God, school hates me. Well, the feeling's mutual.

Sorry I haven't updated, I have a teacher who despises me and the world and yeah. I HAVE AN ESSAY ALREADY LIKE WTF

And updates are gonna come kinda slow.

TY SO MUCH GUYS! ILYSFM!

Shoutout to: amycahill57, Someone the World Forgot, divergent658, Guest (Fourtris Lover), ButterFrenzy, sushi8162,

Emi Nicole Jackson12, and divergentFREAK24!

*Sigh* I love Will xD I make him so funny. "I heard Oxygen and Magnesium were dating and I was like OMG" xD

Please review, follow, favorite, and check out my other stories!

Goal: 242 favs, 310 follows, and 517 reviews! I know you guys can do it!

And 500 reviews! THIS IS HUGE :D

Chapter XXIV. Trusting Certain Instincts

FOUR

I wake up the next morning with my head pounding. I try and recount the events of what happened last night, but most of it is a blur. I only remember one thing.

Talking to Tris by the chasm.

And kissing her on the cheek.

I groan.

She probably thinks I'm a total jackass now.

I drag myself out of bed and throw on some clean clothes, and head over to the dining hall. When I walk in Tris turns and looks at me. She blushes a deep red and turns back to her friends. I stare at her with a saddened expression.

Yep, total jackass.

I make my face clear of emotion and slip in next to Zeke and Shauna, both of whom look like they just recovered from the flu. "Morning, sunshines," I say, and pour myself a cup of coffee.

Shauna puts up a finger, her hair untidy and face messy. "Shh, inside voices, please," She groans and puts her head back on the table.

I chuckle and get up from the table.

I need to talk to Tris.

I walk over to her table and stand behind her. Christina, Al, and Will look at me funny, and Tris turns and looks at my face. I clear my throat. "Tris, can I talk to you? In private?" I ask, stretching out the word. She turns her head to look at her confused friends, and Uriah and the two Dauntless born at the other table.

She nods and follows me out. "So, about last night," I say awkwardly, and scratch the back of my head.

"Look, don't worry about it. I kept my promise," she replies, and smiles at me. I smile back.

"Good. Thanks," I say. We stand there in silence. Less than six inches, once again.

I could just close the distance between us, I think. I force the thought out of my head.

"Um, see you at training later," I say awkwardly. The corners of her lips turn down, like she's disappointed. "Yeah, sure," she says and walks back in to the dining hall, and sits next to her friends.

I bang my forehead against the wall repeatedly, hoping that Gary—the person working the shift at the control room—doesn't see me and start getting suspicious.

Stupid, stupid, stupid! I should have figured out a way to apologize to her, or at least ask her if I said anything dumb!

I groan. I just had to take the bottle of beer. Alcohol has strong effects.

I spend the rest of my morning in my room, thinking of what I'm going to say to Tris when I see her next. I lose track of time, and the next thing I know Lauren is pounding on my door, yelling at me to hurry up and get to the simulation room or I'm going to be late.

When I get over to the room, the initiates are already there, sitting in the hallway. Their eyes follow me, some avoiding eye contact in fear. Only one person meets my eyes.

Tris.

I try to ignore the fluttery feeling in my heart that she gives me as I walk in and close the door behind me. I turn the machine on and take a deep breath.

The only thing on my mind is Tris.

I slap my head. Focus, Four. You have to be watching for signs of her Divergence.

That is my only priority.

Priority. Prior.

Snap out of it, To-Four!

I shake my head.

I call in the initiates and watch as they watch their fears unfold before them yet again. I record the results and help each terror-stricken kid back to the dorms, until it's finally Tris's turn.

TRIS POV

I walk back to the dining hall after my exchange with Four.

After the events of last night, I can't help but feel like I'm on cloud nine.

He kissed me!

Not really me, just my cheek.

It's still a kiss.

I maneuver my way through the loud tables of Dauntless and resume my position across Al and between Will and Christina, and chew on my chocolate-chip muffin.

For a moment, the three of them just stare at me, their mouths slightly agape.

I stop in the middle of chewing and blink twice in confusion. "What?" I mumble, mouth full of muffin.

They just stare at me and shake their heads, Al looking a bit sad.

I catch Uriah's eye from the table next to us and he raises his eyebrows. I shake my head.

