FOREVER. newt

four. thomas

"I'll go later." the girl leaned forward to whisper it into his ear, only so the newbie couldn't hear her. The blonde boy looked confused, but he gave her an understanding nod nonetheless and walked away with the rest of the boys, although he was a bit reluctant.

"Greenie?"

The boy jumps, obviously having thought everyone had left. He spins to Nini hesitantly, his eyes wide in panic momentarily before they settle on her own and he seemingly deduces her not a threat. Nini sighs at this. Maybe I should become more intimidating. No one seems to take me seriously in here.

As she walked over towards him, she could see that he was still slightly shaky from what had just happened. Nini doesn't blame him for being scared. At all. Although she was luckier than most and handled the situation really well, it's normal for people to react like this. She understood him.

"I was the Greenie before you." Nini explained, looking at the closed maze walls. "I understand that you might be scared... or terrified... or you might be wetting your pants right now-"

"I'm not wetting my pants." the Greenie says nervously, shooting her a look of disbelief.

"Everything will die down in a few days. You'll get the answers you need." she explained, knowing that he must be dying from questions right now. She was once, too.

"How did you handle it?" he asks hesitantly. "I mean... waking up in a group of only boys.. not knowing your name.. having no idea what's happening.. it must be terrifying." he shudders, as if the thought alone sent chills down his spine.

"Honestly.. I handled it pretty well." Nini says truthfully; feeling like it had just happened although it was already a month since then. "And I am handling it well till now, but I still feel like there's just something missing. This part of me that was so important to me and... it was just gone. I couldn't remember it. Everything seems so familiar- but it isn't at the same time. It's killing me."

The boy stays silent for a few seconds, probably surprised that she's spilled out so much. Eventually, he talks again. "How did you get over it?"

Nini chuckles at the question, now facing the Greenie instead of looking at the wall. "I'm not yet over it, Greenie. Everything still confuses me. There's someone, and.. well..." she trails off, remembering how weird it always felt to hear Newt's accent. "My mind is still hazy. But I just let it be. I have no choice, anyways."

After another few beats of silence, she smiles at the Greenie and walk away.

-

Nini doesn't understand why, but Gally's vile concoction of liquid was something she could always bring herself to drink, unlike most of the Gladers who thought that too much of it would kill them. It seemed like they never expected this from her too; since she was the person who mostly told people off on their health. Don't do this, don't do that, that's bad for your digestive system; stuff like that.

Unsurprisingly, Nini was one of the many that night who decided it was worth a shot. It was hardly an hour into the bonfire and the Gladers were beginning to stumble around, their faces flushed, air full of laughter.

It wasn't long before Newt, who had just finished explaining everything to the new Greenie, felt a body slump down beside him rather unsteadily. The girl landed far closer than she'd hoped, but didn't bother moving.

"Whatcha got there? 'Nother drink? You 'bout'a get hammered!"

Before Newt could say anything in response, the girl grabbed the drink from his hand and drank it like it was just water. Although she could feel it sting in her throat, Nini let out a laugh and handed the empty glass back to Newt and leaned on him.