Divergent UNIVERSITY ✅

chapter 4

Tris makes her way to her training sessions early the next morning. As she walks past the Phi Delt house she takes in the carnage left from the party the night before. There are people sleeping outside in the yard. Plastic cups, paper plates and just random garbage are strewn all over the place. It looks like a warzone.She can't help but wonder about that guy she saw at the party last night. She really doesn't remember exactly what he looked like, but she does remember those eyes. She has never seen eyes that shade of blue before.She keeps walking to the batting cages where her trainer will be waiting. They won't do heavy training today like they did yesterday. She will just get a few swings in to loosen up, do some foot speed drills, and catch a little to loosen up her arm.~oOo~Four walks in the training room at the football field with his trainer. Every day it's the same thing, speed and agility drills, then he will practice plays by himself just throwing the balls into targets that are set up around the room, and then lifting. Anything to make him bigger, faster, and stronger than everyone else.After all of that is done he will spend two hours in the film room with the coaches getting every play broken down and critiqued for every little mistake he made. By the time he leaves he will want to rip their heads off and punt them into the goal post.After all of this he will have to go back home and start waking everyone up to clean up. Sometimes he feels like the only responsible person living in that house. It's exhausting.After all of this he isn't sure if he wants to go see some girls play softball. He has nothing against girls playing sports but he has yet to find any girl that is as serious about sports as he is. They are always being put up on some pedestal for being great female athletes, and they may be good but they don't put nearly the amount of time into it as he does. He has to kill himself to get noticed. These girls go out and make a good play or two and everyone is ready to treat them like they are special. He goes out and plays a perfect game but misses one pass and he is critiqued and criticized for a week. It's just annoying.He walks past the batting cages on his way to training and is surprised to see a girl in the cage taking swings. She is the only one there so he assumes that this isn't a mandatory practice. He can't really see much through the fence, but he can see that she has good form and doesn't miss anything. Her trainer is scolding her from outside of the fence about something that she did wrong. But from where Four stands she is pretty good.~oOo~"Brian seriously, how am I supposed to concentrate with you standing behind me picking out every tiny little thing that you think I'm doing wrong," Tris complains. Sometimes he makes her crazy. He is a great trainer and he knows what he is talking about but he never tells her that she is doing well. He only tells her what she did wrong, or what she could have done better. Even if he says something good there is always a but that follows."Tris, if you want to make the Olympic team this next year, you have to be better than everyone else. This is a big deal. They are sending scouts to one of your upcoming games. You have to be spectacular if you want them to choose you for the National team.""I know... but I'm exhausted already and the semester has barely begun. I mean how am I supposed to keep up with this schedule? I train every day along with my classes. When will I get to be a twenty year old? I left a party early last night so that I could get some sleep and be here on time."Brian walks into the cage and puts his hands on her shoulders to look her in the eyes. "Tris, I know this is exhausting. But you came to me and said that you wanted to be on the Olympic team. You said that you wanted to go pro. So I have arranged for these professional teams to scout you. I have spent hours putting together film to send to the Olympic coaches. If you don't want this anymore then we will stop. But until you say you don't want it, I'm going to push you harder than you have ever been pushed.""I know... alright. Get out of here. I need to swing." Tris finds a new resolve. She knows he is right. If she wants to go to the Olympics then she needs to do this.After everything Tris heads home to get some rest before her game. As she walks past the Phi Delt house she thinks about the guy from last night. She can't help but wonder if she will ever have time to meet anyone and if they would accept the fact that they would be like third on her list of importance behind softball and school. She doesn't think any guy would agree to something like that.~oOo~Four walks down the street toward the house and gets more anxious by the minute. He knows that the other guys are still sleeping and haven't even thought about getting up to get the place cleaned up.About two blocks ahead of him he sees a small blond girl walking, she is carrying a bat bag. From this distance she looks like she could be the girl that he saw in the batting cages this morning. He wonders who this girl is who actually puts her own time into training like he does.He watches as she glances at his house as she walks by. She is probably shocked at the mess. But then he sees something interesting, Uriah runs out from the side of the house to talk to her for a moment. As Four gets closer he sees that she is the same build as the girl from last night. She talks to Uriah for a few moments then she continues on and Uriah runs back out of sight.When Four arrives at the house he is amazed that the yard was already cleaned up and everything has been put away. He finds Uriah, Will, and Zeke in the kitchen throwing things away and cleaning up."Holy shit, what got into you three?" Four asks amazed."Well, Zeke and I figured that you would be a holy terror when you got home if the house wasn't cleaned up and there is no way that we are missing the girls' game today. There is rumor that there are going to be Olympic scouts there to see the short stop," Uriah says."Who was that you were talking to?""Oh, that was Tris, the short stop. She was on her way home from training. I swear she trains as much as you do. I just wanted to wish her luck for today. She was going home to rest a little before the game.""Was she at the party last night?" Four asks. He is starting to put things together. Small blond girl, muscular build, he wonders if it could be the same girl."Yeah, she was there with us. She was with us for most of the night until she decided to go home since she had an early training session.""What was she wearing?" Four asks."I don't know, a shirt and a skirt or something. I do remember that whatever it was it showed the amazing tattoo that she has on her ribcage. She said something about her mother being a tattoo artist or something."Four realizes that this is the same girl. This girl that Uriah has been talking about being this fantastic athlete is the same girl that he became so smitten with last night. He doesn't say another word; he will have to see for himself if this girl is as good an athlete as Uriah insists. Although he has to admit, if Olympic coaches are coming to see her, she must me pretty good.