A Way Back - The Maze Runner (♡Newt)

Chapter 71

Cally's pov

The moment I had followed Newt down the stairs and set foot in the small light of the single light bulb, Minho looked at us with a big grin on his face. "Soooo," he started, "is it save to assume you two-"
"Slim it right there." Newt interrupted his friend, shooting him a death glare from across the room. The other two Gladers in the room looked at us questioning, not understanding what was going on, but I knew exactly what he meant. So Minho knows? Pff, of course Minho knows. They're best friends, it would've been weird if Brendon knew, or Sten. I just hoped Pretty boy won't make a big deal out of this.
"Look," Thomas started, getting everyone's attention. He pointed at the stacks of transparent paper on the ground. Excitement filled my body as I saw the letters they had formed, which also formed two words now.
"It spells FLOAT and CAT." Thomas pointed out the obvious.
"Float cat?" Newt asked, confusion also on his face. "Doesn't sound like a bloody rescue code to me."
"Yet," I added, still staring at the piles of papers.
"Exactly!" Thomas continued, "we just need to keep working."

And so we did, I took a pile of maps myself, starting to draw the lines on the kitchen paper, cutting it out and putting it down on a new stack. We kept working, none of us saying a single word to each other until we had finished one of the words. Apparently, it wasn't CAT, the word was actually CATCH.
"Definitely not a coincidence," Minho said.
"Definitely not," Thomas agreed with his Keeper.
I looked up when I saw Teresa move in the corner of my eye, she had made her way to the storage closet where the maps were put in. "We need to go through all of them- all of these boxes in here." I nodded in agreement, and I heard Thomas agree as well. "Yeah, let's get on it."
"We can't help." Thomas eagerness to find out more got interrupted by Minho. All of us stared at him now, and he just glared back. "At least not me and Thomas here. We need to go get the Runners out in the Maze."
"What?" Thomas asked, not sounding very happy about it. "This is way more important!" I expected Minho to be pissed that Thomas tried to argue, but to my surprise, he was calm.
"Maybe. But we can't miss a day out there. Not now." The disappointment Thomas felt was clearly visible. I knew he wanted to stay and figure this all out. It's his character. But I knew Minho was right. There could be something out there right now, something that wasn't there before, and if there was, we couldn't afford to miss it.
"Why, Minho?" Thomas started, trying to get himself out of going into the Maze. "You said the pattern's basically repeating itself for months- one more day won't mean a thing."
Minho slammed his hand against the table, startling me and also Bark, who now was standing with her head in the air and ears widened. "That's bullshit Thomas!" Minho bit at him. "Of all days, this might be the most important to get out there. Something might've changed. Something might've opened up. In fact, with the freaking walls not closing anymore, I think we should try your idea- stay out there overnight and do some deeper exploring."
After those words, I started to worry immediately. Staying out there overnight was dangerous. I didn't want my friends to just head into danger. Only before I could protest, Thomas opened his mouth again.
"But what about this code? What about-"
"Tommy," this time it was Newt who interrupted, his voice consoling. "Minho's right. You Shanks go out and get Runnin'. I'll round up some Gladers we can trust and get workin' on this." I didn't like the idea of Minho and Thomas and all the others going out in the Maze for longer than a day, but I knew they were right. This was important.
"I'll stay and help Newton with the maps." I started, "but if you guys need some extra hands in the Maze, just let me know." Minho nodded at me to show that he heard me.
"Me too," Teresa spoke up. "I'll stay and help with the Maps."
Thomas's gaze now turned to Teresa. "You sure?" It seemed like the brown haired boy had accepted the fact that Minho and Newt were right.
Teresa folded her arms, a smile on her lips. "If you're going to decipher a hidden code from a complex set of different Mazes, then what's better than not only one, but two girl's brains running the show." The smile on Teresa's lips turned into a smirk, holding up her hand to me, and I couldn't help the chuckle that escaped my lips.
"Preach!" I exclaimed, slapping my hand against hers, unintentionally getting Bark active with my enthusiasm. She jumped a few times, barking as if she agreed.
"If you say so," Thomas said, folding his own arms now as well as he looked at Teresa with a smile.
"Good that," Minho said, nodding before he started to walk to the exit. "Everything's fine and dandy. Come on." Minho stopped walking when he noticed Thomas wasn't following him.
"Don't worry, Tommy." Newt said, "Your girlfriend will be fine." The dumbfounded expression on Thomas's face made me hide a laugh. He didn't react as he followed Minho as they made their way up the small stairs.
"Come back in one piece!" I called after them.
"We'll try!" I heard Minho call back before they closed the hedge.

