A/N- Hope you all enjoy the chapter! Thanks for the review! Always love to hear your thoughts on the story! Would also like to just point out that apparently you have to opt in for story alerts now? I was confused for ages why none of my chapters were going to my email? But yeah I don't know if that's any useful info lol but it's on the account page to opt in or out! Anyway, enjoy the chapter. Bethany x

Chapter 13- Water Ski,

Sunlight pours into the room, rays shining across my shut lids. I shy away from the light, turning over. Pulling the duvet over my head, I relax back into the soft sheets. I'm sure a few more minutes won't do any harm-

My eyes slam open, and I'm sitting up in seconds. My head whips to the window, a clear blue sky staring accusingly back at me. Why is it sunny? It should be dark-

Oh no. My wide eyes skim the room quickly. A dresser with some clothes sloppily chucked into it, and a door leading into the living room. I'm still at Fo- Tobias's.

I jump out of bed, hastily looking for my phone. I have no clue if it's 8am or 3pm. Not finding it anywhere, I force myself still for a moment. Where did you see it last?

'I'll keep an eye on your phone for any messages.'

Falling through the door, I barge into the living room. Coming to the back of the sofa, I find Tobias fast asleep, phone in hand. I lean over him, going to grab it, holding my breath hoping I don't wake him in the process.

Just as my fingers touch the end of the metal, his position changes, the device now out of reach. I look over to him slowly, seeing his eyes flutter open.

"Morning?" I say, still frozen, leaning over him.

"Tris?" He mumbles, sounding disorientated. His arms lift up, starting to stretch. I grab the phone out of his hand, which falls easily through his fingers. I press the lock button, and the time stares back at me. 8:55am.

"Oh my god," I exclaim, hastily looking around for my coat.

"What is it?" Tobias asks tiredly.

"What is it?" I nearly laugh, "it's 5 to 9!"

His eyes widen, but I'm shaking on my coat, running back into his room to grab my shoes to gauge any more reaction. Thank god I slept in my clothes.

Shoving the trainers on, I push my feet into them as I hurry back through the door. Tobias is off the sofa by now, running a hand through his hair. "I'm going to go downstairs to grab my coat and gloves-" I stop short, slamming my hands over my face. I can't grab my things, because I don't have my key. And there's no way the girls will still be in the room this close to 9.

I hastily look down at my clothes. I guess I could get away with wearing my normal coat? But no gloves?

My eyes cling onto Tobias as he swiftly heads to the closet by the door, and begins shuffling around. After a few seconds, he chucks me a coat and gloves. "It's the smallest I have." He puts his coat on quickly, moving to the only door I haven't been in yet. He nods towards it as it opens, "I think I have a new toothbrush in here somewhere." I obsessively look at my phone. 8:58.

Rushing in, I find him crouched down, making a mess on the cupboard. "There it is," he says quietly to himself, jumping up and pushing the brush into my hand.

After doing a piss poor job of brushing our teeth, we run out the door. With no time to even try my room, we fly downstairs, grabbing our ski gear at the bottom of the lodge in record time.

Just before I reach the door to the outside, I come to a halt, twisting around in time to watch Tobias nearly hit into me. "We can't go out there together."

His brows pull together, his hair still rumpled from our hasty exit, "why not?"

It hadn't even come to mind before now what everyone would think if we came rushing out together, looking dishevelled, and me so obviously wearing his coat. I'd be the talk of the class if it was just that, people assuming something is going on- but I'm supposedly with Peter, and I'm agreeing to keep this up until new years.

"I promise I'll explain later, just- stay back for a few minutes?"

A weight falls onto my chest as his confusion turns into reluctant understandment. He walks back a few steps, "yeah, sure."

I smile tightly at him, then push open the heavy door and run up the slope. Everyone is still outside, with Christina and Al's beginner group just heading off. Her eyes catch mine, arms opening in confusion as she walks away, "where the hell have you been?"

The rest of the class turns around, all eyes on me. Wanting to be swallowed whole, I shake my head. Her gaze moves to the interested spectators, then back to me, eyes lingering on my large coat. "This isn't over."

I pick my pace back up, eyes stuck to the compact snow. Maybe if I ignore all of the faces they'll stop looking-

Someone grabs my arm, and I drop my skis as I'm pulled away. Heart hammering, I look up into Lynn's face. She pulls me from the prying eyes, closer to a group of under 5's.

"Where the fuck have you been?" She asks harshly as we come to a stop. "We get back in and you're nowhere to be found! Not picking up your phone, nowhere in the lodge! I've not slept!"

Guilt floods in. "I'm sorry Lynn, I didn't think-"

Her eyes move past me, and I know who she's looking at when her head starts to shake, "oh, it's so obvious now." She tugs on my coat, eyes blazing. Not being able to help but look around, I catch Tobias's gaze as he walks towards the boys. His blue eyes lock onto mine, but his attention quickly recovers, and all I'm doing is watching a moving figure.

