Hey Divergenters! Please follow, review, favorite, and check out my other story!
I'm sorry if my stories are going slow but I want to be able to let the foundation of the story be stronger, and not rushed.
Chapter XVI. Two Kinds of Knives II
TRIS
After talking with Four, I decide to catch up with Christina and Will at the dining hall for lunch.
As I run into the dining hall, my ears are met with the piercing volume of the Dauntless.
As usual, screaming.
I smile and I grab a piece of Dauntless cake, not without the usual flirtatious wink of the boys at the surrounding tables.
I roll my eyes with a hint of annoyance on my face.
I walk to our usual table and sit next to Christina and across Will.
"What took you so long? And is your ear okay? Tris, I'm so sorry! Only if I didn't wear mascara then you would never had to experience that! TRIS IM SO SORRY!" wails Christina, who strangles me in a hug.
I pat her back and push her back with a laugh. "I'm fine, Christina. It didn't hurt at all."
Behind Christina's apologetic demeanor, I can see a hint of annoyance. Oh.
Probably because I made her look like a coward. But I couldn't just stand there watching!
When she avoids my gaze, I say, "Christina, I'm sorry for making you look like a coward. But I couldn't just let Eric do that to you! He's already done enough!"
She meets my gaze and a smile spreads across her face. "I'm sorry for acting this way. And true, Eric's done enough to us!"
Will scoffs. "He's a douche."
We laugh at that.
They look at my plate, which differs from their plates of sandwiches. "Again? Dude, you've had Dauntless cake like, every meal,"
I shrug. "I'm Dauntless."
"True," Christina reasons against Will.
We talk about random things, enjoying our time together, when Will suddenly blurts out, "Never trust an atom."
Christina and I look at him with a confused expression. "What? Why?"
"Because THEY MAKE UP EVERYTHING!" Will says. I facepalm.
"Really...Just...Really, Will?"
"What? It's Erudite humor!"
"Never say it again..." says Christina.
We all laugh.
I look at my watch. "We still got thirty minutes until fights. Want to rest back at the dormitory?" I offer.
"Sure!" We walk back to the dormitory.
Christina and Will fall asleep, so I take the chance of privacy to take a shower. I admire my ravens standing out against my collarbone.
I wrap my towel around my body and realize that I brought no clothing. "Christina!" I yell. I hear no answer. I peek around the corner to see both Christina and Will still snoring, and the face I have nightmares of walks in with his padres.
Peter.
Great.
I walk over to my bed and pull out a black tank top and pants. I look up to see Peter smirking.
"Well Stiff, you definitely have a nice body." I stand up slowly, and tighten the towel around my body.
I glare at Peter.
"I don't know Peter, how about we take a look?" says Molly.
Words to insult them get caught in my throat, and are forced down to my stomach instead of out of my mouth when I gulp.
I look at Al, who looks innocent and frowns. He doesn't seem as cruel as the others.
They all surround me.
Except for Al.
Peter glares at him and mouths something.
Al responds wide-eyed, and steps forward hesitantly.
They pull my towel and I run into the girl's bathroom in the hallway across from the dormitory. I can hear their cackling.
Peter's sneer, Molly's ugly laugh, and Drew's cackles of humor. I hear no sound from Al's kind mouth. My fists clench.
I crouch down to the floor against the wall with tears pricking at my eyes.
It wasn't the first time I've been violated by Peter.
I change into my clothes and look at my reflection in the bathroom mirror.
The painful memory that always seem to haunt me stabs through my mind like a knife.
I'm just so happy that he wasn't sadistic enough to not use protection.
There's a reason why my heart holds so much hatred against Peter. My vision turns red.
Before I know it, my right fist collides with the bathroom wall and the drywall breaks as my fist is pushed inside of the wall.
I stare at the hole in the drywall wide-eyed, I knew I was strong but not this strong.
A Dauntless woman looks at me wide-eyed. "You okay?"
I nod tersely. "Just dandy."
Before she can reply, I storm out of the bathroom and into the dormitory, where Christina and Will are awake and the douchebags are gone.
Good.
The room is rid of their sadistic pansycakeness.
God, I'm turning into Uriah.
Christina smiles at me, but it instantly drops when she sees my bleeding fist and my slightly tear-streaked face.
"OMG! WHAT HAPPENED?!" She frantically asks, holding my fist in her hand gently.
"Peter." Is all I say, before my fists clench in anger. Christina and Will nod in understanding, fuming with me.
-o0o-
Peter and his group glare at us as we walk into the training room. I look at the pairings.
Peter/Edward
Christina/Al
Drew/Myra
Tris/Molly
Will/
I smile. I'm fighting Molly. As the fights go along, I smirk when Edward easily gives Peter a nice, black eye in addition to my damage done to him. I fist-bump Edward as he walks back to our line and Peter is dragged to the infirmary by poor Four.
Christina knocks out Al, and Drew easily beats Myra. Then it's my fight,
"Tris and Molly," announces Eric.
