Chapter 21

Tobias POV

"ZEKE! Wake up it's almost seven thirty–!"

I'm pulled to a half conscious state when I hear the yelling voices lower and mumbling and squealing coming from the half opened door. I hear Zeke's familiar groan and I slit an eye open to see Zeke pulling the covers over his head.

"Marlene!" A hushed whisper calls, I recognised the voice belonging to Shauna.

"What?-" I hear the soft padding of footsteps. "Oh my God."

I immediately sit up and rub my eyes when I hear the annoying snap of a camera phone. There was a thing about this house and taking photos of each other, it was really starting to annoy me. My hands cover my face and I groan when I hear more photos being taken.

I shake Zeke to wake him up and accidentally push off the bed. He lands on the floor with a loud thud followed by a low groan. The girls at the door giggle and cover their mouths to keep from laughing when both Zeke and I glare at them regardless of our fatigue ridden faces.

Shauna and Marlene scury away quickly and Zeke stands up and flops back down on the bed. I sigh and then pull the covers taut, sending him falling back down. "What the fu-ugh."

"Zeke, get up. It's nearly seven thirty and we have school in twenty," I say still half asleep. He doesn't get up so I shrug to myself, "Fine, I get the bathroom first."

I pick up my clothes and have a quick shower. I throw my clothes on and towel dry my hair, patting my hair down as a suffice for not finding a hair brush. I place the towel and clothes in the laundry basket and feel around my pockets for my phone. When I don't find it I jog downstairs to find it on top of the microwave in the kitchen.

I breathe out a sigh of relief and scroll through the notifications. I see a text from John: I realised you weren't home, figured you probably over at a friends. Hope everything's alright. PS – Marcus is attending a 2 day conference with a new official and won't be back for those two days.

I read it and it feels like a small weight's been lifted from my shoulders and one of the thousand chains that are bound around my chest just snapped free.

I hear laughter coming from Marlene and Shauna who are seated on the couch in the living room and see them giggling at Shauna's homescreen. I don't want to know, I tried to remind myself.

"Tell Zeke I already left," I say to the girls before going to grab the keys to my Aventador but then I realise I came to Zeke's house in my Mazda.

This is exactly what I needed right now.

If I went to school in my Mazda then people would start to question things but if I went to my garage to get the Aventador I'd be a half hour late to school. And I knew for a fact that I had Mr. Lock first period today. And if I was late that would be my second strike. Come on, why does this shit always happen to me?

I toss the keys in my hands and bite my lip. What was I going to do? Get another strike or avoid more intrusive questions from nosy peers?

"What's wrong Four?" I hear Shauna ask. I turn around to face her and I shake my head.

"No...no, I just..." I don't even finish what I'm saying, I just stand there dazed. I shake my head again, "...I don't know." She looks to Marlene who is just as confused.

Zeke comes trudging downstairs and I grab him by his shirt and drag him to the door, where Shauna and Marlene can't hear.

"What's wrong?" He asks, running back to the counter and grabbing a granola bar and coming to stand in front of me again.

"I forgot to swap the Aventador yesterday," I say and he peers outside to see the orange and black Mazda parked in his driveway.

"Oh, crap," he says taking a bite out of the granola bar. I look at him incredulously. "What are you going to do?"

I shrug, "I don't know. What should I do? I have Mr. Lock first period and I won't be able to switch without being late."

He thinks for a minute, chewing and furrowing his eyebrows. I sigh and stuff my hands into my pockets. "Okay, this is what you do:" He points his half eaten bar at me, "You come to school with me and the girls and then after school, you can sort everything out.

I eventually agree, it's not like I had a better idea. "Yeah, okay. Just hurry up, we have five minutes to get out."

He walks back and grabs a cereal bowl and a packet of Corn-Flakes. He grabs a granola bar and throws it at me. It hits my chest and falls to the floor. I look at him and he gives a stern look.

"What? You need to eat something," he reasons and I roll my eyes.

"Zeke's right, you know," Uriah says walking in with a mountain of candy wrappers. We all look at him weirdly, Zeke included, "What? Breakfast is the most important meal of the day."

We all get into the car; Zeke in the drivers, me in the passenger and Uriah, Marlene and Shauna in the backseats of Zeke's Mustang.

I don't say anything but the rest don't hold back with their chatter during the drive. I catch on to little of the conversation but I don't bother listening in. That is until Tris is brought into the conversation.

I kick my legs up on the dash and lean my head on the window.

I know Zeke is looking at me from the corner of his eye with a smirk even though he doesn't look my way directly.

