Chapter 6
Tris POV
As I walk to the dormitories I keep going over Fours words in my head, and I can't manage to hide my glee at the thought of him. He didn't seem like his usual self, he seem so concerned, and honest. His words are imprinted on my head;
..it is necessary to fight for peace, but sometimes justice becomes more important than peace itself.
It stuns me how a person can seem so different from the rest, Four definitely belongs here and he said he thinks I do too. So must start believing it myself if I want to remain here, I have to be freed from my fears and I have to prove myself be brave. I know I can do this, I just know I can.
I take a deep breath before entering the room and decide I should keep the time I spent with Four to myself. I walk in and see Al, Will and Christina talking by the bunks. I head over to them and hope they wont interrogate me as to where I've been the last couple of hours.
"Tris!" exclaims Christina, "where have you been? You missed dinner."
"Hey guys, I just needed to clear my head so I wondered all day through the compound." I say, "I got a tattoo too."
"Tris," says Will while looking at me intently, "Peter has been in the infirmary all day, you really got him."
I turn to face Al and Christina and they are smiling, they look somewhat pleased.
"Its not serious," says Christina, "he is just a big cry baby, don't worry about him. Im just glad I got to see his beating." She laughs off.
I flinch at the word beating and I push any past unpleasant memories of Marcus away.
I sigh "Yeah, well he asked for it. I don't even really remember what I did, I just know I was so angry." I finish
The three of them now have a confused look on their face. So I decide its best if I explain todays events of Peter and I the restroom.
"After lunch when I went to the restroom, Peter Drew and Molly followed me in and Peter tried to get touchy with me, rape is more accurate." I say exasperated.
"What?! Tris why didn't you tell us earlier?" exclaims Christina. She looks like she figured why I was running when I bumped into them. Will and Al look very annoyed, like they just might do something. But I know they wont.
"Guys, its fine really." I reply trying to sound as convincing as I can. "I was very angry and that is why I snapped and took it out on the fight. I can only hope they wont try and mess with me after that." I say as I move to my own bed which is right next to Christina's.
"Yeah let's hope so." Says Al while patting me on the back.
"I just feel bad for whom ever fights you next Tris," says Christina. "You took out Peter and anyone after that should be a piece of cake."
I simply nod, Al and Will then make their way to theirs beds and its now just Christina and I.
I take a deep breath and lay on the bed with her. I turn my thoughts to remembering Four's deep voice and piercing blue eyes. I can't help but smile at the thought of him and I just know that he is different, unlike other boys I've met. Every time he is near I feel so overwhelmed but I know it isn't a bad thing. At least I don't consider it that way.
"Tris, are you okay?" Christina asks me waving her hand in my face, I must've zoned out.
"Yeah," I nod, while blushing at Fours thought, "Im fine."
"Why are you all happy all of a sudden?" she asks. I hide all emotion in my face as I lay in my bed.
"No reason, today was just a good day." I reply. My thoughts are then drifted back to Four once again. I recall his touch on my stomach, and of our hands touching while he helps me up. Its unclear to me why he makes me feel the way he does, perhaps I like him? No, it wouldn't be right for me to like him, that would be a null point. My head is then overcome with sleep, and I find myself dreaming of Marcus and his over used belt.
When I wake up I am covered with sweat as I recall the nightmares of last night. Taking a moment to clear my head I head to the restroom and wonder if I'll fight today. I don't have the urge to take my anger out anymore, but I know I have to secure my spot here so I still have to fight like there's no tomorrow.
We head towards the training room and we see Eric is already there, I look around but I don't see Four, maybe he'll be here later. Or so I hope. Eric looks too pleasant today which to me is a sign that we'll probably be pushed until we all crack.
"Listen up initiates," he says, "today everyone will be fighting, it doesn't matter that you fought yesterday, you will do it again today." He looks at me directly when he says the last part. I can even say he looks happy about it, but why?
"Take a few moments to warm up and then we'll proceed to the matches." He says as he brings the board around so we can see who we will be up against.
My heart drops to my stomach once I see my name across from Christina, I have to fight Christina. I turn to face her and she is expressionless. The only thing I can do is recall her words from last night; "I just feel bad for whom ever fights you next." There is tension in the air as the information we just got sinks in. I turn to see Eric and he is looking my way with a smug look on his face. We scatter into our on space to warm up as I realize that I have to win, I have to knock her unconscious. I have to prove myself brave to belong here and this is just one more step towards accomplishing that. Eric heads my way and I tense up not wanting him near me at all.
"After yesterday this should be a piece of cake for you, Stiff," he whispers as he passes by "I don't expect anything less from you."
I peek at him and see him smiling. Then it dawns on me, he purposely matched me with Christina. I know that if I lose, this will damage any progress I accomplished yesterday after beating Peter. Just concentrate I tell myself over and over, then I hear his voice.
