Divergent UNIVERSITY ✅

chapter 18

Tris wakes in the morning to Four's rhythmic breathing in the chair next to the bed. She looks over at him and her heart flutters. He looks different than he does when he's awake. In his sleep he looks younger, like he should. While he's awake the weight of everything that he's endured throughout his life weighs on him. All of the responsibilities he has, everything that his father has done to him are present right behind his eyes.She adjusts herself on the bed and gets ready to stand to go into the bathroom. Her movement causes him to stir and open his eyes.He smiles at her, "Good morning.""Good morning," she says."What are you trying to do?""I was just going to get up to go to the bathroom. I didn't mean to wake you.""I'm not used to anyone else being in my room, so I guess the movement woke me. Its fine," he says standing and taking her hand, "let me help you."He stands and removes the blanket from her legs. He looks down at her ankle and grazes his fingers across her smooth skin. His touch sends chills throughout her body."How's it feeing?""It feels fine right now. I'm a little worried about the game later though.""I'm sure you'll be fine. It isn't swollen anymore. Like I said last night, I'll wrap it like I wrap my ankles for football games. It shouldn't give you any problems at that point."She nods. She swings her legs around and starts to stand. Four takes her hands and helps her up. She walks across the room as he watches her. She doesn't feel any pain as she walks to the bathroom.Something about her being in his shirt makes him want to pull her into him and feel her body close to his. He watches closely as she moves gracefully across the room. You would never know that just last night she was injured.While she's in the bathroom, he calls down to Marlene to have her bring some close up for Tris to be able to put on so she has something to wear when she's ready to go home."Hello," a deep voice answers Marlene's phone."Uriah? Did you spend the night with Marlene?""Yeah, since Tris was with you, we took advantage of being able to be alone.""Well since you're there, can you bring a T-shirt, sweats, and a pair of tennis shoes up for Tris? I don't want her to have to walk out of here in her dress."Uriah moves the phone from his mouth, "Hey Mar, can you get me some clothes for Tris, Four wants me to bring her some clothes up to wear. All she has there is her dress.""What happened that she spent the night there?" Marlene asks, Four can hear the smile in her voice in the background."Nothing happened, just bring the clothes," Four says with annoyance."I'll run them up soon. Is she planning on coming home soon because I was thinking about staying here a little longer.""Look, just meet me outside with the clothes if that will make things easier."He hangs up the phone and walks across the room to the bathroom door. He knocks and speaks through the door."Tris, if you want you can get a shower. I'm going to go down to your house, Marlene is getting some clothes and shoes for you. I'll also grab us something to eat for breakfast.""Okay," she says. He stands there for the moment and then hears the shower start. He realizes that this fantastic girl is now taking off her clothes on the other side of this door. There is a part of him that desperately wants to break in there and give in to his hormonal urges, but he doesn't. He leaves the room and pulls the door shut behind him.Tris hears the door close and she steps into the shower. She feels kind of weird getting a shower here. She looks around and sees all of the masculine items around. 'Guess I'll smell like a guy today,' she thinks to herself.Four walks down the street to Kappa house. Uriah walks up, meeting him half way. "So you have this girl that you obviously have extremely strong feelings for in your room and you didn't do anything with her?""No, nothing happened. I slept on the chair, she slept on the bed.""Dude, seriously? Is there something wrong with you? You had her in your bed and you didn't even sleep in the same bed as her?""No Uriah, not everything needs to be like that all of the time you know. Sometimes it's nice just being together.""Yeah, whatever. I'm a twenty-one year old guy, I have needs.""I'm sure Marlene would be thrilled to hear that."Uriah smirks, "She wasn't complaining last night."Four shakes his head as Uriah turns around and walks back to Kappa house.Four returns to Phi Delta. He grabs a couple muffins and some orange juice from the kitchen and returns to his room.He opens the door slowly to make sure it is safe for him to enter. Through the crack in the door he can see her sitting on his bed with his shirt on, her bare legs hanging over the edge of the bed. Her hair is glistening from the shower water and she is brushing it out with his brush.He loves that she has managed to make herself at home in his room. He watches her for just a moment, realizing how lucky he really is. Since she kissed him for the first time he has always felt lucky that she chose him, but right at this moment he feels luckier than he ever has before. She is the perfect woman for him. Everything about her is perfect for him. She understands him, she understands his life with sports. She didn't freak out about his past, she didn't freak out about what happened yesterday. She just went with the flow. She is special, more special than even Brian could imagine.He walks into the room as she pulls her hair up into a ponytail. "I got you some clothes and something to eat. How are you feeling?""The ankle feels great actually. But I think I'd still like you to wrap it before the game, just in case. I don't want to take any chances."He moves over to the chair next to the bed and hands her the clothes and the food.