I am absolutely obsessed with the traffic graph on my story stats page. It's not healthy, and I hate it. I don't actually care about what it means, I know 'viewing' doesn't necessarily mean 'reading', but I have an obsession with watching the numbers go up—it's interfering with my writing. Is this a problem for all authors? Or is it just me and my OCD?

That being said, I do appreciate your reviews, favs, and follows. Thanks for the support! (:

Chapter 02

- Tris -

English proves to be a boring class. Since it's the start of our day, we also have ten minutes dedicated to homeroom—which includes announcements, locker assignments, and reminders of school rules. As for our actual class, we spend most of the time discussing the curriculum. I'm glad we don't have to play introductory games anymore; I always found those to be awkward. Aside from the few new students, most of us know each other's names since it's our fourth year together.

When the bell rings for second period, Christina and I head off, separating after a bit as we have different classes. I enter one of the science rooms for my chemistry class.

Inside, I notice that the teacher hasn't arrived yet. Caleb and his group of friends sit near the front and I wave to him, but then I head towards the back where Uriah and Tobias are sitting beside each other. People used to think Caleb and I don't get along, but the truth is just that we have our own group of friends.

I take the seat in front of Uriah and gestures at the seat next to mine, giving Tobias a look. He raises his eyebrow at first, but then nods and gets up to take the seat.

"What the hell? What's that supposed to mean?" Uriah shouts.

I give him a teasing smile. "He's my best friend, not yours."

Uriah rolls his eyes. "It's not like he's your boyfriend," he scoffs.

I glare at him. Comments like these always make me angry. I hate it when our friends imply there's something between Tobias and I because honestly, there isn't. And maybe I should just laugh it off or ignore them but I can't, not when my blood is boiling. They've learned to keep quiet over the years but once in a while, something like this will pop up.

"We're doing you a favour, Pedrad." Tobias says.

Uriah looks at us skeptically.

"Mar's in this class," I huff out.

"Oh…" He replies sheepishly and fidgets in his seat. "How do you know?"

"We compared timetables yesterday."

"Oh," Uriah repeats dumbly. After a few seconds, a goofy smile breaks out on his face.

I can't help but smile too even though I was angry at him just a minute ago. Both he and Marlene have that kind of effect on people—which is only one of the many reasons why they make such a cute pair. They're still in the process of crushing on each other but most of us think it's only a matter of time before they start dating.

I turn to the front of the classroom just in time to see Marlene scrambling through the doorway along with some other classmates. After noticing there's no teacher in the classroom, she sighs in relief before heading towards us.

"Morning," she says cheerfully and takes the seat Tobias abandoned.

We greet her briefly just as our chemistry teacher enters the room. Dressed in her signature blue dress, Ms. Matthews' heels clink against the tile floors as she walks towards the center of the room and introduces herself. She's known to Caleb as 'the best teacher in our school', but to the rest of the student body as 'the strictest teacher in our school'. I inwardly sigh at the thought and brace myself as Ms. Matthews begins her lesson without hesitation.

-x-

"Ugh, what the hell was she talking about?" Uriah sigh as the four of us enter the cafeteria. "I was paying attention, really. But I didn't get a thing she was saying!"

"Me neither." Tobias frowns. "According to our pop quiz scores, we're 'below her expectations'."

"Expectations, my ass. It's only the first day of school. Give us a break."

"Well, we technically just had break," I say, referring to our summer vacation. Uriah, Marlene, and Tobias gives me an odd look and I add, "Not that I agree to the pile of homework she assigned us. …Hey, I'm just saying…"

Uriah rolls his eyes as he plops down at our usual cafeteria table. Tobias, on the other hand, gives me a playful flick on the forehead and I glare at him before settling down with him and Marlene. Zeke, Shauna, Christina, and Will are already eating lunch and making small talk.

"What's got your panties in a twist?" Zeke smirks at his little brother's irritation.

"Matthews."

"Ah…"

Will cringes visibly. "I was in her chem 11 class last year. It was hell."

I tune out the boy's chatters about our horrible chemistry teacher. Marlene is asking Shauna and Christina about how their classes went and I listen half-heartedly to their conversation as I eat my lunch.

So far, the first day of my senior year feels like any other first days—noticing a few new faces among familiar ones, complaining about homework on our first day back, bad mouthing about teachers we hate, eating lunch in the crowded cafeteria. Everything is familiar and habitual, and I have a feeling by tomorrow, summer vacation will feel like something that happened an eon ago. Soon enough, exams will be around the corner and we'll be making post-secondary plans. A feeling of dread spreads through me as I think about the uncertainties of life beyond high school. What am I going to do?

Someone literally kicks me out of my thoughts. I hiss in pain—that'll probably bruise tomorrow. I look up at the person sitting across from me, Zeke, and give him a questioning look.

"Uh, damn. Sorry, Tris. I meant to kick Four," Zeke apologizes.

Beside me, Tobias raises an eyebrow at Zeke and I watch as Zeke nods toward something over his shoulder. He turns to see what Zeke is gesturing to and out of curiosity, I do too.

