Searching for You

by bookworm46

Tris wakes up alone and scarred in a desolate area of Arizona. She doesn't remember much, except seemingly useless facts. Like dates... and letters. The only clue to her identity is a tattoo on her wrist. But it doesn't tell her much. A year later, she decides to take a trip to Chicago, where she was born and raised, but she doesn't know that... Divergent A/U...

11. Chapter 11

Thank all of you guys! You loyal little chocolates have gotten me more than 100 Story Followers. Thank you all! This is great. And with the story at its highest peak, I hope that number doesn't go down. Even if it does, I'll still write to satisfy the ones who stay. I apologize if this chapter is awkward. What else do you expect? (Oh, and the story picks up RIGHT AFTER the last chapter…)

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the rights to the Divergent Trilogy by Veronica Roth.

Searching for You – Chapter 11

Tris POV

I was still smiling at him in the snow when I heard a car honk. We turned our heads in unison to the sound. Headlights shown through the falling snow and the horn honked again. We moved back towards the pavement near the apartment building and Tobias waved in apology. The car drove by again, shouting some kind of profanity at us. When they were gone, we looked at each other again. I broke into laughter and he smiled widely, either from seeing me again or the situation at hand.

"I'm not even sure what's real right now," he said and I tilted my head to the side in confusion. "I feel like this is a dream and you're not real. You're going to disappear in seconds." I shook my head and took his hand. I placed it on my face.

"This is real," I told him. I meant this and I didn't want him to let me go, thinking I would break his heart again. "I'm real and I'm not leaving again. Are you listening to me? Please believe me."

He nodded slowly, trying to believe me, and he brought his other hand to the other side of my face. He kissed me again, slower this time. It was honest and loving and I knew that he knew that I was real and true. I loved him and he loved me. And of course, I had to ruin the moment by shivering. He noticed and smiled into my lips. He stepped away and I opened my eyes to see him smirking.

"Let's go inside. Christina's still expecting me and she'll be happy to see you anyway," he said and wrapped his arm around me. I snuggled into him closer and he kissed my head. As we made our way up the elevator, it was only a tad awkward. He opened his mouth to ask me something, but seemed to think better of it. He eventually ended up asking me why I had waited so long before coming home. I paused before I answered and turned him to him. "Do you honestly think I left voluntarily left on my own?" I asked him. That was offensive. It was like he was accusing me of not loving him at all. "I'm not that selfish." He opened his mouth again to say something, probably to apologize, but I waved him off. "No, no," I said. "I should wait for everyone to hear this." At that moment, the elevator bell rang and we stepped out. I had forgotten which room was hers, so Tobias led me down to the end of the hall and knock on the second to last door. Zeke opened the door and I realized memories of him and Uriah had come back, too. He was looking away and arguing with someone else, but I still ran to him and threw my arms around him. He stood shocked for a second, but gathered his surroundings quickly and barely chocked out, "Tris?" I nodded against his chest and he hugged me back. When I stepped back a few seconds later, he held me at arms length and looked at me again, like he had only minutes ago. "Is it really you?" he asked me. I nodded again, and his face broke out into a smile.

"Uriah?" he said like a question. He looked over his shoulder and just then, Uriah walked through the kitchen doorway holding a can of whipped cream. Of course. I choked out a laugh; I had forgotten his ways with food, how he ate everything, but somehow managed to keep his shape. He was shaking it up and began to spray it into his mouth when he spotted me. In the delayed shock, he didn't stop holding the nozzle down until it began to overflow and get on his nose. He shook himself out of it and sneezed. Consequently, it went everywhere. I heard someone sigh like they knew they would be the one to clean that up later. Either Marlene or Chris.

"Trissy?" Uriah said in a questioning tone similar to his brother's.

I nodded and immediately hugged him. It was a happy moment, aside from the whipped cream getting in my hair. I didn't actually mind in the moment. Soon, everyone in the apartment merged together in this group hug thing in the center of the room. I noticed, however, that both Will and Tobias decided to sit this one out. Both had their reasons.

It was a happy occasion, but I still dreaded the questions that were definitely going to be asked. And, of course, they did.

