Divergent: Four's POV

Chapter 19

She sleeps in my room. I sleep on the floor, so she can have the bed. I pretend to be asleep. I feel her eyes on me. She just watches me. Eventually, her eyes close and I look to make sure she is truly sleeping.
I get up and walk into another room. I'm filled with anger. I want them to pay for what they've done, but there is not much that I can do. I have a glass of water and walk back into the bedroom, where she sleeps. I watch her sleep for a minute. Her breath is steady. I think she is having a good dream, because she is smiling.
I lay back down and fall asleep.
I wake up before she does. I take a shower and get dressed. My hair is wet, so I grab a towel.
I walk back into the room and find Tris, standing in front of a mirror. Her hair is tied up. She turns to look at me, and I walk up to her. I brush my fingertips against the bruise on her cheek.
"Not bad," I say. "How's your head?"
"Fine." She is lying. It doesn't take a Candor to tell that she is in pain.
I place my hand on her side and her body tightens.
"And your side?" I ask, struggling to talk.
"Only hurts when I breathe."
I smile. "Not much you can do about that."
"Peter would probably throw a party if I stopped breathing." I don't know how to respond, at first.
"Well," I start to say. "I would only go if there was cake."
She laughs and winces in pain. She puts her hand on my hand, which still rests on her rib cage. I remove my hand slowly, wishing that I didn't have to.
I start to lead the way out. We can't leave at the same time, otherwise people will know that she was with me.
"I'll go in first," I say. "See you soon, Tris." I walk in and take a seat next to Zeke. I stare at the doorway, waiting for Tris to come in.
She walks in with her head down. She lets her bruise show, like I said. When she takes her seat, she pretends to be vulnerable. I would believe her, if I hadn't known what happened. Her friends comfort her.
Drew walks in. His face is completely swollen and purple. He has a split lip and a cut eyebrow. I can't help but smile. I feel satisfaction running throw my veins.
I walk between the two tables of transfers.
"Transfers. We're doing something different today. Follow me."
I lead them out of the dining hall and down a path, that surrounds the Pit. I turn around to see where Drew is. He is in the back, falling behind.
"Pick up the pace, Drew," I say, feeling humorous. My feeling of satisfaction disappears, when I see Tris has her arm around Will's. I don't know why. I'm the one who told her to rely on her friends.
I take them into a glass room that leads to a fear landscaping room.
"This," I say, "is a different kind of simulation, known as the fear landscape. It has been disabled for our purposes, so it isn't what it will be like the next time you see it. Through your simulations, we have stored data about your worst fears. The fear landscape accesses that data and presents you with a series of virtual obstacles. Some of the obstacle will be fears you previously faced in your simulations. Some may be new fears. The difference is that you are aware, in the fear landscape, that it is a simulation, so you will have all your wits about you as you go through it."
I glance at Tris and see that she is worrying about the news that I just gave to her. It means that everyone else will be able to go through in the same way that she has been, but it doesn't give her an advantage. Let's hope she won't need it.
"The number of fears you have in your landscape varies according to how many you have. I told you before that the third stage of initiation focuses on mental preparation. That is because you control both your emotions and your body-to combine the physical abilities you learned in stage one with the emotional mastery you learned in stage town. To keep a level head." I stop scanning the crowd and stare at Tris. Her face goes red. "Next week you will go through your fear landscape as quickly as possible in front of a panel of Dauntless leaders. That will be your final test, which determines your ranking for stage three. Just as stage two initiation is weighted more heavily than stage one, stage three is weighted heaviest of all. Understood?" Everyone nods. "You can get past each obstacle in one of two ways. Either you find a way to calm down enough that the simulation registers a normal, steady heartbeat, or you find a way to face your fear, which can force the simulation to move on. One way to face a fear of drowning is to swim deeper, for example." I shrug. "So I suggest that you take the next week to consider your fears and develop strategies to face them."
"That doesn't sound fair," says Peter. His voice make me angry. "What if one person only has seven fears and someone else has twenty? That's not their fault." I stare at him for a few seconds and laugh.
"Do you really want to talk to me about what's fair?"
I walk to Peter, fold my arms, and speak in the most intimidating voice I can find. "I understand why you're worried, Peter. The events of last night proved that you are a miserable coward." He stares back with a blank face.
"So now we all know," I say quietly, "that you are afraid of a short, skinny girl from Abnegation." I try to hold back a smile, but there is no use.
I find Tris's friends, filled with amusement. I see Tris, out of the corner of my eye, with a smile.
-
(A/N): Sorry that this chapter wasn't as interesting. I'm excited to write the next one though. Warning: Things will get fluffy