TRIS-

"Thank you," I say as the receptionist hands over a packet containing my schedule and locker information.

A tall, tanned girl is currently sat in one of the chairs behind me, waiting to give me the grand tour.

She looks quite grumpy... Oh, well, what do I care? My day's already going great, it only took ten minutes to find Four and two boys, Peter and Eric, I think their names were, are already drooling over me.

This is going to be easier than I thought.

I smile and wave I glance over at my step-brother-type-thing, Will, as he walks out of reception with his own tour guide.

I've lived with my older brother Caleb ever since our parents died and just recently, he got engaged to Cara; Will's older sister last year and since their dad was in prison and their mother abandoned the family shortly after Will was born, we've become this unconventional step-sibling-type-of-thing.

He's told me a million times that what I'm doing is stupid, but I'm not gonna let his know-it-all ass talk me out of it. Not this time.

"Hi, I'm Christina," the tanned girl says as she rises up, out of her seat and offers a hand out towards me.

"Tris," I reply and follow through with the greeting.

She just shoots me a fake smile for a minute as her eyes evaluate me. I can almost hear to cogs, grinding in her brain as she tries - but fails - to figure me out.

"Okay, let's cut to the chase, shall we." Her tone is brutally blunt. "I don't particularly want to drag you all the way around campus and my boyfriend's decided it'd be funny to steal my makeup bag so I'll show you to your locker and then I'm sure you'll be able to figure out where to go."

"Splendid. I didn't want a tour anyway."

"What's your locker number?"

"75."

The girl mutters profanities before gesturing me to follow as she leads me out of the office and through the crowded halls.

"Here we are," she chimed and proceeded to open the locker to the left of my own, "and here I am." She grumbled and harshly stuffed her bag into the thin metal box before pulling out her phone when it started to ring.

"Tobias?!" she hissed into the pink device. "Where the hell are you... I told you that I had to buddy the new girl around and- you what?" She goes silent for a few moments before looking me up and down with a disgusted look in her eye.

"Huh, really? You better have my makeup bad when you get here or- Uriah what?! You boys sure know how to makes a woman's day go from bad to worse, Tobias. Love you too."

Whilst she was obviously waiting for Four to get here, she gave me a brief overview of some of the teachers that I had after scanning my schedule.

They all sounded quite dull and her voice was annoying me so I zoned out and made a mental note of everyone that was currently gawping at me.

As if on cue, Four and the two boys from earlier showed up and one of them was carrying a fluffy purple makeup bag.

"What do you think of my manicure?" The slightly shorter one gasped dramatically as he flung his hand in Christina's face. His nails were painted messily with a hot pink and looked as if he'd dunked them each in glitter.

"Hmm, cute," Christina said with the sarcasm at a toxic density.

It turns out that he'd only painted his left hand... "I'll take that." She quickly snatched the bag from him and shoved it in her locker.

A soft laugh escaped me as the third boy smacked the other round the back of the head. As if by magic, my presence had been made known.

"H-hey, Tris," the manicure boy said as he desperately tried to stuff the coloured hand into his pocket. "So," he drew it out as thoughts filled his head. "You single?"

"Casual," the one who just smacked him spluttered out but tried to mask it with a cough.

"Uriah, isn't it?" His eyes lit up as I said his name. "The offer's sweet but I don't do the whole dating thing."

"Oh yeah," Four interrupted, laughing awkwardly, "what do you do then? Walking advertisement for SlutsRUs?"

With a stiff smile I adjusted my grip on my grey binder, let out a forced laugh ,and said, "Funny enough, no," before walking away from the small group. "Nice talking to you!" I called out over my shoulder, "See you around Uriah!," and proceeded to find my math class, just as the tardy bell rang.

Students rushed through the halls and fell into the open doors of their classrooms as I continued to strut solo, in search of my class.

Oh yes, I thought. This is going to be a perfect year.

"Hey," the familiar sound of Four's voice called out as his fingers wound tightly round my arm.

"What?!" I snapped and yanked my arm away from him.

"Whoa! I'm sorry if what I said upset you..."

"Upset me? Please, I don't give a rat's ass about your stupid comments."

"Okay then... Well, Chris said that you had Mrs. Mathews for math class - you're going the wrong way."

"How do you know where I'm going?"

"Uh, I just said, she told me."

"I mean, how do you even know that I'm going to math?"

He let out a single chuckle before retuning to his serious face. "You're Beatrice Prior, you've never missed a day of school in your life, let alone ditched class."

"Oh Four, are you still clinging to the idea that I haven't changed?"

"No, you have changed, but inside you're still the same girl that I used to love."

"And you're still the same selfish, arrogant, jerk that is so oblivious to the truth that you don't realise it until it's smacked you in the face and ran away before you've even had the chance to face it.

"People change, Four. And I'm glad that I did because the girl that I used to be got walked all over by you. So guess what, I might be holding a slight grudge about that and you're just gonna have to wait and see if I'll eventually explode.

"I can't believe that I ever let myself get caught up in your little games... I can't believe that I thought you cared-"

"Hey, that's not fair," he interrupts me and tries to grab my hands, which I immediately yank away and hold the binder closer. "Don't you dare say that I never loved you because I did."

"Really? You had a pretty funny way of showing it then...

"How do you think it feels to walk into school after being stuck in the hospital for two months and have everyone whispering behind my back. People who I'd never even spoken to before seemed to know more about my life than I did."

"Tris-"

"No, Four! Piss off and leave me alone!" I run a hand through my blonde hair and force myself to calm down. "I'm done, talking to you, now."

"Tris, just-"

"No."

The clicking of my heels as I briskly walk away is the only sound that follows me through the halls.

I manage to make it outside without being seen by any of the teachers and make my way to the bleachers. Call it cliche - I don't care - but they truly are the best place to be if you just want to think.

All it takes is a blink and suddenly his tale frame is climbing up to meet me. "Go away," I say, refusing to look him in the eye.

"What do you want me to say, Tris? That I'm sorry?"

"No."

"Then what god dammit?!"

A soft whimper escaped me as he shouts. "Tell me you hate me..."

"What- Why?"

"Tell me you hate me, so I can hate you back. Tell me you hate me, so I don't feel so stupid. Tell me you hate me, so I can stop caring."

"I'll never hate you, Tris," he says and takes my hands in his own. His thumbs carve holes into my palms as they rub across the soft skin.

I blink a few times to clear the tears that have started to form before staring up at him and saying, "Then prepare for a storm."