ALEX POV

I expected Eric to talk to me at dinner or even in classes the next day, but he didn't. He still walked with me over to the next classes. Most of the first three periods, if Marlene, Aidan or Edward, Peter and Lauren, or Tris, Four, and Zeke were there, then I talked with them. Every so often the guys would glace at Eric and then at me. Everyone was there when Eric asked for my forgiveness and I told him that it would be possible, only if he could prove that he deserved it. Were they expecting me to forgive him already? He didn't ask for it again and I guess he wanted to wait until tonight to talk to me.

During lunch, Shauna walked into the cafeteria and had Zeke help her onto a table. Tris and Marlene walked in after her. All three had changed into this year's cheer leading uniform. I had to admit it was pretty cute.

"ALL MY DAUNTLESS LADIES," Shauna shouted. "If you tried out for the cheer leading squad, I wanted to do something a little different this year. So, if you made it, you will receive a black manila envelope from Tris, Marlene, or I. If you are one of the twenty-two girls, I offer you my congratulations now." Christina threw a piece of food at me to get my attention. Once I looked at her she threw me thumbs up. "If you did not make the squad and wish to speak to either me, one of my co-captains, or the squad's coaches, please see us after classes are done today at 3:30 PM in Coach Tori's office. Other than that, thank you for coming out and hope we have an awesome year." She looks to Tris and Marlene.

"GO DAUNTLESS," the three of them shout which is followed by cheers from other students in the cafeteria.

Shauna, Tris, and Marlene walked over to our table. Marlene and Tris handed envelopes to Lauren and Christina. I turned around to see Shauna standing behind me. She smiled and handed me that big black envelope.

"Welcome to the squad, Alex. In there you will find some emergency contact, weekly grade checks, doctor's approval documents and other forms we need you to fill out and turn in. Deadlines are listed on each form." I nodded that I understood. "And just a side note, you received the most points not only from us captains and the coaches, but also from our guest panel, Alex. You worked hard. I look forward to seeing more of that this upcoming year."

With that she turned and left me to stare at the envelope I had in my hand. A voice across the table was the first to speak.

"Congratulations Alex." I looked up to see Eric throw me his signature smile. I couldn't help but smile back. "You're part of Dauntless now."

"Thanks Eric," I said smiling back at him.

Zeke came by and sat on one side of me and nudged me. "I can't believe my girlfriend let you pass," he teased.

"Yea, I guess she's not blind when it comes to talent," I said sticking out my tongue at him. There were a few girls screaming in other sections of the cafeteria as they were handed envelopes as well. Before Christina could reach me, Aidan pulled me out of my chair and wrapped me in a hug.

"Mom and Dad would be so proud, Alex," he whispered right before he released me. He pushed me back to look at me. "I'm so proud too." I didn't expect what happened next to come out from Aidan's mouth. "THIS IS MY SISTER, ALEXANDRIA KENT! SHE MADE THE SQUAD. WHOO WHOOP!" Some of the guys on the table started to yell too. He knew I didn't want to be called Aidan's sister, but in that moment, I was too happy to care. I hugged Christina and Lauren.

"A toast," Lauren said pulling me next to her and holding up her soda. "To starting off a damn awesome, totally wicked, kick-ass senior year!" Our soda cans hit each other before we took a big gulp from it.

I wasn't going to lie in that moment what Eric said was true. I felt like I was truly part of Dauntless.

Classes went by slowly and I guess it was because even though the girls were happy, the guys had to wait anxiously until after classes for the football team to be announced. All the girls were going to follow the guys to the football field after PE, so I decided to go too. After all, my brother shared with me in my moment and I couldn't help but feel anxious for him and wait to share in his.

We waited up in the stands until all the boys came back. We turned to look at them and they all seemed expressionless. Uriah, Zeke, Will, and Al looked like they were going to cry.

"Don't tell me," pleaded Christina as she ran up to Will. "Oh Will, don't tell me you folks didn't make it! Aw, baby, I'm so sorry."

Tris walked up to Four and Lauren went to stand by Peter. Right before Shauna walked up to Zeke, he let out a little chuckle. Shauna paused and then punched Zeke in the arm playfully.

"You dummy," Shauna scolded. Immediately all the boys smiled. "You folks all made it on the team, didn't you?"

"Yup," replied Peter who also got a punch from Lauren.

