A/N I'm really sorry it's been taking so long to get chapters out, there's a bunch of factors combined that cause this. There's the fact that school is wrapping up meaning final exams and more homework, BUT, that reason will be gone come June, so I should be able to get chapters out faster then.
The other thing is, the week after I posted the previous chapter, I watched through both Daredevil and Jessica Jones. Then, the next week, I started watching Doctor Who. AND, that week, I also was working on another fanfic, called 'A Genius Among The Ordinary,' that I'm writing with my good friend The221cTimeLord, it's now up on both our accounts.
Plus, in the middle of that, I had a pretty bad cold. On top of the schoolwork.
Anywho, enough of my awful excuses, on to the chapter!
Caleb's alarm blares, drilling into my head and jerking me out of sleep. I jump up immediately, a grin already spreading on my face as I remember the amazing day I had yesterday. Hopefully, today will go just as well.
As I prepare a lunch, I remember: Faction Clubs start today! Sure, it means extra time having to deal with Peter, but it also means extra time with my friends, doing what they love to do. And I hope it's what I love to do too!
During the bus ride, while Christina is jabbering about something to Will, I'm thinking about yesterday. What can I do to make today better? I remember that yesterday, after lunch and before PE, I was a little rushed to get changed into gym clothes quickly, which was worsened by the fact that I wasn't comfortable changing clothes in front of other people, a side affect of my modest upbringing. How can you fix that? I could leave lunch early, get changed before anyone else gets there.. With a plan in place, I settle into my seat, zoning out as Christina continues yammering at a thousand miles an hour.
My first four classes pass without incident, despite the fact that Peter was in English with me and Will. I should have known it was going too well to last.
Five minutes before lunch ends, I get up, telling Christina that I'm going to change early for PE. She nods vaguely, not pausing her conversation with Marlene, and I leave the cafeteria, making my way to the gym. I change relatively quickly, leaving two minutes to spare before the rest will start coming in. I sit on the bench in the middle of the room, and suddenly, I remember an old bench, I used to sit on all the time.
I'm seven years old, just starting this program. I sit on the bench, trying to blend in with the oak tree just behind it. Then, a boy sits next to me. "Hi," he says in a quiet, shy voice. "My name's Tobias. What's yours?"
I look up at him, surprised that anyone would want to talk to that one weird new kid, much less a boy who seems two - or more - years older than me. "I'm Beatrice," I say hesitantly.
He smiles, his deep blue eyes seeming to lighten a shade. 'Nice to meet you," he says politely. "Oh, and believe me, everyone's like you when they first start. I was too." Then, something seems to catch his eye behind me, and he suddenly looks terrified. "I, uh.. I gotta go. See you around, Beatrice." And just like that, he left.
When I turned around, all I saw was the administrator of the program, Marcus Eaton. Slowly shaking his head.
I'm nine years old, and I'm sitting on the bench, holding my knee with both hands. I was running too fast, trying to get to class, and I fell and scraped my knee. I'm trying to get the bleeding to stop, when I see a hand holding a few paper towels. I look up at the deep blue eyes, and ask, "Tobias?"
He grins. "You remembered me," he says, sliding into the seat beside me. He pressing the paper towels to my knee.
"Don't you have a class to go to?" I ask, again being hesitant, not wanting to seem like I wanted him to leave. In fact, I just wanted to know why he was helping me, going out of his way.
He shrugs. "Got a break now. Saw you in the bench, during a time I know you have a class, so I was curious. Then I saw the blood, and figured you'd need to stop it bleeding. So, here I am."
"Well.. thanks." I think for a couple of moments, then realize something. "How do you know I have a class now?"
"I've seen you running frantically to get to it on time. When you realize you do that every week, it's a miracle you haven't gotten hurt until now."
He removes the paper towels from my knee for a second, then rotates them to a clean area and presses them back onto it. He continues this process until they stay clean. "You're good, it's stopped bleeding now."
"Thanks," I say smiling.
"'Cause of the five minute gap between classes, I think you only missed the first couple of minutes, you can still go catch the rest of your class," he says, and I nod.
"Right. See you around, Tobias," I say, as I walk the rest of the way to the classroom.
I'm twelve years old, and I'm walking to the bench to eat lunch. Only someone's already there. He sits, holding a few wet paper towels to his jaw, with a few dry ones in the other hand. He glances up, and I recognize the warm blue eyes. "Tobias?" I ask, and he nods, closing his eyes and indicating the seat to his right. I sit, and as he removes the paper towels to rotate them to a clean part, I almost gasp. His jaw sports several impressive purple bruises, all along it, and going a bit down his neck. "What happened?" I ask, my voice wavering a bit.