"So girls..." Zeke begins and I all of a sudden wish that I hadn't gotten in the car with him. Because it wasn't only me who knew where he was going with this, oh no, it was everyone.

Shauna thankfully comes to my aid and hits Zeke's arm for me. "Zeke leave the poor guy alone!" She pinches him and Zeke yelps. "What if she doesn't like him?"

Okay, so maybe she wasn't on my side. The smile that had taken an infinity to etch onto my lips flattened out and I turned around and glared at her. She returned my gesture with an innocent–very fake–might I add, smile.

They all bursted out laughing. I just shrunk in my seat and turned the radio volume higher.

My day was turning out fantastic so far.

By the time Zeke and the others had stopped harassing me about Tris we had already arrived at school. I got out of the car and didn't even bother waiting up for Zeke.

I just pulled out my phone and pretended to be invested in the screen when he called out. It turned out that I had gotten another text from John: I'll be home today, so come home. We clear?

I rolled my eyes at the screen. I could just imagine his worried and determined expression when he wrote the text, I didn't blame him though.

I texted back: Yes ma'am.

Thinking about it, if John was going to be staying the night over and Marcus wasn't going to, then tonight would be a good time to get on John's good side to tell him about the NHRA, especially if we wanted to get into the latest leagues.

I thought about it for a second as I walked to my locker. If I was going to be sure that John was going to agree I'd need Zeke and Tris there as well.

I reach my locker and grab my books for Spec. Maths and head to the classroom. When I reach the classroom I take my seat next to Tris who is seated at the back of the room. She was currently getting her books out onto the desk and something inside me wanted to obliviously look at her until she noticed me.

I take my seat and pull out my own books, mentally hitting myself upside the head, I was getting carried away. Again.

Mr. Lock walks in and doesn't even bother with introductions, he instead gets straight into revision for the upcoming exams.

It took more effort than I realised to keep in tune with his monotonous voice. I thought of looking to Tris but I knew that wouldn't help with my current problem of having my thoughts go to far from my comfort. I'd never had an interest with someone like I do with her, I don't even know if 'interest' would be the word. And maybe if I were a normal teenager who had a normal family and didn't do illegal racing with government ties I would possibly give into my friends harassment and ask her out but I knew I couldn't. I couldn't do much for that matter.

The lesson dragged on for what I was told was an hour but felt like years and when we were finally dismissed Tris catches up to me as I walk to the library. From what I recall, both of us had a free period and for once I was actually going to put it too good use.

"Why so quiet, Four?" She asks placing her books into her locker.

I do the same, walking to my own locker and I shrug. There was no way in hell I was going to tell her about my most recent thoughts. "Care to do some research?" I avert and start walking beside her.

She looks at me thoroughly and I feel as if I could feel her gaze on me even if I wasn't looking at her. "Depends. What's this research on?"

I open the door to the library for her and she walks in thanking me. "Well if you're going to the NHRA leagues, you need to know what you're up against." She nods, seeing the reason behind my words.

"Fair enough, but do they have books here on that kind of stuff?" She asks and I nod, leading her to the far side of the non-fiction aisle.

"Of course, anything government supported is bound to have a spot in a library," I inform her and find a computer with the library catalogue on it. I type in NHRA. A selection of books pop up onto the screen and I click the latest editions and get the barcodes. "Okay find as many as you can," I say to Tris handing her half of the slip.

She smiles and then goes looking in search of books at the other end of the shelf. I get to work on the opposite side and end up finding two. We meet up at one of the sturdy wooden desks and it turns out that Tris is a way better librarian than me. She'd found at least six books. "Well, would you look at that." I quietly chuckle.

"Would you believe me if I said I used to volunteer at the children's library back in Phili?" She quirks her eyebrows and I do the same in return. She smiles and takes a seat opposite me opening the first book on top of the pile and starts flipping through it. I bluntly stare at her. She's only wearing casual clothes but something about her continuously demanded my attention. Beautiful or pretty or any of the words I could conjure cut her definition short, they didn't do her justice.

I sit down and open a book before she notices my staring and busy myself in educating myself about the requirements to get past the initiation.

I flip through most of the pages because I'd already gone over them with Zeke. That reminds me. "Oh by the way, Zeke apparently wants to join with us," I tell her the same way I told Zeke but as expected she isn't bothered the least bit. Not to my eyes anyway.

We give each other curt nods and go back to reading about how to shift in a drag race. And as much as I try to ignore the nagging voice inside my head that's drawing me towards Tris I was becoming far from relentless.