In the far corner of the cafeteria, a group of senior girls are coming in. I recognize most of them from previous years though there's no one I'm actually acquainted to. They're all tall with pretty faces and the type of body I'd probably be attracted to too if I was a guy.

I move my gaze between Zeke, Tobias, and the group of girls, and it doesn't take a genius to figure out what's going on—not when Zeke, who has a girlfriend, is smirking at Tobias, who's pink in the ears. I silently mouth "which one" to Zeke.

"Brunette. Purple Shirt," he whispers.

I check to see who he's talking about.

"Lauren?" I ask, and am confirmed by Zeke's nod.

Tobias seems to be ignoring the two of us. I watch in amusement as he picks at his sandwich like it's an interesting artifact. I reach out to pinch his cheek.

"Why do you only blush in your ear?" I tease.

He swats my hand away while Zeke and I laugh. I turn around again to see Lauren sitting down with her friends a few tables away.

She's pretty.

-x-

After lunch, I have creative writing with Christina and Shauna, which is like having another English class. Then, we all join Marlene for PE. The day passes by quickly and soon, we're all having frozen yogurt as celebration. According to the Pedrad brothers, surviving the first day of school is a big accomplishment.

I find myself walking home with Tobias as usual after hanging out with our friends. Most of them live in other parts of the neighbourhood while the two of us live a street away from each other.

I pull out my phone when it vibrates to indicate a text.

Dad and Marcus have a late meeting. Make sure Tobias comes for dinner. – Mom

I roll my eyes at the message and shove my phone in Tobias' hands.

"Why doesn't she just text me?" He asks after reading it.

"Maybe because you tend to decline free food."

"I'm more likely to say no to you than to Mom." He smirks and gives the phone back to me.

"Just come. Marcus won't be home anyway."

"It doesn't make a difference to me if he's home or not."

"Well, come so I don't have to sit through dinner alone and listen to Caleb idolize Matthews."

"What you're saying is, I should come suffer with you," he clarifies with a chuckle.

I shrug and let out a short laugh. "That's what best friends do."

Tobias rolls his eyes and I take that as an agreement. A comfortable silence settles between us as we walk side by side. Our hands brush each other occasionally and I rub at mine to get rid of the ticklish feeling.

"So…" I begin cautiously. "Lauren…"

He stares straight ahead and doesn't respond. I huff in annoyance; the fact that Tobias has a crush on someone and never told me about it bothers me. He talked to Zeke about it but not me. I inwardly laugh at what my thoughts are implying. I'm jealous of Zeke.

After a few more seconds, Tobias hums to show he's listening.

"She seems nice," I say.

"Do you even know her?"

"She's in my PE class. And she's friends with Shauna."

Another hum.

"…Wait. How do you know her?"

I know I'm not entitled to know every single one of Tobias' friends just because I'm his best friend, but it just so happens neither of us are social butterflies. Other than our small group of friends, we don't interact with a lot of other people.

"She works with me at the community center."

"Oh… another instructor? Hm, I guess teaching basketball to five to ten year olds can be a hassle," I muse out loud. "To be honest, I can't really imagine the two of you together …but she seems like a nice person."

Tobias tries to hide the smile tugging at his lips but gives into it in the end.

I roll my eyes. "Nicole's prettier though."

"Seriously?" He asks incredulously. "Why are you mentioning Nicole all of a sudden?"

"What? Does mentioning your ex bug you?" I tease.

"We only dated for a few weeks, Tris. And that was two years ago."

"I'm just saying… she's prettier. I think I like people with red hair."

He gives me a disbelieving look.

"What? I just think red hair's pretty. It's rare too, you know, red hair is a recessive trait."

"You sound like Caleb. Hey, last time I checked, blond hair is a recessive trait too." Tobias ruffles my hair and I scowl at him.

"So what?" I snap back, attempting to fix my hair.

"So, blondes are rare and pretty too," he concludes, and I grin like an idiot despite myself. "Peter seems to have a thing for blondes. His current girlfriend is a blonde."

I quickly lose my grin and punch Tobias hard on the arm. "Jerk," I mumble.

He smiles and mocks, "What? Does mentioning your ex bug you?"

"You can't compare Nicole to Peter! Nicole was actually nice. Peter's an asshole." I bite my lower lip. Swearing is supposed to come naturally to people my age but I hate the guilty feeling I get when I swear.

"Exactly. What did you see in him? Please enlighten me." Tobias wears a smug smirk and I'm tempted to slap it off his face. I resort to giving him another punch on the arm instead.

"Oh, shut up," I mutter while stomping ahead. I can hear him laughing as he lags behind, and he doesn't bother to catch up to me. Still, I can hear his footsteps following mine as we turn the corner and continue walking to my house.

Their high school is split into two semesters with four subjects per semester. Every day of a semester is the same. This means Tris' classes are English, Chemistry, Lunch, Creative Writing, and PE, everyday (in that order) for the first semester. I don't know if this is strange for anyone but that's how I experienced high school.

Also, red hair and blond hair being recessive is not entirely correct due to incomplete dominance and polygenic inheritance. But this is fanfiction and we shouldn't focus so much on the itty-bitty details. :P (And I think high school science often simplifies them to just 'recessive traits' so, I'll just leave it as that.)