Chapter 5

"Ry"

"He asked you out?"

Christina nodded and bit her lip, but she knew it was impossible—she's been smiling for hours now and simply biting her lip won't work, especially if it's Christina. Soon enough, she caves in and her mouth breaks into a teeth-filled smile that I want to shield my eyes.

"Yeah. He asked me last night but I was only able to answer him now." I raise an inquisitive brow at the statement and she hits me lightly on the arm as color rises on her cheeks. "He texted me, I mean."

"And you only told me now?" I leaned my back to the cold metal locker beside Christina's. She opens her locker (23-09-12-12 : WILL. I tried breaking open her locker a week ago when she was absent. It took me only the first try to get it right.) and exchanges her Dauntless History book with her Chemistry one.

The good thing is that we only have one subject left until I can finally get out of this place, but sadly my last period is Physical Eduction. Don't get me wrong—I love exercising and knife throwing and insulting the others when they don't hit the target—but my mind is too far off to even think about one of my few favorite subjects; it's too busy thinking about the complicated story that is Four and Blake.

I've been trying to put two and two together with what Uriah told me during lunch. He told me that Blake had a sister who died, that no one knew who he was and where he came from. No one except Four, who somehow knew about Blake's sister. If my hunch is correct, then Four, Blake and his sister must have been in the same faction before. But what happened in their former faction that made Four hate Blake so much as to almost kill him? He knew Blake, but also his sister. Which means something.

I try to rake through more information my brain has stored for me, but I am left with one sentece that doesn't make any sense.

She'll never forgive you...

It's a peculiar thing for Blake to say just before he was almost close to meeting death. Did he know that it would make Four lose his control? Or did he—

Christina's manicured fingers are waving in front of my face and I haven't even noticed. Somewhat annoyed, I bring her hand down to her sides. "What is it?"

"You're thinking about something," she says flatly. "And no, it's not just 'the usual things'. Something happened with Uriah a while ago, didn't it? Or maybe you're worried about Four." As if on cue, heat rises on my cheeks. This, at least, snaps her out of her neutral look and she starts jumping and squealing.

"You have a crush on him!" She teases. "You've only laid eyes on him, like, twice and you already have a crush on him!"

I could tell that my damn blush isn't fading anytime sooner, which means that anything I might say now she'll think is a lie. I don't care. I open my mouth to protest, but my phone starts ringing. Christina pauses mid-squeal.

I pick it up and the first thing I see is the familiar name that flashes on my screen, which catches Christina's interest. We both know what this means.

Her voice is a mixture of worry and excitement when she speak-whispers. "It's Emilio. You have a fight later. You haven't gotten a fight for the last three weeks."

"I told him I could only do twice or thrice a month since I'm starting school." I admit. I forgot to tell Christina about that, but I suppose she wouldn't mind.

She shakes her head, brows slightly creased. "But fighting is a part of your life; the adrenaline's like a drug to you, you told me—well, answer it first."

I put the phone to my ear. "What's up, Emi?"

"Fighting, money, fighting—the usual." He says jokingly. The sound of peoples' cheering echoes in the background, but I could still make out the sound of his voice. He's probably in the Prep Room. "So...later tonight at eight. Still got your skills?"

I nod, a little eager for this. Hell, a lot eager for this. Truth is that I've been training for the past three weeks, waiting for the call. Since Eric was no longer my mentor, I had to find something else to vent my anger and emptiness on—so I bought a punching bag. Well, three. "Sure."

"Okay. Is Tina going?" His voice is rising to a shout now; the fight must be over. I turn to Christina, expecting her to say yes because 1. She's never missed any of my fights since we met and 2. She said I won't win if my lucky charm isn't with me—meaning her.

But I could notice from the way she looked, with a little more make-up than usual and her hair hanging on her shoulders, that she has different plans. "I forgot to tell you, my date is today... But I could tell him—"

Shaking my head, I wave the idea off. "No, no. I know you really like Will and I don't want this to ruin what could be the only date you'll ever have with him. She can't go." I tell Emilio on the other side. I could feel Emilio frowning; he, too, knows that Christina goes to every fight.

"Thank you," She mouths. Smiling, I mouth back, "No problem" while listening to Emilio describe my opponent.

