I leave his apartment alone and find the others sitting together in the banquet hall. It's almost a copy of the cafeteria, only the tables are round and fit fewer people. We all fill up one table. "Hey," I say, announcing my presence.
Chris narrows her eyes at me, "Where the hell were you? Tris got out and you like–disappeared!"
A twinge of guilt hits me as I drag my chair out–I catch a glimpse of Tobias and that guilt disappears. "I paced the compound and got lost for the better half of those two hours. I don't think I'm ever going to know my way around here."
"I hate to admit it, but I agree with Rita, this place is a maze," I knew I liked Will for a reason.
"This maze–is going to be our home in like, five minutes!" She shouts and I shake my head at her. "I hate when you disappear on us, it's scary."
That guilt reappears but now it's worse. I hadn't realized they'd care. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'll try to not do that anymore."
Chris offers me a smile, "Good, what kind of job do you want?"
"I'm not sure, I kind of want to do what To–Four does. Training initiates seems fun."
Her smile widens as she nudges Will, "I was telling him that's what I want to do. Only I want to terrorize the kids!" How typical of her. She's a menace. "Peter was droning on about being a Dauntless leader–ugh, I can only hope you guys pushed him out of the ranking enough to stop that from ever happening."
I pause, "Wait what–Peter wants to be a leader?" She nods, "Guess I do too. If he's given the chance to train, I'll make it hell for him."
"You're definitely going to be given a spot–I mean, 45 seconds? I'm almost certain you beat a record!"
Tris nods when she hears this, "I tried my best and hardly halved my time, you like... beat your own time by so much."
"My strategy was to keep reminding myself it wasn't real. It was harder for the more physical fears, but I got it down eventually."
"Oh!" Chris exclaims, "You don't say?" I roll my eyes at her. Will opens his mouth to say something but a loud screech cuts him off.
All of us cover our ears and scan the crowd for the source. Eric. "What a dick," I spit out. He's tapping the microphone in his hand as the Dauntless quiet down.
"We aren't big on speeches here. Eloquence is for Erudite." When the crowd bursts out laughing, I don't. How many people know he's from Erudite? My guess is a big fat zero. "So, I'm going to keep this short. It's a new year, and we have a new pack of initiates."
Eric makes a circle with his thumb and pointer fingers, "And a slightly smaller pack of new members," He tightens the circle and I look around at all of us initiates scattered around the hall. "We offer them our congratulations." All around us, fists beat on the tabletops and the sound vibrates through my shoes.
"We believe in bravery, in taking action, in freedom from fear, and in acquiring the skills to force the bad out of our world so that the good can prosper and thrive. If you also believe in those things, we welcome you."
I search for Tobias in the crowd and we meet eyes. Neither of us is smiling–we both know Eric's a lying sack of shit.
"Tomorrow, in their first acts as members, our top 10 initiates will choose their professions, in the order of how they're ranked. The rankings, I know," He pauses and lets the pounding die out, "Are what everyone is really waiting for. They are determined by a combination of three scores–"
Eric smiles, "The first, from the combat stage of training; the second, from the simulation stage; and the third, from the final examination–the fear landscape. The rankings will now appear on the screen behind me."
In less than a second, Will's hugging me tightly, I haven't even comprehended the words on the screen behind Eric. The hall is so loud it hurts as I read the names.
1. Rita
2. Uriah
3. Russ
4. Tris
5. Lynn
6. Marlene
7. Peter
8. Will
9. Christina
10. Harry
I don't recognize the last name but I do see that Molly and Drew were cut. Peter is in but I can survive with just him winning. I'm being hugged from every direction. Uriah claps me on the shoulder, Russ bumps my fist, and Tris smiles wider than I've ever seen.
I've never felt so full in my life. They're still pounding on the tables and it feels like the world is shaking. I spin around and see Tobias is right there, my grin widens as I remember. "It's fine now, right?" I have to shout, I ignore the look Christina sends me.
He shrugs and I don't hesitate as I jump at him. Tobias catches me in his arms and we hug tightly. I squeal when he spins us. When he finally slows down, I plant a sloppy kiss on his cheek, grinning from ear to ear. "I missed you."
I don't even care who sees and it seems neither does he. His hand doesn't leave my back for the rest of the night. I hear the word 'Congratulations' so many times it loses its meaning. This outcome was the one that was planned but I didn't expect to win at so many things.
Initiation, friends... Tobias. I'm so happy that I cry at one point. It's hard not to when there's so much love hugging your entire being. "I think I'm going to like being Dauntless," I tell him as we watch fireworks explode over the sky.