Divergent UNIVERSITY ✅

chapter 17

Tris goes through the day happier than she has been for a long time. In spite of the fact that she now only has three classes and she is doubling her training time, she is happy. She goes to her ten in the morning human anatomy class, then to calculus, and finally biology. The one good thing about her new schedule is that she only has class Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and she is done for the day by one o'clock.She rushes home after class and spends the next two hours rewriting her notes so that they are clearer. This is also a way that she has found that helps her to remember them better.When Marlene comes in from class, Tris is just finishing up her notes."So where did you go so early this morning?" Marlene asks."To train.""I thought you were taking a break from Brian for a couple days.""Oh, I am. Four invited me to train with him today. He was there yesterday when I got into it with Brian. He offered to train with me for a couple days until I go back and train with Brian.""Four? Seriously? I always thought he was a chauvinistic pig.""He really isn't. I actually got a better workout today than I have with Brian for a while. Four wasn't afraid to push me to my limit. Brian doesn't push me that hard, he wants me to train for hours and hours on the same drills.""Well, are you coming to the pickup game tonight?" Marlene asks."Yeah, he mentioned it this morning. Said that you guys would be meeting at their house at six tonight?"She looks at Tris for a few moments and suddenly starts smiling, "You have a thing for Four, don't you.""What? No, no I don't. I just liked working out with him."Her face begins to blush at the insinuation that she likes him and Marlene immediately picks up on it and smiles."Yes, you do. Not that I can blame you, he is hot. He is known to be kind of a prick though, especially when it comes to girls. And there are lots of girls chasing him, they are almost always all over him. So just be careful."This makes Tris think. She doesn't see this side of him, but maybe he isn't looking at her like she's a girl. Maybe she's just another buddy that he can play ball with, which would be fine if she didn't have these feelings brewing inside of her. Sometimes she hates that guys tend to look at her like she is just one of the guys. Sometimes she wants to be seen as a girl. She wants to feel desired, needed, and comforted. She felt all of those things for the moment that he wrapped her in his arms today. She wanted to believe that in that embrace there was more than a buddy relationship possible but Marlene is right. He has so many girls that want to be with him, why would he even look at a girl like Tris. She isn't extraordinarily pretty. She isn't curvy, tall, or voluptuous either. She's short, muscular, and average. There is nothing especially special about her.She tries to put the idea of a relationship with Four out of her mind. She needs to focus on the Olympics, not trying to get a boyfriend.~oOo~After classes, Four comes in and grabs something to eat. He his met by Will in the kitchen. Will has always been very observant when it comes to Four. For whatever reason he is the only one that seems to see beyond the arrogance that Four likes to pretend he is full of."So, how was training with Tris this morning?""How did you know I was training with her?""Because I saw you two running this morning," he says. "I was out early myself today, had to be at the track for an early morning workout. There's a big track meet tomorrow.""Oh, well it was fine.""Four, I know you like your arrogant playboy image but I know better and you know it. Everyone seems to think that you spend all of your time with all of these girls but you don't. You haven't spent any real time with a girl for more than two years. So when you spend an entire morning training with one, I notice.""She's different from those girls. She isn't trying to get my attention. She doesn't do anything or change anything to get me to notice her. I just do. She has my complete attention. She has since the party.""The party? I thought you just met her at the softball game the other day.""Well I didn't really meet her at the party, she accidently ran into me in the kitchen while she was getting a drink. We didn't even talk. She just apologized and went back to dancing. I watched her dance with you guys for a while. But from the moment that she bumped into me and I saw her for the first time, I've been completely infatuated. That was the reason that redhead dumped her beer on my head. I wasn't interested in talking to her, I was too busy thinking about Tris.""Damn dude, you are in love.""No, that's not possible. I hardly know her. We've only spent a little time together.""Okay, whatever. Is she playing softball with us today?""Yeah, I invited her to play."Will looks down at his watch, "We better get ready, it's already quarter to five, and the girls will be here soon."The guys gather all of the equipment that they have and get it all outside to be carried down to the field. When the girls all arrive, it is obvious which ones are ball players and which ones aren't. Chris, Lynn, and Kate all come dressed in clothes that they would wear to dance or in gymnastics. The other girls are all dressed like they are ready to play.Four's eyes immediately find Tris. She has on a pair of short athletic shorts with sliding shorts under them, a T-shirt that is formfitting and