The Girl In The Scorch

Part Three: The Boy In The Hood

Kids. So many kids. They were all sitting and talking like normal people in a big cafeteria like room. It was, well, you didn't know how to describe it. It made you happy? You didn't know.
"There she is! I'll get er." You heard a voice say and there was no one else it could have been. His voice was iconic.
"Minho." You said, walking up to the boy who had a skip in his step. He was smiling and looked at you like an excited toddler.
"Look at this shuck face!" Minho said, gesturing to everyone. "We weren't the only Maze."
"More than one?" You exclaimed and the boy nodded.
"Yeah, and now that you got here the whole group is back together."
"What does that mean?" You asked.
"Thomas just got here too." He said, then leading you to a long table where all the boys, and more, were sitting.
"-That kid over there, he's been here the longest, bout a week l'd say. He was in a Maze with only girls." A boy explained when you got there. You walked in when they were having a conversation, you didn't know what it was about, but clearly it had something to do with a kid and a Maze of girls.
"Really?" Newt asked and the boy they were talking to smirked.
"Yeah, not all of us can get that lucky." The boy said.
"Yeah, especially cause we got this ugly shank." Minho pipped in, pushing you towards the group. You took a seat next to Newt who smiled warmly at you.
"So your the (y/n) your friend Newt has been raving about huh?" The boy asked and you looked at Newt who turned a light pink.
"I guess so." You commented, then looked over at the boy he had been talking about. The kid in the Maze of girls.
He was small and skinny and a little pale. He had a blue stripped hoodie on, the hood over his straight brown hair that flopped over his forehead. He looked like a boy with secrets. You caught him looking at you and there was something mysterious in that glance that hit you. That boy was definitely hiding something.
Once he saw your eyes had met his, he ducked his head quickly and pretended that he never saw you. This piqued your curiosity even more. You immediately liked the kid, even though you had no idea who he was.
"Has anyone tried talking to him?" You asked and the informing boy shrugged.
"Nah, the kid- hey, hey! Where are you going?"
"(Y/n), leave the kid alone!" Minho shouted but you were already gone.
You had the urge to know more about this kid, you didn't know why, it might have just been the secretive demeanour that he carried. The moment he saw you walking over to him, his head shot down immediately.
You marched over to the table and sat down hard in the chair in across from him. You wanted to make it obvious that you wanted to talk to him. He didn't exactly get the message cause he never looked up at you.
"You know, I'm not as scary as you might think." You started with and you could hear Newt's facepalm from there. They were listening to you.
"You should go." The hooded mumbled.
"I saw you looking." You said but the boy never looked up. "Just give me your name. You can hang with our little rebel group, you know, in case staring and being alone starts getting old."
"Aris." He said softly. "My name is Aris."
"And I'm-"
"(Y/n)! Bloody hell!" Newt said, grabbing you and pulling you away from the boy in the hood.
"Sorry." You said to Newt as he dragged you back to the table. He sat you down next to him again but this time he didn't let you go.
"Your gonna get yourself in some bloody trouble some day (y/n)." Newt said with a laugh.
"Ladies and gentlemen, can I have your attention please?" Janson said, calling out to everyone. "You know how this works, when you hear your name called please rise in an orderly fashion and join my colleagues where we will lead you to the East Wing. From there, your paradise is only short moments away."
"Paradise?" You asked and the boy looked at your confused group.
"Yeah, they can't send everyone at once but they call out names everyday and those lucky people get to go to paradise." Everyone clapped, except for your group.
"Why can't they send them all at once?" Fry asked but the boy shook his head.
"Donno, maybe WICKED?" The boy answered in return.
"Yeah." You mumbled, watching as kids walked behind Janson with huge smiles on their faces.
"What's the deal shuck-face?" Minho whispered to you so that only you heard.
"I don't trust em." You responded quietly.
"I don't shucking care." The boy responded sassily.
"(Y/n), you don't trust anyone." Newt brought up. You realised that this was also true, you had even told this to Janson himself. Maybe you were just overreacting, they haven't done anything truly wrong.
"Franklin and Abigail." Janson said, closing his book and all the kids sighed sadly. "Don't be sad, it's only a matter of time. Thank you for your attention, I will see you all tomorrow to do this again."
Everyone applauded the man as he walked away with the called upon kids and the guards with him. They went out a door that instantly shut behind them, locking everyone else out.
"They sure do give him a lot of praise." Winston commented.
"Yeah, no kidding." You said back and watched as everyone went back to their normal conversation. "I think he loves it, like Minho."
"Excuse me? What is that supposed to mean?" The boy scoffed and you laughed.
"That dramatic flare right there." Newt commented and Minho glared at him.
"At least I'm not afraid-"
"Don't you bloody dare!"
"Afraid of what?" You asked and Minho smirked.
"It's funny that you ask (y/n) cause..."
"Minho I will bloody kill you!" Newt aggressively whispered to the boy who was still smirking maniacally.
Suddenly, Thomas almost fell out of his chair as he got up quickly. You didn't even have to ask, you saw Teresa walking down a hall on the other side of a glass wall. You weren't sure what she was doing but you were curious.
"TERESA!" Thomas said, trying to get the girl's attention.
"Please (y/n), just stay here." Newt begged, and you didn't even realise that you were almost standing up.
You glanced over at the boy, Aris, who had flipped his hood off from his head. The boy looked at Thomas and then at you.
What was it about you and Thomas that made him so curious?