Chapter 7 - Ringleader
Tris' Point of View

"Tris, come on!" Christina whines. I take a bite from my apple and flick through my chemistry textbook, trying to force all the information into my brain in a limited amount of time.

"No, Chris. I need to study."

She climbs onto my bed, with a pout on her face. "But you have every other day to study!"

"Look," I sit up, "imagine this: I walk into the class all badass and everything, you know… The pull of the chair, the flick of the hair, then I sit down. Jeanine 'BigMouth' will be behind her desk and just like every time I'm in the class, she will probably pick on me to answer an impossible question." I look up in thin air, visioning it, along with Christina. "But this time, I'll answer it correctly and she will be stunned by my brilliant mind, so stunned that her brains will fry. Hence, the day I end her reign of terror." I lie down on my stomach again, reading the text over.

"I guess that would be pretty badass." Christina sighs, spreading herself out on the bed. Suddenly, my phone starts ringing and I hold up my hands to silence her. I grab the phone by my side on the bed and answer it.

"Hello?"

"Honey, how are you doing?"

"Mom!" I slide off my bed and stand up, with a crazy grin in my face. "It's going great!"

"What time is it there?"

"Um…" I glance at the clock on the wall. "It's about seven thirty, I just had dinner."

"Did you make any friends?" I feel like a kid again, when my mother asked me if I made any friends after my first day of preschool.

"Yeah, my roommate's awesome." I glance at Christina who's still on bed and she winks at me. "So.. How's Spain?" I ask. To be honest, I really wish I could be the one in Spain.

"Oh... Well it has a lot to offer," she says with a forced chuckle. "But there have been endless meetings and your father's pretty stressed."

"I see... Well my music program is really good. I'm auditioning for the music contest with Tobias."

"That's great, darl..." She trails off. "Look, I have to get back in. I'll call you tomorrow and get your father on the phone. I haven't got the time to check up on your brother, can you do that?" My parents don't have to worry about Caleb as much as they do for me. I'm the youngest. The trouble maker. Basically, I'm not the big 'momma's boy.'

"Yeah, I will! Bye, l'll talk to you soon!"

"I love you so much sweetie. Stay safe."

I smile. "Love you." I hang up and turn around to a confused looking Christina.

"Who's Tobias?"

I freeze, my eyes wide. "Uh... Who-who's Tobias?" I stutter.

"That's what I asked."

"And that's what I asked."

"Tris..." She chastises, sitting up.

"Chris..." I copy her tone.

"Who's Tobias? You said you were going to audition with Tobias." She stands up and crosses her arms, her voice firm.

"Oh!" I throw my hands up to my head. "I thought you said Toby!" I lie.

"Uh... No ya didn't," she says, shaking her head. "You repeated my question, saying 'Tobias' before."

"But... Who's Toby?" I ask, trying to confuse her.

"A made up person."

"Then who's Tobias?"

"I don't know!" She yells, with her hands on her hips.

I pause for a second. "Exactly..."

Her face scrunches up in annoyance and confusion. "Um... Bye-bye. Gotta go," I quickly say. I rush out of the room, closing the door before I go, never once looking back.


I knock on the door softly and start to shuffle my feet around, waiting. The door opens and there's Caleb with his reading glasses and his go-to lazy look: a grey t-shirt and track pants.

"Tris!" He grins. I step into his room to find it completely spotless.

"Hey, don't you have anything of your own things from home? I could have sworn I helped carry four heavy bags with your stuff here."

"I could have sworn you didn't help carry anything at all!" He teases. I shoot him a look and he laughs. "But yeah... I didn't have the time to sort out all my stuff yet."

I feign thinking, tapping my chin and looking up in the air. "Which is code for: I was too busy studying."

He smiles then looks down on the ground. "Guilty." I move to the door towards him, placing my hands on his shoulder.

"Sometimes you have to cut loose too you know."

He nods. "I-I know." Most of the time, it's like this: Caleb studies too hard and burns himself out right before the exams. He's still a human being and the stress gets to him.

I take in a breath. "Promise, you'll make new friends and not hide in this room all day." He rolls his eyes and nods.

"Good. You can't hide from the world forever you know. There's a whole universe out there waiting for you!" I say excitedly, bouncing up and down. He shakes his head with a slight smile on his face. "If you keep missing out on things, you'll miss out on something great."

"You know, I'm kinda sick of the universe talks," Caleb jokes.

"There are plenty more to come in the future, Caleb." Then my voice becomes more stern. "Now, you promise?"

He grins. "Yeah."

I let go. "Now, that's better."

"So what's up with you?" He asks, with a laugh.

I shrug. "Met a few friends. Tobias and I are back together again."

"So the duo's back huh?"

"Yeah... Oh! And mom called. She said they're very busy and told me to check up on you."

"I see... I bet Spain is keeping them super busy."

"Yeah, apparently dad's getting really stressed."

"Well, it's a lot of pressure for the company this year."

