But Then I Met Her | ✓

Chapter 51

A/N: We're almost to the "good part" haha

Tris and I had spent two hours lying on my bed, kissing and talking and occassionally sleeping until we heard shouts in the hallway- probably Zeke and Uriah- and got up to go to the banquet. I can't wipe the damn grin off my face.

Tris smiles at me, one corner of her mouth tilting upwards, and heads into the cafeteria. I enter a minute later and see her sitting with Will and Christina. Zeke offers me a dark bottle- I can smell the alcohol in it- and wave it away. My eyes linger on Tris too long.

"You and Tris?" Shauna asks hopefully. Lynn, Lauren, Uriah, and Marlene are nowhere in sight.

I shake my head and shoot her a look. "No. Why would you ask that?"

Zeke smirks. "Oh come on, we saw you two after her fear landscape."

I roll my eyes, wondering when I won't have to lie to them anymore. "She had a question for me. About the simulations, or the rankings. I can't remember which."

A squealing microphone cuts off whatever Shauna was going to say. Tris claps her hands over her ears. Eric taps the microphone with his fingertips, and then clears his throat. "We aren't big on speeches here. Eloquence is for Erudite." He says. Some people laugh, and I don't know why they laugh. It's really not that funny. I decide that half of them are drunk. "So I'm going to keep this short. It's a new year, and we have a knew pack of initiates. And a slightly smaller pack of new members. We offer them our congratulations."

Zeke, Shauna, and I  pound our fists against the table like everyone else. "We believe in bravery. We believe in taking action. We believe in freedom from fear and in acquiring the skills to force the bad out of our world so that the good can prosper and thrive. If you also believe in those things, we welcome you." Eric probably believes in none of that, but oh well. It's still a good speech, I guess.

More people pound their fists against the table, and Zeke lets out a loud shout, cupping his hands around his mouth to magnify it.  Shauna reaches across the table and smacks him in the arm at the same time as I smack him upside the back of the head. We grin at each other.

I don't hear the rest of the speech, just watch as the names appear on the screen with the initiates pictures.

1. Tris

2. Uriah

3. Lynn

4. Marlene

5. Peter 

6. Will

7. Christina

I don't even care that Peter's in fifth. I'm happy that Tris is in first, and even happier that Uriah, Lynn, and Marlene are staying. Molly and Drew are kicked out- Zeke and Shauna laugh, and Lauren and Shauna hug and shout when we see that. Gabe is staying, too. I think he's Lauren's cousin.

"I'll be right back!" I shout to Zeke. He nods and him, Shauna, and Lauren follow me over towards Tris, but go towards the Dauntless-borns instead. i tap Tris on the shoulder and she turns. She stands up and beams up at me.

"You think giving you a hug would give away too much?" I ask, nervous. I see my friends and Marlene, Lynn, and Uriah- who, yes, are my friends- watching me. 

"You know, I really don't care." I barely comprehend what she said before she presses her lips against mine. I wrap one arm around her waist and pull her closer. My other hand brushes against where Eric injected the serum into her.

Tris breaks away from the kiss and stares at me wide-eyed. I think about what could have made her pull away, and can think of nothing. "Tris?" I ask, confused.

She shakes her head. "Not now." A dark feeling spreads through my body. Something bad has happened- I can tell that it has something to do with the Erudite, but what I don't know. "Later," she says. "Okay?" I can't do anything else but nod.

Across the room, Zeke and Uriah flash me twin I-told-you-so looks.