Tobias' POV
It's lunch and we have all gathered in the cafeteria. We sit at our regular table and we talk about Tris' day so far. She was really upset when every teacher gave her a test. On the bright side, they promised that if she sucked they wouldn't keep the grade on record, but if she does well she already earned a few credits. She tells us about her day so far.
"So far you all are in my classes, but given that we are only half way there" she says pensively.
"It'll be fine, Tris" Christina reassures her.
"Yeah, your first day is almost over" Marlene chimes in.
"What else do you have?" I ask her and she hands me her schedule. "Spanish, geography and PE."
"I have Spanish" Christina says.
"And we are all in geography together" Uriah says.
"Hey, you guys have PE at the same time as we do. That's odd" I say.
"What? Give me that" Shauna says, taking out our schedule. "Yeah."
"Why?" Zeke asks.
"Who knows. Maybe Ms. Jacobs resigned or was fired."
"Who's Ms. Jacobs?" Tris asks.
"The second PE teacher" Marlene says. "I don't think she resigned. I think she got married."
"Same thing" Lynn says sarcastically.
"Does this mean we have a class together?" Tris asks hopeful.
"Yeah" I say smiling.
After lunch we say goodbye and all the seniors head to their science class, while the sophomores head to Spanish or whatever other language they picked. When it's finally time for PE I'm glad that I will see my girl again. I never thought I would miss her so much. The guys and I change in the locker room and I hear a few sophomores talk about the new girl. I listen in to see what they have to say.
"Did you see the hottie?" one of them asks.
"Which one?" another inquires.
"The new girl, Tris" the first one clarifies.
"Oh, yeah. That's one fucking hot chick" the second one says laughing.
"Hey" I growl and realize I wasn't the only one. Caleb stepped up too.
"That's my sister" he says.
"And my girlfriend" I say.
"And our friend" all my friends say.
"Sorry, man. Didn't mean any harm. I was just complimenting her" the first one says a little intimidated.
"Next time choose your words better" Caleb says. We finish in the locker room and head into the gym. Our gym has two separate parts. The usual high school gym with a basket ball field and a secondary room with work out benches and even a fighting ring. Amar, our trainer and even friend, let's us work out here. I look around to find Tris, but apparently neither she nor the others are here yet.
"So, Four, where's your little girlfriend?" Eric asks mockingly.
"Right behind you, jackass" Tris says and even though she's short she stands tall.
"Watch it, smurf" Eric says glaring at her.
"You watch it" I say pushing him away from her.
"Better a smurf, than a ball-less prick" she says.
"You think you are so smart" Eric growls. "Four, you better put a leash on her. She might bite someone."
"Of course I bite. I'm a regular bitch" Tris says mocking him.
"Enough" we hear Amar command. We look at him and Tris turns around to get a look at who spoke. "Eric, how many times do I have to tell you not to mock the newbies?" Amar asks and looks at Tris. "I'll be damned" he says. "Icy Tris" he says with a wide grin on his face.
"Shang-Ri-Mar" Tris says and runs into his open arms. The two hug and laugh and talk and the rest of us just look at them dumbfounded.
"Shang-Ri what now?" Zeke asks and I shrug.
"The fuck are you doing here?" Amar asks her.
"Could ask you the same thing" she says smiling widely.
"Teaching this weaklings some self-defense moves before the boogie man gets them. What about you? Shouldn't you be on a mountain somewhere setting a new record or somethin'?" Amar asks her.
"Been there, done that" she says laughing.
"Did you go for the big one?" Amar asks and while Tris keeps smiling her mood shifts.
"Yeah."
"And?" Amar asks excited.
"Reached it."
"Congrats, baby girl. I knew that you could do it" he says, picks her up and swirls her around.
"Hey, are we going to learn something here or just watch you inappropriately touch one of your students?" Nita asks. I haven't even noticed her until now.
"First of all, watch your attitude. Second, I've known Tris for years and she's like a sister to me. Third, not that's any of your business, but I'm gay. Now, everyone, five laps. Run. NOW" Amar orders. As Tris tries to get in line to run with us Amar stops her and pulls her to the side. While we run the two of them talk. Tris must have told him what happened. I wonder if he too knew the guys who died. When we're done Amar sends half of us to the punching bags, while the other half does push-ups, pull-ups and sit-ups. Again, Tris skips this part and they talk some more. While we warm up, he and Tris go to the middle of the room where the ring is and face each other. They soon start sparring and I stop my sit-up and watch them.
"Hey, Four, your girl some kind of a kick-boxer?" one guy from my year asks. I ignore him and watch her. She is focused and watches Amar's every move.
"Hey, Tris, leave the fighting to us men" Peter shouts. Tris looks up and flips him off. At that some of us start laughing but Peter gets angry.
"Peter, come here" Amar calls him over. Peter reluctantly walks over to them. Amar tells him something and Peter takes Amar's place. What the hell? Amar can't be serious.
"Amar, what are you doing?" I ask walking toward him.
"Letting them fight" he simply states.
"But you can't."
"Yeah, I can. Fight." I look from Amar to the ring and back to him. "Oh, and Tris? Don't break him" Amar adds. I think I'm not the only one who thinks that Amar lost his mind.
"If you cry I promise I won't hit you too hard" Peter says to Tris.
