Disclaimer: I don't own Divergent
Tris POV
At school this morning, I can definitely tell that people are acting differently around me. I pass by Shauna and Marlene on my way to my locker and say hi to them, but they just lower their heads and turn around, ignoring me. "Are you okay?" Christina asks me when I get to my locker.
"Yeah?" I say, confused as to why she was asking.
"I just wanted to make sure…" she trails off.
"What's going on Christina?" I ask, "Shauna and Marlene are acting weird, did I miss something?"
"Why weren't you at Zeke and Uriah's yesterday?" she asks.
"I just wanted some alone time, I had homework to do anyways," I say.
She narrows her eyes at me, searching for a sign that I might be lying, but I'm not. "Are you sure?" she asks hesitantly.
"Absolutely positive. Now what happened last night?" I ask.
She immediately shakes her head and says, "I'm not in the position to tell you."
I huff, and say, "Fine then." We walk to homeroom in silence after that, what could be so bad that Christina won't tell me?
We sit down in silence, I don't even say hi to Tobias who is looking at me in concern beside me. "Are you alright?" he asks.
I am about to snap at him, but then I look into his eyes and calm down a bit. "I'm fine, but it doesn't seem like everyone else is," I say.
His eyes show confusion, so I explain further, "Marlene and Shauna were acting off this morning, and Christina won't tell me what happened last night for some reason."
"Oh," he says, now nervous.
"Do you know too?" I ask him suspiciously.
"Yes, I do, but Shauna and Marlene are supposed to tell you," he says.
"Why?" I ask.
"Because they're the ones that said it," Christina spits out.
"Is it really that bad?" I ask.
"Well, uh…" Tobias starts.
"You won't like it," Christina says.
I sigh, and say, "I don't understand."
"Trust me, it's for the best that you don't hear it from us," Tobias says.
"Okay," I say reluctantly, realizing that there is no way that I'll get this out of them.
Class passes by quickly, and soon Tobias and I are off to Government. We walk into the classroom, and Shauna is already sitting in the back. We sit down, and I turn around to face her. "Hey Shauna," I say.
She looks up momentarily, then her eyes fill with fury and she looks back down without answering me. "So," I continue, "I was wondering if you could tell me what happened last night? Christina and Four won't fill me in."
She doesn't answer once again. I turn to Tobias, and ask, "Did I do something wrong?" I hope not, I don't want everyone in a huge fight because of me.
"No, you didn't do anything, they did," he says.
Government passes, and I get the same reaction from Marlene in Spanish. Soon comes lunchtime, and as soon as I walk into the cafeteria, I can tell that something is seriously wrong. Marlene, Shauna, and Uriah aren't sitting at our normal table. "Someone needs to tell me what's going on," I say as I sit down.
"You guys haven't told her?" Will questions.
"No, we thought it was best not to," Christina says.
"She deserves to know, though," Zeke says.
"Do you want to tell her, then?" Tobias asks.
"No," he says.
"Well someone has to tell me," I say.
"I know, it's just not the right time," Christina says.
"You know what? I'm going to ask Uriah," I say, and then get up and walk over to the table that they are sitting at. Conversation ceases when I sit down. "Hi guys," I say.
"Hi!" Uriah says, and then Marlene hits him.
"Uriah, can you tell me what is going on?" I ask.
"Well…" Uriah starts, but then Shauna and Marlene both glare at him. He gulps.
"I don't think I can," he says.
"C'mon Uri, no one else will tell me," I plead.
"I'm sure you can tell that there's a disagreement…" he starts.
"Yeah, I've got that part. But why?" I press. Maybe I can get some information from him.
"It's probably better if I don't say," he says, eyeing Marlene and Shauna again. They look like they are about to attack him.
"Ok, you don't have to tell me now," I say, knowing that he doesn't want to get hurt, "Maybe later then." I get up, and walk back to the other table.
"He didn't tell you, did he?" Christina asks.
"No," I say, frustrated, "Why can't you guys tell me?"
"It's complicated," Will says.
