"Don't you think it's a bit… much?" I ask my reflection.

"Tris, you look amazing. Stop worrying about it," Shauna says as she adjusts her eyeliner.

I take in my cherry red lips, my smoky eyes, and my curly hair cascading down my back. "The dress is shorter than I remember it," I continue.

She glances at me and does a double take. "Yeah, it does, huh? At least you have the tights."

"Fishnets," I correct.

"Tris," she groans.

"Do you think these heels are really necessary?"

"Christina, deal with your roomie!" Shauna calls from the bathroom.

Chris comes in holding two pair of shoes. "Should I go with these –" she holds up a pair of silvery, sparkly heels " – or these?" she asks as she demonstrates a pair of white platforms with black music notes on them.

"Oh, good question," muses Shauna. "I like the platforms because they match your nails."

Chris nods and sits on the toilet seat cover. "So why do I need to deal with Tris?"

"She's being self-conscious again," Shauna explains.

"The dress seems shorter than it did at the store," I justify.

"That's because I had them do some modifications. I only took off an inch and a half."

"Christina," I whimper.

"You'll thank me later, Tris."

"What about these heels?"

"They're cute. Stop complaining."

"But –"

"Tris," she says in a threatening tone.

I scowl and grab my headband. I offer it to her and she stands up. She's easily five inches taller and I'm balancing in six inch heels. She expertly places the headband in my curls and inspects her work, smiling. "You're ready," she declares. I walk out of the bathroom and see Mar sitting on my bed. My phone starts going off. I rush to it and see that Uriah is trying to FaceTime me.

"Mar, go to the bathroom, please. Your boyfriend is trying to get ahold of me and you know the rule," I smirk with a tad bit of irony.

She rolls her eyes and walks away as I answer.

After a few seconds, Uriah and Zeke appear on my phone.

"What's up, guys?" I ask.

"'What's up?' What's up with you? You look… older," Uriah says.

"What do you guys want?" I demand.

"Oh, right. Tris. We need you to talk to Four for us," Zeke informs me.

"Okay… what about?"

They glance at each other. "He's mad at us and wants to kill us," Zeke tells me.

"Why?"

They glance at each other again. Uriah bites his lip, hesitating. "Um. We told him some things –"

"As a joke," Zeke adds.

"As a joke," Uri agrees. "And he took them a little… hard."

"Well, what did you say to him?" I ask.

Zeke sighs. "We were teasing him… for being… pure and we were making fun of… you." He says the last word quietly.

"Oh?" I say, narrowing my eyes. "You were making fun of me for being a virgin, right?"

"Zeke was," Uriah clarifies, earning a smack upside the head from his older brother.

I sigh. "Why do you want me to talk to him?" I rub my temples.

Uriah looks at Zeke. "Well, we're hoping that if you talk to him, he'll calm down," Uriah explains.

"And that I can finally go back to my own dorm room –" Zeke adds.

"Because you spend so much time there, right?" I retort.

"Without the fear of being murdered," he finishes.

"Because you spend so much time –" I repeat.

"I can't sleep at Shauna's and I'm tired of crashing with Uri and Will ," he points out.

"And whose fault's that?" I snap.

"Okay, okay, you two," Uriah intercepts, smacking Zeke in the stomach. "We need her to fix our friendship with him," he whispers. He turns his face back to his phone screen and to me. "Look, Tris. We're asking as friends, okay? Can you just talk to him to calm him down about the whole situation? Please?" He widens his brown eyes into a puppy dog face.

I groan. "Fine," I hiss. They both give sighs of relief. "But what am I supposed to say to him, exactly?"

Uriah shrugs as Zeke offers a half smile as he says, "That's your problem, sweetheart."

Out of nowhere, we hear, "I HEARD THAT, DICKWAD!"

Zeke's eyes grow in terror as Uriah laughs. "I love you, Shauna!" he quickly adds.

I laugh as she says, "Love you too, asshat."

"Okay, dorks, let me see what I can do. No guarantees, alright?"

"Whatever," Zeke says.

"Thanks, Tris. We'll owe you one," Uri says.

"You're gonna owe me two," I whisper.

"How you figure?" Zeke questions not-so-quietly.

"Shh. Compliment the girls on their nails when you see them. Pass that along to Will."

"Um, okay?" Uriah says.

"Just trust me, okay?"

"Alright, alright. We'll compliment them on their nails," Zeke agrees.

"Good. Okay, see you guys tonight."

"That you will, our dear Tris. That you will," Uriah concludes before the screen goes blank.

"Hey, Mar. Is that bet still valid?" I call out.

XxX

We walk into the clearing at 6:40 – 10 minutes after the party started. But it's evident that we aren't the only ones who are fashionably late; there are only about 15 people there, including the Pedrad brothers and Will, but… no Tobias.

