Hey guys! Another update! Woo! Sorry. It's been… too long. If it's any excuse, I've been having a really tough time lately. I'm not sure that anyone actually reads these, but for what it's worth, I've been having some issues in school and it was really hard for me to motivate myself to do anything, let alone write. But then I remembered that the fanfiction community is something that has been there for me, and sometimes the best feeling I get in a day is reading a comment on my work, or someone else's incredible fanfiction, or reading PM's from the other incredible people out there. So here I am again, with another update. Sorry for the delay. And thank you, to all of you out there. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX It was only when the sun finally sank down over the cinderblock school building, leaving the parking lot bathed only in grim gray light and the yellowish haze of the lights ringing the lot, did Tris realize how much time had passed. When she had left school, it had been- well, not sunny, but light out, and now it most certainly wasn't. That had been around 3:30, which would make this- "Shoot," hissed Tris under her breathe. Her newfound flair for rebelliousness, sparked by the events of the afternoon, was melting away in the face of her angry mom, irritated that she had already broken curfew. "Curfew?" Uriah arched an eyebrow. He was seated with an arm loosely draped around Lynn's waist, and she was sitting halfway in his lap, drawing in a sketch book that had been hidden in her black sweatshirt until a half an hour before. "Yeah," nodded Tris. "What- don't any of you have 'em?" She scowled. "Yep. And as a matter of fact, I think that we all need to get going now anyway-" Liv, who was still perched on the upper levels of the bleachers, swung down and leaped to the ground in one deft move. Tris braced herself for blood and cracking, crunching bones, but much to her (pleased) surprise, Liv landed on her feet, graceful as a cat, her curly hair only somewhat mussed. "Don't you ever, like, kill yourself doing all that stuff?" Asked Tris, trying- and failing- to imagine herself vaulting off of a fifteen-foot-tall metal structure. Lynn giggled, extracting herself from Uriah. "Funny you should ask," she said, glancing over at Liv, who seemed to be equally amused. "Last year," she started, "Liv's brother-" "He graduated," interjected Liv. "-Moving on," said Lynn with more than a little exasperation, " Liv's brother hung out with us a lot. He was a daredevil like… like he couldn't ever die. It was crazy…" "Yeah, yeah, we all know you loved him," said Uriah with a smidge of bitterness. Lynn blushed, and planted a kiss on Uriah's cheek. "You know I'll never like him as much as I love you…" Uriah smiled, mollified. Tris began to wonder if her innocent little question would ever end up being answered. "OK, so the point of this drawn-out tale is that Liv's brother did some crazy shit, and one day he jumped off this sculpture down by Main Street, and broke his leg in three places." Jasper, who had barely spoken earlier, chortled. "So yeah, if you wonder if we ever get hurt, the answer's yeah, we do." Tris nodded, slowly processing the information. "Hey, guys, Liv, I'm out-" Jasper swung his legs over the side of the bar he was sitting on, and in one delicate hop, swung down on to the ground. He kissed Liv on the cheek, saluted Uriah, Zeke, Four, and Tris, and then strode off, back towards the school, a lithe figure in the twilight, his hair flowing behind him. "His little sister is a cheerleader. The cheer squad practice ends right about now, so he goes to meet her and drive her home," Liv clarified, bending down to tie her purple Dr. Marten's laces. "A cheerleader? Really?" Tris couldn't imagine anyone as alternative as Jasper associating with a cheerleader, a pinnacle of suburban normality. Liv rolled her eyes and flicked a strand of hair out of her eyes. "I did cheer too, once…." Lynn snorted. "Yeah, Liv, you did Junior High Cheer. That was like, a split and a handstand and a lot of jumping up and down. Not sure how much that really counts." Liv scowled goodnaturedly, and Tris laughed along with them, although she personally felt that "a split and a handstand and a lot of jumping up and down" was more than she could do any day of the week, and didn't seem to be anything to knock. "Hey, how're you getting home? Seeing as you're precious Jas won't be driving you…" Lynn smirked. Liv sighed dramatically. "He claims to be oh-so-chivalrous, but when faced with giving