Sticks and Stones

Chapter 1: New Faces

* A/N I do not own Maze Runner, or any of its characters. I do not own Rachel's name, only the personality and storyline that I have written in addition to the original plot. Contains spoilers for the movies and possibly the books. Also WARNING: mild swearing, as there was in the film.

Rachel watched the group of boys curiously. They were the latest to join them, and had apparently been in Maze A- the maze experiment with all boys. They were currently staring around the canteen with wide eyes, unable to believe what they were seeing. She could understand that- she hadn't been able to believe it herself when her group had made it out the maze only to find they weren't the only ones.

Rachel examined the group before her. At the front and center of the group was an Asian boy with spiked hair. His fit body suggested he'd been a Navigator in the maze, and his position spoke of leadership. Next to him was a tall blond who seemed to control the group as he spoke to them calmly, his dark brown eyes roaming around the room uneasily. Behind the two stood the rest making up about six in total.

Rachel sighed. Not many of that group appeared to have made it out either, and she wondered just how many kids had had to die in all these mazes. Suddenly, the blond caught her looking, and they locked eyes. She jumped a little as he stared intently, but met his gaze evenly.

They were broken out of it when the Asian boy nudged his friend, and the group moved off to grab trays and get food. She watched silently as they filed into a line to get food before they wandered off to sit with another group of boys.

Rachel turned to Aris, who was sitting next to her at the edge of their table, and whispered: "What do you think?"

He looked over at the group and sighed.

"Dunno. They don't look too different from the others so far." He muttered back and Rachel nodded.

She glanced back at them, and immediately met eyes with the blond again. He seemed to be looking at her curiously, and Rachel answered with a similar expression. But their attention soon turned to the door as the Asian boy looked up and got up to call: "Thomas!"

Rachel looked over at the new brown-haired boy and frowned.

'I know him.' She thought.

She glanced at Aris, who had lost the intentional bored expression he usually wore to avoid attention and was also staring at Thomas. Aris glanced at her as Thomas sat down with his friends.

"Do you recognize him?" He asked, and Rachel nodded.

"You?" She asked, and he nodded as well.

"I can't place it, but I've definitely seen him somewhere." He mused, and Rachel nodded, murmuring: "I agree."

They continued to slyly watch the table, but didn't draw attention to themselves, knowing that would not end well. But even so, Rachel noticed that she met eyes with the blond pretty often, despite the fact that his table continued to talk amongst themselves.

He asked something to a boy in front of him, and soon the whole table was glancing at her and Aris. She groaned as she looked away, and Aris was looking down at the milk carton he was holding in his hands.

She knew what they would be saying: she and Aris were among the ones who had been here the longest, almost a week, but what the guys mostly found more interesting was the fact that Aris had been the only guy in their maze. True it had been for a grand total of maybe two days, but still. Apparently, the boys were jealous of him for it.

"Good evening gentlemen, ladies." The man in charge, Janson, called out as he walked in with a group of guards, carrying his clipboard. Rachel tensed while Aris ducked his head further down, both of them listening with fear.