I try to conceal my disappointment while I watch my friends reunite with their boy/girlfriends. I grab a Coke and see Chris walking up to me. She hands me a $10 bill and says, "Will just told me that he liked my nails. Figured I'd pay up." I smile as she walks away. Marlene comes up a minute later and Shauna comes up a moment after her. I sit down on the Gatorade cooler – seems like nobody wants one tonight – and watch the fire blaze.

"Hey, did you get the chance to talk to Four yet?" Uriah asks as he gets a beer.

I shake my head no. "How could I, Uri? I haven't seen him."

He nods his head understandingly. "Go to where the tree line meets the lake," he says quietly before walking back to Marlene. I glare at his retreating figure before standing up and leaving the clearing.

I walk over to where Shauna went skinny dipping the first time I played Truth or Dare with my new friends. It seems so long ago that it's hard to imagine that it was only a month and a half ago. There are only a couple of trees on the shore of the lake, but it gives the feeling of being on the beach and in a forest at the same time.

There is a figure standing next to a large tree, looking out onto the lake. I walk towards it as silently as I can.

The figure turns suddenly and I see that it's Tobias.

"Tris," he breaths as he crosses the seven feet that separates us before engulfing me in a tight hug.

I pull away a little and bring his lips to mine. We kiss for a moment before he pulls back. "God, I've been wanting to do that for too long," he mumbles before ducking his head to kiss my neck.

"I've missed you, Tobias," I whisper.

"Mm-hmm," he mumbles against my skin, trailing his lips down to my collarbone back up my neck to my jawline. He starts nibbling on my earlobe, causing me to giggle.

He pulls away and we both look at each other up and down.

"Wow," we both say at the same time.

He's wearing a deep green tank top and military-camo pants with black combat boots. He has a pair of Aviators on the neckline of his tank, and his muscles are more prominent than usual.

"Tris, you look… wow, amazing doesn't even begin to cover it. Shit."

I blush – thank God for the darkness – and say, "You don't look so bad yourself. I do love me a man in uniform." I wrap my arms around his neck loosely. He glances away from me. "Tobias?" He looks back at me and smiles. "Hey, what's wrong?"

He shakes his head. "Nothing."

"Tobias, you can tell –"

"Tris, I promise you, nothing is wrong." He smiles, but it looks a little tight to me. He grabs ahold of my hips and pulls me closer to him. "You know, I really do like this costume on you."

I smile. "Thanks, babe." I take a step back and notice how his eyes skim over the hem of my dress and to my fishnets.

"Those look nice," he comments. I laugh and take his hand.

"Calm down, big guy, and let's get back to the party," I say as I start to guide him back to the clearing.

"Tris." I stop and look at him. "I love you."

I kiss him softly. "I love you, too. Now let's go back, okay?"

He grins. "Alright."

On our walk back, I say, "Oh, so Uriah and Zeke want me to talk to you for them."

He stops short, tense. "They do?" he growls.

"Tobias," I say soothingly. "They also told me why –"

"I am going to kill them."

"Tobias," I say forcefully. He clenches his teeth, but stays silent. "They're your best friends. Shit, they're practically your brothers. That's what siblings do – they make fun of each other about their relationships. They feel really bad about it."

"Then they shouldn't've said it to begin with," he mumbles.

I take his face in my hands. "They obviously weren't thinking that you'd take them seriously. In fact, I'm even surprised that you took them seriously. There is nothing serious about those two boys."

He offers me a small smile. "Are you mad at them?"

"Absolutely," I say. "But not because they were making fun of us. I'm mad that they've annoyed you to the point that I have to fix their mess." I grin.

He shrugs half-heartedly. "I'll think about it."

I peck his cheek. "That's all I can ask of you. But try not to kill Zeke when he ever decides to return to your room."

He laughs a real laugh. "Okay, I guess."

I smile. "Now can we get back to the party?"

He nods. "Okay."

XxX

Tobias' POV

I almost tell her. I almost tell Tris that I'm going into the military. I have to tell her, but I panic. I know I need to tell her soon, but I just don't know how.

XxX

We walk back into the clearing hand-in-hand. The party's really packed now – seems like the whole school is here. It feels more cramped than usual, and fear consumes me. Tris stops walking and looks around before leading me to the least-populated area of the clearing. I sigh in relief.

"Stay here," she mumbles before slipping away from me. I watch her as she navigates through the crowd. I lose her quickly, though, when she ducks through a thicket of drunk kids. I try to look for her again, but I can't find her – not without going into the thickest of the crowd.

A moment later, she reappears, with Zeke in tow. And she looks pissed. Oh, shit.

She hauls Zeke and stands next to me.

He looks at me and offers a terrified smirk. "Hey, bro," he says nonchalantly. I narrow my eyes at him, and he looks at Tris. "I thought you said that he's forgiven me," he hisses.

"Zeke," she growls.

