Hey I'm back! I'm trying my hardest to get a chapter out each month, but with school starting to wrap up and everything, it gets tough! BUT I AM TRYING I SWEAR! So here is a super duper long chapter just for you guys!:) Covering a lot of ground here! I have the twist coming either next chapter or the one after that! Finally!;)

So...without further ado, I present to you Chapter 29!:)

Disclaimer: Ok I'm caring about this almost as much as I care about school. (Which is very little, by the way. My GPA is surprisingly high for someone who hates school.) So, I'm just gonna skip this one. Maybe I'll come up with something witty next chapter.

Chapter 29

Tris' POV

AN: This is later in the evening, let's say around 5:30, when they're getting ready to go to Haviland for the fair. They're back at the hotel.

"Tobias?"

We have both been ready to go to the fair for about an hour now; we're just waiting on everyone else. We've been silently watching TV on top of the bed. Well, it's been mostly Tobias watching while I've been curled up into his side trying to calm my nerves. It hasn't been working though. Eric's face and voice keep flashing through my mind and periodically, my breaths will become uneven.

"Yeah?"

I open my mouth to tell him to assure me that everything will be okay; that I'll be okay, but then I realize how childish and weak that would sound, and close my mouth at last minute.

"Tris?"

"Nevermind."

I shake my head at myself and go back to trying to calm myself down.

"Tris, just tell me. Or ask me; whatever you were going to do."

I sigh. I open my mouth to tell him no, but instead it slips out.

"Everything's going to be okay, right?"

I cover my face with my hands and groan. "That wasn't supposed to slip out."

I hear the TV go silent and groan again, knowing he's not just going to let this go.

"Tris, look at me."

"No."

"I'll get your attention somehow."

I shake my head. "I feel stupid."

"Beatrice."

I frown and look up at him. "Did you just call me Beatrice?"

"Well it worked, didn't it?"

I frown for a second longer before I realize that he did get my attention. I look down and bite my bottom lip. It doesn't last long.

He captures my face in his hands and tilts it back up.

"Why are you worried?"

"Ugh! I'm not okay?! It just slipped out of my mouth!"

"How'd it slip out if you weren't thinking it then?"

I feel myself blush knowing that he is right and caught me in my feeble lie, but glare at him. I take his wrist and push his hand away from my face.

"Listen, you don't need to be worried. It's stupid that you are, okay?"

I know that he's not calling me stupid. And I know he only meant good intentions, but it hurt. I don't know why, but it hurt. Really bad.

"I'm fine. I'm not worried," I say in a dangerous tone, trying to cover up the insecurity.

"Hmm...scary, but not scary enough for me to let it go. Want to try again?"

"Shut up Tobias!" I say in the same tone, just louder. And angrier.

"Ooo, I'll give that one an 8.5 out of 10. Very nice. Will you tell me now why you're worried?"

"Shut the hell up, Four." Same tone, but this time a bit hostile. Now I'm starting to get pissed at him. Why am I angry at him? He didn't do anything.

"It doesn't matter," my brain tells me. "He's making you more insecure about this. Yell at him. He deserves it."

It still doesn't make sense to me why I'm so angry. But I am. I guess I have a bad temper...just add that to the list of everything wrong with me. It'll only be the hundred-thousandth thing on there.

He grabs my hand making my anger dissipate a bit. Maybe he's actually going to take this seriously.

"If you say that again, but add just a bit more anger into it and maybe just a dash more of hostility, you've got a solid 10."

And with that comment, I'm even more pissed than before and violently yank out of his grip. As fast as I can, I slip my shoes on from the edge of the bed.

"Tris?"

I don't answer him. Instead I ignore him and continue to get my shoes on.

"Beatrice."

No, not this time. He's not going to get me to face him and give him my full attention again. Not after that freaking comment. And just when I thought he was serious.

Flashes of Eric pop back into my mind and I feel like I'm going to throw up. The thought of seeing him tonight is too much for me to handle. If Tobias won't take this seriously, then I need some fresh air and space away from him.

I finally get my boots laced up and stand. I walk to the door and reach both hands behind my head to throw my hair up into a quick ponytail. I reach the door and pause for a moment, getting the band wrapped one last time around my hair.