Uriah pulled away from me and the others did the same. Will and Christina sat next to each other on her sofa, somewhat rigidly after the whole incident where Will was supposedly cheating on her. But they seemed to be mostly over it by now.

Zeke sat on the edge of the sofa, with his elbows on his knees and his face was one suggesting he was thinking hard about something. Marlene sat with Uriah on the floor and Rose remained standing. Tobias stood by the glass wall, looking out onto the snow-ridden city. I stood by him, but looking in the opposite direction at the others. They were looking expectantly at me, except for Will, who seemed a little more concerned with Uriah from their almost – fight.

Zeke asked, "So where the hell do you think you've been and why did you think it would be okay to not tell us where that was?" I sighed a long sigh, but Will saved me from answering right away.

"Whoa, okay," Will defended me. "Let's calm down with the hostility. Her memory vanished." Zeke's head spun to me, along with every other head in the room. Tobias didn't turn his head, but I could tell he was listening closer now. He continued to stare out the window.

"It's… it's true," I said and hesitated for a few seconds. "I-I woke up in somewhere in Arizona. It was a few miles away from Will's gas station that he managed alone. My hair was black and I was all cut up. All of my clothes were stained with blood." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tobias' fists clench at this. I kept talking to get away from that part. "And I… I didn't remember anything. Anyway, I spent a few months there with Will. He was very welcoming, too. We should all be thankful for that." Will waved me off and gestured for me to continue with the story. I did. "For a few months, I just lived there and worked there, but recently, like in September or something, memories started to come back. It was real weird at first. I dreamt of a little girl that was supposed to be me and she kinda gave me this… vibe that told me to leave Phoenix, and Will suggested that we come to Chicago." At this, Marlene, of all people, furrowed her eyebrows.

"Just from that, you suggested you come here? Out of the blue?" she asked skeptically. She seemed to think he knew to come here, like he had something to do with my disappearance.

"Well," he replied. "No. Not just from that." Then he spoke to me. "Remember? You described an emblem to me. The red eagle. For the University of Chicago." I nodded. I remember telling him about that, too.

"Well, I knew about that symbol and if you remembered that, chances are you had seen it a lot and it was familiar. I figured you attended the school and we should just have a look."

Marlene nodded like she was convinced. And I wondered why I had never questioned that before. But I was glad I hadn't.

"Anyway, we came here in November and we got a cheap apartment a few blocks from here. Will got the job at a workshop and I started working at a small café shop on the docks. I met Rose there. And memories have been coming back at me from even the simplest of things and Chris, Four, your names and faces started showing up, but when I woke, they were gone. The weird thing is," I paused. "I met this guy, Peter." Each of their gazes shot to my face when I said the name. Even Tobias'.

"I met him in a deli and he told me his name. He tried to hit on me, but I left. Only afterwards, I realized he had activated a memory. In that memory, he called me Bea, so I figured my name was Beatrice. And it kind of ended weirdly. Apparently, I was in a car crash, but even with my memories back now, I can't remember a car crash. Was I ever-?"

Christina shook her head in response and I could tell she was just as confused as I was by this. Marlene, too. Zeke however made eye contact with Tobias and I saw anger burning in both of their gazes. They thought Peter had something to do with my disappearance, too, I realized. I had similar suspicions, but I just made the connection that that car crash probably led to my kidnapping.

"I'll kill him," Zeke suddenly said. He stood and Uriah made a noise of concurrence. "Count me in," Tobias said. He moved towards the door, but I stepped in front of him. Christina was even more confused than ever now. I hoped we would have time later for me to talk to her about everything that had happened. We needed to catch up. But back to the matter at hand.

"It's late, Four," I said and placed my hands on his chest to stop him from leaving. "You can't kill him. At least not yet. Tomorrow's just as good as any day." He stopped trying to leave and looked at me instead. He ran his fingers through my hair and nodded slowly. I think I heard Christina or Marlene, maybe even Rose, sigh from the scene.

"Yeah," Will said from behind us. He was standing now, Christina standing next to me. "It's late and we should probably get to bed. At our apartment." Tobias' fingers froze in my hair.

"What d'ya mean?" he asked, scowling at Will. "Did you sleep with my girlfriend?"

