Tris POV:

I wake up to the sound of my alarm and throw my pillow at it. To my surprise, it stops beeping almost immediately. I lug myself up and wipe tears off my face from last night. Then I use my crutches to stabilize me as I dress. Then I reach for my phone, but pull my hand off my dresser and into my pocket when I remember that my dad has it.

I start pulling my backpack and hobbling out of my room, when Caleb comes out of the bathroom with a toothbrush in hand and asks what he can do to help.

"Get my phone back for me," I respond, almost annoyed.

Caleb puts his toothbrush back in his mouth and shakes his head and picks up my backpack, carrying it down the stairs for me. I roll my eyes at his naturally selfless self. Then I focus on not missing a step while going down the stairs.

"Thanks, Caleb," I say, once I see my parents in the room.

"Sure," he responds, then scurries off to rinse his toothbrush.

Then my dad turns to me, "Beatrice, I realize that I was a bit hard on you last night."

I mumble, "You can say that again."

"Excuse me?"

"What? Oh, nothing..."

"Well, I'll give you your phone back on one condition."

"What's that?"

"Max will tutor you after school."

"Max? Mr. Max? No dad! Mr. Max is a nut, he'll probably teach me kickboxing or something."

"If that will help you learn math then your mother and I are okay with that."

"Fine," I huff, then rip the phone out of his hand and sit down at the table where my mom is eating oatmeal. She hands me a bowl and I eat with her.

"Good morning Beatrice," she smiles.

"Morning, mom. Listen, do I have to take these stupid crutches to school?"

"Oh, Beatrice. You heard Dr. Williams; they are to help you get better. Besides which, you still want to join the Cross Country team right?"

I nod my head.

"Well, tryouts are tomorrow and all you have to do for it is run a mile in seven minutes."

I nod and shrug. That's easy enough. Except that I have these crappy crutches and they're not even helping me walk better.

I finish my oatmeal and stand up on my own, then walk to the fridge and put an apple, granola bar, and water in my lunch. I look at my mom and see her nodding to my crutches. I put my hands up in mock defense and walk out the door with Caleb. My mom calls after me, and this makes me blush mad. But then Caleb starts the car and it's too late. Caleb starts talking about getting into the Erudite club and how the chess club is working out. I roll my eyes and feel stupid for not bringing my iPod.

"Tris, where are your crutches?"

"Not here Four," I slam my locker shut and we walk to the cafeteria.

Four puts his arm around my shoulder when boys and girls stare at us when we walk to our friends' table.

When we sit down, I notice that someone is gone.

"Where's Al?" I ask, to no one in particular.

No one answers and I feel my cheeks blushing.

"Oh, my god! You will not believe what happened with Will and me yesterday!" Christina says, as she sets her bag down.

Then she sees me.

"Oh my god Tris! What happened?!"

Four answers for me, luckily, "Peter, Drew, Eric, and...Al tried to beat us up."

By now, everyone is looking at us, and they are all confused, "Al? Are you sure?" they all say.

I nod and Christina hugs me.

Then Al walks up.

"Speak of the devil," Uriah says.

We all nod.

"Tris, will you forgive me?"

"Are you kidding?" Will says, looking up from his phone, "Never come near her again."

Everyone nods.

"Tris?" Al asks.

"Never come near me again, bastard." I tell him. Four slaps his face and I cry into his shoulder. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Al clumsily walk away.

Then the bell rings.

I wipe my nose and pull my head from Four's shoulder. Then I straighten my blouse and we walk to class.

"Now, about those crutches," Four starts.

I roll my eyes, "I can walk fine with out 'em, can't I?"

He stares at me, as I keep walking. I see him nod, then smile at my butt. I slap his arm and we walk to math.

Dag nab it. I don't have my crutches and my mom didn't write me a note. Now I have to do P.E.

Coach Amar makes us run a few starter laps, and luckily I do fine. So far.

Then we do 40 meter sprints. I run against Christina. She wins, of course, but when I stop at the finish line, I end in mud, and slip. I fall face forward, and hear my ribs crack. I hold back tears, and Coach must have heard the cracking sound too, because he tells Christina to take me to the nurse's office. I limp there, and lean onto Christina for support.

"Hey, Tori," Christina says. I nod to her.

Tori smiles, but then she sees me in pain, "Hello girls! Tris, what happened? Should I get the nurse?"

Christina nods and a minute later, a male nurse comes.

"Hello, my name is Fernando. What seems to be the problem?"

Christina looks at me.

"Um, I got in a fight and didn't have a note in P.E. and I fell and felt a rib crack."

Tori looks at me sorrily.

I look at her like, it's okay.

Fernando beckons for us to follow him to his office.

Christina helps me sit up on the cot.

'Thanks,' I mouth at her. She nods like it's no big deal.

I shrug.

Fernando clears his throat, "Okay, um,"

"Tris."

"Well Tris, I don't mean to be modest, but will you please lift up your shirt."

Christina looks at him funny and so do I.

"Please, I am a trained nurse and not a pervert," he points to his diploma, which is on the wall.

I nod and pull up my shirt. Christina coughs and Fernando blushes. I bite my lip and look away. Fernando looks for a minute and pulls his gloves up to examine my ribs. When he touches them, I wince. He pulls his hands back and goes to get some scissors and some gauze and an ace bandage.

"W-what's that?" I blurt out.

Fernando holds his tools up and I blush.

He cuts off a piece of gauze and puts some ointment that burns, then relieves my pain on my ribs. He puts the gauze over it and wraps it up with the ace bandage. I pull my shirt down and Fernando tells me to get better soon. He writes me a note to get out of P.E. for the week and I thank him. Then Christina and I leave. I hear Fernando mumble about how dangerous physical education can be.

"Hey guys! How'd it go Tris?"

I shrug and Tori gives Christina and me a mint each. Then she gives me another and smiles.

We thank her and walk back to P.E. slowly.

Since I gave Coach Amar my note, I didn't have to make up today's P.E.

I stuff a bunch of notebooks in my backpack, and walk out of school, when I remember that I have tutoring with Mr. Max. I turn around, but bump into Four.

"Hey, Tris. Heard you got outta P.E."

I nod.

"Wanna get some fro-yo with us?"

I shake my head, "I'm failing math and so Mr. Max is tutoring me."

Four kisses my head, "Ooh, good luck with that. Well see you tomorrow!"

I wave goodbye and see him get on his motorcycle with Zeke.

I walk fast into the main office.

"Hey, Tris. Any better?" Tori asks.

I shrug, "Do you know where Mr. Max's classroom is?"

Tori hands me a schedule, "Leave a book there?"

I nod. I really don't want to tell people that I have to be tutored.

"Well, it should be open. See you around!"

"Yeah," I say, then rush off to his classroom.

"Mr. Max?" I ask, pushing open his classroom door.

Luckily, his head pops up. "Oh, hello Beatrice. Ready for some math help?"

I nod. He wipes his hands on his jeans and we sit down.