Good Grief (TMR fic)

Chapter 10

I'm ravenous by the time the Gladers are gathering for breakfast in the morning light. Frypan almost smacks my hand with a spatula as I reach for my third piece of toast at the breakfast line. I hiss at him, but he just continues to glare at me.

Newt stifles a laugh and pushes me forwards towards the scrambled eggs, grabbing a couple pieces of toast for himself. When we sit down across from each other at one of the tables on the grass he tosses one of the pieces of toast to me.

"I know you wanted more."

I sit up eagerly at the gift. "Thank you so much, Newt. I'm starving."

This time he does laugh, his nose wrinkling slightly. In the daylight I'm reminded how green his eyes are.

"I can tell," he says. "Is your loyalty bought with food, Ash?"

I just growl at him through the piece of toast I'm taking a bite out of, and he starts laughing again.

"Good morning." Thomas slides onto the bench next to me.

"How did you sleep?" I ask cheerfully.

He gives me a disappointed look."Not very well. I was worried about where you were. You still hadn't come back when I fell asleep. When did you go back to bed?"

"About that..."

"She didn't feel like sleeping," Newt says. "I kept her company and gave her the Tour, instead."

"Oh." His eyes show pity.

When my fingers tighten around my fork, Newt kicks me under the table.

"I wasn't scared," I blurt.

Thomas nods, clearly not believing me. "Okay."

Newt kicks me again so I won't try to prove it to him, and I give him a frustrated glare. I can feel that my face is already bruised enough; I don't need my shins to match it.

"...he straight up said it." Gally's raspy voice catches my attention, and I look around to see him leading Alby towards us.

"Newt?" the leader growls.

Newt's eyebrows rise, and he gives Alby a questioning look.

"Gally says you gave Ash the Tour."

"Oh. Yeah. She couldn't sleep after seeing the Griever, so I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone."

"And which birds would those be?" Alby is clearly mad about something.

"Keeping her company while she was scared." Newt gives me an apologetic glance as he says it, and I can see the intimidation in his eyes when he catches my glare. "And showing her around."

"We need to talk." Alby's eyes flash. "I thought you respected authority."

"What, you wanted me to wake you up and ask for permission to take a walk with her?" Newt fires back, his sarcasm highlighted by his unamused expression. I'm surprised; he doesn't seem like the sort to snap at people for this sort of thing.

"Homestead, now."

Newt gets to his feet without complaint and gives me a tight-lipped smile. Thomas and I watch him follow Alby to his inevitable lecture.

Gally is smirking, and I want to kick him in the mouth like he did to me.

"Snitch," I hiss at him, and he winces slightly. No one likes a traitor, and it's a fine line between a blabbermouth and a downright backstabber.

By the time Thomas and I are done eating, Alby is back. He doesn't seem frustrated anymore.

"Alright, Thomas. We'd better get started on the Tour. Ash, I don't want to deal with both of you and I'm sure Newt told you plenty."

"Is that a way of saying I'm not welcome?"

"Definitely." The glint is back in his eyes, the expression of fondness that he tries to conceal behind his gruff approach. I try to hide my smile, and theatrically complain about not being allowed on the Tour.

"Can't have you getting scared by a stalk of corn, you know," he says.

I roll my eyes."Stow it, shuck-face."

Thomas gives me a weird look. "Since when do you talk like them?"

"Since now, slinthead."

Alby coughs to hide a laugh, and shoves me to the side. "Go bother someone else, Ash. Come on, Thomas."

I don't see Chuck anywhere. I would go annoy Newt, but I don't know if he's mad that I got him in trouble with Alby.

I decide to go find Clint, the Med-jack Newt said I would like. I'm not sure where Med-jacks work, but the Homestead seems like a good bet, especially since they probably help with the Changing.

As soon as I remember the existence of Ben, the boy upstairs in the Homestead, I'm hit with another dose of curiosity. I want to see what is so awful about him that Greenies aren't allowed in there.

I'll just go to the Homestead and see if I find Clint. If I happen to stumble my way into Ben's room, it won't be my fault, right?

Unfortunately, I'm intercepted from seeing Ben. Again. By Newt. Again. He comes out of Ben's room right after I enter the Homestead and sees me sneaking up the stairs. I give him an innocent look, and he sighs.

"I won't ask. Do you ever follow rules, though?"

"Hey, I haven't left the Glade."

"You tried to."

"Well, I've done my part."

"We've literally given you nothing to do."

"I've done nothing quite well, then."

"I disagree, you keep getting into trouble. Have you tried to hurt another Glader?"

I think about it for a moment. "Other than fighting Gally when I didn't know better, no. But you were kicking me in the shins earlier, so technically-" I've reached the top of the stairs, and Newt shoves me affectionately.

"You're an idiot."

"On a scale of Thomas to Minho, how stupid am I?"

Newt gives me a confused look. "They're both dumb as a rock, which one is supposed to be the low end of the scale? Or the high end, for that matter?"

Before I can answer, an alarm blares out. I jump at the sound and collapse to the floor, pressing my hands over my ears. It rings and rings and rings and I cry from the painful noise. Newt waits until the sound stops, frowning intensely, and then pulls me to my feet.

"We have to go find Alby," he says. "That's the Greenie alarm."

"What?" I jog after him down the stairs. "Did Thomas already do something stupid?"

"Not that kind of alarm, Ash. It means we have a new one coming up the Box."

"I thought you only got Greenies once a month, though? Because Thomas and I just came yesterday..."

He slows to a walk and looks directly at me, his face paler than normal. "Exactly, Ash. Exactly."