I wake up and remember what went down last night. Just for that, I lie in bed a little longer coming up with my story. I check the clock and see it's early...like really early. Eh, that means I get more time.
+++
Finally, after what feels like forever but is really a few minutes of me trying to go back to sleep, I come up with it. I also come up with a story to tell my friends about why me and Four were absent. I know, I know. That isn't in any way relevant, but I know they're going to ask and I need to be prepared. I get dressed and hide my new pajamas so nobody finds them. Wait, are they how my mom knew what my dilemma was about?
Anyway, I trust that Four will have an excuse for why he was absent...or he probably won't because him ditching isn't exactly out of the ordinary. Maybe I shouldn't even come up with an excuse, I mean the sluts will probably rat me out anyway. Why is this so annoying? If I knew ditching would be so complicated, I probably wouldn't have done it in the first place...probably. Ughhhhhhh, don't I already have enough dilemmas as it is?
After stealing some breakfast, I stumble out the door and start on my walk to school.
+++
"Hey," I announce once I get to my locker.
They all reply with forms of hi...all except Chris. She seems to be thinking intently about something.
"Everything alright with her?" I ask them.
"Well, knowing her condition I'd say it's impossible to get worse," Uri replies, which earns him a smack from Will.
"Hey! There's nothing wrong with her," he defends. Uri just smirks at him. After five seconds of Will staring and Uri smirking, they get into one of their childish, immature fights.
I sigh and head towards them. I grab them by the collar, "break it up. Honestly, can you guys be mature for once? And Will, I'm very dissapointed in you—" Uri snorts at this. "I seriously expected more from you." Will sticks his tongue out at Uri. I roll my eyes.
"Now that Tris has broken you two up, I was wondering...do you know anything about the ditch party that happened yesterday?" she points her index finger at me.
"I don't think anybody calls it that."
"You don't know that," she snaps. She takes a deep breath to collect herself. "Do you know anything about it?" she asks staring at me intently.
"What makes you assume I do? Everyone knows I don't pay attention to what goes on around here," I say looking around me.
"I know, I know. It's just that...you knew about the trip...and, well...it was your class that did it," she tells me looking down at her shoes.
"Oh." is all I say. "Oh." is all I think.
+++
It's been 9 minutes and Mr. Asshat has still not shown up. Man, it's like this school wants us to ditch.
I check my watch again and see he's now 10 minutes late.
Nita jumps up from her seat, capturing everyone's eyes as she does...especially the guys'.
"Yay! C'mon, now let's all go ditch," she shrieks in a high-pitched tone...like really high-pitched. I touch my ears, trying to calm the ringing. Thank God, it seems to be fading.
Everybody gets up to leave with her but I can't help but feel like something's off. I stay planted in my seat trying to figure it out. I wonder if I'm delusional, it seems as if I'm the only one who thinks that there's something weird about this whole thing. I can't really put my finger on why I feel this way, but it's a gut feeling...and I usually listen to my gut. I look up and see that I'm not the only one who felt that way. Someone else is here. Someone named Four.
I walk up to him. "Why didn't you ditch?" I ponder.
"I'm not an idiot. Yesterday seemed safe but today it seems a little odd. You must've sensed it, too." He doesn't ask the last part, he states it.
I sigh, "since when do you care how you seem to others?"
"Others? More like one person," he says staring into my eyes.
I can't help but roll my eyes which produces a sigh out of him.
"Tris—"
"Stop!" I sort-of yell. "Stop. It. Right. Now," I annunciate every word to make sure he understands.
"No, tell me. We were getting along great before—"
"We were?" I yell, outraged. "Tell me, Four, when this happened. Because I obviously didn't know about it."
"Well it was better than before—"
"Of course it was 'better than before'. We hated each other's guts 'before'." I put a hand to my forehead. He's seriously pissing me off.
"Just tell me how it seems so bad. I can even admit that...I like you. And I want us to start all over—"
"It's not that simple!" I shout at him, making hand gestures to express my frustration.
"How the hell is it not that simple?" he yells back at me. He stands up from his seat and is now right in front of me.
"I never knew you were so desperate that you'd actually stoop as low as being a pedophile," I say quietly with my arms crossed and my gaze fixed on the floor by my left.
"I'm not desperate to the point of pedophilia—"
"Really?" I whisper. "Because it sure seems to me that you're trying to get with your—"
"Ah-ha!" Our heads turn to the direction of the voice. It's the one and only Mr. Asshole...
"'Ah-ha!' what?" Four asks.
