Divergent: Unleashed | ✓

Chapter 25

For the Fourth of July, Ashlyn and her family decided to go to a campground up in the mountains. Ashlyn and Bryn both brought a friend each- Ashlyn brought a girl named Livvy, a girl with fair skin, a few freckles on her face, brown hair, hazel eyes, and glasses- and they had to figure out sleeping arrangements. Bryn and her friend, Karly, are both small and thin, so they got the bunk bed while Livvy got the couch and Ashlyn got the fold down dinette. Four said that he'd sleep on the floor.

They showered in the bathhouse, and the first night Bryn and Karly decided at ten at night that they wouldn't fit on the bunk. So they had to trade with Ashlyn. They all slept well, though Ashlyn's neck ached when she woke up.

Yesterday, the third day out of five at the campground they went on a boat. They went tubing in the boat- Ashlyn's dad's friend, Dave, drove the boat- and they went the fastest with Ashlyn and Four, since not only could they handle it but Ronny and John were there, and Livvy and Karly's parents weren't. Four decided that his cousin would definitely be Dauntless, since the second time she went- that was when they drove the fastest with her- she got sprayed in the face a few times with the lake water and held on with one hand while going 20 miles per hour on the tube to wipe off her glasses.

Today they're at a waterpark at the campground. It has four slides, two are mat slides and the other two are tube slides. They've ridden all of the slides, and somehow in the open tube slide Ashlyn just goes straight through and is waiting when they get to the bottom.

"How the hell do you do that?" Four asks, grabbing a his tube from the water.

Ashlyn grins at him. He somehow got down second, though it probably helps that he's taller and stronger than all of them and can kick off the walls and grab the edges easier than they can. "Magic." he cocks an eyebrow at her. She rolls her eyes. "Fine. Ya know where the water hits really fast and stuff? The opposite side of where it'll push you backwards?"

"Yeah..."

"You stick to that side. It floats you right down."

He nods. "Got it."

After Livvy comes down with Karly and Bryn right behind her in a double, they go back up. This time Four does exactly what Ashlyn said, and he gets down before her and Livvy, who like Bryn and Karly, were in a double.

"No fair." She smacks his arm. "I wasn't alone."

He shrugs. "Snooze you lose." It's something that she tells him when he's too slow.

She glares at him. "Fine then. Why don't we go together?"

He smirks. "Why? You don't want to lose again?"

She rolls her eyes and asks her friend if it's okay. Livvy nods and then grabs a single tube, and Four grabs a double for him and Ashlyn. They walk behind the other three silently.

"So... have you talked to Tris lately?" Four asks.

Ashlyn nods. "Yeah, right before we left to come here. Why?"

He shrugs. "No reason."

She knows that he's just pretending to not care. "She asked about you, you know. She wanted to talk to you, but you were helping my mom with some last minute stuff." He doesn't say anything, so she continues. "She, uh, told me to tell you to text her. I just remembered now." It was the truth.

He nods. "I'll try to find a signal later." They stop talking because they reached the top of the stairs, where the slide starts. A girl about sixteen gives him a flirtatious smile and winks before the lifeguard pushes her tube down the first hill.

Ashlyn rolls her eyes. "My God, do they not know who you are?"

"I'm not with her anymore, remember?" Four doesn't say Tris's name. That'll definitely give away that he's the great Four, and he'd rather not have to smile for pictures or whatever. People stare at him enough already.

"You can still use it as a cover." He puts the tube in the water and she climbs in the front, and then he sits behind her. The person gives them a spin and pushes them down the hill. Four prefers riding with Ashlyn on these things. She, unlike her sister, doesn't scream. According to Ashlyn, she 'doesn't scream for carnival rides'. She laughed after she said it, so he's guessing that it's from a book that she's read.

The slide- well, it's sort of a flume- has four drops. It's actually really fun, though Four wouldn't admit that. At first his fear of heights had made him not want to get on it, but then Ashlyn convinced him. The other tube slide- which is pitch black inside and an enclosed space, and he didn't want to get on there, either, but Ashlyn insisted. Surprisingly, he enjoyed both of them.

Ashlyn turns around to look at him just before the last drop, which leads straight into a pool. "Not as bad as going into your fear landscape, huh?"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Tris, you need to talk to him." Marlene says to the girl over the phone. She picks at the quilt on her bed. "I don't care if you're embarrassed or not!"

"But Marlene..." Tris whines.

"Oh come on, Tris. I talked to Uriah."

"That's different."

"How?" She asks. "Almost the same thing happened. Only difference is, you were nicer."

Tris sighs loudly. "I just....what if he doesn't want me again? I mean, I'm so...so difficult."

"Yes, you are. And so is he. Listen, Tris. I talked to Zeke and Shauna and Lauren, and all of them have talked to him. You two talked once, and he thinks that you have a boyfriend!"

"He-" she cuts off abruptly, all anger leaving her voice. "What?"

"Yeah. You said that something 'came up'-" she adds in air quotes, even though Tris can't see her. "-and he thinks that means 'oh, I met someone else and I like them more. Sorry!'"

"Mar, you're crazy."

"I am not." Marlene snaps. "I'm being a damn Candor for once and I'm telling you exactly what they said. Stop being such an Amity and call the poor guy."

"He's on vacation."

"Then call him when he gets back!" Marlene groans. "Just talk to him!"

There's a knock on her bedroom door, and Marlene sighs in irriation, more at her friend than anything. "We'll continue this conversation later." She hangs up and falls backwards onto her pillow, letting out a barely-audible 'come in!'

Lana comes in, peeling off her oven mitts and giving Marlene one of her infamous Looks. "Friend troubles?"

Marlene shakes her head. "Not really. Do you remember who Tris is?"

Lana thinks for a minute. "The short blonde girl, right?"

Marlene nods. "Right. Well, she and Four- the tall, dark haired guy that I was sorta friends with- were dating. Then she broke up with him but they both still like each other and he thinks she's got a boyfriend. It's a mess."

Lana nods. "Sounds that way to me. Do you want something to eat? Dinner's ready."

Way to change the subject. Marlene thinks, but she nods anyway. "Sure, I'm starving."

"Be down in five minutes."

Marlene smiles. "Don't worry, I will."

A/N: I edited Our Great Divide and chapter 4 of this story so that they fit better. Just so you know.