CHAPTER 61

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

Tobias and I drive to school in silence. I take a side glance at him and take a deep breath.

"Tobias, I'm sorry for overreacting. I shouldn't have assumed you told mom about what happened in gym yesterday," I say softly.

Without even glancing my way, Tobias takes one hand off the steering wheel and grabs mine, squeezing it.

I smile and Tobias pulls into a parking spot at the school. I hate this school. I get out of the car and instead of seeing my group first, I see Eric's group.

Tobias is instantly next to me, his arm wrapped around my waist, protectively.

"Well would you look at that. Little Beatrice with her miserable boy toy," Eric laughs loudly and his group quickly join in.

Quickly, practically the entire 11th grade behind to form around us, creating a big circle.

"You'd better stay away from her and myself and go on with your little posse of misfits," Tobias growls.

"Oooooohh," the crowd roars.

"Yep, we are definitely the misfits. Have you ever taken a step back and seen what kind of person Beatrice really is? Obviously you haven't and you're only with her because of her tragic story. Oh and we can't forget about mommy and daddy telling you to protect her, can we," Eric tells everybody.

"Roasted!" People begin to yell from the outer circle.

I begin to feel my blood boil and I clench my fists. Eric's lying, Eric's lying. He's trying to get a rise out of Tobias and I.

"Don't you start bringing her past into this," Tobias says and begins to take a step towards Eric.

"Four, stop," I warn loudly.

Tobias glances down at me and I begin to pull him away from Eric.

The crowd makes way for us to walk out but not before Lauren comes and pulls into my hair. I let go of Tobias' hand and quickly swing on her, my fist connecting with her jaw. She lets go, but of course her backup comes and begins to harass me.

Molly quickly comes and kicks me in the gut and someone comes up behind me and holds me in place. I see Tobias fighting off Eric and Drew and when Molly comes to kick me again I swing my legs up and kick her right back. She falls to the ground and slowly begins to get up, but not before I try to get the person who is holding me, off. Their scent smells somewhat familiar. Like lemongrass and sage. Who could it be? My brain pounds for a response when Lauren and Molly both advance on me, Molly kicking, and Lauren swinging.

I scream and kick with all my might, since I have no use of my hands because my attacker is holding them behind my back, his hands wrapped around my stomach tightly. Out of my peripheral vision I see Tobias wildly look towards me and I can see the flash of panic in his eyes. There's too many of them.

Suddenly, I see Uriah and Zeke running towards me pulling Lauren and Molly away from me. I use my feet to my advantage and kick the person holding me as hard as I can and I hear their voice start screaming obscenities. Al. Horror fills me. Al is still with Eric and Lauren?

I quickly use Al's pain as a advantage and break free from his grip and whirl around to face him.

"Al! Why are you doing this!" I scream.

"You knew I had feelings for you and you ignored me!" He roars.

"No I didn't!" I yell right back.

"Stop playing with me Tris!" He yells and before I know it Al has grabbed me and and pushed me hard onto the ground, my face smushed into the grass. He sits on me, right below my back making me stay still.

"Al, stop! I thought we were friends!" I command.

"Too late for that, Beatrice!" I feel the back of my shirt being lifted, so he reveals my bare skin and the next thing I feel brings back so many terrible memories. His belt lashes at my skin and I scream so loud, even Eric stops fighting Tobias. I squeeze my eyes shut tight and I feel his belt hit my skin twice more before I hear yelling and then I feel him being pulled off of me.

When I open my eyes again, I am on my back staring up at the sky and Christina, Will, Marlene, Shauna, Lynn, and Peters worried face.

"Go help Four," I croak and Peter, Lynn, and Shauna run away. I hear a bunch of whistles being blown and out of the corner of my eye, I see the crowd leaving, terrified expressions on their faces.

"Tris, it's going to be alright," Christina says in such a small voice, I almost didn't hear her.

Seconds later, Tobias comes into view and his face looks terrible. He has a big bruise covering his right cheek and his left eye is swollen. He has a few long scratch marks going along his chin and he has red handprint on his forehead.

"Your face!" I whisper, horrified.

"Tris, I'm fine. Eric's a lot worse. You're not okay, let's get out of here," Tobias says and I can tell he is trying to be calm.

Uriah and Zeke run over breathless.

"Too late to leave now. They're coming."

Peter, Lynn, and Shuana appear, cursing and I can only cover my face with my hands. This literally always happens. Why? Why can't I just be a normal teenage girl? Is that too hard to ask?

"Back away from Miss. Prior," I hear Jeanine say through a megaphone.