I hear him get off the bed, probably just now figuring out that I'm leaving. I quickly reach for the handle to let myself out of this suffocating room, but I wasn't fast enough. Arms wrap around my waist and pull me back from the door.

"Let me go Tobias! Let me go!"

I struggle against him. He continues to drag me farther away from the door.

"Let me go!"

I start to see red and without thinking, I elbow him in the ribs; hard. Hard enough to leave a bad bruise. I hear him release a short stream of air in pain, and I use this moment to get away from his arms. I almost reach the door when he's behind me again.

I turn, still seeing red, and wildly throw a punch towards him. I don't feel or hear the satisfaction I was hoping to; he blocked it. I throw another, and another, and another, but none of them hit the target.

I freeze. The target. The target. The target is Tobias. I've done this before. Back in Chicago when we were in the room downstairs. When I was thinking about...Eric.

I take a few steps backwards until I reach the door. He steps towards me again, probably thinking I'm going to leave, but I don't. I slide down the door until I hit the ground and pull my knees to my chest. He crouches down in front of me and sets his hands on my shoulders.

"Why does he do this to me?" I quietly ask him, talking about Eric, not really expecting him to know the answer. Because even I don't know the answer to that.

He looks concerned and confused all at the same time.

"What do you mean? Who does what to you?"

I stay silent for a couple of minutes.

"Tris?" he prods.

"Remember that time down in the room when I acted like this? I threw things around, tried to punch you, and punched the wall?" I whisper.

"It's kind of hard to forget," he answers back.

I start to tug on my sleeves and bite my lip, searching for words.

"What about it, Tris?" he prods again.

"I was thinking about Eric when that happened…I was worried he would find me..."

He raises an eyebrow. "And…?"

I wait a couple of moments and am about to tell him why these two things are related, but I see it dawning on him at last second.

"Oh…." is the only thing he says.

"Yeah…." I say and rest my chin on my knees.

"I'm sorry, Tris," he says after a few minutes of silence.

"I'm sorry too. I shouldn't let him to get me like that. It's happened twice with you around and….I'm sorry."

Neither of us tell the other not to apologize, or that it's okay; we know that what each one of us did hurt the other. So we sit in silence, neither of us knowing what to say. Eventually, I can't take the silence anymore.

"Listen Tobias, I'm sorry I lashed out at you like that. I shouldn't be affected by Eric anymore, but I am. I know I'll see him either tonight or tomorrow night when we go to the fair, and that's why I'm worried. I don't know what he will try, or if he'll even recognize me. I'm hoping for the latter, but you never know. I also apparently have a bad temper and a low tolerance level when I'm stressed or worried so-"

"Tris, just...shut up. I understand," he interrupts gently.

I look up at him. "But I hurt you. How am I supposed to be okay with that?"

"It was only once. Plus, it'll only leave an average bruise at the most."

"But that's still a bruise. I hit you." I know I'm sure as hell never going to let myself get past this. Then I remember Marcus...am I reminding him of his past?! I start to hyperventilate at this thought.

"I'm so sorry Tobias! I'm such an awful person! Why did I do that to you?! I didn't mean to, I-I-"

"Woah, woah, woah. Calm down. What's going on?" he asks and grabs my hands in his. He looks truly puzzled.

"Marcus hit you! I...I hit you!" I say, just now coming to that realization. Tears spring up into my eyes.

"Tris, it's okay."

"No it's not! I'm turning into him! I hit you, Tobias! I hit you!"

"Tris, stop!" he quietly barks at me.

I finally look up at him. I meet his eyes. They're stern, so I do stop. I let him talk.

"You are not turning into Marcus, and you never will. Do you understand me?"

"But I hit you," I say, still not okay with it at all.

"You weren't thinking straight when you did. Marcus knew exactly what he was doing. You didn't at the time. You're not him."

"What if I turn into him?"

"You won't."

"How do you know?"

He stares at me and his eyes soften. I think about how vulnerable and small I must look in this position to him; knees to chest, head to knees, trapped between him and the door with nowhere to escape to.

"Because of the fact that you're sitting right here in front of me, almost crying, worrying and hating yourself for hitting me. You're apologizing and you're not doing it for forgiveness. I already forgave you and you know it. If you were Marcus, I wouldn't have forgiven you, and he would have never apologized. You're the exact opposite of him, Tris. You don't need to worry about this. It's okay."