Not long after that, Newt left to get more Gladers to help us. Leaving me and Teresa alone with Bark. We continued our task in silence for some time until Teresa spoke up.
"What was that all about?" She asked, I looked up from my work, brows crossed in confusion.
"What was what about?"
Teresa now also looked up from her work, looking me in the eyes. "When you got here, Minho tried to say something but got cut off by our new leader. What was that about?"
I sighed, turning my attention back to the maps in front of me. "Ow, that.." I mumbled, not knowing if I should tell her.
"Well? You gonna tell me, or do I have to bring it up in front of the others when they're back?"
I scoffed, "Are you trying to blackmail me?" I asked in disbelief.
Another smirk grew on Teresa's face, "If that's how you wanne call it, sure. Now, what happened?" Again, I tried to concentrate on the papers in front of me, but my brain was only thinking about what Newt told me and how I handled it. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to talk about it. So, with a deep sigh, I gave in.
"Newt told me he's in love with me." it came out so soft, that Teresa didn't hear it.
"What? Newt told you he solved withering?" I couldn't help but laugh at how Teresa said that, all serious.
"No, no he- he huh... he said he's in love with me." I repeated, a bit louder this time, but still with a lot of discomfort sounding through.
A new smirk grew in Teresa's face. "So I was right. You two are a couple now."
I shook my head, not looking up from the paper and scissor I was holding in my hands. "No, we're not." I didn't need to look up to know the girl's smirk had disappeared, I could hear it through her voice.
"Why not? Don't you feel the same?" I sighed deep, dropping the two things out of my hands before leaning back against the wall, staring up at the little light bulb that dangled from its rope.
"It's... complicated." I eventually said.
"Complicated how?" Teresa asked, now also putting down her supplies.
"I don't know, it's hard to explain." Of course I knew exactly what was going on, but I couldn't tell her about my past, so I tried not to give away anything.
"Let's start with this," Teresa said, "are you in love with him?"
Another deep sigh escaped my lips as I pressed my hands against my face. "I don't know; maybe?"
"That's not an answer, you either are or you are not." Teresa stated, making me growl in frustration as I let my hands fall on my lap. "I'm not hearing a denial," Teresa hummed.
"I'm not confirming anything either." I sighed again, "it doesn't matter if I do or don't feel the same because that's not the problem."
Teresa looked questioning at me, "Then what is?"
Bark walked to me, lying down on my lap, "I can't tell you." I stated honestly.
Only this seemed to peak her interest even more. "Has it something to do with the things you remember?"
I looked up at her, I had indeed told her that I remembered things others didn't, but I never gave any specifications. "Yeah," I said, nodding my head a few times.
"And I'm assuming you won't tell me any of that?"
Again, I nodded my head, "Sorry. Just can't tell you. Not now anyway, maybe later."
Teresa scoffed, "If we're both still alive." I chuckled joyless. "Good that."
"Does this mean I reached level 5?"
My brows crossed as I stared at the black haired girl in front of me. It took me some time to realize she was referring to what I had told her yesterday in the Slammer. "Nooo, I don't think so. You're just the only one I seem to be able to talk to about this. You go and try to talk with one of those Shanks about your love life. Trust me, it won't end well."
Both of us laughed shortly before a silence fell over us for some time, as we started working on the Maps again. This time, I was the one who broke the silence. "What about you and Thomas? You two a thing yet?" Teresa looked up at me with a trace of shock in her bright blue eyes, which made me chuckle.
"Com'n Teresa, it's pretty obvious you two have a thing for each other. Don't deny it." Teresa scoffed, not saying anything as I continued. "Or has it something to do with that psychic connection you have?"
The shock on the girl's face got bigger. "How do you know about that?"
A big smile formed on my face. "I didn't. Not really, until now. You see, a few days ago, when you were still in your coma. Newt took Thomas to you to see if he remembered you in some way. Afterward, Newt told me that Thomas told him that you told Thomas your name inside his head. Only Newt didn't think it was true, he thought Thomas was just having some sort of mental breakdown. But I figured it might be true, considering all the klunk that's been going on in here. And now you confirmed it. So, thank you."
Teresa squinted her eyes at me. For a moment, it looked like she was going to yell at me or something, but she just started laughing, and I soon started as well. "Cally, I think we're going to be good friends," she stated, sticking out her fist to me.
A smirk came on my face before I fist bombed her. "Teresa, I'm thinking the exact same."