A/N- Not gunna blab, as I'm assuming the majority of readers for this story have read my other. But if not, I've finished that one, so can now concentrate on this one! And with work being pretty dry at the moment, I have a bit more time to write- but I'm not going hold myself to an upload schedule, because as we all know, I won't stick to it lmao. Anyway, if anyone hasn't read 'A Twist of Fate', now's a great time. I know a lot of people only like reading complete stories, which is very understandable! Anyways, I'll see you guys in Chapter 18. Bethany x

Chapter 17- Quick Competition,

"Come on, Tris. Just put some effort into it."

"I think you forget the first time I put a snowboard on was less than a month ago."

I hold his gaze as he walks closer, his snowboard off whilst mine stays on. He's quick to tug on my zip, pulling it up to my chin. "I think you forget how good you actually are."

The first of the month was only yesterday, and having spent the day with the girls, this morning has been the first time we've been able to spend together since new years.

"You're just trying to boost my confidence."

Hand still on my zip, his brows pull in, "that doesn't sound like something I'd do."

I would laugh, if he wasn't so unbearably close to me. "And there's me thinking you're full of flattery." My comeback comes out as a mere whisper, the wind blowing a certain thickness through the air.

"Well," he draws out, smirking down at me, "I guess I'm open to trying something new."

I choke out a laugh, raising my brows, "sure..."

Instead of saying something back, his finger drops my zip, and finds home just under my chin. I watch as his eyes move to my parted lips, then lock back onto my own.

The compacted snow starts feeling unstable under my quickly jellifying legs, which is an odd sensation seeming I normally feel more confident on the slopes than on solid ground. "I thought you wanted to get moving."

"We have all month," he nonchalantly replies, then presses his lips to mine. The butterflies from new years haven't really let up, especially when, for the past few hours, it's like he can't keep his hands to himself.

Kissing him back enthusiastically, I find myself forgetting why we're up on one of the higher elevated orange slopes. It's only when I'm not concentrating on my weight distribution that my board begins to slip out in front of me.

Our mouth discounted with my gasp, my stomaching flipping as I tense, automatically assuming I'm going to hit the fresh snow.

But Tobias's reflexes are godly, his hands grabbing onto my waist, his foot catching my board.

"Maybe we should keep working on your balance," he says as he laughs, repositioning me with ease.

Rolling my eyes, I push off of him. "Doubt I'm going to have some guy shoving his tongue down my throat whilst I'm competing."

His face scrunches in disgust, "you have such a way with words."

I grin over at him, "come on, let's get moving so we can call it a day."

"Getting bored of me already?"

I nod solemnly, "everyone knows the lead up is better than the finished result."

His mouth drops open slightly, a taken off guard laugh coming out of him. "God, you're quick with them today, aren't you?"

I laugh back, but decide to call it quits with my remarks, for today, anyways.

He grabs his phone out of his jacket pocket as my grin turns into a satisfied smile. "We've got an hour before sunset, so-"

"Look what we have here."

Tobias's eyes find mine before they even look his way. I know just the tone of Eric's voice has put him on edge, and in turn, has had the same effect on me.

"Eric," Tobias acknowledges, nodding in the instructor's direction.

The other instructor comes from behind Tobias, joining us in the centre of a large crossroad. With different paths for slope users to take, it's growing quite busy.

Eric tips his board forward, crawling closer to us. I take note of the snowboard, but try to keep my attention fully on his arrogant face.

He only spares me a glance, then, amused, says to Tobias, "haven't given up on her yet? You know there's still time to find another more than willing partner."

I try not to become offended, but I find it hard to press down my anger when it comes to arrogance in men.

"If you want to partner with Four, Eric, maybe you should just straight up ask him."

And now I've got his attention. His lips pull up into a coldly amused smile, "oh look, she's finally found her voice." His head cocks to the side, "too bad not a lot is coming out of that mouth."

"Don't fucking say that shit to her," Tobias says sharply, then moves in front of me, vanishing my view. "Did you need something, or did you just want to waste both of our time?"

Unhooking my board, I lift it into my hands. If Eric's around, I want both feet confidently usable.

And unable to let Tobias be a block for too long, I come to stand to his left. From the corner of my eye, I know he doesn't like my new position.

"I have got a bit of time to waste, actually, Four." Eric reaches up, taking off his grey helmet. His dark, short hair doesn't do the same for his features as it does Lynns. Instead, each part of his face unifies together. It's not always a bad thing, unity. But Eric doesn't exactly have a face you'd remember after a glance or two. "I'm waiting for my own competition partner to meet me."

As much as Eric is unlikeable, I'm not surprised he has a partener. No matter his personality, he's a really good snowboarder- hence winning the last few competitions as Tobias had said.

"Who's desperate enough for a win to partner with you?" Tobias asks, feigning confusion.

Eric brows raise, then his eyes flick behind us, "ask them yourself."

I hesitate as I turn around, knowing this can't be good.

And it's not.

Peter, in his multi shade blue ski coat walks toward us, a snowboard perched happily under his arm.

With my words somehow out of reach, all I can do is watch as he gets closer, his line completely passing me and Tobias. He spares me one emotionless glance before nodding to Eric.

And then I'm staring at an empty space in front of me, feeling a stupid amount of betrayal.

It's only when Eric pipes up again that I look back to the two of them. "Luckily for me, Peter's got a good amount of experience on the snowboard."

But all Peter does as Eric speaks is look at the snow slowly covering his light boots.

Slapping his new partner on the back, Eric finally says, "anyway, let's not waste anymore of these two's time. They need all the practice they can get." And with one more smile, the instructor says, "see you later, Four."

