CHAPTER 62

TRIS POV

The sound of something slamming next to my head jolts me awake and I fly out of my seat.

"There is no sleeping in school!" Mr. Ravenson yells in my face still holding the meter stick he slammed on my desk.

"Woah! No need to hit that ruler hard on the desk and start yelling like a maniac!" Tobias yells standing up.

"There is no sleeping during school hours," Mr. Ravenson says simply. "Now, sit down and do this," he points to my seat and puts a reading packet on the desk.

I slide into my seat and rub my eyes, wearily. Today has drained a lot of energy out of me and it is only 12:36. Only 2 more hours, I guess.

I finish the packet just as Jeanine walks in with plates of food in her arms.

"Here you go, straight from the cafeteria," she smiles sweetly and places a slice of pizza and salad in front of each of us.

"No dauntless cake!" Zeke says outraged.

"Mr. Pedrad! I suggest you lay off the dauntless cake because judging by what I see," she looks him up and down, "you eat it way too much for a young man."

I chuckle and Uriah whispers "roasted by the principle."

"You too Uriah," Jeanine calls over her shoulder and walks out of the room.

I bite into the pizza and it's actually pretty good considering its school food. I wolf everything down and Mr. Ravenson walks around with a trash bag and puts a science worksheet on my desk.

"Another one?" I ask and he glares at me.

Well.

I don't know how long it was, but eventually the final bell rings and everyone races outside into the hallway, eager to get away from that evil science teacher.

I hear the whispers as I pass everyone in the hallway. "Her dad is the one who abused her." "She got beat up by Eric, Lauren, Molly, Drew, and Al today." "Al whipped her today." And so many more, probably way worse.

I walk even closer to Tobias and finally we get back to his car.

Before Tobias drives off, he grabs my hand, looks at me, and says, "don't worry about anything right now. We'll get through this together."

I smile and as soon as Tobias pulls into the driveway, mom runs out of the house.

"Beatrice!" She cries when she sees me.

"I'm fine, mom," I whisper as she engulfs me into a big hug.

I melt into her embrace and close my eyes. She will always be here for me too.

"Let's get you inside, honey," I walk slowly inside and she forces me to lay down on the couch. As soon as she knows I'm situated, she turns around towards Tobias.

"Tobias Eaton, come with me. We need to get your face cleaned up," she leads him into the bathroom and I close my eyes. Every now and again, my back had a moment of spasm where it feels like a thousand knives are shooting into me, but besides that I mean, I'm good.

Tobias comes into the room holding a ice pack to his eye and he reclines into the chair. Mom comes back in and keeps fussing over his cheek and forehead and he rolls his eyes.

"Mom, I am perfectly fine. Go help Tris," he sighs and shakes his head.

"No, no, no, no I am fine, too," I quickly say, but mom runs over and puts her hand against my forehead.

"Beatrice, how does your back feel? How much does it hurt? I can't believe a young man would do that to you! How disrespectful!" Mom rambles on and on.

Luckily, the doorbell rings, saving me from interrogation and I throw my hands up in the air.

"Go help Tris, I'm fine," I mimic angrily.

"Well, I don't want her smothering me," Tobias says innocently.

I look over to the front door and I see Colby walking in with a bright smile on his face.

Mom tries to say something to him, but he keeps walking and when he reaches the living room, he stops short.

"What happened here?" He asks.

"Stupid people," Tobias says wearily.

"Bea, are you alright?" Colby asks coming over to me.

"I'm fine, like I said before," I mutter.

"Al whipped her," I hear Tobias say softly and Colby's eyes widen.

"What?" He practically yells.

"I tried, man. I really, really tried. I had no idea Al was going to that. I was fighting off two guys. I turn around and Al was whipping her. He's whipping her. I should've been there. I should've been able to protect her. But, I couldn't. I didn't," Tobias' voice fades and I've never seen him look so upset before.

"Tobias... There was nothing anybody could've done," I whisper.

