A/N: There are a lot of feelings in this chapter, at least for me there were, I kind of hope there are for you all too because otherwise I have failed.

Veeta obsessed over the weekend about the lunch she and Belle had shared. She thought a lot about Ariel too. Veeta had always known that Ariel liked her a little more than she liked Ariel, but she'd never expected it to escalate like that. But mostly she thought of the way she had caught herself looking at Belle. It had taken her until Saturday night to admit to herself that she was attracted to Belle. By Sunday morning she had decided to never ever tell her. She knew she was a hypocrite, she was always telling Lynn to go after Marlene, but she had decided not to take her own advice. In fact, she decided it was stupid advice and would tell Lynn when she next saw her.

So, as she sat in Faction History pretending not to look at the door and wait for Belle to arrive, she ran through a list of how not to act around Belle. No flirting, no touching, and no dirty jokes. No looking at her mouth, or her eyes…or her body…or her hair. You know what, best to just stare at her nose the whole time. Nothing is sexy about a nose, right? Although, her nose is really cute.

The bell rang and no sign of Belle. That was weird; Belle was always in class and always on time. She had perfect attendance in all but one year of school; and that was because she broke her arm on the playground before class. She was back in class, cast and all, by third period on the same day. Veeta was wondering where all this sudden Belle trivia was coming from.

The teacher was taking attendance and Veeta listened closely, hoping one of the Amity would explain Belle's absence when her name was called. But the teacher skipped Belle's name. Veeta began to wonder if she was even in the right room. She looked around; yeah, same teachers, same classmates, it was definitely the same room.

There was something a little off about the Amity though. None of them were talking and giggling; and most of them were frowning. It was like Veeta had walked into an alternate universe. Oh my god was Belle dead?

Veeta spent the rest of the (surprisingly silent) class thinking that Belle was probably dead and seriously freaking out. She wanted to ask the Amity where Belle was, but she wasn't sure if they were still shunning her. At the end of class, Veeta saw an Amity girl named Lily head up to the teacher's desk.

"I'll be picking up Belle's homework this week." She said softly.

The teacher nodded solemnly and handed a stack of papers over. Veeta hurried to gather her things and catch up to Lily, but the blonde Amity disappeared into the crowd. At least now Veeta knew Belle wasn't dead.

The rest of the morning continued like that, silent Amity and solemn teachers. By lunchtime, people were taking notice, especially when all the Amity in the top class sat together in silence. Gossip erupted.

"I heard she was having sex with some big Dauntless guy and he broke her hips." Veeta heard an Erudite girl mutter. "That's why they are all so depressed, it could happen to them."

"Don't be ridiculous." A Candor argued. " I have it on good merit that she fell out of a tree during harvest."

"Liar," another Candor said, "it's not harvest season!"

"Whatever it was, we should offer them our help during this difficult time." An Abnegation boy named Steven said softly.

"Dude! I bet she broke her hips having sex in a tree!" A Dauntless shouted.

"Where are you all getting broken hips from?" Another Erudite asked. "We have no proof of broken hips or even that she's injured. In my opinion, she broke a rule. It seems logical. She got in trouble, got grounded, and now they all feel bad for her."

"Who would feel bad for that pathetic nerd?" A Candor guy named Rod asked. "I mean, she's cute, but she is such a dork."

That was it for Veeta, she threw her lunch on the ground, and grabbed the kid by his collar.

"You want to say that again?" She sneered him.

"Um, no, not particularly." He squeaked out.

"That's right you don't." She snarled. "Now all of you listen to me, Belle is mine! None of you say a word about her, don't even think about her, or you will deal with me. Got it?" Everyone but the Dauntless whimpered and nodded. The Dauntless just shrugged and muttered quiet affirmatives. When Veeta started to walk away, she caught sight of the Abnegation boy who had tried to push in a little and she smiled at him.