Everyone takes a few steps back, but Tobias and I sit up, dizzily.

I see the entire 11th grade, my class, in a heap by the big tree a few hundred yards away. Some have their cell phones out, filming, while others are whispering to each other, looking at me. This sucks.

I see the whole staff of teachers with whistles, looking worried and horrified, Jeanine in front. I look around and see Eric lying on the ground, knocked out and Tobias was right. His face is much worse. Both of his eyes are swollen and bruises are forming on his cheeks and forehead. He has long a trickle of blood running from his hairline and it's slowly creating a circle of blood around him on the grass. Lauren and Molly are lying on the ground crying to each other. Good. Uriah and Zeke took good care of them. Drew is just lying there on the ground, one bruise on his temple, and last but not least we have Al. He looks like he is about to cry and has a black eye and a cut on his cheek.

I feel myself begin to tremble and I feel Tobias place his coat on my shoulders. The staff forms a huddle and a minute later they emerge. Tori walks over, tears in her eyes and kneels down next to me.

"C'mon. We have to go to the office," She looks around at my group and nods, meaning all of us.

Tobias helps me up, me leaning on him for much support and I see that Amar and Coach Max is gathering up Eric, Lauren, Molly, Drew, and Al.

The rest of the teaching staff is by my class and is talking to them, about who knows what.

I walk into the warm building and I collapse into the cushioned chair as soon as we get to Jeneane's office. I put my head in my hands and ignore everybody that tries to talk to me.

Tori has been setting up the foldable plastic chairs for everybody, since apparently we all need to be seated for this discussion and there are only two regular seats available.

One of which, I'm sitting in and the other well, Tobias is sitting in it.

Jeanine walks in a few minutes later, slamming her door shut behind her and I flinch.

I uncover my face from my hands and glance at her. She looks angry. Really angry.

She sits down at her clean desk and takes a deep breath.

"Miss. Prior, are you alright?" She asks, addressing me.

I nod, not trusting myself to talk. Tobias is angrily shaking his head, biting on his fingernail.

"Would someone please, calmly, tell me what happened?" She asks.

"Yeah. I walk onto the lawn of this stupid high school and of course Eric, Lauren, Molly, Drew, and Al are instigating us, and saying rude things. We are about to leave when Lauren runs up and begins to pull Tris' hair very hard and Tris punches her to make her stop. Molly comes up and kicks her right in the stomach and then Eric and Drew came at me and started punching me. I had to defend myself, so I started fighting them back. Tris started yelling and I saw that Al was holding her while Lauren and Molly were punching and kicking her and there was just too many of them. Uriah and Zeke came and pulled Lauren and Molly off of Tris and I finally got Drew off of me. It was just me and Eric and the next thing I know Al is on top of Tris hitting her with his belt on her back and that's when the group came and helped me make Eric stop and got Al off of Tris. You would think that this would be a frekin safe high school, but it isn't at all. The people here are nuts!" By the end, Tobias is on his feet, yelling at Jeanine and she is staring out the window in a deep thought.

"Thank you Mr. Eaton," Jeanine says quietly and she looks at me again.

"Miss. Prior, can you tell me exactly what happened to you out there."

"The first part is the same as T- Four's story. They were saying rude things to us and we tried to walk away, but Lauren came up and pulled my hair and wouldn't let go. I punched her so she would stop and she got off of me, but then Molly came at me and started kicking me right in the gut. Then Al came and restrained me from moving so when Lauren and Molly came I couldn't really defend myself. I knew that Four couldn't help me at that moment because Eric and Drew were fighting him, but luckily Zeke and Uriah came and got the girls off of me. I had kicked Al off of me and he started yelling things at me and he shoved me to the ground and..and.. h-he started whipping my back... and then everyone... got him off of me," I stutter and a second later I burst into tears.

Tobias jumps up from his seat and crouches in front of me. I cover my face with my hands again and I feel Tobias rubbing my elbow.

"Shhhhh.... Tris it will be alright, just like it always is... Shhhhhhhhhh," Tobias whispers calmingly.

"Is it? Is it really?" I say looking at him.

"What do you mean?" He asks softly.

"Are things really ever okay? Honestly, cause I don't think they are. Definitely not now and things weren't okay in the past and probably won't be in the future," I yell at him tears slipping down my cheeks.

"Don't think like that," Tobias tells me, his deep voice quiet.

"Can I help it? Everything keeps going terribly wrong," I whisper the last part and lean back against my chair, wincing.

"Tris, what keeps going wrong?" Marlene asks sympathetically.

"Everything," I mutter.