me a ride home, that boy is like cotton candy; sweet and sticky and insubstantial." She stretched, and then turned to face Lynn. "If that was some kind of masochistic, rude way of offering me a ride, despite your obvious personality issues, I would be happy to ride with you." "Much obliged," responded Lynn, before deadpanning, "My personality issues are at your disposal." Tris watched them, feeling as before, both incredibly at home and incredibly confused. They were like no other people she'd ever met before, with their laughs and jokes and fearless different-ness. A moment later, the redheaded girl, who had later been identified as named Bette, swung herself off the bars she was hanging on. For a moment, it seemed like she was going to hurtle down to her death on the concrete; but instead, she flipped gracefully through the air and landed, cat-like, on the cement. Tris let out the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. With this group, as enthralled as she was by them, she was also always a little bit terrified. "I'm out too," Bette said, glancing upwards at Uriah and Zeke, who were still on the bars. "Pedrads, you driving me?" "Sure," Zeke nodded, not without blushing slightly. Liv nudged Tris gently. "He's been sweet on Bette for ages now. Ridiculous because he's normally completely out-there about everything, but he's shy about that." Tris nodded knowingly. It was easy to see why Zeke would be interested in Bette; she was probably about 5' even, lithe and sleek and somewhat feline, with a kind of grace to her that no one else in the group possessed. Zeke wasn't too shabby himself, though, with his spikey hair, dark cocoa skin, and glinting eyes. Tris felt suddenly very plain, with her average-as-it-gets mousy brown hair and not too-pale, not too-tan skin, and her ordinary, boring clothes. She imagined going to the mall and decking herself out in dark clothes, maybe dying her hair or piercing her nose. The idea was so absurd she had to laugh. "Something funny?" Four asked from just over Tris's shoulder, his sudden proximity to her both terrifying and magical. "Nah," She shook her head. "Anyway, I gotta go…" "You sure you don't want a ride?" Four cocked his head to one side, smiling at her. Every fiber of Tris's being did, in fact, want a ride, but something made her hang back. Maybe it was fear. "Yeah. I should figure out how the bus works, anyway." "Straight down the road for about a minute, and you'll get to the M60, which pretty much will take you wherever. Into town, and then it branches off." Lynn smiled nostalgically. "I remember my bus days…Anyway-" She snapped out of the haze of memory with almost frightening speed. "Liv, you ready?" "Yup!" Liv swung her backpack, a gray and black checked affair dotted with stickers and pins onto her back, and blew the remaining group a kiss. Lynn kissed Uriah on the cheek, fist-bumped Zeke, and waved to Four and Tris before she, too, pulled her bag on and strode off. "And then there were five," said Zeke dramatically. "Yeah, I gotta go," said Bette. "C'mon." "Oh, yeah, of course," stammered Zeke, rushing to his feet and pulling his bag on. "C'mon Uri, let's go." "Aright, aright, jeez," muttered Uriah under his breathe as he located his various belongings. Finally, the three got themselves together, and said goodbye. They made an odd trio, the muscular, dark-skinned boys and petite, flame-headed Bette, but something about them- or at least Zeke and Bette, seemed right; the way their bodies arced together, the way he opened the door of his banged up car for her. "Just the two of us, now," Four said, surprising Tris yet again. "Yup." She struggled to keep her voice even, but her nerves seemed to be going haywire. She wanted to grab him, to feel his heartbeat sync with hers, to touch his hard, muscular chest and inhale his warm, spicy scent. But she wouldn't. Of course not. That would be absurd and crazy and- "Tris? Hello?" Four's voice jerked her out of her fantasia. "Uh, yeah?" Tris desperately tried to focus. " I was saying, are you sure you don't want a ride?" Of course I want a ride. "Nah, I'm good. Thanks, though." "Alright then," he said. "Tris." Something about the way he said her name, the hard of the 'T' and the soft, dry rustle of the 'S', made her heart want to sprout wings and fly out of her chest. They stood there for a moment, the chill wind snaking into Tris's coat and whipping at her hair and dancing around them in an eternal cosmic dance. "Well, bye," said Four, finally. "Bye." Four turned and looked