A/N Sorry again. I know I shouldn't procrastinate but it's my way of life. It's pretty fun actually, except when I have a test and I haven't studied and literally look over everything last minute and manage to pass. Anyway… here's the next chapter.

Chapter twenty-three

Four's POV

As soon as Tris' breathing evened out, I slid off the bed and climbed back out her window. I dropped to the ground as silently as possible and opened the door to my jeep. I turned the keys and set off down the road after Marcus.

I hated lying to her but how could I tell her about where I was really going. Oh yeah, just so you know, I'm going to be following my dad to find out about his drug business to get him arrested. Yeah, she would take that really well. She'd insist to come along, and I didn't want to put her at risk like that.

I saw my father's car up ahead and turned down my headlights. I drove behind him and took back roads that lead to roads he was travelling on. This way I would look like a tourist getting lost rather than his son tailing him.

He was headed towards the bad side of town, unsurprisingly, where the drug gangs were. I had to be more careful now, driving down roads parallel to him and crossing paths to figure out where he was going. Finally, after an hour of driving around I saw him pull in at an abandoned building and turned off down a side street so he wouldn't see the jeep.

I took a deep breath and prepared myself for what I was going to see. I slipped out of the jeep and stuck to the shadows as I made my way to where he had parked. It was outside an old, abandoned apartment complex. I saw him walk in the front door and ducked under a bush.

I counted to one hundred before getting up and moving towards the building. It was crumbling but still mostly intact with twenty floors, judging by the windows. I saw an open window on the second floor and hauled myself up onto the windowsill. Then I reached up and grabbed the next one, gripping it like my life depended on it. I hauled myself up and pushed the window open more so I could look in.

I looked in and made sure the coast was clear before slipping inside. I was in an old apartment with holes in the walls and rotten floors. There was an old couch with moths flying out of it and a rusted fridge and sink in the kitchen. The cupboards were rotten or falling apart and the ceiling in the bedroom had collapsed. I had to walk along the edge of the room to make sure I didn't fall through the floor. I could hear sounds coming from somewhere in the building, so I moved towards the door.

It creaked a little as I opened it but there was so much noise, I doubt anyone heard it. I looked out and gaped in shock. Where the hall should have been there was a gaping hole in the ground and saw the entire first floor was being used as a factory. There were people everywhere, walking around with goggles and lab coats, carrying chemicals and machinery. There were conveyor belts with crates on them and boiling pots full of strange liquids.

I quickly whipped out my phone to take pictures for evidence. I had given up on the idea of telling the police now and getting taken away from Tris but that doesn't mean I couldn't save the evidence until I as far away at college.

As I watched everyone, I noticed some familiar faces but couldn't quite place where I knew them from. I dismissed the thought and crept out into what was left of the hall and made my way to another room, hoping for a better angle. It was only when I was halfway to the other room that it hit me. They were Factionless students. They lived in a bad neighbourhood and this was probably the only way they could make any money.

I felt bad for them, but I had to take my father down. I saw him on the other side of the room, so I zoomed in and snapped a couple of pictures. I turned off my phone and turned to leave through this room when I froze. There was a guy, around my age standing in front of the window, staring at me.

Before I could hesitate, I moved quickly, slamming him into the wall and covering his mouth. My heart pounded as I prayed that he hadn't seen my face in the dim light. Hopefully, he wouldn't recognise me and tell my father. I leaned my forearm into his throat to cut off his air supply and whispered quickly in his ear.

"I'm only going to tell you this once, so listen up. Let me leave and tell no-one about me being here or I will expose this whole organisation. I was meant to sneak into another building but ended up here. If you say nothing, I won't tell your family that you're dealing drugs. Got it" I said, the lie coming to me easily after years of practice.

He nodded his head, so I released him, turned on my heel and climbed out the window. I jumped down and sprinted to my car, putting as much distance between me and this place as possible. But I stopped at the street corner to memorise where it was. I was breathing hard, my heart pounding as I climbed into the car. I only calmed down when I was parked outside of Tris' house.

I leaned my forehead against the steering wheel and sucked in deep lungfuls of air, calming myself. I didn't want to go in to Tris like this, all panicked and sweaty. So, I sat there, for who knows how long before opening the car door and running towards the tree. My muscles ached as I pulled myself up, but I just pushed it to the side, knowing I would be able to rest in a minute. I climbed along the branch to the open window only to come face to face with the last person I wanted to explain myself to.

Tris.

