Saving Newt

Chapter 6

Sorry I haven't updated in a while I was skiing and had no wifi- how horrible!
Annabelle_the_reader
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Newt awoke first, his eyes squinting into the dazzlingly dull sunlight drifting through the branches if the tree the hammock was hanging under. At first he remained bewildered, wondering how he had managed to travel between hammocks in the night. Then, he noticed Brianna's sleepy head resting to the side, a look of confusion on her brow and her chest gently rising and falling.

He brought his left hand up to rub his eyes, in a senseless and sleepy manner. He was never overwhelmed by his having-just-woken-up-face, but it didn't bother him. He stretched his body, his muscles having been relaxed all night, but kept his right arm wrapped around Brianna protectively, not wanting to disturb her from the sleep she had been so tyrannously deprived.

Diligently, almost so slow it took him several minutes, he removed his arm from around her body and held his breath, but released it slowly as he watched her flinch and her breath hitch, but then easily return to the abyss of sleep.

There was a low cough from his left, the kind one does not to clear his throat but to attract attention. His head snapped in that direction to see the runners, all smirking at him lying next to Brianna in such a way.

'Care to explain, Newt?' Minho sneered, the smirks of the boys around him widened, their eyes drifting between Newt, who was slowly rising so as not to swing the hammock, and Brianna, who was obliviously fast asleep.

'She had a nightmare,' Newt said smoothly, running his hands through his bed head to smooth his hair, something Minho raised an eyebrow at because he rarely cared about his appearance until now, until she arrived.

'Oh really?' Ben mocked, chuckling almost. 'And how, may I ask, did you end up in her bed?'

'I fell.' He replied truthfully. 'I was tired and I fell, so she offered for me to sleep there for the night.' It wasn't exactly the whole truth, but he didn't want to tell the boys about her dream and neither did he want to tell them that she wanted him to stay, for her sake more than his own.

'Oh, so you were the knight in shining armour, were you?' Minho teased and Newt rolled his eyes, chuckling gently.

'Sure, like she needs one!' Newt mumbled sarcastically.

Hr turned around and bit his lip, noticing that she was gently shivering under the three blankets that had mostly made their way over to where Newt had been sleeping. 'Oops.' He mumbled, realising she was too proud to ask for more warmth and was now shivering slightly, her arms wrapped around herself and her body hunched over, so as to lock in as much heat as possible.

He pulled the blankets and gently placed them over her sleeping body, halting when she stirred, but relaxed again that she shuffled under the new warmth and proceeded to sleep like the other Gladers were, except the runners who looked like they had been up for hours.

Brianna wasn't excellent at pretending to be asleep, but today she managed more than ever. In fact, she had woken up as soon as Newt twitched awake, her eyes flinging open, but then a plan formed in her mind. Newt would never be honest with her, but maybe to his friend, so she decided to be silent.

She swallowed deeply, unsure of what to think about Newt. Her opinion of him wasn't as easy as her opinion of Minho, Ben, Frypan, Alby and Gally. He was confusing. It was as if she had known him all of her life, but they only met the day before. It was as strange and complex. He seemed to both despise her and like her. He seemed to both threaten and protect her.

'Before you leave, Minho, I want a meeting, sharp.' Alby said and Brianna's breath hitched in her throat. Alby was primarily there to protect the Gladers, but he seemed unnecessarily icy towards her. She had done nothing wrong except exist and it wasn't even Alby's name on her arm, it was Newt's, therefore he should hate her not Alby.

'What about?' Brianna could easily identify the voice to be Minho's. He had usually left for the maze already and Alby was delaying him precious time in the maze. Not a moment could be wasted, not a second could be spared.

'Brianna.'

Her heart rate increased, pounding almost in her ears. Again? They had only just finished discussing what to do with her, why were they being so unusually defiant? Why did they insist upon another meeting?

'She's still bloody asleep.' Newt seethed, pointing out the obvious to Alby, who just sighed.

'Greenie ain't coming, it's just the keepers today,' Alby ordered and she heard him walk away. Brianna frowned in her sleep, worried beyond belief. She realised whatever Alby wanted to discuss was for the keeper's ears only and therefore it must be serious. Was having second thoughts? Were they going to banish her? What if they killed her? She wasn't sure where the extent of their hatred would lead them, but part of her didn't want to know.

'Ok.' Minho sighed then turned to Ben, 'You take the runners out, we don't want to waste time. I'll go out on my own when this is over.' Ben nodded once, then scampered off to gather the loose runners, milling about and eating their breakfast.

Brianna waited for them to leave before sliding out of her hammock, her legs hitting the grass. She smiled at how soft it felt on her feet, even with her shoes on. It was like a warm comfortable cushion beneath her toes. She couldn't think of a single positive scenario that could come out of this meeting, so decided to take her mind of things.

Brianna began to walk towards the wall, tracing the cracks and crevices with her bare finger tips with such diligence it could be presumed she was worried they would crumble in her palms. The ice cold wall came as a small surprise, but she adored the cool cement on such a hot morning.

'Brianna?' Came a voice dragging her from her day dreams. She turned to smile at Newt, standing and looking at her blankly and awkwardly. She didn't realise how long she was standing there, feeling the walls in an insane way for. 'You know it's forbidden to be this close to the walls.'

'I've been closer,' She reminded him and he chuckled.

Newt stepped closer to her and the wall, his hand outstretched to gently caress the walls too. His body was inches from Brianna's and since joining the Gladers, she hadn't felt so relaxed being this close to someone. 'Unfortunately I think that's true.' He smirked.