The Girl

Chapter Thirteen

  "Wake up, wake up, wake up!" Gally shouts and shakes me awake.

"What the shuck!" I exclaim, startled by my awakening. "What, what do you need what's wrong?"

"We've gotta get you into the maze before your boyfriend wakes up," He gestures to Newt.

"First of all, don't call him that. It's not... he's not... Nevermind. Second, I'm not going," I assert.

"What?" He asks, dumbfounded. The expression on his face is completely blank.

"I promised Newt I wouldn't go and I intend to keep that promise, now let me sleep," I complain. Gally wanders off, confused that I had meant what I said.

Although I said I wanted to go back to sleep, I don't. I can't fall back asleep and it's close enough to when I'm actually supposed to get up anyway. I get up to check on Minho and Ben. Two runners down.

I haul myself up from my hammock and straighten my tank top. I glance down at Newt in the hammock next to mine. I was there just hours ago, I remind myself. I kneel down to look at him. His eyes look tired. I run the back of my hand across his cheek, lightly so I don't wake him.

"I don't know what I did wrong," I whisper before placing a short kiss on his temple and taking off to find Minho.

"Bethers!" Minho beamed before his expression quickly turned sour. "Get me the hell out of this prison."

"Aw, Minho, is it really that bad?" I joke.

"Just help sh- um, Beth," He demands. I hear him stop himself from calling me a shank.

"So pleasant," I sarcastically remark. I stand next to his cot as I take his vitals. "Temperature, fine... pulse, fine... breathing, fine..." I lightly press on his ribs and get no reaction. I press slightly harder and he winces. Ever so slightly, I put more weight onto his ribs and he yelps then grits his teeth. I frown down at him while thinking of what to do.

"Take your shirt off," I command, crossing my arms.

"Excuse me?" He sasses. I roll my eyes.

"Do you want to stay stuck in here longer than you have to?" I place my hands on my hips. He sighs and obeys.

Abs, is my first thought as he pulls his shirt over his head, careful not to hurt himself. I sharply inhale and hold my breath. Biting my lip, I kneel down next to him to closer examine him.

"Wow, that's a wicked bruise," I scrunch up my nose.

"Just fix it," He groans and continues to hit me with sarcastic comments.

"If you keep doing that I'll make it bloody worse, okay?" I reprimand. He keeps his mouth shut. I apply different amounts of pressure to different sections of his ribs, getting numerous reactions. Squirms, yelps, and sometimes no reaction at all.

"Well, your ribs aren't broken, which is great. I think you might be able to run tomorrow. I've been working on this painkiller thing and since I can't go out into the maze today I'll be able to finish it. Then you can take it and if you're up for it you can run tomorrow."

"You mean I'm trapped here all day?" He whines.

"I'll be here too. And would you rather have broken ribs?"

"No," He replies childishly. I give a slight laugh before helping him back into his shirt. His expression suddenly changes.

"Beth, I think I should tell you something," He states, trying to hide the nervousness in his voice.