Rebel

Chapter 48

I wake up out of bed, only to find the city's newspaper that they publish every week. I slip on my clothes and shoes as quickly as possible before sprinting towards the chasm to read the newspaper. The sky isn't even lit yet so it's basically me sitting in the dark early morning sky, reading the newspaper. The city newspapers are the length of a magazine, rather than the length of a newspaper from the olden days. I open the first page, seeing a name plastered onto the cover. Felicia Black, second trial held this afternoon. The brutal murder of David Pedrad finally caught red-handed. Rain testified in a heartbreaking moment. "I don't understand how exactly they can expect me to remember everything. I was a small child. Of course I love my mom but murder's not okay." Two out of the three Pedrad brothers testify today in court. The third is still missing in action. Ezekiel and Uriah Pedrad still heartbroken over the loss of their father. "I grew up without him, basically," Uriah states. Nathaniel Pedrad still missing, after three years. If he is still missing for two more years, he'll be proclaimed legally dead. Marcus Eaton makes a fool of himself in court due to his absurd speeches.

I start laughing. Marcus? Finally getting arrested? F*ck yeah.

"Kat," Tobias says with a raspy voice from behind.

I look behind me, staring directly into his eyes. "What do you want?"

"Wear a jacket, dumb*ss. Come to my place. I need to talk to you," my older brother says with his old protective voice.

I shake my head.

Tobias glares at me. "That wasn't a question, Catherine."

I narrow my eyes as he drags me to his place, Tobias draping his jacket around my shoulders. Tris was gone once again, probably at some sort of stupid leader function. Tobias rolls a loaf of bread across the table.

"Listen, Catherine. You better eat," Tobias says with a warning tone.

"I'm not hungry," I reply frankly, opening my magazine as I keep reading.

Tobias shoves the book out of my hand. "Catherine. Eat."

I roll the loaf of bread back to him. "Eating is a waste of time, Tobias. There are much more practical things to do." I shrug my older brother's jacket off of me.

"You've gotten strangely thin, you need to eat," he states, rolling his eyes at me.

I hear this really amusing muffled noise from beside us. I tune in to see what's going on. "You see me rolling, they hating!" someone screams from the apartment next to ours.

"URIAH SHUT UP!" a familiar voice screams at the top of his lungs.

"Of course it's Uriah," Tobias mumbles, shaking his head while laughing.

I start laughing uncontrollably, along with Tobias. "Wow, okay, what a great way to summarize this," I announce.

"Catherine, I'm not letting you leave until you eat something," my older brother says in his overprotective tone.

I grab a hunk of bread and shove it down my throat. "Better?"

Tobias nods. "Thank the anti-Marcus campaign."

I laugh. "Is that what you say now?"

Tobias nods. I rip the magazine from his hands and exit his apartment.

***

This morning, training goes exactly as planned. Uriah screaming at the top of his lungs about misplacing his Dauntless cake and Tobias covering his ears and motioning for us all to do the same. The trial's supposed to go on later today. I'm scared as f*ck, knowing Rainbow will get her mother taken away from her. In the middle of training, Rainbow gathers Matt, Abel, Nathan, Jo, and me into a fight huddle in one of the dense corners of the training room.

Rainbow looks around anxiously, making sure the coaches are nowhere in sight. "We have to skip today," she whispers, "The trial continues."

"Skip training?" I asked, raising my left eyebrow. That thought never entered my mind, skipping classes. I've never done that before. "What concepts will we miss out on?"

They all laugh.

Nathan laughs, a large grin escaping his small, incredibly chapped lips. "Wow, Kat, have you become a pansy cake?"

Matt laughs hysterically in response to this, just before Rainbow places a finger to his lips. "Shut the f*ck up," she whispers, "we have important sh*t to do, unlike you and Nathan and your strange *ss romance."

Matt and Nathan's jaws drop in sync. "Fine," Nathan exhausts.

I nod. We sprint out to the platform, the harsh wind brushing against our faces. The wind stalks us, along with the sunlight, as we jump onto the train, one after another. Nathan has trouble getting onto the train from the latch, so I extend my hand. He grips my hand, climbing onto the train, my hand slowly untangles with his. His hand follows mine and grips it, my eyes locking with his.

"Get a room!" Matt whines.

Nathan pulls me closer to him, cupping my face in his hands. "Let's pester that b*stard."

I laugh. "Alright, I'm in." I press my lips against his, then I release.

"NATHAN-" Matt exclaims before Nathan punches him in the gut with a sharp, endless glare. Nathan rolls his eyes at Matt.

Matt scoffs, yet making his soft spot towards Nathan known. We all enter the room of the trial, our seats lined up next to each other. Most of Dauntless skipped training; more than half. Felicia stands, lined up along with all the witnesses. I've always wondered why this trial has taken years to finalize. I thought this mess would be close to ending; it's only just beginning.