hugs her in all the right places. She has her bat bag on her back and is carrying some other equipment that she probably figured we might need.He can't help but wonder if maybe Will is right. Maybe it was love at first sight. Four has never believed in that before, but something about this girl has captured him from the moment that he saw her for the first time.She walks into the yard with the rest of the girls and she meets his gaze. She smiles, she always smiles when she is ready to play ball."So, since the girls beat the crap out of the guys last time, we were thinking that the teams should be co-ed," Uriah says."Who are the team captains?" Marlene asks."I was thinking you and me baby," Uriah says playfully."No, I was thinking me and Four," Zeke says.No one complains. Four is happy about that because he wants Tris on his team and he was afraid that the girls might push for one of them to be captain, in which case he might not have been able to choose her."Go ahead Zeke, you choose first.""Shauna," he says.Four smiles, "I'll take Tris."She smiles and moves over by Four. She was hoping that she would be on his team. They continue to choose all of the girls, and then they move on to the boys. Tris looks around and sees that they seem to have a pretty solid team. She isn't sure about how good some of the girls that don't play ball are, but they are fast and that can be helpful too.They make their way to the field and start setting things up. They flip a coin and Four's team is the home team. They go out and take the field while Zeke's team gets ready to bat. Four is playing first, Will's on second, Tris at short, Uriah at third, Marlene catching, Zahara in left, Gage in center, and Christina in right. It was decided that the boys would pitch to the boys and the girls to the girls since so many of them are still playing ball so John is designated pitcher for the boys and Nia for the girls.First up to bat is Zeke. He hits a line drive directly toward Zahara, but she misjudges it and it goes over her head. Zeke is able to squeeze a triple out of his hit. Shauna's up next and Tris turns to warn Gage. Shauna almost always hits line drives up the middle. And as usual, she does, but this ball doesn't make it into the outfield, Tris anticipated it and snatched it out of the air before it could get past her.Zeke starts running to steal home and Tris fires the ball into home plate. But Marlene misses the ball and Zeke scores."Damn it Tris. I don't like being on a different team from you. No one else could have caught that," Shauna yells from the bench."I motion for no football players stealing home while I'm back here. It's one thing to get tackled by another girl it's another thing to get tackled by a huge football player!" Marlene complains."Okay, no running over my catcher," Four says. "If you're a guy and you're going to steal home, you have to slide head first so she doesn't get tackled."She smiles, "Thank you!"A couple of the guys complain until both Uriah and Four glare at them. Marlene is a great catcher, but she is outweighed by most of these guys by at least one hundred pounds. If they collide with her, they will hurt her.The next batter is one of the baseball players. He hits a hard grounder that gets by Uriah, but Tris doesn't miss it. She whips herself around and fires the ball at Four for the out.He looks at her in shock when he realizes how hard and fast she can throw the ball. Of all of the training they did this morning, catching wasn't one of the things that they did.The next batter is Lynn, she hits a ground ball to Will that he easily stops and throws to Four for the out.Next they go in to hit. Four decided that Tris would lead off, followed by Marlene, Uriah, then Four.Tris goes up to bat first. She knows how Nia pitches because she pitches batting practice a lot. Nia throws the first pitch and Tris smacks a hard line drive between the first and second basemen. She gets to first and rounds the base ready to steal second but thinks better about it. She takes her lead as Marlene comes up to bat next. She hits a ground ball up the third base line, just out of Shauna's reach. She makes the stop but doesn't get the throw off fast enough to get Tris out at second.Uriah is up next, John comes in to pitch to him. He fires the ball at Uriah, but Uriah foul tips it. The next pitch and Uriah hits a shot directly to the right fielder. But it is enough for Tris to steal third.Four is up next. He lets the first pitch go, the next pitch is something that he must like because he cocks his arms back and swings the bat fast and hard. He hit the ball so hard that he cleared the fence for a home run.Their team starts cheering and screaming as Tris, Marlene, then Four touch home plate. They all head toward the bench and Tris goes to sit and get a drink from her bag. Four comes up and sits next to her, "You don't happen to have any more, that was something that I forgot to grab.""Sure," Tris says grabbing another drink from her bag. She hands it to him and for just a moment they graze hands. She's sure that the spark that she felt was felt by him also because he looks at her amazed for a moment before turning his attention back to the game.The next batter hits a line drive to Shauna that she easily catches. The sixth batter is Will. He hits a single to the second baseman that he easily beats out.Chris is up next, she hits a grounder to the shortstop. He makes the play at second and