Oh shit. This was not supposed to happen.

"Well, yes," Will said, confused. Oh, his innocent practical mind. He didn't see it as anything more than sleeping. Tobias would probably kill him.

"It's not like that," I defended him. "We slept. That's it. That is all that happened." Now I was in between the two of them. I had forgotten just how protective of me he was. Or maybe it was because of the never-ending series of unfortunate events. Probably the latter, since I remember him being really free with me.

He backed off thankfully and managed to stop scowling at Will. Only by looking away, of course.

"We should be going, though," Tobias said. "To our apartment, that is." I nodded. I missed the place and was happy to go back. I said my goodbyes and goodnights to everybody and they started to make plan for sleeping. Each of them held me closer and longer than they had before. Christina entered her number into my new phone and Zeke gave me his scarf that he had been wearing since I was not remotely dressed for this cold and snow outside. We left after Christina mentioned to Tobias something about some of my things in a box in her car's trunk. They tried to keep it quiet, but I still heard. I suppose Tobias thought I wasn't coming him, so he gave some of my things away to Christina. I didn't blame him, but it was hard to not be offended about it. I decided to pretend I didn't hear their conversation.

When we got down to the street, Tobias led me to his car. It was a black Mazda 6. I remember it was a gift from my parents to him for his sixteenth birthday when we lived in Florida. We had barely been dating then, and he almost didn't accept it because he thought it was because of our relationship. Some kind of flaunting of our money. It took weeks for him to accept it, but he finally took it because of my impeccable persuasion.

He helped me in, despite my retorts of independence. Then he told me to wait a second and he'd be back soon. A few minutes later, I felt the trunk open and close and then he got into the driver's side. I guessed that was my box of things.

Next thing I knew, Tobias was waking me at our apartment. I whined and shielded my eyes from the light of the car. I felt myself being picked up, and I heard a door open and close. I vaguely heard him mumbling and swearing about the elevator being down. We went up a couple flights of stairs. Actually, it was more than a couple; I remember that we lived on the forty-seventh floor. I didn't bother why he wasn't out of breath by the time we reached the top. I was too light to be a burden. He unlocked the door skillfully while still holding me. My mind immediately went to those times we would come back late from parties practically ripping each other's clothes off. He would have to maneuver the key to the room with his eyes closed and his other hand busy tangled in my hair. I forced my mind away from that. It was like a drug that I couldn't have right now.

I felt him carry me to the bedroom through the other rooms. I hoped it hadn't changed; I was in love with our apartment. I slipped my heels off and they hit the ground. I heard him toss the keys on his nightstand. The room was silent for a few seconds before he began to walk away to the living room. I caught his hand.

"Where are you going, Toby?" I asked and he stuttered in response.

"I'm giving you space," he said. I could hear how choked his voice sounded and I pulled him down on the bed. He looked at me, but I couldn't see his eyes. The light in the back room made him only a silhouette.

"Sleep with me tonight," I said quietly. He laid down immediately. I turned around and he spooned me from behind. I closed my eyes and relished this. I missed it so much that a tear fell from my eye and trailed down to my chin. It wasn't sad or anything. More like happy to be home. A nostalgic tear.

That night I dreamt of Tobias and me. Together. They were happy things. It was like a collage of memories.

For my birthday in Florida, the year we graduated and would leave to Chicago. I dreamt of my birthday party. I generally didn't like parties, especially if I was meant to be the center of attention. So my parents tried to pass it off as an early graduation party for Caleb and me, but I knew better.

I remember Christina and Tobias being there, taking advantage of our pool table in the basement. My cousins, Zeke and Uriah, were there for a few weeks while they had off of school in Chicago. We were all seniors, Zeke being only a few months older than Uriah. But he held that over his head like Caleb always did to me.

We had a massive house, my father being the CEO of a famous Southern match-making company. Funny he didn't find love until his fourth wife and my mother, Natalie. But they were a power couple that everyone in our gated community envied. Marcus and his wife, Evelyn, used to be until their lives and reputations fell apart, starting with her death nine years before.

