Disclaimer: I don't own Divergent, just this story.

Enjoy!

TOBIAS

*two weeks later*

For kids who have birthdays over the Summer most of them are allowed to pass their grade before they turn the age that most other kids are, my school district is no exception. The birthday deadline is October 1st, so if someone turns 18 before October 1st they could still be in the senior class that just graduated, the class of 2015. See, that's where I was supposed to be but my mom thought I wasn't ready and was worried that I was too much younger than the other kids so I went to kindergarten a year later than the other kids. But Tris, whose birthday happens to be today (July 13th) is turning 16 and she only let me know 2 days ago, casually bringing it up in our daily conversation about the weather and whatnot.

"It's not a big deal." She said when she saw my shocked face.

"Yes it is! I could've planned something for you, Tris. You're my friend and I can't just ignore your birthday."

She put a hand on my shoulder and simply told me that she didn't need anything and she was working that day anyway. I talked to Johanna about this and she said she had no idea and anyways, all employees get their birthday off. She told me she'd give Tris the day off.

Speaking of, I just got an angry text from Tris saying, 'Tobias, did you seriously tell Johanna it was my birthday?!'

'It's not healthy to be a workaholic honey'

'Well maybe I just wanted something to do!'

'You should have fun on your birthday'

'I like my job, it is fun.'

'Okay. I'll make it up to you. Meet me in about in hour? Dress casual fancy'

'Casual fancy? Is that even a thing?'

'Just meet me at the front of your "cafe"'

'Fine.'

Little does she know I have something planned for her.


Flashback:

Dear Tobias,

I was actually planning to visit Tris on her birthday but I'm glad she has another friend looking out for her. You're lucky I was clearing my school email inbox and saw this. I'll see you there. Also, we're adjusting quite nicely here in Peoria thank you for asking.

-Tori

I grin at the email. I just got my first 4 guests to Tris's surprise party! I know, since when did Tobias Eaton get into all this cliche stuff? Well I guess it started after our friendly kiss... I couldn't get her out of my head. I was fucking dreaming about her for Christ's sake. Next thing I know I'm planning a surprise bash.

I find Christina's contact and hit the call button.

Her perky voice rings through the speakers, "Hello?"

"Hey Chris-"

"Oh god no, not that purple, I despise lavender. That one!"

"Um..."

She giggles, "Sorry T. I'm getting my nails done right now. Can I be of assistance?"

"You remember Tris, right?"

She gasps, "Oh my gosh yes! I just ran into her at the mall, she was buying the cutest dress it was like black but there was a little bit of-"

"Christina. Focus. Her birthday is tomorrow. I'm throwing a surprise party and I was wondering if you wanted to go?"

"Oh my gosh, of course I would. I got her number and I'm gonna text her right now and tell her to wear that dress! It'll be so-"

"Christina! It's a surprise! Duh!"

"...Oh. Right. Sorry. Can I bring a date?"

I sigh, "Knock yourself out girlfriend."

She squeals, "Yay!" Then I hear a crashing noise. "Oh sorry Martha! I was just excited, if you don't have enough nail polish remover for that I can totally get some-" Beep. The line goes dead. I forgot to tell her the location so I text her it's in the Pedrad basement before heading out to a certain coffee shop.


"You have some nerve coming back here." Are the first words I hear when I walk in. Lynn sits on the counter, swinging her legs back and forth. She inspects a black cuticle before looking back up at me for an explanation.

"It's not about me, it's about Tris."

She doesn't blink, "I figured. You like her."

I feel my neck get red, the heat slowly travels to my face. "What? Come on Keshker, does she look like my type?"

She presses her lips together. "Not really but I'm not blind. I see how look at her. Also you're blushing so..."

I groan, "I'm trusting you to keep a secret. Understand?"

She puts her hands up in defense, "I was already going to let her figure it out on her own. But are you doing something incredibly romantic for her or something?"

"It depends on how you look at it. I'm throwing her a surprise birthday party. Tomorrow. Pedrad basement. Tell Shauna and Hec they're also invited."

She salutes, "Sir yes Sir."

I begin to walk towards the door before I hear Lynn's voice calling me back.

"Hmm?" I ask, turning back around.

She gives me a half smile, "You're not so bad when you're doing something for someone else ya know."


When I pick Tris up she's sitting at one of the cafe tables. I almost do a double take at the sight of her. Her hair is curled and I can see she's wearing some light makeup. She wears a loose black dress and red converse. She twirls her thumbs together and when she sees me she looks up and smiles. I return it genuinely and reach out to give her a hug, lifting her lightweight body off the floor slightly.

"Happy Birthday." I tell her. "You're beautiful."

Her cheeks grow pink. "Thanks." She says quietly.

"Come on." I put an arm around her hip. "I'm taking you somewhere."

I open the door of my car for her, like a gentlemen would do and then hop in the other seat. I reach underneath my seat and pull out my first present, wrapped in dark green paper.

Her jaw drops a bit. "You so did not have to get me anything." She looks at me with a dead serious look.

"I know." I tell her. "I didn't have to, but I wanted to." I nod to it. "Open it."

She tears the paper apart gently. And when she sees the present a large grin takes up her face.

"I'm no artist like you, but I took an hour class and this is what I painted." It's a picture of a dark, brick alley and at the end of it, underneath a lamppost stands a girl, with long blonde hair and striking blue eyes.

She hugs me across the center console and I return it. "You're the best friend I could ask for. Even if I do hate you sometimes." She says.