I let his words sink in for a moment. I feel much better knowing that he forgives me, at least. I don't, but at least he does.

"Can you please breathe, Tris?" he asks more in a demanding manner.

I realize that I am still hyperventilating and start to breathe normally again. I still haven't forgiven myself for it, but at least I know he truly believes that I won't turn into Marcus.

I stare at him. "Why do you have so much faith in me? You make me out to be a lot better person than I actually am."

He looks me dead in the eye. "I don't make you out to be a better person. You are a better person than everyone I know; including myself. You're absolutely perfect, and it kills me that you don't see that."

Tears prick my eyes again and I find myself smiling at him before I can help it. I usually would keep arguing with him, but I don't think that would be the right move at the moment.

After staring at him a little while longer, I ask him something that completely embarrasses me, but I find that I don't really care.

"Hold me? Please?"

He smiles softly at me and gathers me into his arms. I bury my head into his upper chest and wrap my arms around his back and curl my fingers around his shoulders. He sets his head on top of mine and his arms squeeze me tightly around my back. I take a deep breath through my nose, inhaling his scent. He starts to slowly run his fingers up and down my back soothingly.

After a couple of minutes of this, I feel like the silence should be broken, but I don't know how.

"I feel like I should say something."

"You don't have to. That's the good part," he replies back, whispering so quiet I could barely hear him.

At his words, I smile and squeeze him even tighter.

The moment only lasts a few minutes, unfortunately; there is a knock on the door.

"We're all heading down to the cars! Come out when you're ready!" Shauna yells through the door, not knowing we were right by it.

We listen to her retreating footsteps and wait until she's gone to say anything.

"Does this have to be over?" I jokingly, but not really joking, ask.

"Afraid so," he replies.

Even after his words, we make no effort to move. After a couple of minutes I hear him sigh.

"We really do have to get up," he says.

"Mmhmm," is my half hearted reply.

He chuckles and we stay like this for another minute. Then I'm suddenly being lifted up off the ground and gathered bridal style into Tobias' arms.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"The only thing that would get you up."

"Fair enough. Now put me down," I say with a small smile on my face.

He smiles and kisses my forehead before he turns me and sets me back onto the ground.

"Thank you."

He smiles in return. "Ready to go?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"Then let's hit the road."

ICOULDNTFINDTHEPAGEBREAKSOHERITISLADIESANDGENTLEMENPAGEBREAKPAGEBREAK

What seems like only moments later, we arrive in Haviland and are struggling to find a space to park outside of the fair/carnival. We are circling around, seat belts unbuckled (because we couldn't be going more than 10 miles per hour), searching endlessly for an open space.

"You weren't kidding when you said this thing was really popular," Zeke says to me.

"I told you so," I say, sticking my tongue out at him. He sticks his tongue out at me back and I feel like I'm 10 years old again.

Suddenly the car stops and Zeke and I both fall forward. Tobias grabs me around the waist before I hit the seat, but Zeke wasn't so lucky and ended up (lightly) hitting the side of his face on the back of the center console.

"We're here!" Tori yells, acting like she didn't mean to do that. I am the first to start laughing and pretty soon everyone else in the car is too except for Zeke.

"Ow…." he says, rubbing his jaw. It only makes me laugh more.

"Idiot," I say to him.

"Stupid," he says back.

"Loser."

"Dumb!"

"Re-"

"Ok, ok! I think that's enough you two!" Tori says hiding her laughter.

"You're gonna get it Tris," Zeke says to me, trying to look menacing but failing.

"You do that. I'll be waiting."

He sticks his tongue out at me again and I roll my eyes.

"Let's just go already. I don't want to keep listening to you two fight. It's almost as bad as when he's with Uriah," Shauna finally speaks up, opening her door and dragging Zeke out behind her, the rest of us following.

ANDHEREITISAGAINGUYSSORRYFORTHEUNPROFESSIONALWORKHERESORRYSORRYSORRY

When we meet up with the rest of the gang, we decide that we will just stick together unless someone or a small number of us wants to go do something else. We'll just stay together until further notice, pretty much. Tori has already split up and is just walking around and searching for familiar faces I'm sure.

"So what are we gonna do first?" Christina asks after we have our wristbands, eyeing the cotton candy stand.

