Author's Note

Two more chapters! I'm so excited! After this is the epilogue, then maybe a sequel! I'm psyched!

Ilovebook10: I'm so glad you like the story! Thanks so much for your review and support; it really means a lot to me!

I really hope everyone enjoys the chapter, and the Epilogue will probably be up within the next two hours! I am so psyched!

Enjoy!

Wearing His Jersey

Chapter Thirty~Four

Caleb had to drive me to school today; there was no way I'd be able to get all these presents there by walking, no matter how many suitcases I lugged behind me. I just simply do not have enough hands, so here I am, sitting in Caleb's car's passenger's seat, a million gifts strapped in with seat belts in the backseat so nothing falls onto the wet, snowy car floor, or falls out when the door is opened; I could hardly see over the tree~sized stack of gifts I had balanced on my own lap, all wrapped neatly and nicely in blue and white snowman wrapping paper, a couple with reindeer, and when I happened to run out of both, I used starry wrapping paper on the sparkly strawberry lipgloss, which I had been able to smell all the while I was wrapping it; it had a nice, fruity strong scent.

Last night, after we had checked out with just enough money for all the children's gifts, Tobias had driven me home, and said that he needed to stop at the store to get some wrapping paper, because we had initially planned on splitting up the presents to wrap after we arrived home.

When I asked, "Do you know how to wrap presents, Tobias?" just to make sure, he turned to me and said:

"Um, yeah; I wrapped a gift for my mom and dad once, but even though I have limited experience, I promise you that I know how to do it."

"We have wrapping paper at our house. You can just come in and wrap the presents there, then take half home so we each carry as many to the school." He hesitated, then nodded in agreement, and when he got to my house and we began wrapping the gifts, I let him wrap one, before I decided that it'd be best for me to wrap them all. He even admitted that it would be a good idea, so he sat with me, handing me tape and cutting the paper as he kept me company, occasionally running to the kitchen to grab us a snack or drink. Around ten o'clock, I heard the front door open, and Caleb called, "Tris, are you here?" I yelled back down to him that I was, then a moment later, he showed up in the living room.

"Two more pieces of tape, please, Tobias." He did as asked, then I turned to Caleb, who was smiling at all the unwrapped gifts and the couple that were wrapped.

"You know," he said, "I'm so proud of you for doing this, Tris." He turned to Tobias. "And you, too; did you guys get everything you were looking for at Target?"

I nodded. He nodded back, and I basically feel his energy; it'd been there since he walked into the room.

I turned to Tobias. "I can take it from here. I'll just bring them all tomorrow; I still have to put on the name tags."

"Are you sure? I can stay and help if you want, or I can take some and put the name tags on later."

"It's fine," I waved him off. "I'lll see you tomorrow." I stood up and headed over to his side of the coffee table, where we'd been doing all the work, and hugged him.

"This wasn't exactly a usual dance night, Tobias, but I wouldn't have wanted us to spend the night at the dance when we could've done this; it was a lot of fun." I pulled back. "Think about all the little kids who wouldn't have gotten a gift; they wouldn't have gotten the one single thing they asked for as a present, so you and I just helped make their holiday!"

He smiled at me.

"I wouldn't have wanted it to be any different, either; it was a very unique night, Tris, and you're right: it was for a great reason, and it was nice. I'll see you tomorrow." He bent down and kissed my cheek before heading to the doorway. I smiled at him, and he grinned back, then he was out the door.

I turned to my brother, who was grinning at me.

"Okay, but you have to tell me about your night with Matt first!"

So, he did. He told me all about how he found him standing alone, and went up to greet him. He told me about how he blushed when Caleb asked him to dance with him, and how they danced to at least half the songs they played throughout the whole night, two of them being slow songs. He said they talked all night about a million different things, and at the end of the night, Matt asked him out for dinner for tomorrow night.

"Well, what did you say?" I exclaimed, grinning.

"I said yes!" I let out a happy shriek and hugged him.

"I'm so happy for you."

"Yeah, me, too. Now, tell me all about your night; I want to hear about the dance, then the shopping!"

So, I told him all about it, with him smiling and nodding along, letting out a happy shriek like the one I let out when I told him about the kiss.

