Tris could not bring herself to move her eyes away from the screen, but suddenly she was reminded of the scattered papers in the bathroom.
The box had been hidden, and if Tori came back, Tris would be dead.
Tris allows herself one last glance of the empty cafeteria on the screen before slowly standing. She walks over to the bathroom and frowns at the sheets around the place.
Crouching on the cold tile floor, she gently picks up the the sheet closest to her and flips it over. Tris almost winces at the reminder of Four.
His childhood was so horrible. Abuse was heard about everywhere, but to actually know someone who's been through it was just so... so... indescribable.
She slips the sheet into its folder and places it into the box. She does the same with her own folder.
After she's done, Tris drums her fingers on her thigh. She couldn't stop staring at the box. She knew that she should just close the flaps again and put it back where she'd found it, but the box contained so many answers to questions she dare not ask. Even better, it had all of Group B's files.
She clenches her jaw and closes the box before placing it back into the tub.
Good, don't look through it.
Tris switches the light off and walks back into the living room again.
Her eyes immediately fly over to the screen, and she feels her heart deflate when she realizes it was still empty. It'd been what? Roughly 8 minutes or so?
Tris jogs over to the door and swears as she tries to turn the knob. Still locked.
Right when she's about to bang her head in frustration, she receives a small heart attack as her phone beeps at least 4 times in a row.
URIAH- Tris!
URIAH-Where r u?
URIAH- R U OK?!
URIAH- ?!
Tris immediately straightens as she reads the messages. Her thumbs frantically tap on the screen.
TRIS- I need your help! Can you please call me?
The moment she hits 'send', she gets a reply a millisecond later.
Error Occurred. Please send again.
She retypes her message and sends it again, but she gets the same answer:
Error Occurred. Please send again.
"Okay, not only do I have to be stuck here, but I've got NO sense of communication?!" Tris flames loudly.
She stomps over to the screen and checks the settings again.
PLAY
REWIND
PAUSE
FAST FORWARD
CAFETERIA
INFIRMARY
ON/OFF
She clenches her jaw as she rapidly jams on the Infirmary button. A second later, the screen switches from the empty cafeteria to a bored looking Tori. She's sitting on her chair with her legs draped over her desk.
Tris watches as Tori seems to flip through some type of magazine.
A fucking game was going on and she was enjoying rumors and gossip of the modern world right now. She only cared about healing whoever needed to be healed and then getting on with her life.
Tris frustratingly tightens her hands until her fingernails dig deep into her skin. Little pricks of pain rise into her palms and she ignores the little drops of blood.
She walks over to the bed and hopelessly flops down onto it.
Her phone rings again.
URIAH- TRIS! Four and Eric are competing against each other, where ARE you?!
Third time's the charm?
TRIS- I NEED YOUR HELP! CAN YOU PLEASE CALL ME?!
Error occurred. Please send-
The loud smack of plastic and metal echoes in the room as Tris hurls her phone straight into the wall. The bright screen flickers- then black.
Tris groans as her hands rub at her face with great force. What the hell was she supposed to do?!
She felt like some psycho that was going insane. The things you watched in movies where people appear to be decent but were actually delusional.
...Perhaps like Marcus...?
Tris shakes the thought away. What the hell, she needed to physically do something to keep herself from going deranged.
And there was only one other thing she could think of at the moment.
Tris sifts through the black box as she tries to crouch into a more comfortable position on the tiled floor.
Finally, she ends up crossing her legs and sitting on her bottom.
Tris takes a deep breath, then places her hand into the box.
After she pulls out a random file, she opens it to the first sheet.
Then she closes it again.
This folder was Zeke's.
An unsettling feeling descends on her. She was going through people's privacy. She was reading their lives.
And at the moment she didn't care.
Which was why she was selfish.
Very selfish.
Tris opens the file again and pushes away the eating guilt. Her eyes scan through the paper quickly.
NAME: Ezekiel Pedrad A.K.A. Zeke
FAMILY STATUS:
-Unhealthy environment as kid. Lots of fighting and and yelling with parents
-Father cheated with waitress. Returned home pleading. Not having been forgiven, snuck into house to grab kids. Halfway down the road, got ran over. Death in front of children, scarred.