~oOo~Four sits in front of Tris outside of the locker room wrapping her ankle for the game. He puts on her sock and helps her with her shoe. She stands and bounces on her toes to test the range in movement. Despite being taped up, she's surprised at how easily she is able to move."You are really good at this, you know that?" she says sitting back down."Well, I should be. I've been playing football since I was eight years old. And I've been training to be a physical therapist for four years now."He takes her hand and pulls her to stand with him. "Good luck today," he says kissing her hand.She smiles, "Thanks!"He walks away from her and back out to the stands. He finds his place among their friends as they await the team taking the field. While he's sitting there he see's Tris' mother, Natalie and Bud walking across the bottom of the bleachers. He stands up so that they can see him."Bud, Natalie up here," he calls. They see him and make their way to where he's sitting."Who are they?" Lynn asks."Tris' mom and a guy that she works with."They make their way up to Four and slide into the seats in front of him. "Thanks for getting our attention. We weren't sure where we were going to sit," Natalie says with a smile."No problem," says Four."Hi Natalie," Brian says."Hey Brian, still watching over my daughter?" she asks."You know I am.""And what are your thoughts on this young man here?" she asks making Four blush."He's a good guy. He's good to your daughter.""Good," she says with a smile. "And who are these other people?""Oh, sorry," Four says. "This is Lynn, Uriah, Zeke, Christina, and Will." He turns to his friends, "This is Tris' mom and that is Bud.""He's the guy that did your tattoos?" Zeke asks. "Dude you're freaking awesome! I can't wait till tonight!""Yeah, that was me and thanks. Tonight should be fun," Bud says.The girls take the field to a roar of cheers from the stands. Tris looks around in the stands trying to find Four. She sees something that makes her happier than she could have imagined. Her mother is sitting there among her friends smiling and talking. She meets her mother's eyes and she smiles as her mother waves.The Tigers go out and take the field ready to play. They meet at the center of the field at the pitcher. "We're one game away from the championship ladies," Shauna yells. "Are we ready for a victory?"The girls cheer as one "Yeah!""I couldn't hear you. She said, are you ready for a victory?" Marlene shouts."YEAH!" the girls scream."Then let's get out there and get the win!" Tris yells. "On three! One... Two... Three""TIGERS!" the girls yell as one.They run to their respective positions to the cheers of the crowd. Tris loves this part. She really doesn't like to be the center of attention, but on a ball field, she's a part of a well oiled machine. One that works so well that they can anticipate what each other is going to do.As the girls warm up on the field, from the stands someone stands up and music starts playing. It's 'Girls Just Want to have Fun,' by Cyndi Lauper. They all smile. Shauna looks up into the stands to see where the music is coming from. She looks toward Tris who's pointing. Shauna sees their friends and Zeke is standing there with a radio above his head, blaring the music. He smiles and waves when he sees she's found him. "He's nuts," Shauna says to Tris."Or just in love," Tris says with a smirk.Zeke shuts off the music when the first batter comes up. The girls are ready to play.~oOo~After six innings the Tigers are losing 5-2. They take the field for the final time for defense at the top of the seventh inning. This has been the best team they've played all season. They have to pull out a win to play in the championship the following week.Tris, Shauna, Kenzie, Marlene, Jen, and Faith meet at the pitcher's mound. They call in the outfield. The girls all come running in."This is it ladies," Shauna says. "It's now or never. We have to get out of this inning without giving up any runs. We can't let anything hit the ground!""We've got this!" Tris yells. "Win on three. One... Two... Three...""WIN!" the girls shout in unison.They quickly run back to their positions, ready to start the inning.The first batter comes up and hits a shot out to right field that falls between Shauna and the right fielder. She comes up and makes the throw to second base holding the runner to a single.The second batter comes up and hits a line drive to Shauna that she easily catches for the first out. She tries to make the throw to first for the double play, but the girl is safe.The third batter comes up and hits a fly ball out to left field. The left fielder makes the easy stop and throws the ball to Jen