Wildfire ~ Newt

1.2

The next morning the glade was full of energy, despite last nights frivolities. Minho, had indeed staggered out of his hammock at dawn, a throbbing headache accompanying him, but he still said he was up for running the maze.

Newt had clapped him on the back, telling his he was a fool, before bidding him bye for now and heading over to the crops.

However, by the afternoon, everyone was on edge.

The box was late.

It was never late, and a few of the lads were starting to get nervous. It must've been a delay on the creators end he had concluded. Newt didn't want to face the possibility that it might not come up at all.

Rubbing his grubby hands on his trousers; his back aching from his hard day with the tack hoes, Newt decided to take a short break. Frypan didn't usually like it when people took from his supplies, but as it was Newt, and more supplies would 'hopefully', come up later, he decided to let it slide.

Now resting against the tree, Newt nibbled on a bit of crusty bread, savouring the taste as the warm sun rained down on him. Scratching his neck, he squinted his eyes to see a figure approaching him.

The figure whistled as they now sat down beside him, Alby his leader and friend, was also struck with the overflowing tension of the glade.

"It's late", he grimaced, and gave a quick nod of appreciation to his second, who handed him some bread. Newt grunted at the words, twiddling with a crust between his mucky fingers.

Alby could understand his silence, he knew Newt didn't always have the words to describe how he was feeling, he could tell anyway. So for the next few minutes, the two of them sat in silence, the anxiety of the late arrival building up.

"What's taking so long?" Someone's voice rang out through the piercing silence, both Alby and Newt turning their heads to see, Louis, last months green bean, and slightly podgy kid whine.

"Slim it greenie" Gally sneered, back to his usual grouchy self, as he shoved Louis to the side.

"It'll come when it comes, so just shut up", he argued, his eyes glowering at the younger boy.

"You won't be calling me that much longer", Louis muttered under his breath, resulting in an elbow to his ribs from the builder.

"Argh", he groaned as he crouched over in pain, fire in Gally's eyes.

"Alright slim it you lot, the box'll come in a minute", Alby declared, finally taking action in this situation, walking up to the small group of boys.

"Why's it taking so long", a boy called Ham then called over the crowd, the irony of his name being incredible, seeing as he looked like a pig.

Newt decided to take this one, "because it is, so just slim it like Alby said, and get back to work, you won't miss it when it does come", he sighed, shaking his head at the repetitive questions.

Suddenly, an eruptive cheer sounded from nearby and many of the boys turned to see Ben and George in a fierce thumb war, Leon and Martin cheering them on and taking bets to see who would come out on top.

"Pin him down already ya shank!"

"You almost had him!"

"Idiot! His thumb is right there!"

Newt spied Winston and Frypan deep in conversation near the box, how on earth they were able to drown out the ruckus was beyond him.

"Ya bloody shuck face!", George roared, as Ben took the victory.