"Yesterday's the past, tomorrow's the future, but today is a gift. That's why it's called the present."
- Bil Keane
Candice POV
Dream
I was in my room painting. My mom was in themaster bedroom, lying in bed. She wasn't feeling well. I thought I would dosomething for her, so I had decided that I would give her my painting. It was apicture of our family by sunrise, mom loved the sunrise. She thought it was thebest time of the day, because that meant that a new day was on its way, newpossibilities. When my painting was done, I got up and went to my parents'bedroom. I walked in and saw that she was awake and when she saw me, she smiled.I smiled back and went up to her.
"Mom, I made you a painting."
"You did sweetie, now let me see." I gave my mom the painting, mom always made me feel better, and so seeing her reaction when she saw the painting made my smile even bigger. I loved my mom so much, she was my best friend.
"I love it honey, thank you." She said while hugging me.
Suddenly the picture changed. I was in the kitchen making dinner when Michael walked in.
"It's your fault! It's your fault she is dead! You are an abomination and a disgrace to this world." He picked up a knife and walked closer to me. I backed up, but he cornered me, he held up the knife and was about to stab me, when a loud bang woke me up.
BANG, BANG!
"Wake up initiatives and get ready, breakfast starts at seven." Four shouted. I was still a little shaken by the dream, but I shook it off, grabbed my clothes and a towel and went to take a shower. When I was done with my morning routine, I met up with Meg, Matt, and Noah, and together we went to the dining hall to have breakfast.
When we arrived, the hall was full of Dauntless members. I grabbed a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon, an apple and some coffee and sat down next to Four at his table. I had yet to eat much before I was engulfed in a bear hug.
"My little candy bar! I've missed you!" I only knew one person that called me that.
"Hello to you, Zeke. Fancy seeing you here." He broke the hug, and I turned around only to engulf him once again with a bright smile on my face.
"I have missed you too, Zekee boy." He lifted me up which caused me to squeal, and him to laugh. Zeke was the only friend besides Tobias that I had back in Candor. We met one night when we both were out running, we started talking and we ended up running together. After that night, we worked out together almost every day, until he started initiation. We never talked like Tobias and I did, Zeke never knew about my problems. We just talked about simple things, like our likes and dislikes. We laughed a lot since we shared the same humor. I must say I'd really missed my workout buddy. Our reunion didn't last long though, someone had cleared their throat.
"Hem, aren't you supposed to be somewhere right now, Pedrad?" A dark grumpy voice called out. A voice that could only belong to one person.
"No, my shift don't start until 7.30, and right now I have a pretty lady here that I haven't seen in forever." Zeke said, smiling at me.
"Well sorry to break your little reunion, but she is my initiate, and breakfast is almost over. Four take the initiatives to the training room in five minutes." Eric said. We all looked at each other and ate the rest of our breakfast quickly.
"Initiatives! Time to go, follow me." Four said and we all followed him out of the dining hall.
"Talk to you later, Candice!" Zeke shouted, and I smiled at him, waving my hand.
"What was that all about, and who was that guy?" Meg asked me.
"I have no idea, and the guy's name is Zeke."
"You know each other, how?"
"We go way back."
"You seem to know everyone, even Four."
"I know some people, yes. I didn't have any friends back in Candor, but when I met Four and later Zeke, I finally did. For a long time, they were my only friends and I owe a lot to them." Meg didn't question me further, and when we arrived at the training room, we gathered together in a group, waiting for instructions.
"Listen up! There are three stages of training. The first is physical, push your bodies to the breaking point and master the methods of combat. The second is emotional, again breaking point. And final stage is mental, it's similar to stage two but even more aggressive. You'll be trained separately from the Dauntless born, but you'll be ranked together. After initiations rankings will determine what jobs you move into. Leadership, guarding the fence, or keeping the factions from killing each other." Four informed us.
"The rankings will also determine who gets cut." Eric said.
"Cut?" Kim asked.
"At the end of each stage of training, the lowest ranking initiates will be leaving us."
"To do what?" Kim asked again. Gosh, could she be more annoying.
"There's no going home to your families, so you'd live factionless."
"Why didn't we know that?" Matt asked.
"It's a new rule." Eric said and smirked at us. My heart shuttered a little at his smirk. Why did that always happen when he was around?
"A new rule? Somebody should've told us that." Kim said again.
"Why? Would you have chosen differently? Out of fear? Well, if that's the case, you might as well get out now. If you're really one of us it won't matter to you that you might fail. You chose us, now we get to choose you."