-Now live in own apartment. Visit Mother once in a while.
-Hana Pedrad- Mother of two (Uriah and Zeke)
-Took in runaway child, aka Tobias Eaton.
HANGOUTS: Apartment, Bar, Parties, Food locations
TESTER: #2 Group B
DATE OF ASSIGNED CAPTURE: June 17
Tris slowly closes the folder in bewilderment.
She understood something.
Everyone. Here. Had. Problems.
Including her.
Which was why people literally wouldn't care if they were gone, because their loved ones weren't even there anyway. No one would even be able to tell.
Here, Hana, Zeke's mom- she didn't even live with her sons. How the hell would she know he was gone for good? She'd probably assume he was at a party or something.
Then Tris feels hurt and anger yet again- but at herself.
It was life. And it was telling her to shut the fuck up because she wasn't the only unfortunate one in the world.
No matter how hard of a life someone had, that didn't mean everything was over.
And clearly, Tris failed to accomplish that.
Four? He escaped and moved in with the amazing Pedrads.
Zeke and Uriah? They stayed optimistic and partied like there was no tomorrow.
And Tris? Tris hid. She hid from everything and did her best to drown out the sympathy around her. That only made her life worse. She played Minecraft and had two personalities. Her real self and the one she had on technology.
But all their hard work? Gone. Because now they were going to die here.
And today? Possibly Four.
And now Tris felt even more regret than before. She should've lived her life to its fullest just like Zeke did, even though death was standing right in front of them.
A loud smash of metal causes Tris to scramble up and shove the files back into the box. She quickly places it into the tub and runs out, almost toppling over from her effort to move quickly.
Her eyes scan the room, only to see that no one was there.
Unless...
Tris quickly makes her way over to the door and turns the knob.
...It doesn't open.
What the hell was that freaking noise?
She looks around the room in confusion. There was a crash.. From where? Tris purses her lips as she climbs onto the bed. Maybe someone was in here? Tori, perhaps?
Her gaze flies over to the screen where it was set to the Infirmary. Except Tori was there.
And she wasn't alone.
She leaps off the bed and runs over to the screen, her eyes squinting at the scene.
Eight other people standing around something.
Tris runs over to her phone and clicks on the button. Maybe Uriah messaged her, maybe the game was done, maybe-
-her phone would never open.
"Are you KIDDING me?!" Tris shrills in disbelief.
She looks around the room dejectedly as her eyes burn. Her voice cracks as she speaks.
"Great. Fuck my life. I'm in horrible terms with Four, I forgot about the cafeteria and am now locked in a room, I can't contact anyone, I broke my cellphone, and I found out that I'm the shittiest and most selfish being in the world because everyone has problems like me yet I failed to realize that."
Tris sinks to her knees. "And I'll be stuck here until Tori finally gets back. I don't know what to tell her."
Tris hugs her legs close to her chest as she watches the screen.
What are they crowding around anyway?
A few people jog over to the sink in the back of the room as they seemingly start to wash their hands. Tris frowns as she squints her eyes.
They were washing blood off?
Her breath hitches. One person dries off their hands and turns to get back over to the bed.
Will. His face looked paler than usual. Then someone else moves and shoves Will aside with speed. Lynn.
A loud click sounds, and the screen starts to become a shocking red.
"No way, no way." Tris gasps as she leaps up. The door. The door.
She turns to head toward it when she stops dead in her tracks. The crowd. They'd moved aside a bit.
And lying in the bed was Four, with an arm loosely draped across his face. His chest was rising and falling, but Tris caught the way he winced with each inhalation.
A sharp ache deeply arises in her chest. She was shocked there was a lump in her throat.
He was alive. And he was wounded.
Tris quickly turns and runs over to the door. This time when she turned the knob, it successfully opened.
Stopping a sob of relief from escaping pass her lips, Tris exits the room and slowly closes the door behind her. Her head was pounding, but she kept a fast pace as she ran down the hall.
