Divergent UNIVERSITY ✅

chapter 16

"You are going to the Homecoming dance with who?" Marlene exclaims. "Four seriously asked you to go with him?""I've known him since freshman year. He's never gone to any of the social activities on campus let alone asked someone before!" Shauna says. ". He's not even social at the fraternity parties."Christina, Kenzie, and Lynn sit there with shocked looks on their faces. They have all known Four a lot longer than Tris has so when she told them that he asked her to go, they were all dumbfounded."You do know what this means, right?" Christina says. "It's makeover time! I actually have the perfect dress for you. It has the right side of the dress cut out so it will show off that fabulous tattoo that you have on your side.""I don't know. He said it isn't formal or anything that I can wear whatever I want.""Please and you thought that we would allow that?" Marlene asks.Tris snickers remembering her comment to Four about them dressing her like a Barbie doll."Are all of you going?" Tris asks."Even if we weren't, we are now. The whole gang will be there, we can't miss that!" Kenzie says."Are you serious? We're going to this thing?" Lynn grumps."Yes we're going," Kenzie says putting her hand on Lynn's. "And we're even going to have a good time! You may even be forced to dance something other than ballet!"Lynn scowls at Kenzie, "Fine, whatever. I guess it's better than sitting around here.""Oh, speaking of getting out," Tris says. "Four and I are having a tattoo party at my mother's tattoo parlor and you five are invited. Four is going to invite the guys. Apparently Zeke and Uriah were very impressed with Four's tattoo and now they want one.""Wait, now you're telling me that Four has a tattoo and that you saw it?" Shauna asks. "You've seen him without a shirt on?"Tris looks confused, "Yeah, why?""Well, probably because he's H...O... T!" Christina says. "That man has more muscles than a T-shirt can contain. Even when the guys would play pickup football games and most of them were running around without a shirt on, Four always had on his shirt. No one has ever seen him without it.""You know an awful lot about Four's shirt habits!" Kenzie scoffs."Well, just because I'm with Will doesn't mean that I'm dead. Gotta appreciate a great looking man with a great body!""Not really," Lynn mumbles.All the girls burst out laughing."I'd love to go," Marlene says."I'm in!" Shauna and Christina say simultaneously."We are too," Kenzie says."Great! You don't have to get a tattoo, but my mother promised to give us great prices and we're going to get food and have drinks there for everyone. My mother is bringing in her entire crew to help out. It's going to be great!"~oOo~"Tattoo party on Sunday after the girls' playoff game," Four announces to Zeke, Uriah, and Will."Are you serious? I get to go to this tattoo parlor you've been talking about?" Zeke says."Yeah, Tris' mother is letting us have a tattoo party. She's even going to give us good prices for the tattoos since we're planning on about twelve people.""Who all is invited?" Will asks."Tris was inviting Marlene, Christina, Shauna, Kenzie, and Lynn. I'm inviting you three. I think that's enough.""So we're spending the whole weekend together then because you know since you are taking Tris to the Homecoming thing we're going to be required to go to," Zeke complains."You were going anyway. It's not like Shauna would have let you get out of it. At least we'll be able to hang out as a group," Uriah says.Four snickers, "I knew when I asked her that one of you would complain."The doorbell rings and one of the other brothers answers and call for Four to answer the door. When Four gets to the foyer, Brian is standing there."Can we talk?" Brian asks."Yeah, let's go outside," Four says. Once outside they start walking down the street. "What's up?""Your father has been arraigned. He's pleading not guilty on all counts so this is going to go to trial. I've talked to the Prosecutor from the U.S. Attorney's office, she says we may need your testimony against your father on the abuse charges. She's going to try to keep you out of it, but it may be necessary for a conviction.""If I have to do this, then I will. I appreciate that you are trying to keep me out of it but at this point I'm done hiding. I need this part of my life to be done and for him to be put away for a long time.""Well with your help we may just be able to do that.""What about his associates. Are Tris and I still being watched by agents?""Yes and apparently they are doing a good job if you haven't noticed them following you. There is always an agent on the two of you. We suspect that his associates aren't done with this. They lost a lot of money and now that we have him in custody, they