Then, he helped me finish with the presents, and we talked more, about the dance, about his date tomorrow, the football team's last game (which he said he'd be sure to make it to before his and Matt's date), about how he thinks the food at the dance was good, and his favorite was the chocolate cake they served from a bakery down the street, and Caleb said he could eat it every day, for every meal, forever. Then, he told me he snuck two pieces, one for me and another for him, and that had me laughing, until I actually tried the cake, and understood every single word he said when he praised it.

"All right, we're here," Caleb said, pushing his door open and going to the backseat to help carry in the presents. A moment later, Tobias showed up to help carry in all the gifts.

"Hey," he said.

"Hello," I smiled, and Caleb nodded. "All right, I will take this stack." I juggled the gifts in my hands as I maneuvered my way out of the car, trying not to let the stack topple over onto the parking lot pavement, then continued with my instructions. "You." I pointed at Tobias, who came over and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek, then said, "Take the two bigger ones in the back, and Caleb, please grab the other two; let's head on in!"

We began our walk inside, and alike to the previous night while we were present shopping, we got multiple stares and a few whispers here and there; when we reached the doors, Lynn was there to hold them open, and we headed inside toward the main office, where the presents were all to be delivered so the staff could box them up to bring them to the kids, or send them out; I wasn't quite sure what the gifts went through to get to the children.

The receptionist in the office smiled and thanked us for doing what we did, and when we walked out, I could still see her grinning; "Thank you again!" she called on our way out. I nodded and waved.

"It was no problem, really!" I called back in, grinning, and Tobias took hold of my hand.

"Um, I have to go that way," Caleb said, pointing in the opposite direction from the way we all were headed. "And so do you, Four; we have the same homeroom," he added, and we all laughed. "Bye, Tris. I'll see you at the game later!"

"I'll see you in lunch," Tobias smiled and I waved as we split up, heading off toward my locker to get my things for homeroom and first period. On my way, I passed Peter with his friends; he glared at me as I passed, and I smiled at him, before reaching my locker, not looking back to see his reaction; I grabbed my things and walked off through the crowd of students, running into Christina along the way, who's eyes lit up the second she noticed me, and she pulled me along behind her until we found ourselves in a small, not~quite!as~busy clearing in the hallway, and she immediately began talking, saying:

"Where did you two go last night?"

"We went out to Target to get presents for the seven or so kids who's ornament hadn't been taken off the tree."

"Aww! That's so sweet of you guys! I bet you both made their holiday so much better by doing that, you know," she said, and then the bell rang through the halls, signaling the beginning of class, and I called:

"Will you be at the game, Christina?" She turned from partway down the hall to look at me and nodded; I smiled and we headed our separate ways.

"Huddle; now!" Coach yelled, and I ran over alongside Uriah, Zeke, and Will to the sidelines of the school's large football field, where the stands were packed like a Summer tree with leaves, and we all stood together, bouncing up and down on our toes, grinning at each other and laughing for no reason, just looking back and forth at each person's face. I was so excited for the season's final game against the Bureau Bees, who we'd faced in the beginning of the year, too, but so much has changed since then; I knew for certain that I would miss it like crazy, and try out again next year; every single thing about it is something I'll keep with me forever and never forget a single detail of; it isn't even all about the games and winning and the teamwork on the field like I'd originally thought before I joined the Chicago High School Football team (they'd taken out the 'Boys'' in the title a while ago, when I proved that females are just as great at the sport as anyone else); there was so much more to every wonderful game with these amazing people than I could've ever possibly imagined if I had not been a lucky enough person to be a part of it myself. There was a lot of teamwork off the field too, maybe even more. The team would always say hi to each other in the halls, I'd made such a great group of friends that I could never even dream them up in my imagination to ask for such a wonderful group, and then there was the whole stunning situation with Tobias. I don't know if anything in our relationship would have happened if he wasn't such a caring person as to giving me his spot on the team back after the tryouts had taken place and my spot had been filled after the misunderstanding with who had made it onto the team; I could have never uttered a single word other than maybe a 'hello' to him while passing him in the halls, in the parking lot of CHS, or passing through one of the few stairwells on my way to class.

Everything could have so simply been so, so much different.