My eyes gaze up in Tris' direction and I catch her eye but she quickly looks away and I'm not sure if it's the lighting of the library or not but a coat of light pink covers her cheeks. A small, half-hearted smile forms on my lips and I look back down, shaking my head at my own mental remarks.

By the time lunch rolls around we've gone through the fair share of books and I've read so much I feel like my brain can't take much more. Tris and I pack the books away and together we head down to the cafeteria.

I remember then about the plan to convince John. "I have a question," I say as we walk down the hall to the canteen entrance.

She looks at me with a flat look but I can tell she's trying not to smile. "Haven't we been over this? You can just ask the question for gods sake!" She knocks into my side when a guy pushes his way through the side of the hall and I thankfully catch her before we both end up being trampled by a bunch of freshmen.

"Sorry," she says sheepishly once she manages to stand up balanced again. I nod in return. "What was the question again?"

"Do you think you can come over by my place around, I don't know, 5? We need to convince John before major league enteries close," I say and she thinks about it before agreeing to drop in around five.

"You know what?" She says and I shake my head as we enter the cafeteria though the double doors. "I still need to convince my parents so I'll work on them before I come over. Because what's the point if I don't have consent?" She sighs. She probably found that out in a book somewhere because I don't remember telling her.

"Yeah I get it," I say to her.

"What about you? You're dad say it was fine?" She asks turning back and asking me.

I know she was just plainly asking but the subject of Marcus always leaves me on edge. I give a small smile and shake my head. "No, my dad doesn't even know I race, John's the one that knows everything and gives consent," I say and she simply nods. I repeat to myself that if I ever plan on getting anywhere with her that I have to start telling her things about me, even if they're indirect and she doesn't know how hard it is for me to admit to even the slightest relation. I knew I wasn't going to be able to say the majority of what I wanted to.

We eventually grab our trays and head to our usual table and take our usual seats. Zeke quirks a lip and eyebrow at me and looks discreetly at Tris. "Well isn't that a coincidence," he mutters to me and I not-so-discreetly kick his foot and twist the top of his knee swiftly. It was a trick that John always played on me to get back at me. I eventually learned in time and all it really did was momentarily render you breathless or tickle you mercilessly.

Zeke grunts and groans, hunching over the table and mumbling in-coherent words. Everyone else looks at me shocked. "What? He had that coming," I say munching on my fries innocently and once Zeke's regained his composure I add, "Oh, be at my house around five. We need to have a chat with John," I pat him on the back sweetly.

Last period was gym and it was the last thing on my mind at the time. We were in the weights room going over the basics and it seemed to go on forever. Usually gym was tolerable for me but nothing this week has been exactly 'tolerable' for me. Everything seemed to make me feel edgy or uneasy and it was clear that was all because of Marcus.

I could see right through Marcus' apology, he wasn't trying to receive forgiveness, no, he was trying to come to terms with his sins. It gave me the least bit of satisfaction that I had that small power over him, because as far as I knew, I was never going to 'forgive' him.

I'm snapped out of my haze when Coach calls on me, "Four, what is the strongest point in your body?"

"Elbow," I answer and I see Coach raise her eyebrow at me, she was right to question me because I wasn't listening but at least I got the answer right. I wasn't that stupid for her information.

Coach assigns us to certain machines and I end up next to Christina on the ankle lifts. Halfway through the lesson she starts chirping away, "So Four, you and Tris huh?"

I don't look at her and instead keep on doing to lifts and looking straight forward, "Oh my god, don't you start on that as well."

"What? You make such an adorable couple!"

"I appreciate your input but I'm just fine how I am," I inform her and we move onto the next machine. Big lie that was.

When its finally the end of homeroom I felt like making a dash for my car but I realised I had to go to Zeke's place first which made me internally groan.

I waited up for Zeke and Uriah who said the girls would meet us at the car. We arrived at the car park earlier and ended up waiting a good fifteen minutes before Christina, Tris, Shauna and Marlene walked out of the front entrance. Christina and Tris parted ways and Shauna and Marlene got into the Mustang.

Half way through the car ride and they're all at it again and right now it seemed banging my head against the dash board was an easier option than talking to them. "Four you keep on insisting that you and Tris have nothing going on but you guys spent your whole free period together," Marlene wiggles her eyebrows.

"Do you guys stalk me or something?" I ask incredulously. So what if I'd spent my free period with her? So what if I'd slightly enjoyed it?

"No, Christina just talks to everyone and apparently we're not the only ones that think you and Tris are hitting it off," Shauna says.

