Laser Tag?
The first part of this story is Tris in elementary school, and the second of two parts is the rest of her high school career. Hope you enjoy :)
-PRESENT (AGE 24)-
Beatrice walks into her old high school gym. She's always hated that place. She wasn't bad at P.E., but athletics just weren't her thing. The gymnasium, brought up some old memories that weren't so pleasant. Others were very pleasant.
Tris looks around at all the decorations within the gym. The entirety of the giant room is filled with green and white everything. The gym is all green and white balloons, green and white streamers, green and white table covers… Everything.
She figured that she would be unnoticable with her black dress on, but all she got were stares. She is the only one wearing all black. Everyone else is dressed in bright and ebullient colors. She keeps her head down and found the punch table.
She fills her cup with the red punch, and begins to walk to a table. There were no empty ones, but there's one with only one person seated at it. Their jacket is around the chair, and the cup of punch is resting on the table. She presumes it was a man because of the jacket.
As she sets down her cup, a man stalks up to her table, sitting down at the chair with the jacket. Even though it's been years, she still recognizes his handsome face.
He didn't notice anyone sitting there until he looked up from his phone, but his mouth is now slightly ajar.
They stare at each other with small smiles on their faces.
And then the memories come flooding back not only to her, but to him too.
-SIXTH GRADE-
Beatrice never disliked recess. She liked getting in her playing time in between books, but she was never big on the whole tag and monkey bars thing. She kept to herself as a young girl and even as a young adult. But in sixth grade she quiet mostly. There were a few incidents where she did happen to converse with a boy in her grade. Beatrice never spoke to this boy after she graduated or even heard what happened to him, but through high school, he'd frequently give her a kind smile in the hallway when they passed and the occasional hi or hello. Tobias was his name.
At the time, Tris was in sixth grade when Tobias and she had their first conversation. It went a little like this:
Beatrice made her way to the library just as recess began, her book held close to her chest. The librarian, Mrs. Alder, always picked out what she thought would be good picks for her. The librarian was like her second mother for the short time she was in elementary school. Nobody understood her like Mrs. Alder did.
She rounded the corner into the library, then bumped into a larger built boy that was in her class.
Beatrice looked up to him and quietly said, "Excuse me."
He replied, "No, you're okay. I'm Tobias."
She kept her head down. "Nice to meet you."
She attempted to walk past him, but he followed her into her safe haven.
Tobias said, "What's your name?"
"Beatrice," she said. She didn't want to be rude, so she couldn't tell him to go away.
"I see you in here a lot. Do you like reading?"
"Mhm," she responded.
"Let's be friends," he said suddenly. "Can we be friends?"
She shrugged in reply.
"You should think about it. I guess I'll leave you alone now. Bye, Tris."
"My name is Beatrice," she said adamantly. "Not Tris."
"But I like Tris better," he simply stated. "It fits you." He walked away, swaying his arms without a care in the world.
"But it's Tris," she said softly, shaking her head.
-SEVENTH GRADE-
In the seventh year of school, Beatrice was not disappointed that there was no more recess because it was the junior high. She took the advanced english class, which, in her opinion, was not very advanced at all. Mrs. Alder sent her up to the junior high school with good blessing and put a word in with that librarian. The JH librarian's name was Mrs. Dame. She was all right, according to Tris. Nothing special. She was always polite to her. Though when Tris came in during lunch to read and eat, Mrs. Dame would always have her boyfriend, Mr. Kahn, who taught regular english, in there talking. This made Tris get distracted easily, but she never stopped going. The library was her home, and she made it her mission to read every book. One day in the library, Tobias stumbled in while she was reading and Mrs. Dame was not in the room at the time. It was just Tris and Tobias.
Their conversation went a little like this:
Beatrice sat at the round table quietly enjoying her book. Though she was only in the seventh grade, she had already been reading a book called The Odyssey. She had good comprehension, but she knew it would be hard for her read.
"Wow," someone chirped behind her. "Big book you got there."
She jumped in her seat and turned around to see the face of the person who'd spoken. She saw the boy that called her by the name of Tris last year.
"Oh," she said. "Yes. Quite large."
"Why are you here?" he asked, unabashed.
She answered the question simply. "To read."
"Why?"
"Because it makes you more knowledgable than anything else in the world."
"Hm," he said. "Maybe I'll try that."
She didn't reply, but he continued speaking.
"I'm in here because my teacher is making me get a book. Anything good?"
"Yes," Tris said.
"Like what?"
"Everything," she said simply.
"Anything specific. Maybe, like, horror? Or action? Oh, what about, like, a spy dude?"
Tris stood and walking over to the B section. "Barnes," she said. "Jennifer Lynn Barnes. She wrote The Naturals. I think you will like it," Tris said, then handed him the book. "Now please. Leave me be to read my book."
"Do I have to? Can I stay here and read with you?"
"As long as you don't bother me. Okay?"
He smiled. "Okay."
Tris muttered, "Panglossian."
"Palosstinginian?" he repeated. Or at least tried to repeat, that is.
"Panglossian," she reciprocated. "An overly positive person; viewed as too optimistic through tough times."
"Opitistic?"
"Optimistic." She chuckled, then explained. "Happy."
"Oh," he said. "How do you know these words?"
"My mom is an author. Very smart."
"That sounds cool."
"Yeah," she said. "It's pretty eminent."
"Eminent?"
-EIGHTH GRADE-
Beatrice's life was pretty boring during the eighth grade. She was busy, busy, busy with reading and writing. She joined a writing club that'd done competitions at other schools. She'd frequently received a superior rating. One of the comps were at her home school at the junior high, and the audience was full of people she'd known that'd gone to her school.
One of those people was Tobias.
She wondered why he was there, Surely he had better things to do rather than see a bunch of nerds write some words on a piece of paper.
That day went a little like this:
Beatrice took her step on to the stage, preparing to write her heart out on that stage.
She sat down in a chair along with the other four contestants.
"Welcome to the Write On competition of Geller Junior High School. From the host school representing GJHS, Beatrice Prior."
She waved and did nothing more. The announcements were the worst part of the entire comp.
She looked through the crowd as the announcer carried on. She spotted her mother, father, and brother, like usual. A few from her grade. But all the way in the front, in which she rarely looked there, there was a boy she recognized. His name was Tobias, if she remembered correctly. Yes, Tobias.
He noticed that she was looking at him, so he waved. She threw him a kind smile.
"Good luck" what was she believed he mouthed, then gave thumbs up.
Her smile grew a little bigger, so she looked away. She had to be serious up on that stage. She had to focus. No time for boys or family or school.
Just writing.
So when the announcer started the time, she wrote.
And write, she did.