the inning is over.The game continues on in much the same way. By the seventh inning Four's team is beating Zeke's by one run.Zeke's team is up to bat and they are at the top of their order. Zeke strides to the plate and takes his stance. John pitches the ball. Zeke hits a shot over Gage's head in center field. The ball travels over the fence for a home run.Shauna is up next. Tris stops and thinks. Her first hit was right up the middle, the next hit was between short and third. Shauna is desperate to get the ball past Tris and to try to make a point that she can do it. Tris looks at Shauna and can see the snicker on her face. If Shauna can get the right pitch, that ball is coming right at Tris. But she's ready.Shauna takes the first pitch. It's a hard grounder that gets past Uriah. Tris is there though. She dives for the ball and flips herself to standing before she fires the ball at Four. He has to stretch a little, but he makes the play. Shauna's out.She snickers at Tris, "I don't think you are even human sometimes!"Tris smiles, "Sorry Shauna!"The next batter is Wyatt. Tris found out that he plays left field for the college baseball team.He hits a hard ground ball between Tris and Uriah. She easily backhands the ball and spins in the air to make the throw to first.Next up is Lynn. She hits a ground ball to Uriah and is able to easily beat it out. After Lynn is one of the baseball players named Eric. He hits a fly ball to Christina in right. The ball bounces in front of her before she throws in to Will.Will turns around to see Eric headed toward second base. He makes the throw to Tris. She catches the ball and braces herself for the impact. At the last second he slides but Tris anticipates this and drops her glove down to tag his foot before he reaches the bag.Three outs!Four looks at Tris and can't figure out how, but he is even more impressed with her now than he was before. She is not just one of the best female athletes that he has ever seen, she is one of the best all around athletes he has ever seen. She can compete with some of the best guys on the field, him included.An argument erupts on the field. Eric gets into Tris' face and argues that she didn't have him. He towers over her and his closeness to her intimidates her.Everyone on the field and from Zeke's bench run to the field to find out what is going on. Eric is screaming in Tris' face and she looks shocked but isn't backing down. He is easily twice her size but she doesn't seem to care. She's furious that someone would accuse her of cheating.No one says or does anything to defend either of them until Eric puts his hands on Tris and pushes her. At that point Four snatches him up and throws him to the ground."What the hell is your problem?" Four yells."She cheats, she never touched me!"Four turns to Tris, "I made the play, Four." That is all she says. She doesn't try to argue or fight. He can see that she is trembling, but she isn't going to back down.Zeke comes to the center of the pack, "Even from the bench I could see she made the play. Eric, you're out.""This is bull shit man. She's just a damn girl. She can't possibly be that good!" Eric screams.Four approaches him, "Of course she's that good. Do you think I would choose someone for my team first if she wasn't that good?"Eric looks at him and scowls. He turns and goes over to the bench and plops himself down and glares at Tris.Four realizes that next time they play, he is going to have to make sure that Eric isn't invited to play and he is going to have to keep Eric away from her. He has always known that there was something wrong with Eric, but he never realized how bad it was before.Everyone switches sides and Fours team goes in for their final bats.Tris grabs a bat and goes to loosen up. Four comes up next to her, "Are you okay? He didn't hurt you, did he?""No, I'm fine. Thanks for sticking up for me.""Well, I know you made the out and I know you wouldn't lie if you didn't. Eric is an ass."She smiles, "Well I appreciate that you chose me because you believe that I'm a good ball player."Four smiles. This girl is always modest. Even when she constantly makes plays that some guys can't make.She strides into the plate to hit and Four watches her intently. The first pitch in high and on the inside, she lets it go. The next pitch is a fastball right down the middle that Tris takes straight back up the middle that goes over the shortstops head and drops for a single.Marlene is up next. She hits a fly ball to left field. He catches it easily but not before Tris steals second. Uriah is up next. He hits a grounder to third. The third baseman makes the throw to first getting Uriah out.Tris takes off for third while the ball is still in the air. The first baseman tries to get the ball back to third to get the out but he isn't fast enough. Tris has stolen third.Four strides to the plate. The first pitch is low and outside, he lets it go. The next pitch is just what he likes a little high and outside. He is able to hit the ball hard up the first base line. The right fielder comes in to field the ball. He makes the throw to home plate. Tris beats the throw and scores.Four's team wins!They all run in to home plate and cheer. Everyone hugging Tris and clapping her on the back. She excitedly turns around taking in all of the cheering. When she turns to face Four she can't read what she sees on his face. Is it awe? Is it amazement? She has no idea. Then he smiles at her.