I Know Places [Thomas The Maze Runner]

[40: The Fight]

After consoling Teresa, Elle left her alone so she could recover. Even though Teresa appreciated all the comfort and help Elle offered her, she liked to process things alone, so she sent Elle to check on the others. When she joined the Gladers, Thomas was clenching his jaw angrily.

"What happened?" Elle wondered when she saw the look on his face. Thomas didn't answer, so Elle turned her attention to the other boys.

"We were just catching up on what happened while Brenda and Thomas were separated and we got around to talking about Teresa," Newt admitted wearily. Even though he wasn't Teresa's biggest fan, Newt wasn't trying to enrage Thomas when he, Minho, and Frypan explained how Teresa and Elle had several disagreements in his absence.

"That doesn't explain that expression on his face," Elle pointed out, motioning to Thomas with raised eyebrows. "What did you tell him about Teresa?"

"Everything," Minho confessed without hesitation. "And Thomas happens to see things how we do."

Suppressing a frustrated sigh, Elle crossed her arms and observed her friends. "And how would that be?"

Thomas met her eyes and shook his head minutely. "That I can't understand why you think she's your friend," he admitted.

Elle stared at Thomas with unrelenting eyes. "You're kidding, right?" she asked, unimpressed by how this conversation was going. "Not only have you been talking about my friend behind her back, but now you're actively upset with her about something she didn't even do to you?" Elle shook her head. "What's your problem with her?" she demanded.

"My problem with her is that she has a problem with us," Thomas replied, getting to his feet and crossing over to stand with Elle. "I don't know why but she's trying to come between us, but it's obvious that she is."

"That's ridiculous, why would she do that?" Elle challenged him. "What would she possibly have to gain from that?"

"I don't know why she's doing it, but it's pretty obvious that she is," Thomas insisted. His face was reddening by the minute with anger. "All those things she said to you about your feelings for me not being real? Telling me something and then going behind my back to tell you about it as if she and I were keeping it a secret from you? A real friend wouldn't do that," Thomas pointed out.

Dropping her crossed arms, Elle frowned. "She's been through a lot," she defended Teresa. "Can you blame her for not knowing who to tell what secret, or for questioning our feelings after everything WICKED did to us? I bet this has nothing to do with us and everything to do with the fact that her Thomas is probably dead," Elle exclaimed. "She's never going to see Edward again, do you understand that? How would that make me behave? Because if you were gone, I wouldn't know what to do with myself," she emphasised. "And no matter how I reacted, I would want my friends to be there for me. Even if I was being difficult."

Thomas rubbed his forehead and exhaled shakily. "She's not just being difficult, she's hurting you," he corrected Elle. "She told me that she thought we should go back to WICKED," Thomas reminded her. "She said something about us being more important than we could ever imagine and that it was the right thing to do. Can you really blame that on her grief and pain?" he wondered.

At that, Elle paused. "She said that to you? When?" she demanded.

"The day we had to leave Winston behind."

Groaning in frustration, Elle wondered, "Why wouldn't you tell me that?"

"Because things were crazy and I got distracted and forgot!" Thomas shouted, clearly upset that Elle focused on his faults rather than Teresa's.