"He's a newbie so be nice to him, okay Tris? I don't know how he got in and why he's suddenly getting a chance to fight with the Joker, but I could tell that he's looking forward to meeting you."

"What's his name?"

He goes silent for a minute that I think he's ended the call, but then he says, "Ryan."

I repeat the name, testing it on my mouth. But when I do, Christina goes silent and stares at me, the color draining from her face. Like a string, she snaps, and surprise quickly turns into anger. She snatches the phone from my hand with a scowl on her beautiful face. "Emilio," She barks. "Describe Ryan to me."

Her eyes are clouded with darkness and she's muttering a choice of four-lettered words that would make her Candor mother faint. "Never leave your eyes off her or else we're the ones who'll be fighting next week. Okay?" Pause. "Just because! I'm not going to be there and I'm not happy with her fighting this guy. Ugh, bye." She clicks the end button before handling in to me, her shoulders slouched.

"Are you okay? You seem... angry. You know Ryan?" She shakes her head frantically, as if trying to convince me or her, but I could tell she's hiding something from me. She's been hiding a lot of things from me and I know that what she's hiding isn't one of those small secrets or rumors—it's something worse. But I don't press her for a confrontation, not now. My mind's still trying to decipher the Blake-Four incident.

We resume skipping into random conversations like we did before the call came up until the bell rings and we have to go to our classes. I walk away first, remembering that the training gymnasium (or as I like to call it: "The Gym of Death" due to the abundant smell of blood and stupidi—I mean bravery) is still on the other side of the building. I could feel Christina's eyes focused on me until I am out of her sight.

~oOo~

Everything that I was getting used to in DA—the loud chattering, the musky smell of sweat, blood and mixed cologne and unneeded attention—were all there, and even worse, when the crowd saw me at the entrance gates. I wanted to place my hands on my ears to tone down their wild cheers, just like I wanted to do in all of my fights, but decided against it.

"This is so cool!" Uriah whispered-yelled into my ear, making me jump in surprise. I almost forgot that I invited him to join me and watch from the private rooms. Christina insisted that I take someone along with me because she felt like something might happen without her—which is impossible—so I decided to take the only friend who likes what I do. Or should I say, my number one fan?

We continue to make our way through the crowd until we reach the doors to the private room. Standing between it are two tall, bulky men in black suits and a pair of shades. The one on the right bows his head to look at me and my smallness before turning to his partner. He nods to him and the other guy presses a four-letter key into the lock pad on the wall behind him. Seconds later the door swings open, leading to a dark and unlit hallway.

Uriah holds on to my shirt sleeve and I guide him into the darkness until we could see another door under the dim lights. I enter the code on the pad and the door slides open, showing a young man with wavy brown hair and body full of piercings. He glances at Uriah, who is standing behind me, before opening his arms and pulling me into a tight, literally breath-taking hug.

"It's been a while, mate." He smacks a loud, wet kiss on my cheek before pulling back. I give him a disgusted look and wipe the saliva of my cheeks. Sometimes I tend to forget that he has this weird foreign accent and frequently say "mate" after almost every sentence. "You must be Uriah. Christie told me you'll be her replacement tonight." Emilio offers his hand to Uri, but he scowls and doesn't take it. He barks out a husky laugh at Uriah's attitude before introducing himself. "I'm Emilio by the way."

Uri's eyes doesn't widen, but I could tell by the way his body turned rigid that he's surprised. "You're Emilio? I thought you were the old bald dude who announces the introductions and everything."

Emi chuckles and walks away. We don't need a signal to know that we should follow him; Emilio has that kind of attitude in him that makes you want to listen to him and follow him unless he tells you not to. It's irritating. "He's my uncle and we call it a referee." He pronounces slowly, syllable by syllable. Uriah rolls his eyes. "I just joined him in the business 'cause it looked fun. I don't have to go to school, I can watch these fights for free. And I'm the agent of this cutie right here." He tries to put his arm around me but I shrug him off.

The anger and jealousy on Uri's face was too obvious and I can't tell whether it's on purpose or not—but there's also something else there. Sadness, regret, rememrbance. It makes me wonder if maybe this reminded him of the girl he once loved before. But I don't ask him because I know it will hurt him. I know that it will remind him of the person he has lost. I've lost everyone I ever had, including who I was, so I know that what he feels.

