The school bell rang as Tris walked the corridors of the school, navigating her way amongst the crowd of teens. She wrapped her arms protectively around her stomach as she walked, shielding her most prized possession that lay there.

A camera.

But this wasn't just any camera. It was the camera that she had gotten from her family for her birthday. A Sony Alpha A7R II. One of the fanciest and most high-tech cameras that were out there. She couldn't afford to get any sweaty hands on it.

Tris was always the one who stood out from the crowd. She never fit in, making her the most observant person she knows. She never minded her differences though, because that made it easier for her to take good shots; she had an eye for photography. She worked for the school yearbook, where she could put her talent to use. She was planning on having pursuing an art major and opening up a studio, or maybe teaching kids some basic photography. Her whole life was set.

On this particular day, Tris found it nearly impossible to make her way amongst the crowd. Sure, she was used to being invisible, but this was something new. As she fought her way to her locker, she realized something.

The band, Four and the Pansycakes, were back in town.

Four, Zeke, Uriah, and Will had made a band at the beginning of freshman year. It was simply a way for them to express themselves and have some fun together. Once, in the middle of freshman year, they posted a video of their newest song on YouTube, and it grew viral. Next thing they knew, they were famous stars. They worked at a professional recording studio during their sophomore year, then went on tour during junior year. Their publicists decided that it would be a good idea to wrap up their education before they turned to full-time music producers.

So here they were.

Tris, having finally made it to her locker, began taking her books out for her next class, when she happened to look at a picture that was posted on her locker for years. It was a picture of her and Tobias the summer before freshman year started. They had gone to the pool, and moments before the picture was taken, Tobias made a funny joke that made Tris laugh, so she wasn't even looking at the camera. Tobias said that it was what made the picture real. Tris never forgot that, and whenever she took pictures of people, she took them discreetly as to get them while they were in the moment, making them "real", as Tobias would say.

Tris was the only person who knew that Four was actually Tobias. In fact, before the band had grown famous, they were best friends. Tris still remembers the day when they met.

It was a hot summer day, a few days before seventh grade would start. Tris wanted to enjoy her last few moments of freedom before she had to go to school, so she went to the woods where she would play and sit in the shade. She took her camera along with her, a simple Canon camera that was of a cheap quality but still served her purpose. Tris was just discovering her newfound talent, and she planned on testing it out with some simple nature shots. As she settled into her corner of the woods, she saw something new that she had never seen before.

A tree house.

That was new. It had to be, because Tris knew every corner of this part of the woods, and she had never seen it before. Cautiously, she climbed up the wooden ladder, curious as to know if the tree house belonged to someone. If it didn't, she wanted to claim it all to herself. She had seen tree houses before, and she wanted one, too, but her parents never let her have one, claiming that any possessions were selfish.

"Hello?" she called as she entered the room. It seemed pretty comfy. It had a door through which she entered and a window on the opposite side, which was really just a hole through the slab of wood. In the corner of the room sat a boy with a guitar and a notebook, who seemed to be jotting down some notes. Upon hearing her voice, his head shot up, and he looked at the girl in front of him.

"Um...hi?" he said. His mind momentarily stopped working as he looked upon the beauty in front of him.

"Wow, this place is really cool," Tris commented. When she saw the boys confused face, she quickly said, "I'm Tris, by the way,".

"I'm Tobias," he said, finally seeming to understand how his mouth worked. "So, do you come here often?"

And with that, the conversation started. She found out that he had built this place a few weeks ago, when he had moved here. She also found out that they were in the same grade, and that he liked to compose music, hence the guitar and the notebook. He found out that she had lived here all her life and that she loved photography. They both found out that they had a new best friend.

Tobias remembers, too, but he doesn't dwell on it as much, not since sophomore year. It seemed that Tris simply stopped communication with him entirely, and he had no idea why. He racked his brain for any moment where he had done or said something that would make her ignore him, but no matter how hard he tried, he could never come up with that said moment. So he gave up after sometime, believing that somethings just weren't meant to be.

Currently he was trying to make his way among the crowd of fellow colleagues, most of whom couldn't get their hands off of him. Sure, he loved music, it being the one thing that made him feel free, but he wasn't aware of the amount of paparazzi or the number of fans that it would take to allow him to follow his dream. He didn't mind most of the time, but sometimes, he wished he and the band had never posted that video.