And then he walks off, towards the lifts. Peter is slower to follow, but even with his hesitancy, I don't get a look.

With the shock starting to wear off, I can feel my anger simmering. "This is starting to feel personal." Dropping my board back down, I press the sole of my boot lightly on top of it, ready to get moving.

Tobias nods, then also places his board back onto the ground. "Let's just call it a day, go get something warm-"

"Call it a day?" I repeat back, appalled. I may have been thinking that way 10 or so minutes ago, but now? "How can we call it a day when the competition is just over a month away and I still can't keep my board balanced?"

His brows pull low, shaking his head, "there's not much more we can do today with the light, by the time we're at the bottom of the mountain, the sun will be fully set."

"I've been on the mountain in the dark before, Tobias, it's not a big-"

"You've skied in the dark, Tris. There's no way I'm letting you out here on a snowboard in the same conditions."

If there's alway been one thing consistent in my life, it's that I find taking no for an answer hard. "I'm not asking for your permission? You can head back down, but I'm not."

His frustration is evident as he says, "your stubbornness won't do you any favours out here." And then he's quick, pulling my board from under my feet with his boot.

I wobble slightly as my foot gets yanked out from under me. But this time, when he grabs me, all I feel is annoyed. Can he not see what's happening right now? Eric and Peter are doing this deliberately. He should be on the same wavelength as me- Eric is trying to get under his skin, not mine. This isn't just a me problem?

But then his voice softens, and with him so close, it becomes tricky to find logic in my single mindedness. "We'll come out at sunrise tomorrow morning, okay? We can even skip lunch." His dark eyes stay gentle, but they're unyielding.

I glance around helplessly. People are still heading up to the chairlifts, both skis and boards clasped solidly on their feet. I know I'd be fine practising more in the dark, even if we went further down the mountain, where the floodlights reach the slopes. But do I really want to push Tobias? Bash heads with him when everything between us is still unsteady and new? With my shoulders dropping, I know I've come to a conclusion.

"Sunrise?"

He nods, then passes the board back, "sunrise."

…

"He what?"

I nod my head, sighing, "yeah…" With a glance around the class, I find Bud crouched down, helping Al with a question. "You could tell he was embarrassed on the slopes- or at least unsure."

Christina's shocked face doesn't wear off, not even as she twists around, finding Peter tucked away in the corner on the other side of the room.

I look back over the questionnaire, my pen tapping on the paper with the lid off. "I just- I don't know why he's doing it? He's always said how much he prefers skiing to snowboarding."

I can almost hear my best friend's eye roll. "Hun, it's obvious. He likes you again, and saw this whole situation as a good way to spend some time with you, hopefully get those feelings of your reignited."

I look up from my ink filled page, finding her sympathising, but also enjoying her position overlooking the drama. "Then you show interest in your instructor?" She carries on, brows raised with amusement, "yeah, no wonder why he's now pairing up with the one other instructor Four doesn't like."

"It's just a bit pathetic," I say lamely, leaning heavily into the back of my hard plastic chair. "He always wants what he can't have."

Christina nods as she pushes away her own paper. "Some people are just like that." Then she twists, her face lighting up, "now, tell me all about yesterday- minus the Peter and Eric stuff."

My cheeks warm as I shrug, "we were on the mountain the most of the day, then we just hung around the coffee shop next to the lifts."

It was a nice way to end the day, and I'm thankful I let my stubbornness slide. No matter what happens with Eric and Peter, they are inconsequential to how Tobias and I work. Letting them get in between the two of us isn't an option.

"So… A date, then?"

I can't help but smile, "I guess?"

"You've literally hit the jackpot, Tris."

Excitement bubbles in my stomach, "you don't have to tell me that."

She grins back, with one of those large, white smiles.

"And before you guys leave, place your tests on my desk!" Bud says, sounding like he was in the middle of saying something.

Slowly looking down at my paper, I, unsurprisingly, find only half of it done. "He's going to stop letting us sit together, Chris."

She giggles, picking her pen back up. "We've got 10 minutes, how hard can this be?"

It's A-Level maths, so hard.

But then another sheet of paper appears in front of us. When I glance up, Will's shaking his head, "I don't think you two should be sitting together anymore."

Grabbing his sheet, I look for my first unanswered question as Christina says, "thanks, babe!"

Trying to make a few mistakes on the questions I know are too hard for me to guess correctly, I finish up with Will's answers just as the clock hits 5. Christina's not too far behind, as I drop the test on Bud and Tori's desk, I hear her chair scrape against the wooden floors.

"You heading to the dining hall?" She asks as we pass the whiteboard. In her vintage skirt and tight top, it looks like she's making her way into the village, not our dingy cafeteria.

I nod as I say, "yep."

With the rest of our friends lagging behind, Christina and I are the first to leave the class.

She nudges me on the shoulder when we pass the doorframe, "so no sneaking off with Four tonight then?"

I roll my eyes, "we were never sneaking anywhere." My friends were either just not at the right places at the right times, or they just didn't ask the right questions. "Anyway, there wasn't anything to hide, not until new years." And have I been hiding since then? No.

"You can be so private with some things, Tris. Sometimes it feels like you are hiding stuff."

Pushing open the dining hall's cloudy glass door, I say, "you know I find that sort of stuff weird to talk about."

"Yeah, yeah," she shrugs me off, opening the other door, "but you know how much I-"

She stops in place, brows lowing over her brown eyes. As I follow her gaze, she says, "they're sitting with us now?"

Four, Zeke and Shauna. Pushed into the corner of our, already, tightly compact table. With the hall pretty sparse of people, it's obviously a deliberate move.

And with his relaxed gaze finding mine, I know that this was neither Zeke nor Shauna's idea.