Chapter 11: Rumors and Bullies**Important Author's note at the end. PLEASE READ! ** (Twelve Weeks Along)
Previously...
"No, I left when I should have stayed. You were too young to have your only sibling leave. And I'm so sorry, I should have seen it," he hugs me. We stay up until our parents get home. Caleb and I make dinner together like old times and we sit as a whole family again. And just for now, I forget all about my stresses. "Well, Ms. Wright, you are good to go and in a few weeks, I can tell you the sex of the baby," Cara happily says. But there is nothing happy about this pregnancy. Morning sickness is disgusting, I have to wear extra slacks to hide the bump, and I have to pee every twenty minutes. And I think people are starting to wonder what I have to hide. At three months, I can already tell the baby is going to have Tobias's long structure. My breasts are starting to get bigger and sorer, and there's nothing I can do about it.
" ?" Cara snaps me out of my haze. "Did you hear me?" her brows knit together.
"Say again," I answer polity. Christina has being telling me that politeness is deception wrapped in pretty packaging. Or so her mother says. When we are at school, and people look at us like we are crazy, Christina, being open and everything tells them to fuck off or go mine their own business. She has been an amazing friend and sister I never had. Uri is the same way. I like to say he is my brother from another mother.
"I said, do you even what to know what the baby is?" her voice moves like honey, soft and careful, but talking about my baby's future is a sticky subject.
"Um, yes, I think so," I reply surely.
"Tris, are you thinking about giving up the baby?" she asks softly but firmly.
"I don't know, Cara, I don't know anything anymore."
"If I were you, I wouldn't. Even though this baby was unintentional, it's still here. That baby was meant to be a part of your life, if you like it or not." Her eyes stay trained to mine—which are filling with tears. I know I wasn't supposed to get pregnant yet, hell I wasn't even supposed to be talking with any males outside my family.
"I'm scared, Cara, what if I'm not good enough for the baby? What if he or she hates me for creating it? I don't have a lot of support these days, and what if the father doesn't want him or her?" I hadn't realize I was crying again until Cara pulled me into a hug and shushing me.
"Those are some pretty big ifs, Tris. No matter what you do I'll support you—I think we have become more than just a doctor-patient relationship, I consider you a close friend," her eyes are now lined with tears of her own. I have never seen Cara cry before, and she has always been beautiful, but now, letting the tears fall silently, she looks even more gorgeous. I envy her. I have never been pretty or ugly. It's just...me. Plain, dull blonde hair, empty grey eyes, line-thin pale lips. Cara is just the opposite of me; bright golden locks, piercing green eyes, plush, soft pink lips. Guys are all over her in the nursery, even though their wives just had a baby. Boys never look at me. To them, I'm just a little girl. But sometimes I wonder why did Tobias even look at me?
"I have to go—family thing, I'll see you next week?" she pushes the tears away with her thumb. I weakly nod. After our good-byes, I walk down the hallway that has a big nursery, full of newborns in dark and light blue fleece blankets. The glass between the babies and the outside world is thick. Like the doctors don't trust us to be responsible enough with them. And maybe we aren't. I mean I got knocked up at fourteen. Maybe for Dauntless that is okay, but Abnegation...that is a different story. The youngest mother I have heard there was eighteen, and that is because she was assaulted by a Factionless man. Plus that was over thirty years ago. They are going to be so disgusted with me. My baby will be put through so much before its first birthday. I look down at my own stomach. Less than six months my baby will be behind that glass window and I'll probably be the only one behind it. The black leather vest covering my torso is getting snug and I can barely zip up the jeans. Sighing, I put my hand on my abdomen.
"I will love you...forever and always," I say to the little human-being inside me. All a sudden there's a clapping sound and I turn abruptly. Peter stands a few meters away from me, still clapping—only I can't hear over the ringing in my ears—with a malicious smirk plastered across his face. He wearing a black button up with white dress pants. His hair tousled in every direction it looks as if he slept in a chair.
"I have to say," Peter whispers as he closes in on me, sucking the oxygen from my lungs, "I didn't see that coming," and he laughs. I knew he was a sadistic bastard from the first day I met him. Always trying to one-up someone else, even if it was a lie, always criticizing other people, picking fights and blaming it on the other person. And of course they believed him because he is Candor. No he is a straight up lying son of a bitch. My throat is tight, but when I get my voice back the only thing I can manage is:
"What do you want?"
He makes a warning sound and shakes his head, "I wouldn't give me any sass if I were you, consider now I know your big secret...mama," he mocks me.
"It's a good thing you are not me then," I say, my bravery coming back to me.
"Wow, who knew an Abnegation could be such a bitch," he sneers.
"Like I said, Peter, what do you want?" My patience is running low and all I want to do is run away. He won't forget this and he will probably tell my entire school that I'm a slut that got pregnant.
"Mmmm, maybe for you to stop messing with me."
"Messing with you? I have never ever once tried to taunt you or anything, if at all you are the one messing with me," I spit the word at him. If he thinks I'm messing with him, then what the hell is he doing to me? I have to live with him and his little stick up, lying Candor scum bags for years. I have done nothing, but tried to show them I'm no threat yet they treat my wrong that a dog.
