Divergent UNIVERSITY ✅

chapter 5

Tris leaves the locker room and sees Uriah and Zeke waiting for Marlene and Shauna. There is a guy standing there with them. Tris tries to get a look at him, he looks kind of familiar but she isn't sure. Uriah runs up to her and claps her on the back."Great game Tris. That last play was freakin' awesome!""Thanks Uriah," she says smiling."Well, did you hear anything from the scouts that were in the crowd?" Zeke asks."Wait, how did you know about that?" Tris asks."Everyone knew about that. Olympic coaches coming to a softball game to scout one of our players is pretty big news," Uriah says."Well, Brian said they want me to come to Florida to try out for the National team during winter break," she tries to keep calm but she can't hide her excitement.Four stands quietly and listens to the conversation. This girl is even more charming than he realized. She has one of the biggest opportunities that any athlete could ever ask for and she is trying to be modest. Four usually just takes the opportunity to be the arrogant prick that people perceive him to be. He has taken that persona and built this whole person that most people think he is. His fake arrogance has made people expect less from him and he prefers it that way.The one thing he wants to know now is who is this Brian guy to Tris?"Who is Brian?" Uriah asks as if he can read Four's mind."He's my trainer. My parents hired him for me my freshman year. He is like my older brother. He has been here for me through everything.""That's awesome, Four here has a trainer too. Do you know Four?" Zeke asks.Tris looks at the guy standing there and for the first time notices his eyes. This is the guy that she bumped into at the party."No, sorry," Tris says smiling. "Hi, I'm Tris.""Four," he says holding out his hand.When she shakes his hand they both feel a shock of electricity that neither of them has ever felt before. Tris quickly pulls her hand away and looks at it with concern.Four's heart is racing. He has been around a lot of girls and he has never felt a spark like that before."Four, I'm sure that isn't your real name," Tris says trying to ignore the feeling building in her chest."No, it's my jersey number for football and baseball. Everyone just started calling me Four back in high school and it kind of stuck.""Oh, do you play football and baseball?"Uriah and Zeke both laugh. Uriah says, "Tris, he is the quarterback for the nationally ranked Tigers football team. He is a collegiate all American in both football and baseball. He's expected to go into the NFL draft in the spring.""Don't you watch any other sports other than your own?" Zeke asks."Honestly, I don't even watch my own. If I'm not on the field, I'm training or in class. The party the other night was the first party that I've been to ever.""Really?" Four asks. "You don't do anything for fun?""No, not really. That is why Marlene made me join the sorority. She said I need to have a little bit of a life before I graduate."Marlene and Shauna come out of the locker room and join in the conversation. "We were going to get something to eat. Would you like to join us, Tris?" Shauna asks."Thanks, but I can't. I have to go talk to Brian. He wants to discuss my training schedule.""Come on Tris, you can talk strategy later. Now's the time to celebrate!" Marlene says."I can't I promised him that I would meet him at the batting cages.""All right, Four you coming?" Shauna says."No, I can't I have homework to get done. It's due tomorrow.""I'll see you guys later," Tris says and starts walking away.Four stands with his friends for a few more moments and when they walk away he looks around to find which way Tris was walking. When he spots her he runs to catch up with her.When he is just behind her he starts talking loud enough for her to hear, "So you're a pretty good ball player. That diving catch into the stands was awesome as hell.""Thanks, I was just trying to get the ball," she says."Beautiful, athletic, and modest. That is an interesting combination," Four says."I don't know about all that," she says looking down bashfully. She continues to walk and Four continues to walk with her. They don't really talk until they pass the Phi Delt house."Where are you going?" Tris asks him. She doesn't understand what this football and baseball star is doing walking with her."Well, I just thought I'd walk with you to the batting cages."She stops and looks at him like he is crazy, "Why?""Honestly, I've never met anyone that didn't know who I am. I guess I'm just a little intrigued.""Nothing to be intrigued about, I just don't have time to pay attention to much. I guess most people would think that's self-centered.""Well, most people think I'm self-centered," Four says. "Sometimes perception is wrong and sometimes we feed into people's perceptions.""Is that what you do?" Tris asks."Yeah, I let people think I'm a prick. At least