"'Ah-ha' as in he now knows which students are ditching," Ms. Matthews enters the classroom.
"What are you doing here? And what do you mean by 'he now knows which students are ditching'?" I ask.
"I'm the Superintendent. And Ms. Prior, judging by your grades you should understand what 'he now knows which students are ditching'. Four, on the other hand, might need some explaining which I'm sure you'd be happy to do. Also I must say I'm utterly astonished to find out Four actually isn't the one leading it, even more so not even in it," she says so formal I have to rethink if she's informing us or just talking.
Her way of communication seems mechanical, as if she were a robot. She appears so emotionless, it makes me wonder whether or not she was telling the truth when she said she's "utterly astonished". She wears a blue dress that hugs her body from shoulder to knee, revealing a layer of pudge around her middle. She also has liquid gray eyes.
"I may not be the braniac here," Four casts her a look. "but I'm fairly certain she meant how he knows not what he said." She purses her lips at him and he just scoffs and raises his eyebrows, prompting for an answer.
"We were watching you all this whole time. Of course, Nita got up and the rest of the class joined her, so now it is clear who has the intention of ditching everytime a teacher isn't around," she concludes.
Now it's my turn to scoff, and I definitely throw in a good eye roll, too. "There's a rule, you know. If a teacher is fifteen minutes late, the students are allowed to leave. Of course, they didn't wait that long. And did it ever occur to you that you could've just checked the footage for yesterday?"
"We didn't want to see yesterday, we wanted to see which delinquents were still intent on missing school based on a myth," she counters.
"It doesn't matter if it's a myth, everybody obviously still follows it," I smirk. "And if I'm understanding you correctly, you don't mind if a student ditches once in a while?" I'm pretty sure it's now both of us—me and Four—raising our eyebrows, prompting for an answer with our arms crossed.
She stares at me for a little and responds, "since when do you talk back like this?"
"You didn't answer her question," Four deadpans.
"I have dignity, you know. And he's not wrong," I reply.
"No, he's not," she pats down her dress even though nothing has happened to it, and leaves.
Me and Four immediately release our pent-up laughter, but that still doesn't mean we're bonding.
Mr. Asshole snaps his head to us. "You two should be ashamed of yourselves. Attempting to make a fool out of a brilliant brain like hers."
The fact that he just complimented her brain causes us to laugh harder...if even possible.
"We didn't attempt anything, but we did succeed at that—as in make her look foolish," I smirk.
"Shut up," he threatens.
"I don't think you're allowed to threaten us," Four says amused.
"Well I can tell you to go to your seats. Class is in session. No more talking," he demands.
We both go to our seats and...let's just say the rest of class is a blur...a boring blur.
+++
I leave the classroom before Four can catch me.
+++
I get changed into my new pajamas and start trying to go to sleep. Instead, I am consumed by my thoughts. I'd much rather be consumed by sleep...
Nevertheless, I finally start drifting off.
Thursday! Thursday, Thursday, Thursday!
I just have to survive the rest of this day and then Capture-the-Flag! Yay! I'm so excited.
I wonder how it'll all work out.
I go to my drawer to start picking my clothes out when I hear a knock on my door.
I open it a smidge and see Caleb. We haven't really talked much since he saw me in my pajamas.
"Hey, Caleb. What do you want?" I ask as nicely as possible. Don't want to arouse suspiscion...though we might be passed that speaking as I only have my head out the door.
"Hey, Bea! I just needed to get something from your room...that I left," he says unsure.
"What did you leave in my room?" I ask. I'd cross my arms to be a little more intimidating, but then I'll lose my hold on the door and, well...
"Are you a virgin?" he asks suddenly...and totally out-of-nowhere.
I'm taken aback by his question and take a second to compose myself before I reply, "Excuse me?" If he can't sense my outrage then he really has no idea about human emotions.
"Well, are you? That Peter guy did say some stuff that I never believed but now—"
I point my finger at his chest. "You never believed? Is that seriously what you're trying to tell me? Okay. Stop lying. You think I don't remember what went down? You think I never heard what you guys said behind my back? Do you think I don't remember my encounters with you guys?" I ask incredulously.
"Are you a virgin or not?" He's getting impatient now.
"No, you don't get to know. I thought we were headed in a positive direction but if you—" It's not long before he cuts me off my rant.
"You're wearing Four's shirt, Bea! What do you expect me to think? He isn't exactly known for his modesty, and you're pretty known for your hatred towards him, so I need to know...did something happen during this project of yours?" It's funny how he started out with outraged, exhausted hand gestures and then towards the end became soft.
