Divergent: Unleashed | ✓

Chapter 38

For the group's first Christmas, Shauna and Zeke invite everyone up to Philadelphia. And by everyone, they pretty much meant everyone.

Tori, Bud, Harrison, and Christina came up from Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina. Wil and Cara came from Wisconsin, and Caleb drove down from New York with Lacey. Al came from Massachusetts, and Myra flew down from Maine. Even Edward showed up from Utah.

And then, for some reason, Peter came.

Tris opens the door, and her eyes widen when she sees Peter standing in the doorway. One corner of his mouth curls upwards. "Stiff." He greets her.

She rolls her eyes. "What the hell do you want, Peter?"

He shrugs. "I heard the party was here."

"A party that you weren't invited to." She starts to shut the door.

He stops it with his sneaker. "Oh come on, Stiff. You act like I'm going to kill you."

"You might."

"I won't." He rolls his eyes. "We're on the same side, okay? I'm not going to hurt you."

She narrows her eyes and glances back at everyone inside. "Fine. You can come in. On two conditions."

"Name them."

"One- you stop calling me Stiff. My name is Tris. Two- you quit terrorizing me and everyone else. You do not know how annoying it is."

"Deal." He grins. "Merry Christmas, Tris."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Tobias drops onto the couch next to Tris. "Who invited Peter?" he asks.

She shrugs.

"Okay, rephrasing that- who let him in?"

Another shrug. "I did."

"What? Why?"

"He promised to stop antagonizing everyone and said that he's on our side."

He raises an eyebrow. "And you believed the traitor?"

A corner of her mouth tilts upward. "Caleb redeemed himself, didn't he?"

Tobias nods. "Good point."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Lacey laughs at Christina's joke and walks into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water from the fridge. Caleb had unnecessarily invited her, and when she told him it wasn't her group of friends, he wouldn't stop bugging her until she agreed.

She opens the fridge and grabs a bottle, starting to shut the door. "I don't recognize you."

Lacey jumps, shutting the door. A boy stands leaning against the doorway, his hands shoved into the pockets of his dark jeans. He has dark brown hair and brown eyes. She recognizes him, that's for sure. "I'm not from the Chicago Project. I'm Tris and Caleb's cousin." She extends her hand. "Lacey Ritter."

He shakes her hand. "Didn't know you were aware of Dauntless customs."

She shakes her head. "I'm not. In America, when you meet a person for the first time, you shake hands."

He nods. "I've realized that."

"You're Peter." She says. "The douchebag that kicked the shit out of my cousin."

"Yeah..." he scratches the back of his neck. Lacey has to admit, he is kinda cute. "But I also saved her life."

"But you almost ended it. Several times."

He shrugs. "Tough world."

She rolls her eyes. "I've been attacked in alleys and left for dead- you really want to talk to me about a tough world?" She puts a hand on her hip, raising her eyebrows.

Peter is surprised by how easily this girl talks about being attacked- as if it's a regular occurence. "Seriously?"

She nods. "Muggers. But they don't realize that I have a backup." She takes her phone out of her pocket and shakes it a little, as if she's taunting him. "You have to in New York. You walk around looking at your iPhone or listening to your Beats one minute, the next you're half-dead in some alley bleeding to death."

He blinks, his eyes wide. "The rich are often the victims." She says. "Money is all people care about these days. Money and sex, anyway. It's a bad world out there."

Peter nods in agreement. "That it is."

She cocks her head to the side. "So. Where are you from?"

"Chicago."

She nods. "Pretty high crime rate there. Twelve people murdered in the first six days."

He raises his eyebrows. "Seriously?"

She nods. "People want money. Or revenge. Sometimes they kill people that have everything going for them, since they don't feel like getting a job and trying to get somewhere in life. So they kill others." She lifts a shoulder. She steps closer. Even though Lacey is shorter than him, he still feels slightly intimidated. "There's always a motive, Peter. Just like you had a motive for injuring my cousin."

"Oh?" He takes a step closer to her, trying to play off his intimidation. She, like her cousin, puts off a strong aura of power. "And what was it?"

Lacey narrows her eyes. "You're the arrogant type. We all know that. So when some girl that's shorter than you comes along and ends up being not only smarter than you, but tougher, you're intimidated. So, you decide to eliminate any competition. In fact, if it weren't for Four, she'd've been dead." She walks past him without another word, the heels of her black boots clicking against the floor.

Peter stands there for a minute or two, staring blankly at where Lacey had been. Then he shakes himself out of the trance or whatever she'd put him in, and walks back into the family room. Tris isn't the only tough chick in her family, he thinks.