can't touch him, so they'll probably come after you.""Great, so not only do I need to worry about him, I have to worry about random strangers coming after me?" Four says sarcastically. "Why couldn't I have a normal father?" he says almost inaudibly."Four, I know what you have been through. I haven't experienced it so I don't completely understand but what I do understand is that you have managed to take a horrendous situation and come out of it a better man than most would.""Thanks, I just hate that I have this sucky family. God knows where my mother is, she took off years ago and left me with him. My father is a complete ass who has abused me in some way my whole life. I have no ties to any other family.""But you built a family for yourself. You have at least three friends in there that would destroy anyone that threatened you. You have a girl that would do anything for you. That is more than a lot of people can say.""You're right," Four says. Then he decides that if these people are like family then Brian is too. He's like the older brother that neither he nor Tris has ever had. "Hey, we're having a tattoo party at Tris' mom's tattoo parlor on Sunday night, you should come.""Sounds fun, I'll be there. When are you going, after the girls' game?""Yeah, we're going to leave straight from the field.""Sounds good. Just keep your eyes open around you and don't do anything stupid. Also you may want to mention what is going on to your friends. Don't tell them about the federal agents, but you can tell them about your father's threat and that there are random people coming after you and possibly Tris. They'll help keep you both safe. I'll see you at training in the morning.""See ya," Four says. He thinks about Brian's suggestion. Telling Zeke, Uriah, and Will about this would probably be a good idea.He opens the door and calls in to his friends, "Hey, Zeke, Uriah, and Will, can you come here?"When the three guys are outside Four starts talking, "Do me a favor, take a walk with me. I need to talk to you for a minute."They start walking without a word. Finally Zeke breaks the silence."Dude what's up? You're acting weird.""Remember that guy that I knocked out after the last game?""Who could forget. One punch and he was lights out," Uriah says."He works for my father. My father was trying to convince me to throw that game so he could bet against us and cleanup. I never told him that I would, he just assumed that I would follow what he told me to do.""Why would he think you would do that?" Will asks."Did you ever wonder why I never removed my shirt in front of anyone until recently?""Yeah," Uriah says."It's because my back is covered with scars. My father has physically abused me since I was a kid. My back was covered with scars from him whipping me with a belt almost daily.""Tris found out about this?" Zeke asks."Yeah she found out because of Marcus coming around while we were training. She suggested that I get the scars covered by a tattoo and that's when she took me to her mother's tattoo parlor.""Why are you telling us about this now?" Uriah asks."Because these guys may not stop coming around and I didn't want someone to attack and have you guys in the dark about what is going on. I thought you should know what is happening. I also wanted to make sure you know that I would never throw a game.""We know that," Will says. "There is no doubt that you were on a mission to win that last game. Is it because of your father's threats?""Yeah, I wanted to prove a point that I won't be threatened or bought.""I think you proved that with the four touchdowns before Will came in to finish the game," Zeke says.They arrive at the girls' house and decide to turn around and head back to their house when they see the house is dark.~oOo~The week goes by without trouble. Tris and Four train with Brian daily. They have started using the training facility again since Marcus is now out of the picture. They don't have to worry about Tris looking like someone is trying to corrupt her anymore.They train hard every day pushing each other to be faster and stronger than ever as Brian stands on the sidelines cheering them on and pushing them to be better. He comes up with new drills to work on with Tris while Four runs through his plays daily. He even starts bringing Will with him to do the drills. If Will is going to step into the number one spot next year, he has to be as good as Four. Marlene, Shauna, and Kenzie also start coming for fielding practice.When Saturday comes around Tris is suddenly becoming very nervous. This will be their first outing as a couple. The last time anyone saw them together like that was after the last home game four weeks ago. So much has happened since then and now Tris is even more secure in their relationship.When the girls arrive at their seats before the game, the same girl that was questioning Tris is sitting there. When she sees Tris she scowls."Don't tell me that Four is still wasting his time with you," she says."Better than wasting his time with a two bit hussy," Tris immediately bites back.The girl looks at her in shock but turns around. Tris guesses she's decided not to argue anymore. 