"It's my responsibility Tris! I'm supposed to be the one who's always there to protect you! But I wasn't!" Tobias says angrily.

"But you were there. If you weren't there then Eric and Drew would have come at me too."

"Bea, let me see your back and mom, can you go get a heating pad?" Colby asks.

I slowly roll over and Colby lifts up my shirt. I feel his fingers run over my back and when he reaches where Al had hit today, I feel myself wince in pain.

Colby puts my shirt back down and he helps me roll back over onto my back. I bite my lip in frustration and so I won't yell out and mom comes back into the room turning on the heating pad.

"I'm going to slide this underneath you, okay?" He lets me know and I feel him put it under my lower back.

"Won't it hurt when it gets hot?" I ask worriedly.

"I'm hoping not. I think it will relax your back muscles, I mean it may hurt at first. Of course, though you would have to let me know that."

I nod and Tobias turns on the TV and changes the channel so we are watching Everybody Loves Raymond, a show that stopped years ago I think.

As the heating pad heats up, I feel it more progressively making way through my shirt. I try to rearrange myself a few times, but the more I move, the more uncomfortable it feels. Sooner or later though, it begins to feel nice. It's pretty soothing actually. I slip in and out of consciences, falling asleep relatively quickly once I wake up. Every time I wake up though, new people seem to be in the room. First, it was just Tobias, mom, and Colby. Next, it was Tobias, mom, Colby, and dad. Then, it was Tobias, mom, dad, Colby, and Tori. And finally it was Tobias, mom, dad, Colby, and Jeanine. Jeanine? I try to force myself out of the bubble I feel like I am in, but to no avail. I slip back under the coat of darkness and into the unknown.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My eyes fly open and I breathe heavily looking around. 8:51. Tobias is the only one in the room and he is staring at me curiously. I sit up slowly, and put my head in my hands. I look into the doorway of the dining room and see mom, dad, Tori, and Colby sitting around talking with each other.

"You were asleep for a pretty long time," Tobias observes.

I just nod. Guess what I just had? Yep, you bet. Another nightmare.

"Was Jeanine here?" I ask finally looking at him.

"Ughh, don't even get me started with her. She came here to explain what happened at 'her' school today," Tobias says quoting the words 'her.'

"Whatever," I groan.

Tobias walks over and sits down on the couch next to me.

I swing my legs over his and lean my head against his shoulder. He puts his arm around me and rubs my arm with his thumb. He knows exactly how to relax me. He is just so amazing.

"Tris, can I ask you a question?" He asks and I nod. "How often does your back hurt? You were so truthful at school today and I'm so proud of you. I want you to be truthful with me and I will always return that. Okay?" He whispers soothingly.

I take a deep breath. "I don't know Tobias. A lot? Sometimes? It really depends. On a good day it only aches you know? On a bad day, it like really hurts, like pins and needles except it never stops."

I feel Tobias kiss the top of my head and I close my eyes against him. I love how understanding he is and how he doesn't persist.

"Can I ask one more question and then that's it?" I hear him say. I nod again and he continues. "When you said you have a lot of nightmares.... How much of them do I not know about?"

"Some.... Depending on how bad they are and if you're around... But it's just so weird, Toby. I don't know why, but when you're with me and you hold me.... I-I just feel so much safer and normally I don't have any bad dreams. How come you are the only one who can do that?" I ask, whispering.

For some reason, I know without looking that Tobias is smiling. He gets so happy when I tell him that he makes me feel safe.

"I'm just that special, Trissy, just that special," he says and I giggle.

Everyone walks into the room at this point and mom smiles when she sees me in Tobias' arms.

"Hey, Tris how do you feel?" Tori asks me.

"Better," I say and smile.

She smiles back at me and tells me great news.

"Eric, Lauren, Molly, Drew, and Al were suspended completely for two weeks and have to spend another two weeks in the ISS room when they return to school."

I look up at Tobias and grin. Maybe they'll actually leave us completely alone for a month.

"Good, they deserve it," is all I say.

