FOREVER. newt

eight. alby's attack

"You know I didn't mean it, Newt." I whisper softly. "It's just that no one believes me when I say that I can help Alby. I poured my anger out on Gally. I didn't mean anything what I said."

Newt lingers at the edge of the tree log. He seems unsure of what to tell me. After a moment, I feel a hand wrap around my shoulder comfortably.

I look up to those brown eyes again— the same ones that comfort me in the moments that I'm close to exploding.

"You shouldn't be telling me this, Nini..." he whispers, his eyes trailing over to the builder who was busy talking to Winston. He clears his throat softly before continuing, "You should go tell Gally. I know he's a bit much at times, but he only wants to protect us."

My head whips to the side. The moment I stepped into the Glade, Gally had been nothing but proud. Too proud, actually. His ego was almost higher than all of the boys combined— including Minho. Even though he was like that, we got along normally. Seeing him be all sloppy with his building made me realize how much my words had actually affected him.

I felt really really bad. This was Gally; he was never sloppy.

I feel the hand on my shoulder awkwardly retrace. Before walking up to Gally, Newt sends me one final look of encouragement.

Walking up to him felt like I was going through a hundred miles, although he was only a few feet away from me. Once I reached the boy, some of the Builders gave me weird looks, which I chose to ignore.

"Gally," I call out softly. "I need to talk to you."

Gally slams the hammer dangerously close to his hands and on the piece of wood. "What? Gonna tell me again that I want to banish Alby so I could lead?"

I ignore his passive aggressive comment. "You should really be careful with that hammer, you know." I mumble softly, all the strength now worn away. It's been a long day; and it wasn't even ending yet.

Gally sighs and ushers for the other Builders to scurry away. It's only now that I notice that his eyebrows always told people of how he was feeling. For some reason, they expressed him really well.

Once I was sure that no one was left, I place my arms on my chest and look at the boy. "I'm sorry about what I've told you. I got caught up in the moment. I know Alby is really important to you and that you only want the best for everyone."

When he doesn't respond, I continue.

"But give me a chance. I promise I will help Alby. I'll manage something. Study the plants in the forest. Banishing him this early won't really do anything."

He looks at me, his eyebrows raised. The expression on his face gave me the idea that he didn't like the idea, but they quickly went behind me and started to trail upwards.

In confusion, I turn around and see what he's looking at.

"Is that—"

"— yeah." I finished.

In a seemingly silent agreement, the both of us begun sprinting to where the crowd had gathered. I stopped beside Newt, tilting my head up to see what was causing everyone to gather.

Then it hit me. The girl was awake.

"Go call Thomas." I tell Clint who's beside me, trying his best to take cover from the rocks the girl was throwing. The boy nods, jogging over to the Runner's shed with Jeff scurrying off behind him.

Something smacked me in the forehead, which prompted me to let out a loud curse.

The girls head peeked over for a moment, finding mine and I smiled nervously. For a moment I thought that she'd stop, but then someone else called something and she ended up throwing something directly at my head. "You slapped me!"