I wake up in the morning to be met with dark blue eyes staring at me. He kisses my forehead.
"Good morning, beautiful," he says in a husky voice.
"Hi," I reply.
I get up and he follows. He then takes lead and walks into the kitchen.
"What happened last night..that was nothing. I still feel immediate hate and bile at the thought of you," he starts clearing things up.
"I'm glad. The feeling is mutual. And we're both on the same page," and I honestly don't care. I really didn't feel anything. It's one of those caught up in the moment things. He makes us breakfast and we eat in silence until he decides to break it.
"So, are we ditching or what?" he asks.
"Why would we ditch?" I'm not sure why exactly we'd miss school..especially on the second day.
"Aww. Little Goody Two-Shoes, I see. I'm honestly not that surprised. What do you suggest we do?" Bitch, bitch, bitch.
"Why don't I go to school?"
"Do you see yourself? You can't go in those clothes, it'll be obvious you slept over and I'd rather not have my reputation ruined."
"Your acting as if mine wouldn't also get ruined. And why do you keep mentioning 'we'? All I'm aware of, is that I'm going to walk over to my house, get ready, and then go to school...alone."
He just scoffs. After we finish our breakfast, he goes upstairs to his room. I follow him because I have nothing better to do.
"Watcha doing?" I ask.
He just chucks me a sweatshirt and puts on a shirt himself.
"Don't you think people will notice me wearing your sweatshirt?"
"Don't you think they'll notice you still wearing clothes from last night?"
"I'm not in a mood to carry you around all day."
"Would you for once stop being so goddamn annoying?" He shouts.
"What did you mean by 'ruin your reputation'?" I'm pretty sure the idea I have conjured up in my head is correct.
"Well, maybe you haven't realized but you're fucking annoying, you're a piece of shit, and you're so flat and small you could pass for my twelve-year-old little sister," he yells. Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner!
I stay quiet because I'm not really in a mood to respond.
"No way. Did I actually render you speechless?" He seems amused. Two can play at that game. I drop the sweatshirt and start down the stairs. I hear footsteps behind me but I don't care. Next thing you know, two arms wrap around my waist and pull me back. They turn me around so we're face to face.
"I'm not going to wear your sweatshirt."
"Well, maybe instead of staying the night here, you could've done it at your house."
"That's funny. After all, it's not like somebody was pleading with me to stay, right?"
"That was your choice."
"You're so ungrateful. I literally bandage you up and treat you nice, listening to your commands and ignoring my dignity, and all you have to say is 'that was your choice'?! Well, now, I'm starting to regret my choice. And maybe you do deserve an occasional beating to set you straight. You're the biggest jerk I have ever encountered. And I doubt I'll ever be able to repay or forgive you for locking me in the bathroom," I scoff.
"Excuse me?! No need to repay, I wouldn't let anyone, not even you get beaten if it was in my power to stop it. And forgive me?! Why the hell would I need your forgiveness?"
"Because you got extra beatings for me and that doesn't settle well with me," I shoot. "Wait, how do you have so many parties when Marcus is always barging home? How do you not get caught?" I am really intrigued.
He seems amused at my interest. "He doesn't barge in..I don't know why this time he did. Usually, he alerts me beforehand." He responds.
"I just don't get how Ian knew where to find me..all I did was send a text," I think out loud.
"And you didn't say anything? There's such thing as 'location services'. Did you give him the address?" He's fuming now.
"Why would I have told you? I would've probably just left-"
"But you didn't," he interrupts.
"and I didn't have location services on and I didn't give the address," I continue.
He just says nothing and puts my tank top on me and then his sweatshirt. He hands me my jacket and says I can leave it in his car. We both head towards the door but with different motives. He's planning on having us both in his car, I want to get home. So instead of climbing in like him, I just start walking.
"Your house is most likely pretty far from here, yes or no?" He asks.
I just keep walking. He's already in the driver's seat and has the window to the passenger seat down so he can talk to me. He's currently driving an Audi R8, one of the most expensive cars.
