Starting Over

Chapter 10

I wake up in the morning and immediately feel his arms around me. He's right up against me.

"Tobias?" I ask.

"Tris?"

"How long have you been awake?"

"Long enough."

"I thought you said you couldn't sleep on the bed with me."

"Things change. Besides, it wasn't a conscious decision. I woke up here."

"Oh," is all I can think to say.

He laughs in my ear. "We need to get moving. You need to change clothes and neither one of us can be late for breakfast."

I leave his room and go change into one of my new shirts that shows off my tattoos. I'm almost late for breakfast, but I get there.

"Woah!" Tamra says as I sit down.

"What happened?" Malachi asks, his eyes shining like fire. I guess I look worse that I thought.

"It's nothing. I got in a fight with Thomas and Grayson last night. They had a knife which is why I have stitches, but I'm fine. I knocked them both unconscious. If I hadn't, I probably wouldn't be here."

"They tried to kill you?" asks Austin.

"I think that's what they were going for. Why else would they have brought a knife?"

"You should really tell someone. This is your home now, you shouldn't feel unsafe," Risa tells me.

I shake my head. "If I do that I'll look like a wimp. I can fight my own battles."

"She's right, Risa," Malachi says. "By telling someone she'll look weak and they're more likely to come after her."

"Not necessarily. If she looks weak they may stop thinking she's a threat."

"I think it's too late for that if she broke one guy's jaw and knocked the other two unconscious even when they had a knife," Zach says.

In the end I let Risa fix my hair so it hides my face. This way it looks like I'm trying to avoid people. It also hides my stitches, although there's little she can do about the tape that's keeping the bone in my nose set.

When I walk in the training room everybody goes silent. I turn to look at the board and see I'm fighting Thomas today. Grayson has a pass, probably because of his jaw. Laurel and Weston have the first fight.

It's over quickly. All it took was one good hit to the head and Laurel was out. The whole thing took about three minutes.

After Tobias caries Laurel to the infirmary I step into the ring across from Thomas. He's smiling at me and I can tell he's mad about last night. Before we start I pull my hair back up. It would be stupid to give him something to grab onto.

I throw the first punch, which is a bad idea because I end up off balance. Thomas takes the opportunity to flip me onto my back. He goes to kick me in the face but I turn and curl into a ball so he gets my back instead. He grabs the front of my shirt and lifts me back to my feet. Then he punches me square in the jaw. I go limp and fall to the ground.

As Thomas passes me to walk out of the circle I grab his foot and pull him down with me. I quickly climb to my feet and wait for him to stand up again. When he does I kick him in the gut. He stumbles but catches my foot, pulling it out from under me.

I land hard on my back, my head hitting the hard concrete. He quickly straddles me and grabs fistfuls of my shirt. He jerks me up and down, hitting my head on the ground till everything starts to go black, but before it does I hit him in the jaw and watch him fall as well.