"Hey, you were right by the way. About offering help? You need to speak up more, Stiff."

Veeta went outside and sat under Belle's unoccupied tree. A shadow cast over her, and she looked up to see Lily standing above her.

"Hi," Lily said, shifting meekly.

"Um, hey Lily."

Lily bit her lip and fidgeted, looking over her shoulder at the school. Veeta raised an eyebrow expectantly at her.

"I, um, I just thought, you deserve to know what's happening, with Belle." Lily spoke softly, as if someone may hit her if she said the wrong thing. She played with her hands as she spoke, twisting here left ring finger, as if an invisible jewel was placed upon it.

"What's going on?" Veeta jumped up. "Is she alright? Is Bloom okay? What happened?"

"They're fine, physically. Is Bloom's her sister? She's okay."

"So then where's Belle?"

"Belle won't be at school this week, she's being disciplined."

"Disciplined for what?" Images of Belle in a dark dungeon with rats and a man in a leather hood with a whip flew through Veeta's mind. She had no idea what jail was like, she had never seen the inside of it before. But, the Amity probably didn't whip people.

"I don't know how much I should tell you. But I was at the trial, so I think I can give you a clear picture."

"Trial! Did she kill someone?"

"No, no, that would be crazy. No, let's start at the beginning."

"Fine," Veeta sat on the grass and gestured for Lily to join her, "begin."

Lily sat comfortably and began her story.

"According to Belle's testimony, she had a boy over Saturday night, a Dauntless boy. Her mother saw him leaving and she freaked out. Belle said she hit her, and called her a warhorse slut, and she took the beating like a good Amity. Then Bloom came in. By that point, Belle's mother was completely delusional, she's had some health issues like that for a while now, and when she saw Bloom she turned on her. She ran at Bloom screaming that she was poisoned and tainted and would have to be cleansed. Bloom was too scared to run and Belle didn't want her to get hurt. So she grabbed her mother and through her to the ground to keep her away from her sister. She picked Bloom up and ran to the house of one of our leaders, Tina, to report what had happened."

"So why is Belle being punished? Her mom is the one that freaked out." Veeta asked. She was seething at the thought of the awful woman hitting Belle. She knew she was mean, but to think that she would even hurt little Bloom…it was unspeakable.

"She pushed her mother, it's an act of violence. Even in self-defense or defense of others, violence is not tolerated. She was given leniency, but she still had to be punished."

"So that's her punishment, a week's suspension? What about her mother?"

"The sentence is actually a week of hard labor in the fields, that's why she's not in school, and two weeks of shunning. Mrs. Dubois has been given six years in prison and twelve years of shunning. Their shunning and other disciplines occur at the same time, so Belle will have a week left of shunning when she gets back to school and her mother will have six years when she gets out of jail."

"Shunning? You mean like what the Amity were doing to me? Just not talking to her?"

"Well, sort of, except if anyone speaks to her during her sentence they get shunned as well. We aren't even really allowed to look at her or talk about her when she is around. We have to just act like she never existed. The only exception is family members can talk to her, so she'll have Bloom. And, obviously, non-Amities are exempt as well."

"Damn, and I thought Dauntless punishments sucked." Veeta muttered.

"What are the Dauntless punishments?" Lily asked, perking up a little.

"Mostly physical labor. Sometimes, if they do something really awful, people will get jail time, but it's pretty rare."

"Amity is pretty similar, working in the fields."

"Yeah, but at least when we're doing our time we get to talk to each other."

"I suppose." Lily looked sad. The bell rang and Lily stood up. "So, now you know."

"Yeah, now I know. Am I allowed to go see her when she's on field duty?"

"After work hours you can see her. She'd get off around five o' clock."

"Thanks." Veeta smiled a little.

"But," Lily bit her lip, "just remember that when she comes back next week and none of us can talk to her, we don't mean it. We just have to."

"I know you don't mean it, that doesn't mean it's not fucked up."