Chapter 15

Tobias

After practice Tris goes to see Christina, so I decide to go to the control room. I sit there for a while, watching the screens when suddenly my eye catches something. I see a girl sitting in a corner in one of the tunnels, where members rarely go. Her shoulders are shaking which indicates that she's crying. I decide to go and see if she's okay.

When I get there, she's still sitting hunched on the ground. I ask, as carefully as I can:

"Hey. Are you okay?"

She flinches and stands up. "I'm fine." She quickly wipes her cheeks and fixes her hair. "Who are you?"

"Four."

"I'm Alice." Alice Harper.

"Harper?"

She frowns. "Yeah. How'd you know?"

"I've heard things."

She smiles. A smile that makes me uncomfortable. "What things?"

"Doesn't matter." I scan her carefully. "Anyway, I saw you from the control room so I just thought I'd see if you we're okay. Which you are, so…" I turn to leave.

"Wait." I stop. "Can you walk me to my apartment." No. "I'm afraid I'll bump into…um… a guy."

"Who?"

"You don't know him. He's not dangerous or anything. I'm just trying to avoid him. I was kind off mean to him."

"Okay. I'll walk you," I say even though I don't want to. She smiles and I accompany her.

We start walking. I keep quiet, because I don't really know what to say, and I'd rather not talk to her. Like I said, I've heard things and they're not very appealing.

"So," she says breaking the silent, "you're the legendary Four. I've heard things about you too."

"Is that right?" I say, trying to sound uninterested.

"Yeah, you're like famous around here." I don't know what she means by that. Sure I was first ranked, but there's someone who is every year. Why would I be more special than anyone else?

We don't speak again until we reach her door.

"This is me. Thanks for walking with me Four." Then she does something I was not expecting. She leans in closer, pouts her lips and closes her eyes.

I quickly pull away. "What are you doing?"

"Um…" She scratches her neck, avoiding my eyes. "I… I'm sorry." She opens the door and disappears into her apartment. I'm too shocked to move. Then, I hear my name.

"Tobias?" I turn around. Tris is walking toward me. "Hey. What are you doing here?"

"I um… I was just walking around. Waiting for you." I lean in to kiss her, but she stops me.

"But how did you know I was taking this way? We always take the other tunnel."

"Well, I was hoping to bump into you." I didn't plan to lie to her. Tris isn't the jealous type, but I don't want to worry her for no reason. Especially given what Shauna said about Alice this morning.

"Okay then," she says, but I'm not sure if I fully convinced her. She takes my hand and we start walking.

"So how was Christina?" I ask trying to change the subject.

"Great. I've missed her. We haven't really hung out just the two of us since initiations."

"What'd you do?"

"We talked a lot. We don't actually know that much about each other. So we just talked about our lives kind of. Our families, Will and her, you."

I stop. "Really?" I raise my eyebrows and grin. "What about me?"

"That's for her and me to know only," she says.

I take a step forward and gently push her against the wall. "C'mon, you can tell me." I lean in and kiss her neck. At first she just stands there, with her arms around my waist, but then she puts her hand on my chest and pushes me away.

"Tobias. Not here." She takes my hand.

When we get to her apartment, she quickly opens the door. It's unlocked, as usual.

"How's it going with locking your door?" I say when she's closes it.

"Great." she says.

I walk over and sit down on the couch. Just as she has closed the door, someone knocks on it. "There's no one here," Tris shouts but the knocking doesn't stop. "Fine." She opens it. It's Zeke. "Oh, sorry," he says when he sees me on the couch. "Did I interrupt something?"

"Not really," I say and walk over to them.

"I was coming to remind you of Capture the flag. We're meeting by the train tracks 7.50. That's in 30 minutes so I suggest you get ready. Me, Uriah and Shauna will bring the paintball-guns. See yah then. Don't be late!" He says and winks at me, meaning exactly what you'd think. Then he leaves.

"I'm gonna take a quick shower, " Tris says and disappears into the bathroom.

I decide not to change my clothes. I wear my black pants and black hoodie. That'll do. I sit down on the couch, and think about what happened earlier. Alice definitely took my rare kindness in the wrong way. She obviously doesn't know about Tris and me, and from what I've heard she's not shy when it comes to the opposite sex. Hopefully she'll not find any interest in me. I must have been deep in my thoughts, cause I don't notice Tris standing in front of me.

"You okay?" She says.

I look up. "Um, yeah. Great." I get up and walk over to her.

She puts her hands on my chest. "No you're not. What's on your mind?" She looks into my eyes, frowning. "C'mon tell me"

Can I? We've obviously never had this problem. I try to be honest with her at all time, but sometimes the other person is just better of not knowing the truth. She's just like Zeke though. She can tell when I'm keeping something from her, but it may just turn into unnecessary drama. "It's nothing really. I'm just thinking about the game tonight. Some strategies."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, now c'mon. We can't be late."

Tris

We walk hand in hand to the tracks. He's keeping something from me. I can tell. I need to confront him about it, but I don't know how, or where.

"You're here. Awesome!" Christina says when we reach the tracks. Everyone is there.

"Okay, me and Uriah are team captains, and we'll pick out the teams," Zeke says.

Last time during initiation, I was sure that I would be picked last, but now I might not. I'm stronger and faster, and I've learned a lot since last time.

"The train is here," Lynn says and points toward two lights coming closer. Everyone starts to run along the track. The cold wind makes my eyes water. I cling to the handle next to the doorway and I pull myself in. Once everyone is inside, Zeke and Uriah stand in the middle.

"You pick first lil-bro."

"Okay. Marlene."

"Four." Zeke looks pleased as Tobias stands next to him. He probably sees them fighting unstoppably together.

"Tris." Tobias and I are on the opposite teams. I don't know if that's good or bad. He gives me a sad look, but his eyes are smiling. He's definitely looking forward to beating me. My thoughts take over and I stop paying attention. Truthfully, my only goal now is to get Tobias alone so that he'll tell me the truth about what's going on with him. Winning the game doesn't feel quite as important.

"Tris, are you listening?" I look up. Uriah is standing in front of me. Tobias is on the other side of the car with Zeke, Shauna and Christina. On my side it's me, Uriah, Marlene, Will and Lynn.

"Yeah, sorry. Continue."

"As I was saying," Uriah says, "the most important thing is that we have a good strategy. We'll come up with one when we get off. We can't risk the other team over hearing."

I look over at them. They're whispering about something, probably strategy as well.

"Okay. Uriah your team will get off first. Two minutes left. Get ready." Zeke says.

We stand up and walk over to the doorway. Tobias stand next to me. "You ready?" He smiles and takes my hand, even though we're opponents.

"Bring it on."

We line up and Uriah is the first one to jump. I decide to go last. When it's my turn, I blow a kiss to Tobias. "Be brave Tris," he says and winks. Then I jump.

See ya'll soon. Be brave! -s