Free Four: Insurgent [Book 2] (ON HOLD)

6.

I wake up before Tris, her arms draped haphazardly across the bed, one hand on my face, her other dangling off the bed. I smile and move her hand as gently as I can and get up to shave.

I stand in front of the mirror, moving my face around, trying not to miss any of the scruff that I haven't had time to get rid of since leaving Dauntless. I see movement in the corner, Tris curled up into a snowball of blond hair, pale skin, and white duvet.

"Good morning," I say. "How did you sleep?"

"Okay," she says, slipping out of the sheets. She walks over to me, looping her arms around my waist, her forehead resting against my back. I put the razor down and cover her hands with my own. My fingers run along hers.

"I should go get ready," she says after a moment. She has to do her part for the Amity today, and I fight down the urge to ask her to milk the excuse of her shoulder wound so she can stay with me.

"I'll get you something to wear," I say instead. She walks out first, headed for the women's bathroom, and I head down the other direction of the hallway to the laundry room.

I walk in, and three elderly women are standing in front of washers, turning shirts inside out before plunging them in the soapy water. I look around the room, but I can't tell the piles of clean clothes from the piles of dirty clothes.

"What can I help you with, Sweetheart," one of the ladies says, her eyes like bright blue marbles.

"Clothes for a girl about yay big and yay high," I say, trying to approximate Tris's form with my hands.

"The little blond one?" the lady asks with a knowing smile.

I nod and she quirks a smile. "I don't often forget a face, and that little one of yours has quite a memorable look to her." She turns away before I can respond and walks towards one of the piles of clothes lining the back wall. She shifts her way through and gathers a small stack of clothes and hands them over to me.

"Here you go," she says.

"Thanks," I say. She gives me a pat on the shoulder and I stiffen. Dauntless and Amity seem to have a lot of the same touchy gestures, but I still can't seem to escape my expectations from Abnegation.

I turn to leave and hear a scream down the hall. A crowd is already gathering and I walk quickly. I see a blond head in the middle and break into a run.

Tris is already being pulled away from Peter and I scramble to get next to Tris. I grab her around the waist, but her force is unrelenting, her breaths harsh and fast through her teeth.

"Tris, calm down!" I say.

"He has the hard drive!" she yells, still looking at Peter. "He stole it from me! He has it!" I feel her anger now like it's contagious, but if both of us go insane, it'll do nothing to help our reputation around here.

I walk over to Peter, slow and careful. I know I still intimidate him from initiation. There is a woman talking to him, trying to soothe him like a mother, but I place my shoe right onto his sternum, so his entire rib cage is trapped beneath me. I bend down and look him in the eyes, glaring, as I take the hard drive from his pocket.

I bring my voice down, almost to a whisper, but I know everyone can probably hear me, it is so utterly quiet in this hallway. "We won't be in a safe house forever, and this wasn't very smart of you," I say. But Tris won't get off the hook either. I expect better of her, and she knows it. "Not very smart of you, either. Do you want to get us kicked out?"

She scowls at me, and despite her frame and the look of an incorruptible innocence in her eyes, I feel ice run through my veins. An Amity man begins to pull her down the hallway, and she struggles against him.