I step up to the bloody mat, cracking my knuckles for effect. It works, because Molly seems absolutely terrified for a second, then matches my fighting stance.
"Was that a birthmark I saw on your left butt cheek, Stiff?" I growl.
I feel anger rise in my throat. He will never violate me like that, never again.
Molly takes the first punch, but I easily dodge and kick her back. She falls down to the floor with a heavy thud. I punch her in the throat and kick her side, her stomach; anywhere.
That's what you get BITCH!
I see nothing but red, hear nothing but the animal-like cries of pain emerging from her throat.
I continue hitting, kicking, and I feel arms restrain me from kicking her again.
"You won. Stop." Four mutters in my ear. I look at Molly, who's a mass of blood on the mar.
I could've killed her.
I take a glance at Christina and Will, who are cheering and whooping in my defense, "GO TRIS! GO TRIS!"
I breathe deeply and wipe the sweat off of my forehead, some of Molly's blood dripping onto my arm.
If my fist wasn't bloody before, it certainly is now.
"I think you should leave. Take a walk." I nod to Four's words.
"I'm fine," I mumble, and walking out of the room, still hearing the fading cheers of my friends.
Unluckily, on the way out, Eric stops me at the door with a proud sneer on his cruel face. "Good job, Tris."
I gulp and nod. "Thank you."
If Eric thinks I did something right, then I definitely did something wrong.
-o0o-
"Attention!" The next morning, we are woken by Eric's loud voice. "I want to give you some advice about today."
Visiting day. I highly doubt any of my family will visit me. Not after seeing my father's disappointed face.
"If by some miracle your families do come to visit you,"
I hope.
"Which I doubt, it is best not to seem too attached. That will make it easier for you and easier for them. We also take the phrase 'Faction before Blood' very seriously here."
"Attachment to your family suggests that you aren't entirely pleased with your faction, which would be shameful."
Pretty sure you're shameful enough with Peter here, who is you're favorite anyway Eric.
"Understand?"
We nod.
-o0o-
After Christina forced me in a dress, Will, Christina, and I walk through the pit full of people ranging from different colors that look nervous, like they are about to be stabbed.
Well, you never know with the Dauntless.
The colors in the pit vary from black, white, and blue. No gray so far.
I watch as Christina and Will go off to their parents, who happily hug their child.
Even Peter's parents came, who look nothing like their evil son.
If only they knew...
But when I look closer, I see one familiar woman standing out in the crowd with grey.
I run up to her and hug her tight.
"Beatrice," she whispers. She runs her hand over my hair.
Don't cry Tris, I tell myself.
She draws back from the hug and smiles. "Well, look at you, you've filled out."
Not really, I've just hid my body in baggy Abnegation clothes.
"Tell me how you are."
The Abnegation in me blurts out, "You first."
"Today is a special occasion," she says. "I came to see you, so let's talk mostly about you. It is my gift to you."
My selfless mother.
She should not be giving me gifts, not after I left her and my father. We walk towards the railing that overlooks the chasm.
My heart drops when I notice a figure missing. "Just one question," I feel my pulse in my throat. "Where's Dad? Is he visiting Caleb?"
She frowns. "Ah. Your father had to be at work."
I look down. "You can tell me if he didn't want to come." For once, I want a person's inner Candor to come out.
Her gentle, loving eyes travel over my face. "Your father has been selfish lately. That doesn't mean he doesn't love you, I promise."
I stare at her, stunned. My father.
Selfish?
More shocking than the fact that she had called him that.
I can't tell if she has anger behind her smiling face, but the fact that she called her own husband selfish, then she must be angry.
"What about Caleb?" I say. "Will you visit him later?"
"I wish I could," she says with a sigh, "but the Erudite have prohibited Abnegation visitors from entering their compound. If I tried, I would be removed from the premises."
Wow...If the Erudite weren't absolute jerks before, then now they are true jerk material.
"What?" I demand. "That's terrible. Why would they do that?"
"Tensions between our factions are higher than ever," she answers. "I wish it wasn't that way, but there is little I can do about it."
I think of Caleb, grey standing against blue, ally betraying grey and joining the enemy. Part of me is still angry with him for keeping so many secrets from me, but then again:
What haven't I kept from him?
"That's terrible," I repeat. I look toward the chasm.
Standing alone at the railing is Four. Though he's not an initiate anymore, even Dauntless take this day to celebrate with family members, like Uriah, Zeke, Marlene, and Lynn are doing.
Either his family doesn't like to come together, or he wasn't a Dauntless born.
Which faction could he have come from?
"There's one of my instructors." I lean closer to her and say, "He's kind of intimidating."
"He's handsome," she says.
I find myself nodding without thinking, making my mother laugh.
Just before I can suggest that we go somewhere else, he looks over his shoulder.
His dark blue enchanting eyes widen at the sight of my mother.
I facepalm and inwardly groan.
