Chapter Two:
A/n: Okay, so I'm very sorry I missed posting for the last two weeks. You'll get two chapters this week to make up for it. My grandmother was admitted into the hospital on October sixth, and I got bronchitis that same week. With the time I had to stay at home, I came up with the idea for this fic. Life's been stressing me out lately, because if you're in high school or have gone through high school, you know how heavy with workload is. Plus my grandmother is living with us for awhile; she was just released yesterday. So, as you can see, I've barely taken a deep breath since the first of the month. So, thanks for having patience with me. Before I get into this chapter, I would like to say thanks to my beta, CavyGirl1991. Thanks for catching all the mistakes I would have missed otherwise.
Disclaimer: Wouldn't life be perfect if I was Veronica Roth? My dreams would have already come true! But, since I'm still in the very early stages of writing my very first novel, I'm most definitely not Veronica Roth.
Chapter Two:
I wind up sitting next to a guy named Uriah Pedrad, who was the same boy who made the comment in Daniel's class, and Christina, in Alexis's class. Alexis is a young teacher, not even thirty, who is one of the coolest teachers I've ever had. I have to appreciate how fun she makes the class.
When we head to lunch, I tell Christina I have to do something, but I'll meet her in the cafeteria, before heading down to my locker, and grabbing my purse. I then head into the bathroom, and do a finger-stick. The PDM beeps, alerting me that my blood sugar is 102. I pack up, do a quick bolus for lunch, then head down to the cafeteria.
Christina stands by the door, waiting on me, I suppose. I rush up, smiling slightly.
"Sorry! Got lost."
"It's cool." she says, leading me into the cafeteria.
I have to stop and stare, because the place is huge. Several lunch lines are already full with students, vending machines sit against one wall, there are tables of different shapes, rectangular and round, scattered throughout the room, and students are paying for snack foods from carts lined up against one wall. Still other students are in lines corresponding to their faction, labeled DESSERT.
"Whoa!" I mutter, taking in the chaos.
"Yeah. It's pretty insane, huh? Anyways, what line do you want? There's pizza, hot lunch, subs and sandwiches, and salads."
"I'm gonna get the hot lunch." I say, stepping into the line I think is for the hot lunch, although it's hard to tell for sure.
Christina nods, and runs off, jumping into the pizza line. The hot lunch consists of a piece of steak that looks like you'd need a chain-saw to cut it, limp green beans, runny mashed potatoes, a roll that looks like it went through the ringer and back, and a pudding cup. Yep, definitely bringing my own lunch from now on. I have to apply for a meal card, which runs on a points system, and then pay for my meal before heading off to find Christina who stands with Uriah. She waves me over to them, then when I'm there, starts moving through the pandemonium to the dessert line for the Dauntless.
"Um, I can't go through there." I say awkwardly. I hadn't planned for extra carbs, and an extra bolus would be a pain in the ass, because I'd have to get out my PDM in front of my new friends.
"Why not?" Christina asks. She'd already told me she used to be Candor, and I believe it.
"I'm on a diet." I say, which is a half-truth, anyway.
"Anorexia? Tris, starving yourself isn't the right answer." Christina says. It's amazing just how quickly she can jump to a conclusion.
"No! My doctors put this in place." I say, shifting my tray from one arm to the other.
"Oh. Sorry." Christina says with an awkward laugh. I shrug, and she heads off through the line.
When she returns, she leads me to a table where several kids are already seated. She sits next to a blonde boy, and gestures for me to find a spot to sit. I wind up sitting between a broad-shouldered replica of Uriah, and a boy with brown hair and blue eyes.
"Okay, y'all. This is Tris. Tris, this is Will," the boy sitting next to Christina, "Zeke," the boy who looks like a replica of Uriah, "Four," the boy with blue eyes, "Shauna," a girl in a wheelchair between Zeke and another girl, "Lynn," the girl next to Shauna who's sporting a shaved head, "Marlene," a girl in between Lynn and Will, "and Al," a burly kid sitting awkwardly, staring at me, which is kind of unnerving.
I smile and say hi to everyone, before beginning to eat. Al decides to start up a conversation.
"So, Tris, where are you from?"
"Atlanta." I answer. "Before that, it was San Fransisco. My father's military. Or, at least, he used to be."
"Cool!" Lynn pipes up. "I want to be military, but Mom has her doubts."
"Mom didn't want Dad to go into the military, but he insisted, so yeah."
"Hey, Tris, that's a cool bag! Where'd you get it?" Shauna asks, pointing to my kit.
"I got it in Austin." I answer, not going into any further details.
