The Forgotten || The Maze Runner

PART 13

I knew Newt wasn't exactly mad at me, however, he did feel somewhat guilty for the way he spoke, despite knowing he had every right to.

I saw his gaze shifted toward the doors when they closed, his body physically showing signs of relief that we were safe for the night.

The Gladers had all gathered for supper but I was still working. Setting aside his own tools, Newt wiped his dirty hands down the front of his dirty hoodie and made his way toward me.

''C'mon, Greenie. Time for food. We've got a party tonight too.'' He told me with a warm smile.

I turned around at Newt's voice. He didn't seem upset anymore and that made me feel better.

"Oh, just in time", I said. "I just finished here."

I stood up and wiped the sweat from my forehead, showing Newt my work.

"See? It wasn't that hard!"

Newt inspected my work with an impressed nod.

''Think you might have some green fingers there, Greenie.'' He said, laughing at his own awful pun.

I laughed and followed the blonde boy back to the kitchens for some dinner. I felt bad for my earlier attitude.

"Newt?", I began. "I'm sorry for my behaviour today." My voice sounded guilty and I wanted to make sure Newt would understand my intentions that I truly didn't want to cause any problems.

He let me in front of him at the dinner line, nodding his head toward Jeff, the Medjack when he strolled up behind them, however, he soon returned his attention to me again, waving off my apology.

''Ah, forget about it. It's your first day. We don't expect anyone to be calm and collected.'' He stated, childishly forcing the line back with a grunt as the rest of the boys started arguing and fighting boisterously. ''You never know, you might be better than some of these shuckface slintheads.'' He stated with a broad grin, naturally throwing his arm out to protect me from Gally's impending shove.

I chuckled at Newt's statement and took a plate from Frypan's hands.

"Hello again, Greenie!", he smiled and handed me some bread. "I see you tried the Gardens today either." I took my food and frowned.

"How do you know?", I asked.

"Your nails are dirty, Shank. But don't worry, you'll get used to it pretty fast", he shrugged and moved his gaze toward Newt.

"This is yours", he said and handed him another plate. "So, Greenie...", he started again. "Did you like the gardens?", he winked and I felt myself blushing.

"Ehh...", I said shrugging, then headed towards a table where a chubby boy already was eating his dinner. "Sorry Newt, she didn't like mine either." He patted the blonde boy on the shoulder and moved his gaze toward another Glader who was waiting in the line for his dinner.

As soon as I took a seat near the other boy, I realized how young he was, 12 maybe 13 years old.

"Hello there", I said. "Do you mind us two joining you for dinner?"

The boy gave me a curious look then peeked at Newt.

"It's fine I guess, I've never talked to a girl before anyways." He smiled shyly then moved his gaze to his plate. "I'm Chuck, by the way."

I nodded and took my first bite, when I noticed Chuck looking at me again.

"Yes?", I asked him

"And your name is...?"

"Oh, I'm sorry but I haven't remembered it yet."

Chuck smiled and patted my back.

"It's fine Greenie, you'll remember it. Good thing I'm not the Greenie anymore".

I smiled back at him. That little guy seemed pretty friendly. God knows I already knew everything about him already.

"So I guess you're in the Glade for...how long now?" I asked.

"A month", he answered.

"Ah! So there must have been 43.200 hard minutes for you here". I laughed but then stopped when I realized both Chuck and Newt were staring at me in complete shock.

And now, here goes nothing!

''What did you just say, Greenie?'' He asked, unsure if he'd heard me correctly.

I gave him a puzzled look.

"What did I say? It's Math, Shanks", I shrugged. "30 days multiplied by 24 hours each day, then multiplied by 60 minutes each hour. Do you want me to calculate in minutes too?"

I knew I sounded sarcastic, but I couldn't understand why these boys find so hard to do some Math.

"Hey Greenie", Chuck asked, distracting me from her thoughts. " How long it's been since you're here in the Glade, again?"

I frowned at his question, then moved my gaze towards Newt. I snatched his wrist and took a look at his watch.

"I think it's been almost nine hours since I first came up in that Box. More specifically eight hours and 47 minutes. That means exactly 527 minutes", I smiled satisfied with my answer then let go of Newt's arm. "Why?" I looked at Chuck, who was still with his mouth open.

"Uhm...just asking."

I saw Newt shoveled a spoonful of food into his mouth, still listening to my words. When I continued, his spoon fell from his hand and clattered onto his plate, his mouth agate, just like Chuck's was, his eyes staring at me in fascination.

''Wh-How... Y- What the buggin' hell was that?'' He asked, blinking repeatedly at me. I was sure he'd never known or heard of such a thing before. Was it beneficial? Was it another thing for him to be worried about with me.

He hadn't even noticed that Minho had joined the table, shoving food into his mouth while he asked what was happening at the same time. Chuck explained it but Minho seemed to just shrug. Newt, however, was already stirring up thoughts.

''What else can you do that with?'' He asked then.

I was quietly eating while Chuck explained to Minho the whole thing. Only Newt asked a lot of questions, which made me smirk.

"Ah, look who's asking a lot of questions now", I laughed. "How do you like being in my shoes?" I folded my arms and gave Newt an amused look. Then shrugged and became serious again. "Well I guess I can solve equations pretty fast. I don't know, I just discovered that it comes naturally for me to do Math. Why don't you test me and then all of us would know what I am able to do", I proposed, giving Newt a questionable look, almost like daring him to make me do something challenging.