Three
I was sitting next to her in the cafeteria. She was beautiful, as always. She was wearing tight high-waist black jeans and a black tank top, covered by a leather jacket. I was holding her hand and she was smiling at me. But not her normal and gorgeous smile, she looked a bit worried. I decided to ask afterwards, because now I had something primordial to do. I leaned forward, about to kiss Tris, when Uriah interrupted me.
"Hey, Tris. You ready to go?" Uriah said.
"Sure, we're coming," she answered.
"We?" I asked Tris, once Uriah was gone.
"Yes, we. Now come."
I got up to my feet, pulled her up and kissed her passionately. We stayed like that for a minute, and then she pulled away, to my deepest regret. At least I did one important thing today.
Zip lining. She took me zip lining. I looked up at the top of the building and already felt sick.
"How could you Tris?"
I turned around to leave but she caught me by the hand. A prickly sensation went through the fingers she touched, like electricity. I had to turn to face her.
"Don't bother trying to leave. The next train's not coming until two hours. So here's your choice: Either you come with me up there and zip line, either you stay down here and prove to Uriah you're a coward. Oh yeah, not just Uriah: up there there's Lauren, Tori, Zeke, Shauna and all this year's Initiates."
I was hesitating on being furious or surprised and impressed. I was all that. Mostly impressed. Sometimes dating a part Erudite girl wasn't always a piece of cake. Literally. She doesn't always let me eat my cake because it's 'not good for my health'. I tried to look confident by taking a step towards the stairs and I smiled at Tris.
"He said yes!" she screamed to Uriah and the others, like I just agreed to marry her.
I almost had the heart to laugh, but I was panicking. Totally. Breathing was hard. How could people survive with fifteen of these fears? Tris saw I was struggling and took my hand, repeating over and over it would be fun. I wasn't so sure.
We arrived at the top of the building, a light wind sweeping across my face. Take. A. Breath. I kept repeating these 3 words in my head. Tris lead me to the edge of the building. I was terrified even more than on the first day of Initiation, when I had to jump from that building to get to the compound. I had the right to be frightened that day since nobody knew me. Now, I was Four, the guy who is afraid of nothing. Or almost. Then, I saw that the harness they were attaching me with was a double one.
"Are you jumping with me?" I asked Tris.
"No I am," answered Uriah, totally serious.
"Tris?!" I said, more puzzled than ever.
"He is, Four. It would be way too easy with me. You wouldn't learn anything," she said with a wink.
I might not have guessed it as fast as an Erudite, but I still got it. No more fears of height for me. I can't do it with her; I would concentrate on her and not think about my fear. She was brilliant.
So, there I was, almost hugging Uriah. It was quite weird for both of us. Only Tris seemed to enjoy herself.
She kissed my right cheek and whispered, "Be brave, Tobias." loud enough that only I could hear it.
"Can I have one too?" Uriah said.
Tris was bursting out in laughter will kissing his cheek. Then, she winked at me. At that moment, Uriah decided to jump.
I held my breath. Actually, no air seemed to enter my lungs, so I can't technically talk about holding my breath. The first few seconds were terrible for me and Uriah was laughing. I was almost certain it was about my face. Then, I started to smile. I was actually enjoying this. Adrenaline was filling me. How could I have ever been scared of this?
We arrived near the ground and Uriah freed us from our harness. He hit my arm in the friendliest way possible and I gave him a fist bump. Moments later, Tris arrived, smiling more than I have ever seen her smile.
"How was the jump, Four?" she asked.
"Call me Three," was all I answered.
Three.