With the huge house, and the seven-acre yard, my extended family and my father's clients and friends had all come over. They took up the rest of the house and Caleb kept them busy enough for them to leave us alone down in the basement. It was as nice as the rest of the house and my favorite place, too.

While Christina was destroying Tobias a Billiards, I was crushing my cousins at Poker near the back. The Top 40 was blasting from the room's surround speakers and the room was darker than it had to be.

Then, the door opened from the top of the stairs. My mother came downstairs, followed by my father and there were more people coming down by the second. My father was holding a birthday cake with seventeen candles on it. Zeke and I quickly cleared the table of the cards and our cash. Uriah was keeping the adults from looking directly at us. Tobias and Chris were both leaning against the pool table, smirking at Zeke and I struggling. Caleb had followed our parents down the stairs and he seemed to know what we were doing. He seemed disappointed in me. His approval meant very little to me, but it still hurt, all the same.

They ended up singing happy birthday to me and I was handed a small box. I hesitated to open it. I was extremely uncomfortable in front of all these people and if I reacted wrongly to the gift, I would be judged. I slowly slid the lid off of the box and pulled out a key ring with a key to a Porsche 960 on it. The car was probably out front.

"Happy Birthday, sweetheart," my father said. He hugged me and I hugged back. Not because of the car, but because I was happy to be with him and my family. I loved them more than anything they could ever give me. And they never seemed to realize that.

Later that night, after taking a joy ride in my new car in the dark with Tobias, we were sitting on the hood of it, staring at the stars a few miles from home. We were parked in an orchard where farmers grew oranges. It was one of my favorite places because of the sweet, light smell of the fruits that always hung in the air. The air was cool because it was December in Florida. The night sky had a full moon, which added to the picture-perfectness of the night.

I wasn't sure how long we laid there in the dark, but it must have been late, because the music from the radio of the car was starting to get older. A song from the 90's started playing and I began to hum along. Tobias smiled at me in the moonlight.

"I'll be right back," he said and slid off to the ground. I watched as he walked around to the passenger seat, where he grabbed a small white bag with a weird symbol on it. I furrowed my eyebrows. He came back and handed it to me with a smile.

"What's this?" I asked, although I knew it was a gift.

"Open it," he urged me, still smiling giddily.

I did so gently, not wanting to tear anything. I took out a small glass bottle filled with a clear liquid. It said, The Scent of the Citrus. I gasped quietly and smiled at it. I sprayed a bit of it on my wrists. The fragrance was strong and powerful, but at the same time, light and sweet. Like the orchard. Then I noticed a small thin chain necklace wrapped around the bottle. I took that off and examined it. It was a spherical locket that opened down the middle. On the inside and in cursive lettering it said, Beatitudinem.

I remembered taking a Latin class and finding what my name meant was one of the first things we were assigned to do. Beatrice was Latin for she who brings happiness. And happiness was Beatitudinem. I had told that to practically everyone I knew because it was completely true. I was a positive person, and I knew it.

I looked over to Tobias and he smiled back at me lovingly. I asked him to put it on my neck and I remember that was the night he told me he loved me. I said it back immediately. Our relationship only became stronger since then.

Page Break

When I woke up in the morning, it was late. Later than it should have been when I woke up. I turned on my side and stretched my hand out to Tobias. It was met with the cold sheets. I opened my eyes and looked around the room. It was clean, for the most part, except for our shoes and Will's coat jacket on the floor from the previous night. I noticed two identical dressers on the left and right sides of the bed. I supposed one of them was mine. I got up from the bed and walked over to the one of the right. I opened the four drawers one by one, finding my shirts, shorts, jeans, and underwear. Next two my dresser was a door leading to a walk-in closet. It was full of my clothes, so I figured Tobias didn't need a closet. There were shelves of shoes and bags. Dresses and jackets lined the walls on hangers, and on the wall, there was a shelf specifically put there for my perfumes and jewelry. I thought of the necklace. I don't remember ever putting it on the shelf and I wondered what had happened to it. But I didn't want to worry about anything yet.