I smile at her and roll my eyes. "It's pretty obvious what you want to eat first."

She rolls her eyes at me but smiles back.

"Cotton candy anyone?" she asks.

"HELL YEAH!" Uriah yells and starts running towards the stand.

"What the hell?" Will asks, effectively making us laugh.

"Well I guess we know where we're going," Shauna says.

"Follow my idiot brother everyone," Zeke says, pointing towards Uriah who is already getting cotton candy.

"Cotton candy? Seriously? I mean, I know Uriah is a 12 year old at heart...but cotton candy?" Lynn says to me. I laugh.

"Apparently so."

We make our way to Uriah. Uriah already has his, but waits in line with us again just so he has people to talk to. Mid-conversation, my phone buzzes. I take a peek and find a text from Justin.

Hey, are you here tonight?

I forgot that they were coming to the fair tonight. I was the one who suggested it in the first place. Duh Tris! Why wouldn't they be here?

"Hey I'm just gonna go sit on that bench over there. Come get me when you have the cotton candy," I say quietly to Tobias.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah. It's just….yeah," I say and walk to the bench without letting him reply.

I sit down and bring out my phone again. My fingers hover over the screen for a few seconds before I reply.

Yes, I'm here. With friends.

It only takes him moments to text back.

Do you want to meet up real quickly sometime? Just so we can say hi and you can introduce us to your friends?

I hesitate again. I would like to meet up; not for long, but just to say hi, like Justin said. The thing is that I'm not sure what everyone else will want to do. Especially Tobias. I don't think he would exactly be thrilled about me being friends with Taylor again. But I guess he will just have to get over it if it bothers him because I already forgave her. Everything is in the past now.

Before I can think about this any longer, I feel someone sit next to me.

"Watcha doin Tris?" Christina asks.

I look up and smile at her. "Hey Christina."

She looks down at my phone. "Who are you texting?"

I open my mouth to tell her but am interrupted.

"Oh! Is it your friends?! Can I- I mean we- meet them?"

"Do you want to?" I ask a bit nervously.

"Of course I do! I told you that a long time ago!" she exclaims.

"Okay then I guess we'll meet up so we can say hi."

"Sounds good! I'll go tell everyone else!" is all she says before getting up and running back to the group. I watch her tell the others and they all look pretty excited about it. Well, except for Tobias who turns to me and gives me a look. I stare him down. He can at least act civil about it. He eventually turns back around.

We can meet up. They want to meet you too. Oh, and by the way I have black hair now.

Black? Why not blonde?

It's just temporary dye. Comes out when I wash it. And I wanted to do it just for change.

Okay. I respect that. How many friends are with you?

I have to count real quickly.

7 friends and a boyfriend.

I typed the last part hesitantly, but it would've been wrong just saying 8 friends. Plus, I feel like Justin needs to know that...and I'm pretty sure someone would have told them anyways if I didn't.

Boyfriend? Not another like Eric, right?

He never liked Eric even before we dated. He always called him a 'selfish, hateful, unloving bastard', which pretty much sums it up.

No. The exact opposite of Eric actually. He might look intimidating but don't let him scare you. He'll only bite if you bite first.

Lol I'll keep that in mind.

And with that message, I stand up and go back to the gang. Christina and Will are getting their cotton candy to share but everyone else is still waiting. I stand next to Tobias and gently grab his wrist, silently asking if he's mad at me. I hear him sigh. He turns his hand so that my fingers intertwine with his.

"They're my friends, okay? Justin and Taylor are my friends," I say to him.

"I know, I know. I don't know them like you do. If you're friends with them then they must be good people."

I sigh in relief. "Thank you for understanding."

He squeezes my hand in return. We finally reach the front of the line.

"How many?" the man asks.

"Just one," I answer. He nods and turns to make it. I grab a five dollar bill from my pocket, but as soon as Tobias sees it he grabs it from me.

"Hey!"

The man turns back around and hands me the cotton candy while Tobias produces money of his own and gives it to him.

"Have a good night!" the man says.

"You too," we both reply.

Tobias hands me back my money and I put it back into my pocket. We walk towards where the others grouped up. I speak up as soon as we are out of earshot of the cotton candy man.

"I could've paid."

"But I'm not gonna let you."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm your boyfriend, and that's what boyfriends do."