"For God's sake!" Lynn speaks up, "I'll tell her."
She starts, "You didn't show up last night, and we were talking about whether you would come or not. Then Shauna said that you can never know, and then Four asked her what that is supposed to mean. Shauna said that you are the most confusing person she knows, and then Marlene agreed with her, saying that you act different ways for no reason. It was all derogatory."
"Four started to defend you, but Shauna started to get mad that you wouldn't tell us anything about you. Christina said something, but then Marlene said that you could just tell us and things would be different. Then Four, I thought he was going to literally kill them, he said that they don't deserve your trust if they're talking about you behind your back, and then stormed out. After that, things got really ugly."
"Christina and I started to yell at them for saying bad things about you, and then they started to yell back saying stuff about us. Zeke and Will started trying to calm them down, but then it escalated. Zeke then started yelling at Shauna for getting like this, because obviously they're the ones at fault here. Shauna started screaming at him for not supported her and taking her side, and then Zeke broke up with her right there."
"Uriah started to yell at Zeke for doing that, he thought that it was a jerk move and that Zeke was better than that. He took their side only to get back at him. Then Zeke kicked everyone out," she finishes.
"I'm sorry," I say to everyone, "I'm sorry that everyone got into an argument because of me." I don't necessarily feel sad, or like crying, I mainly feel guilty, especially with what happened between Zeke and Shauna.
"We didn't want to tell you because we didn't want you to feel like it was your fault," Christina says. But she's wrong, this definitely is my fault.
"Thank you for defending me," I say, now losing my appetite.
"It was wrong of them to talk about you like that," Tobias says.
"I'm going to go talk to them again," I say, and get up once again to walk over.
"Hi again," I say. I am met with silence as a response.
"Lynn finally told me what happened," I continue, "I'm sorry about how it all turned out. Hopefully, you and Zeke can fix things, Shauna. Uriah, hopefully you and Zeke can fix things too."
"I'm sorry that you two feel that way about me, but I guess that it's something that you'll just have to accept. That's really just the way I am, the same way that Four isolates himself, and that Uriah never takes things seriously. It's just something you don't question."
"If you feel like I don't trust you, then I'm sorry about that as well. It's not that I don't trust you, or think you're good enough to know about me, it's just something that I'm moving on from and rather not relive. I don't want it to matter anymore, it's in the past."
"I don't know what else to say. I'm sorry that everyone is against each other because of me, I'm sorry that I split the group up. I feel incredibly guilty right now, but I guess that it's really your decision if we want to fix things. I hope that we can though, I thought that we were good friends," I finish, and then get up and leave before any response comes. I had a feeling that they wouldn't say anything anyways.
"What did you say to them?" Christina asks when I sit back down.
"I apologized," I say simply.
"You didn't do anything wrong, though," Will says, clearly confused.
"I wasn't there, but this whole argument is about me so I felt like it was my place to say something," I say.
I turn to Christina, and say, "I don't want this to happen again. If they decide to come back and make things right, then I give you permission to tell everyone what you feel they should know about me. I don't want to be there."
"Are you sure Tris?" Tobias asks me, "You don't have to."
"I don't want this to happen again," I repeat, and then get up and leave the cafeteria. I didn't eat anything; this is the first meal I've missed in weeks. No one comes after me, which I am thankful for.
Tobias POV
I find Zeke when I enter school the next morning. "Hey," I say, and then see his face serious.
"Things got worse after you left," he says.
Oh no, I thought things were bad enough already. "What happened?" I ask.
"Christina started freaking out on them, Lynn joined in as well. They started yelling stuff for a while, then it got to the point where they were just insulting each other. Will and I tried to stop it," Zeke starts.
"Our efforts honestly just made it all worse. I then started to get mad at Shauna for saying this sort of stuff, she had never been that "mean girl" but that's what she was turning into. She then started screaming at me for not taking her side, for not being a good boyfriend and supporting her. I broke up with her right then, because I can have my own opinions and I would support her in anything else, but not with being mean to Tris. She's like a little sister to me."
