Gonna rewrite this chapter. Don't know how long it'll take but I felt that it needed a complete do over. I might use parts of it later on but the main thing I'm changing is the time skip.

Tobias POV

It's been a few months since I submitted an application to the community college and I finally received a letter today. I'm too nervous to open it. I decide to wait for Tris to get home from school. While I've been busy working and looking into potential majors, Tris has also decided to go back to school to get a degree in physical therapy. She originally hoped to work in accounting but decided that it wasn't what she wanted to do. She recently went to see her old advisor in hopes to make the process of her returning to school quicker. Luckily she doesn't have to completely start over and only has to take all the health and anatomy related classes as opposed to the standard core classes. All she had to do was take an entrance exam which she studied for and passed.

I remember her telling me not too long ago how much she struggled in school when her parents died but I wasn't surprised when she said that she managed to graduate college with a 4.0 GPA. She managed to push through the sadness and pain of losing her parents and graduate with honors. I told her that I have no doubt that her parents would be so proud of her. As for me, I'm slowly coming to terms with Marcus' death. The sixth month anniversary just passed recently and I decided to follow Dr. Harris' advice. When I find myself thinking about him I try to talk to him. I've never been the most religious person, but I don't think that people who die completely leave this world. Their spirits live on in some way.

Finally after a little while I hear Tris' car pull up into the driveway and the garage open. The door from the garage to the house opens seconds later.

"Tobias, I'm home!"

"In here!" I yell back. I meet her in the kitchen and wrap my arms around her and kiss her.

"Hey." She says

"Hi. How was your day?"

"It was good. Lots of lecture but I'm getting accustomed to being back in a classroom. What about you?"

"Everything's fine here. Got some cleaning and laundry done and having been reading about all the majors that are offered at the school I applied for, trying to find one that I could potentially be interested in. Speaking of which, there's something I have to show you."

"Oh? What is it?"

I smile and lead her over to the couch and pick up the large envelope off the table.

"This came in the mail." I say as I turn it over so she can see the return address. When she does she gasps.

"I was too nervous to open it alone and wanted to wait until you got home."

"Shall we?"

"You do it."

She nods and carefully peels open the envelope and removes the letter. She scans over it quickly.

"Well it looks like Chicago Central Community College (A/N: Yes, I made up the name) just gained a new student."

I smile and sigh with relief. She hands me the letter so that I can read it for myself. I am so relieved that I got in.

"Congratulations, babe!" Tris says, happily as she pulls herself into my lap and wraps her arms around me and kisses me.

"Thank you. I couldn't be happier than I am right now. I get to go to college, I have a good job, I have my mom back, I have my friends, but most importantly I have you." I say as I take her right hand with the promise ring on it into mine and gently fiddle with the ring. I look up to see her smiling back at me. I lean in and press my lips to hers as I hold her tightly to me. She shifts to straddle and it takes all of my self control not to lose myself right now in this moment with her. Eventually we pull back.

"Although one or two more things could eventually add to that happiness one day."

She smiles and blushes a little and pecks my lips.

"So, anything peak your interest?" She asks, picking up the packet with a list of majors and the required courses.

"I know I have a while to decide since I will probably spend the first year on the core classes, but their computer science program seems pretty interesting."

"I didn't know you liked computers."

"I've always been fascinated by them even though I was never allowed to use one when I was younger. The only time I could was when I went over to Zeke's house. But I'm not just interested in the games, although it could be cool to design one. I think I'd wanna work more on the technical side like fixing computers, learning about software and different programs."

"Sounds interesting. I'm glad that you at least have an idea."

"Yeah. Hopefully it'll work out if I decide to go that route."

"Are you nervous? I mean, since you haven't been in a classroom in a long time."

"Not really. I enjoyed school for the most part. It was a way to escape what was going on in my house. Unfortunately I couldn't do any extracurricular activities. Marcus always had me at home studying and said that sports and school clubs were a waste of time. Looking back on it, I'm surprised he didn't have my future planned out for me. The way that he was I would've thought he'd want me to go to some Ivy League school or maybe play a sport and get a scholarship for it but he was a different kind of extreme, never once mentioning my future. To him I was a nobody who'd never be successful in life."

"Did any of your teachers suspect anything?"

"No. Marcus never hit me in the face during the school year only during the summer sometimes and while sometimes I'd go to school sore from the beatings. I was pretty good at hiding the pain. My back got pretty much all of the abuse."

"But you turned your back into a piece of art."

I chuckle and smile. "I guess so and that pain was worth it. It's a daily reminder of who I wanna be."

"So are you gonna call your mom to tell her the good news?"

"Yeah, I am."

"I'm glad that you two are on good terms now."

"Me too. I know now that I need to let go of the past and move forward. I don't know when I'll look her in the eye and tell her that I forgive her, but I know it's something that I want to do soon."

"There's no rush, but I'm happy that you're on that path. I know what it feels like to blame others or yourself for things but I also know that living your life with anger and sadness won't change anything. At times I thought I couldn't go on without my parents but everything changed the day I met you."

I smile at her words. I don't know what I'd do without Tris in my life. She makes me feel invincible.