I smile at his words. "Fine, whatever."

We're the last ones to join up with the rest of the group.

"When are we meeting up with your friends, Tris?" Marlene asks.

"Ummm….that I actually don't know," I say, kind of embarrassed that I didn't even plan it out.

"That's okay. You can figure it out and then we can just meet up whenever! No rush!" Shauna says.

I smile thankfully at her. "Thanks Shauna."

She smiles back.

From there, we all start walking around the fair eating our cotton candy. We stop at a lot of hands-on games which various people win. Christina won the water shooting game the first time while Uriah won the second time. Tobias and Marlene won both the rings around the bottle game and the dart throwing game. Will, Zeke, Lynn, and Shauna all won the baseball throwing game. I won every one; I'd been practicing for years.

We take turns doing all of the activities for about an hour and a half until eventually we all decide to stop. We're all holding our prizes and are completely overloaded with them. So we find Tori and get the car keys from her. We walk out of the fair, put our prizes in the trunks, then walk back to the cotton candy stand. We don't get more, but we just stand there.

"Soooooo…now what do we do?" Shauna asks.

"Roller coasters!" Uriah and Zeke yell at the same time that Christina and Marlene yell, "The Ferris Wheel!"

I rest my head on Tobias' shoulder. This is an argument waiting to happen.

"No! Definitely roller coasters!"

"We should do the Ferris Wheel next!"

"Roller coasters are better!"

"No, the Ferris Wheel is next!"

As they argue, my phone buzzes again. I pull it out of my pocket and unlock it (yes, I finally put a password on it) with my freehand.

You don't happen to be standing next to the cotton candy stand, do you?

Around that area, yes.

I receive a picture in reply. It's of Christina, Marlene, Uriah, and Zeke arguing. It also has the back of me, Tobias, Shauna, Lynn, and Will in the picture.

Do these idiots belong to you or should I keep looking?

I laugh and look behind me. I see all three of them eating cotton candy on the bench I was sitting on earlier. Taylor is the first to catch my eye. Justin wasn't lying when he said she cut her hair. She chopped off everything below the tops of her shoulders. She looks good like that.

Tobias looks at me funny when I look back forward. I smile at him and text Justin back.

Sadly, they are mine and I can't sell them. We're coming just give us a sec.

"Hey guys, I know what we're doing," I say.

"What?" Christina asks.

"Saying hi to my friends."

"Finally! Yes! Where are they?!" she exclaims.

"Well there's only two of them, but they brought their little sister along with them so that makes three of them. And they're right over there on that bench next to the cotton candy."

"Well let's go then," Will says.

I squeeze Tobias' hand and untangle our fingers. I lead them over to where Justin, Taylor, and Makayla are all sitting. Justin sees us first and stands up. Taylor follows and shyly smiles at me. I smile back and she seems to relax. Makayla recognizes me and doesn't hesitate to run the rest of the distance to me.

"Bumblebea!" she exclaims and jumps up into my arms.

"Hey there Kayla-bo-bayla!"

I catch her and she wraps her legs around my waist. She throws her arms around my neck and squeezes me as tight as her little arms can muster. I hug her back and kiss her on the cheek. She releases me and giggles as she starts to play with my hair, oblivious to everyone else around her. I hear a couple of 'awwwws' from the girls and the boys have smiles on their faces. Tobias meets my eyes and smiles at me. I blush at the attention.

"Oh my gosh! Who is this little cutie!?" Christina asks.

I break my eye contact with him and look at Christina.

"This is Makayla White," I reply.

"And how old are you miss Makayla?" she asks her.

I'm half expecting Makayla not to answer because she tends to be shy, but she doesn't hesitate to reply.

"I'm thwee and a half!" she exclaims, trying and failing to hold up three fingers.

"She's so cute!" I hear Marlene whisper-yell to Shauna.

"Makayla! Get off of Tris!" Justin says. Taylor and Justin are both here now.

"She's just fine, don't worry," I say.

I turn to the gang. "Guys, this is Justin and Taylor. Justin and Taylor, this is Christina, Marlene, Shauna, Lynn, Will, Uriah, Zeke, and Four," I say, pointing to each person as I go.

They all exchange hellos of some sort and easily start conversation with each other. I'm relieved to find that they get along.