"Are we fighting or waiting for our periods to coincide?" Tris asks sarcastically.
"You tell him, girl" Shauna shouts.
"You are going to regret this" Peter says.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah" Peter says and charges. I have no idea what happened next, but all I can see is Peter taking out to punch, Tris grabbing his arm, turning around and throwing Peter over her shoulder outside of the ring. We all look at them shocked. What just happened?
"Woohoo" Amar cheers. "That's the Trissy I know."
"What the hell was that?" Zeke asks.
"I have no idea" I say stunned.
"Bee, where did you learn to do that?" Caleb asks.
"Matt. Scott. Amar. Basically every guy who felt he could be my surrogate big brother" she says smiling.
"Tris can really kick ass" Amar says. "So, who's next?"
"Amar, you can't be serious" I say.
"Relax, Four. Tris hasn't lost a fight since she was nine" Amar says.
"What?" Caleb asks in disbelief.
"I want to see that" Eric says. He charges toward the ring and when I try to go after him Amar stops me.
"What the hell? I can't let them fight" I say angry.
"You can and you will" Amar says sternly.
We watch Eric and Tris rounding each other. Every time Eric makes an abrupt move to scare Tris she doesn't even flinch, which in turn makes Eric angry. He is used to people cowering away from him. But this petite girl just stands her ground. Eric takes out and tries to punch Tris but she blocks his arm. He steps back and kicks, but Tris avoids him. They repeat this several times and each time Tris blocks or avoids a blow Eric gets angrier.
"What? You not fast enough?" Tris asks mockingly.
"Tris, don't play with your prey" Amar says jokingly. Prey? Does he seriously suggest Eric is the prey, while Tris is the predator?
"Alright" Tris says and her expression changes from jovial to lethal. Eric takes out to punch her again, but she blocks his fist, twists his wrist, jumps up and in one fluid movement snakes her legs around his throat, turning him around and making him lose balance which causes him to fall backwards on the ground. Tris has her legs still around his neck pinning him down. She leans toward his ear and whispers something. At first Eric looks angry and tries to get out of her grip, but while she whispers his expression changes from furious to scared. I've never seen Eric be afraid of anything. What could she have told him?
"That's enough" Amar orders. Tris looks up and smirks triumphantly and let's go of Eric. She stands up and walks away, while Eric tries to catch his breath. "Eric, you are dismissed for the rest of the class. You can wait outside on the field for soccer practice." Eric nods and leaves the room. Nita runs after him.
"What the hell was that?" Zeke asks Tris.
"What?" she asks innocently.
"What are you? Some sort of Karate Kid?" Uriah asks.
"Sort of" she says laughing.
"That was so awesome" Lynn says. "Can you teach me some moves too?"
"Don't you have Amar for that?" Tris asks.
"Hey, I just teach basics here. Apparently it's not okay to beat up your students" Amar says and Tris raises an eyebrow.
"Really?"
"In school" he adds grinning.
"Am I missing something?" Caleb asks.
"Amar used to beat the shit out of me to make me learn" she says.
"Come on. You are resilient. Unlike these weaklings. BACK TO WORK" he barks. I look at Tris and she smiles at me.
"Come. Let me tell you the story of how I met Amar" she says and we head to the punching bags. We stand next to each other and Tris starts punching while I watch her. "I met Amar a few years ago. His boyfriend, George Wu, is the brother of Matt's girlfriend, Tori. He and Tori went to school together and we knew each other for a long while. George is a mountaineer like me and Matt and occasionally Amar would join us. We've become friends rather quickly" she says.
"Oh" is all I say.
"I had no idea he is teaching here" she says punching the bag like a pro.
"He is also our coach" I say.
"Really? Amar?" she asks and smiles. "That's great. He always talked about becoming a teacher and he loves it."
"He is really good at it too" I say, not knowing what else to say.
"Did that freak you out?" she asks after a while, stopping what she was doing and looking at me.
"What do you mean? The fight?" I ask and she nods. "I was scared that you might get hurt. I knew you can defend yourself, you told me, but I had no idea how good you are."
"I made it a priority to be good. Sometimes I go places by myself and I need to be capable of defending myself if necessary. I never picked a fight and I'm always responsible. What you saw is nothing compared to what I'm actually capable of. I trained with Matt and a few of his Marine friends. They are tough and at first they held back, because I'm younger and a girl, but I soon got stronger and they finally started fighting for real. I took beatings enough times, but it's okay. I learned and now I can defend myself against all kinds of attacks."
"It's just weird" I say. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad and proud of you, but looking at you I imagine this fragile being only to be literally kicked in the nuts by how strong you are, physically and emotionally. I wish I had your strength."
"You do. Hey, let's spar" she suggests.
"NO" I say forceful and she raises an eyebrow,
"Why not?"
"I don't want to hurt you" I say.
"Tobias, come on. You saw what I can do. Besides no one said we should fight for real" she says.
"Tris, I don't want to hurt you. I'm stronger than Eric" I argue.
"Alright" she says disappointed. "But you'll have to make it up to me" she says leaning close and whispering seductively. I feel warmth spread through my body and try not to get aroused.
"Tris" I say in a low, husky voice. Damn.
"Relax, baby. I don't want your blood pressure through the roof" she says smirking. She did that on purpose.
"You'll pay" I say jokingly.
"I hope so" she says winking.