I stripped and hung the wrinkled red dress on a hanger. I slipped on a pair of black skinny jeans and an overly large drawstring hoodie since I didn't want to flaunt my body today. It was a soft black one with a weird rainbow emblem on it that I didn't recognize. Since my memories were back, I figured that I had never known what it was. I slipped my phone into my back pocket and pulled my hair up in a messy bun since I hadn't showered this morning. I found the Scent of the Citrus perfume on one of the shelves. I smiled as I put that on.

Then I walked out of the closet to the main bedroom, where Tobias still was not. I then saw the door next to his dresser. I knew that was the bathroom. When I walked in, I saw that the room was completely barren of my things. There was his toothbrush on the counter and his soaps in the shower, but my things were missing. My soaps and powders. My make up was gone and I furrowed my eyebrows. I knew for a fact that he never minded my mess of things and I wondered why he had gotten rid of them.

I didn't really mind. I could go without make up for a day until I could get my things from the other apartment, but I still needed to brush my teeth. I looked under the sink and found a new one, thankfully. I brushed my teeth for a few minutes, breaking in the new toothbrush, and I splashed my face with water when I was done. It helped bring the dryness from my face.

I walked back through the bedroom and opened the door that led to the open living room. This room also had ceiling to floor windows that covered the span of the far wall. The royal blue curtains were pulled to the side, so the room was entirely lit up. There was a massive fake Christmas tree in the corner of the room. It was covered with golden tinsel and red and black ornaments. The star at the top was also black. It was so like Tobias to do that, to make everything red and black. But who was I to say that? I was the same.

This was, by far, my favorite room in the huge apartment. It had two black couches facing each other in the center of the room, with a very modern looking glass coffee table in between them. It was empty. The floor was black linoleum, but a large maroon rug covered most of it anyway. Behind the couch opposite the windows, there was a massive two-door doorway that lacked the two doors it was designed for. But that led to the kitchen. The kitchen was similar in style.

It was also black with a touch of red and white. The cupboards were black and the walls were painted a lighter red than the rug in the other room. Our dishes and silverware were polished and shiny in the drawers and cupboards. I was about to make myself some cereal when I heard the front door unlock and open.

Tobias walked past the kitchen to the bedroom, holding a bag from Tiffany's and Co. He didn't see me. After a few seconds, I head him yell my name.

"In the kitchen!" I yelled back. He showed up by the doorway and walked in.

"Good morning," I greeted him.

"Morning," he said in response. "And Merry Christmas." It hit me that it was in fact Christmas morning. I would need to text or call Will soon.

"You hungry?" Tobias asked me. I nodded. "Well, it's already noon, but I can make you brunch or something, if you want. I make a killer omelette. And I could cut up some fruit and put it on some yogurt." I didn't say anything. "Unless you want to go out. We could do that, too."

I shook my head. "No, no," I said. "I'll take the omelette."

He nodded and got out a couple eggs. While he started to make two omelettes for the two of us, I took out strawberries and cherries from the refrigerator. I washed them and cut up the strawberries. Then I poured some yogurt into a small dish and set those on the dining table. It had two tall black bar stools opposite each other. With the even taller rectangular black table between them. After a few more minutes he brought the omelettes over, along with pepper and salt. We had both sat down and nearly cut into the food when there was a knock on the front door. Tobias sighed and stood up, but Zeke had already opened the door and was walking into the apartment, followed by Christina and Will. I sighed also.

I missed talking with Tobias and I didn't want things to be awkward between us anymore. Of course, I didn't want that with Chris or Zeke or anyone else, either. So I stood, too.

"Y'know Zeke, knocking and then entering kind of defeats the purpose of knocking," Tobias said. I suppressed a smirk, but Zeke didn't seem to care about my boyfriend's sarcasm.

"You could have answered it before I entered," he countered. Tobias twisted his face in incredulity.

"Why are you here?" I asked. I didn't mean it to sound rude, but it kind of came out that way on accident. I thought it did anyway.

"Well, we're here to take you out for Christmas brunch with everyone," Christina said, but she was eyeing the food on the table. "But I see that you guys are already eating." She shrugged.

"So, we'll just have to come here, right?" Zeke said loudly. He clapped his hands and began to tell Chris to text the others. Tobias was trying to protest, but he barely got a word in over Zeke still rambling on. I set a hand on Tobias' bicep. For a minute, I was distracted by his muscles, but then I said, "Just let them come here. They'll only be here for a couple hours."