This is so damn embarrassing.
"Hello. My name is Natalie," she says. "I'm Beatrice's mother." She shakes hands with him, something I have never seen-my mother shaking hands with someone.
However, the gesture seems unnatural for the both of them. No, Four is certainly not a Dauntless born.
"Four," he says. "It's nice to meet you."
"Four," my smiling mother repeats. It's like she's trying to embarrass me in front of my crush.
Did I just admit that?
"Is that a nickname?"
"Yes." he doesn't push the topic further. What is his real name?
"Your daughter is doing very well here. I've been overseeing her training."
"That's good to hear," she says. "I know a few things about Dauntless initiation, and I was worried about her."
Worried? I was training for it, but of course, she doesn't know.
Four looks at me, looking at me up and down, not in a dirty way that most boys do, but in a analyzing way. Four could've been Erudite.
Never mind.
"You shouldn't worry." he says.
I just hope that the heat rushing to my cheeks isn't noticeable.
What did that mean?
"You look familiar for some reason," my mother says.
"I can't imagine why." he replies, his voice suddenly cold. "I don't make a habit of associating with the Abnegation,"
Yep, he's probably Erudite, but I can't imagine his beautiful blue orbs having to look at test results and science experiments for fifteen years.
My mother laughs. "Few people do, these days. I don't take it personally."
He seems to relax a little. "Well, I'll leave you to your little reunion."
My mother and I watch him leave. The loud thumping that was ringing throughout my body suddenly lowers.
My heartbeat.
"Is he always like that?" she asks.
"Worse."
"Have you made friends?"
"A few," I say while looking over my shoulder at Will, Christina, and their families.
Two Candor parents come up to us that look like Al.
"Have you seen my son, Albert?"
I shake my head. "I'm sorry. I haven't seen him. Maybe you should look for him up there?" I suggest, pointing at the glass ceiling above us.
"Oh my," Al's mother says. "Are you all crazy?"
I smile. I may have found that offensive, being so close with the Dauntless, but having Christina as a friend has gotten me used to Candor smart-mouths.
"Insane, no. Dauntless, yes. If I see him, I'll tell him you're looking for him."
Normally, I wouldn't do this for any of Peter's friends, but I can tell he's being forced to be mean to me. Like yesterday and during Candor or Dauntless, I saw Peter mouth to him.
I introduce my mother to Will and Christina's families, me nearly punching Cara, Will's older sister, for insulting Abnegation. We met Christina, her mother, and her younger sister without any insults.
My mother leads me through the halls, towards the dining hall. We stop at one of the hidden hallways that I haven't been in yet.
"Mom, how do you know where you're going?"
She stops next to a locked door and stands on her tip-toes, looking at the base of a blue lamp hanging from the ceiling. A few seconds later she nods and turns to me again.
"I said no questions about me. And I meant it. How are you really doing, Beatrice? How have the fights been? How are you ranked?"
"Ranked?" I say. "You know that I have been fighting? You know that I'm ranked?"
She interrogates me and I answer back for a bit, until the question I have been dreading from anyone pops up.
"Beatrice. What were your aptitude test results?"
I gulp, my heart rate speeding and Tori's warning pulsing in my head.
But I know that I can trust my own mother.
"They were inconclusive." I say softly.
"I thought as much." She sighs. "Many Abnegation raised are inconclusive. You have to be very careful during the next stage of initiation, Beatrice. Stay in the middle of the pack, no matter what you do. Don't draw attention to yourself. Do you understand?"
Oops. Too late for that.
I ask, "What's going on? Is it just because I'm a-"
She cuts me off with a shush. "Don't say that word." She hisses. "Ever."
Tori was right.
Divergence is a very dangerous thing.
"Why?" I ask.
"I can't say." she says while shaking her head.
She turns to me, jaw set.
"There's something I want you to do," she says. "Whenever you can visit your brother, tell him to research the simulation serum. Okay? Can you do that for me?"
"Not unless you explain some of this to me, Mom!" I cross my arms. "You want me to hang out at the Erudite compound for a day, you had better give me a reason!"
She sighs. "I can't. I'm sorry." She kisses my cheek and says, "I think I should leave. It will make you look better if you and I don't seem attached to each other."
"I don't care how I look to them," I say.
"You should. I suspect they are already monitoring you.
She walks away, leaving me too stunned to follow. At the last step she turns around and smiles.
"Have a piece of Dauntless cake for me, all right? It's delicious. I love you, you know."
She smiles a strange, twisted smile and then she's gone.
I stand alone in the blue light, when I work all the information through my head.
She has been to the compound before.
She remembered this hallway.
She knows about Dauntless cake.
She knows about the initiation process.
It all makes sense.
My mother was a Dauntless born.
I'm sorry, short! Important scene next chapter!
Al and Tris start to become friends, but that's not the kinda important thing!
Please follow, review, favorite, and check out my other story!
~TrissyPoo