He groans. "Right, right. Look, Four, buddy, I'm sorry for what I said to you. Really am. I was just kidding and I didn't mean anything by it. Please forgive me," he practically begs.

I smirk a little. "Whatever, dude."

"Is that a yes?" He sounds hopeful.

"It means I'll think about forgiving you, but I won't murder you in your sleep."

He swallows. "Oh, okay. Thanks, Four."

I nod. "See you, fucker."

He rolls his eyes and walks away, presumably back to Shauna. I turn to Tris.

"What?" she asks innocently. "I thought that he should apologize."

I smile a crooked smile as I place my hands on her waist. My fingers almost touch on her back, and her skinniness worries me. "He has. Plenty. But thank you for making him say sorry."

She smiles as she wraps her arms around my neck, playing with my hair. It's grown out a bit and I may need to cut it again. She's making me crazy in ways I never thought a girl could make me.

"Are you going to force Uri to beg for forgiveness too?" I tease.

She shakes her head, her curls flying all over the place. "Nope."

I give her a perplexed look. "Why?"

Her expression is serious. "Because you've already forgiven him."

I raise an eyebrow. "How do you know that?"

"Because he told me where you were. He could've only gotten that from you, which means you weren't that mad at him to begin with."

I give her a shocked face. "What?" she squeaks.

"That's very Erudite of you," I say once I've regained my composure.

She rolls her eyes. "You sound like Christina." I smirk but she sighs. "I tested for three of the groups." My smirk falls.

"That's…different. Which ones?"

"Dauntless, Erudite, and Abnegation."

I smile. I may as well tell her. "Dauntless and Abnegation."

She looks up to me. "Excuse me?"

"Dauntless and Abnegation," I repeat. "Those were my results for the aptitude test."

She physically relaxes. "I thought I was the only one who tested for more than one group."

I shake my head. "Nah, there's a couple of others, but not many."

She opens her mouth to say something, but she's interrupted by a tipsy Christina.

"Trrriissssssssssyyy," she slurs. "You know, you're the greatest friend evvvvveerrrr?"

Tris smiles. It's one of my favorite smiles of hers. She only smiles like that when she's flattered or when she's being brave and selfless or –

"What do you want, Chris?" she says soothingly and understandingly.

"Dooo yoooouu miiiiind sleeeeeepiiing wiith Fooourr toniiiight?" she hiccups.

Tris scrunches her nose, the smile gone. She looks at me. "I'm more than fine with it," I say. She turns back to Christina and nods. Chris giggles and wraps Tris in a drunken hug. Tris shakes her head and returns it. Chris practically skips back to Will.

Someone bumps into me, almost making me lose my balance. The crowd is thickening and it's getting harder to breath.

Tris looks at me and interlocks our fingers. I shut my eyes and she starts to guide me around the party. We maneuver our way to the Halloween Treats table. She grabs a brown block, but I wrap my fingers around her wrist. She looks at me curiously.

"Amity brownies," I explain. She shakes her head, not understanding. "They put pot in them. That's why they're always happy." Her eyes widen and she places the brownie in a trash can.

I start getting antsy; I need to get out of here. I lean over to her and whisper, "Hey, do you wanna get out –"

"Beatrice?" a familiar voice says. I sigh and straighten up. Beatrice. The name sounds so wrong for her.

Tris purses her lips before turning around. "Hey, Caleb."

"Hey," he says, actually cheerfully. Yep, he's definitely eaten some of the brownies. Tris smiles at her brother. "You look… older." He narrows his eyes before smiling again.

Tris laughs. "Thanks, I guess." She actually seems happy to see him; usually she's more guarded.

"There you are, Caleb, I've been looking all over for you," a blonde girl comes over, wrapping her arm around his waist. It's pretty obvious that she's had a couple of Amity sweets as well. She turns to us. "Oh, you must be Beatrice. Caleb's told me so much about you." She turns to me. "Hey, Four."

I nod. "Cara," I say in acknowledgment. She's Will's older sister and she used to come over to talk to him during lunch when he was a freshman.

Tris' smile widens. "It's just Tris, actually," she politely corrects. "And it's so nice to meet you, Cara. You're so much prettier than my brother makes you out to be."

Not as pretty as you, Tris, I think to myself.

Cara blushes. "Oh, you're too sweet! Anyways, we should get going. We'll see you next week. Bye!" she says bubbly as she drags Caleb into the crowd.

She looks around. "Honestly, I don't understand why this is such a big deal."

I glance at her. "Me neither. I think it's because it's a school wide thing instead of just the Dauntless. And it's an excuse for people to pretend to be someone they're not."

She glances at me and grabs my hand. "I don't want to be anyone else," she whispers.

I run my thumb over her knuckles and shift my weight so I'm standing in front of her. I put my hand on her cheek, my hand taking the full length of the side of her face. I look deep into her steel blue eyes, allowing them to consume me like a blue flame. "Me neither."