𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙉𝙚𝙭𝙩 𝙑𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚

Bickering: Ch 9

Almost another week had passed, and thankfully I didn't have any more memories. Maybe if they were actually helpful to escaping the Maze I'd be grateful to have them. Otherwise, I didn't want them. My main focus now was to help Minho.

"Yo Wonderland, what's up?" asked Minho, jogging into the map room as he tried to catch his breath and wipe some sweat off his forehead. He'd just come back from running in the Maze since the doors would close in about half an hour.

"Nothing much, just looking through some maps. Do you have some time for questions though?"

"You just asked one, so sure whatever. Fire away."

"I know you've mentioned how the outer sections of the Maze move, but have you noticed anything specific about each section? Like, something that differentiates them from each other?"

"Oh yeah. They've all got these big numbers written on 'em. Numbered 1 through 8."

You have got to be kidding me.

I stared at him dumbfounded for at LEAST 10 seconds.

"Minho...there's been numbers written on the Maze sections this entire time...AND YOU DIDN'T THINK TO TELL ME?"

"I DUNNO, GUESS NOT! I JUST DIDN'T KNOW YOU'D NEED THAT INFORMATION!"

Oh. My. Gosh.

I sighed in disbelief.

"I...okay- whatever. So there's 8 sections to the Maze. That's a good start. Where'd you run today?"

"Uhhh...Section 7. That's the first section I ever ran in the Maze. On the first day."

"Alright, so what I want you to do is to keep track of every section that opens each day. Make sure that all of the Runners do too."

"M'kay, got it, Greenie."

"You don't gotta keep calling me that, dude. I have a name."

"And I'd prefer to not use it. Until the next Greenie arrives, you're still gonna get called Greenie by me. Unless you prefer Wonderland?"

I rolled my eyes in annoyance. Why did Minho have to be so hard to communicate with?

"Although I may not be a big fan of that, sure. Go ahead. As long as I'm not Greenie."

He chuckled seemingly proud of himself as he began to map out what he did today.

"Oh, y'know that it's almost been a month since you arrived. That means the Box is gonna come back up soon."

The mention of the Box made me shudder a little.

"Ugh, I don't even wanna think about the Box."

"Hah, well for me it was pretty funny to watch Gally go down in there and find you."

"Dude, I just said I don't wanna talk about it."

"No, you said you don't want to think about it."

"Same thing."

"Girl, no."

"Girl, bye." I replied, walking out of the Map room. The look on Minho's face as I shut the door was priceless.

I was just glad that I could have dinner because by that point, I was very hungry.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

"Hey, Ally Wally." Noah said as he sat down next to me by our tree with a food tray.

"Don't ever call me that again."

"Okay, Ally Wally."

"Did you sneak some of Gally's drink or somethin'?"

"Nah, I've just been having a weird day."

"Oh, really? What a shocker. I mean, what's so weird about being trapped in a Maze?"

"It's been almost a month since you got here, so can you please just stop bringing that up?"

How could I possibly not have brought it up? Sometimes Noah shocked me with how nonchalant he was. At least when it came to the Maze. Definitely not with his injuries. He always freaked out about those.

"Hmm, let me ask you a question, Noah. When did you arrive in the Box?"

He seemed a little taken aback by my more deep question, probably because we were never the type of friends to get into those kinds of conversations.

"Almost seven months." he sighed, taking another bite of his food.

"And if you don't mind me asking, how did you react? Like, how was it during your first month?"

"Umm...not...good? It probably wasn't that different from anyone else's first month in the Glade."

"That's it? No yapping this time?"

"No yapping this time, Ally. Just shut up and enjoy your food."

I couldn't tell if he was joking or not. We were usually pretty mean to each other, but it was all lovingly of course. Either way, the rest of that dinner was pretty quiet and awkward.