"Oh, and the fact that you never really socialise with the girls at our school makes it highly suspicious," Marlene adds nodding.

"Let it go guys, let it fucking go."

As soon as we arrive at Zeke's house I get out of the car and pull out the keys to my Mazda. "Thanks for the lift, Zeke."

"No problem, I'll be over around half past five. I have to drop these ladies off first," Zeke winks and pulls out of his driveway.

I wave at them as they pass and get into my car. I take a deep breath before I start the car and start heading to the garage. It was hard enough with Zeke alone but add another three and I don't think I could of held off any longer.

I arrive at the garage as fast as the speed limits will allow me to go and make a quick switch and lock up, having brought a better lock considering my previous mistakes.

Driving home I realised how tired I felt. I slept fine at Zeke's but the past few weeks have done my head injustice. I all of a sudden wish that we could do this negotiation with John a different day but it was better to get this over with before it was too late.

I see John's latest Chrysler parked in the driveway. I park beside it and hop out. John opens the door for me. "Good afternoon, Mr. Eaton."

I furrow my eyebrows and I can feel my heart starting to beat faster. He only ever calls me that if Marcus is home. I look at him and he shakes his head and winks, indicating that Marcus was in fact not at home.

I breath out and I almost kill John on the spot. "You fucking nut, I almost had a seizure," I slap his cheeks when I walk in and he swats my hands away from his face, laughing.

"Long time no see to you to buddy, I'm fine by the way, thanks for asking," John taunts and follows me to the living room. I throw my bag onto the couch and drop down next to it.

"Well the only good thing about you being here is that I need to talk to you," I say and he raises his eyebrows for me to elaborate. "You'll find out later, Zeke and Tris are also coming over."

"Yeah, I have absolutely no idea what you're going on about but I have to go for an errand in a minute but I'll be back around quarter past and we can have this talk then, alright?"

"Yeah, whatever, just don't have to much fun without me," I wave him off and he rolls his eyes and chuckles.

"I'll be sure of that."

When he leaves I get up in search of a drink but then there is a knock at the door, so instead I go to answer it. A part of me is shit scared that it's Marcus but if he were coming he would already be here. I try to reassure myself that it's not him but I can never be sure.

I reach the front and let out a quiet sigh of relief when I see it's just Tris and her dad. Though I had no idea why her dad was here.

"Mr. Prior?" I ask half confused, "I didn't know you'd be dropping by. Is there anything that I can help you with?" I was honestly at a loss. I had no idea why he was here. I see Tris standing behind her dad and I slightly peer over her dad's shoulder and she mouthing sorry and shrugs when I discreetly ask her what was going on.

"Yes actually. Can I have a word with your father, or uncle was it?" I try not to let my eyes widen too much at his request.

"Uh, you just missed my uncle, he'll be back in a few though. I suppose I can leave a message? Can I ask what this is about?" I answer.

Mr. Prior chuckles at me and I feel a slight burn at the base of my neck. "You're not in trouble or anything, Son. I just wanted to know a bit more on the regulations for the NHRA my daughter has been going on about," He smiles and puts Tris in a headlock. She smiles sheepishly at me as struggles to get out of her dad's grip.

"Oh," I hadn't even told John yet so I had to come up with something reliable, "I'll tell my uncle to come over when he comes back, if that's alright that is," John owed me for scaring the shit out of me earlier and I guess this was how he was going to make it up to me.

"That's quite alright, I guess I'll see you and your uncle for dinner then? I have yet to meet some of your other family, it's the perfect opportunity!"

"Oh, that's not necessary-"

"Nonsense, Son. I'm actually quite eager to meet your Uncle if he has connections to the NHRA," Mr. Prior assures and this time I just smile instead of being so persistent.

"Okay, then I'll see you later then Sir," I say shaking his hand.

"It was nice seeing you again, Son. And please call me Andrew. A friend of my daughters is a friend of mine," I just keep on smiling. Tris is still mouthing sorry from behind her dad.

They're both about to leave when I call out to Tris, "Hey, Tris. Why don't you, um-" I rack my brain for an excuse and all that comes to my mind is the lamest excuse I've ever intervened with, "do you want to stay over and, uh, get to work on the assignment Mr. Lock set? You know, so we could get it over and done with," I stammer and Mr. Prior looks to Tris for her answer. I think it's then she realises I was talking to her.

"Sorry, w-what?"

"You know," I make my eyes wider, "the assignment. The one that we wanted to get done before five thirty," I emphasis on the time and she finally realises what I'm talking about. Having Tris and Zeke over was a vital thing if I was going to convince John, because he can say no to me but it's not likely he'll say no to all three of us.