"It's not what you think," I say back to Lynn as I bring my head back to hers, "we went out and I forgot my key-"

"I don't care, Tris. What I do care about is you lying to your friends. You're telling Mar and Chris when the session is over, or I will."

She walks off, and I watch her go, not even giving me a second glance. I force my legs to move, my body feeling heavier with each falling snowflake.

...

The ski lesson helped alleviate some anxiety, Lynn pretending like nothing happened was the largest weight lifted. Uriah tried to ask what was going on when our group reconvened at the bottom of the slope, but I was able to skirt around the question. If I'm being forced to indulge Christina and Marlene this afternoon, then there's no way I'm telling Uriah today. If Tobias is still in the dark then Uri's got no chance.

Just thinking about telling Tobias about what's going on makes my stomach churn. What will he think? Will he understand or will he think it's mean and put him off? The thought of my stupid deal with Peter putting whatever is going on with Tobias and I in jeopardy drops that stupid weight into the bottom of my stomach.

"Right," Tobias starts, addressing our advanced group, "as this is our last lesson of the year, I thought we'd do something fun." His eyes skim over us, only lingering on mine for a second longer. I look over to Peter, his eyes already on me. This needs to end.

"I know some of you haven't had the chance to do this before…" Looking back over, I see him move out of the way. Just behind him, clear as day, is the water ski.

My attention moves to Uriah, and he looks back over, his lips stretching out wide. His infectious grin takes over my face, and for the moment everything but having a go at the water ski leaves my mind.

"Now," Tobias grins, "who wants to go first?"

Peter, stepping forward, crosses his arms over his chest, "why don't we see the professional give it a go?"

"No problem." Tobais answers back. "Follow me down."

We get closer to the water, waiting at the top of the ramp. It's not too steep, and around 20 metres down. More than enough slope to get you past the shallow pool.

"Now, don't be too upset when you see how great I am at this- you're not born a star." I choke on a surprised laugh, my gaping smile taking over my face. He looks over, his eyes sparkling, "now, if you'll excuse me…"

"Wait!" Edward cuts in, "are you not going to give us any pointers?"

"And take the chance that one of you is better than me?" He laughs, "no way." And then he's going down the slope. I watch as he goes, his centre of gravity balanced, his knees slightly bent. He hits the water at speed, but the surface doesn't move half as much as I would have thought. Skimming it like the pro he is, he makes it to the other side with, I'm sure, not even a droplet on him.

Coming to a stop at the side of the pool, he motions for the next one to go.

We all look towards Peter, but his eyes are anywhere but.

"Come on, Peter," I press, putting my palm on his back and pushing him forward, "show Four how it's done."

He shakes his head, glaring at me, "we need to talk after this."

I hold my hands out in defence, smirking, "meet you down there."

For another few seconds, he stands there, siking himself up. Then, he pushes off.

His form is pretty good, with Peter being a decent skier it's not a hard feat to reach. But, I can just about see his legs buckle when they come up to the slight incline up to the pool. It's hardly anything, but it's enough to have him plummeting head first into the water.

My hand comes up to my mouth in shock, looking at the others as I hold back a laugh.

Lynn's shaking her head, whilst Uri's eyes are wide. "I thought he'd at least make it a bit further," Edward says, laughing.

I look back down, and see Peter's lost one ski. Tobias moves closer to the water, his skis now discarded behind him. He holds a hand out towards Peter in gesture, but unsurprisingly, Peter ignores it, pulling himself up and dragging himself out.

Tobias, pressing his lips together as he holds back a smile, puts a thumbs up towards us.

Edward, taking one for the team, goes next.

"Good luck," Uriah says, patting him on the shoulder. Edward nods back, then pushes himself forward. The three of us move closer together, watching him fly down the slope.

"I bet he'll do it," Uri predicts, eyes glued on Edward. I nod, watching him hit the water. Edward's always been a great skier. He's always been the type of person who will go home and research how to improve. I've never been much of a researcher, I'd rather have fun on the slopes than learn how to improve in my free time.

We're all silent as he hits the water. He's pretty sturdy for the majority of the skim, but starts to get shaky when he's nearing the end. Impressively, he holds it together, stumbling slightly as he gets back on the snow.

We erupt in cheers, a wide grin covering my face. Unbuckling his skis, he walks over to a soggy Peter and a smiling Tobias. The latter pats him on the back as he moves past, and even from here I can see Edward's school boy grin.

Looking back at my friends, I ask, "so, who's going next?"

Uriah and Lynn's eyes magnetise onto each other, both of them looking pretty comfy where they're standing.

I shake my head, stepping forward. "Can't wait to get frostbite."

"Where's your faith?" Uri jokes, pushing me on the shoulder.

I push off before I have time to think. Instead of carving into the slope, I let my speed build up, needing the extra push to glide over the pool. I blink against the wind, wishing I had pulled my goggles over my eyes.