"Okay everyone, the first match up." Four yells, "Molly and Al, you're up!"
They make their way to the center of the floor and begin the fight. Molly starts out fine with a few hits on Al's upper body but then Al begins to take possession of the fight with many hits on her face. As he keeps this up, I glance and see Four staring down at me, looking pensive. He then flashes a small unnoticeable smile my way, and I know what it means. He is trying to tell me to prove myself, or at least I think he is. He then concentrates back on the fight happening before us as well as I do, I see Al pinning Molly against the floor and they shuffle back and forth until eventually Al knocks Molly to the floor with a kick to the face.
Even though it seemed like an equal fight, it wasn't interesting. They are both poor with strategy and the fight was sloppy, it had to end some how with one of them unconscious. Four says nothing and walks towards the board and circles Al's names on it. The following fight should be more interesting since its Edward and Drew. Each time I find myself more anxious and nervous about our turn. We follow after them, and following us its Peter and Maya. Will will be fighting a dauntless born since I don't recognize the name across from him, Uriah.
I know I don't have much to worry about since I know I can easily take Christina out, but the thought that bothers me is that I have to knock her out, I have to knock her unconscious to win. The thought of doing that to my best friend here seems too much for me , but I have to. I make a quick glance her way and see that she was also looking my way.
Our eyes meet for a second and she just gives me a wary smile, not reaching her eyes but a small smile as she stretches her neck. I can feel what she is thinking; probably saying to take it easy on her and my heart just shrinks a little.
We then focus on Edward beating Drew to the ground, he rapidly falls unconscious. You can easily tell Edward knows his moves, he is obviously a good fighter. Eric circles his name and soon turns to us.
"Now the stiff and Christina," Eric yells and I slowly turn to see Four leaning against the wall, rubbing the back of his neck. I am taken back by how good he looks just standing there looking bored, though I am sure he is not.
We both take the center flooring and we begin to move almost in a circling direction. She steps in to make the first hit but I dodge it, and step aside so I am able to connect my elbow with her shoulder. She stumbles but quickly recovers her balance. She bends down to kick my leg and as I move she moves her fits right in my face. Though it was hard, it wasn't as bad as when Peter punched me yesterday. I step in trying to grab her and make a key lock with my arms but she falls instead now gripping my arm and twisting it merciless. I then use my knee for leverage and elbow her in the ribs on a back motion. She is out of air and I quickly follow with another punch in the stomach, I don't want to hit her face, so I redirect my hits to other places. I quickly glance at Four and his eyes are directly on me, burning into me cautiously.
She is down and I know this could be my chance but instead I let her recover a few seconds before attacking again. She throws a punch but it misses me greatly and I grab her arm and pull her to the opposite direction kicking her in back and watch as she stumbles to the ground. She is out of breath and tired and I make a lock on her and keep my knee by her throat and she looks up at me, breathing heavily. This would be my chance to knock her unconscious but as I stare down at her I can only think to myself how wrong this is. She isn't Marcus or Peter, this is Christina, my friend and she would never try to hurt me, I know this just by looking into her calm mahogany eyes. I have my fits ready to punch away but I only lower it, and stand up.
"I am done," I say realizing I am also out of breath, "The fight is over." I say looking towards Four and back at Eric.
I then notice he has a deep expression on his handsome featured face, I cant tell what he is thinking, my thoughts are interrupted by Eric harsh voice.
"The fight will be over, when one of you is unconscious." He snaps bitterly.
I stare at him and think for a moment of what to say. "I won already," trying to sound as reasonable as possible, "Why do I have to knock her out if she was already pinned down already done?" I glance back and forth from Eric to Four and I can tell Eric is more than mad.
However Four seems worried, he is trying to process what is happening, and as I Christina is getting up, Four walks over to Eric.
"Its fine, one of you has to lose and since you weren't able to knock her unconscious, you have just lost." He says dryly
"No, its not fine." Eric says without taking his eyes off me, Four looks uncomfortable. "One of them has to be unconscious, and if you aren't willing to do it, maybe I can just take her place and see if you more willing to knock me out," he says, and I realize what he wants. Since I didn't want to finish the fight, Eric want to finish me, by taking Christinas place.
"Eric that isn't necessary," Four answers as he rubs the side of his neck looking out of place.
"Yes it is Four." He snaps as he takes off his jacket and makes his way to the floor opposite of me. "and if I don't do it then you will have to be the one who knocks her out… well that is if you can."
I then see something in Fours eyes, pity maybe, no not pity, more like concern. Eric stares him down and then he so willingly snaps "I thought so, don't worry I'll make it fast."
I stare back at Four and I see him give me the same look as yesterday before I was about to fight Peter. Though after last night I'm starting to think that, that look means I can do it, I can win. Eric is now ready to fight me, and even though the fight with Christina was a bit fast it still got me a little tired.