"Aidan, Four, Eric, and Edward were made captains," said Uriah. I went to hug Aidan and then heard Tris telling Four they would continue that later on. I'm assuming "that" would be their make-out session.

"That wasn't nice," Christina pouted.

"We were just playing with you girls," said Will trying to get Christina back into a hug.

I couldn't help it. Eric was standing right next to Aidan. So after I hugged him I turned to Eric and hugged him also.

"Congratulations Eric," I whispered into his chest. His head leaned lower and I felt his breath on my neck.

"Thanks Alex. That means a lot coming from you," he whispered. My knees almost gave way. I felt so weak with his muscular arms around me. I knew I had to move before I actually did fall. He must have felt me tense up, because then he pulled back and gave me a small smile. I almost wished it was that other smile.

I congratulated Edward, Uriah, and Al with hugs gave Peter and Zeke punches, and quite honestly I was almost too scared to say anything to Four. Dinner was really loud. Our table attendance actually grew with a few added football players, including Justin and Trick. Not to mention Dominic, Roman, and Brian. Brian's girlfriend, Mia, who was also a cheer-leader sat down by us too. (For those of you who didn't catch that reference, RIP Paul Walker!)

I hadn't even finish eating when Eric stood up and asked if I was ready to go. A few of our friends glanced in my direction, awaiting explanations. I mean honestly, after his little interview yesterday, everyone was expecting some sign of forgiveness on my part. I just nodded, stood up, and threw away whatever was left on my plate. Edward was the only one who knew that we were going to work on a project. He gave me a small smile before I left, probably hoping that I would forgive Eric tonight, too.

We walked in silence to the library. It was going to close in three hours. I had hoped that despite the need for the library to be quiet, that we would actually converse about something other than our project, like perhaps what happened at tryouts. I mean I could handle a five minute walk, but not a three-hour study session.

I found a table kind of far from other people. Instead of sitting across from me, he took the chair next to me and sat actually quite close. I took out my folder and pen and asked where he wanted to get started.

"Well, what Maslow was talking about was basically trying to understand what motivates us as humans, our needs, desires, wants," Eric started to explain. I hadn't really been paying attention in class. But he seemed to know what Ms. Benton was talking about. I just stared at him as he drew the pyramid representing Maslow's theory and explained each section. He stopped at one point to look over at me and I was caught staring.

"What?"

I smiled and looked down. "I didn't think you would know that much about all of this. It's actually quite impressive that you do." I looked back up at him.

"What do you expect, a stupid jock?"

"No. It's just that you said it like it was so easy to understand, but I couldn't understand

"I'm guessing you haven't paid attention in class," Eric said smiling.

"Yeah, I haven't."

"Why not? This is one of my favorite classes. Don't tell me it's true, you rather have Ms. James' class?"

"Hey," I said kind of louder than usual. I looked at a couple tables away to see some other students looking at us. I mouthed 'sorry'. I turned back to Eric as he leaned closer. "I was going to say," trying to look at him holding back laughter. I playfully pushed him to which he let out a chuckle. "I don't really like theories and the whole idea of psychology. It's like you're trying to pick apart at someone's mind."

"Isn't reading a story the same thing? You try to understand the character, read beyond the lines to see what the author is trying to get at?"

"I guess so. Reading, Writing, all of that, it just comes easier to me I guess."

All of a sudden he sat up in his chair and his smile widened.

"Oh no, what are you thinking?"

He let out a chuckle again. Man that smile really was gorgeous.

"Everyone is going to be presenting research on the theory and what conclusions Maslow came up with," he said.

"Isn't that what we're supposed to do?"

"Why don't we switch it up? The same way you kind of changed the routine at cheer try outs," he suggested. At the same time I involuntarily blushed. I knew he was there, I just didn't think he would have noticed that. He seemed to notice my apprehension. "Hey, I thought it was cool."

"Thanks," I said looking back up at him. "So what's the plan?"

"We can do the project on each other." I looked at him confused. "Since you don't really pay attention in class," he said teasingly. "I think you would be able to grasp the concept better if you related it to yourself or to me, instead of some random person in a study. It would probably help you on the final exam, too."

"That actually made sense to me," I said as he started to laugh.

Someone told us to be quiet and we both quickly looked around. Whoever it was hid. I mean as handsome as Eric was with a smile on, it could immediately disappear and he would have his game face on. If that scared running backs, wide receivers, and quarter backs, then it would definitely bring nightmares to everyone else.

