The Restored Girl

Chapter 16: Pep-Talks

NEWT'S POV
I watch Thomas as he goes over to talk to Brenda and Jorge, surprised that less than half a year ago, he was the greenbean in the maze, the newbie. Who knew him coming into the Glade would mean so much change for all of us?

"Hey," Minho bumps his knee against mine. I turn to him, raising a brow. "Thomas told you right, that he planned on joining this new government thing?"

I sigh, leaning forward in my seat. "Yeah. What do you think about it?"

Minho sighs, running a hand through his hair. "Honestly? I think it's a good idea. I mean, we know firsthand how bad WICKED is, and I don't think we'd ever become like them. I want to do some good for this world."

"So you want to join?" I ask.

Minho shrugs. "I guess we'll just have to see how this goes."

My eyes move away from Minho and to Rhea, who's giving Quill a high five as Sonya laughs with Harriet beside her, blushing. "Yeah, I guess."

"She'll be fine, Newt," Minho says, following my line of sight.

"So everyone says," I mutter, tearing my eyes away before Rhea can catch me staring. No doubt she'll catch onto my line of thoughts in a moment and come here. And right now, she looks so happy over there with her friends, and I don't want to dampen her mood.

Minho sighs. "You remember Ben?"

The name brings confusion in me. Ben had been one of the first ten brought into the Maze, along with me, Alby and Minho. He was a Runner when I was, but I don't really want to think about it.

"Course I do," I say, remembering how bad it was when he died. How he was already mad after being stung, how he tried to kill Tommy.

"He used to tell us Runners that going into the Maze was like diving into an unknown chasm. He used to use all those bloody weird metaphors. He used to ask me why I would become Keeper of the Runners," Minho says, a thoughtful look in his eyes. "You were a Runner once, Newt. You know how it is. The doors open and when we go in, we don't know if we're going to make it out. But we run either way, because that's our job. Because if we have any hope that the others are gonna get out, we've gotta do our shucking job.

"Think of this as the Maze. We go in, and we do our job so that others don't have to live in this crappy world under WICKED's rules," Minho says with determination.

I blink, staring at him, surprised. "Damn, you shuckhead. That actually made bloody sense."

Minho grins. "Good. I knew I was good at this shucking pep-talk thing."

~

There's one hour left before we land in Denver, and Adam comes over to me.

My brows furrow as he approaches, and I glance over at Lizzie, wondering if this is about her. She's talking to Harriet, Quill and Rhea, but Rhea glances over, and the look in her eyes is meaningful.

"Hey," Adam says, and I focus my attention back on him, "can I talk to you, Newt?"

Minho's brows raise. "Be nice, you shank," he grins at me as I stand.

I shove him in the face with my hand before nodding to Adam and following him off to a room. As I pass Rhea, she mouths to me, "play nice."

Bloody hell, it's not like I'm going to punch the shuckhead. Or maybe I am.

I shut the door behind me, and bring my hands to my hips, "Well? What's so bloody important?"

Adam bites his lower lip, awkwardly bringing his hands into the pockets of his windbreaker. "I kissed Sonya."

I stiffen, not sure how I'm expected to respond. I was being honest with Lizzie when I told her that I was fine with her and Adam and all, but isn't this all a bit fast? Besides, I'm still her brother. Sizing Adam up, I don't know if I can beat him up if it came to a fight, but I do know that I'll give it everything I've got. After all, I've beaten Grievers before. Adam would be easy game.

Also, Sonya's friends-including Rhea-may get to Adam before I could. Not that that would stop me from delivering my own blow if he breaks my little sister's heart.

To be fair, though, if Adam broke Lizzie's heart, Lizzie would probably have her own sort of revenge, though I've never really pegged her as a vengeful person.

"Well?" Adam says, after about a minute of silence as I thought of ways to hurt him.

"Well I'm not gonna bloody congratulate you," I say, brows furrowing, "but I'm not going to stop my sister from being with a guy, either. Sonya went through the Maze without me. She can handle a guy.
And I trust her decisions, even though I don't trust you yet."

Adam exhales in relief. "Thank goodness. I was worried that you hated me."

"Hated you?" I ask, frowning. "Why would you think that?"

Adam grins sheepishly. "Well, you keep glaring at me whenever I'm near Sonya. I asked Rhea about it, but she just said that you're very protective."

I roll my eyes at that. "Well, I don't like you. But maybe that can change." I stretch out a hand to him, "If you make my sister happy, maybe we could become friends. But if you break her heart, I'm bloody coming after you."

Adam smiles, clasping my hand with his. "Deal. You're a good guy, Newt."

I pull back my hand, smirking. "We'll see about that, Adam."