Tobias
Eric's words still haunt me hours after they have been said. Our conversation replays over and over in my head until they are just a jumble of words not making any sense. The only sense I can make out of it is that I have to kill Tris Prior or leave Dauntless and live Factionless, which wouldn't be that bad I guess, I would be welcome with Evelyn, but did I really want to live the life of the Factionless? No.
I am sitting in the cafeteria, a burger in front of me, with Shauna, Uriah, Marlene and the newest member of the table, Will, who started sitting with us after he started working in the control room with me.
The cafeteria is full of loud laughing and chatting, Marlene and Shauna are talking about something at one hundred miles an hour and I give up trying to follow when I hear the word 'dress'. I turn to Will to try and make conversation but his gaze is fixed on some girl on the other side of the room, and no matter how many times I say his name he doesn't look away. Finally I look towards Uriah, I open my mouth to say something but am cut off when Zeke slumps into a chair next to his brother, a bandage on his nose and a sour look on his face.
"Zeke, man, what happened?" I ask him leaning forward, resting my elbows on the table.
Zeke looks up at me, his eyes narrowed. "I'll tell you what happened. Tris BROKE MY NOSE!" He says the last bit rather loudly causing Shauna and Marlene to stop their conversation mid-sentence and Will to break from his trance. Uriah bursts out laughing and I join him.
I stop laughing when I hear an "I'm sorry, Zeke!" being called from across the cafeteria from whom I can only assume to be Tris. I turn around to see her jogging up to our table, Christina trailing behind her grinning. "I didn't mean to hit you that hard," she says coming to a stop next to him.
I glance at Tris wondering what made Zeke get into a fight with her. No one in Dauntless messed with Tris, even before initiation. "Hey, Tris," I say with a nervous smile, if I have to gain her trust, may as well start now.
She raises an eyebrow and looks at me. "Uh, hey Four." She says sounding surprised. "How's it goin'?"
"Good," I nod. "How about you?" Well this was awkward small talk.
Tris seemed to think the same. "Good," she pauses causing an awkward silence between everyone at the table, then turns back to Zeke. "Again, sorry for breaking your nose. Bye Four," she says and walks off back to her table, giggling with Christina.
Zeke looks at me smirking. "What?" I ask feeling defensive.
"What was that about?" He asks. " 'Hey, Tris, ' " he mimics in a ridiculous tone that sounds nothing like me. "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir?" He says seductively, waggling his eyebrows at me.
"Shut up, Zeke." I shoot him a glance and pick at my burger, causing him to snigger along with Will and Uriah.
"So why'd you get in a fight with Tris?" Will asks squeezing a packet of tomato ketchup onto his burger.
"I don't know…" Zeke says pressing his fingers tenderly on his nose, wincing when he pushes too hard. "It just happened, I guess. I think some transfer questioned her skills or something. I wasn't really paying attention." I laugh at this and glance over my shoulder at Tris, watching her as she laughs at something Christina said. I notice Will looking over as well, but his gaze is on Christina.
"Go talk to her," I say nudging his shoulder with my own.
He looks at me like I'm delusional. "I'll make you a deal. When you make a move in Tris, I'll talk to Christina." He sticks his hand out for me to shake. I look at it, contemplating the deal. Little did he know that I wouldn't be 'making a move' on Tris anytime soon, so he would be waiting for a while. Ah, what the heck. "Deal." I say and shake.
Tris
"I still can't believe you broke his nose," Christina says as we at back down at our table.
I smile and sit down beside her, no one else is on our table, some may call us loners, but I call us selective - and so far only Christina and I have made the cut. "You have to admit: seeing the looks on the initiates face was worth it," I add stealing a forkful of her cake. At this her eyes darken and she scowls, thwacking my hand with her fork, hard. "OW!" I yell cradling my hand to my chest. "That'll bruise." I frown at her and she smiles, proud to have protected her cake well.
"Serves you right," she says around a mouthful of cake. I frown at her but her eyes widen in the direction behind me. I raise an eyebrow questioningly. "Oh my God don't turn around-" this instantly makes me want to turn around, well done Christina. "-but Four is staring right at you."
If I didn't notice it before, I do now. Now I am aware of it I can actually feel his gaze on my back and it makes me feel awkward and ridged. "What do I do?" I whisper to Christina whose eyes keep flicking between my locked frame and Four's.
"Err," she starts, flapping her hands around her plate to make herself think. "Flip your hair and laugh like I said something funny," she finally says.
"Why? That'll just look stupid," I argue wanting desperately to turn around.
"No, it won't. Just do it," she pushes.
I sigh and try and think of a better option, and come up with nothing. In the end I give in and toss my hair over my shoulder, laughing like she was Bill Bailey. It felt ridiculous but it worked. Apparently.
Christina smiles proudly and tosses her own short hair over her shoulder. "Good job, Tris." She pats my hand and winks.
Sorry the first few chapters (including this one) have been rather short, but I will try to make the next one longer.
Review please x