We drive in silence to the Pedrad home, Tris admiring her new artwork. I wouldn't be surprised if she just stuffed it in a drawer when she got home. It's nothing special. When I put the car in park she looks up and her eyebrows furrow, confused. "What are we doing at Uriah's house?" She asks.

"Well, his mom, Hana makes a mean lasagna, and apparently she made that today so I asked Zeke if we could come over and have some dinner with them. That okay?"

She beams. "It sounds perfect. It'd be good to see Uri again."


"Rooster!" I call out as we walk down the stairs to the basement. It was the code word that Uriah told me to use when we're coming down the stairs.

Tris gives me a questioning look. "Should I ask?"

I shake my head.

"Why are we going down here again?" She asks.

"I slept over here last night and I left my tooth brush. I just want to grab it." Damn, I lie pretty good on the spot.

Tris nods and we take the last few steps on the carpet stairs before I flip the lights on. Everyone jumps out, "SURPRISE!"

Tris's face shows no shock at all. No surprise. No joy.

We all stare at her before she bursts out laughing. "Tobias, you sort of gave it away. Like first of all, I've tasted Hana's cooking before and I understand why the Pedrad's don't stay home for Thanksgiving. Second, "Rooster" is always Uri's code word." I glare at him. "Third, you're forgetting that last night you facetimed me from your hotel room. You didn't stay here." We still stare at her in shock. Man I fucked up. I ruined her surprise party. Good job, Tobias.

Tris continues. "But the fact that someone attempted to do this for me means a lot to me. So thank you everyone. You're the greatest friends ever." She struts over to the radio. "But anyway, let's get this party started!"


"You really like her man." Zeke says, gesturing to Tris who's in a conversation with Christina, Shauna, Marlene (who was Uriah's date) and Johanna. It looks like Christina's doing most of the talking, making all these exaggerated hand gestures. Shauna and Johanna seem to be cracking up and Marlene chimes in occasionally. Tris just gazes around the room awkwardly and she meets my eyes. She bites her lip and waves at me and I return it.

Zeke nudges me when Tris looks away and I hit him playfully. On the other side of the room Lynn eats her own weight in snacks and I see Tori talking to Uriah seriously. Bud plays ping pong with Hector and the Wu children have their eyes glued to the TV screen watching some show about talking animals. Will, who was Christina's date returns from the bathroom and walks over to her, kissing her on the cheek. She smiles and they go to the middle of the floor and begin dancing to the pop music.

"That's my cue. Will's making look like a bad boyfriend now." He goes up to Shauna and grabs her behind the waist and then they begin dancing too. Johanna excuses herself from the conversation and goes to refill her drink. Marlene and Tris are still talking intensely before Uriah walks up and tells Marlene something she nods and walks away. Uriah begins talking to Tris with a sincere look on his face. Tris smiles and nods along but there are sometimes where flashes of hurt show on her face like Uriah brought up bad things from the past. She smiles and hugs him when he's done and I'm glad that Tris has her friend back again. After all, I can't have her all to myself.


Tris takes the first bag off the table, it's small and light blue. She reads the tag. "To: Tris. From: Zeke." She smiles at him. "Thanks Zeke." He waves his hand at her to tell her it's nothing and she pulls the tissue paper out before picking up the gift card. She looks at him. "How did you know I love books?" She holds up a gift card to Barnes and Noble.

He jabs a thumb at Uriah.

"Well, thanks boys."

She opens a large red one which is from Uriah. A large paint set sits before her eyes which glimmer with excitement. She shrieks. "I can't wait to use this!" She gives Uriah a one arm hug.

She picks up one wrapped in wrapping paper with a floral pattern on it. She first finds a makeup kit. "I got very natural colors because you don't seem like an extravagant kind of girl." Christina pipes up. "But there's a gift receipt if you want the more 'poppy' colors. It's the same price."

Tris genuinely smiles at her, "No it's fine. I love it." Then she picks up a strawberry scented candle.

"That was mine." Will says. Tris thanks him and then picks up a black envelope. Lynn's name is written in gold on the back. She pulls out some sort of card and reads it. "Paintball for 2 at Dauntless Paintball Center." She smiles at Lynn. "You shouldn't have."

Shauna gives her a pretty blue scarf and Hector gives her a comic book. The Wu twins drew her a picture of a double rainbow and Bud gave her 2 free passes to the Bowling Alley. Johanna gives her a gigantic box of skittles for which Tris hugs her very tightly. She reaches Tori's which is a gigantic cream colored box. Tris gasps when she sees it. "Is this... is this...?"

"Your mother's wedding dress? It is." Tris picks it up gently. It's strapless, and for the most part white, except the sides on the top and down to the hips are sky blue. She hugs Tori tightly after putting the dress back in the box, and then takes my small black box off of the table. "You already got me something." She tells me.

"It wasn't enough." I respond.

She opens it and shrieks with joy. "2 tickets to Tiësto's club life tour?! Are you freaking serious?" She hugs me with all her strength and gives me a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

The amount of money I had to pay for those tickets is worth it. Not because we're going to see a DJ worth 90 million dollars, but because of the look on her face. The look of pure happiness. Not only that but the fact that I am the guy who brought that look on her face.


Some things to clear up. The tickets themselves did not cost 90 million dollars. Tiësto, the DJ is worth 90 million dolllars. I'm not sure if it's true but my friend said that so lets just go with it. I know I'm so smart. If you don't remember he was mentioned in one of my previous chapters. I'm not sure when his Club Life tour happens, if it already did or if it's even going to. I'm too lazy to check so let's just say it happens Spring 2016, in this story. Also Peoria, Illinois where Tori lives is about 3 hours driving from Chicago. Have anymore questions review or PM me!

~Kiki