He sighs. "I slipped on some stairs yesterday, I fell and landed right on my jaw."
"Are you okay?"
"I've had worse," he replies with a grimace.
I'm still worried about him, but he seems to be used to this, so I shake it off. Noticing he doesn't have any food, and he's probably hungry, I offer him some of my lunch, and he accepts. I watch him eat, how he winces when he chews then cringes when he winces. I think his injury goes far past what he's let me see, but I'm not brave enough to bring it up.
I glance at my watch, and all too soon, it's time for my next class. I tell Tobias so, and get up. He manages a smile, and says, "See you around, Beatrice," with another grimace.
I'm fourteen, and Tobias is sitting on the ground, his back to the oak tree, his face turned to the back of the bench. I sit backwards on the bench, my arms slung over the back. We stare at each other for a few moments, then he asks quietly, "What would you do if I left?"
I stare at him in confusion for a few second, saying, "Like, what, left here now, stopped coming here, what?"
"If I just left. For good."
I shrug. "I'd miss you, and I'd move on, I guess." I watch him carefully, gauging his response. He doesn't move for a moment or two, then, all of a sudden, his hand is cupping my cheek, and he's right there, and suddenly his lips are on mine, and I don't know what to do. My brain isn't working, so I let my mouth move on its own.
Then, all too soon, we've separated, and he bites his lip. I stare up at him as he stands, slowly. "Goodbye, Beatrice," he says softly, turning and walking away.
The next evening, it was all over the evening news. Missing person, Tobias Eaton, aged sixteen. Most people assumed he was either kidnapped or he ran away. My parents firmly believed he ran away, constantly saying 'how terrible it was for Marcus that his only son abandoned him.'
I shake my head. That was then. This is now. People will start coming in soon, meaning I should get out of the locker room. I slip out, the door closing behind me, and lean against a wall to wait for everyone.
A few moments later, Peter rounds the corner, flanked on one side by a tall, rather ugly girl with red hair, and on the other by a large boy, also with red hair.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" he says haughtily. "What did you do, wear those all day?"
I keep my cool, saying, "No, wouldn't you have noticed if I did that? We do have a class together, after all."
He narrows his eyes. "I wouldn't have noticed a tiny Stiff like you," he says menacingly, walking closer to me. Anger flashes through me. 'Stiff' is a slang word I've heard what my brother and I called 'public school kids' using to refer to us whenever we were at museums and they had a field trip. Apparently, it was a derogatory way to talk about home schoolers.
I narrow my eyes right back at him. "What makes you think I'm a Stiff?" I ask, challenging him with my words.
"Oh, you know, the way you talk, and act, and do everything, and always look around with wide eyes at everything."
My eyes burn with anger. Then, I notice a large hand on Peter's shoulder, just seconds before it pulls him back and slams him against a wall.
"What was that?" a low voice says, and I recognize it as Four's. Out of the corner of my eyes, I see Peter's two cronies slipping into their respective locker rooms.
Peter opens and closes his mouth, but nothing comes out.
"Exactly. Now go get changed." Four removes his hand from Peter's shoulder, and Peter slips around him to go into the locker room. Then, he turns to me. "You all right?"
"Yeah, I'm okay," I say, smoothing my hand over my shirt.
"Good," he says, turning away and walking to the door of the gym. Right before he goes in, he looks over his shoulder, and whispers something under his breath. I may have heard it wrong, but I could swear I heard, "See you around, Beatrice."
A/N Sorry about the semi-cliffhanger. It was actually going to be way more cliffhanger-y than that, but I changed it so it would make more sense with the story, timing-wise. So, anyway, hope you enjoyed that little montage-flashback-thing! Initially, that wasn't even in there, I was just going to have it be a tiny thing, then focus on the encounter with Peter, and it would have had what happened after that, and it would have gotten all the way to the Faction club thing. But then I started writing and the story began writing itself, and I couldn't stop it.
Thank you so much to The221cTimeLord for helping me get un-stuck with this chapter, for the longest time I knew what I wanted to do, but had no idea how to go about it, and she helped me a bunch with that. (she even gave me the specifics for what Peter would say to Tris to piss her off). And thank you so much to the total of six reviewers I've gotten. Some of them are probably the same person, but they're all guests, so I can't tell.
I really am sorry this update came so late, the next one definitely shouldn't take as long. Please, leave a review telling me what you thought, those really help motivate me to write more!