"Awesome!" Shauna says, grinning. "I've always wanted to move to Texas. How is it?"
"Hot." I answer, spearing a couple green beans. "And you get a lot of tornadoes."
"Oh." Shauna says, still grinning.
Christina smiles across the table at me, before pulling out her cell phone, and messing with it for a minute. I pull out my own, so I can add Christina's number to my contact list, which is pathetically small; just my mom, dad, brother, and current endocrinologist.
"Oooh! Let's all add Tris to our contacts!" Christina says, grinning.
"Sure. Why not?" Uriah says, grinning mischievously.
"Let's pass our phones around so Tris can add her number and we can add ours." Will suggests. He is actually one of the smartest in the group. I shrug and change my doctor's name from Endocrinologist, to his first name, Tyler. Then, I pass my phone off to Four, and he passes his to me.
I enter my number into his contacts, then pass it back to him. And so it goes, until my phone has made the circle, and everyone else's phone has wound up in my hands.
After lunch, I have Calculus with Hannah. I'm a math nerd, but nobody in my lunch group is in my class, so I head off alone. Hannah's class is fun, because it has to do with math, which as I have already stated, I love.
I head out to my car at the end of the day, check my sugar, 120, and head off to get Shae. When we finally get home, you can tell Shae is exhausted. I wind up carrying her, and her heavy backpack, (what in the world did they put in that thing? Bricks?), up the porch step;, and into the house, setting her down once we're inside the door.
I then head into the kitchen, check my blood sugar again, still 120, and program a bolus for a bag of chips. Normally, I'd have swim team right after school, but it's dead week, apparently. I grab my backpack, diabetes kit and chips, and head up to my room so I can start on my homework.
Some people do their homework without any trouble, but I have a homework routine. I always eat first, usually while watching TV. Then, once I'm done eating, I check my sugar again, because if it's too high or too low, I can't focus. I administer corrections as needed, then put my phone on Do Not Disturb, turn off my TV, sit at my desk, and work through my homework methodically, class by class, while blasting some music, which is a key component I need to focus. Caleb likes to criticize me for this routine, but hey, if it helps me then it's not his place to comment on it.
Today's homework is pretty easy, and I finish it pretty quickly. Once I'm done, I shove my binder into my backpack, turn off Do Not Disturb, and scroll through Pinterest for awhile. When Mom finally calls me down for dinner, I grab my diabetes kit, knock on Shae's door to let her know, then race down the stairs to beat Caleb, because as a general rule in my family, the person who helps before dinner doesn't have to help after dinner. When I've set the table, and carried the pizza over to it, I do a finger-stick, 100, and estimate the number of carbs in two slices of pizza.
"How was your day, Beatrice?" Mom asks, smiling at me. "Make any new friends?"
Caleb snorts. "As if."
"Actually," I say, glaring at my brother, "I have."
Caleb does a spit take. "What! You! The introvert!"
"Yes." I say defiantly, crossing my arms across my chest.
"Do they know about your diabetes?" Mom asks, setting her pizza back on the plate. I shake my head, no. Caleb rolls his eyes, but a quick kick from me and he shuts up.
"How about you, Caleb?" Dad asks, eager to change the subject.
"Yeah. Cara and Fernando."
"Cara Ridgemond?" I ask, taking a sip of my sweet tea.
"Yeah. Why?"
"She's my friend Will's sister." I answer, grinning.
"Cool." Caleb says, smiling for the first time all day.
"What about you, Shae?" I ask, smiling encouragingly at her.
"Yeah. Rose-Anna Richardson."
"Cool! That's my friend Christina's little sister."
"I also have a friend named Kristina!"
"Is she loud?" I ask, smiling.
"Yeah! Very loud!"
"So's my Christina." I say, laughing.
Mom smiles. "Sounds like you've all had an amazing day back."
"Yeah." I say, happy to be back with everyone that has always been there for me: my mother, my father, my brother, and my cousin.
A/n: So I guess this is more of a filler chapter, but hopefully it's still good.
In response to reviews:
Charms22: awww! Thanks! Thanks for reviewing, like, every chapter of every story I've ever posted! It means so much to me!
Guest: Yeah, I did mean wrestling. I'll go in and fix that. Thanks. And thanks for the compliment and encouragement. It means a lot.
Guest two: Thanks! I hope you like this one, too.
Please review, y'all! It really encourages me to write more. Alrighty, audios amigos!
Bianca.
Question Of The Day: What's your favorite candy bar? (Review your answer. Shout-outs to anyone who does.)
Answer Of the Day: Snickers. My braces prevent me from eating them, though.