A/N- Thank you all for the well wishes! I'm home now and hoping to be on the mend! I'd also like to thank those who have reviewed, followed and faved! It's super encouraging knowing you all enjoy what I'm writing. And sorry if it was a bit confusing, but Tris, Zeke and Uriah are just close family friends, not siblings- but obviously act like them. Enjoy chapter 2!

Also a quick update on 'A Twist of Fate', I'm half way done with the chapter so hopefully should be up next Friday.

Chapter 2- First Lessons

"Come on, you lot! It's not that early."

I squint towards the direction of Tori, still trying to blink the sleep out of my eyes. Resting my head on Christina's arm, I hold my helmet to my chest. She's right, it's not early. Our session starts at 9, but after the long travel day yesterday, and the slight time difference, it feels more like 6 am.

I balance on my one hooked up ski, waiting for the instructors to arrive. We haven't split off into our groups yet, which is good for Will and Uriah. They still haven't shown, and I don't think Tori or Bud have noticed.

"They went out last night," Al yawns, flopping down on the snowy covered floor, "think they got in around 3."

"Of course they did," Christina said, annoyed, "they came barging in at 12 asking if we wanted to join, I think I nearly had a heart attack when I woke to Will's face hovering over mine."

I can laugh now about it, but I was on the same level as the rest of them last night.

Will's lucky to be in the intermediate group, I don't know how Uriah's supposed to start advanced skiing hungover.

"Ah! There they are!" Tori says, looking to the left. I look over, and see three people walking towards us, two men and one woman. As they get closer, I get a better look at them. There's a dark haired man, with a few piercings dotting his face. He's tall, stoic, and looks like he would start a fight with the first person who mildly annoyed him. The girl in the middle is tall, nearly as tall as the boys. Her dark brown hair is french braided, showing off her sharp features. She's beautiful. The last man- wait. I'm just about to put my leg back down to move around Christina, when something is jabbed into the joint. My leg buckles, and I fall onto my knees.

Unbuckling my one ski, I turn around to a laughing Uriah, doubled over. "You'd think you'd have learnt to always keep your guard up, Tris," Will chides, shaking a tired looking head.

Uri, having calmed himself slightly, grabs me like a ragdoll and heaves me up. "Sorry," he says, a sheepish grin on his face, "I couldn't resist."

"Right, listen up!" A familiar deep voice projects, and Uriah spins me around, holding onto my arms. It is him. The same cold voice, the same unforgiving deep blue eyes. "My name's Four, and these are my colleagues, Eric and Lauren. We'll be your ski instructors for the next couple months."

"Four? Like the number?" Christina blurts out smugly. "Were 1, 2 and 3 taken?" My mouth drops open, staring at her in horror. She was too far in front of us to have heard the incident, but I think the vibes emanating from his stance are quite clear that he won't appreciate comments like that.

He's eerily quiet, then takes a step closer to her, and the whole class takes a step away from her. "What's your name?"

"Christina." She answers, her voice not as sure as it once was.

"Well, Christina, if I wanted a comment, I would have asked for one." He stares into her eyes for a beat longer, then walks back to the front. I look over to Tori and Bud, watching them trying to keep their composure. Bud chuckles without much restraint.

"Never heard of a joke?" Christina says under her breath.

I move closer, squeezing her arm in consolidation. "I accidentally bumped into him yesterday, he had a fucking fit."

"Not surprised," she mutters back. "Feel bad for his girlfriend." I chuckle, then look back to the front. My stomach drops, when I see him staring straight at me, eyebrows raised.

"You girls finished?" Christina and I nod slowly, not risking a word. By some luck, he lets it pass. "Let's not waste any more time. Beginners with Lauren, intermediate with Eric, and advanced with me." They move so there's a good distance between them.

I look between Uriah and Lynn, seeing the same expression mirrored on all of our faces. "I mean, I've heard intermediate is actually quite hard!" Uriah states.

"That's true!" I agree quickly, "And we can hang around with Mar and Will-"

"Come on, you two. Stop acting like babies." Lynn huffs, grabbing us both by the arm. I just about grab my ski gear before she pulls me over. Trudging up to Four, I see that Edward and Peter are standing with him. Great.

Four's eyes skim over us, seeming bored already. "Follow me, we'll get you guys warmed up."

I turn back to Christina, finding her standing next to Al in the beginners, looking like she's about to fall over. "Good luck!" I shout, waving. Lynn, Uriah and Edward laugh at her, watching as she grabs onto Al's jacket for dear life.

"She's going to hate it," Uriah states.

"For sure." Lynn agrees.

When we get to the turnstiles, I click my ski's on and press my arm to the scanner. I push myself through, and hang back, waiting for Lynn and Uriah to pass. I'm not risking sitting next to Four.

We hop onto the lift, pull the bar down and make our way up the mountain. The weather is perfect, clear blue skies, fresh snow on the ground. I watch as people ski down the slope, and excitement burns through me.

"I thought Zeke and Shauna would have been out today," I say.

