this is lucia. i have been kidnapped. save me. -Lucia ... jk shes fine, it was only me that kidnapped her. nothing to worry about. have a nice day! (lucia wont) -Meghan adioz

The leather belt hits my back, and I cry out in pain. Not loud enough for my neighbors to hear. It's never loud enough.

"Marcus, stop! He's just a child!" My mother calls out from the hallway. She'll just stand there until Marcus is finished beating her son, her only child. She's just as afraid of him as I am. Right before the belt hits my face, I yell out, "Dad! I have school!" Marcus tries to not hit my face if I have school. It is my only defense.

"A seventeen year old child, eh? He should be able to take care of himself. I'm just merely helping him." Marcus sneers. When he finishes about five minutes later, I tear off my shirt. Some skin comes off with it and I wince. I get into the shower and turn the water cold to numb the pain. When I'm done, I only pull on pants to leave my back bare. I have to sleep on my stomach.

In the morning, I take another cold rinse off. I try to put on some cream my mom got me specifically for this purpose. I pull on a grey tee shirt that covers up all of the biggest scars and a pair of jeans. I grab a muffin and hurry out so I don't have to face Marcus. I bike to school.

I look around Norther High, recognizing every single person, and I could probably give you most of their backstories. But if I went up to any random person and asked them what my name was, they would stare at me with a blank face. I am too good at blending in.

Emma and Mason hold hands, Noah plays a video game on his laptop at one of the lunch tables as Jacob and Liam watch him, Sophia flirts with Ethan, and Abigail, Charlotte, and Mia trade gossip, just like every other day. Then I see her. Tris sits with Grace and Olive, like always. She is only sixteen, one of the youngest people in my grade. Her long blonde hair is pulled back into a ponytail, and her grey blue eyes search the lunch room as her friends talk. Her eyes glance over me, but then shoot back. I stupidly make eye contact, and she looks confused. Probably doesn't recognize me. Why should she? I look down at my grey shoes and stay that way until first bell rings. I go through the day like usual, dreading going home.

I told Marcus I signed up for basketball, which buys me an extra hour to myself. I leave my bike at the school and walk around downtown. I walk into Masterpiece, the art shop. It's part museum, shop, and studio. I started taking classes there, and I help clean up afterwards, so I get to do the classes for free. I go straight to the pottery wheel, like always. I throw a lump of clay onto the wheel when the bell on the door jingles. I look up, curious, when I see her. Tris walks in with Grace and Olive and walks up to the front desk. I get back to the clay, but still listen in.

"Hi. We heard you had an art class and would like to sign up," Grace says, and I look up. Olive is nodding like crazy but Tris is gazing around the room. I duck again before she can see me, but I still feel her eyes on me for a few seconds, burning into my head. Then, when they finish signing in she sits at the wheel right next to mine. I stand up, pull my finished vase off the wheel, put it on the rack, and leave. I grab my bike from the school and head home.

The front door opens before I touch it and my mom wraps me in a tight hug. Marcus must be in a bad mood. She kisses my forehead, making me blush, and asks, "How was school?"

"Just like every other day," I sigh, "I'm going to my room."

"Be careful," she warns me. I head upstairs, and when I hear my parents bedroom door open, I start speed walking.

"Tobias," Marcus calls. I flinch. "Why are you home a half hour early? Practice is an hour."

I try to think of an excuse, "I, ummm, didn't feel well...so I left…early," I back up into my room, and he follows. "That's a lie. I did not raise my son to be a liar!" He yells, and his fist meets my right cheek. I hold my face, knowing there will be a bruise. I cower as punches me, and I cry out when he hits my back.

The next morning, after I take a shower, I look in the mirror. I recognize the short, dark brown hair, the deep blue eyes, and the spare upper lip and full lower one, but I don't have a bruise on my right cheek and a black eye. I go downstairs and see my mom. Her eyebrows turn down as she frowns and she gently touches the bruise, and I grimace as a white pain goes through my face.

"He said he wouldn't hurt your face!" My mom whisper-shouts. She pulls me into a tight hug. "I'm so sorry."

I chain my bike to the rack and walk into the school, my head down. Nobody even glances my way until I pass Tris's table. She looks up at me as I pass, but then looks back down. I sit at an empty table, but then a boy followed by a girl sit down at my table. He smiles and sticks out his hand for me to shake. "Hey, I'm Zeke. And this is Shauna." I shake it nervously.

"Tobias," I respond.

"Eh. I'm going to call you Four," Zeke says. I give him a questioning look and say, "May I ask why?"

"You have four bruises. One on your leg, one on you arm and two on your face." Shauna answers.

"Ah." At least I don't have to go by the name Marcus gave me. An escape. Zeke looks at me. He must have asked a question.

"What did you ask?"

"I asked, what happened? Did you fall of your bike or something?" He repeats.

"Yeah, actually I did." I lie. The bell rings and Shauna asks, "What class are you going to?"

I answer, "U.S History." She grins. "Same,"

"Today we are doing a partner project which you present at the end of next week," Miss Hall says as she paces at the front of the room. Everyone starts talking at once, and Miss Hall has to whistle to get their attention again, "the partners have already been chosen." Everyone groans. She starts naming names and I turn out until, "Tobias Eaton and Beatrice Prior," I stiffen, but she continues, "you may get with you partners." I stay seated in my desk.

"Hey, Tobias, right?" She asks, apparently unfazed by my bruises.

"Call me Four," I replied, taking to the nickname Zeke and Shauna gave me. I leaned over and started writing our report.

"Like the number?" Tris continued, but also follows my lead.

"Exactly like the number."

"That was you at the art class yesterday, wasn't it?" I stop. She recognizes me?

"Yeah, it was," I confess.

"Why did you leave?"

"Because, I was finished with my vase!" What kind of question was that?

"Oh. Okay. Will you be there tonight?" She asks. I want to ask why do you care? but I resist. Instead I say, "Yeah, I'm guessing." We spend the rest of the period in silence and I think to myself, what did I say wrong?

At the end of the day, I head to Masterpiece. When I see Tris sitting at the wheel next to mine without Olive and Grace, I grin and sit down.

"Hey. Nice pot," I say, and she is good, for a beginner. She looks up at me and smiles. "Thanks. This is harder than I thought it would be,"

"It gets easier. Where are your friends?"

She grins some more. "They're shopping. Not a fan of that, so I decided to come here. It's nice having those two girls off my back." Tris laughs and I join her, having one of those rare moments where I feel like an actual kid.

In a more serious tone, she added, "But I still would do anything for them. We have each other's backs."

"Yeah…" I say, not really getting what she means. I just met my first real friends today.

Hope you like this little bit of Divergent AU. That's it for tonight (haha not probably I'm bored), so see y'all! -Meghan (Lucia says hi too)