TRIS-

The train rattled once more, and my head bounced against the window. The man sat beside me was snoring, the old lady in front was knitting, and the woman in a suit was typing furiously into a laptop. 

I desperately needed to pee, but I couldn't get out of my seat without waking the man or climbing on the table - which was littered with the woman's statistics sheets. And anyway, even if I did manage to get in the aisle, it's not like I'd be able to get anywhere. Bodies were squished into the train as tightly as factory-farm chickens.

Thankfully, there were only twenty more minutes until we should be arriving at the station. I could wait that long.

My phone screen popped to life as a text came through. It was Elaine. A quick message letting me know that she'd just gotten to the station and would be waiting in the cafe.

I'd first met Elaine when I was five. She was dating Harvey at the time, and then they got married, and then they got divorced five years later.

Without fail, I'd get a birthday and Christmas card from her each year. And once in a while, she'd tag me in old photos on Facebook.

Caleb reached out to her a month ago. Asked if she'd mind letting me stay for a while, thought a change of scenery would do me some good. I think he just couldn't be bothered to deal with me anymore. But then I didn't need him to deal with me, he was the one that kept getting involved and making big deals out of every little thing.

Elaine runs a Bed & Breakfast in a small beach town, and with the autumn months drawing in, she was more than happy to have me stay for a while. Said it'd be good to see me again after all these years.

She was the type of woman that you'd expect to have a large family because she was just so caring; but after her divorce, she never remarried, and never had any kids. Instead, she threw herself into a job where her house was forever open to new guests, with enough new faces walking through the door that she never could get lonely. Or so she said.

Finally, the train pulled into the station. I shuffled through the aisle and grabbed my suitcase from the storage area before tumbling off with a flurry of other passengers.

Well... Here I was. Miles from everything I once knew. And I didn't miss a fucking thing.

Elaine was offering me the fresh start that was so desperately needed. 

That woman is a saint, I swear.

And there she was, sat grinning and waving at me from the small picnic bench just outside the station cafe. 

"Tris!" she all but screamed in her signature sing-song, yet ever so slightly nasally, voice. "Look at you! You get more gorgeous every time I see you!"

Before I knew it she was stood right in front of me, her deep smile emphasising the creases in here eyes.

"I bet you're starving after that long ride, off we pop then, I've got a sweet-potato pie in the oven back at the house."

A/N

The sequel has finally startedddddd.

Wow. So, um. Hi again!

Man it feels like a long time since I've written an author's note...

How is everyone?

I'm planning (fingers crossed) to get at least one chapter of this out per week.

I'ma just shamelessly plug another story that I'm working on here: it's not a fanfiction, but if you like badass female leads that don't give a flying fuck about how they're expected to behave, then check out 'Dearest Brother'.

As always (can't forget this good ol' tradition), I do not own Divergent.