𝗖𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗢𝗨𝗦, thomas (tmr)

Chapter Thirty

Clara had very little recollection of what had happened before the anaesthesia settled in.

"That's it, you're all done."

Her eyes fluttered open at the doctor's words. She winced at the sharp pain at the base of her neck, moving her hand up to feel it, but then being persuaded not to by the doctor's stern glance.

"I've given you stitches so it's better not to disturb them."

She thanked them sheepishly. Awkwardly, she hopped up from her seat, and made off towards the door to leave.

"Do you know where you're going?" The doctor's bemused question made Clara stop dead in her tracks.

No, I have no idea.

The girl found it painfully awkward to admit she didn't, but the doctor paid no attention to it. Instead, they explained she'd be heading to the cafeteria to eat, and then gave her the directions to get herself there. She went over them again and again in her mind to make sure she wouldn't forget, and bided farewell to the doctor.

She trailed back down the white medical wards that she had been taken to, and then spotted the open doorway of what the doctor told her was the cafeteria. And the cafeteria was not what she expected.

It wasn't the room itself, but what was in it. There were dozens and dozens of teenagers just like Clara and the Gladers, all sat and chatting at long tables. Everyone was eating dinner, but Clara didn't find herself hungry at all.

She scanned the room, and quickly found the blonde head of Newt sat at a table right in the middle of the room, alongside Minho, Frypan and Winston. She quickly made her way over, assuming that since they were there, they had some idea of what was going on.

Sliding into the empty seat beside Newt, she flashed them all a smile. They seemed relieved to see her, and Frypan slid across his plate for her to eat something. She refused it thankfully, and Frypan shrugged, taking it back to eat it himself. They quickly explained that the other kids were from different Mazes, but before she could begin to ask, she had questions posed to her.

"Where've you been?" Minho asked her curiously.

"I had something stuck in the back of my neck, so they had to give me stitches." She explained, gesturing to her neck, and Newt moved her hair out of the way so he could look.

"That looks bloody fun." He mumbled in disgust, and she remembered how he reacted to the injection given to him.

Clara, although interested by the room, found herself distracted by the missing people in their group. She had hundreds of questions about all the kids around them, but one question was overtaking them all in her mind:

Where's Thomas and Teresa?

Clara turned to Newt in a low voice, meaning to ask for both of their friends but managing to instead say, "Where's Thomas?"

She thought she had spoken quietly, but her question earned a chuckle from across the table. She met Frypan's amused face, and the boy smirked at her, raising his eyebrows.

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

He teased, and now everyone was watching him in confusion. He finished off the remains of his plate before pointing his finger at Clara accusingly, still smiling as he explained,

"Don't bother acting like you don't know what I'm on about, Clara, I saw the pair of you kissing when we got out the Maze."

Shuck.

In hindsight: although her kiss shared with Thomas was in the dark, they still probably shouldn't have had it in front of everyone. Frypan thought he was sneaky in noticing the pair, and apparently he was.