Just a Dream?

Chapter 7

    Two days since my fight with Peter, and the bruises are purple. Usually I don't bruise. Actually, I don't usually do anything that could make me get bruises. Today was a busy day and I am so ready for some sleep but as soon as I get into bed, Eric storms into the dormitory telling us all to get up out of bed. I stay down, like if I don't move he'll go away. "Did you go deaf, Stiff? I said get up!" I get out of bed and see Christina in only a T-shirt. Man, I'm glad I was gonna sleep in my clothes tonight. Key word: was. I see Four staring at me and I stare back until Eric tells us to be dressed and at the tracks in five minutes. Looks like I won't get any sleep tonight.

     Christina and I get to the tracks just behind the Dauntless-born. We're playing capture the flag and using paintballs as ammunition. When the train appears, Four starts running and I follow behind, not waiting for Al or Christina. He holds out a hand when he gets in a car and as I grab it, he pulls me in. God, this guy's got muscle everywhere! I mean come on. How do you not notice muscle on a good-looking guy? When everyone is in the car, Four explains that we'll be dividing into two teams to play and Eric picks first: Edward. Of course. Then something happens that I don't expect, though I should. Four barely glances through the crowd before he says, "I want the Stiff." Eric believes he picks the weak so that he'll have someone to blame, but as Four continues picking I begin to understand his strategy. Most of us are small-framed. We are faster than Eric's team. Capture the flag is not a game of force, but speed.

     When our team stops, a Dauntless-born girl, Marlene, tries to flirt with Four to get him to tell her where to put the flag to win. As he brushes her hand off, I start to smile. We walk towards Navy Pier, where someone says the flag was kept when Four won the game. Oh God. This is it. The Ferris Wheel scene. What if I'm not able to climb high enough? What if I don't let go in time? Oh, I hope I can do this. We stop and Four suggests we take the ten minutes to our advantage and formulate a strategy. While everyone is arguing, I make sure no one is watching and slip away to the Ferris wheel. I can hear my heart pounding inside my head. That is really high. A little too high. Just climb you idiot! I test the first bar by jumping on it. It holds and I smile. I start to climb when I hear Four say, "Tris." It sounds like a 'Hello. What are you doing?!' kind of calling my name. However I still answer.

     "Yes?"

     "What do you think you're doing?"

     "I'm climbing to get a higher view point. I don't think I'm doing anything." I say. I imagine that sounded a lot more smarty-britches than I meant it to. (A/N: Umm. I'm from the south. It's a common phrase.) Either way, I see Four smile and he says he's coming with me. "I'll be fine."

     "Undoubtedly." Okay. I'm still not high enough. We start talking about the point of the game and about halfway up the Ferris wheel I notice Four is a little panicky. I ask, "Are you alright, Four?"

     "Are you even human, Tris? Being up this high..." I take his pause to look and see how far we are from the ground. "It doesn't scare you at all?"

     At that moment, when I'm looking down at him, a huge gust of wind knocks me to the side and he grabs my hip to steady me. My shirt rode up a bit and part of his hand is on bare skin. Now I can't breathe. But it's not because of the height. I keep climbing until we reach the platform. Without really thinking, I put my legs over the side while Four crouches against the metal support.

     "You're afraid of heights. How do you survive in the Dauntless compound?"

     "I ignore my fear," he tells me. "When I make decisions, I pretend that fear doesn't exist."

     "Oh," is all I say. I stare at him for what I think is a second, but is obviously too long.

     "What?" he asks.

     "Nothing," I say. "It's just..." How do I put this? "You're..." I can't help myself. I lean into him and before I know it I kiss him.

     I wake up in my own room, my own bed, with the book on top of me, open to the page with the scene I was in. This all seemed so real, yet it was all just a dream.