The following morning, Peter is suspiciously quiet. And my things are folded neatly in a small bag at the end of my bed. I smirk at the bag and walk to the bathroom with that smirk and smirk on my way back to the dorms. I can't help it, winning feels so good.
Tris is still asleep even when we leave for breakfast, "Shouldn't we go warn her? I bet it's gonna be hard for her to walk today." Christina volunteers herself and takes two muffins to the dorms, I eat my egg and turkey-bacon sandwich quietly. Stealing glances across the room at Four. I want to thank him for whatever he did to Peter.
Maybe he'll stop being such a dick to everyone. Though I doubt a little fear will go a long way with Peter.
"What's up with him?" Will's leaning super close to my side and I give him a look of irritation, "Sorry, but look." He nods toward Peter, who looks sullen as hell.
I snicker between bites before taking a drink of water, "Looks like Peter might have finally learned his lesson about being a horrible person."
Will shakes his head, "There's no way." I shrug, "What happened?"
"I dunno, I was just told it'd be taken care of."
A smile breaks out on his face, "It is so good to see that idiot all sad, I've never been this happy to see someone suffer before."
"God, me too." I bump my shoulder against his before leaning back in place. "I'm gonna go check on Tris and Christina."
I never saw her yesterday, mostly because I had other plans but I meant to see if she was alive at the very least. She ended up tiptoeing into the dorms late last night–waking me up. I almost punched her, I thought someone was trying to break in.
I jog back to the dorms and Christina's tying Tris' shoes for her. "Ouch, Tris." Her face is bruised beyond recognition. "Did they give you anything for–well everything?"
"Just last night, but I snuck out before I could get anything else."
"That sucks. But at least Peter's finally been knocked down a peg," I say with a smile, "I got my stuff back." The pink scarf was pinned to my cap and I felt so incredibly high on this ego trip.
Christina laughed, "How'd you do that anyway?"
"Four basically cornered me until I admitted why I threatened Peter. And what do you know, this morning Peter looks like he got put in his place."
Tris can't smile much because of her bruises but I see gratitude in her eyes, "Thank you, Rita."
I shrug, "He was as much a nuisance to me as he was you. Although I still want to kick his skinny ass."
"Your ass is way skinnier!" Christina argues and I gasp.
"Your's is!" We bicker back and forth all the way to the Pit.
—
"What took you so long!?" Will yells as the train blares on its horn.
Christina jabs her thumb towards Tris, "Stumpy Legs over here turned into an old lady overnight!" I chuckle.
"Oh, shut up," Tris mumbles which only fuels my laughter some more. Her sour expression is too funny to ignore. I see Four standing in front of the other initiates, he lets us board first.
"You need some help, Tris?" I ask, not really thinking about it. She shakes her head, "Okay."
I run alongside the train and jump up, gripping the door handle tightly and shoving my foot inside the door, promptly dragging myself inside. Will lands on his stomach and then I see Al lifts Tris by her arms like a kitten.
Her expression is funny, she looks annoyed in a strange way. Peter's staring right at Tris and her obvious pain.
"Feeling okay there?" I glare at him, "Or are you a little... stiff?" God even his jokes are shitty. His laughter only makes it less funny as Molly and Drew seem to force themselves to join in just to humor Peter.
"We are all awed by your incredible wit," says Will, unamused–just like I am.
I shake my head, "Joke's almost as lame as you are, Peter."
"Yea, are you sure you don't belong with the Erudite, Peter? I hear they don't object to sissies." Christina mumbles, glaring at him with me.
Before Peter can hope to reply, Four cuts everyone short. "Am I going to have to listen to your bickering all the way to the fence?" We promptly shut up. Especially, Peter, I'm slowly getting a better picture of what Four may have done to Peter. It makes me happy knowing he 'took care of it'.
I'm so curious to know, but I'm sure Four would never admit to having 'taken care of it'. Still, I wanna know so bad. Maybe I can bully it out of Peter. I shake my head at that thought, that's way too close to his territory. I refuse to turn into a snake just to beat him.
It's then I notice Four and how he's practically hanging out of the train door. I bet that wind feels like heaven. Part of me wants to do the same but I'm too scared I'll fall. Heights aren't so much my issue but rather the speed. I get sick from the train easily. Even riding the bus to the choosing ceremony made me a bit woozy.
