Instead, he curled his own ever so slightly around her's.
She wasn't moving, so he didn't let go, yet. "You oka-"
Her hand pressed over his mouth unexpectedly. His eyes widened at the sudden gesture, not understanding why she had done that. Trying to muffle only resulted in her pressing her hand harder, so he remained quiet.
It was the next moment that he suddenly understood. Footsteps rattled against the metal crate, the repeated thumping growing louder as the culprit got nearer. Evony dropped her hand-both hands-and Thomas sunk as low as he could down into the box. They had been hiding for a long time; he honestly wouldn't be surprised if they had won.
A voice began to speak to them, threatening them to come out. "Come out to play," the voice-which he soon recognized as Max-spoke, "Little Tom and Evy, come join your really cool, awesome friends."
"We're hot too!" Another voice chimed in, making both of them laugh.
Thomas held his breath as the crate rattled from beneath them. The seekers were near-very near-and there was no doubt he and Evony were about to get found.
Then suddenly light blinded him, sending him back to his first day in the glade when he couldn't even remember his name. His hands covered part of his face, only peaking through the little cracks between his fingers. Max and Ben hung their heads above them, looking down with proud smirks on their faces.
"Found them!" Max yelled up to the sky. Him and Ben shared a fist bump along with a bird call type of cheer-he figured that was their way of celebrating.
Next he glanced over to Evony; she had already started pulling herself up from the box. Thomas followed in suit, picking himself off the floor and stepping out of the crate he was in. Thankfully they had been in one that held the animals, so there had been tiny air holes for them to get oxygen from while they hid.
"How many are left?" Evony asked with a mixture of curiosity and excitement in her voice. He too wanted to know how many people were still to be found. Alby had explained that the winners got an extra five days they could take off whenever they wanted for the year. If there was any chance he won, then he would definitely be taking a day off after all these exerting activities.
Ben and Max eyed each other quickly. "Zero," they informed in unison, "You guys won."
Now it was his and Evonys turn to look at eachother. Both of them beamed with happiness, cheering that they had managed to out-hide the rest of the gladers. He was cherishing the smile on her face when she abruptly threw her arms around his neck. Her head buried into his shoulder and his hands froze by his side. Thomas was stunned, unable to move or think clearly.
When he was finally able to process the situation, Evony had already pulled away to talk to her other friends. He followed her as they climbed up and out of the box, a dopey smile on his face as he thought back to the past few moments.
How much longer could he deny what he felt?
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"Where did we even get a rope this long," Minho asked, holding one end up in the air. He flopped the material back and forth-side to side. Ben came over to join him, him too wiggling it around.
Newt smacked both of their hands and ripped the rope out of their grips. "It comes up every month for the builders. We just didn't cut it this time." The blonde explained, earning two over dramatic signs of realization from the boys.
Evony watched the scene fold out in front of her with a concealed grin. Her and Newt had been tasked with setting up the mud pit for tug-a-war. It was during one of the recent meetings that somebody suggested adding in mud underneath them so that it would make the challenge harder. She was one to agree, thinking that just having a mud fight in general would've been fun. So now her and Newt were taking buckets of water and dumping them in a sectioned out area for the activity. They had made sure to go far into the woods; not wanting to risk anybody falling or slipping into the mud before it dries up.
Of course Minho and Ben had decided to join them. Honestly she was surprised Max wasn't with them too; him and the two other boys were like their own little trio. A trio filled with annoyingly dirty jokes and slapping each other's asses.
She didn't know where Thomas nor Chuck was either-she figured they were either talking to someone else or getting food.
Minho splashed the water into the middle of the sectioned area before stomping around in the newly made mud. He then reached down and grabbed a chunk of dirt, throwing it so it hit Newt in the back of the head.
The Second-in-Command spun around, confused for a moment until he saw the Keeper sprinting away in the woods. Evony rested her hands on her knees as she let out a hardy laugh at the scene before her. Max and Ben also joined in for a moment, but that moment was cut short by them chasing Minho with their own globs of mud in their hands.
She moved over to the backside of Newt so that she could help get the substance out of his hair. He let out an annoyed grunt while she continued to pluck the chunks out. "They'd make great residents of hell." he grumbled.
A chuckle slipped past her lips at his targeted statement. "I agree, the devil would love them."
"They wouldn't have a chance to meet him," Newt claimed, "I say straight to the pits of fire they go."
"Sounds like a pleasant experience."
"Mhm," He nodded in agreement, picking up another bucket of water and dumping it along the edge of the marked off section. They continued like that until almost thirty feet of dirt was soaked in water and soft enough so that it could be considered as mud.
On the other hand, Thomas was across the glade, walking with Max towards the forest. He stayed silent as the two made their way, letting the blonde do the talking. He listened to him ramble about certain topics: people, the weather, running in general; and even about his speculation that his two best friends were secretly hooking up.
Thomas had to swallow his guilt. He knew exactly which two he was talking about; he even had proof that what he was saying was true. Well, that was if Evony's source of information was true-which he believed was; he trusted her.
"They're just really touchy around each other, you know?" Max questioned him, but it was mostly for himself. "Like Minho isn't exactly a lovey person; I swear I never see him holding anybody's hand, let alone willingly give out hugs."
Thomas glanced down to the grass in thought. "He hugged Evony the other day," he recalled, remembering seeing the two friends share the embrace.
"That's probably because she initiated it," Max started, "Evonys actually quite touchy, well at least with the people she likes. She used to always hold my hand back when we were dating."