He narrows his eyebrows at me and winks, a smirk implanted on his face. I roll my eyes and turn back to my muffin, worrying about my Divergence and my… thing, with Four.

-o0o-

Once again, I'm the last one to go through fears. I fidget my hands nervously and chew on my lip.

"Tris,"

I sigh and stand up. My heart beats faster by the second and I breathe abnormally. I come in and sit down in the chair, probably looking just as nervous as yesterday.

At first the loss of confidence was just an act, but now it's genuine. I am scared shitless by stage two and three; one was a breeze, two and three are tornados.

"It's just a simulation, Tris," Four's comforting voice distracts me from my thoughts as he injects the serum into my neck. I take a breath and nod. The scene of Four's handsome face changes into the chasm.

I see my friends and the rest of the initiates watching me. I run up to them, but am stopped by an invisible source. I find myself in a small, square glass tank. Christina whispers in Peter's ear and they both laugh. Seeing Peter makes my heart drops.

I pound my fists against the glass. "Hey!" The tank slowly starts to fill with water, the cold substance tickling my shins. "Help!"

"Ooh. It's the stiff. She just acts like a Dauntless because she wants to be one. Really, she just has no skills." Peter taunts, and everyone else laughs.

"Pansycake. I never really had a crush on you. Actually, I never even liked you as a friend." The way Uriah spits out the words makes my heart drop, and tears slowly start forming in my eyes.

The water reaches my hips now. Everyone keeps mocking me, and I bang my fists against the glass harder. "Help!" I scream. "Please! Please help!"

I shake my head.

It's just a simulation, I recall.

The water has now reached just under my nose. I take a deep breath as the water rises above my head. I try to calm down, but my heart pounds too fast for me to even try.

This isn't real.

I kick the glass. This time, a small crack appears. This time, a small crack appears where her first hit it. I hit it again and the tank shatters. I am back in the room. And when I look up into Four's face, my heart plummets.

FOUR POV

My eyes are empty as she comes around.

Oh no. She broke the class; only one kind of person can do that. I was right all along. "What?" she asks.

"How did you do that?" I demand.

"Do what?" She asks innocently. "Crack the glass." I say, my voice stern.

"I don't know," she says. I grab her arm and drag her out into the back hallway. She must get tired of me dragging her around, because after a minute she takes her arm from my grasp.

"What?" she demands angrily.

"You're Divergent," I reply flatly. I'm not sure how much she knows about it, but from the look that crosses her face, I can tell she knows enough to know that the word is dangerous.

"What's Divergent?" she asks, leaning against the wall behind her.

She's trying to act casual, but I can hear the strain in her voice. "Don't play stupid. I suspected it last time, but this time it's obvious. You manipulated the simulation; you're Divergent. I'll delete the footage, but unless you want to end up dead at the bottom of the chasm, you'll figure out how to hide it during the simulations!" I snap.

I didn't mean for it to come out that angry, it just happened. I want so badly for her to be safe, to not have to deal with this.

I don't want her to know that, though. "Now, if you'll excuse me," I say, and quickly walk back in to the simulation room and slam the door behind me. Once the door is shut, I sink to the floor.

I can't let her secret get out; I will protect her. I have to.

I need to.

I want to.

The few remaining initiates finish their simulations, and I decide to skip dinner. I can't eat now; I'm way too worried for Tris. Instead, I spend my evening lying on my bed thinking about how I can protect Tris.

-o0o-

The next day is no better for her situation. I watch as a faceless woman forces her to shoot her family. When she comes around, she is panting. "I know the simulation isn't real," she says in between breaths.

"You don't have to explain it to me," I reply grimly. "You love your family; you don't want to shoot them. Not the most unreasonable thing in the world."

"In the simulation is the only time I get to see them," she explains sadly, scraping at her nail beds. "I miss them. Do you miss your family?"

I look down, as I tried to avoid questions like these in Dauntless. "No," I say coldly. "I don't. But that's unusual."

She gets up from the chair and walks over to the door. She puts her hand on the knob, hesitates, and turns around and looks me in the eyes. I hold her gaze.

Her eyes are hauntingly beautiful. So beautiful. So insistent.

Suddenly, before I can say anything, she turns the knob and sprints out of the room.

FOURTRIS BITCHES!

Please review, follow, favorite, and check out my other stories!

Goal: 242 favs, 310 follows, and 517 reviews! I know you guys can do it!

Baiii!

~TrissyPoo