"Nothing happened, Caleb," I assure him.
"Why do you have his shirt?" He narrows his eyes. I wish he'd stop doing that.
"Trust me. Now please, I have to get ready for school, so leave," I say shoving him out the door, while he just continues his protests.
I lock my door and get dressed.
+++
"Okay, class, so I know it's a little late but I need you to have these permission slips signed by tomorrow," Tori tells us as she hands out papers to everyone. She goes up and down and side by side, passing them out personally to every student.
"So the rumors about the tradition are true?" Christina's eyes scan the paper, "and it is...Friday." She narrows her eyes at the section of the paper where it shows the time and date taking place.
"Ya. Anything else, freshman?" Tori asks her. When she receives no response, she finishes passing out the rest of the sheets and heads to the front of the classroom.
"Does anyone know what's funny about this?" Christina turns to the rest of us.
"Trissy mentioned something about how we can't do something this Friday…" she turns towards me, "did you know about this?" She narrows her eyes.
"What? No, I just think a Saturday is more Pedrad style," I lie. I make sure to not bite the inside of my cheek.
"Hmm." She nods her head but I know she doesn't buy my story.
I can tell everyone—or everyone paying attention, which really isn't a lot—can tell something happened. I just ignore them. I cross my arms and look towards the front of the class, towards Tori. I can feel Four's eyes on me.
"Well, this is the part where I tell you to discuss the project with your partners," Tori claps her hands. She rocks back on her heels awkwardly. "Discuss," she says sternly.
I remain in my chair, talking to nobody, sitting alone. Tori obviously seemed to have noticed too. "Four, can you go to your partner and discuss?"
I purse my lips. "No, it's alright. Our director said he has everything all under control and I need to trust him...well, according to Four of course...and every other person I've asked." I say the last part in a manner as if I'm stabbing my fork at my food and am mad.
I don't need Four and I really hate how people have come to think of me as dependant on him. I'm not desperate or weak that I need him every single time something happens. I can handle myself.
He obviously isn't capable of understanding English because he takes the seat right next to me. "Nonsense," is his exact reply and he scoots closer.
I turn towards him. "Yes. 'Nonsense' is exactly what you are. 'Nonsense' is exactly what this is," I say, gesturing between the both of us. He rolls his eyes.
He turns the opposite direction of me for a second and mutters under his breath, "I know, I know. You've been saying that ever since the idea was introduced."
I smirk. "Glad to see you've finally gotten the message." He rolls his eyes again.
After our little exchange, we remain in silence. I don't know about him, but I know that it's a comfortable silence for me...mostly because I hate him...I'm sure. Whatever.
+++
I finish changing into my pajamas and hear a knock on the door. I go towards it and open it to reveal my mom.
"Um...hey," I only stick my head out the door, already starting this conversation off awkward.
"Hi. Can I come in?" she says, pointing inside.
"Umm...I don't know, I mean, um...my room isn't the cleanest right now and um...I'm really tired so...," I stutter, trying to close the door, but her hand stops me.
"Beatrice—"
"Tris," I correct.
She recomposes herself. "Tris. Is everything alright? Can I please enter your room?"
"Seriously...I'm tired so...maybe another time," I say in between yawns. I attempt to close the door again but fail...again.
She sets her hands on my shoulders. "Tris, please just let me enter."
I cross my arms and clench my teeth. She's really starting to...ugh. "I told you forgiveness wouldn't be easy, and you said you understood. Where's that understanding now? Huh?"
I know, I know. That was unfair and awful and shouldn't have been said. I shouldn't have used it against her...but right now she just... I don't know. She's acting as if we're back on good terms but we're not. We're just not.
She looks taken aback for a moment and then replies, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be so misunderstanding. I'll just go." She turns away and starts to walk towards her room, and I watch.
Here come my excuses. Okay, I had to go somewhere for at least a week...I know. I took forever to update. I thought we would leave later or something so I'd end up getting to finish it and post it, but then I found out we were leaving that night. And now, I'm having a bunch of trouble with schools. The next update will not take as long, I gurantee that. I've just been trying to catch myself up in my personal life ever since we went on vacation. You need to know that I have a life outside of this. I will take less time updating, really. It's just the vacation has my mind all over the place and school's approaching but I'm close to sanity (or whatever the hell I was before). But, yes, next update will be quicker, I'm really really really sorry. I hate having to wait, too.
And by the way, somebody guessed what I was doing...oh my gosh I was freaking out when I saw you guessed exactly what I was doing. I'm so obvious.