She makes a sharp turn and suddenly stops. She had spots of dark colors swimming in her vision.
Tris leans against the wall as she waits for it to pass. She couldn't waste time. She had so much to do, like go to Four. Did he even want to see her? She had to find out if they'd won. She needed to know about the game. She needed to know.
Tris feels the hairs on the back of her neck bristle.
Her fingertips graze the back of her neck to feel if something was here, except all she felt was the skin from the back of her neck.
That feeling. That unsettling feeling. She had it again.
That's exactly when she heard a door slam, right from the direction of where she'd come from.
Her heart explodes with hammering beats against her chest. She gets so afraid that for a few long moments her body freezes with fear.
Footsteps. Light, soft, quiet footsteps.
Slowly, ever so slowly, her brain comprehends that someone was following her. Adrenaline rushes through her body.
Fight or flight?
Tris clenches as her jaw as she forces herself to turn around.
"Show yourself." Tris says loudly, her voice surprisingly calm. "Why are you following me?"
She waits three long agonizing seconds before a quiet scrape of metal causes her to snap out of her daze.
Somehow she was smart enough to turn and run.
Her mind was going crazy with an overload of information. All she could do was hope for her brain to successfully remember the route back to the Infirmary.
As she makes a sharp turn to the left, her ears strain to hear if someone was still following her.
Then she sees a flash of black cloth.
Despite her urge to run like hell, her body halts to a stop.
What a horrible time to be having a flashback.
That black cloth triggered something in her memory: From the first day when someone hacked her and her Skype was on- she'd jumped in surprise when she saw it.
When she asked what it was, the person had responded with,
We are watching you. One wrong move, your soul will be meeting your Maker.
Just as Tris thought that, she hears a loud crash of metal right next to her.
So that's what the crash was. Tris thinks.
Before she can move again, something heavy slams right into her jaw, and then the back of her head.
And before she can scream from agony and fear-
She was already being consumed by darkness.
Pain.
That's the first thing Tris registers as her senses begin to come back.
She groans softly as her eyes shoot open.
A small sense of déjà vu hits her, but she ignores it and pushes herself up from the bed she was lying down on.
Tris stifles a hiss as she turns her pounding head around to survey the area she was in.
And right in front of her, was about 6 bold words.
FAILURE TO ARRIVE IN SUBSTANTIAL ACTIVITY.
Tris bites the inside of her cheek. Okay, they knew she didn't arrive to the cafeteria.
So...?
She forces herself to stand up- for some reason she wasn't surprised when she saw the familiar concrete walls.
Another wave of déjà vu hits her as she makes her way over to the mirror in the room.
Tris sucks in a huge breath as she takes in her appearance. So awful.
The left side of her face was purple and black; the area right where her jaw was. Tris grazes her fingers against the swollen area and whimpers at the sharp pain that comes.
Then she reaches the back of her head and winces as she feels a bump. Her eyes slightly water from the burning.
Tris walks back over to the bed and frowns as she realizes the black rectangular metal lying next to the pillow. She grabs for it and feels her eyes widen when she realizes it's a phone.
New.
She tentatively presses on the power button and is met with a red screen.
Device Is Disabled For 2 days.
Time remaining: 18hr*23min*07sec*
"What the- two days?!" Tris gasps in bewilderment.
Just how long was she out for? Maybe 30 hours? It said two days, that means 48 hours.
It didn't really occur to her until now how much of a deep trouble she was in.
Tris quickly whips around and ignores the stabbing pain in her head. She runs over to the door and swears as the door doesn't budge.
She was stuck again.
Tris would not give up this time, she wouldn't give in to defeat. Looking around the room however, Tris couldn't shake off that feeling that she'd been in this room before.
Then she realizes- she had.
"What is up with the little throwbacks?" She murmurs in annoyance after remembering that the first time she'd been here was when she'd woken up after being kidnapped for the first time.
She stands again and walks back over to the mirror. Last time she stood staring at her reflection, she looked like a pretty bad-ass gladiator with thick eyeliner and mascara, giving her eyes a bright bluish gray dangerous color.
