We arrived in the compound last week and as of right now, nobody in Group A has a clue of what to do. Not even our glorious and impulsive Thomas has a clue (which is quite the shocker.)
Maybe I shouldn’t let what people do or say get to me so easily but, Newt is making me feel like I may not be his type. When we we arrived yesterday, the Group B girls were sitting in the cafeteria when a fight broke out between two of the girls and a guard a room over. One of them put him in a chokehold while the other ripped his gun from him and shot him in the shoulder, trying to steal his key card that accesses the facility.
All the guys were whispering about them and saying how hot they thought that was and Newt agreed. He said how much he likes badass “tough” girls. I don’t think he noticed how it could have messed with me.
That was a sign for me. Maybe Newt doesn’t like me like this, he might want a tough person. This whole week I’ve been in the gym room that they use here, training my ass off to get a little bit stronger and better at the “badass stuff the other girls are good at”.
In the glade, I never practiced with any kind of badass-ery or you know…running since I was a medjack. All I know how to do is fix the fierce ones who risk their lives daily.
I have been running on the treadmill for two miles already, trying to build some kind of endurance. But, I think I’ll try to climb the rope now (despite how intimidating it is). It’s a two story high climb that I wasn’t able to do last week, but maybe I can today.
“Be the badass, Y/N. For once, don’t take it easy.” I whisper to myself in hopes of some self motivation.
Stepping up to the rope and slowly securing my way up a few feet is my tactic for this.
“You can do this.”
Just a few more feet until I’m halfway, even though my legs are so dead from the two miles that I don’t think I can use them to push myself up anymore. All I need is three more feet up. As I am in the process of moving my feet up a notch on the rope my grip slips and I fall back onto the mat, landing on my right shoulder.
“Ah shit!” I scream and wince in pain, feeling a few tears quickly form in my eye.
At the moment, all I can feel is the stinging pain in my shoulder. I fell about ten feet onto it and it feels displaced, think I dislocated it, tons of the guys in the Glade had this happen to them. Usually it was builders falling off their l ladders, I can’t say I didn’t snicker when it happened to Gally.
The only way to fix a dislocation in the shoulder is to set the dislocation back into place. I have to set the bone back into place, on my own.
▪ ▪ ▪
“Oh my god, Newt you should have seen it. That one Group B girl was kicking ass today in the physical tests, we watched through a window.” Thomas says excitedly as they walk down the hallway that leads to our rooms.
“Oh, seriously? What happened?”
“She was practicing hand to hand combat and nearly killed the shank they had against her. It was nuts.” He rambles on as they open the door. I just lay down on my bunk that’s lowest to the floor, facing the wall with a blanket over me. I have I covering me cause right now I’m only in my sports bra, using my shirt as a sling to immobilize my arm for healing purposes.
“I wish I could’ve seen that.” He responds to Thomas’s antics with excitement which makes me frown a bit.
Great, he still thinks those girls are better than me. At least I think so.
They both get into the room and see me laying down, not greeting or acknowledging them.
“Hey, uh I’ll just go for a walk and try to find Teresa. Give you two some time alone to erm…talk or whatever it you guys do.” Thomas stammers and rushes out of the room.
Now it’s just Newt and I.
I turn my head to meet his gaze.
“Hey, babe. How’s it going?” I say to him and awkwardly smile as he sits on the edge of the bed.
“Everything’s fine, why are you in bed it’s like the middle of the day?” He asks me and looks down with that concerned loving gaze that I’m so familiar to.
I pull the covers up a little higher to my chin and respond quickly, “No reason. Just tired. Very very tired. Haha. You should go walk with Thomas you know?”
His face of concern just turns into confusion.
“Are you trying to make me leave or something? And why are you hiding under those sheets, it’s a million degrees in here!” Newt says curiously and reaches to pull the sheets back but I push his hand away.
I’m not used to hiding things from him, we’re always honest with one another. Even with the “classified” glade business, Newt couldn’t keep me in the dark.
“Y/N, stop it. What are you hiding? We don’t keep things from each other. Move the sheets.”
“Newt I-” I stop talking one he pulls them off me. I feel the cool air hit my bruises as he softly gasps and moves closer to me.
“Y/N. What in the world happened? ”
“Nothing. I’m okay.”
He shakes his head and retorts, “Really? Your arm is in a self-made sling and you have bruises down your leg. Did somebody hurt you? Cause if they did I’ll go down and kill the bloody idiot myself!”