He sighed again, but he let them come up. "But they're making their own food," he insisted. I smiled.

Another Page Break

It had been a few hours and they still had not left. Everyone had been done eating for hours and Tobias and Zeke were only just now washing the dishes in the sink.

I wasn't pissed or even disappointed that the others were here. Not like Tobias was. Well, he wasn't, either, but he just seemed to want us to be alone. But I think we were both happy to be surrounded by our friends finally. Rose never showed up and Christina said she had some things with her girlfriend. She would probably be at work next week.

And Will was getting along with everyone just fine. Well, the girls were anyway. Will had basically squared up to all three of the guys last night to defend me, although they were all trying to defend me. Uriah was more accepting of him, but Zeke and Tobias were still skeptical. I was trying to get them to like him, but it was a tad difficult when they were probably talking about him in the other room.

It was late, probably around five and Will, Chris, and Marlene were all on the couch. Uriah was standing behind them, leaning over the couch in a position that couldn't possibly have been comfortable. But he had been like that for an hour, so it obviously didn't bother him.

I was also standing, but by the massive window. I was looking out at the sky. Since it was later, the sky was a pretty purple color. I missed this too, gazing at the evening sky. There was a lot of things I missed.

Right now, they were watching some kind of soap opera, which they had muted. Will and Uriah watched as Mar and Christina made up the dialogue of the man and woman on the screen.

"But, Maria," Marlene said, playing the man. "I love you. Kiss me. One last kiss."

Will and Uriah laughed, but then there was a shot and the camera showed the woman, Maria, holding a smoking pistol over Sanchez's dying body. Her white, skin-tight dress was stained with red blood splatters. Will and Uriah stopped laughing.

"Yeah, Sanchez definitely did not say that," Uriah said. He and the girls laughed again. Will didn't; he looked at me, concerned.

He knew this was a trigger. The blood. He was probably thinking of the night he found me, covered in blood. I knew I was. I thought of something else quickly. I wanted the triggers to be over with. I wanted to laugh with my friends again. And I didn't want Will to worry about me anymore.

I thought of something else. I thought about Christmas and gifts and the ones at Will and my apartment.

"Hey, Will," I said. "You wanna come with me to the apartment to clear out our things. Well, at least the Christmas presents. I think Christmas will be happening here." He nodded and got up from the couch. He went to tell Tobias and Zeke and I went to grab a coat and scarf. I slipped on Christina's boots, although they were a couple sizes too big. I didn't mind.

When I was going to fetch Will again, I overheard Zeke and Tobias talking to him.

"-don't trust you. And if you hurt her, I'll-" I couldn't tell whose voice it was, but it didn't really matter. They were trying to scare him.

I walked in before they could finish their threat and grabbed Will. I put him behind me like that would protect him.

"Okay, Will" I said. "You go get the car warmed up. I'll be right down."

"But-"

"I'll be right down," I repeated myself and he nodded submissively. I felt bad afterwards and hoped he wouldn't take it to heart. I assumed he wouldn't since he was a tough guy. Just not physically. He left and I waited until I heard the front door open and close.

"Nope," I said plainly. "Nope. This is not going to fucking happen. I won't allow it." I took the role of superiority. It was difficult of course, with my inferior height and size, but I managed it best I could. "Will is my friend, and he practically saved my life back in Arizona. I would have died, if not for him. You don't have to like him, but you two will step down from your high horses and fucking respect him." I poked both of their chests. I turned to Tobias. "Four," I saw his face harden at his other name coming from my mouth. "I love you, okay. And there is not a damn thing to be jealous of. He's like a brother to me." Then I turned to Zeke. "And you, Ezekiel," His face hardened at my use of his full name. "There will be no killing or threats of killing towards him."

I addressed the both of them now.

"And if you can't respect him as my friend, at least respect him as Christina's boyfriend." I turned and left the room. I didn't know if she and Will had told anyone but Marlene of their relationship, but I'm sure it wasn't a secret. And I knew both Tobias and Zeke knew of Christina's ways with men, how she screwed them and dumped them. They knew that was because of the guy who had broken her heart as a teenager, so she made sure to never get hurt again, but they appreciated Christina as a woman and they would try to approve of Will for her sake.