Now, she stood with a bruise near the bottom of her cheek, no eyeliner or mascara, and just a hoodie. Bland and boring.
Tris frowns as she rubs at her neck. She had no idea what to do. This wasn't a game, she wasn't being threatened in any way... So how was she supposed to be able to take this seriously? Usually a survival mode kicked in- but what was she surviving against? Definitely not Peter.
She was now rubbing her collarbone. The tattoo #6 Group B stared back at her with intimidation.
Tris shakes her head and blows out a frustrated breath from her puffed up cheeks.
She was really missing her family right now. Comfort. Love. She needed that.
Unconciously, Tris runs her fingers over each raven representing the family members that had left her.
However, looking in the mirror, the ravens weren't there.
One thing was pretty clear, she wasn't blind.
A bubble of hysteria rises in her throat. "I'm not a freaking vampire."
Tris pushes her hair aside, suddenly getting a bit more frantic. Did they remove it? When did they remove it?!
No. No way. Tris tells herself. I would feel it otherwise. It would hurt otherwise.
Where the hell was her tattoo? She had a tattoo that she'd gotten when she was 18!
Tris wipes at her eyes and comes away with both her hands glistening with tears.
She didn't even care. Her tattoo meant everything to her.
Tris runs over to the door and slams the knob with her fist so hard that pain shoots up through her whole entire arm. She didn't care, the outside pain felt better than emotionally.
She slams the door again and again.
But when she tries the knob it doesn't open.
A whimper escapes her lips and Tris quickly clamps a hand over her mouth to stifle the sound.
This was the worst thing that could happen. She hated surprises, she hated being out of control, she hated not knowing what was going on.
All of that exactly was happening right now.
Please tell me I'm dreaming. Please tell me I'm dreaming. This can't be real. This cannot be real.
This isn't real.
This. Is. Not. Real.
This is all fake. This has to all be fake. I'm hallucinating. No one can actually have this much bad luck in a few hours.
Tris shuts her eyes closed and continues her mantra: This wasn't real.
Why was the mirror not reflecting her ravens? Something was wrong. Nothing made sense anymore, all she knew was that she was in a room where apparently she couldn't see her tattoo.
Tris opens her eyes and tries the doorknob, this time it smoothly rotates 180 degrees and a click sounds, making it clear that the door had opened.
Clearly struck with confusion, Tris lets go of the knob and backs away. Why was the door opening now? She looks around the room and bites the inside of her cheek.
This wasn't real.
No more than a few seconds later Tris was vigorously pinching her skin, willing for the area she was in to disappear.
This mirror. Not real.
This bed. Not real.
This room. Not real.
Everything was not real.
She was not experiencing something real.
...
And then her eyes opened.
Tris grimaces at the bright white lights above her head. She clenches her jaw and ignores the throbbing pain as she does so.
One thing wasn't fake- and that was the way her head, jaw, and even arm now hurt.
Pushing herself up, yet again, she tentatively surveys the area she was in.
The Infirmary.
"Well if it isn't for the sleeping beauty to finally open her eyes. Good, you're awake, you need to get to the cafeteria now, it's been about three days since they kept you."
Tris moves her head sluggishly to the direction of the familiar voice and grimaces.
Tori.
"I..I wha?"
"You were kept under a simulation- good job by the way. You figured it out quite fast. Not bad for someone who needed to receive a punishment for not appearing at the cafeteria.
"...Three days?.. Tha naw good."
"It was the side effects. You figured it out in about fifteen minutes- but I think they gave an overdose so you were unconscious for a while... Well not really. Three days is a lot. They gave a helluva overdose- they won't make the same mistake again."
"...They?"
"Not answering that."
"Wha... simulashon?"
Tris vows to kill Tori later as she sees her try not to laugh. It wasn't her fault her speech was horrible.
"I can explain that later."
Tris swings her legs to the side of the bed and flinches in pain.
"My.. head... jaw... arm hurt"
Tori raises her eyebrows. "Damn. That's why you're talking weird. When you were under the simulation you were able to talk fine because it was fake... Real life obviously has different ideas."