"Tris, I'm not afraid to get out and chase you into the car," he playfully threatens.
I just keep walking with my head held high. He gets out and starts chasing me up and down the driveway. I start giggling and he has a smile plastered on his face. He continues to playfully chase me until of course, he catches me and doesn't let me go.
"Four, let me go!" I start squirming in his grip.
He kisses the top of my head and whispers beautiful against it. For some reason, we're both acting like a couple. I don't know why. He then picks me up bridal style and carries me to the car. He hesitates, as if he had another idea, but eventually decides to put me in the passenger seat. We drive the way to school in silence, hoping to forget what happened ever since last night.
+++
We are at the school. Me and Four decided it would be best if he parks the car at least a block away. I'll get out first, and then he'll follow suit after 10 minutes after pulling into the parking lot. I get out and am just grateful that I keep most of my stuff in my locker. I walk the block to school. When I enter and get to my locker, my friends come up to me.
"Hey, sorry about last night. We didn't mean to ditch you. It's just, the party was crashed so out of instinct we just fled, you know? But we didn't realize until a little after that you weren't with us..so, where did you go? I mean, staying at Four's is the last place you'd be so where?" Christina asks.
"You didn't see? The guy was Ian. My godfather. I left with him," I lie.
"Oh. Okay. As long as you were safe. So, no hard feelings?" She asks with a hopeful glint in her eyes.
"Definitely not. Don't worry about it," I reply back coolly. I really want to scream at them all for leaving me with Four and for making us go through that, but it'll all go back to normal soon. And, we didn't just develop feelings for each other after one night. He explained very clearly through his actions and speakings that he is the exact guy I hate and despise. The bell rings so we all part ways to head to class. I get to math and sit down in the same seat I sat in yesterday. Molly is on Four's lap. She is currently kissing down his neck and the sight fills me with so much dread I feel like puking. It's not Four, though. It's just, I've never had a taste for such intimate affection. The teacher finally walks in and starts on boring topics that I already know. As a result, I tune out.
+++
It is now lunch time, Uri's favorite "subject" and definitely his best..if you don't count being an idiot. I sit down at the table with the rest of my friends after grabbing my tray of food.
"Seriously guys, Dauntless chocolate cake should win the World Record for being the tastiest thing ever created or known to mankind," he manages to choke out with his mouth full of cake.
"Amen"
"Hallelujah"
"Preach"
Much of this goes around the table until we all burst into laughs. Don't think we're super religious, we just fool around with these words, not disrespectfully though. It's just the joking thing, that's all. No harm intended.
"What do you guys wanna do?" Al suddenly asks out of the blue.
I don't feel the need to do something every second, sometimes a little space is good. However, my friends disagree.
"I was thinking I'd take Tris to go shopping," Christina suggests. Of course, it's not like you didn't make me wear repulsive outfits already. Marlene immediately agrees and says it'll be fun whereas Lynn just groans. I fist-bump her for the thing we have best in common. We both don't say anything, though. We also know there is no getting out of it with Mar and Chris. The bell rings signaling the end of lunch much to Uri's dismay. Out our trays go, and to music we head.
+++
The second we enter Tori informs Chris that she will be singing today.
"Eep. I'm gonna get to sing," Chris squeals in my ear.
"What song are you gonna sing?" I decide to play along since it seems like it'll make her happy. And it does.
"I don't know, but I'll think of something," she tells me.
We get seated and wait for class to begin. Once it finally does, Tori goes ahead and calls Chris up to the stage. Chris seems pretty confident, I'll give her that.
[Verse 1]
I've never seen a diamond in the flesh
I cut my teeth on wedding rings in the movies
And I'm not proud of my address,
In a torn-up town, no postcode envy
But every song's like gold teeth, grey goose, trippin' in the bathroom
Blood stains, ball gowns, trashin' the hotel room,
We don't care, we're driving Cadillacs in our dreams.
But everybody's like Cristal, Maybach, diamonds on your timepiece.
Jet planes, islands, tigers on a gold leash.
We don't care, we aren't caught up in your love affair.