they leave me alone that way.""You want people to think that about you?" she asks looking confused."Yeah, no one expects much from me that way and girls that throw themselves at me aren't surprised when I don't pay attention to them."Tris starts walking again and Four walks with her. She thinks about all the girls that surely throw themselves at him. He is very handsome and he is a superstar athlete apparently. It doesn't surprise her that girls would do that but why does he want to turn them off by letting them think he is a jerk?"I'm sure you have a lot of girls throwing themselves at you," she says without looking at him.He wonders what she is trying to say or ask. Does she really want to know or is she thinking that he couldn't possibly be interested in her because he has so many girls throwing themselves at him. She doesn't understand that he doesn't like any of those girls that throw themselves at him. He doesn't pay any attention to any of them."Yeah, well those are the girls I don't pay any attention to. I don't like girls that flaunt themselves to get my attention. I even got a beer dumped on my head by some girl that I ignored last night."She looks at him and smirks, "Dumped a beer on your head? Why?""I don't know, she was trying to talk to me and I wasn't interested. I was getting ready to head up to bed and didn't want bothered. I guess it didn't make her happy that I wasn't paying attention to her.""That happen often?" she asks."More often than I'd like to admit," he says with a smirk."Well, I guess that is the price of being some kind of awesome athlete.""What about you, you are a pretty awesome athlete too. I've never seen a girl play like you before.""I usually intimidate guys. As soon as they figure out who I am and what I can do they don't usually talk to me anymore.""I'm not shying away," he tells her.She looks at him trying to figure out what he means by that. When he looks back at her she averts her eyes to the ground. She thought he was just walking with her. Is there something else going on here that she didn't realize? Sometimes she hates being so inept when it comes to being around guys. When they are just friends they are easy to read. But this guy isn't her friend, she doesn't even know him. But there is no way that this guy could possibly be interested.She doesn't respond to his comment and when they get to the batting cages she just looks at him like she expects him to leave. He decided that he isn't going anywhere though. He grabs some quarters and goes into one of the baseball cages and works on his swing.She watches him for a moment in amazement. He has perfect baseball form and he doesn't miss a single ball. She bets that if he weren't going pro for football, he could have a chance in baseball.She walks over to Brian who is standing there staring at her. "Who's the guy?" he asks her."Just a friend," she says. "What did you want to talk about?""We need to talk about your practice schedule leading up to Florida. I think we need to up your amount of practice time.""Brian, how the hell am I going to do that? Already I don't have any free time.""Well, I was thinking that you should probably drop down to nine credits this semester. I already talked to your parents and they agree.""Wait, what? You already told my parents about my tryout? Damn it Brian that's my job. I'm their daughter. I wanted to tell them. This is the biggest news I've gotten since I got my scholarship to college. How dare you."She looks at him and tries desperately not to cry. He has interfered like this before, but not for something so big."Tris, I'm sorry...""No, just stop there. I don't want to hear anymore. I'm taking some time off. I'll see you in a couple days.""You can't take time off...""Yes I can," she says cutting him off. "I can do whatever I want. This is ridiculous, Brian. I'm twenty years old and I don't have any kind of life beyond softball. I need a couple days. I'll talk to my parents about dropping the classes. I'll text you in a couple days."She turns and walks away from him. He tries to call to her but she just ignores him and keeps walking.He has pushed her too far this time and for the first time she is pushing back. The thing is she has no idea what has gotten into her. She has never done anything like this before.As she walks past Four he notices her and stops batting. He leaves the cage and runs after her.She is in tears now and she doesn't want anyone, least of all Four seeing her like this. She doesn't look up when she knows he is right behind her, "I'm sorry Four, but I would like to be alone right now."He stops and looks at her and can see her body trembling. He realizes that she is crying.He walks behind her for a few moments and when they get close to the playground that is near the batting cage he grabs her arm and pulls her over to the swings."Four, please," she says."What happened? What did he do to