~oOo~The girls get to the field to get ready for the game and Tris can see that there are already tons of people in the stands. She tries to put away the idea that there may possibly be Olympic coaches out there somewhere. If she thinks too much about it, she will get nervous and mess up. She has to focus and play like she always does.Her team takes the field for the first inning. Now Tris can put the spectators out of her mind. Now she can just focus on the field and her teammates. Nothing else matters.Nothing spectacular happens in the first four innings. Just the run of the mill plays that any mundane softball player can make. So far the Tigers are up five to nothing and they are going into the top of the fifth inning.A girl comes up to bat that has struck out her past two at bats. But she is pretty high in the lineup so she must have some power. She gets her bat on the ball and hits a line drive straight back up the middle to the pitcher, who misses the ball. Tris recovers the ball, but not before the girl is on first base. The next batter hits a line drive between Tris and Shauna that Tris is able to get her glove on. She spins in midair and launches the ball at Kenzie to get the double play. It's a good play, but nothing she hasn't done a thousand times. The next batter is struck out. Time to bat.~oOo~The bottom the fifth, Tris is up to bat first. She hits a hard line drive up the third base line and is able to turn it into a double. Shauna is up next, she hits a shot over the center fielders head. Tris scores. Shauna rounds third, and the ball is coming in fast, she is still coming. Shauna and the catcher collide and the catcher drops the ball. "She's safe!" yells the umpire."That's my girl!" Zeke yells from his seat. He can't help but brag about his badass girlfriend. Everyone in the stands is screaming and it isn't hard to see why these girls were national champions last spring.The Tigers score two more runs putting them up nine to nothing.It is the top of the sixth inning and Four has been sitting watching the little short stop. He is mesmerized by this girl. She is incredibly talented. He would even put her against the short stop on the baseball team, and that is saying something. That kid is going pro, he has already signed for a minor league team that feeds the Chicago Cubs.Four has never seen a girl that could play like this. Even her attitude on the field says she is a leader and she has been here before. She doesn't act like any of her plays were anything special. He is definitely impressed and he has never been impressed by a female athlete before.Four looks around the stands, he has a knack for spotting the scouts that are there and reading their mood. He sees them sitting a few rows back in the center section of the stands. They seem to be pretty impressed with what they are seeing, but if she wants to go to the Olympics, she is going to need to do something that they haven't seen before.Then it happens. The next batter hits a pop foul down the third base line. Tris and the left fielder converge on the ball. Tris gets to the railing and throws her body out into the crowd to catch the ball. The stands are quiet as they wait to see if she has the ball or not. It is a tense moment as the umpires run over to declare if the batter is out or not. Tris stands, glove hand in the air, the ball in her glove. The batter is out!It is the best play that Four has ever seen. Now he is really impressed. He glances at the scouts and they also seem impressed. She has an ability to be everywhere on the field. She is fast and deadly accurate when she throws the ball. It is almost effortless for her. Four is completely infatuated with this girl now.~oOo~Tris is smiling but she doesn't gloat, she keeps herself in check. She knows that she has to remain calm and keep her head in the game.Shauna calls over to her, "How the hell did you do that?"Tris just shrugs and readies herself for the next hit. It is a popup to the left fielder, that she easily catches. The third out was a line drive back up the middle to the pitcher for an easy three outs.The final for the game is twelve to nothing. Tris manages a couple more really good plays before the end of the game.Following the game Brian comes over to talk to her. "Tris, they were here. The Olympic coaches were here and they were impressed. They want you to come to Florida during winter break to try out for the National team."Tris screams and everyone around her looks at her. She jumps into Brian's arms and plants a kiss on his cheek. Marlene and Uriah come over to her to see what she is screaming about."They want me to try for the Olympic team!" she screams. Marlene grabs her friend and pulls her into a hug. Uriah can't help but to join in.~oOo~Four walks down toward the field with his friends. Uriah has already made his way over to Marlene and they are talking to Tris. She is jumping up and down and screaming. He sees her dive into a man's arms and kisses him on the cheek before turning her attention to Marlene. Four can't help but wonder if that man is her boyfriend or who he is. He is older than Tris, but he isn't too old that it would be impossible.Marlene and Uriah both start jumping with her and Marlene is screaming right along with her. There are so many people around that Four can't get near enough to the scene to figure out what they are screaming about. He can only assume that the scouts were happy with what they saw.By the time the crowd clears out and Four can get near enough to the field, Tris is nowhere to be seen and neither is the guy that she was hugging. He finds Zeke and Shauna, and Uriah and Marlene as they are saying goodbyes. The girls have to go back to the locker room and get changed."Pretty good game for girls, wouldn't you say, Four?" Uriah asks."Not bad I guess," Four responds. He doesn't want to let these guys know that he was impressed by at least one of the girls."I told you that short stop was badass!" Uriah says."Yeah, I guess she wasn't bad.""You are prick, you know that? John couldn't have made the play that she did. He would have broken his neck."Uriah is right about that, there is no way that John would have been able to make that play."She was pretty good," Four concedes.