I reach and wrap my fingers around his wrist to keep him on my bed.
“Listen, it’s a long story.”
“Well, does it look like I have plans? I just want an explanation for all these injuries.” He says softly and helps me sit up, leaning against the cool concrete wall behind us.
I let out a exasperated sigh and pick up his hand in my own.
“Last week, you said how much you like tough, badass girls. I wanted to try and be badass like them so I went to train all week long. In the end, it got me a dislocated shoulder and bruises from falling down on my side.” I explain in detail with sheer embarrassment.
I end up looking down, not meeting eyes because I don’t want him to think of how weak I am when he looks at me. Newt brings two fingers under my chin and lifts my head so I’m looking at him.
“Y/N…What were you thinking? You really hurt yourself and all for nothing.”
“What?”
“I don’t care if you’re not a tough badass girl. Which by the way, I think you are in your own ways.” He tells me and we both lay down on the bed, one of his hands resting on my stomach and gripping on my waist.
“I’m not badass. You’re a tough, guy. You probably want a girl with the similar characteristic.” I say softly and drape my normal arm around his neck, bringing him in closer. Newt moves his one hand that was on my waist to my face and holds my jawline to keep me looking at him.
“Listen, before you came up in that box it was all hopeless. When I saw you laying there it was like I was getting some kind of second change for some goodness in my life. I fell in love with you, Y/N. You were my sweet redemption, a kind and gentle soul. A loving person I could confide in. You fixed people for your job, just like you fixed me. I didn’t fall in love with a girl who could dropkick a two-hundred pound guy and I don’t want to. You’re the kind of person I love. You’re the only person I love in fact.” Newt says quietly and brings me closer to him, holding my body tightly against his own.
“Newt, I’m not like them though. You said so yourself, you like badasses. If that’s the kind of girl you like then why would you love me?” I ask him, feeling a gentle kiss on my cheek.
“How could I love anybody else? When I jumped, you were the one by my bed all day and night. You slept with me through the nightmares and helped me so much. Why would I love a badass girl when I have somebody who values me for who I am and reciprocates love. How could I?“
Newt stops talking and turns onto his back, pulling me slightly so I’m laying halfway on him.
"I’m not going anywhere.” He reassures me.
“I love you, Newt. You know, I love you so much right?”
His lips gently touch mine and move in slow sync with me. I hold his hand with my left one, leaning down to kiss him properly. Newt was the most unexpected person to come into my life in the glade. He was second in command and a runner for a few months when I knew him. No relationships were really allowed to prevent any sex that could lead to children that would mess up WICKED’S experiments. He never spoke to me until he jumped off the wall.
He sits up with me in his lap, still kissing me as I rest one hand against his chest and he tucks my hair behind my ear.
“You’re the most beautiful person…I swear.” Newt tells me and proceeds to kiss me harder, the force of it lightly pushing me onto my back so he’s hovering over me. The bed creaks under the weight of us both as we kiss, his hands holding either side of my face as we do.
We both giggle at the eager actions we take and I whisper to him, “You better slow your roll, hotshot. My arm is way too hurt for this stuff.”
He opens his mouth so speak, a shit eating grin on his face just as we hear a third voice in the room.
“If you shanks are going to keep kissing, please let me leave before I puke.” Minho groans in a tired voice from the bunk above.
“MINHO! You seriously were there this whole time?” I yell and him and kick the mattress above us.
“Ow! Listen, I was just resting. I’ll just sleep so you two can continue this little love fest.”
For a solid five minutes, Newt and I are dying in laughter over Minho (the sass king).
“Well, good thing we’ve got that arm in a sling or else Minho would have woken to a very different situation.” He whispers as I gasp, smacking his arm and laughing quite loudly.
“You’re a little pervert, you know.” I say and bring my arm back around his muscular body, coming in close to cuddle against his side. After a few more minutes of laying in silence, he speaks up.
“You are pretty badass if you set that shoulder in place all by yourself though.”
“I was a Medjack. Setting the dislocation is protocol.” I ramble while he is slowly kissing down my jawline.
“Look at you, Y/N, my little badass.”
Minho groans from above and says, “Look at that, my little vomit. Blah blah.”
We spend the rest of the day in my bed, kissing, laughing, cuddling, and kicking Minho through his mattress.