We wander through the carpeted halls until we reach the room with TRIS written in capital letters. Emi tells us that he has to attend to one of his other clients, so we say our goodbyes and he strides toward where he came from.

Uriah enters the room first and rests on the couch facing the plasma TV. He looks around the room with excitement and approval before turning to me, his eyes shining. I could see why: he's seen the huge-ass glass on his right which lets anyone who stands from the couch get a view of the arena.

"I'm staying here?" He squeaks. I move to sit beside him and nod my head, hoping he isn't disappointed that he wouldn't be in the crowd. He isn't.

He wraps his arms around me in the tightest hug I have ever received. The way his chin is on my shoulder and his nose is on my hair makes me slightly uncomfortable, but I don't suppose he'd notice the blush on my cheeks. It's a stupid thing, really. I know I don't like Uriah in that kind of way, but there's something about him that makes me want to like him that way. It's both comfortable and horrifying at the same time.

My arms involuntarily move to hug him back, my hands grabbing a fistful of his shirt. I could hear his breathing stop and feel his shoulders tense, but relaxes quickly—but not quick enough for me to not notice—and whispers into my ear: "Best. Present. Ever."

Stop it, Ry. It's the best present ever, you hear me? Best. Present. Ever—

"Tris?"

I didn't notice that Uriah had already pulled away. I didn't notice that a single tear had escaped me. I didn't notice all of it because those words seem all too familiar, like I've heard them before. And I want to know more now. I want to know what that was, who was talking. I want to know who is Ry—who is Ry!?

"S-sorry." I mutter. "I just remembered something."

Hope. It was just a click, a flicker of emotion. It was gone as fast as it came, but I knew what I saw. I saw the hopefulness in his eyes, the fact that he's thinking of something. It makes me curious, and it irritates me; I want to know what he's thinking. I want to know why he's hopeful.

I want to know the answers to each and every one of my questions—who am I? What was my name? Who else knows my past life?—but I can't. Because I don't know who to start with and I don't know what to ask them, what the right questions are. I want to know so many things, but in the end I only want to know my name...

"Do you need to rest?" Uriah says softly. I glance at the clock and shake my head no. "I have to be there in ten minutes. I don't think I can afford the time to rest."

"Tris—"

"No, Ry. I'm fine."

"But." He sighs. "Fine. Good luck, Joker." He loses his grip on my arm which I didn't notice before and leaned down to give me a peck on the cheek. His lips touched my skin longer that I'm not sure "peck" is the right word for it. He slowly pulls back, albeit hesitantly, and leans back on the couch. My body feels cold but I'm pretty sure it's just the air conditioning.

"Bye."

"Bye."

And I am already walking out of the room and into the empty hallways to prepare myself. My mind was too focused—or maybe, perhaps, it's the opposite. Maybe my mind was too unfocused.—to notice one thing. One mistake. One word.

One name.

Ry.

I called Uriah Ry.

And he didn't notice.

A/n: Don't forget to leave a review! or else I won't finish it, honestly.

Sorry for the slow update. As I said before, I'm already going to school and I've been busy. Every day I only have the time to get on the computer and make my printed homeworks. I'm also busy studying my books in advanced because I need to get a final grade of 99 on Biology. It's a little stressful, but I guess it's the life of a thirteen year old high school sophomore.

I also found out that I'm the youngest in my batch. All of them are fifteen and forteen and meh. And that my Bio teacher is THE BEST—like the way he talks is amazing.

"Biology is truly beautiful."

"Did you like my voice, girls? It's beautiful right?"

"Yes? Are you sure it's a yes? Really sure? ... Well you're right."

MOVING ON

Do any of you guys have some questions? Clarifications? Violent reactions?

And don't worry, Four will reappear in the next chapter—I promise.

To the anon who posted a review on this chapter: I am hoping you see this because I will not repeat this again.

I will not tell you who Ry is, or who Ryan is.

Ryan is her opponent. Ryan is her ex. Ry is someone you will find out in the next chapters.

Blake is Caleb? maybe. I don't know. He's adopted/the child of Jeanine Matthews (his full name: Blake Matthews)? Maybe. Maybe.

I told you guys to pay attention. I'm not going to tell anything about what happens in the future and whether they are who you think they are is according to your instincts now.

But, as everyone knows, Four is involved in Tris' past. I mean, I think we already found that out a few chapters ago.