She was sitting on her bed, clutching her pillow with tears in her eyes as she raised her head to look at me. She ran to me and hugged me so tight I couldn't breathe. I wrapped my arms around her but as soon as I did, she pulled away and slapped me. Hard. And it hurt. I bit back a cry of pain, knowing I deserved it.

"I can explain," I whispered.

"Not now. My dad's here and so is Caleb. I don't want them to hear us. Meet me at the park at six. And you better have a good explanation for this," she said, her expression furious.

I just nodded my head and climbed back out the window and went to sleep in my own bed.

. . .

I woke to my alarm blaring at five fifty and quickly shut if off. I pulled on my shoes and a hoodie before climbing out onto the tree, waiting for Tris. She came out five minutes later, looking sleep deprived but no less angry. She grunted a greeting before heading to the car.

I drove to the park in silence and we sat there for a while waiting for one of us to speak. I took her silence to mean that it was my job to say the first words, but I didn't know where to start. Should I start with the part about Therese or my mom's diaries or last night. I sat there for a while before clearing my throat and deciding to say something.

"I don't really know where to start Tris. I wasn't cheating or anything like that, I swear. I was dealing with Marcus."

"Why did you lie to me?"

"I didn't want you to worry."

She let out a dry laugh. "Well that didn't work out too well, did it?"

"No, it didn't," I said sighing. "Look Tris, my dad's doing some bad shit, so I decided to find out what. I don't plan on doing anything with the information, but I needed to know. So, I followed him last night and I didn't tell you because you'd insist on coming and I didn't want to put you in danger. I'm sorry I lied but I did it because I care about you."

"So that makes it ok? Tobias, you can't decide not to tell me something to 'protect' me when all it did was make me worry. What if I had used the location on your phone to try and find you? What if I got hurt because you didn't tell me? We're a team Tobias, and if you can't trust me it doesn't work. And you're still keeping secrets! You haven't told me a single thing about what your dad is doing."

I sat there thinking about what she said. I'd never forgive myself if she got hurt because of me but maybe telling her would have been better. I looked up at her and decided then and there, no more lies, no more secrets.

"What do you want to know?"

"Everything."

So, I told her. I told her about Therese, finding my mom's diary, reading it, how I felt, not wanting to be taken away and ultimately deciding to let it go. Then I told her about the curiosity gnawing away at me and finally deciding to find out what he was doing. The decision to not tell her and then finally what happened with the guy in the apartment.

When I was finished, she just sat there silently. I waited for her to speak but the nerves were gnawing away at my stomach. After what felt like an eternity she finally sighed and turned to me.

"I get that it was hard to tell me this and hard to deal with but wouldn't it have been easier to deal with if I knew. I think the protecting me reasoning was just you're excuse for not being able to trust me. I know I shouldn't really be mad but I am. I need you to trust me as much as I trust you. I just need some time to think over everything, you know. I need a bit of space."

"That's unfair. I did really want to protect you; it wasn't an excuse. I find it hard to open up and I keep a lot of things to myself. It's my way of survival. You know that."

"I do but you can't-" she said but I cut her off.

"You know what Tris. I'm sorry. I really am. And I get that you need space. And I get that you're annoyed that I didn't tell you, but I made that decision. I'm sorry I hurt your feelings, but this is about my feelings and my life. I did what I had to do for me and if I'm being honest, I needed to do this myself. I needed to see these things myself and figure out what I was going to do myself. I guess deep down I knew I had to do this on my own and I didn't want you there. I'm sorry."

She sat there, in shock, for a minute before nodding her head, opening the door, and walking down the street. I don't know what's going on in that head of hers, but I guess I'll find out when she blows up at me. She always does in the end.

. . .

Work went painfully slowly today. I kept thinking about Tris and whether I should call first or should I wait for her to call. Matthews constant ranting about stuff I didn't understand didn't help either.

"Dude," I said, interrupting Matthew mid rant. "I'm sorry but I haven't understood a single thing you've said for the past half hour. I'm smart, but not that smart."

"Well guess what?"

"What?"

"I talked to people!"

"Yes! What are their names?"

"Well it was one but still. But technically it was two because his friend was there too, but I talked to him. His name's Fernando and his friend's name is Cara."

"Wait. Her name wouldn't happen to be Cara Mason, would it?"

"Yeah it is. How did you know?"

"Her younger brother is my friend. But I thought she was a senior."

"Well she's actually meant to be a junior, but she skipped a grade and is applying to our college. They've already accepted her so she asked if she could tag along and they said she could."

"Wow. That family really is smart."