I check the time on his clock and look back to Caleb. "Well, I gotta go! I'll check on you later!" I move to the door but before I go, I turn back. "And remember! Have fun!"

He sighs and rolls his eyes. 'Yeah-yeah." I chuckle and close the door. I start walking back to my room to get some change of clothes then head to the showers.


"I'm bullet proof, nothing to lose. Fire away fire away," I sing, as I let the hot water hit my skin. I am in a stall alone in the bathroom, that is until I hear a group of girls walk in. I stop singing and try to hurry up. I hate it when people can... Hear me shower. It's weird.

"Oh my gosh, have you even talked to Four today?" I hear a voice say, her voice pitchy. I turn off the water and stay silent. They're talking about Tobias.

"No, not really," A girl (probably Emma) answers. "I'm supposed to be mad at him, remember? You told me to distant myself so he will become desperate."

"Well, we all know Four isn't one to beg," another girl says.

"He's just not committed to the relationship. You told me to confront about it, but now, I think he's going to break up with me." I can hear the pain in Emma's voice and I feel guilty.

"Well, don't blame me. You did everything wrong!" Another spits, her voice harsh. "You're nothing but a loser. I told you to stop being so needy." I cringe at her words even though I'm not the one that's being directed to.

"But you told me to keep close to him. Kayley, you're the one who told me to say all those things," Emma replies, her voice small and weak. I take a peek out from the door crack and see four girls. 'Kayley' flips her blonde curls and turns to the mirror, checking her lip gloss.

"Whatever, it's not my fault you did everything wrong. Now look, he brought that skank to parade around after you had your little spat with him." My blood runs cold and I clench my knuckles. I can see myself walking out of this stall, kicking the door open and smacking her right in her stupid face. But it won't be a smart thing to do. And because I'm naked.

"Details," she commands.

The pitchy one rushes her phone out and starts supplying her with information about me. "Her name is Tris Prior, she's sixteen and has a brother named Caleb. Apparently, she's been best friends with Four for a long time and moved here for him."

Kayley sighs. "See? They have a history, who knows what more they can be. Friends with benefits? They could be screwing each other." I grind my teeth and Emma looks down, with tears brimming in her brown doe eyes.

"What do I do?"

"Duh! You confront that hoe and tell her to keep her minxy hands away from your man."

"But I think he's going to break up with me..."

"You are so dumb!" She seethes, whipping her head back to face Emma. "You know what? Figure it out yourself! I already got you into this group, don't make me regret it. I broke my back, just to get you someone like Four. He would have never said yes to you without me! I made you who you are. You don't exist without me. Your nothing but a sore loser," she hisses. Emma starts bursting into tears and the other two girls tries to console her.

"Kayley! Her parents just had a divorce!" The other girl rebukes.

She scoffs. "Who sharpened your tongue, huh?" They stay quiet, afraid of their ring leader. "That's what I thought.." She mutters darkly. "You all have secrets and I know all of them. Now, you can be on my good side and I'll help you out. Or I can leave you to the dirt so that you can be a nobody, spending all of your time at home with your parents on break, watching teen mom and eating out from an ice-cream carton gaining 100 kilos, wallowing in your miserable lives." Woah, this bitch is intense.

"I'm sorry," Emma murmurs.

Her face softens and she tucks Emma's hair behind her ears, in a motherly like way. "I'm just looking out for you guys..." She coos. Her hands drop and she turns to the blonde. "Oh! And Bethany... Josh is finally single. I can set you guys up!"

'Bethany' (the pitchy one) squeals. "Wow! How did that happen?"

"It was done by yours truly," Kayley admits proudly.

"Wait... You sabotaged a three year relationship?" The other girl asks, her voice condescending.

"What? Bethany liked him so I gave it a little push... If you have a problem, Caitlin, then I suggest you take a good look at yourself. You wouldn't have Duke if it weren't for me..."

She doesn't say anything else.

"Wow! Thanks, Kay!" Bethany exclaims, jumping up and down. They hug but I can see Kayley rolling her eyes as they do so. What a two-faced bitch.

"Come on, let's get out of here!" They strut out, their heels clacking on the tiles. "Did you hear how Amanda Tonkins got a nose job?" Their giggles grow faint and I roll my eyes, quickly putting my clothes on.

It can't be a coincidence that I was right here for this conversation. If my mother hadn't called, if I hadn't gone to check up on Caleb, I could have gotten here early and miss all this. I could be in my room hanging out with Christina right now, but instead, the universe wanted me to hear this. Right to the hour, to the minute and right to the very second, everything happens for a reason.

I have a very important piece of information that the universe had just provided for me, but what does the universe want me to do with it?


CREDITS:

This chapter belongs to BlankSpaceBabe. Check her out, she has a new story up if you haven't looked all ready! Divergent belongs to Veronica Roth.

SONG CREDITS

Titanium- David Guetta ft. Sia