CHAPTER 41

TRIS POV~~~~~~~~~~~

The warm blankets are all around me, keeping me cozy. I feel as if I am in someone's arms, but I don't think that someone would hold me for this long. It's been at least a few hours since I was last awake.

I blink my eyes open and my eyes instantly travel to the clock.

4:47.

It's been at least two hours.

My eyes make their way to the face that I have come to recognize as safe and caring. Tobias is currently watching TV at a super low volume with his hand gently moving through my hair. My head is on his lap and he honestly looks like he doesn't care that I am on top of him.

"She awake yet?" I hear someone ask from the far side of the room.

"No." Tobias says shaking his head.

He didn't even see that my eyes were open. Probably because the blanket is covering the left eye and the right is only half open because it is so bright in here.

"She should be up soon. Make sure she eats that soup I made her. She needs food and to stay hydrated." I think Tori says.

Tobias nods and continues to stroke my hair.

I am about to open my mouth, tell them I am awake, but a sudden dizzy spell comes. The room lurches to the side and the TV spins around me. I quickly close my eyes and try to get rid of that horrible sensation.....

TOBIAS POV~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tris has been sleeping for almost four hours now. It's 6:30 pm and the gang all texted me telling me that no one was at my house for that stupid meeting thing I arranged. I told them to forget it and I would talk to them tomorrow, which they got very annoyed about, but who cares.

Mom has been constantly checking Tris's head for a fever, I think, but nothing. She thinks it might have something to do with the concussion and her not sleeping much at all at night, so she is getting it all I right now, but who really knows.

I feel Tris begin to move against me and I quickly stop playing with her hair.

She blinks her eyes open and looks around the room until they land on me.

"Hey, you." I say quietly.

"Hi Toby." She mumbles against me.

I am about to say something, when all of a sudden, Tris's stomach grumbles. Very loudly, might I add.

Tris groans and I quickly help her sit up.

"How's your head feel?" I quickly ask.

"Fine," she shrugs. "Been better."

"You need to eat, come on." I say.

Tris stands up with me and leans against me for support. She is still so weak. I can tell she is trying to hide it from everyone, but I can see right through her blank face.

I quickly make her chicken noodle soup and place it in front of her. I watch as she slowly takes small bites of it.

She seems to be liking it, which is good. This girl hasn't eaten a real meal in like days.

"I'll be right back." I say and run upstairs.

I quickly locate a scale and bring it down.

"Step on." I order.

Tris obeys and I read the number.

91.2.

She weighs what I weighed in the sixth grade.

"This is so not healthy." I mutter to myself.

"It's not my fault that I'm short!" Tris yells at me.

Oops. I shouldn't have said that out loud.

"Tris. You weigh what I weighed in the sixth grade. You are shorter than everyone else, but not that short that you should be less then 100 pounds. How much do you eat?" I ask gently.

Tris scoffs. "I don't know."

"How about you finish your soup. Then we can talk or something." I say.

Tris looks annoyed, but does what listens.

"I want to watch TV." Tris whines.

"You can't." I say firmly.

"Noooooo." Tris moans walking towards the couch with my help.

"You can't watch tv with your concussion. Sorry. Maybe we can go back to the house and hang out with the gang. Do you want that?" I ask.

Tris hesitates, then nods.

I quickly locate mom and tell her about what we are doing and she tells us to have fun and be careful.

Ugh. Parents and their stupid 'be careful' sayings.

I help Tris across the street. It worries me that she still is so weak after eating, but the girl did just go through a horrible beating, so it's not my place to judge. She keeps telling me that she is perfectly fine, but she just seems so... emotionally drained. She's not her normal, happy self.

The gang is at the house not even ten minutes later. Tris isn't smiling and laughing like she normally would be. I know for a fact that Christina has noticed. She keeps shooting me looks, but I don't even know how to respond.

I'm almost positive that Tris wants to keep the fear simulation thing a secret. I mean, I would if my own brother was the one who betrayed me.

"Hey! I heard there was going to be cake!" Uriah yells at the top of his lungs.

"Cake?" Zeke and Will ask at the same time.

"Yeah! Where it at?" Uriah asks.

"I don't know! Why don't you go find it instead of being a lazybutt." Lynn screams.

All of a sudden, Tris untangles herself from my arm and fast walks toward the bathroom.

Everyone in the group give me a quizzical look, which I ignore and go after her.

I hear puking and then the toilet flush.

I gently knock.

"Tris?" I ask gently.

No response.

"Can I come in?" I ask.

The door opens about an inch and I take it as a 'sure you can, Tobias.'

I find Tris leaning on the sink shaking.

"Hey. I'm not going to ask if you're alright, because you're obviously not and I don't blame you. I...... Come here." I open my arms and she gladly goes into them.

She begins to cry lightly and I just hold her close. I quickly shut the door all the way, since I can hear the gang walking towards the bathroom, trying to be quiet, which they are failing at.

I let Tris get it all out. What she's been holding inside of her this whole time. Anger, sadness, disappointment, embarrassment, shock. The list just goes on and on.

Tris has finally calmed down enough to talk and I don't want to impose that she has to answer my questions, but I want answers.

"Tris.... I honestly need to know how your head is. Does it ever hurt?" I ask worried.

"It doesn't hurt. I don't feel anything at all, really." Tris whispers.

"You know, you can always tell me anything. I won't tell anyone if you told me not to. So you don't have to be scared or worried around me okay?" I say.

Tris nods and quickly washes her face. She begins to walk over to the towel rack when she suddenly stops and falls against the wall.

I am instantly by her side. "What's this all about." I whisper into her ear.

"I don't know. I've been having a lot of dizzy spells lately." Tris tells me leaning into me.

I slide down the wall and make Tris sit on my lap. She rests her head on my shoulder and we sit in a comfortable silence.

"You shouldn't be getting that dizzy." I say breaking the silence.

I feel Tris shrug against me.

"You do realize I'm just going to keep asking you questions, right. I hope you don't mind, but I care for you and I want the best for you, Tris."

"So I am going to ask you a question and you are going to answer truthfully, no matter what. Got it?" I continue.

Tris nods and takes a deep breath as she closes her eyes.

"Have you been sleeping well at night? You slept for practically seven hours straight and it isn't that great because you seem tired right now." I say gently.

Tris begins to say something, but hesitates and says, "well, I've been going somewhere every night when I was at Marcus's house." Tris whispers.

"What? Where?" I ask shocked.

"To......"

HOW WAS THAT? CLIFFHANGER!

SORRY I HAVEN'T UPDATED IN A WHILE! I'VE BEEN REALLY BUSY WITH FRIENDS AND PROJECTS AND AFTER SCHOOL STUFF AND YEAH.

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