"Zeke and Shauna came out last night," Uriah replies, putting his helmet on. "He drank a ton, I'm sure he won't be lucid for the rest of the day, let alone skiing."

"Zeke's the worst influence on Shauna," Lynn adds, "do you two remember when you had that house party, Tris, and Zeke and Shauna show up with all of their friends? I've never seen Shauna so out of it, and it was because Zeke had forced her into that drinking game." I cringe, thinking of the night. Me and Uriah we're turning fifteen, and thought it would be a great idea to throw a party. Mum and Dad allowed it, as long as everyone was out by 11. I know everyone in our year had a great time, but all I can remember is kissing Peter in the downstairs bathroom.

"It's crazy you and Peter used to date, isn't it?" Lynn asks as if reading my mind.

I look at her blankly. "I try not to think about it." I broke off our relationship when he started getting clingy. After that, he tends to ignore me. To think he's still bitter after 4 years.

When I see the crest of the hill approaching, I clip on my helmet. We dismount, and come to a stop in front of Four.

"Before we start the session, I'm going to need your names." He looks between the three of us, his expression not as cold as it had been. "Uriah," he says, pointing at him.

Uri's eyes crinkle, "You know my name?"

"I know your brother," is all he says. He looks between me and Lynn, his eyes roaming our faces. I feel the heat rise in my neck uncontrollably. "And Lynn," he finally says, looking at her. She nods.

His eyes shift to mine, and the warmth is gone. He doesn't say anything, just waits for me to speak. "Tris." I say quickly, forcing myself to hold eye contact. His eyes hold mine a second longer, before nodding and turning to the boys.

When he has our names, we make our way to one of the easier slopes. "I don't think any of you need any explanation," he looks over his shoulder, "if you do, then I suggest moving down a grade." He zips down the slope without another word, and we follow suit.

...

"How was it?" I ask Christina, sitting next to her at the mostly empty table. Lynn and Uriah follow suit, placing their full trays down.

Christina mumbles something, stabbing at the potatoes on her tray. "She was great," Al replies enthusiastically. "By the end of the session, she could go down the green slopes without falling over."

"I nearly fell down the gap between the slope and the conveyor belt moving everyone up," she says, sounding irked. "Why is there a massive gap? It's like they want us to lose an arm, or a ski." Unable to recall what the green slopes look like, I pat her back in support.

"How was your morning?" Al asks politely, "Did your instructor get any better?"

I shake my head slowly, and see Lynn and Uriah doing the same. "I thought you two were going to break him, you know when he brought up Zeke and Shauna?" The nod in confirmation. "Then it was like he was brainwashed again. It's like we've killed his mother or something."

"Killed who's mother?" Will asks, sitting down next to me. Mar takes a seat next to Lynn.

"Nobodies, I think." I take a bite of my food, trying to come up with a reason for his sour mood. "Maybe he's just having a bad day?"

"Voices down," Lynn warns, her eyes flickering behind me. "Instructor alert."

I forced myself not to turn, not wanting it to look obvious that we were talking about him.

Zeke and Shauna come behind Uri and Lynn, smiling at the table. "How was your morning?" I think I hear Zeke ask. I'm hardly listening, my eyes darting to too our mysterious instructor trying to put some distance with us at the end of the table.

"Good?" Uri says, more as a question.

"Four said his group kept up well." Shauna replies, patting her sister's shoulders.

"He did?" Lynn asks doubtfully. I widen my eyes as I try and grab her attention, pointing discreetly down the table. "I mean," she laughs awkwardly, "that was nice of him."

Zeke leans over, grabbing the bread roll off of my plate, "Hey!" I try to snatch it back, but his reflexes are by far quicker.

"You snooze, you lose, baby sis." He winks. I roll my eyes, feigning annoyance. I would never tell him I actually like him calling me that.

"Hey, you two," Four breaks his silence. I looked up at him, having cut in when I was about to say something back. He doesn't seem to appreciate the attention, as his face tightens tenfold. He tries to keep his eyes on Shauna and Zeke, pretending like none of us are here. "I'm gonna go sit," he inclines his head. I look over, and see the other instructors, Eric and Lauren, are where he's pointing.

"Yeah, we're coming now," Shauna says.

"Hey Shaun," Lynn pulls on her sister's sleeve, somewhat how a baby would tug on its mother's clothes. "Meet us after class?"

"Of course, I'll take you lot down to the village, get an actual tour of it." She looks pointedly at Uri and Will, watching as the latter has just swallowed a paracetamol.

Will gives her a thumbs up, his mouth full of water.

"See you later then," Zeke finishes, giving us one final wave goodbye with my bread roll.

I see a hand move off of my plate, and another roll appears. Al smiles shyly at me.

"Thanks, Al," I say genuinely. Everyone gets back to eating, but not Christina. Instead, she's looking quizzically at Al. "What are you doing?" I whisper in her ear, trying to not bring any attention to us.

"I think he likes you," she says, and I recoil back, confused.

"Because he gave me his bread roll?" I question.

