Alternate Reality: Life in a High School (Divergent Fanfic)

Chapter 36

"Well the plane landed." I tell a very worried Christina. She found out something was wrong when Tobias and I walked into home room late. Once, Christina knew, all my friends found out. 

"That's great." Uriah finally says something. He has been quiet the whole time. I watch as he tries to stay still in his chair. 

"For the time being." I whisper to myself. I really hope no one heard that. 

"Tris!" Christina exclaims at my negativity. Well of course Christina heard it. Now, so does everyone else in the room. Even Tori looks up from her desk to stare at us. 

"Chis. I don't nee the whole world knowing..." I pause as I notice Christina's facial expression change. She looks up and smiles. 

"Care to come with me?" Tori asks all of us. I sigh and stand up with the rest of my friends. Tori leads us into the supply closet attached to her room. I was expecting it to be a lot smaller, but Tori is an art teacher after all. There must be a lot of supplies needed for that. 

We all stand in silence as Tori closes the door and proceeds to stare at us. "Care to tell me what's going on?" She crosses her arms. "And don't tell me nothing is wrong, because I know something is. I wasn't born yesterday." 

Silence fills the air as we all think of what to say. Someone better think of a bluff really quick. I have got nothing. "Nothing is wrong." Uriah tells Tori. Great, he just told her what she didn't want to hear. 

"Oh sure nothing is wrong." She places her hand on her head. "Even despite you to walking in late?" She points to Tobias and I. "With you grades plummeting?" She points to Zeke. "You two are starting to slip as well." She finally lands on Christina and Uriah. "May I mention the constant signs of injury as well? we have Tris in her Beanie trying to hide something. Four winces every time he lifts an arm." She raises her hands in the air to make us see her point. 

"Nothing is wrong." I pause once I have figured out what I want to say. "Zeke's good friend just got into a car accident, and you should cut him some slack. Second, Four works out a lot. Have you seen his arms? And lastly, I am just a natural tripping over things. I fell and hit my head." 

"I don't buy it Ms. 'The last thing I need is everyone knowing'." Tori eyes me carefully like she is trying to decipher an old language. 

"Well that is the truth." Tobias adds. I look over to him and see him leaning on a storage shelf. He catches my glance and looks away. 

"Just look at that!" She points at Tobias. "You two have something going on. Normal people don't look at each other like that!" 

"May I ask like what?" Tobias politely asks as he stops leaning on the shelf. 

"Like there is so much hidden pain and confusion, that one can't possibly be normal." Tori tells Tobias with an edge in her voice. 

"There is none of that going on." Tobias concludes. He crosses his arms and stares at the floor. 

"Lies!" She continues. I really just need Tori to let it go, she can't know anyway. "You need to know something. There is talk about you guys." 

"About what?" Zeke cuts her off with a bit of curiosity in his voice. 

"The teachers notice it as well. They have sent notices to the main office about getting you guys a drug test." She pauses to study our faces. I have to choke down a laugh. The teachers notice something wrong, but of course they are way off. Uriah lets out a sigh as he tries to cover a smile. "See, Uriah you tried to laugh. I know there is more than that." 

"Nope." Uriah tells Tori. "That's just it. There is nothing going on."

"Oh and Eric walks in today not even his grumpy self. He had this worried look on his face like....like I think you get the point. Jeanine, I mean Ms. Matthews, never even leaves her dumb little closet." She tells us. Like don't know that already.

"Really?" I ask trying to sound surprised.

"Yep." She crosses her arms again. "You may not tell me, but I know something is up. Principal Eaton is even thinking about having you guys into his office." Tori says no more as she finally exits the room.

My friends all watch her wide eyed. We start toward the door. "We are not telling them anything." I whisper to them just loud enough for them to hear.

When we step into the classroom, everyone's eyes are on us. I look to the front of the room to see Principal Eaton at the front of the room eyeing us carefully. "I asked them to help me get some art supplies." Tori explains to Marcus.

"What supplies?" He asks Tori when he sees that we aren't holding anything.

"Big jugs of acrylic paint. We are out though." Tori covers for us. I'm really wishing that I could just tell Tori everything. She would help.

"Shame. Be sure to put that on inventory next time." He warns Tori. "Anyway, I came to collect these five." He points to us. "Grab your things."

We all collect our backpacks and follow Marcus into the hall. The silent walk to the main office seems to take forever. When we walk in, the people at the front desk stare at us like we are in some gang. "Please wait here for a minute." He walks into the nurses station.

I feel Tobias tense up next to me. His father must really not be a fan of having to bring his son down to the office with everyone watching.

Marcus walks back out with the nurse. The nurse hands us all large cotton swabs. "Stick these in your mouth and let them sit for a while." She watches us as we stick them in our mouth. "I had to do this with all of the teacher complaints I have gotten about you." Marcus shoots her a glance. She defiantly said too much.

 After a while she hands us each a contraption that we are supposed to stick our swabs in to test for drugs. I wait as all the test strips show up negative. 

"Is this legal?" Christina asks after they are finished. 

The nurse looks down like it must be illegal, however Marcus is quick to deny that. He eyes us as the nurse verifies the test results. "If your not on drugs, what could possibly be your problem? With all the teachers complaining?" He fills the room with his harsh voice. The nurse finishes and walks away. 

Marcus leans closer to us, he purposely gets closer to Tobias and I. I can almost feel the anger radiate off of Marcus's skin. "I know something is up. I don't care how long it takes me. I will find out, no doubt about that." He lowers his voice. "And when I don find out, you can expect to pay a hefty price." He stands up and walks away. "Excused" He waves his hand. 

We get up and walk in silence through the office. Once we get out into the hallway, I check my phone to see if my mom tried to contact me. 

When I see she hasn't I try to call her as I'm walking to first period. I stop dead in my tracks when the phone desn't even ring. In fact, I get the 'Were sorry, but the number you are trying to call has been disconnected'. 

I stop dead in my tracks. "What is it?" Tobias is the first to ask. 

"Something is wrong." I hand him the phone so he can hear the repeating message. I watch as he takes it from his face and hangs up. 

"It could just be she is out of service." He tries to cheer me up, but the grave look on his face says otherwise. 

My phone starts to buzz, I answer it without looking at the caller ID. "Mom?" I answer. I listen, but the line stays completely silent. "Wrong number." A distorted voice says. I don't say anything more as I wait for the line to go dead. I can just barely hear someone in the background yelling 'No! Not the wrong number! No!' but the line goes dead after that. 

"I could be going crazy, or something could be very wrong." I tell my friends. "I could have sworn I heard my mom in the background of that call. They said it was the wrong number though." 

"Well we an't know for sure, but we must keep our guard up." Zeke takes charge. "When is you mom expected to be back?" 

"I don't know she didn't say." I mutter. 

"The best we can do is just watch out for missing persons reports and the news around the place where you mom was heading to." Zeke reassures me. I can't help but thinking, they could make the perfect accident out of my mom's situation.