"Winston?" I asked, standing up slowly. He looked back and forth between Minho and I, and said, almost in a whisper, "Can I talk to you for a sec? Alone?" I nodded, and followed him. He looked uncomfortable, and shy. What was the worst that could happen?
"I'll be right back." I assured Minho, who nodded in response.
"What's up?" I asked Winston, as we stood far away from the other gladers.
"I just wanted to say, that, I'm sorry about what happened. With Gally. It got way out of hand."
"I saw you. You were the only one who wasn't laughing at us."
"It wasn't right. Gally shouldn't have said those things. They're private, and..." Winston trailed off. "He's just being a jerk. Trying to be funny. To get a reaction from you."
"That's what Minho said."
"Well, Minho's right. Although he's in the maze most of the time. He knows the place. No offence, but when I heard there was a girl arriving, and that she'd already got a boyfriend, that last person I thought you'd choose was him."
"Why's that?" I laughed.
"I don't know. A lot of people just look past him I guess. You don't really get to spend that much time with him."
"Well, I like him. He's really sweet. No matter what anybody thinks."
"Yeah, he probably is. I got here after Minho, and he's never the one starting the drama. I'm just kinda the shy guy that hangs around. But, I heard Gally say you wanted to be a runner, because you don't have any friends."
"Oh." Was all I could say.
"I mean, I can be your friend, if you want me to." I smiled at Winston's reply.
"Sure! I made friends while we were playing that game that Newt came up with, but it was more of like, a one-night friendship thing. We all kinda, stopped talking... What with Gally's show today and all."
"Yeah... Well, I should probably be getting back to work. Thanks for talking to me, Maisie. And no matter what Gally says, you're truly an amazing girl." Winston began walking away.
I giggled, biting my lip. Minho was right! I really do have friends! I began skipping back to the tree, where Minho awaited me.
