A/N: Hi! Thank you for reading! If you're a returning reader, thank you for the support! If you're new, I hope you love it! My name is Aly and I think we're gonna be friends. Anyways, here's the chapter!
"EEEEK! You look so good!"
The sound of Christina's squeals rings in my ear, and while I'm happy she's happy, the sound makes a mild sense of dread sink onto my shoulders.
I look over at her. Christina wears a tight, black leather mini skirt and a black deep cut long sleeve top with combat boots, always fitting in with any style or environment. She's beautiful and makes it look effortless.
I grudgingly peer into the mirror at my reflection that Christina is so excited about and surprising myself, I actually do feel good. I'm wearing tight high waisted black skinny jeans with slits in the knees, a tight black crop top that accentuates my fit and thin figure and shows off my tattoos, and my favorite shiny black high top combat boots. I'm wearing layers of simple necklaces, a few pairs of hoop earrings and half a dozen shiny silver rings. With Christina's help, what I'm wearing feels truly myself and I feel confident. Suddenly a warmth replaces the dread and I quickly pull Chris into a tight hug.
She smiles. "Uh, Tris, this is unexpectedly nice but what did I do? And also, who are you and what have you done with my best friend?"
I laugh. True, genuine laughter that has felt so hard to come by since the war. "I just love you. And I'm glad you're my best friend Chris."
A huge, happy grin takes over her face and she hugs me tighter. "I love you too Tris."
-page break-
Walking down the hall, Chris and I catch up. We talk about the initiates, her job as a nurse, and finally the conversation lands on the party.
"Is Four coming?" She asks.
I nod. "He had to finish up some things in the control room. They're training new people and he's been working there the longest so they needed some help. He'll be over later."
Christina smiles. "Good. This is going to be a good night." She grabs my hand, pulling me along into a slow jog, laughing. "God knows we deserve for this to be a good night."
I try to keep up with her energy and we swing around the corner. "First stop– time to get some drinks." We slide to a halt outside of one of our favorite bars in Dauntless and walk in.
"I'll have an appletini," she immediately tells the bartender, "and she'll have a moscow mule." The bartender pours our drinks, and we sit, continuing our conversation. The ginger beer in my favorite drink combined with the alcohol send a familiar burning feeling down my throat, and I finally start getting in the mood for the party.
When we finish our drinks at the bar, I feel my cheeks getting warmer and know the alcohol is starting to set in. Christina and I pay our credits and dash out the door, me being pulled behind her. As we near Zeke and Uriah's apartment, we see Uriah walking towards his door, arms full, carrying cases of alcohol.
"Shhhhhh!" Christina whispers, grinning at me. I smile back, rolling my eyes, and Christina hold up three fingers. 'three, two, one' she motions, and we both go bounding at Uriah, making all sorts of noise and tackling him. He screams, going down under us and letting the cases fall to the floor.
"WHAT the I"M GONNA..."
"You PANSYCAKE!" Chris shouts in his face, laughing as he wiggles around on the floor under us. "It's US!"
Uriah's face goes red but he's clearly holding back a smile, trying to put on a stern face.
"OH I am so getting you guys back for this! And how dare you use my own word against me." Christina and I just grin innocently at him, laughing as we stand up.
"Everything ready for the party?" I ask.
"Pretty much, all we're missing now is a drunk Tris and a bunch of initiates to scare. You guys should go tell them to get ready!"
I roll my eyes, but Christina looks excited so I agree and we head over to the dormitory.
"This is gonna be FUN." Chris says as we walk in, and the look in her eyes tells me she should've been an instructor.
As we step in, she hits the lights and the whole dorm goes dark.
"HEY!" Someone yells. "Who the f-"
The lights come back on and I yell, "Initiates, listen up!"
All heads turn toward us. "There's a party tonight and I'm going to make sure I see every one of your faces there." Christina announces. "Not optional, get ready, 9:00 at Zeke and Uriah's apartment, South 4391." The initiates look to me, confused but mostly smiling.
"It'll be a good time and you'll get to meet more of the faction. We won't force you to go, but I expect everyone to be there." They look at me a little wide-eyed. I roll my eyes. "Oh COME ON? It's not a trick, it's called fun. I know you might not have had it in your old factions, but here in Dauntless, you figure it out or leave."
There's a pause, and the initiates break out into cheers.
"Whoooo!" Christina squeals. "See ya there!" She yells, grabbing my wrist and pulling me back out at a run.
"Why do we always have to run everywhere?"
"Aren't you excited?"
"No one's there yet."
"Not for the party, for life! Don't you ever just want to run? We can do anything, and I don't know exactly what I wanna do, but I know I wanna run hard so we can do it."