"Uriah, being the idiot that he is, started to get involved. He got all mad at me for breaking up with Shauna, who was crying at this point. He thought that I was being a jerk, but I just didn't like the way that Shauna was talking about Tris, it was getting worse and worse. Anyways, Uriah took their side because he was mad at me, but secretly I think he has a crush on Marlene and that's why he did it. I kicked everyone out after that, Uriah and I didn't talk to each other for the rest of the night."
"Moral of the story, everyone is all split up now. They didn't even apologize, it got to the point that they didn't even realize how rude they were being, they just wanted to be right," Zeke finishes.
"I'm sorry about you and Shauna," I say.
"Things were going downhill for us anyways. We were growing apart as it is, I thought I loved her at one point, but after last night, there is no way I can love someone like that," he says.
"So you don't want to try and make things right again?" I ask. They were dating for so long, that doesn't seem like something you can just give up on.
"Maybe we can be friends. Things just weren't clicking, there was no spark anymore. We weren't meant to be, I guess, not like you and Tris," he says. Only now can I truly appreciate how special the relationship is that Tris and I have. I am convinced that the spark between us will never go out, never fade.
"Well, it's still not great that it happened, but thank you for standing up for Tris," I say sincerely.
"No problem dude, it wasn't even an option to back up Shauna and Marlene. Anyways, I have to get to homeroom," he says.
"Okay, later," I say, then walk off.
Tris isn't there yet as usual when I walk in, so I sit down and wait. I'm not good friends with anyone else in this class, there are a few football guys but we don't talk much. Finally, Tris and Christina walk in, and both sit down without saying anything. I know immediately by the look on her face that something is up.
"Are you alright?" I ask her, concerned.
"I'm fine, but it doesn't seem like everyone else is," she says, "Marlene and Shauna were acting off this morning, and Christina won't tell me what happened last night for some reason." I should've guessed that it had to do with last night.
"Oh," I say, nervous if she will ask me. I don't want to not tell her, but it's not my place to do so.
"Do you know too?" she asks.
"Yes, I do, but Shauna and Marlene are supposed to tell you," I say.
"Why?" I ask.
"Because they're the ones that said it," Christina spits out.
"Is it really that bad?" she asks.
"Well, uh…" I start, but then I can't seem to find the right words to say.
"You won't like it," Christina says.
Tris sighs, and says, "I don't understand."
"Trust me, it's for the best that you don't hear it from us," I say.
"Okay," she says, giving in. I can tell by her eyes that it is still bothering her for the rest of class.
We walk to Government together, and when we walk into the room, Shauna is sitting in the back. I forgot that she is in this class, but I don't even want to look at her after what she said about Tris. "Hey Shauna," Tris says.
Shauna doesn't respond. "So," Tris continues, "I was wondering if you could tell me what happened last night? Christina and Four won't fill me in."
She doesn't answer once again. Tris turns to me, and asks, "Did I do something wrong?" This was the question that I was hoping she wouldn't ask, because I feel like I should tell her that this argument is about her.
"No, you didn't do anything, they did," I say finally. Tris wasn't even there, none of this is her fault. I can tell that this is all still bugging her, and I also know that isn't something that she'll let go. We'll have to tell her eventually.
Lunch comes quickly, and I notice that Shauna, Marlene, and Uriah aren't sitting with us. Someone needs to tell me what's going on," Tris demands when we sit down.
"You guys haven't told her?" Will questions.
"No, we thought it was best not to," Christina says.
"She deserves to know, though," Zeke says.
"Do you want to tell her, then?" I ask, already knowing his answer.
"No," he says.
"Well someone has to tell me," Tris pleads.
"I know, it's just not the right time," Christina says.
"You know what? I'm going to ask Uriah," Tris says, and then gets up and walks over to the table they're sitting at.
"He's not going to tell her either, not with Marlene and Shauna there," Zeke says.
"I know, but we have to think about how hard this is for her not knowing. It's literally driving her insane, you should've seen her in Spanish," Christina says.