One of those instances happened to be now. He finally made it to his locker and was walking towards his first class, where half of the school claimed that their class was also. When he finally made it to his seat, he sighed in relief. He had never been so excited for school to start.

Tris was itching to get to class. No, she wasn't excited about it, but the warning bell had already rung and she couldn't be late to this class. In addition to being a shy girl that barely anyone knew, she was also a good girl. Call her whatever you want, but she wanted it to stay that way. Although, it seemed impossible to get anywhere with the number of people in front of her. Seriously, what was going on?

When she finally made it into the class, there was only a minute to the tardy bell. She quickly sat in a random seat, and began pulling out her notebook for the class. As she lifted her head, she happened to glance at the boy she was sitting next to, who ideally happened to be looking back at her.

Four.

She quickly averted her eyes and found something interesting in the lines of her notebook. When the bell rang and the class started, she couldn't be more relived. She took the best notes that she had ever taken the entire year, happy to get her attention on anything else other than him.

He couldn't believe his eyes. He just found his best friend. But she certainly didn't seem happy to see him. She payed attention to the lecture like he knew she would, but something wasn't right about the way she was doing it. When the bell rang, signaling the end of the class, she quickly grabbed her notebook and ran as if she would die if she stayed in that room any longer. He was reminded of the time at the beginning of sophomore year when she began avoiding him, where she was the one who encouraged him to pursue his dreams, and yet she avoided him.

Why? Only time will tell.

♢♢♢

As it turned out, Four had almost all of his classes with Tris. And it made Tris uncomfortable. A lot. So she turned to the only thing that made her forget her worries.

Photography.

After school, she went to the computer lab, where the yearbook team met to work on the yearbook. Today Tris was lucky enough to capture some shots of the band and their fans, and since the there was already a page in the yearbook dedicated to this special day, she began uploading some photos.

The first picture she uploaded was a picture of the boys, excluding Four, and their girlfriends, finally together. Will, Uriah, and Zeke all had girlfriends, and even though they were on tour for an entire year, they loved their girls very much, and were able to make the relationship work. When they got back to school, the girls were super excited to see them. It had been an entire year, after all. Tris heard that their names were Christina, Marlene, and Shauna, so in the caption of the picture, she wrote: The band are finally reunited with their girls: Christina, Marlene, and Shauna. Sure, it was a pretty sad caption, but she was certain that someone else would help her fix it. In yearbook, that's what people did.

The next picture that she decided to upload was a picture of the band singing. Due to the popular demand, the band was allowed to perform one of their songs from their newest album during lunch in the cafeteria. Staying true to Tobias' word, she took one of her "real" pictures, where Four was closing his eyes and singing, and Zeke was bobbing his head up and down as he played the electric guitar. She smiled looking at Tobias.

She remembered the days when Tobias started growing popularity. She was one of their only subscribers to the YouTube channel, and when she saw that they had recently posted a new video, she was ecstatic. She grew even more excited when she heard the video. It was like no other. Tobias, being the main singer, put so much emotion into the song, it was clearly visible based on the way he was singing. She was glad that her friend had finally pursued his passion. Even if it meant being a little excluded from his football team (it was where he got his name from), she was still happy for him. Over the course of the next few days, she saw how the YouTube video became a viral sensation. It was then when she realized that she could no longer talk to Tobias. After all, once he's famous, why would he want to talk to a small, shy girl, when he could be friends with whomever he wanted?

Tris sighed as she uploads the picture onto the page, added some adjustments, and quickly wrote a caption. Then she logged off of the computer and exited the classroom. By now, there were hardly any people left, so she was able to gather her stuff and exit the school in a record speed.

When Tris went outside, she realized that the weather is great. Being just the beginning of September, the weather is not to hot and not too cold, so she decided to go to the woods so that she can study and finish her homework in the nature.

Tris still used to visit the tree house even after Tobias left. She enjoyed the amount of peace that she could receive, even though she couldn't help but wonder how much more amazing it would be if Tobias was there with her. She quietly entered the tree house, to find it already occupied.

By none other than Tobias.