Eric stands before me tall and too muscular, I see something dark in his eyes though I can't exactly put my finger on it. He starts by throwing a punch to my head and as I think he missed he hits me with his elbow on my chest. Pain rushes to my mind as I try not to stumble to the ground, I recover or at least I think I have. He steps in to punch me once again but this time I catch his arm and just when I think I was safe from another hit, he pushes my back to the floor and his knee connects with my chin. I am now on the ground gasping for air, and I see Four pacing back and forth his eyes not leaving mine full of worry.
I turn to try and move away from Eric but I can only see flashes of his foot coming towards me, once again pain is all I feel throughout my whole body. He is not holding anything back and all I hear is gasping and winces around me. I see Eric kneeling in front of me as he connects his fist to my jaw. Blurry is all I see with specs of dark and when I realize Erick is now standing he is preparing to kick me but his foot is not coming to my chest, or ribs or any part of my middle body, its aiming at my face and just as its about to hit, all I manage to hear is "Stop!"
"I said Stop!" says the most deep alluring voice I like so much, and before my eyes give out I see Eric stumble to the ground with a figure on top of him, then everything goes black.
The pain in my head is throbbing and it takes me a minute to comprehend where I am, I am in the infirmary. The last thing I remember was Eric's punch to my jaw, right before him being knocked out himself. I try to move my hand to touch my face but everything is sore and when I do, I notice that I am not alone in the room. Someone is at my bedside grabbing my hand, Christina perhaps? I look closely and see that it isn't her, its Four.
Four is here, he has been here and fell asleep at my bedside. I try to understand what I'm seeing but I can't manage to think of any reasons as to why he is here. I look at him sleeping; he seems so relaxed, for once he looks his age. I reach over to him but decide not to as I don't want to wake him. Instead I just take in the fine sight of him being here. My heart warms at the thought of him here with me, caring for me. I lean back to my pillow and decide to sleep the rest of the pain off.
When I wake up, I see that its morning. I then look around and see that there is no one here, its just me but then I remember. I woke up in the middle of the night to find a sleeping Four here, he was here. I know I didn't imagine it, he was here. I try to sit up when I see Christina coming in, heading towards me. Then I remember the fight, oh no. I hope she isn't mad.
"Tris, you're up!" she says sounding very excited. "How do you feel?"
I process the question and it takes me a minute to know the answer.
"I feel sore, everything hurts." I answer taking in everything I feel. My chest hurts eachtime I breathe in and out, my head is pounding with pain and my face feels on fire. When I reach to touch it I already feel the swollen skin and know immediately I must look a mess.
"I'd be worried if you didn't feel like that," Christina says, she eyes me closely and pauses before saying "Tris you should have just knocked me out, it would have been better than you taking the beating of a lifetime from Eric."
I look at her and notice she has a guilt expression on her eyes. "Don't worry about it I'm used to it." The words flow out of me before I realize what I just said. I hope she doesn't notice but I see her already making a confused face about my comment.
"Used to it?" She says raising her eyebrow, "Tris I think the damage is clearly more on your head."
Good she didn't notice. As I try and get up, I remember the last thing I saw before getting knocked out, I remember Erick falling to the floor next to me. I try and process but I cant remember anything else.
"Christina?" I ask while getting up, I feel my legs wobble, probably of the pain.
"Yeah?" she answers. She hands me my shoes and I start putting them on.
"What happened yesterday, you know, after I blacked out?" I ask trying to fill the gaps.
"I wonder when you'd ask me." She states smiling and I wonder why she feels happy about it. "Tris, right before you blacked out Eric was about to kick you in the face, he was going brutal on you and that apparently upset Four. He went crazy, he yelled for him to stop over and over and Eric wasn't backing down, so Four launched himself on him with a punch, and I think that's when you blacked out."
My mind is trying to process everything she is saying but I am still stuck on the fact that Four defended me. Defended me from Eric, by beating him himself. "What happened then?" I ask.
"After that Four threaten him to not ever touch you again or he would die. Eric got up and threw himself at Four, they began to fight. But clearly Four was beating him to the ground until eventually, Max I think, came in. He got Eric sent away since he was the one who was more upset. Four explained everything to Max and then we were all dismissed." She says all too smiling. "I think he likes you Tris."
What? Out of all the things I would have expected that is the last thing I would have thought happened. Four threaten Eric, because of me? No this doesn't make any sense. Why would he do that? Maybe Christina is right and he does like me, that would explain what he was doing here last night. I need to know, I need answers now, there is only one person who can get me out of my doubts, and I know just where to find him.
"Come on Chris," I say to her as I walk out the infirmary. "I need to find Four."
Hi guys! So sorry I hadn't updated until now, as you can see this was also a long chapter so please tell me what you think, your opinion is golden to me! Also R&R This way I can know if you like whats happening or if I need to change a few things around! Any suggestion are always welcomed!