And we'll never be royals (royals).
It don't run in our blood,
That kind of luxe just ain't for us.
We crave a different kind of buzz.
Let me be your ruler (ruler),
You can call me queen Bee
And baby I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule.
Let me live that fantasy.
[Verse 2]
My friends and I—we've cracked the code.
We count our dollars on the train to the party.
And everyone who knows us knows that we're fine with this,
We didn't come from money.
But every song's like gold teeth, grey goose, trippin' in the bathroom.
Blood stains, ball gowns, trashin' the hotel room,
We don't care, we're driving Cadillacs in our dreams.
But everybody's like Cristal, Maybach, diamonds on your timepiece.
Jet planes, islands, tigers on a gold leash
We don't care, we aren't caught up in your love affair
And we'll never be royals (royals).
It don't run in our blood
That kind of luxe just ain't for us.
We crave a different kind of buzz.
Let me be your ruler (ruler),
You can call me queen Bee
And baby I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule.
Let me live that fantasy.
Ooh ooh oh
We're bigger than we ever dreamed,
And I'm in love with being queen.
Ooh ooh oh
Life is great without a care
We aren't caught up in your love affair.
And we'll never be royals (royals).
It don't run in our blood
That kind of luxe just ain't for us.
We crave a different kind of buzz
Let me be your ruler (ruler),
You can call me queen Bee
And baby I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule.
Let me live that fantasy.
By the end, everybody is clapping and cheering for her so loud I think my eardrums will burst. Singing has never been my thing, neither has being in the spotlight. I'd honestly start cracking up once I heard myself sing, because I'd probably be getting really off-key and pitchy. Chris, on the other hand, is a natural. Tori then, thankfully, decides to pick other people not from our group. They're all okay, but still can't top Chris..nobody can, right?
+++
I go shopping for about three hours, and we only stopped because me and Lynn were getting too whiny and demanding and supposedly "taking the fun out of being dragged away into places and being held against ourselves by sheer force". I'm now home...home, sweet home. This saying was definitely invented by someone who was forced to go shopping and then would be a happy rainbow the second he/she got home.
"Beatrice, we need you to come over here for a second," my dad yells.
I follow the source of the voice into the living room, but before I enter, I can just feel some trouble directed towards me lurking in the room with my parents on their side unknowingly. I enter and my suspicions are confirmed. There stands Ian with his arms crossed and a smirk plastered onto his face.
"We heard you were at some party making out with a boy instead of at Ian's..is this true?" My mother asks gently and...with amusement in her voice?
"It was just a dare, that's all," I defend. Nobody better think they have the right to associate me with that manwhore. My dad seems to be relieved at that.
"So you admit you were at a party instead of Ian's house?" My dad asks absentmindedly.
"Yes. It's just that..this would've been my first party, and I'm a freshman. That's pretty rad. And me and Ian have just spent so much time together that I thought it would be no problem," I say.
I sometimes like using old words. It reminds my parents that I'm not a part of today's generation's zombies. That and it triggers memories of theirs when they were teenagers. Again, it lessens the blow.
"You had him worried sick-"
I scoff. Every head turns to me so I play it out as a cough.
"Are you okay, Beatrice?" My mother asks a little worried.
"Yes. I'm fine," you were saying? But I don't want to be the one to bring up the false lies so I let it go.
"As we were saying, next time just text him where you are. I'm sure he won't mind as long as he knows you're okay," my dad says.
If only you knew.
And I did text him..to not worry about it.
"Beatrice, is now a good time to have that quality time we value so much, or do you have things to do?" Ian asks. "We value so much?".
My mom takes my bags and says to go have some time with him, she's good putting the clothes away herself. I nod to him.
"Is that a 'yes'?" He asks, more like suggests or I'll get extra beatings.
I nod once more.
Thankfully, Ian knows better than to actually rape me..my dad isn't stupid and again, Ian still thinks it'd be more of an insult to whoever would be willing to do that. So we drive away to his house.
+++
I have bruises and more scars littering my body. It isn't much longer before I
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