She walks to the back of the room and returns with a glass of water and two pills.
"Take these, it'll do the trick. You'll feel a bit better and your speech will hopefully improve."
So blind... She was just realizing now that her right hand up until her wrist was wrapped in black bandage roll.
Tris weakly grabs the pills with her left hand instead and places them in her mouth. She fully washes them down with the water after taking three sips.
"What... Four?"
"Ah, congratulations, you guys won." Tori walks to the back of the room to set the glass back into the sink. "Four and Eric. Damn."
"What happened... the game?"
"They... had a pretty straight-forward game."
Tris waits for Tori to continue.
"In the beginning they were each given a puzzle. Five minutes to solve. Solving it would give them the key which they'd use to open their box. Inside the box was armor. After time was up, they'd, well, have a match."
"They just.. fought physically?"
"Hey, your speech is getting there. And yes, no weapons, just these babies." Tori waves her curled fists around. Tris was too tired to say something witty or complain about what an annoying person Tori was.
"Anyway, they had to fight until someone became unconscious- then they'd press the button. Eric, however, wanted a 'death-match' instead. Real gladiator style."
Tris holds back a wince when Tori mentions, 'gladiator'.
"Fight to the death? That's just stupid."
"And as you can tell, it was a pretty intense game since both guys are pretty skilled. But Four ended up winning. He had a couple bruises on his face, knuckles, and some pretty bad ones on his stomach and chest, but other than that he's fine. It should've faded by now- it's been three days." Tori explains.
Tris looks toward the door, and Tori follows her gaze.
"You know, you actually really need to get to the cafeteria."
"Well I wasn't the one being the hold-up, excuse me."
Tori raises a brow. "I'm starting to regret giving those pills."
"And I'm regretting having not punched you already. Why am I going to the cafeteria again?"
"I'm not to tell you."
Tris purses her lips together in annoyance and gingerly pushes herself into a standing position. Even with the gentleness her head pounds.
Tori hands her something small and black.
"What is this?"
"Your phone." She simply answers.
Her breath hitches in surprise, and she presses the power button to check if it really was real.
"It's not disabled anymore, you can contact people if you want," Tori answers her unasked question, "They didn't want you managing to tell anyone where you were and that you needed help, so they cut off your signal. That's a replacement since you've broken your other one."
Tris nods and turns to leave before she stops in her tracks. Her heart drastically speeds up. Wait, does Tori know I was in her room?
She's about to turn around and ask when she hears a loud ping. The loud noise causes her head to throb harder than it already was.
"Warning bell, better leave." Tori calls after her.
Tucking her phone into her pocket, Tris reaches up to put on her hood. Best to hide the bruise on her jaw as much as possible.
"Looking bad-ass as ever. Black makes you look like you're ready to kill."
Tris ignores the fake encouragement from Tori and heads out the door. She knew she looked drained and obviously messed up because of the side effects and bruises.
Not wanting to get punished again, she picks up speed and gracefully makes each turn around the halls toward the cafeteria.
Her wounds were fluttering with pain, but all Tris could think about was how having hurt her right hand would be very crucial.
She frowns as she sees the doors. It was only occurring to her now how worried and possibly angry her group would be at her. Three days of no contact at all...
And Four.
A lump appears in her throat again but she tries to swallow it down.
What would he think when he saw her? Would he still be angry at her from earlier? Relieved that she was still alive? Oh how she really needed to talk to him. But now as she reaches the door, Tris begins to reconsider. She didn't want to talk right now. Maybe later but not right now, there was going to be another game.
Keep that unreadable mask on.
Tris takes a deep breath, keeps her face emotionless, and shoves the door open with her shoulder.
Just on time too, because now the screen had shifted into a bright white background with bold letters written across.
For some reason, Tris freezes. Everyone was reading the screen- no one had seen her. She leans against the door instead to stop it from closing and decides to stand there rather than sit with her group for now.
Everyone looked quite gloomy, actually. She was able to grasp their tired and messy appearances. They looked as drained as her- but Tris also looked beaten up, and that, they were not.