you?""Nothing really. He just took it upon himself to tell my parents about the Olympics. It just upset me. He wants me to drop two of my classes so I can train more."He sits in the swing next to her and looks at her. He wants to comfort her but he doesn't want to be pushy."Do you have to do what he tells you?""Basically, if he already talked to my parents and they agreed I don't have much of a choice. Training more is probably a good idea, but I think I should have had the chance to tell my parents. Now when I talk to them it is all going to be old news.""Tris, the Olympics is not old news nor will it ever be old news. It is an amazing opportunity. When are you going to be training?""Oh God, what did I do? I told him that I was taking a couple days off and not to call me. I better call him."She starts to get her phone out of her pocket but Four stops her. She looks at him shocked."Don't call him. Stand your ground.""But I can't take time off from training..." she starts."I'll train with you. I train daily anyway, we can just do it together. Besides I have access to the school facilities anytime I want.""I don't want to interfere.""You won't be it will be nice to have someone else around. I always train alone."She thinks about this for a while. It could be nice to have someone to train with that won't criticize everything that she does."Okay," she says."Do you have class tomorrow?""I don't know yet. I'm going to have to talk to my parents about which classes to drop.""Maybe I can help. What's your major?""Physical therapy. I have to keep my human anatomy class and my biology class.""What else do you have?""Business law, economics, and Calculus II.""Drop the business law and economics classes then. I don't think it will hurt you to drop those classes and if you do it now, you won't have to have it approved. Just go online to the add drop page and drop the classes.""Really? It's that easy?""Yeah, and you can make up those other classes over the summer if you wanted to. You can usually find classes like that online over the summer."She smiles up at him. Without even trying he has made her feel so much better. It is nice to talk to someone that really understands."Thank you," she says. They sit on the swings for a while longer then she looks at the time on her phone."I've got to get home," she says standing.He stands with her and they start walking. They are quiet until they get to the Phi Delta house."What time do you want to train tomorrow?" he asks her."What is your usual time on Mondays?""I go out and run at about six in the morning. I like to get a run in before I go to the training facility. There are batting cages there and an indoor field. We can work on fielding and while I'm working on my football drills we can set the batting cages for fast pitch.""Are you sure it isn't too much trouble. I don't want to be in the way.""You won't be, I'm sure you're just as focused on what you need to do when you are training as I am. We will just be two people training in the same place.""Okay, well should I meet you here at six?""No, I run past the Kappa house. I'll meet you there.""Okay, see you in the morning then."She starts walking down the street and he can't believe that he is going to be training with a girl. But she isn't just some girl that is trying to get into his bed, she is real. For the first time in his life he is actually infatuated with a girl. Everything about her makes his senses sing. She doesn't do anything to try to get his attention. She even acts like she is shocked that he is talking to her. He watches her walk away until she turns into her house.She is amazed that this guy has offered to train with her. He probably sees her as just another jock, like his friends. And usually that wouldn't bother her, but for some reason she wishes he would see her as more than that. She hurries down the street trying to get those thoughts out of her head. There is no way a guy like him would ever see her as more than just a friend. She can do the friend thing, she's good at that.She goes into her the house and runs up to her room. Marlene isn't home yet. She calls her parents and immediately gets yelled at for telling Brian off. She spends the next hour defending herself to her father and trying to get her mother on the phone so she can at least talk to someone who will be proud of her.Four goes into his room and thinks about what is happening with him. He has never been like this with any girl before. He usually ignores them. But she is different. His phone rings and he dreads looking at the caller id. He already knows who it is and he doesn't want to talk to him. Four answers the phone and is greeted with screaming on the other end. He has no idea what he has supposedly done now, but clearly his father has other ideas. He sits and listens until his father hangs up on him. He lays the phone on the table and settles himself down for bed.