When I got downstairs, after taking the elevator (it had been fixed a couple hours ago), my black Porsche was pulled up in front of the building. Will was in the driver's seat, and it took all of my willpower to not demand I drive. I knew he hadn't driven anything this nice in a while, besides the short drive in the Mustang last night.

The drive back to our apartment was short, especially with so few cars out due to the holidays. When we got there, I realized how low I had gone. I used to live in gated communities among the rich in Florida. I had moved to a beautiful, expensive, upper-class apartment in Chicago with my boyfriend. And Will. Will had had nothing. He was living alone in a desert with very little money, only enough to keep his tiny gas station in business.

But I never seemed like a prissy person. I never had a sense of superiority to anyone other than those who were morally lower than myself. I knew I was quite a humble person, yet I still felt like an awful human being to see that people like Will lived like that, while my people and I lived in the excess. I think something in my expression hinted at this, since Will said my name a few times in concern.

"Heav-Tris," he said and leaned over. "Come on. Let's make this quick." I nodded and made my face blank.

We got up to the apartment quickly and the place was dark. Will flipped on the lights and they seemed to glow dimmer than they had before. It was stupid, but as I looked around, I began to think I would miss this place. I shook my head. Nope. Not gonna happen.

"I'll get the presents," I said. "You should grab the food from the fridge that's still edible." I knew there wasn't much in there, but I wasn't about to let it spoil.

I moved to the bedroom. I grabbed the black off the bed and wondered how it ever kept us warm enough. It's so thin, I thought. I brought it next to the tree, which was dark. I stacked the gifts onto the blanket and wrapped it up and tied it. I had just made a makeshift sack of gifts. I laughed quietly at myself. When I brought it back out to the kitchen, I saw Will eating a leftover cupcake from the fridge.

"I said save it," I complained. "Not eat it." He stopped chewing immediately, and the crumbs surrounded his mouth. He pulled out another one from the fridge.

"Last one," he said and held it out to me. I hesitated only a second before taking it. I stuffed it in my face.
"We don't speak of this, got it?" I said. He smiled knowingly and nodded.

"Well," he said. "There wasn't anything else in the fridge worth saving, so I threw most of it out. But I can still grab some things from the bathroom."

I nodded in agreement. I still needed my make up.

About ten minutes later, we were headed back to the apartment. I was driving this time. Everything was in the trunk and backseats. Will and I had decided to pick up some pizzas from some Italian pizzeria. They were about to close, but Will convinced them to make a couple more for a generous tip. A tip that I had gladly paid.

When we finally got back to the apartment, it was around six and even darker outside. Will brought the bag of gifts up, while I carried the box of bathroom things. He told me the joke about the bag of gifts and him being Santa. I insisted I already thought of it, but he was still trying to convince me that he had come up with the 'sack of toys for the good girls and boys' joke.

We were still arguing about it when I unlocked the door to the apartment. When we walked in, I immediately dropped the heavy box and he did the same with blanket full of Christmas gifts. The lights were off and the room was dark, except for the lit up Christmas tree in the corner.

Suddenly the lights came on and everyone popped out from the doorways and from behind the couches. They were wearing party hats and red and green streamers decorated the room. There was confetti on the ground and a couple balloons floated around my feet.

"Merry Christmas and Happy late Birthday, Tris!" they all yelled in unison.

OH MY GAWD. This was such a long chapter. 6.5 thousand words. Wow. I'm proud and everything, but it's late and I still have homework to do. I'm sacrificing my grades for you chocolates. And I have to straighten my hair. Ugh. Not looking forward to that.

Okay, so let's talk about this chapter. It. Just. Kept. On. Going. I kept wanting to stop, but I never found a place. I'm not even satisfied with this stopping place. Oh well. You guys deserve this chapter for waiting for another week. Good job you guys, and good job to me!

Okay, I have nothing more to say.

Read and Review, my precious chocolates. (Did that sound creepy? A little? Okay.)

- Viv