"We'll talk later," she says, silencing me. I move back into my own space, my eyes only flicking to Al's once. When they do, I meet his warm brown ones. He looks away quickly, I'm sure hoping I didn't see. I can only pray that she's wrong. I wouldn't feel the same and it would just make everything awkward. I need to think logically. Just because Christina has some far fetched theory, doesn't make it automatically true.

Before I can think any more of it, Bud's at our table, telling us it's time for our first class.

...

"And the answer to question 8 is…?" Tori asks hopefully, skimming the classroom. I look down at what I had written for number 8. All I have down is a question mark. "Come on guys," she sighs, perching herself on her desk, "we just did this last week."

I peer over at Will, and see he's even stumped. "Could you go over the concept again, Tori? I think we're all struggling to grasp it," I feel some tension seep out of the class, glad they didn't have to ask.

"Of course I can," Tori replies, then turns to the board and starts explaining. I pick up my pen to start taking notes, when I find my attention on what's going on through the window. I can see where we gathered this morning from the classroom, and right now, Zeke, Shauna and Four are out there. I think they're carrying beer bottles, which wouldn't be surprising, looking at the ease of Four's body. He laughs along with the other two, almost looking like he belongs with them. I wonder how long it took for Shauna and Zeke to break his walls down? Seems like an impossible task.

He looks up, seemingly out of nowhere, like he had felt my gaze. Before our eyes could meet, I turned my head slowly back, trying to come across as natural as possible. There's something about those cold, deep eyes that makes me feel uneasy. It almost makes me think I shouldn't be watching him, not ever.

"Hopefully that will do it?" I hear Tori ask, when I turn my attention back to her lesson. I see most of the room nod. I look at my blank page.

"Hey, Mar," I whisper to my right. Mar looks at me, questioningly. "Could I borrow your notes?"

Her brows pull in slightly, "What's got your attention?" She asks, peering over my shoulder. I look too, but there's no one outside anymore.

"Just spaced out," I say instead. She takes it, then hands me her full sheet. I thank her, then copy it down.

We head out after class, making the most of the little sunlight left of the day. I wrap my coat tighter to my body, a cold wind cresting the mountain.

"You need to wrap up better," Zeke chides, wrapping his scarf around my neck.

"It wasn't this cold this morning," I say back. The sun had been warm enough that I had unzipped my coat for most of the session.

He chuckles, "Crazy that it gets colder when the sun sets, isn't it?"

"Yeah, yeah," I wave a hand. "So, what did you get up to today?"

"A few of us went over to the other side of the mountain, Four was actually the one to show me and Shauna."

The mention of my frosty instructor peaks my interest, "How'd you become friends with him anyway? He's so unlike you two."

He shrugs, grinning down at me, "I can become friends with anyone."

"But why did you want to be his friend?" I press. What would attract Four to Zeke?

He mulls it over for a second, "I think it was a fun challenge. I'm not used to people not being like magnets to me. It was like we were two of the same ends. I think he repelled me so much that I wore him down." He smiles, "Or it could have been that he started to like Shauna and I just came with?"

I laugh, nodding in agreement, "Sounds more like it."

"He said you were good," he teases, pinching my cheek.

I push him away, shaking my head, "I don't know how he knew that, he didn't look behind him the whole morning."

"A sixth sense?"

"Sure."

He looks down to me, his brown eyes softening, "He'll warm up to you guys soon. He's a really cool guy when you get to know him." It's hard not believing Zeke. If he was able to become friends with Four, I'm sure there's a possibility that he could become less hostile to his students.

We make it into one of the few cafes, and push a couple of tables together by the window. I go to the counter with Christina, ordering an array of drinks for the table.

"If Al asked you out, would you say yes?"

I choke on my tea, gathering a few dirty looks from the staff. "What? No! And he's not asking me out!"

"I'm just trying to open your eyes, hun," she says innocently. "Did he not grab your suitcase off the conveyor belt at the airport? He's been helping you with maths since last year, and when we had to choose a sport? He chose tennis, even though he's so a rugby boy."

"Can't a boy be nice to a girl without the assumption that he likes her?" I say, exhausted trying to defend him. "Uriah does a lot of nice things for me, so does Zeke and Will. Does that mean your boyfriend likes me too, Christina?"

She shrugs, "I hadn't put the pieces together until lunch, Tris, so I don't expect you to see the light so soon. But mark my words." She says, trying to be ominous.

The server comes back with the rest of the drinks on a tray. I thank him, going to grab it, but before I can reach it, it's already been picked up. I lift my eyes slowly, already knowing who it is.

"Thought I'd give you girls some help," Al says sweetly, as per usual. I force out a smile, my eyes automatically flicking to Christina's. She doesn't look back, already moving towards the table with the other tray. But as she walks past, I can feel the smugness radiating out of her.

"It's really okay, Al. I can handle it." I go to grab the tray off of him, but he's turned around so it's out of reach.

"Too late," he says lightheartedly, smiling over his shoulder.

I grab my half full tea, and move back towards my friends, my mood dampened.