at Tris for another moment, his eyes fiery in the fading light, before he, too, walked off. Tris stood there for a moment, feeling both cold and alone, and warm and fuzzy and part of something, in a way she never had before. Now, which way was that bus? She turned and began to walk in the direction Lynn had gestured in. She geared up her iPod, popping her beat-up white earbuds in and turning it onto shuffle. "Feet don't fail me now/Take me to the finish line/All my body aches every step that I take/But I'm hoping at the gates they'll tell me that you're mine." With Lana Del Ray ringing in her ears, the wind whipping her hair, and the sunset fading to black in front of her, Tris strode toward the bus stop. Suddenly, a screech of tires on pavement jerked Tris out of her music-stupor. She darted to the side, just in time for a silver convertible to pull up to were she had been standing just a moment before. A tinted window silently rolled down, and Tris couldn't help but feel like she was in a spy movie. She could almost feel "Skyfall" playing in the background…. "Hey." The speaker was a girl who looked about Tris's age, if not older, and who was, if Tris was honest, incredibly pretty. She had the kind of round, golden face that always looked angelic, no matter what, full pink lips, glowing skin, and huge light gray eyes. Her face was framed by tendrils of light brown wavy hair, and her nails, which rested on the edge of the window were painted a shimmering light-pink. "Uh, hey?" Tris said awkwardly. Girls like…whoever this was always made her feel awkward and dumb, like some lumbering giant ape or something. "Why don't you get in? I'll give you a ride home… You don't need to take the bus." Something about the way the girl said it made it seem like both an insult and a compliment, while also being an order. Tris did a quick mental assessment and decided that the girl, while being freakishly pretty, was most likely not a serial killer of psychopath. She circled around the –very fancy, expensive looking- car and slid into the passenger-side front seat. The inside of the car was as slick as the outside. The upholstery was black leather, and the dashboard glimmering with LED lights. The girl flicked a switch on the dashboard, and soft music- Tris thought it might be some kind of Yoga trance music- filled the car. "I'm Janine Matthews," The girl said, turning to glance at Tris for a moment. "I'd say it's a pleasure, but…." She turned back to the road. Tris squirmed in her seat. It had only been about a minute, and it already felt awkward and strange. "I'm Tris Prior." "Where do you live, Tris?" Janine asked. "Uh, down by the river. Wade Avenue, just where it meets Maple Street." Janine nodded, and took a left turn onto the main road. " How're you liking our school, so far?" "Uh…" Tris thought for a moment. "It's… It's interesting, I guess." Janine said nothing. The trance music, or whatever it was, played softly. She took another left, and then two rights, and then a left again. Finally, Janine pulled up at Tris's corner. "Thanks for the ride," said Tris, unbuckling her seat belt, full of relief to finally be leaving what was undoubtedly the weirdest car-ride in history. "Just a sec, Tris." Tris stopped, mid-exit. "I'm a very nice person," Janine said with a chilling, lip-glossy smile. "And I'm happy to welcome you to the school. But you wouldn't want to hurt me, would you?" She leaned forward slightly. Tris could smell the minty sweet smell of her breathe, and the flowery scent of her perfume. "Uh, of- of course not," stammered Tris. "Well here's the thing. I saw you talking to Four. And he's my ex." She arched an eyebrow, obviously meaning for Tris to insinuate the point that she was making. "So…" Tris trailed off, confused. "Stay. Away." All the sweetness was gone from Janine's face. "Hand's off, leave him alone, etcetera. Or else I will personally make you regret the day you laid eyes on him." Tris nodded, her heart pounding wildly. She grabbed her bag, and swung herself out of the car as fast as possible. As soon as Tris had shut the door, Janine was peeling away from the curb, tires screeching on the pavement, leaving nothing but a toxic cloud of perfume in her wake. Tris shakily inhaled a gasp of night air. Her heart was pounding, her knees trembling. Her mental calculation had been wrong: Janine Matthews was not only freakishly pretty, but also a psychopath. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXWoo! Done! What'dya think? Reviewreviewreviewreviewreview. Review?