-page break-
The music plays loudly and the apartment is filling up quickly with initiates and friends from all over Dauntless. Christina and I sip drinks and dance, talking with Zeke and Lynn.
"Has anyone seen Four yet?" I say to them loudly over the music. Just as I do, the door opens and Lynn taps me on the shoulder and points.
Tobias walks in, scanning the room until his eyes settle on me. I instantly smile. He starts making his way over to me, and as he passes by Nikki she smirks at him, looking over her shoulder. His eyes are set on me and our friends, so he doesn't notice, or at least pretends not to. I chuckle to myself.
"Who's she?" Christina asks, noticing the same thing as me with a look of humorously pure judgement on her face.
"One of our initiates. She's kind of a bitch and definitely has jealousy issues." I say quietly. "I'm trying to give her a chance though. A lot of people change here."
"Not her." Christina says with a glare, narrowing her eyes. "I know her type. They were everywhere in Candor. I'm not giving her a chance, I'm keeping an eye on her." I half-smile at Christina's attempt at support, and Tobias comes up, pulling me into a one-arm hug, his other arm holding a case of beer.
"Want one?" He asks with a smile and his eyebrows up. I nod and he pops a bottle open with his hands, a party trick of his, and hands it to me. I'm already a couple drinks in, but I'm having a good time and feel safe around my friends and Tobias anyways. We talk for a while with all of our friends, and dance with Christina and Uriah, and Mia, Kat and Natalie even come dance with us for a while.
After a while, Tobias's fingers hook on my elbow and he pulls me into the crowd, even dancing a little. He looks genuinely happy and I can't help but wrap my fingers around his neck and into his hair. He pulls me closer and kisses me. Aware of the initiates around, I pull away after a few seconds, but he lightly holds me close to him and leans in, whispering in my ear. "I've been wanting to do that since the minute I saw you tonight.
Biting my lip, I look up at him with a smile. Just then, Nikki slams into me, hard, dumping her sticky red drink all over me. It covers my arms and shoulder, but luckily I dodged her soon enough that she didn't manage to get any on my clothes. I look up to Four, and his eyebrows are raised, mouth open, looking irritated beyond belief. It was intentional, and we both know it. "The things desperate people will do for attention." He says, in a sharp, rigid voice.
"I'm gonna go clean up." I say, rolling my eyes. I glance back at her. "Control yourself." I spit, eyes narrowed. Four starts to follow me to the bathroom, when Nikki grabs his arm firmly, stopping him in his tracks.
"Where do you think you're going?" She says in a flirty, manipulative tone. "Come dance with me." Tobias's eyes turn to ice.
"Get your hands off of me." She doesn't move. "That wasn't a request initiate." He easily swings her arms off, and pins her up to the nearby wall, his arm pressing hard into her collarbone.
By this point, Christina's already by my side with napkins, helping me wipe off the spilled drink, and Zeke and Uriah have made their way over, grinning like idiots and eating microwave popcorn out of a bag like they're in the front row at the movie theater. I turn my attention back to Tobias.
"You must like it rough, huh? What are you going to do next, whip me with your belt? I could be into that."
My mouth drops. Points for bravery, I guess. There's no way she knows about Tobias's abuse, but it strikes a cord all the same. For a split second she sees the change in Tobias's expression, and her smirk instantly changes into a look of genuine fear. Tobias knees her, hard, in the stomach, and she keels over. I can see in his face that he's restraining himself.
"Next time..." He says through gritted teeth, "Next time you're dead. This will be your only warning."
He stalks off towards me and we walk towards the bathroom together. I hear her quietly panting, her breath knocked away, but something else too. It's hard to make out through the rumble of music and conversation behind us, but I think I hear her... chuckling. Through her tears.
"Crazy bitch." I say.
"Yeah, definitely a psycho." Tobias says through gritted teeth.
A/N: Hey guys! Hope you liked this chapter! In the next chapter, it'll be a little bit of the rest of the party, and then I will start the truth or dare! Should the initiates be part of truth or dare, or just Uriah's/Tris's friends?
I just wanted to take a second also to thank those couple of people who left reviews, they mean SOOOO much to me and are one of my favorite parts of writing! I love to hear what you guys have to say and know that people are reading what I write. If you liked this story, PLEASE take a couple seconds to leave a quick review! It let's me know people are reading which makes me WAY more likely to update and continue the story, and it also helps other people find my story and click on it to read! I absolutely love every review I get. I love ALL my readers and reviewers so thank you so much for being here, you're the best!
Talk to you again soon in the next update!
Xx,
Aly