"Hey Bumblebea is this how many fingas I am?" she says, holding up four fingers.

I laugh at her use of grammar. "Not quite Kayla-bo-bayla," I tell her and put down one finger.

"Oh, okay! Hey! Where's Cwistina?! Wemember? You told me you had a best fwiend named Cwistina?"

For a three year old, she sure does have a good memory. Christina hears her name being mentioned and turns out of the conversation.

"Did I hear my name?"

"Are you Cwistina?!" Makayla asks excitedly.

"Yes, I'm Christina miss Makayla. What d'ya need?"

"Are you Bumblebea's best fwiend?" she asks now serious. I can't help but laugh at her serious face. And it looks like Christina can't either.

"Yes, I am Tris' best friend. Why?"

"I have a best fwiend named Cwistina too! That's so cool! Do you like dwess-up Cwistina?"

"Yes, I suppose I do like dress-up," she replies, winking at me.

They continue their conversation while I space off and get lost in my thoughts. I somehow meet ocean blue eyes and stare into them. I end up being drawn out of my thoughts by Makayla.

"Twis! Twis!"

I snap out of our intense stare and blush as I turn back to Makayla, mentally thanking Justin and Taylor for telling Makayla that I go by Tris. Christina seems to have turned back to the conversation she was in before.

"Yes, Makayla?"

"Do you still have a boyfwiend like me?"

My cheeks go slightly pink again. "Yes I do."

"Is his name Adam?"

I laugh. "No, his name isn't Adam. That's just your boyfriend's name."

"Awwwww...but then what is his name?"

"His name is Four."

"Fouwa? Like the numba?"

"Yes, like the number."

"Oh. Aw you suwa?"

I smile at her. "Yes Kayla-bo-bayla, I'm sure."

"Can you put me down Bumblebea?"

"Sure, 'Kayla."

I set her down gently on her feet and she runs to Justin. She tells him something then within a few seconds she is up on his shoulders. I smile again and turn into the conversation the girls are having. I try to listen, but everything is just coming in one ear and going out the other. My mind is racing too fast to listen to this.

Is this actually happening or is it just a dream? It all just seems so surreal. I mean, all of my friends, from Chicago and Haviland, are talking to each other; they're having fun with each other. This can't be real, right? I pinch myself with my nails and immediately wince at the mark I gave myself. Nope, it's definitely real.

I simply stare at the two groups talking; the boys split off into a group and the girls into another. Everything finally catches up to me and I suddenly stop. I am in Haviland, with the gang, who are talking to Taylor and Justin, my two friends that I never thought I'd really care enough to see again. But here I am. In the open. Where anyone from school could recognize me; including Hailey and Eric.

I shake my head, refusing to let myself dwell on this too long; if I do, I know I'll probably lose my mind thinking about all of this.

The rapid conversation slowly starts to die down until Justin is walking over to Taylor.

"Hey, we better get going and leave these guys to it, Taylor."

She nods. "Yeah, okay."

"You guys can join us if you want!" Christina tells them.

"I'd love to, but we actually need to get going home to check on our Dad," Taylor politely tells her.

"Well, we will be here tomorrow night too if you want to join in on the fun then," I suggest, not really knowing when or why I decided to say that.

"Ooo! Can we, Justin? Can we?!" Makayla asks, causing a few smiles to emit.

"We'll see. It'll depend on Dad and how everything is going tomorrow," Taylor replies back with a smile aimed towards me.

"If we can go, I'll text you, Tris," Justin adds.

"Okay. Well then, I'll-we'll maybe see you tomorrow," I say, kind of disappointed that they have to go already. I understand why, but I almost wish they could stay a bit longer.

Justin sets Makayla down and she comes running up to me. She throws her arms around my waist and I squat down and wrap my arms tightly around her.

"But I don't want to go," she starts to cry.

I lean back and see a few tears running down her face. I take the end of my sleeve and tug it down over my hand. I use it to then gently wipe off the tears.

"I know you don't, but I will see you soon, okay?"

"But what if I don't?" she sniffles. I wipe a couple more tears from her cheeks.

"You will. I promise."

As soon as she hears me promise, she brightens up. She knows I never break my promises.

"Okay Bumblebea. I'll see you soon."

I smile. "I'll see you soon."