"Now when you know that, we can begin the training. First we'll start with ten minutes of warm up, Air Squats, Sit Ups, Push Ups and Burpees. After that we are going to run three miles around the compound, now let's go!" We followed his move and did what he told us to do. It was hard, I was used to working out but not like this. I usually just did laps. When we were finished, we started running. I was at the middle of the group, but slowly gained my pace and moved my way to the front. It felt good, I felt at home, and I closed my eyes to feel the warmness of the sun on my face. I was running next to Four, he looked at me and smiled.
"Fancy seeing you at the front. I see you still enjoy running."
"I kind of find the rest of the group a bit sloppy and their pace too slow. I need a challenge and yes, I still enjoy running. It's my stress relief."
"Well, since you need a challenge, I can sure provide it to you." A dark and husky voice said behind us. Both Four and I turned around to see Eric smirking, but as soon as he saw how close me and Four was, it turned into a frown. What was that all about?
"What do you imply?" I asked.
"We can discuss that after training, now keep your head straight, Candor!" The smirk was long gone and instead it was an angry face, and his grey eyes were cold as ice. We kept on running until we came back to the training room. Once inside, I quickly grabbed a bottle of water and drank half of it, then I poured the rest over my head to cool myself. In the corner of my eye, I could see Eric watch me intently. I smirked and let my hair out to fall on my back. I then began to stretch while waiting for the rest of the initiatives to pile in.
When everyone was back, Four instructed us on how to throw knives. I studied his body stand and watched intently how the knife swung and inserted right in the bullseye. When he had demonstrated it, it was our turn to try. I was standing next to Matt at the far end. We grabbed a set of five knifes and started throwing them. I took my time, tried to remember how Four had been standing and analyzing the target.
"What's the matter, Candor? Why aren't you throwing your knifes?" Eric asked while walking over towards me.
"I will. I'm mainly trying to find my stand first."
"Well, your stand is all wrong." He came up behind me and put his hands on my hips. They were rough, and he backed me up closer to his body. I could feel his rock-hard abs against my back, and I inhaled sharply. My heart rate raised, and I could feel my cheeks getting hotter.
"Spread your legs like this and keep your stomach tight. Now relax your shoulders, look at the target and throw the knife, don't think just do." He said while helping me. I did what he said and threw the knife. It hit just outside bullseye. I smiled and looked at Eric, he just nodded and moved away from me.
"Keep doing that but try to hit bullseye next time." We kept throwing knifes for a while, I got better and better, it was a bit harder for others, Kim for example. Her knifes never even got close to bullseye, and she kept asking Four and Eric for help, even flirted a little. But they didn't seem to notice. I was about to throw a knife when I heard Eric speak.
"That was pathetic."
"It slipped." A guy named Phil said.
"Well go get it!"
"What? While they're throwing?" You could hear Phil was scared.
"Are you afraid?" Eric asked while narrowing his face.
"Of being stabbed by an airborne knife? Yeah."
"Everybody stop!" Eric boomed. We all stopped what we were doing and watched the scene in front of us.
"Stand in front of the target." Eric demanded, and Phil slowly walked up to the target.
"Four, give me a hand here."
Eric pointed a knife at Phil. "You're going to stand there while he throws those knives. And if I see you flinch, you're out." Then he turned to the rest of us.
"One thing you will learn here, is that orders are not optional." All I could think of was that this was not right. I had to do something, even if it would come and bite me in the ass later on, I couldn't let them do this.
"Stop! Anyone can stand in front of a target, it doesn't prove anything. Besides making him stand in front of the target, while someone throw knifes at him is just another form of bullying, and the last time I checked, bullying is a sign of cowardice, and that is not what Dauntless is about, now is it?" I said, anger clear in my voice.
"Who asked for your opinion, big mouth? You don't get to talk like that to a leader. But since you are so brave why don't you take his place." Eric said to me maliciously, while looking at me with a stern face. I walked over to Phil and took his place in front of the target.
"Same rules apply." I took a nervous breath and Four threw his first knife, and it hit the target beside my leg.
"Oh, come on, Four." Four threw his second knife, and it hit the target over my head.
"You can get closer than that."
"You want me to give her a little trim?"
"Yeah, maybe just a little off the top." Four threw his third knife, and it landed on the target just above my head, he then threw his last knife, which landed right next to my ear, just cutting it a little.
"You think you are honorable don't you? Standing up for the weak. Points for bravery, princess. But not as many you just lost for opening your mouth, not to mention you will be punished for talking back at a leader." I just stood there, I could feel a stinging feeling on my ear, but I didn't care. Eric came up and looked down at me.