"Oh, right. That assignment," Tris repeats, "Uh, dad is it alright if I stay at Four's until we're done with the project?" Tris asks her dad and he nods warily.

"That's fine," he says and then he looks to me, "just don't have too much fun."

"Oh my God, Dad!" Tris whisper-yells at her now laughing dad. I was standing by the door trying my hardest not to blush.

Tris walks up to my porch and waves her dad off until ︎he's gone into his own house. She turns around to face me, "I'm so sorry about my dad. He tends to embarrass me where ever I go."

I chuckle at her and step aside to let her in, "Well, it only happens to the best of us."

"Yeah, that oddly doesn't make me feel any better," she says walking beside me as I lead her to the kitchen where my laptop is.

"So I take it that your dad is on board with the whole joining the NHRA idea?" I say sitting down on a stool next to her.

"On board? No, he's like flying with joy about it. My mum on the other hand is going to take a little more convincing but I think I've got it handled," she says.

"Want anything to drink?" I ask getting up and going around to the fridge.

"A water's fine, thanks," she says and I hand her a glass. I on the other hand grab a raspberry Fanta. Not the best idea opening it with a white shirt on because as soon as I do, the drink fizzes up and splashes all over my face and shirt.

"Mmm," I squint my eyes and wipe the drink off my face and look at the stains done to my shirt. Tris sits on the other side of the counter and looks at me with wide eyes while trying not to laugh.

"Nice one genius," she chuckles. I shake off what I can and end up spraying some on her too. "Hey, Four!"

"Sorry, I didn't think it'd go that far," I cover and she gives me a flat look. "Well, I'll be right back," I say jogging upstairs quickly and shrugging my wet shirt off. I grab what I see first which turns out to be a simple black shirt and throw it on, walking downstairs with my laptop now in hand. "All good," I say walking into the kitchen again.

She shakes her head at me and takes a sip of water from the glass I gave her. "Right." I shake my head smiling and set the laptop down in front of us, taking my seat next to her again. "What's this?"

"A laptop. I would've thought you knew what a laptop was."

"Ha-ha, you're ever so funny," she says flatly.

"Why I'm glad you think so," I say and she shakes her head at me, "Nah, I found a video of the initiation race of last years slots, care to watch?" She nods her head and I set up the video, pressing play once it loads.

I've never been interested in watching other people race, it somewhat bored me to a point where I just turned the TV off when the Formula 1 races aired. But this I had to make an exception for because if we wanted to get in without the excess training we needed to see what we needed to improve on ourselves.

"God, this is so boring," Tris groans keeping her eyelids open with her hands once we are past the halfway mark. I chuckle quietly. Apparently I wasn't the only one who found this boring.

Instead of looking at the screen my eyes fall onto Tris and it's like my brain can function right anymore because I notice how close I'm sitting next to her and that's all I can think about. She notices my gaze and looks at me and I take notice of just about everything: Her grey-blue eyes, her slightly long narrow nose, her full lips.

I wondered what was going on in her head, did she think of me the way I thought of her? I didn't know, but somehow there is barely any space between us and I don't know wether it was me or her but I felt safer when there was more space between us. My heart was beating just about a hundred miles a minute and it was the only other thing I could focus on aside from her lips and her eyes that stared back at mine. Why is my heart beating so fast again? I've never felt so confused about anything in my life.

Tris leans in a fraction closer, close enough that our lips are only a few centimetres apart and we were now breathing in the same air. Was I really going to kiss Tris? I don't have the time to think because I feel a pair of soft lips seal onto my own and then they're gone as quickly as the came but I stay in place, with my forehead against hers and my eyes closed.

...oh my god.

Omg did I ruin that? Omg was that too abrupt? Holy f, WHAT DID I DO? Omfg, I don't know how to write a 'first' kiss *crying*

Was this bad, good, alright? Feel free to say whatever you like but if I get a lot of feedback I'll update in a few days because I for one, like the next chapter VERY much. Will there be Fourtris or will there be no Fourtris (yet)? VOTE loves!

BUT if you are against the fact that the girl made the first move then I will be forever angry at you because GIRLS CANT DO THAT STUFF TO, OK? Don't be sexist, be happy, beautiful and kind. Be Amity but not too Amity, if you know what I'm saying:D

PS - shoutout to the reader Udementium, who honestly gives the sweetest long reviews I've ever come across. If you're reading this thank you for the long, nice, beautiful reviews you leave!

Anyways loves, till next time;)

Review!