'Hopefully she's realized that I won't be intimidated,' Tris thinks."Very nice, shut her up before she starts running her mouth again," Shauna says.This time Lynn has come to the game with Kenzie, so all of the girls are sitting together to watch the game.By halftime the Tigers are winning fourteen to three. Uriah has rushed for almost fifty yards and Zeke has three catches for seventy yards total.The girls scream and cheer as the team comes back out on the field to start the second half.Tris finds herself completely captivated by the way Four looks in his football uniform. With all of the padding on he looks like a titan huge, muscular, and very handsome. She can easily see why so many girls come to games just to watch him play. She is also feeling lucky because he could have any of these girls yet he has chosen her as the one he wants to be with.She watches as he takes the field for the first time in the second half. She admires how skillfully he moves the ball down the field. How easily he can read what is going on in front of him and make the right calls. Everything he does is meticulous and perfect. She suddenly realizes that she is completely infatuated with him. With everything he does and the way he moves. It triggers some innate desire in her core.She gets so caught up in watching Four's every move she doesn't realize that the Tigers have scored another touchdown. They are now winning twenty-one to three at the two minute warning.She sees him glance up into the stands. She notices he does that a lot. He's looking in her general direction, but he doesn't see her. It's as if he is trying to find her but there are so many people here that it would be impossible."Are we waiting here for the guys after the game?" Shauna asks."Yeah, we do every game don't we?" Marlene says."But what about getting ready for the dance?" Shauna says."We'll just have to go home and they will have to wait us. I'm sure they'll at least want to change from whatever they wore to the field today anyway," Christina says."You're probably right."The final score of the game is twenty-one to three.While the girls wait, Tris notices that there are a lot more girls hanging around waiting today than there was at the last game. They all keep glancing over toward Tris and her friends."What the hell is everyone's problem?" Lynn asks."They're all here to see if Four really is with Tris. Word got around that he kissed her at the last game so now they all want to see it for themselves," Christina explains."Are you serious? They are really that worried about what he does?" Tris asks."Tris, he was like the last great catch. Now that he's caught, they don't want to believe it unless they see it."They sit together waiting for the guys to come up. They talk about the dance and softball until they come.When the guys come up, Four immediately goes up to Tris and pulls her into a hug and kisses her cheek."Ready to go, beautiful?" he asks her.She blushes and smiles at him, "Yep. It appears that we have to go home before we go to the dance though. I've been informed that I'm not allowed to go the way I am."He laughs and wraps his arm around her waist pulling her close to him.The feeling of desire she was feeling during the game comes back suddenly. She gives into the need to be near him and she wraps her arms around his neck forgetting everything else around them. She stands on her tiptoes and presses her lips gently to his.He smiles at her, "What was that for?""No reason," she says. Then she looks up and realizes that everyone around them, except for their friends, is watching their every move.He smirks at her, "Let's go so you can go play Barbie for your friends."She laughs, "Yeah, sure. Sounds like fun."The group walks back to their houses. The guys go to their house to change into clothes that aren't sports related.The girls go to and begin to get ready. Christina gives Tris a tight black dress. It is off the shoulder, comes just above the knee, and has a circle cut into the right side. This dress will show off all of Tris' tattoos perfectly. They try to convince her to wear heels also, but she refuses. Christina does Tris' hair while Marlene does her makeup.When Tris looks at herself in the mirror, she can't believe she is looking at herself. The last time she looked like this was at the fraternity party a month and a half ago.