Silver Lining (Newtmas)

9 - Intruder

Back to Thomas POV

Half a day had passed since our return. Newt had wanted to call a keeper meeting immediately, but Minho and I persuaded him to let us rest for a day. So today, I had nothing to do except relax and rest myself. Which, ironically, was exactly what I was supposed to do.

Throughout the morning, I had been hearing strange things in my head - a girl’s voice or something. But I just dismissed it as a figment of my imagination. After all, I was pretty shaken up by my Griever encounters.

But of course, no one really expected me to just sit there and do nothing. I hung around Newt, trailing after him like a puppy. He didn’t seem to mind, which I was relieved about.

Speaking of Newt, I still couldn’t explain what had gone on between the two of us that morning. Was I seriously expecting him to kiss me? I didn’t even know if he liked me; maybe he was only being nice like a normal friend. But to me, he was anything but. It was quite pathetic, really; I pretty much had a crush on him since the moment I laid my eyes on him when I woke up in that shucking box.

Woah, was I starting to use Glader slang now? I suppose my time with Minho had really influenced me.

Anyways, back to Newt. I always assumed it was just a passing crush, though I had my doubts now… I leaned into him in the morning (though of course I had no idea what I was doing), but he leaned into me too… Didn’t he? Doesn’t that mean he liked me at least enough to kiss me? Or was it just my eyes playing tricks on me? I knew for a fact that he blushed afterwards, though that might of course be just because of his worrying for me.

At least he liked me enough to worry about me…

“Hey, Tommy, quit staring at the floor and come with me. The girl’s awake and she wants to see you,” a voice, Newt’s, said behind me back. I whirled around and followed him when I heard the mention of the girl, barely noticing the poisonous traces of jealousy laced within his voice. Almost from instinct, he reached for my hand and I let him hold it, dragging me across the Glade. A warm feeling surged through my entire system, leaving my heart jumping with joy or nervousness, I didn’t know.

Soon, we reached the bottom of the treehouse-like hut near a wall of the Glade. A group of boys seemed to be huddled underneath it, including Chuck, Frypan and a few others. They were covering their heads with various cardboards, wood planks and other random things, and currently being pelted by rocks.

“Seriously?” I turned to Newt and asked, as I dodged a pebble. 

He nodded. “She wants to talk to you, she won’t talk to any of us. Been calling your name since she bloody woke up,” he said, then looked away, frowning. He seemed almost angry, and who I didn’t know, but I decided the girl was more important at that moment.

So I walked up to her. When I reached the top, I almost walked straight into a knife. The girl was holding it, her hand shaking and wobbly. She was beautiful - with jet black hair and striking blue eyes, though of course no one could compare to Newt. “Tell me why I don’t remember anything,” she started, her voice wavering.

I sighed, then began to tell her everything Newt or Alby had told me, since I couldn’t do anything with the knife pointing at me anyway. Halfway through, however, I finally convinced her to put it down. I learnt her name was Teresa - not one I was familiar with, though at the back of my head I felt like I had seen glimpses of her somewhere before. Finally, she allowed me to lead her down onto the ground.  held her hand as I lead her down, and I wanted to release it once I was on the ground, but it seemed that she had other ideas. She gripped my hand tightly, and it felt kind of wrong. I didn’t feel the kind of nervous warmth I felt while holding Newt’s hand.