Finding The Courage

Part 15

The sun streamed across my face when I finally woke up. Tris was no longer next to me, Four was also missing. I dragged myself out of bed, I found the bathroom taking a quick shower to wash the rest of the blood off my head and face. When I got out I pulled on my pants which were a little more loose than my usual ones but could pass as normal, I rummaged around in Four's room in search of a shirt. I found a black sweater that reached my knees, I rolled the sleeves up until my hands were poking out and made my way down to breakfast. I was very clearly beaten up but I refused to let it show. My head throbbed with every step I took as I made my way down hallways and steps. I finally reached my destination only to watch as all of my friends flocked to Tris. She was limping, which I knew had to be fake since she hadn't been beaten up that badly. Everyone was asking her if she was okay as she explained to them what had happened. She was telling them how I had taken the brunt of the beating by trying to protect her.

Four had watched me walk in and approached me as I watched my friends continue to question Tris.

"I thought I told you to stay in my room until it was time to go through the simulations. I would have come to get you." He took me in, it was obvious my head was still spinning. "Is that my sweater? Did you take a shower?" I smiled at him and shrugged lightly.

"I don't know, maybe it's Eric's." I whispered lightly to him in a teasing voice, the glare and flash of jealousy I watched cross his face had made the jest worth it.

"That isn't funny Wren. Eric is dangerous, it's best you stay away from him." I rolled my eyes at Four and moved away from him as Drew made an entrance. All eyes turned to Drew and I took the chance to join my group of friends. I sat with them as everyone asked Tris if she had beaten him so badly.

"It wasn't me. Wren?" She turned to face me with a question on her face.

"Yea part of it was me but someone pulled him off of me and I never saw who it was. I was too focused on getting to you before you passed out but I ended up passing out after you." I told everyone. Tris looked at the sleeves of my shirt and gave me an odd look. I ignored it. Before I even got a chance to eat much, Four was calling for us transfers to follow him. Tris pulled me aside as we all shuffled out to follow Four to the fear simulation room, the one where our final stage of initiation would take place.

"Is that one of Fours sweaters?" Her voice was shaky.

"Yea mine was covered in blood and ripped. No one was there when I woke up and I didn't want to walk around in a blood covered shirt to cause more of a scene." I shrugged at her, brushing it off.

"You two are really close, it's obvious to everyone. He favored you and me in the first stage. You had faster times but he still put you second in this round. Are you guys... together?" She whispered the last part.

"Four feels like he owes me because we were friends before he left Abnegation."

That was the most she was going to get out of me but it seemed to ease her mind. I couldn't figure out if she was jealous or if she didn't want to stand in the way of our happiness. I watched Tris walk off to the front of the group closer to Four. Will and Christina flank her as they move through the group. I watched Four's face contort in what could have been jealousy when Will put an arm around Tris to help her climb. His eyes met mine as I slowly followed behind at the end of the group. I sneered at him this time to show my obvious hurt feelings at his worry over Tris. I had gotten the brunt of the attack.

"It's easy to see he is playing favorites." Peter whispered in my ear, he was close enough that I could feel his breath on my neck. I shivered and went to move away from him.

"Don't be like that sweetheart." He cooed after me. I knew the look on my face reflected the disgust I felt in my stomach.

"You tried to rape her. You think I would want anything to do with you after you tried to kill one of my friends? You are the reason I have trouble standing right now. You could have just stopped when I tackled you but no." I hissed at him turning to face him. I was surprised to meet his eyes which for once were not smiling or glinting with mischief.

"I never meant for you to get hurt, you have to believe me." His eyes pleaded with me to believe him. I felt my face soften as I took in the bruises I had left on him. "I wasn't actually going to rape her. I just wanted to scare her. Force her to slip up with a new fear." Peter didn't meet my eyes as he said this to me in a low voice.

"You were trying to bring down her time." I whispered more to myself than to him. I noticed that the group was much further ahead of us and began to try and catch up. Peter followed behind me. We reached a particularly hard patch of steps and it was at that moment my vision decided to double causing me to misstep, as I slipped off the step and over the edge of the stairs I felt someone grab my wrist and pull me into their chest. They twirled me around so that my body was pressed against the wall and their chest.

"You need to be more careful." Peter said as he let me go. I looked up at him with surprise, Peter was the last person I would have expected to save me. He would have been number two if he had let me fall. As I tried to go up the stairs again I stumbled.

"Alright princess that it no more stairs for you." Peter grumbled as he caught me again. This time however he scooped me up in his arms and began walking to catch the rest of the group. We arrived as Four was explaining how the fear simulation room would work, that this time people would be able to see the simulations. Peter put me down as Four met my eyes, they hardened at the way Peter is holding on to my body. True to Peter's fashion he moves away from me before calling out that this whole thing is unfair if one person has less fears than the others. I watched Four's face morph from calm and collected instructor to livid, and protective. Four stormed over to Peter getting in his face.

"You have no place to speak on fairness. We all know you're scared of a short skinny girl from Abnegation. You have to be a miserable coward to attack her. Not to mention you were beaten to a pulp by another short girl from Abnegation."

He was right in Peter's face when he hissed the last part. To his credit Peter didn't flinch as Four roared in his face. Four stalked away from Peter to continue lecturing about how the final stage of initiation would go. I heard him mention how we would get a test run in one of our instructors' fear landscapes before doing our own but I lost track of his words when I noticed the dirty look Tris was giving me. I shoot her a questioning look as she turns back to watch Four.