𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡 / the maze runner

𝟎𝟒

the entire morning was spent carrying bucket after bucket of water the rows of corn. by afternoon, chelsea was exhausted. she crouched on the ground, breathing heavily as sweat glistened on her skin. she heard laughter and looked up as zart, who also worked in the garden's, crouched next to her. a mischievous grin was on his face, and she tensed, scowling at him.

"tough time, girl-greenie?" he asked mockingly. his eyes trailed up her body, even in the crouching position. his hand reached towards her much too fast. but before she could determine it's intended destination, she narrowed her eyes at him, then picked up her empty bucket and brought it crashing down on his head.

"leave me alone," she snarled, getting to her feet and jumping away as he fell back, clutching his head in pain.

newt came running up, an alarmed expression on his face. "whoa, what happened here?" he exclaimed, looking from chelsea to zart for an explanation. "zart, what happened?"

"she attacked me with her bucket!" wailed zart as he scrambled to his feet. "i just asked how she was holding up, and she hit me on the head!"

"you were about to touch me!" chelsea screamed, readying her bucket again.

newt turned to chelsea and took a tentative step towards her, arms half-raised to protect himself incase she decided to attack him too. "chelsea," he said quietly. "you can't just hit people like that."

"he can't just think he can touch me with no permission!" chelsea yelled. perhaps she was freaking out a little too much, but she didn't care. fear once again pulsed through her veins, making her jumpy.

the commotion had attracted lots of attention, and boys from every corner of the glade came rushing over, alarmed. they all looked excited when they saw it was the girl who'd caused the trouble.

newt's gaze left chelsea to look at something behind her. then he ran towards her, making her jump back in alarm, but he ran right past her. she turned to see him stepping in front of gally, who'd apparently come up behind her to grab her.

"no, calm down, you'll only make it worse," newt said to him, holding up a hand.

"this was a mistake, we can't have a girl distracting us while we're trying to work," gally was enraged.

"we can't lock her up, either," newt reasoned. "we're just going to have to learn to focus. it's not her fault."

gally paced back and forth like a bull, scowling at her. "we have rules, and she's clearly violated one of them. she's harmed a glader."

"she says it was self-defence," newt argued.

"oh, and you're going to take her word over zart's? she showed up yesterday, what makes you think we can trust her?"

"gally, just let it go," newt said firmly. "we can take it up with alby later, but for now let's just leave it, alright?"

gally shook his head, but stomped away, fuming. the other boys, seeing as the show was over, reluctantly left to get back to their own chores.

chelsea stuck close to newt for the rest of the day, sending anyone else who got too close to her a vicious glare and help up her bucket. the boys left her alone.

after dinner, newt suggested they go set up her more permanent hammock in the gathering hall.

"are you sure that's still okay?" she asked worriedly. "gally seemed pretty upset this morning."

newt waved his hand dismissively. "gally hates anything out of the ordinary. alby talked to him, and alby says it's fine as long as it's not in the way of the meetings."