CHAPTER 27

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

During the night, I dream that Eric and Lauren don't bother me at all. That everyone protects me from them. I am currently at my locker when Christina starts shaking me gently.

I ask her what she is doing, but she doesn't answer me.
.......

I open my eyes to see mom standing over me shaking me.

"Beatrice, time to get up." She whispers.

I nod and she helps me out of bed. I guess I'm not that strong in the morning yet.

"Take a shower in my room, I'll be in there to hear if you need me."

"Okay." I walk to my parents room and slip into the bathroom unnoticed by dad.

Observant he isn't.

I quickly start the water and take off my clothes.

I don't look at my back today. I don't want to be reminded of anything. I just want to have a good, normal day at school.

I quickly step in, almost slipping in the process.

I scrub my hair with shampoo and conditioner and wash with soap. I walk into 'my' room and begin getting ready. I put on the tiniest bit of mascara and a little lip gloss, to stop my lips from getting even more chapped.

I turn around see a shopping bag at my door. I look around confused and drag it into the room.

I peer inside the bag and see the most amazing thing. Clothes. And lots of them.

I begin taking them out and I almost squeal in delight. These clothes are just..... On point or whatever the other girls say.

Christina will really start shrieking then.

I quickly put on some jeggings and I find the most beautiful lace top in the world.

It's a light ocean blue and the tank top that comes with it, is a light pink.

Now, I'm not a really big fan of pink, but it goes with the outfit really well.

For shoes, I obviously pick my combat boots.

I look at the time and realize it is only 7. We have to be at school by 8.

I glance at the blow dryer and decide to go for it. I blow my hair out and put it into a braid that travels down my back.

I look in the mirror and see a pretty girl? Is that really me? I don't look as good as some of the other girls, but I defiantly look better than I did a couple days ago.

I smile and walk downstairs. I practically tackle mom and dad on a hug, thanking them so much for the clothes.

They just laugh and look at each other. With the look. The one your parents share right before they know something is going to happen. The look I call it.

I shrug it off, trying to keep my day clear of worries.

I walk into the kitchen and gasp. Pancakes. Real pancakes. Made from scratch.

I just stand there shocked. Nobody has ever made me anything that has taken so long before.

"Are you going to try them Beatrice?" Dad asks as if I'm an idiot just going to watch them get cold all day.

I nod at a loss of words.

I slowly begin eating mine trying to make them last forever.

I am just barely halfway through when Tobias comes down. He hugs everyone good morning and sits down next to me.

"Hello beautiful." He says in my ear.

I smile and he starts to eat his pancakes.

He takes his fork, shoves it in the middle, pours syrup on it, and then shoves the whole thing in his mouth.

And they're big pancakes.

I stare in disgust as he chews. His cheeks are the size of oranges and I can't help but giggle.

"Whhet?" He asks trying to all through the pancakes.

"Ewwww." I say and put my hands in front of my face.

I turn back to my pancakes and nibble on them losing my appetite by the minute.

"Okay I'm done." Tobias breathes five minutes later.

"It's about time." I say.

"Guys you better leave for school!" Dad shouts from the family room.

"Okay." Tobias answers and we leave the table together.

Mom and dad meet us by the front door.

"Bye." We all say at the same time. I hug dad and them mom, who whispers in my ear, "don't forget what I said last night. Just call us. And stay by Tobias the whole day."

I nod and Tobias takes my hand leading me to his car.

I step in and turn on the radio. We're listening to one of my favorite songs by Meghan Trainor, Dear Future Husband. I quietly him along with the melody.

We pull up to the parking lot and I try to get rid of the butterflies in my stomach.

I am about to open the door, when Tobias grabs my hand.

I turn toward him as he offers his little smile.

"Don't worry. I'll be here right next to you the entire day. I promise."

I nod and step out of the car.

Tobias comes to my side and wraps his arm around my waist.

It takes a few seconds for everyone to see me.

All the boys say hello to us and all the girls, hold on let me rephrase that most of the boys say hello to us and most of the girls say hello to us.

Some girls look incredibly angry at the sight of me and pancake shover here together. The only boys that didn't say hi were Eric's group of friends.

I ignore them and just head over to the gang.

"TRIS! I LOVE YOUR OUTFIT!" Christina shrieks.

"Thank you!" I yell back.

Everyone high fives me and fills me in on the latest gossip.

"Stiff, long time, no see." Eric says walking up to me with his little sidekicks.

I resist the urge to punch him square in the face and remember Tobias's words.