Her eyes widen and she quickly scrambled to exit. Before her feet could reach the first rung of the ladder, she heard, "Bumble Bea,"

It was the nickname that he had given her during the first days of their friendship. Tobias claimed that Tris, which he found was short for Beatrice, was quiet and did her own thing without bothering anyone. But once you bothered her, she could sting like a bee. "Plus," he had added all those years ago, "the 'bee' could be 'bea' as in, the first few letters of your name. How does that sound?"

Back then, it sounded fine. But now? It just made her want to curl up in a ball and cry. Deciding to ignore her old nickname, she stepped onto the ladder. A warm, calloused hand stopped her. "Tris, please," she looked into his eyes and acquiesces. Those eyes were always her weakness. Tobias assumed his previous position, while Tris sat completely opposite him, so that they are facing each other. He couldn't help but wonder what he did wrong. But he also couldn't help but wonder how perfectly the light caught her eyes, and how her hair glowed in the sunlight. Absolutely beautiful.

"So," Tris began, hoping to get out of there, "How have you been?"

"Oh, I've been great," Four said. "Ya know, touring the world with millions of fans. Just the usual," at this, Tris couldn't help but chuckle slightly. Tobias always made her laugh, no matter how down she was feeling. Tobias gave himself a mental high-five for making his best friend laugh again, then continues, "How are you?"

"Oh, um, I'm fine," Tris said, then looking at her friends expression, decided to elaborate. "Uh, I'm part of yearbook now, so that's been really fun," she said, looking down.

"Wow, that's great," was the only reply. The two of them sat in an uncomfortable silence for sometime until Tobias decided to break the tension by asking the unavoidable question.

"What did I do to get you to stop talking to me?" he asked, looking to the Tris' eyes. Tris looked up to be met with his eyes, full of curiosity and hurt.

"Um, well, I just thought you were busy, you know, so I thought it would be best not to call," Tris made up an excuse, because she felt that the real reason why she didn't want to talk to him was only for her insecure needs, and that made her feel guilty.

"Don't lie to me, Tris," he said sincerely. "I know that you have been avoiding me, and I want to know why. Please," he begged, wanting to know the real reason behind this.

"Promise me you won't get mad at me?" Tris asked, squeezing her eyes shut. She knew the consequences of what she was about to say. Tobias would probably hate her, but she wanted him to know that this could be bad. And he understood, but being the curious one of the two of them he said, "I promise"

Tris took a deep breath before beginning. "Tobias... I don't know, I just... I guess I felt like you wouldn't want to be friends with me anymore since you would be famous and all... I mean, look at me, I'm just a girl who nobody knows and who is shy and ugly and selfish... and I guess I didn't want to ruin your reputation when you became famous," she finished, her voice getting smaller and smaller until it was just a whisper at the end.

Tobias was in shock and in utter denial. "Tris, of course I would want to be friends with you. You're one of my closest friends, even closer than Zeke. And you're talented and beautiful and selfless, Tris, and I am honored to be your friend. I'm sorry for ever making you feel that you were any less important to me, because that's not true. I missed you, Tris," he said, his voice projecting in the same way as her's.

She couldn't believe what she just heard. Her best friend just told her that he wanted her forever. He wasn't mad at her. And to top it all off, he even apologized when it wasn't even his fault. What more could she want? Just thinking about her best friend brought tears to her eyes, and a few tears escaped their ducts. Tobias scooted so that he was closer to Tris and enveloped her in a tight embrace. He never wanted to let go, no sir, especially since he got his best friend back. But he couldn't help but wonder how perfectly her body fit with his, and how everything about them fit together like puzzle pieces. She responded to the embrace by wrapping her arms around his waist.

And they sat together, wrapped up in each other. Best friends reunited at last.

♢♢♢

Months had flown by. Tris and Tobias were both growing their friendship slowly, catching each other up on what the other missed in their life. And since two years was a really long time, they were often seen together a lot. In fact, the media had also got caught up in the best friends' relationship.

Mystery girl seen with pop star Four.

Has teen sensation Four finally found his match?

Is Four dating?

These were just a few of the many things that were seen on the internet. To any ordinary person, it would seem as if they were dating. Most of the time, the pictures were taken when Tobias makes a lame joke, causing Tris to slap him playfully, which resulted in Tobias feigning hurt, which caused Tris to laugh, which in turn caused Tobias to laugh. That was the way it was, always.