"I know right. Anyway, I made a friend and you get to be proud of me so stop being in a bad mood. Why are you in a bad mood anyway? Trouble in paradise?"

"Um kind of. How'd you know."

"I had a feeling. So, what happened?"

"I can't really get into details but a relative was doing something bad, so I wanted to find out what. I was at Tris' house when I left and when I came back, she was sitting on the bed crying because she was worried about me because I wasn't answering any of her calls or texts. Then I told her that I had wanted to go by myself and if I told her she would have wanted to come. So, she got pissed because I didn't tell her. Trust is like a huge thing to her and I just snuck away without telling her anything. So now she hates my guts."

Matthew looked as if he needed a second to take in all that information but then he looked at me and gave me a small smile.

"I can see why she was annoyed but I can also understand why you didn't tell her. She's really stubborn and wouldn't let you go. But you obviously had to go so you avoided telling her. Plus, this is probably something you wanted to do on your own."

"Yeah," I sighed, running a hand through my hair in frustration. "I just don't know what to do."

"Give her time, that's probably the best thing you can do for her right now."

"You're probably right. Come on, let's get back to work."

It was a long day. I stressed about the Tris thing less but there were still tonnes of cars and only like five people working. I fixed engines and flat tyres. I oiled things so much that I was slippery all over. I had grease in my hair and on my hands from working under cars. I was sweaty from the heat and nearly died when two more cars came five minutes before closing. Thankfully, all they wanted was gas, so they filled up their tanks and were on their way. When I got home, I just collapsed on the bed I was so exhausted.

I picked up my phone and stared at Tris' number, silently willing it to ring. Of course, it didn't so after ten minutes of that I started typing out apologies. Each one sounded dumber than the last so I kept going until 1am when I remembered Matthew's advice. So, I placed my phone on my bedside table and finally got some sleep.

. . .

Sunday was pretty chill. I spent the day with Zeke after work and we played so many video games that I couldn't see straight after. We hung out with Uriah then who of course, brought alcohol. I was seriously starting to worry about that kid, he drank way too much. But I was wasted by then, so I forgot to mention it.

I must have let slip about me and Tris having an argument because they tried cheering me up by playing games and Just Dance which seemed to be their go to drunk game. We all passed out around one and woke to the alarm on my phone blaring.

I groaned from the pain and the tiredness. I got up and went upstairs to get some aspirin before heading to my car. I drove home, changed clothes, and headed to school. I contemplated texting Tris, but I knew she wanted space, so I drove by myself for the first time in months.

I got to class before her and sat down next to Shauna. She tried to talk to me, but I was so nervous that she eventually gave up and asked me what was wrong.

"Seriously dude, what's wrong with you? I know you can be all grumpy and shit, but this is next level for you."

"It's not you I'm just nervous."

"Nervous about what?"

"Tris and I kind of had a fight about something and I don't know what I'm going to do when I see her."

"Well you are obviously the one in trouble, but Tris will get over it. When did it happen?"

"Saturday morning."

"Well then she'll probably be over it by tomorrow. She'll ask someone for advice, and they'll tell her to forgive you."

"It's not that simple. I was dealing with a relative and the only person who knows anything about my family is Zeke who's my best friend, so she won't trust his advice."

"Sheesh. You're screwed. But if it's a family issue why does Tris care?"

"It was a hard thing to do and she wanted to help me with it, but I wanted to deal with it myself. I know I'm screwed but maybe she'll forgive me herself."

"Maybe."

Just then she walked in, took one look at me and sat next to Lynn. My heart sank as I realised how much I had been hoping she would have forgiven me. The teacher came in then, but I just couldn't focus. All I could think of was Tris.

As soon as the bell rang for the end of class, she was up and out the door. I didn't even bother trying to go after her. She would just brush me off. I made my way to home ec with Shauna who had given up on making conversation because I only offered one-word replies.

"Don't bother talking to him Lauren, he's being mopey."

"Am not!"

That's the most I've gotten out of him so far."

"So, why's he mopey?"

"Tris and him had a fight."

"Aw is poor baby Four upset?"

"No, can you please shut up now?"

"Ugh, fine Mr. Grumpy."

"Thank you."

"So, what'd you fight about."

"Ugh," I groaned and banged my head down on the table. Lauren's great but god is she nosy. "I'd rather not talk about it."

"Well obviously but you need to."

"I already talked about it and I'm good. Zeke's going to talk to Tris later to help me out."

"Um…"

"What?"

"They're might be a slight problem with that plan."

"And that is?"