She squeezes me one last time before she backs up and goes back to stand next to Justin. Taylor comes up to me and seems unsure of what to do. I put my arms around her without hesitation. Once I do, she relaxed and puts her arms around me too. We're about the same height, which is kind of odd since we're both below average height.

"Hey, just hang in there, okay? I'm always only a call or text away," I quietly tell her.

"Thanks Bea-or, I mean- Tris," she says smiling apologetically.

"It's okay. You can call me Beatrice if you want. The only reason these guys don't is because they don't know my real name."

"You changed your name?" she asks, confused.

"It's short for Beatrice. It just sounds stronger and fiercer. I thought that maybe if I could start over new, my life would be better."

"Did it work?"

I look at Tobias from the corner of my eye now talking to Zeke. "It definitely did."

She follows my gaze very secretive-like, and smiles knowingly. She looks back at me and nods.

"Thank you so much for everything Beatrice; your forgiveness, concern, advice, comfort- everything," she says with just a slight glaze of tears over her eyes.

"You're welcome, Taylor. I was in your spot once too; I know what it feels like," I say, understandingly.

She nods and smiles. "I'm glad I have someone to talk to."

"Me too," I say and smile back. "Now you better go catch Makayla before she runs off," I laugh.

She laughs too. "Will do. Bye Be- Tris."

"Bye Taylor."

She walks off and suddenly starts to run, chasing Makayla down. Justin comes up to me next and since he's almost a foot taller than me, he towers over me as he hugs me. I squeeze him back for a little while.

"Hey, thanks for meeting us here. I think we all needed that. Especially the girls."

"No problem. The gang seemed to enjoy your company as well," I tell him truthfully.

"They're great people; hilarious too. You got yourself a good group of friends, that's for sure. You better keep 'em."

"Oh, trust me. I'm planning on it."

"We missed you Tris," he says sincerely after we are silent for a couple of seconds.

"I missed you all more than I thought I did, I'll admit it."

He laughs. "Well at least that's the case and not the opposite."

I laugh too. "Ain't that the truth. Now go take care of that family of yours," I say and lightly punch him in the arm as Taylor and Makayla come back.

"Will do m'am. It was good seeing you, Tris. I'll see you later."

"See you later, Justin."

He steps back. "Well we're gonna head on out people. It was nice meeting you."

"Yeah, I'm glad I got to meet you guys!" Taylor adds brightly.

The girls all hug her and Makayla quickly while Justin and the guys do some kind of fist bump/handshake thing. When they're done saying their goodbyes, they start to walk towards the front entrance.

"Bye guys!" Taylor yells behind her and then they're gone, disappearing into the swarm of people.

As soon as she's sure they're out of earshot, Christina asks, "Why do they need to check on their Dad? What happened?"

"Their Mom just passed away a tiny bit ago," I reply back quietly and empathetically.

"Really? They didn't act like it…" Marlene points out.

"Yeah….they're doing a lot better than I expected," I say with a smile. I'm glad that they're doing okay.

After a couple moments of silence, Uriah says, "So now what do we do?"

"Ferris wheel," several girls yell out. He holds up his hands.

"Fine, fine. But then whatever we want to do next we're doing, whether you want to or not," Zeke pouts.

"So, what are you doing next?" Marlene asks, smirking.

"I-umm...yeah, I don't know. Fine. Whatever it is if one of you don't want to do it, you don't have to."

"Fair enough," Shauna says.

"Wait! I have to go pee!" Uriah yells. I laugh at him.

"Who else needs to use the restroom?" I ask.

"I could use a trip to the restroom," Christina says.

"Yeah, I could too," Zeke says.

"I'll go too," Lynn says.

"Then Four, Will, Marlene and Shauna, you can stay here. Everyone else follow me," I say and start walking to where the restrooms are at. Luckily when we get there, there isn't a line and we can go right in. I don't have to use the bathroom so I walk around to the other side of the building and lean up against it. I close my eyes and wait for them to come out.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"

My eyes snap open, my heart races, and I tense up. I take a few steps away from the building, looking for him.

"Never thought I'd see you here again. Man, you really are stupider than I thought."

He suddenly appears in front of me and I jump back.

"Let's talk, shall we?" he says, daring me to disagree.

I somehow find my voice. "I never want to talk to you again, Eric," I spit.