Product of never having been in a vehicle much before.
Despite my fear of getting sick, I find myself inching toward the door. I hang onto the handle tightly and lean my head outward. The wind smacks the side of my face harshly but after that initial moment of shock, I like the feeling.
It's so refreshing to be outside after being cooped up in the Dauntless compound for so long. My relaxation doesn't last long as the train throws me out when it stops. I'm so thankful for my grip on the handle as it stops me from dropping out of the train completely. It's Russ who helps me back inside.
"Shit, thanks." I've been cursing so much since yesterday morning.
Russ just smiles and I suspect his voice is still recovering from our match.
The lurching of the train made my stomach twist and the urge to vomit hits me. I throw myself off of the train and run a few feet in the tall yellow grass and empty my breakfast onto the ground. My forehead is damp with sweat by the time I'm done and the hot sun doesn't do much to help.
I've never spent much time in direct sunlight, a lot of the factionless territory is full of old crumbling skyscrapers so close together they lean on one another for support. The sun is an oddity in my old home.
I have to force myself to stand back upright after panting with my hands on my knees for a few seconds. When I see how many people are staring at me I glare right back, Peter turns his head so fast I have to fight the urge to scoff.
"That was disgusting," Christina says and I can't help but agree.
"Yea, my mouth tastes horrible now." We follow Four toward the chain-link fence, it's absolutely massive. I've only been this close once before when we were given Ada. She'd been Amity and for some reason, they didn't want to just... give her to a couple unable to have children. I remember the exchange pretty clearly.
Four beckons everyone forward and we hustle. "If you don't rank in the top five at the end of the initiation, you will probably end up here," I lean back to try and look at the edge of the fence but I see no end to it. "Once you are a fence guard, there is some potential for advancement, but not much. You may be able to go on patrols beyond Amity's farms but–"
"Patrols for what?" Will asks.
Four shrugs, "I suppose you'll discover that if you find yourself among them. As I was saying. For the most part, those who guard the fence when they are young, continue to guard the fence." He turns back to look at it, "If it comforts you, some of them insist it isn't as bad as it seems."
I hear Christina whisper something to Tris that makes me want to hit her. "Yea. At least we won't be driving buses or cleaning up other people's messes like the factionless." The glare I send her makes her eyes widen with surprise, she didn't think I heard her. Sometimes she annoys me a lot.
"What rank were you?" Peter asks Four.
"I was first," I see the way Peter's eyes widen with surprise. Honestly, I'm not all too surprised, there's something in Four's eyes that alludes to more. I'm not too sure what it is but there's something there, I just know it.
Peter scoffs, "And you chose to do this? Why didn't you get a government job?"
"I didn't want one." His answer leaves no room for further questions.
Our group ends up beside the gate, the guards let in a truck and I can tell by the yellow of the passengers' shirts that they're coming in from Amity.
"Beatrice?" One of the boys says, Tris turns instinctively and I can see her flinch at her mistake. I know she chose Tris as her name since Beatrice is a bit of a mouth full. "What happened to you? What happened to your face?" The boy asks and I assume he's from Abnegation as there's no other reason for them to know one another.
She shakes her head, "Nothing, just training. Nothing."
"Beatrice?" I roll my eyes upon hearing Molly's annoying voice. "Is that your real name, Stiff?" How dull are Candor children?
Tris merely glances Molly's way, "What did you think Tris was short for?"
Molly shrugged, that smug smirk growing on her face, "Oh, I don't know... weakling?" I can't help the choked sound that leaves my throat.
"That's funny Molly, almost as funny as your terrible English scores in the first semester." Her cheeks turn bone white, "What? Thought I forgot about you and your big head?" My tone is nasty and I can tell Tris is thankful for my inability to keep my mouth shut.
I watch as Tris says bye to her friend and then I examine the gate as it's locked. "That's weird, look." I nod toward it, "They're locking it from the outside." Tris tilts her head.
"That is weird. Why would they do that?"
My shoulders lift without my permission, "Keep us in? I dunno."
AUTHOR'S NOTE.
I have a confession to make. I've finished writing this story so from here on out. I will be doing daily updates! There are ~ 50 chapters in total along with an act of just one-shots I couldn't fit into the actual storyline. Thank you all for 28k reads, enjoy & please remember to comment <3