"You're going to want to show you attackers they had no effect on you, but cower a little bit."

As much as I hate doing this, I look down and begin to walk backwards.

"Stiff you scared?" Lauren asks with a smirk played in her lips.

Uriah, Zeke, Will, and Tobias form a barrier between me and them.

"Leave her alone." Will growls.

"And why should we?" Molly argues.

"Because we said so." Uriah says through clenched teeth.

"So you're her little bodyguards. Protecting her everywhere you go? She a little to scared?" Drew says.

Peter walks up to them and starts to yell at them.

Enough of this, I decide. I need to take charge for myself.

The boys are standing a few feet apart, so I quickly take the advantage of being small and slip in between them.

"Ooh. The stiff has come to play." Eric says.

"Tris what are you doing." Tobias warns.

"Listen up pierce-faced, you don't have to be so rude. How about you just leave me and everyone else alone." I say.

His group starts to laugh and Eric swings on me trying to punch me square in the face.

And then the yelling starts.

I quickly dodge the punch and kick him right in the gut. He doubled over in pain as Molly, Drew, and Lauren rush at me.

Tobias pushes me behind him roughly and I fall the to ground.

Marlene, Shauna, Lynn, and Christina are fighting Lauren and Molly while Tobias, Uriah, Zeke, Will, and Peter are fighting Eric and Drew.

I stand up angry at Tobias for pushing me. It isn't fair. I always get pushed out of things. I can't do this because I'm a stiff (new to this school), or a girl, or I'm small, but I can do everything that they can do.

Coach Amar runs out with his whistle, yelling at everyone to "break it up."

Eventually her gets everyone to stop punching and kicking for a minute to get us sent to the office. Yay.

We all sit there scowling at Eric and his group while they are giving us dirty looks.

"Tris, I told you to stay out of it." Tobias whispers in my ear.

"I tried to stop it, but you pushed me. And hard." I say.

"I'm sorry, but I wanted you to be safe."

"Yeah. Safe. I can defend myself just fine, thank you." I snap back crossing my arms.

Tobias opens his mouth to say something else when Jeneane or Mrs. Matthews walks in looking slowly over everyone of us.

"Tris.... You are back. And get in a fight." Mrs. Matthews says sitting down on her desk.

"I'm back, but I didn't start this." I scowl.

"No and who did then."

"Eric and his group."

"Is that right, Eric?" Jeneane asks.

"No! Tris just came up to us with her group and they started beating us."

I cringe at the word 'beating.' We were not 'beating' them.

"That's is not true!" Tobias, Uriah, and Zeke yell at the same time.

"Excuse me, but we do not scream in my office." Jeneane says.

I roll my eyes and Peter steps forward.

"I captured this video. I was recording it before because I was going to do something, but then this happened." Peter gives Jeneane his phone and do can here the yelling coming from the speakers.

"Well, Eric, Lauren, Molly, Drew, you are all going to the ISS room and are going to be staying there for the whole week." Jeneane says.

They all groan and I look at Tobias in confusion.

"What's the ISS room?" I ask.

"In school suspension. You go to this room and your teachers deliver papers and you can't talk at all. Not even a question. The only time you can leave is for lunch and the bathroom." Tobias answers.

Eric and his crew walk out and then it is just the gang in the office.

"Now, I hope you can understand the importance of 'not getting involved.' I would like to ask everyone why Eric started this." Jeneane says looking at me.

"Because Eric has something mentally wrong with himself." Lynn mutters to herself.

"Lynn I don't appreciate your rude commentary. Can someone please answer my question." She says rudely.

"Eric and I have a long going rivalry and he has never let it go." I say.

"Okay, but can I ask what he did to you."

"NO!" We all basically yell at her.

"Fine. Get to class."

We all stand up, but at the last second, Jeneane calls my name.

I turn around and she motions me to some near her.

I look uneasily up to Tobias who takes my hand and walks there with me.

"Is there a reason you are here, too Four?"

"Yeah. I am with Tris." He says with a smirk.

"Do you mind leaving." Jeneane says with a cold smile played on her lips.

"Yes, yes I do." Tobias says.

"Fine. Tris. I was wondering how you feel now. Four told me you were in the hospital." Jeneane says rubbing my arm.

I flinch backwards and she sends me s confused look.

"I..I feel better now, thank you." I stutter.

"Okay and Tris, if you ever need anything you can come to me anytime. My door is always open." Jeneane says with a fake smile.

I return the fake smile and nod.

Tobias leads me out and I snort out laughing.