"You watch yourself. We train soldiers, not rebels." Still holding his gaze on me, he spoke up.
"Alright, we're done for today, get out." As everyone left practice, I saw Four put the knifes away, and I went to leave.
"Candice are you alright?"
"I'm fine."
"You know I had to, right?"
"You didn't have to cut me though."
"You think he was going to let you off without a scratch? You'd still be standing there if I hadn't hit you."
"What? am I supposed to thank you?"
"No, Candice. But you have to be smart. You can't just talk back at Eric, he's your trainer and leader. You are lucky he didn't throw you out right there and then. You have to be careful when it comes to Eric, he is not a good person Candice, and you do best to stay away from him." Four walked away before I could reply.
***
The day went by quickly, Eric didn't appear at the afternoon training, and I was thankful for that. At dinner everyone wanted to know what had happen, but I didn't want to talk about it, so Kev decided that we should go get tattoos, I didn't want to get one yet, since I knew that we were going to start the fighting soon, and my opponent would surely take advantage of that weakness. So, while the guys went to the tattoo parlor, Levina took me and Meg to the hair saloon to give me a makeover. She thought I should get one since I looked too much like Amity with my hair.
"Raoul, Riley!" Levina shouted when we walked in. Soon a middle-aged man walked out from what must have been a storage.
"Vina, darling. What brings you here on this fine evening?" The guy, who I assumed was Raoul said. He had a Spanish accent.
"My friend Candice here, needs a serious makeover." Levina said, pointing at me.
"Oh, I see what you mean. You're a transfer right? Amity?"
"Candor actually." I said.
"Well, it doesn't matter now because you're in Dauntless now. Come over here sweetheart and let me look at you." I walked up to him, and he motioned for me to sit in a chair.
"This will take some time. I think we should cut your hair so it will be chest length. And I can tell, you are not one of those people who like to have crazy hairstyles. No, you are a delicate flower that is simple but still fierce. I think dark chocolate brown will look fantastic on you, honey." I smiled at his statement, a delicate flower, really?
"If you didn't get it already, Raoul is gay" Levina told me.
"Really, then we have a lot in common, I like guys too." I chuckled and they all laughed. Raoul started cutting my hair, and before I knew it my long hair was on the floor and the remaining of my hair reached just above my chest. It was weird to see my hair like that, but for some reason I liked it, it felt much lighter. He then began to get the color ready, and when that was done he started dying my hair. We sat there for about 1 ½ hours, Meg had already finished getting her hair done, so now they were just waiting for me to be done.
"So, Candice. You and Four, what's the story? I've seen the two of you hanging out a few times." Levina asked me.
"It's a long story, we just know each other from before, that's all."
"Like how? I mean, everyone knows that you were like an outcast, sorry about that. And no one really knows Four's story."
"No worries, it's kind of complicated, I don't really like to talk about my personal life. All I can say is that we found each other back then and became best friends, family even."
"That sounds nice. But just so you know, if you like to talk to someone that isn't Four, we are here for you. We are not Candor, we won't judge."
"I will hold you to that." I smiled at them, feeling blessed to have found such nice and genuine friends.
When Raoul was finally done with my makeover, he brought me a mirror, and when I looked into it, I couldn't believe what I saw. I didn't recognize myself. I looked totally different, the new hair color worked great with my skin color, made it look tanner. I couldn't stop smiling, I loved it.
"It looks amazing, Raoul. Thank you so much."
"No worries sweetheart, it was my pleasure."
"You look HOT." Levina screamed in excitement.
"It really does look great on you, Candice." Meg said.
"Thanks guys, and you look great too Meg. I really like those luscious waves."
"Thanks, I really like them too. Makes my hair look more alive doesn't it?"
"It does. Well, we should go back to the dormitory. It's getting late, and we have training tomorrow." We paid with our point cards and left to go to bed. On our way there we met up with the guys, and they all stared at me.
"Wow, Candice. You look hot! I mean...you look hot." Kev said, and I blushed.
"Thanks Kev."
"It really looks good on you. And Meg. I like your waves, you look really hot as well." Meg blushed like crazy.
"Mm, I um, thanks." I could tell Meg was uncomfortable. She was not used to getting compliments, neither was I. But she really looked uncomfortable, and I just wanted to save her from embarrassment. She was red like a tomato and was trying to hide her face in her hair. I sighed.
"Listen, we should really head back to the dormitory now, I am exhausted, and I like to get some sleep before Four wakes us up tomorrow." I said and they all nodded. We walked back to our dormitory, said good night to Kevin and Levina, and then went straight to bed. My last thought before I fell asleep was if Eric would like my new hair.