That's when her eyes fall onto Four.
A sharp pain totally different than her wounds spreads throughout her veins. She didn't realize how much she missed him. She could see faint lines of where his wounds may have been, but Tori was right, it'd healed. Or, at least the areas she could see. She couldn't see his stomach. Searching the side of his face, she noticed the slight dark circles under his eyes probably from lack of sleep. But he was still the same with his perfect hair and mesmerizing eyes- Tris has to force herself to look away and to the screen.
It's quite a time to be calling everyone here, isn't it? A couple hours after midnight seems pretty late.
What a shame, for we do not care.
Tris pauses. It was around 2 am? Is this why everyone was tired? They'd pulled themselves out of bed?
There has been a fairly successful Group during all these games. As shown down below:
GROUP A- 0 Wins
GROUP B- 4 Wins
Group B has been absolutely dominating. It's not working well with us. We've chosen the best of the best- and there is barely enough determination in Group A. Be ashamed.
And so we have bought you here today to compete in a more different style of a game. How is it different, you may ask?
It's a TEAM challenge.
You all will work together to win the team challenge- this also gives each member the opportunity to show their enemies what they are capable of.
The team challenge is an advantage for both teams to use the skills of each member wisely.
Tris feels her eyes widen in surprise when she reads the next sentence.
Group B #6 please step forward and pull out a sheet of paper from the bowl in the front.
Holy. fuck. Tris curses to herself. For a second, she even considers running away. But she had a pretty good idea what the consequence might be, and she couldn't afford anymore pain right now.
Immediately wanting to get over with it, Tris finally lets go of the door she was leaning against and begins to make her way over to the front of the room. The sound of the door banging closed behind her draws everyone's attention.
Tris keeps her head low as she ignores the stares and shocked gasps around her. Tris takes her left hand out of her pocket and slowly reaches into the bowl while closing her eyes tightly. She holds her breath as the crisp sheets of paper brush against her hand- and then she grabs the one all the way on the bottom.
When she pulls her hand out her fingers immediately curl around the material into a fist. Her gaze flickers over to the screen.
After drawing out a paper, unfold it and read it aloud.
Tris slowly pulls out her bandaged right hand from her other pocket and gently unfolds the small paper in her hand.
"Well what does it say Stiff?" Someone shouts.
Tris turns and gives Peter a deathly glare to which he stops smiling.
"It says, capture the flag, asshole." Her voice was surprisingly low but smooth.
There's a loud ping and everyone looks at the screen again.
Everyone make your way over to the side of the room. Enter for further instructions.
Tris tears the paper into pieces and stuffs them into her pocket.
She stops with a grimace as someone calls her name.
Uriah.
"Tris! Where the hell have you been?! I've texted you so many times!"
She continues to walk and he catches up with her nonetheless. She could suddenly feel everyone's presence behind her.
He catches her gaze.
"Tris!"
She looks away, then back at him.
"Punishment."
"What?" His face goes from being upset and angry to confused.
"Punishment." Her words come out more harsher than she meant it to, so she tries to soften her voice. However, everyone around them had heard her venom.
I've been gone three days. My phone was disabled for two days.
"Why?" Marlene asks quietly.
Tris licks her lips. "Failure to arrive in substantial activity."
Confused silence.
Will speaks up. "You didn't get in the cafeteria on time? What happened then?"
Everyone notices her wince.
Christina suddenly steps up and rips down her hood.
And Tris shuts her eyes tightly as they stand agape at her appearance.
"Oh. My. God. Tris! Who did this to you?!"
All she heard in the sentence was pity and shock.
Tris suddenly jerks her hood back on and sharply turns to Al who'd asked the question.
"How the hell am I supposed to know?! I was locked in a room. When the game ended, I could leave but then someone was following me! They slammed my jaw and my head. I was unconscious for 3 days!"
She turns to continue her outburst at Uriah. "And I saw all of your texts. All of them! I tried texting back but they cut off my signal. Then they'd disabled my phone for 2 days. Goddammit!"
It took all her strength to ignore his hurt expression.
She storms through the door to join the other people from Group A crowding around a lot of materials.
