BULLETS ⚊ divergent

EIGHT

"You feeling okay, Tris?" Al's voice cut through the light atmosphere, interrupting the banter that was happening. The three other transfers looked back at Tris, who had been silent during the last few minutes. 

"Yeah," she attempted to nod her head, "Just wish I could stay here forever so I never have to see Peter again."

"If you did that, you'd be letting him win," Lilith said, her fingers wrapping around the barrier on the end of Tris' bed. 

The blonde released a sigh, her eyes drifting to her hands, before she looked back up at Lilith, "Did you really believe I could do it? That I could beat Peter?" she stopped, gulping to herself, "Or were you just saying those things?"

All eyes turned to Lilith. No one else had told Tris that there was a chance she could beat Peter; in fact, they had even told her to give up on trying to win that particular combat. The brunette didn't know if she had truly believed that Tris had it in her or if she was just angry and eager to see someone put the boy in his place, and that had made her project her hopes onto Tris. She now realized that maybe she had put her faith in the other girl for purely selfish reasons, and not because she trusted that Tris had the ability to do it.

"I believe you have the potential to do it," she finally mumbled, placing a strand of hair behind her ear, "Maybe today just wasn't the right day."

"Hey, don't worry about Peter," Will spoke up, after a few seconds of silence, "He got beat up by Lilith, and he'll at least get beat up by Edward," his lips spread into a smile, "He's been studying hand-to-hand combat since we were ten years old. For fun."

"Good," Christina nodded her head, as she looked down at her watch, "I think we're missing dinner. Do you want us to stay here, Tris?"

The blonde shook her head, "I'm fine."

"I can bring you some cake, if you'd like," Lilith offered.

Tris met her eyes once more, a small smile on her lips, "No, that's okay. Thanks, Lilith."

Every step she took seemed to be a lot heavier as she followed Will and Christina out of the hospital wing. The two were chattering amongst themselves, not noticing that Lilith was lagging behind. Something about the realization that she had had when Tris had questioned if she had ever believed in her made her feel awful. Perhaps she was allowing the stress of the initiation process to take over her, and make her do and say things that she normally wouldn't. Hell, she'd even been feeling angrier than usual, to the point where she actually needed to do something about it so she wouldn't explode.

An arm laced itself around hers, and Lilith looked to side in surprise, only to see Siobhan. They hadn't been spending a lot of time together during the last few days, and the brunette would be lying if she said that the Dauntless born's company wasn't like a breath of fresh air. A bruise stood out on the girl's cheek but, other than that, there weren't many other signs that the girl had been defeated a lot of times in her own training.

"Why the long face?" Siobhan questioned, as they made their way to the dining room.

"Stress, I guess," Lilith shrugged. Even if she wanted to elaborate further, she wasn't sure of where she'd begin or how she'd explain. Her feelings were much safer inside of her, at least for the time being.

Siobhan released a hum, "Okay, let's not talk about the combats," she paused, before grinning, "I know! How are you feeling about our field trip tomorrow?"

Lilith had a vague memory of Eric calling them when training had ended for the day, letting them know that they'd be visiting the fence that surrounded the city, on the next day. Apparently, they were going to learn more about what exactly the Dauntless who worked there did, not that the girl cared too much about it. However, she did have to admit that, after days of being confined to the Dauntless compound, the trip sounded like what she needed to get her ideas in order.