Divergent High

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

Four's POV

"Hi Beatrice. May we come in?" Marcus asks politely which is a shock because Marcus is never polite.

Beatrice nods her head before replying, "Sure."

Marcus tries to introduce me but I won't let him. He doesn't act like a father when we are alone so why should I keep pretending only to save his reputation. Marcus tries, "This is Tobi-"

"Four." I interject which earns a nasty look from Marcus. Tonight, I might, well I will get beat but it will be for a good cause. I finally stood up for myself even if it was saying my nickname. One small step for Tobias and one giant step for Tobias! Wait, that made no sense.

I linger on Tris for a long time but I cannot help it. She looks gorgeous and I would not say that to her because I'm too shy and nervous. Which is a first for me. Usually I am the intimidating jock who only has four fears. Beatrice tries to look away yet she continues to stare back at me with those striking blue gray eyes.

"Beatrice?"

She mentions, "I didn't know you were Marcus's son."

"Um yeah, uh about that. No-not a lot of people k-know except for Marc-Marcus and now you." I stammer while trying to keep eye contact.

My hands are shaking uncontrollably with just being in her presence and they are sweaty. I run my fingers through my neatly, combed back hair. She stands a few feet in front of me and suddenly I feel like that space should shrink. Maybe only an inch away instead of a few feet would be better. I don't think, I just do and I inch closer to her, almost brushing against her shoulder. I shiver a little at the contact. No one has ever really touched me except for Marcus with his beatings. Well, girls try to flirt with me because I am some prodigy but I refuse. I hope Beatrice didn't notice me shiver or if she did, she didn't say anything. We stand there, frozen in place, her next to me.

"Beatrice, come help with dinner!" Caleb whines, interrupting our peaceful silence.

I don't know what to do next but she seems sure of herself as she takes my hand. I try not to stand in shock by grabbing her hand back. Without holding hands before, I don't know if I should tighten my grip or loosen. Hope rushes through my mind. Maybe she does like me but we could not be together. Not with her a Stiff and me a jock. The rest of the dinner flies by which consists of me trying to think of a way we could be together and I come up with no possibilities. Now, the hope from earlier seems to have disappeared.

~~~

Walking to school with my signature black leather jacket, I keep my head up and my shoulders back. My thoughts start racing about her. She is just some girl in the heat of the moment and I cannot keep thinking about a Stiff. I need to be like the Four everyone knows and I have left my old self behind. I vowed never to go back and to stay in the light now. Well as light as Dauntless is.

"Four!" I hear one of my friends call from the school grass. Zeke waves his hands back and forth like the drug addicts do and I roll my eyes.

"Four!" Uriah shouts this time while hopping up and down next to Zeke.

It only takes a few long strides up the hill that leads to Divergent High to reach my friends in the jock area. Marlene and Shauna sit perched in the tree while Zeke and Uriah wait to greet me at the bottom. This is like a typical day for us. Zeke and Uriah goofing off while Mar and Shauna talk to themselves. I however don't quite fit among the jocks. Even though they haven't asked each other out, everyone knows that Uriah and Marlene like each other more then friends and Zeke and Shauna like each other more then friends. I am the odd person with no love interest in Dauntless.

I stand awkwardly while my friends talk and stare at Beatrice. Surprisingly, she is already staring.

Lunch

Since there aren't any seats at our usual table, we sit with some Abnegation which happens to be Beatrice's table. I slide into the seat next to her, trying not to make a sound. Her eyes flicker to mine and Uriah begins to snort milk out of his nose over something Marlene said. Shauna and Zeke hold hands under the table, secretly. As always, I am without someone to talk to.

"Hey Four." She greets me.

"What makes you think you can talk to me?" I say, keeping up my jock attitude.

"Maybe because you're so approachable." She mutters and I hear her friend, who used to be the annoying Candor, ask her if she has a death wish.

"You scared or something, Stiff?" I manage to say.

She studies her hamburger before answering, "Uh no."

"Do you know how to eat that?" I chuckle.

She shakes her head and looks back at her brother. He glares at me almost shooting daggers at me. I ignore him and continue to talk to her.

I begin, "It's a hamburger and you eat it with your hands. It's okay, I know that Stiffs eat plain food."

"Yeah, that's why I don't like Abnegation. It's all because of the food." Beatrice rolls her eyes.

Without realizing it, I sit next to Eric- the leader of Dauntless, we have hated each other since before I could remember. Eric hates me because I came first in our Initiates class and he was in second place. I had the choice of becoming the new leader of the jocks because the old leader graduated from high school leaving the person ranked first a job as the new leader. Each clique has one leader but the drug addicts don't really have one. They believe in everyone acting freely and blah blah peaceful stuff. I denied the request of becoming the new leader and decided to stick with hanging in the shadows where no one can see me or bring attention to me.

"Four, Max wanted to ask you about your current position." Eric moans acting like he is bored. Eric is like me, we both act differently around public. I act like Four who is intimidating, emotionless, and brave. Eric acts like well, a jerk but that's how it's supposed to be.

"Tell him that I am happy with my current position." I mumble.

"Just because you were first place doesn't mean you are better then me."

"We all know that I won fair and square."

"Or luck." Eric jeers.

"Luck was what you needed to have when we fought, yet you never seemed to have it." I reply, unfazed by his comment.

"You di -" Eric tries to say but I punch him in his jaw.