"As if I'm ever going to go to her to help."

He laughs and we go to our lockers to pick up our books.

We all down to art and Tori smiles when she sees me.

We all get started on making clay when she comes up to me and sits down.

"Tris, you haven't been here for a long time! Four told me you were in the hospital! Are you okay now?"

"Yeah. A lot better." I say with a smile.

"Okay good. If you ever need anything, I'm always here." I smile and nod.

Soon, the bell rings and I love on to science with Mrs. Matthews.

She blabs on about who knows what. Something about plants and the world.

I just tune her out and look out the window at the birds. Birds have it lucky. Whenever they want, no matter what, they can just fly away. Fly away from everything.

"Tris!" Someone snaps me out of my daze.

"Yeah." I say looking around.

"We're you paying attention? The bell is going to ring any second and you didn't even get a single note down!" Mrs. Matthews says with an angry expression on her face.

"Sorry. I was just thinking....." The bell rings and I jump up to go to math.

The teacher just hands up worksheets and we have to compete them for credit.

I just copy off Will's paper, since he is the genius here.

Soon, we are let out to go to my favorite class. Gym.

I walk into the gym with Tobias and am about to get changed when Coach Amar calls my name.

"Blonde! Are you Tris!" He yells.

"Yeah."

"Come here!"

I do a slow jog over to him and he just stares at me.

"Well....." I say.

"Apparently your doctor called saying your out of gym for right now. Is that true." He says with the same expression.

"Yeah I guess." I say.

"Okay, well how's Amar fever treating you?" He asks with a broad smile on his face.

"Good..." I say confused.

"Good. Go sit in that chair in the corner."

After forty minutes of 'sitting in the corner' we finally have lunch.

Lunch was fun, except for when Caleb came and told me that when I got home mom and dad needed to tell me something.

Nervousness kicked in.

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

It's finally the end of the day and I trudge to the car with Tobias.

Christina tried to get me Tobias shopping with her, but when I didn't even say anything back, she decided that I was too tired to go. No kidding.

I slide into the passenger seat and Tobias drives back home.

I can feel the drowsiness starting to kick in big time but I need to show mom and dad that I can do it. That I can do anything.

"Tris, you want me to piggyback you in?" Tobias asks.

"No."

"You sure? You look like you are going to collapse at any second now." Tobias says gently.

"It's okay. I got this." I say.

I get out of the car and wobble to the front door. I can feel Tobias right next to me, ready to catch me if I fall.

I open the door and mom and dad come over and hug us and ask us how school went.

I can feel my eyes starting to close by the second and I lean back on Tobias, so he can support some of my weight.

"Beatrice! Um why don't we have you take a nap on the couch!" Mom says fast.

I nod and I can feel my legs get lifted off the ground and me being placed on the leather sofa. The warm sensation of a blanket being put on top of me is enough for me to let myself go.

In seconds, the darkness takes me in to hide away with him.

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

Mom and dad start questioning ha about school and I just say it was good.

I feel Tris stumble backwards into me as her eyes begin to close.

Mom and dad notice finally and mom quickly says to put her on the couch. I pick her up and gently place her on the leather one. Dad places a blanket on her and I can tell that she is completely gone now.

Mom and dad begin bombarding me with questions.

I just tell them that everything was going fine until Caleb came and told her that you guys needed to talk to her.

"Oh. Colby came by with the head doctor and he said that he wanted Tris to go to some private classes, so she could get over her fear of not trusting people." Dad says.

"She trusts people." I argue.

"That's what we said. And then he said that they would run some tests to find out." Mom says rubbing her forehead.

"What kind of tests?" I ask cautiously.

"I don't know. They said something about a serum where they can make something happen inside you head and the person thinks it is real, but it isn't." Dad says.

"Oh. How do you know it is safe?" I ask.

"We're just going to have to trust Colby on that one." Mom says wearily.

"Anyway, Tobias is there anything important happening at school on Friday? Any tests? Anything at all?" Dad asks quietly.

"No, I don't think so why?" I ask confused.

"The trial between Marcus and Beatrice is in Friday and we want you to be there." Dad says so quietly you could hear a pin drop.

This trial worries me.

~~~~~~~~

DUN-DUN-DUN!!!! 

SO I HAVE A QUESTION FOR YOU GUYS! SHOULD I JUST SKIP TO THE TRIAL OR DESCRIBE THE SCHOOL DAYS LEADING UP TO IT? COMMENT PLEASE!

AS ALWAYS VOTE, COMMENT, AND BE AWESOME!!!