"You guys dated?"
Max looked down at Thomas with squinted eyes, "Yeah, for like three months when I first came up. It's been over a year since we broke up though."
Thomas felt bad for prying but he couldn't help himself. Obviously it had crossed his mind that the only girl in the glade would have dated somebody before; he just wouldn't have ever guessed Max. The two seemed like such close friends that it was shocking to him that they stayed so relevant even after a break-up. "Why'd you guys end it?"
Max's answer was blunt. "I started liking someone else," he replied with a low voice.
"Who?"
"Well isn't that the question of the day." Max shot back, obviously now irritated from Thomas' constant imploring. The blonde sent him a glare and sped up his pace to walk quickly into the woods, leaving the brunete to think through the conversation he had.
He didn't have long though because Evony came up to him, her cheeks red from what he guessed had to be recent laughter. "You ready? I think we get to pick teams this time so we can be together." she beamed at him. Thomas blinked and nodded back reluctantly. Her excitement to be with him was causing the adrenaline In his body to spike, and he was well aware of what it meant.
"Yeah."
"Yeah?" she questioned back. There was a faint laugh mixed in, but it soon faded away after a few seconds. Evony backed away from him, playing with her fingers. Thomas realized this-realized she was performing the same habit as he did-and cursed himself for his poor choice in wording. He never meant to make it sound like he wasn't excited to be with her, because that was the complete opposite. All he wanted was to spend time with her and get to know her. He wanted to know her favorite color, her favorite animals or even favorite flower. Any of it; all of it.
He took a step closer to her, "Yes, I mean. Yes, I'm ready, and yes I'm excited."
Evony's lips curved up into a half smile, then, stepping forward she grabbed onto both of his wrists and pulled him over to the mud pit. He gawked at the section of dirt that had been turned into a 'playing field' of some sort. Also interesting was the thick rope that ran along the length of the area.
"Alby said he wants us to split ourselves up, so that means we can be on the same team," she exclaimed, tugging on his wrist harder to bring him closer to her. Thomas stiffened at the now close range, unsure of what to do except to stare straight ahead.
"When are we starting?" he queried.
She didn't skip a beat, "Probably about right-"
"Alright everyone into two even groups! Any arguing and you will sit out, no exceptions!" Alby hollered after blowing his small whistle. Why did he have to blow the whistle every time? That was his new question.
Shortly the gladers managed to separate everybody into two groups, the only problem being between Aaron and Winston who refused to move to the other side. He despised the former of the two-in the nicest way possible he wouldn't be sad if one day Aaron disappeared and never showed back up.
The two teams separated on either side of the rope, each glader positioning themselves with their hands gripped firmly onto the rope and their feet planted-the best they could-in the mud. Thomas was placed in the middle; according to Minho-who quickly took over-the stronger people needed to be up front.
Of course that meant that he was the one who should be at the head of their team.
Thomas also knew that Evony was only a few spots ahead of him. He could see her laughing and chatting along with Max from up ahead. His first thoughts were that maybe they were starting to like eachother again, but he dismissed that since they always talked to each other no matter what.
He knew he shouldn't have been thinking so much about it anyway. Evony was her own person-she got to do whatever she wanted. There was no reason for him to pry on her past relationships, but knowing that she had dated someone-especially someone who she still remained close friends with made him intrigued.
Or maybe he was just curious.
"See that flag in the middle? If that passes the line on your side then your team wins," Alby explained quickly-too quick for him to make much sense out of it. "If you fall in the mud you're out, and you will come stand by me."
A cheer came from amongst the gladers and they all began to plant their feet into the ground. Thomas did the same, spreading his legs and grasping tightly onto the rope. He wanted his team to win. He wanted to see the look of disappointment on Aaron's face when knew he lost.
"On the count of three!"
Thomas clenched his jaw.
"One!"
"Minho, get your ass out of my face!" He heard somebody call from the front of the line.
"Slim it! Two!"
"Asshole, you don't usually mind."
"Three!"
He leaned himself back, putting all his weight onto his heels and pulling with his whole body. Almost immediately the weight shifted over to their side, the flag coming closer to the line it needed to cross. But then he was jerked forward. Thankfully he was able to regain his balance, but a couple of the other gladers on his team weren't; they were sent straight into the mud.
The tide shifted again and now their team had the upper hand. It went like this-the energy moving back and forth-for another minute before his group brought up one more surge of power and effectively pulled a majority of the other team down.
Now with it being an unfair odds, he and his friends were able to yank the rope over to their side and get the bright yellow piece of cloth past the line.
The other team all toppled down, their faces coated in a thick layer of mud. Thomas and the rest of the remaining gladers cheered in victory and pulled everybody in for a group hug. The people who had fallen out sometime during the match also joined them, meaning that their muddy bodies were too being pressed up against everybody else's.
Thomas' eyes found Evony's from across the circle; his face lit up watching her smile so brightly. Ever since a new greenie didn't show up he had noticed an aura of stress that surrounded her. Seeing her happy and carefree-even just for a little-was something he relished.
She deserved to be happy, and Thomas swore in that moment that he would do anything he could to put a smile on her face. Whether that be getting her out of this hell-hole or simply providing her with his comfort.
He would do any of it, and all of it.
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MAE's FUN NOTES
im so painfully single
its so sad.
anyway how's y'all's
day tell me something
funny
love u guys hoped u
enjoyed <33