at the cut off. Shauna, Kenzie, and Faith start screaming for her to make the throw to second. The runner tries to steal second.Jen turns and makes the throw. Tris catches the ball and turns to make the play. The runner tries to slide under the tag, but Tris has her. She's out."One more out ladies," Kenzie yells from first base.The fourth batter comes up. The ball is pitched.Strike one.Faith winds up and pitches again. The girl tags the ball so hard that it flies out over the center fielder's head. The outfielders scramble to the fence to retrieve the ball. Jen goes out for the cut off while Tris is on second. But she knows there is no way that they are going to get the ball to the infield in time to stop the girl at second.Jen gets the ball and makes the throw to Tris. Out of the corner of her eye she can see the runner making the turn to go home."Marlene," Tris screams and throws the ball.Marlene catches the bullet that Tris just threw to her. She braces herself for the impact that she knows is coming.The runner comes at her with a full head of steam, not letting up. They impact and both go sprawling out on the ground. When the dust clears the umpire looks down and Marlene has the ball in her hand, raised in the air."OUT!" the umpire yells.The infield runs in screaming and grabs Marlene into hugs."That's my badass girlfriend!" Uriah screams through the cheers.The girls go to the bench, it's time to bat. Tara is up to bat first. She hits a ground ball to the second baseman causing an out.Faith bats next and hits a pop-up foul to the third base line that is easily caught. Now there's two outs.Next up is Tris. She hits a line drive over the third baseman's head. She manages to stretch the hit out to a double.Marlene hits the next ball, a line drive between the short stop and the center fielder. The hit advances Tris to third and Marlene is on first. Just in time for Shauna to stride to the plate."Come on babe," Zeke yells. "You due! It's your time!"Shauna stands ready. The ball is pitched and Shauna decides she doesn't like it. She lets it go for strike one. The next pitch is just what Shauna likes, a fast ball right over the plate. She takes her swing and hits the ball so hard she can actually feel it in her bones. She takes off running for first.The first base coach instructs her to keep going. Tris scores. She rounds second heading toward third. Marlene scores. The third base coach instructs her to keep going and Shauna can't believe it, she's hit a home run. When she looks up when she gets to home plate, the entire team is standing there to greet her."Where'd it go?" Shauna asks."Over the fence about twenty yards out our so. You tagged it!" Kenzie tells her.Jen goes in to bat next. She hits a line drive to the short stop that is easily caught.The game is tied, 5-5 going into extra innings.The first batter for the inning comes up. She hits a hard grounder to Jen at second base, but the girl is fast enough to beat the throw.The next batter hits a line drive between Jen and Kenzie that neither of them gets to. The right fielder gets the ball and is able to hold the batter to a single.They have runners on first and second base with no outs.The next batter comes up. She swings and misses the first ball. The next ball Faith pitches the girl lands her bat on. It's a line drive directly to Tris.Both runners begin to advance but Tris makes the catch, runs and tags second for the double play. Tris fires the ball to first base. Kenzie stretches and makes the catch for the third out.Four is astonished at her ability. "Did you see that, she just turned a triple play!" he shouts. He's so proud of her that he can't contain his excitement. He's never cheered for anyone other than the guys on his team. This is the first time he has ever gotten this caught up in a game that he wasn't playing in.Everyone in the stands screams. The girls run into the bench to bat."Alright ladies, we only need one run!" Marlene yells."Let's go Kenzie!" the girls yell as one.Kenzie goes up to bat and is completely nervous. She has to hit this ball. She has to at least get a single.The first ball his pitched and it is exactly what Kenzie wanted to see. She swings the bat and as soon as she makes contact she knows that she's at least getting a double out of this hit.She runs past first and half way to second base she looks to the third base coach waiting to see the sign to tell her what to do next. When she looks to the third base coach she sees the coach gesturing that she's hit a home run. She looks out toward the outfield where she knows the ball traveled to and she sees that the ball is gone and the other team is standing there waiting for her to finish running the bases. When she looks to home plate she sees her team standing there cheering and screaming, waiting to greet her.Kenzie feels on top of the world. This is the first time she has ever been the hero of a game. This is the first time that she has even hit a home run.She rounds third and heads toward home and her team, waiting for her. She jumps on the plate with both feet and is immediately lifted into the air and carried to the bench, her team cheering. They've won 6-5 in extra innings. Next stop the championship game.