"Someone has to tell her," I say, agreeing with Christina.
"Who's going to?" Will asks, and as I expected, no one volunteers. The silence stays until Tris comes back.
"He didn't tell you, did he?" Christina asks.
"No," she says, "Why can't you guys tell me?"
"It's complicated," Will says.
"For God's sake!" Lynn speaks up, "I'll tell her."
She starts, "You didn't show up last night, and we were talking about whether you would come or not. Then Shauna said that you can never know, and then Four asked her what that is supposed to mean. Shauna said that you are the most confusing person she knows, and then Marlene agreed with her, saying that you act different ways for no reason. It was all derogatory."
"Four started to defend you, but Shauna started to get mad that you wouldn't tell us anything about you. Christina said something, but then Marlene said that you could just tell us and things would be different. Then Four, I thought he was going to literally kill them, he said that they don't deserve your trust if they're talking about you behind your back, and then stormed out. After that, things got really ugly."
"Christina and I started to yell at them for saying bad things about you, and then they started to yell back saying stuff about us. Zeke and Will started trying to calm them down, but then it escalated. Zeke then started yelling at Shauna for getting like this, because obviously they're the ones at fault here. Shauna started screaming at him for not supported her and taking her side, and then Zeke broke up with her right there."
"Uriah started to yell at Zeke for doing that, he thought that it was a jerk move and that Zeke was better than that. He took their side only to get back at him. Then Zeke kicked everyone out," she finishes.
I look at Tris after Lynn concludes the retelling of last night. She mostly looks shocked, but no other emotions shows through. Part of me thought that she might get upset about what they said, but she doesn't look angry or sad at all. "I'm sorry," she says finally, "I'm sorry that everyone got into an argument because of me."
"We didn't want to tell you because we didn't want you to feel like it was your fault," Christina says. That worked out well, it really did. I can see the guilt in Tris's eyes, she definitely feels responsible for all of this despite the fact that she wasn't even there.
"Thank you for defending me," she says.
"It was wrong of them to talk about you like that," I say. It really was, and it makes me mad just thinking about it.
"I'm going to go talk to them again," she says, and then gets up once again.
"Thanks Lynn," I say.
"Whatever, I don't get why none of you wanted to tell her. She deserves to know," she says.
"We didn't want to see her upset," Christina explains.
"She doesn't look upset," Will points out, and he's completely right.
"That's not what I expected at all," Zeke says.
"Me either," Christina says, "But Tris is pretty unpredictable." I don't even bother questioning Christina's intentions with the statement like I did to Shauna last night, she's Tris's best friend and I know that she didn't mean it negatively in any way.
"I wonder what she's saying to them," Will says. I look over, and I can see Tris talking. They aren't even looking at her in the eye.
We are all deep in thought until Tris returns once again. "What did you say to them?" Christina asks.
"I apologized," she says.
"You didn't do anything wrong, though," Will says, confusion written all over his face.
"I wasn't there, but this whole argument is about me so I felt like it was my place to say something," she says, and I expected nothing else from her. This is one of those moments when Tris is so incredibly selfless; she isn't even stopping to think about how she feels about what they said and is only thinking about making things right again.
Then Tris does something I didn't expect. She turns to Christina, and says, "I don't want this to happen again. If they decide to come back and make things right, then I give you permission to tell everyone what you feel they should know about me. I don't want to be there."
"Are you sure Tris?" I ask her, "You don't have to."
"I don't want this to happen again," she repeats, and then walks out of the cafeteria without another word on the topic. I don't go after her, mostly because I know that she wants to sort out her feelings about all of this alone. But she is so selfless, she is willing to let our friends know about her past, something that she never wanted to tell anyone, just for the sake of preventing anything else from happening because of her. So brave.
A/N: What did you all think? Honestly, this chapter was so fun to write, I don't even know why but it seriously was. Everything isn't fixed yet, maybe it won't be, but now Tris knows what happened. Hope you all enjoyed, make sure to leave a review!