His eyes suddenly turn angry. He grabs my shoulders and roughly shoves me into the brick wall behind me. My back stings with the contact and any courage I had before is gone.

"Since when was it okay for you to talk to me like that?" he asks menacingly. I try to squirm out of his grip, but it only makes him slam his palms into my shoulders harder. I yelp but quickly close my mouth. He smirks at me, knowing he hurt me.

"Answer me, Beatrice," he tells me, holding the 's' sound in my name so he sounds like a snake.

When I don't answer him, he only pushes against my shoulders harder. I grit my teeth to keep from yelling out.

One of his fingers runs through my hair and down my jaw-line. I struggle to keep from throwing up.

"Why the black hair, huh Beatrice? What was so wrong with blonde?"

I stay silent again.

"Answer me!" he yells.

Luckily, I hear a bathroom door opening and remember that I had Zeke, Uriah, Christina, and Lynn here with me. They'll find me; they'll get me out of this.

"Get off of me," I say as sternly as I can, hoping that they'll get me out of this soon.

"Name one good reason I should," he says, eyes narrowed and pushing into my shoulders harder.

I pause for a moment and I hear Christina.

"Tris? Hey Zeke, where's Tris?"

I find even more courage than before as I reply.

"Because you're a selfish, hateful, unloving bastard who has no right to have his hands on me," I spit.

This was not what he was expecting. He did not expect an answer like that to come from my mouth. He was expecting the meek, shy, and weak Beatrice he knew. Little did he know, she's changed a bit.

Before he can say anything more, I hear footsteps from around the corner.

"Tris- hey, what are you doing?!" Lynn yells. Eric whips his head around to see the group then turns back to me. If I hadn't already used my courage up to give him that response, I think I would've have smirked.

"We're just having a...talk," he says, glaring at me. He stares at me, making me feel exposed as I remember that he knows exactly what my body looks like underneath all of these clothes. The thought makes me shudder.

"I don't see why 'talking' involves physical contact," Uriah spits at him. I'm surprised to see Uriah like this; I've never seen his protective side before.

"Why don't you just back away from her, man?" Zeke demands.

Eric looks at me for another moment before looking back at my friends.

"Let. Her. Go," Christina angrily demands.

All of a sudden, the pressure is released off of my shoulders and they start to throb. Eric steps back, hands raised, surrendering.

"Whatever. I'll talk to you soon, Tris," he says, purposefully using my nickname. The look he gives me is one of hate, and it scares the absolute crap out of me. But what scares me more is what he said.

"I'll talk to you soon, Tris."

It scares me because I know he meant it. He never says anything without meaning it; in a bad way. If he says, "I hate you," he means it. He will do everything in his power to make your life miserable. If he says, "I will find you," he means it. He will either wait for you to come to him, like I did, or he will hunt you down like a hawk. If he says, "I'll talk to you soon," he means it.

He already hates me, and just accomplished finding me. Now he has a new goal; to get me alone and start this conversation up again. Soon.

And that's what scares me the most.

He will find me again, soon, and I will be alone. I can try my hardest to stay together with someone or the whole gang at all times, but eventually something will happen and I'll be alone. That's when he'll strike.

And who knows what'll happen when he does.

AND THERE YA GO! Chapter 29! I made this chapter extra long to make up for lost time. I apologize for the late timing of this chapter and probably for the next one as well! But hey! SCHOOL IS ALMOST OUT! WOOO!

Anyways...I know several of you are probably going to get mad because I didn't have Four/Tobias there when 'Eric' happened. But I can't have him beating the crap out of him!...at least...not yet…*smirks evilly*. But for those of you who are still worried, don't. Eric will get his justice. I promise.

Thank you guys so much for all the reviews, favorites, and follows! And the readers who are there, yes, I see you too! Thank you as well!:) Everyone here in one way or another means a lot to me! Sooooo….do you think we can get to 430 reviews, 250 favorites, and 300 followers? I think we can! And I am setting goals for favorites and follows now because I feel like if I don't, all I (seem to) care about is reviews, and that's not the case! So I'm asking for 7 reviews, 5 favorites, and 1 follow! Does that sound reasonable? I hope so! Anyways...HAVE A GOOD DAY/NIGHT/EVENING/MORNING!