"Tris' like a sister to Zeke. If you're in the wrong, he might side with Tris."

"In this situation it was just that Tris freaked out about something. Zeke will be rational about it and everything will fine."

"If you say so," Lauren said shrugging and turned back to the teacher who was explaining how to make crème brûlée. We will be making it tomorrow, but she always did a class talking about how to do the more difficult dishes.

After the class finished I headed to chemistry which was painfully boring and spent the class wishing it was over so I could talk to Tris in P.E. Usually this was one of my favourite classes but all I wanted was for Tris and I to talk. Finally, it was over, and I raced to P.E. and was changed before Zeke even arrived.

When she walked in my head snapped up and my eyes locked with hers. She quickly looked away and stood as far away from me as possible. It hurt, I'll admit but I got her message loud and clear. Give her space.

I still wanted to talk but I left her alone and just went on with things. We were doing my least favourite thing in P.E.- Gymnastics. I'm shocking at it, but Zeke, Tris and Christina are amazing at it. Shauna and Lauren are pretty decent too but the three of them are next level. When we were younger, they were always flipping, jumping and cartwheeling. Shauna and I just watched and laughed.

Now they were doing round offs and back handsprings and even did this balance pyramid thing. Zeke was on the bottom and Christina climbed up on his shoulders and flipped off landing in Tris' hands and like kicked her leg up and flipped off again. It was insane and the teacher gave out to them for it but looked kind of impressed.

Then she looked over and saw what a pathetic mess I was, and her expression turned sour. She walked over and watched as I attempted a shitty cartwheel. She shook her head and looked up to the sky as if asking why she had to deal with this.

"Four, can you do anything?" she asked exasperatedly.

I did a forward's roll and she just looked disappointed. She looked behind her and called someone over. I froze and silently thanked whoever was looking down on me. It was Tris. She looked pretty pissed about having to help me, but she would get on with it.

"So, what can you do?"

"You know what I can do. Can we please talk?"

"Later. Let's see your cartwheel."

I did it and managed to not tip over when I stood up. She looked like she was trying not to laugh but quickly covered it up.

"You need to straighten your legs and really push off more so you can stand up without falling over."

I just nodded and did a slightly better cartwheel using her advice. I smiled after and looked back to see her smiling too. It was a small smile, but it was better than nothing.

"You need to really trust that your arms will hold you up because if you don't it won't work."

She kept giving me giving tips like this until I was doing a proper cartwheel. She hugged me when I did it but pulled away quickly, remembering that she was mad at me. We went back to the others and did more stuff and worked on balances and tumbles. Then she brought out the horses and I smiled.

The horses were wooden hurdles that were almost as tall as me that we had to vault over. I was always good at this and could do it with two hands, one or none. I can flip over it and once did a kind of sideways cartwheel. It was the one thing I was really good at.

The teacher was smiling at me then when I was flipping over it easily. Christina was glaring at me because she could barely make it over. I just grinned back at her. Class was over soon after and I ran to catch up with Tris after we got changed.

"Tris!" I called after her. She turned then and waited for me to catch up. I stood there in front of her for a second, completely forgetting what I wanted to talk about. Then I remembered when she gave me a look. "When can we talk?"

"After school. Meet me at our spot," she said before turning and walking in the opposite direction.

I texted Zeke then and asked him to talk to her during lunch and headed t the cafeteria. The red paint from before had been covered by the janitor a couple weeks back and it was back to the way it was before. I queued up and got some food and headed outside.

As I made my way towards the group Zeke gave me a thumbs up and dragged Tris off to talk. I thanked god that I had such a great friend and sat down beside Will while Christina talked everyone's ears off.

"So anyway he was like 'oh my god you're gorgeous, do you want to go on a date?' and I was like, 'I'm flattered but I have a boyfriend' and he was like 'that's too bad' and I was like 'not really' and then he followed me around for the rest of the day. So, I was like scared so I called the cops and they got him and it turns out he's a murderer who kills teenage girls and I got a ten thousand dollar reward."

"Wait, that happened this weekend?"

"Yes Four, keep up. So yeah, I helped put I psycho in prison."

"Well done Chris but you do realise you could have died."

"Yes, but I didn't, did I?"

"No but-"

"No buts. I did something amazing. End of story."

By this point Tris and Zeke had come back and Christina launched into a retelling of the whole story, but she made it more dramatic and dangerous. Tris just rolled her eyes and Zeke kept winking at me and giving me thumbs up. I didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

I guess I'll find out in a couple of hours.