All of the controversy about him and Tris made Tobias wonder. Did he really want to be in a relationship now? Yes, he no longer wanted to be the seventh wheel when he was with the band. But the only person he could see himself with was Tris.

In his opinion, Tris was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Her singular blue-grey eyes, the golden locks of hair, and her petite yet perfect figure made her look like a princess. The way she laughed, oh, her laugh, it was unlike anything he had ever heard. It was ethereal. And the way she made him laugh, God, no one made him laugh like the way she did. Just being herself was the best thing ever. And as Tobias spent more and more time with her, he realized that Tris was it for him. She was what he wanted.

But he could never bring himself to do it. It was like getting on stage. He was nervous every time, but once he got on, he knew that it was going to be alright. The problem this time? He didn't know if everything would be alright. And that scared him. He had just gotten back their friendship; he didn't want to take any chances and ruin it.

When Tris saw the articles, she shrugged them off, not thinking more about it. But as time went on and the number of articles kept increasing, she began to wonder. She fantasized a world where she and Tobias were dating, where instead of making a lame joke, Tobias would try to flatter her.

Soon the fantasizing got to her, and she began hoping, praying, that this would happen. Every time she was with Tobias, she had butterflies. A whole swarm of them. But she never did anything about them, though, because wasn't the guy supposed to ask the girl first? She would never bring herself to do it, because she had already ruined their friendship, and she didn't want to risk doing it again.

So for months the two of them stayed friends, both hiding their feelings for each other in hopes to keep their friendship.

It was almost Christmas break, and it was a Friday. That was the day that Tobias and Tris went out to the café. He would get a chocolate muffin, and she a blueberry. There, they talked and laughed and finished their homework so that they could spend as much time possible together over the weekend.

On this particular Friday, however, the yearbook staff were trying to meet a deadline that was due for tomorrow, and since none of them were willing to sacrifice their weekend, they decided to meet after school to finish it. When Tris told Tobias the news, he decided that he would rather wait for Tris to finish than go anywhere else. What better way to day dream about the love of your life than to day dream with that person right in front of you?

When the bell rang, Tris rushed out of the classroom and into the computer lab, where her fellow colleagues were editing pictures and typing furiously on the keyboards. Pages twenty-five to forty were due, so Tris began scrolling through the pages, looking to add her expertise when needed. Meanwhile, Tobias stood at the door, unseen by Tris, and was waiting for her to finish up.

Page thirty-five. This was the day that Four and the Pansycakes got back from tour. She looks at the caption for the pictures that she uploaded. Sure enough, there were far better captions than the ones she had put. She glanced at the picture of Four that she had uploaded. She smiled and began fantasizing again. She found herself doing that a lot lately. Using the cursor, she began drawing hearts around his face, over and over again.

Tobias, who happened to be standing near by her, saw this discreet movement. At first he thought that she was merely showing her love to him as a friend, but then he realized that it was a repeated motion, and he noticed the soft sighs that came from Tris as she did so. It was then that he realized that she felt the same way about him that he felt about her. And he planned on doing something about it.

Quickly, he fled the classroom and posted a note on her locker. Meet me at the place, it read. He knew she would understand what it would mean.

And she did. Once the team was finished with the yearbook, she made her way to her locker, gathered up her stuff, and headed to the treehouse in the woods. She was curious as to what he could be asking. Could it be what she had hoped for all these months?

When she finally arrived, she saw Tobias. And damn did he look hot. He was holding his guitar, smirking, but under that smirk his nerves were going haywire. He could do this. For Tris and their future.

He started singing and strumming. It was one of their songs from a while ago, a few months before the band grew popular. It was supposed to be a romantic song, which Tris picked up on right away. When he finished, he look her hands in his and said,

"Tris, you are beautiful and I love each and every single thing about you. I want to be a part of your special life. So Tris, will you do me the honor of becoming my girlfriend?"

Tris was taken back by his statement, but she knew what she wanted, so she replied with a, "Yes. Of course, Tobias,"

He pulled her into him and their bodies were flush against each other. He wrapped his arms around her and she returned the gesture. They fit together perfectly, just like they imagined that they would.

Although he had his music notes and she had her photographs, they both realized that now, they had each other.