Soon, Colby leaves and Tori leaves too telling me whenever I'm ready to come on over. Mom and dad eventually leave going into the other room to watch their shows and I play with Tobias sweatshirt strings.

"What if I don't want to go over to Tori's tonight?" I ask.

"Then you don't have too. Spend the night here. Please." He adds.

I call up Tori and she says to have fun and that she'll see me at school tomorrow.

I hang up and before I know what is happening Tobias' lips are on mine and I'm running my fingers through his hair. He holds me tightly to him and deepens the kiss as I tighten my arms around his neck. He begins to slowly slide down the couch until he is on his back and I am on top of him that I pull away, realizing what just happened.

I sit up and look down at my hands fiddling with my sweatshirt.

"Tris," Tobias says and I glance towards him.

"I won't do anything you don't want to do, you know that," he says looking right into my eyes.

I nod and he kisses me softly with such passion that I smile into him. I pull away slowly and I lean my forehead against his chin. I'm not tall enough to reach his forehead. Hashtag living the short life.

"I love you Trissy, more then you could ever know," Tobias whispers into my ear and I feel my heart begin to jump up and down, giddily.

"I love you Tobias, more then words can describe," I whisper back with a small smile.

"You kids should get to bed. School tomorrow," dad says, poking his head into the room.

Tobias swings me over his shoulder and I laugh like there's no tomorrow.

"Tobias stop!" I scream playfully hitting his back.

"No can do, it's a new tradition," Tobias says with a chuckle.

He lays me gently down on his bed and begins to put the covers over me when I give him a 'really' look.

"That's a really, really stupid new tradition because now I have to get out of bed to to get ready for actual bed."

He gives me a pouty look, but helps me up.

I walk into the bathroom and put on a short sleeve shirt with my fuzzy pajama pants. I quickly then wash my face, brush my teeth, and go to the bathroom and walk out to Tobias laying on his bed reading a note.

"What's that?" I ask and he shrugs.

"I don't know. It was at the front door and the package is right there on the nightstand," Tobias points to a square shaped box and I pick it up and bring it to him.

He opens it and inside are a big package of some sort of disinfectant wipes and some jar of cream. I look at it confused and Tobias finally pulls out a note.

"Dear Tobias,
I think this should help with Bea's back. If you can help her apply it every night it would be a great help. I believe it should help with making the wounds close more quickly. I'll see you on next month's appointment and we'll see the results then. Please contact me if anything appears to be growing worse.
Thanks,
Colby." Tobias reads aloud.

He examines the wipes and opens the package.

"Do you want to give it a try?" He asks, studying me to see my reaction.

"Sure," I sigh. I remove my shirt and lay down and I feel Tobias move my hair away. I feel his fingers move lightly across my back and it sort of tickles.

"Tell me if this stings and you need me to stop," I hear him say and then something cool and wet is on my back and is moving back and forth. As he moves farther and farther down my back I begin to feel the sting and I shake my head into the pillow.

"Want me to stop?" He asks.

"Just get it over with, already," I grumble.

The wipe skims across my skin and he finally gets to where it is the bad part and I hear myself moan.

"Alright, alright, it's over. Done," Tobias tells me.

"Good," I groan.

"Now, the cream should feel okay. It shouldn't hurt or anything, but tell me if it does and you want me to stop."

I hear the lid being opened and I feel Tobias' gentle fingers move across my scarred skin smearing the ointment everywhere.

A couple minutes later and he's finished. He tells me to make sure my back is dry before I put on my shirt so of course I have to wait and wait until he tells me I can go.

I pull on my shirt as fast as I can and lay under the covers with Tobias.

"Thank you Toby," I say and curl up next to him. He wraps his arm around my waist pulling me closer to his bare chest.

He looks at me oddly and asks, "are you okay without me wearing a shirt?"

I nod and he turns off the light and I feel his lips against my forehead. I smile into the darkness and close my eyes hoping that I won't have any nightmares since Tobias is right here with me.

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