Starting Over

Chapter 16

The next morning I wake up to two people talking in the kitchen. I realize one of them must be Tobias since he's not next to me in the bed, but I wonder who the other person is.

"Christina, I told you, it's nothing."
That answers that question.

"Maybe not to you, but all I can see is another Stiff in your bed! She looks so much like her, Four! If you're going to move on, and I suggest you do because she's not coming back, I don't think it's going to happen with a girl who you only like because she looks like Tris!"

"It's not like that!"

"Do you love her? Honestly, do you love her, Four?"

"Yes."

I quickly put my workout clothes on and walk into the kitchen.

"The next time you're going to talk about me, do it in front of my face," I say as I walk over to the counter and grab a muffin. Christina raises her eyebrows at Tobias when she sees me eating his food.

"Well, if you two really are together then I guess you wouldn't mind bringing her to a little game of Candor or Dauntless?" Christina asks smugly, like it's a challenge. "Uriah's hosting, so things may get interesting."

Tobias looks at me, silently asking me if I want to go. "I'm in, but you'll have to explain the rules."

At that Christina rolls her eyes like I should know what Candor or Dauntless is. "It's truth or dare. If someone asks you truth or dare, aka Candor or Dauntless, then you pick one. If you choose dare or Dauntless you do whatever dare they give you. If you pick truth or Candor then you have to answer the question honestly. If you refuse to do the dare or answer the question then you have to remove a piece of clothing. Understand?" Christina explains like I'm a five year old. Her tone is so condescending, I just want to punch her in the face.

"Yeah, I got it," I respond.

"Good! Be sure to wear layers, Stiff! Thinks can get pretty intense and I'm not sure you can handle it!" she hollers as she walks out of the room.

"What was that all about?" I ask Tobias when I know she's gone.

"She's just mad because she thinks the only reason I'm with you is because I can't get over Tris. But of course she doesn't know that you are Tris, so I guess some of it can be forgiven."

We walk toward the training room in silence for a while before Tobias suddenly grabs my hand and spins me to face him. He has a weird look in his eyes.

"Promise me that you won't me mad at me, no matter what happens today."

"Why? What's going on?"

"It's nothing, and it shouldn't be a big deal. I just want you to promise you won't be mad over it."

"Yeah, I promise, but can you tell me what's going on?"

"I wish I could, but I can't."

We walk the rest of the way in silence. When we get there everyone is just starting to trickle in. After everyone is there Tobias walks to the center of the room.

"Today you will move on to the next stage in initiation, but first we have to settle a tie in the hand to hand combat portion of the initiation. B and Thomas, come here." It's then that I realize he's standing in the middle of the ring.

"I was informed this morning that you two are tied and that leaving it as a tie could mess with your final standings, so we have to settle it today."

So that's why Christina came to talk to him this morning.

By now we know the rules so as soon as Tobias moves out of the way we start fighting. He swings first but it's easy to avoid and I'm able to get in a solid hit to his jaw with my elbow while he's off guard. He growls and lunges at me, trying to grab me and throw me to the ground, but I easily dance back out if the way. He tries to hit me in the head again but I block it and knee him hard in the ribs. This time I remember to pull my leg back quickly so he can't grab it like Tobias did yesterday.

Thomas stumbles some but doesn't fall. While he's still off balance I'm able to punch him once in the jaw and once in the nose. His nose starts to gush blood and out of the corner of my eye I think I see Tobias smirk. Thomas is so distracted by the blood he doesn't even notice as I punch him in the gut. He forgets about the blood and quickly refocuses on me. He swings wildly in a blind rage. It's headed at the top of my head and I easily duck, landing in a squat, and kick his legs out from under him. He tries to get up so I sit on his chest and punch him in the jaw again. He quits struggling and I get up. That tie was settled easily.

After the fight Tobias leads us toward a room I remember well, the fear landscape.

"This is the fear landscape room. Here you will face your greatest fears for the final test, but before that we will take a few days to go through a few of your individual fears so it's not as overwhelming when you're under the full simulation."

I wonder if any of my fears have changed. I'm sure they have. I'm not afraid of some of the things in my previous landscape anymore, but I'm sure new fears have surfaced to take their place. It's been a long two years and a lot of stuff has happened.

Tobias leads us to the smaller room for the individual fears. "Tomorrow morning you will report here instead of the training room. You have the rest of the day off."

And with that we're dismissed just in time for lunch. I start to head toward the cafeteria but Tobias has other plans.

"Come with me," he whispers in my ear as he takes my hand. He pulls me into the simulation room and sits down in his usual chair so I sit in the simulation chair. "Are you mad at me?"

"No! Why would you think I am?"

"I was afraid you'd be mad about the fight this morning."

"No," I shake my head and laugh. "I can take Thomas. He doesn't scare me."

"Does anything scare you?"

"Yes, Four!" I add extra emphasis on the Four to point out how few fears he has. He laughs at me.

"Is it still four?" I ask. He nods, knowing that I'm asking about the number of fears.

"Is yours still six?"

"I don't know, I guess we'll find out!"

"I love you, Tris."

"I love you too, Tobias."

He holds my hand and just stares at me for a minute before we leave to go get lunch.