"Well, you just being alive is sickening to me, and now you are going to bring another you into this world, God help me now!" he laughs.
"If it's such a problem, then don't talk to me," I say, trying to keep my voice from quivering.
"But now, I actually have a reason to call you a whore, how many guys have you had to pay to sleep with you? And now you are google to raise that bastard child—" I did not realize I smacked him with the back of my hand until his face was bright red and my hand is stinging. My rage was over boiling.
"Don't you dare call my child a fucking bastard!" I shout at him, now calling attention.
"B-A-S-T-A-R-D—" when he finishes the last letter, I pounce of him. I notice that ever since Tobias has been gone, I've gotten weaker and slower, but I still manage to get a few good punches to his face before I'm ripped away.
"Stop! Stop!" someone yells. I'm kicking and screaming. Yelling at Peter to get the hell away from me and my baby. I feel a deep ache spread throughout my neck before my body goes limp and I fall into a comforting darkness.
"is—ris—Tris, wake up," a soft voice coaxes me back. "I know you're awake, just open your eyes," the voice speaks again. My eyelids feel glued shut and my throat feel like it's been scrubbed raw. All that comes out of me is a strangle whimper.
"Get...water...now," are the only words I can make out before a cool hard rim meets my lips and my throat is immediately relived when the contents spill out. I chug it. When I tip the glass back and there's nothing left, I clear my throat and pry my eyes open.
The room is bright white with a view of the fence. I look around to find Cara and my mother sitting beside me.
"Mom?" it comes out like a gasp.
"Sweetheart, you are play and so is that baby, honey, why did you hurt that young man?" my mother asks.
"Good, and that is no young man, that is Peter Hayes, the biggest asshole out there, mama, he called my baby a bastard," I start to cry again. She climbs into the bed with me, letting me soak her shirt again. When I come around again, my headache is gone and so is Cara. "I want to go home," I say to my mother.
"Alright, they discharged you about an hour ago, so let's get going," she says softly.
During the trip home, no one speaks or moves. Just the slight buzz of the engine. My mom keeps throwing me worried glances and opens her mouth to talk but nothing comes out. It's just past four when we get home, that leaves us an hour before my father gets here.
"I'm going to start on dinner, why don't you go wash up," mom says lightly. I nod and head up stairs. I thought I was big last month, this baby is leaving red scars up and down my stomach. I peel the black clothing off and sulk into the shower. When I feel clean enough, and the shower water has gone cold, I paddle into my bedroom. I throw on a grey tank top, long sleeve undershirt, t-shirt, and a darker grey cardigan. Nothing I do is hiding the fact that I'm getting thicker in the middle.
I can smell the chicken and dinner rolls all the way from the kitchen to my room. My mouth begins to fill with saliva, and I realize I didn't eat lunch. My mother is now feeding me an 'early dinner' since the baby because Abnegation only allows us small portions. I eat quietly as my mother prepares more food for us before my father gets home.
During family dinner my father goes on a rant about Erudite. How they are spreading false rumors and lies. Saying that Abnegation is hoarding all the food and supplies that this city needs. Their leader, Jeanine Matthews, is lying dog. I've seen her a couple times in the baby sector. Though I'm not really sure why she is there. I don't trust her.
I toss and turn all night. Well, at least it feels like all night, but I look at the little digital clock next to me on the night table, it reads eleven. I huff in annoyance and grab a light sweatshirt. Outside is beautiful. I can hear the Factionless roaming around, the thrill screams of Dauntless doing crazy thing, the sound of light, soft music playing in the background, arguments trying to be settled, a miniature explosion happening within a lab, and silence.
Everything has a purpose for happening, as my mother said, life will only give you what it thinks you can handle. If life thinks this baby will be okay with me, then let it be. My mother has also said, every action has a reaction. Cause and effect. This baby is the effect of Tobias and I meeting.
A/N: Hey guys, long week and I have had absolutely no tome to write. Plus I have had writers block since like Tuesday. And that really sucks. Anyways, thank you guys for being an awesome support! I really did not think my last chapter deserved so many reviews, but I really truly appreciate your guy's comments and support! Because next week is Christmas I will not be able to update next Sunday due to traveling around for the holidays. So Merry Christmas and have a fantastic week! Oh! And this is the last chapter you guys will be able to vote on the gender of the baby because—drum roll please—next chapter will be the reveal! Because I will not be updating next week here is a small preview to chapter 12!I can see its tiny outline, like a little person curled into a ball, fists clenched, eyes locked shut, and nothing can penetrate it. The heart is the strongest organ a human body has, but hearing its soft heartbeat, like a butterfly's wings flapping, so naïve, and everything is new. The past months have been worth it. Because now, now I know I will be a good mother, and I know what to do. "Do you want to know the sex?" Cara asks, moving the wand around my swollen abdomen. I have waited ever since I found out I was pregnant to know. Will it be tall, dark, and out of this world gorgeous like its father or plain and ordinary like me? One way to find out. "Yes."