I looked back at him and thought that this was actually the first time we had a nice conversation. He looked back at me too and smiled. We just stared at each other. We would look away but only for brief moments and then go back to looking at one another.

"Can we talk about what happened at tryouts," he asked while resting an arm on the top of my chair. If I had leaned back just a couple inches his arm would be touching me. It took everything in me not to lean back or even glance back at the muscular arm so close to being wrapped around me.

"Sure," I smiled and nodded, trying to keep my breathing under control.

"I didn't mean to bring it up in front of everyone. I actually had planned on asking something else. It's just that, well I just had to know if..."

"Hi Alex," a soft voice came from in front of us to interrupt.

"Hi Myra. Sorry were we being loud?"

"No," she said with a shy smile. I really did like Myra. She was in our (I would say my, but Eric had the same classes as me) AP English, AP Government and PE. She was quiet, but so lovable, considerate, and always spoke positive about other people. However, right now I wanted to talk to Eric. "I actually wanted to know if you two were working on Mr. Chen's AP Gov assignment yet."

"No. It's actually for AP Psych with Ms. Benton." I must have made a face.

"You don't like that class?"

"She doesn't really understand it," Eric teased as I hit him again. He replied by pinching my side. I almost let out a scream, because that was where I was the most ticklish.

"I loved that class. Don't worry Alex, Eric is pretty smart, it seems like he's helping you with that project now," she said. I had to look away to hide my smile. I actually was glad Eric was here. "By the way, I wanted to say congratulations to the two of you." I gave her a confused look. "You made the cheer squad."

"Oh yeah that's right. Thanks Myra."

"I want to show you something about that tomorrow in the school's old books if that's okay?"

"Sure, how about after PE. I just need to pick up my uniform, but we can go after that."

"Cool. Oh and good luck Eric. It's a shame what happened last year," she said sounding sad. I turned to look at Eric who wouldn't meet my gaze. "You, Peter, Dominic, and especially Edward are all very talented. We have one of the best defenses in State; well at least I think so. It's so sad everything didn't come together last year, Edward too, that poor guy."

"Yea, I know," Eric replied sounded not sad, but guilty. "We've seemed to have worked things out now. Edward seems a whole lot better. He's one of the team captains. You're right though, we do have the best defense, so we better show it off this year, right," he said sounding a bit lighter.

"That's great. Well, I'll see you two in class and sorry for the interruption." She waved and then left.

"What happened last year?" Eric finally looked at me and started to put his things away.

"Some things are just best left in the past Alex."

"Well," I said trying to match his angry tone and getting my stuff ready to leave too. "What happened to 'the person who stands before me is real'? What happened last year were not actually you. I remember you saying that. And now, it seems like you're just going to turn back into old Eric." I turned and walked away. I didn't get that far, until he pulled me back.

"So all of that," Eric began. "You really would forgive me? What you said wasn't just for show?"

"I meant what I said. If your actions could back up your words then yes. But, right now your actions show that you just don't want my forgiveness."

"I do Alex. I really do. I just," he paused and looked around. "I can't tell you right now," he whispered.

"Fine," I said and continued to walk away upset.

"Alex, please." I continued to walk hurriedly until we were outside the dorms. "Alex, please. Just let me explain." I turned around to face him. I crossed my arms and looked up at him expectantly. "I just can't tell you right now."

I looked away and into the dorm building, hoping no one would see us. I didn't know that during that time he came to stand right in front of me, until I felt his hand brush my cheek and ran down to my cheek to bring my face to look up at his.

"I had such a nice time with you now. I don't want to ruin it by talking about last year. It was hard enough for me and the guys to work everything out that happened. I had them promise that we would leave the past behind us. I really want you to think better of me," He said while dropping his hand. "If I need to tell you about last year to do that, I will. I just don't want to do it now."

"I guess I understand," I whispered looking down away from his eyes that seemed to pleading and drawing me in.

"I'll tell you one day. I promise. Right now, it's just between me and the team and I'm sorry, but I just can't tell you now." He pulled me closer; erasing whatever space was between us and pressed his lips to my forehead. "I promise," he whispered against my forehead. "I promise I'll let you know."

My body felt like it was about to melt. It probably did already. I wanted to pull myself into his arms. I wanted him to hold me and never let go. What in the hell am I thinking?

He pulled me back to look into my eyes and ran his hand down my cheek again. "Goodnight Alex." Then he turned and walked into the dorm building.