They follow her.
Lynn steps up. "Then what about your arm?"
Tris clenches her jaw as Lynn inspects her bandaged right arm.
"I tried to get out, I couldn't."
The screen pings and Tris gratefully turns to read it.
Wear your group's colors with these suits and grab a paintball gun. Your tasks are to successfully jump onto the passing train and jump out at the marker. It will look like a bright green light.
Then, this is when you will split up. Group A will have a 5 minute head start to hide their flag followed by Group B.
You are frozen for 3 minutes if you get shot.
Immediate victory the moment the flag is stolen from the opposite team.
Good luck.
Tris walks to the table with their suits and grabs the small black one with her name labeled onto the back.
She slowly zips it onto her body and grabs a black paintball gun next to the suits. She puts on her hood again from under her suit and turns back to her group that's started to get their suits on as well.
This wasn't what she had expected. She'd been worried about the anger she'd get from her group, instead, she was the one being angry at her own group for no reason.
Tris adjusts her gun to her left arm and someone catches her gaze.
She stares at Zeke for a few seconds and then looks away. He comes up to her anyway.
"Everyone was worried sick about you and you go yelling at them."
It wasn't an angry accusation, just a statement.
Tris frowns. "Look, I didn't mean to... I don't know what happened. Honestly."
He stands still for a few seconds. "Tris. You were gone for three days without a trace, how else would everyone act?"
"Relieved?"
He stares at her before glancing down at her right arm. "My brother worried about you a lot. But it was mostly Four. He wouldn't even sleep. Did something happen between you guys before you disappeared?"
Tris chews on her lip nervously. "Well.. Yeah..."
Zeke exhales. "Okay, I'm not going to ask you what it was. But I think you should go talk to him later, I'm serious, Four never gets like this and I've known him for a long time."
Tris stops herself from saying, 'Yeah, I already know that.'
They had two more minutes left until they started.
Tris glimpses at Zeke, then at Uriah.
He notices where she's looking. "Go and apologize. He received all your texts an hour after Four's game."
She squints at her feet. "Did he try calling me?"
"He did. It kept going automatically to voicemail."
"My phone was broken- that's why I couldn't-"
"Talk to Uriah, Tris. There's not a lot of time." Zeke interrupts.
She blows out a breath and nods.
Tris makes her way over to Uriah and sets her gun down in front of her feet as she waits for him to notice her. After a few seconds he turns away from Shauna after talking with her and realizes she was standing next to him.
Before he can say anything she catches him by surprise by hugging him tightly.
"Whoa, Trissy. I know I'm hot and all but you can't just do that." He finally answers as his arms gently wrap around her frame.
She pulls away enough to glare at him. "Shut up. This is rare."
He laughs and all the tension from his face when she'd yelled at him earlier slides away.
Tris lets go of him and steps back. "I'm sorry for yelling at you.. I don't know what I was doing, sorry."
He rolls his eyes. "It's fine."
"Friends again?" She asks, offering her pinky.
He grins. "Best friends."
They link their pinkies like childish kids and step away from each other when the screen pings again.
For some reason, Tris felt more prepared than scared this time.
Your time starts now.
A/N- Um, hey guys! I totally went MIA, I am so sorry. I couldn't write this chapter, cuz no matter HOW many times I wrote it, I couldn't get satisfied. Even now, even though I'm okay with this chapter I am not entirely pleased with it, I still think I could've done better but I didn't want to take a whole month doing this and torturing everyone.
And another thing- lol, I am SO sorry for not even adding Four. Like I promise guys, you'll get a whole bunch of him next chapter, I freaking promise.
UGH! I don't know why I don't like this chapter as much! UUUGGHHH! WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS?! Hopefully you guys are at least okay with it, and hopefully next chapter will be good.
And I forgot! Agh! Thank you all for reviewing! They make my day!
I AM SORRY IF THERE IS A LOT OF GRAMMAR MISTAKES I JUST WANTED TO POST THIS FOR YOU GUYS ASAP!
If you haven't already, fave, follow, and definitely review!
BYE!