The water is before me in no time, still rippling from Edwards' successful go. I hold myself back slightly, keeping my skis slightly bent up. Hopefully, my lighter weight will help me stay afloat. I hit the water harshly, and my stomach drops as my balance tilters. I lean back too far, and I'm smacking into the just above freezing water just past half way.

The shock of the cold smacks me hard, and I'm sitting up in no time. "Oh my fucking god," I gasp, scrambling out of the water.

I watch Tobias come over, his body shaking with laughter, "you alright?"

My skis having already clicked off, I pull off my gloves, then rip off my coat and dump them in a wet heap. An embarrassed smile overtakes my face, a chuckle coming out. "Yes."

I look down on myself, and see that only my upper chest and knees stayed dry. "It's so much harder than it looks."

He shrugs off his coat, wrapping it around my shivering frame without a second thought. "It'll take a few go's to get it right."

The small gesture pulls at my heart, and heat pours into my cheeks. He smiles lightly, then looks back towards Lynn and Uriah. Motioning one of them down, he pulls us away from the pool. "Let's hope they get down before you freeze to death."

I pull his large coat tighter around my body, tensing my muscles and grinding my teeth to control the ebbing shivers. I move slightly closer to him, just enough that our upper arms touch. Butterflies swarm my stomach, and all I want to do is find somewhere private and talk this out.

But I put up with just being close to him for now, knowing that we'll have time after to talk. I look back up the slope, and watch as Uriah moves in front of Lynn. Just before I watch him push off, someone grabs my arm and pulls me around. Assuming it's Tobias, I smile as I look up, my mouth opening-

"Oh." Peter stares back at me as my smile slips off of my face. His own scrunches together, his eyes moving over to Tobias. I go to look over too, but Peter pulls me with him and my attention is brought back to him. "You know, you could just ask me for a chat-"

His head whips around, and my mouth drops open from the filthy look he gives me. Ripping my arm out of his grasp, I cross them over my tense chest. "What's your problem?"

He lets out a harsh laugh, shaking his head, "you're joking right?" He points an accusing finger, "you're my fucking problem, Tris. What the hell do you think you're doing? Not once in our agreement have you acted like we're a thing- and now you're getting cosy with our instructor? It's actually fucking pathetic."

My eyes widen at his brutal attack. "Are you insane? Me and Four-"

"No, whatever is going on with Four can wait. You could have an ounce of human decency and finish what we agreed on." His sharp eyes blaze with anger, his body a coil waiting to unravel.

"Look," I shoot back, his anger rolling into me, "I just want this to be done-."

"No, no- you agreed-"

"I said I'd think about it, I never agreed to anything."

He shakes his head obsessively, huffing out a mean laugh, "you're a fucking bitch, Tris."

He turns around before I can retaliate, stomping off towards the lodge.

I hold in my frustrated scream, my body heating up with anger. He can tell Al all he wants, this is done.

Turning my back to him, I go back over to the group. But, like the magnet he is, Tobias is stood a few metres away, his eyebrows pulling together. My anger dissipates, my breath catches in my throat. Please say he didn't hear-

"Did he just call you a bitch?"

I breathe in. So he did hear. Great.

"How much of that did you hear?" I ask tentatively.

His gaze flickers past me, I'm sure watching Peter disappear behind the lodge. "A confusing amount."

I inwardly groan. This is not what I wanted to do right now. "I was going to tell you ages ago, but-"

"Tris!"

My face falls, and my body begs to be dragged under ground. Looking past Tobias, I watch Christina run up to me.

She glances between Tobias and I, her brows raising, "I wasn't interrupting something, was I?"

I'm nodding before she's even finished, frustration eating away at me. "Give me two minutes."

"Oh," she chokes out, a smile forming on her smug face, "yeah, sure, two minutes." She starts backing up, then runs over to a drenched Uriah. Not having the mental capacity to think about missing out on watching Uri fall into the freezing water, I give all my attention back to Tobias.

His impatience is slowly creeping out, and I can feel that heavy weight of keeping him in the dark slowly crushing me. "Look, I'm going to need more than two minutes." My hand starts to run through my hair, but I stop when my fingers don't easily glide through the wet clumps. "Uh, we'll go and talk after this-" Cutting myself off, I swallow the scream that wants to escape. I can't talk after this, not with Lynn adamant that I confess my sins to Mar and Chris. Well, maybe I could sneak away later tonight-

"Tris, it's fine. We'll talk tomorrow, before we meet up with my Mum."

Right. Tomorrow's Christmas Eve.

"Is that okay?" I ask back, "I can try to find time-"

This time, he doesn't grab my arm. Instead, he takes my hand, making me move with him towards our growing group. "We'll talk tomorrow with fresh minds, okay?" He looks back up the slope, then grins as he looks back at me, "let's get back over there, Lynn's been waiting ages."

I nod, but can't find it in me to smile back. I let him lead me back to my classmates, my arm itching to pull away. Ignoring it, I squeeze his hand harder to keep it in place.