Forever and Always

Chapter 16

Tris POV

I wake up to my alarm clock blaring. Ugh. I roll out of bed and enter the bathroom. I look into the mirror. My hair was sticking up, I could barely keep my eyes open, and they're we bags under my eyes. Jokingly I think of a song that I know. 'I woke up like this!' I put on my usual makeup, and wore a long sleeve shirt that said, Thank the Lord it's Friday. I wore blue jeans and decided to leave my hair down for today. Except during gym and cheer.

I raced downstairs and grabbed a muffin. "Okay! Get in the car!" My dad yelled. I was walking to the car when my mom stopped me. "You're going to school like that? If you want that boyfriend of yours to like you, then start wearing dresses. Why are you wearing long sleeves and jeans? It's been hot out? Your a sorry excuse for a daughter." She says then walks off. Ouch.

I hope in the car and Caleb death glares. I'm still mad about what happened. When we get to school I immediately go to my locker. As I was pulling out my stuff I felt arms wrapped around my waist. I jump. "Hey," Four says. Hearing his voice makes me relax. He kisses my cheek. "Hey." I say. "You wanna walk to class together?" Four asks. I nod. He takes my hand and off we go.

When we reach the classroom, I sit down. We don't really have anything to talk about. I'm still thinking about what Mom said. 'If you want that boyfriend of yours to like you, then start wearing dresses.' He's not that shallow like that right? I know he's not. But...I bet he would like to have a girlfriend who actually dresses up. I mean, his two ex's that I know about, wear sparkles and dress nicely. I'm just a tee-shirt. Maybe- Four interrupts my thoughts. "Are you okay? You look upset."
"Yeah I'm fine." I say.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. Just thinking." I say. He nods. I continue with my thoughts. About 4 minutes later, the bell rings.

Class was the usual. Boring and long. After what seemed like hours, the bell rang for ELA. I walk a little a head of Four, still trying to clear my thoughts. By now I'm over the whole, if Four thinks like that scenario. But now I'm on the topic of, my mom thinks I'm a sorry excuse for a daughter. She's said it multiple times before, but for some reason, this time it hurt worse. Four caught up to before I entered the classroom. "Tris." He said sternly. I snap my head in his direction. "Are you sure you're not upset?" He asks. I think for a minute. Yeah, I guess I am a little upset. I shrug. "What's wrong?" He asked. "Nothing, really. Don't worry about it." I say. I try to walk in the classroom but he grabs my arm. "I am worrying about it. I care about you. You know that. So what's wrong." He says.
"I told you. It's nothing. My mom just said something." I state. His eyes are telling my to continue. When I didn't he said, "What'd she say?" He asked.
"She just said that I was a sorry excuse for a daughter. She's said it before. It just felt different this time. I don't know." I say. Four was looking at me with understanding eyes. "I get it. My dad tells me the same thing. But, I think the most important thing is that you know that you're not." He says. I smile. "Thank you."
"No problem."

He takes my hand and we walk into the classroom. ELA was okay. But I was relieved when the bell rang for music. When we walked in, Tori was standing up. "Today we will go over the basics again so pay attention." Yay. Another break. For some reason my ribs feel like they're on fire. They hurt so bad. I don't know why.

By the time the bell rang for music, I was about ready to go call home. Four saw my pain as we were walking down the hall. "Your ribs still hurt?" He asks. "I don't know what's wrong. They hurt worse than they did when I broke them." I say. He wraps an arm around my waist. "Do you think you broke them again?" He asks. I shake my head. "No, I think something's out of place." I say. He nods. We drop the subject and walk back to ELA.

We have homework in that class. Ugh. As I was opening my binder to get out a pencil, a note flew out. I opened it. It read:
Stay away from Four. He likes me. If you don't stay away from him then I'm going to have to get Peter. He's willing to work with me, he hates you. The second that I see you with Four, Peter will be...unleashed. I'm sure you don't want that to happen.
-Lauren

I close then note. I'm trembling now. I've been terrified of Peter every since he beat me up. Four notices that I'm trembling and puts an arm around me. "What's wrong?" He asks. Wordlessly, I hand him the note. He reads it and looks at me. "First of all, I don't like Lauren. Just letting you know. Second of all, don't worry. She just threatens. She never puts anything into action." He says. That makes me feel better, but I look around the room and see Peter's eyes on me. Smiling. Wait. I didn't know he was in this class. Oh, now I remember. He came in with a transfer slip yesterday. I forgot. I start trembling even worse. He mouths something that takes me a minute to make out. He 'said' I'm ready. I feel a tear fall down my cheek. No, please no. Four saw what he mouthed. He pulled me into his arms protectively. "It's okay. He won't hurt you." Four says. My face in buried into his chest, more tears falling that I can't stop. He rubs my back. My tears stop after a few seconds and I pull back. He smooths my hair back. We get back to our work and he keeps an arm around my waist. When the bell rings for lunch I'm filled with relief.

We walk side by side. When we get to the lunchroom, I sit down. "You're not going to eat today either?" He asks. "No. I'm just not hungry." I say. He looks at me but goes to get his food. When everyone gets here, me and Christina start talking. I was bored. We started talking about cheer. A sudden burst of pain blossomed in my ribs while we were talking. I cried out in pain. Heads snapped in my direction. "You okay, Tris?" Four asked. When I don't answer he asks again. This time I shake my head no. After a minute of him rubbing my back, I sit up and put my head on his shoulder. We stayed like this until the bell rang for science. Oh great. Science.

*hey! So I hope you like this story! Comment down below what your favorite scene has been so far in this book!

-Stay sparkly ✨