"Like what, hun?" Shauna asks.

"Like.... Things..." I say slowly looking at Jeanine.

Everyone follows my gaze and stares at Jeanine who is staring at me. She rearranges a picture frame that is on her desk and clears her throat.

"Alright. If you want me to step out for a few moments, I will," she says getting up and walking out.

"Like what, Tris?" Shauna asks again once the door closes.

"Like everything. Honestly, guys. Everything is so tiring. Just so exhausting," I say.

"Trissy, elaborate," Tobias says taking my small hand in his.

"I'm just so sick of it! I'm so sick of everybody either treating me like I am a kicked puppy and that I can't handle anything or that I am invincible and I can handle the world. I'm not weak, but I'm not invincible. I'm human. I just wish everybody would treat me like a regular 16 year old girl and stop treating me like how Marcus treated me. He treated me like a puppet. A puppet. Okay? I'm so tired of people treating me like that. I'm so tired of all of the doctors, all of the checkups, all of the pain. All of the people causing me and you guys physical and mental pain. All of the nightmares, ugghhh the nightmares. I hate dreams so, so much. Oh and you can't forget about when you close your eyes, that feeling of not being safe. And-and I'm tired of my body constantly hurting and aching and my back looking how it does. I'm just so tired. So, so tired," I whisper the last part, my shoulders silently shaking from the tears sliding down both sides of my face.

"Tris, how come you never told us this, you know we will always love you no matter what," Will says.

I shrug my shoulders and Christina comes over to me and gives me a hug.

"You never told me that you don't feel safe when you close your eyes," Tobias whispers to me.

"The only time I feel completely safe is when I'm with you. You make me feel safe like nobody else has ever been able to do. I guess I just know that you will always be there for me and protect me. I love you. I love you so much," I whisper and I lay my head on Tobias' shoulder. He wraps his arms around me and we break apart only when we hear a knock and Jeanine walks back in.

Everybody goes back to their original seats and Jeanine once again starts moving her picture frame. Talk about weird habits.

"Okay. So, here's the problem. It is definitely against the schools policy to punch anybody, so since everybody here was involved in this fight and physically touched another student except Christina, Will, and Marlene, you will all have to be put in ISS. Here's the deal, though. Since, I find it ridiculous that Eric, Lauren, Molly, Drew, and Al started fighting you two and that Al started hitting you with his belt, I will only have you all in ISS for two days, today and Friday. And I will make sure it doesn't go on your record." Jeanine tells us. "Is everyone okay with that?"

We all shrug, who cares.

"Good. Christina, Will, and Marlene please go to your regularly scheduled classes. Uriah, Zeke, Shauna, Four, Lynn, and Peter, you may all go to the ISS room. Miss. Prior please stay back for a second," Jeanine orders.

Everyone leaves except Tobias, who comes and stands behind my chair.

"Very well, Mr. Eaton. Miss. Prior would you like to see the school nurse for your injuries?"

"No, thank you," I say politely.

"Me. Eaton, would you?" Jeanine asks taking a good look at Tobias' face.

"I'm fine."

Jeanine nods. "Now, would you like to sign up for counseling sessions with our guidance counselor. You could confide in her and talk with her about everything like your feelings and-" I cut her off.

"I am perfectly fine right now."

"Very well. I will have to contact everyone's parents, so Miss. Prior who should I contact for you?"

"Four's parents. They're... Like my family," I say.

"That is all, I suppose. Mr. Eaton, I assume you remember the way to the ISS room."

Tobias rolls his eyes and I grab his hand and get up walking out of the office.

I slouch against him once we are in the hallway and he gently wraps his arm around my waist to steady me.

We walk into the ISS room and of course we have that one teacher who's super strict, so I can guess that these next few hours will be torture.

I am greeted by all of my friends and Mr. Ravenson, a science teacher, points to two desks up front and I sit in the uncomfortable metal seat.

"As you know, there is no talking whatsoever in this room. Your teachers will deliver your work to me and if you have a question, I will answer it. If I see you talking I will be forced to take drastic measures-" I stop listening after that. He has a super nasally voice, that's for sure. I put my head down on the cool desk and Mr. Ravenson slides math worksheets in front of all of us. "It is expected that you finish all of today's work and if you don't well we will definitely have a problem."

I lift my pencil and begin working on the stupid algebra equations and when I finish I place my pencil down and close my eyes, my head still resting on the desk. I feel sleep pulling me towards it and I let it take me away.

HOW WAS THAT!

THAT WAS SUPER LONG! I REALIZED ONCE I READ IT OVER AND WAS LIKE WOAHH

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