Al, Will, Sarai and I back towards the fighting room. They tried convincing me that Peter was just being an idiot but I knew the thought of them knowing that I was the daughter of Jeanine Matthews lingered in their mind. I was surprised Will didn't tell the others a long time ago but then again, we were friends at Erudite and I think he understood that I wanted a fresh start.
"So, what do you want to be called around here?" Al asked me.
"Just call me Quinn, please." I shrugged.
All of them nodded in agreement and Will pulled me in, squeezing my shoulder to give me a side hug.
As we continued further down the hall, we noticed a group of armed men looking around them as we turned the corner.
"What is she doing at dauntless." Will questioned, looking into the distance and back at me.
Hearing indistinct chatter, I looked over and there walked my mum.
"I'm not sure?" I puffed.
I tired motioning the others to keep walking but they stood staring. I looked up and noticed that my mum had already spotted me, she slowed down her walk and kept the eye contact.
"Auror-"
"Quinn. My name is Quinn." I interrupted her before she finished her sentence.
"Quinn. I like that." She smiled to me.
"I thought visiting day wasn't until a couple of days?" I asked her.
"Oh! I'm just here for work related business, that's all." Jeanine replied.
She noticed my tattoo of the stars and briefly smiled. Stars were her favourite. Our favourite.
"You look so strong, Quinn." She softened her look before getting serious again.
"It seems like you made the right decision, even after your test results?"
"You saw my test result?" I furrowed my brows and then remembered that Tori put me down as Erudite.
"Of course! I'm glad you're smart enough to know your own mind." My mum encouraged.
"Maybe we can talk later, why don't we?" She questioned.
"Yeah, sure." I continued to nod my head. I continued to look as she walked off with her assistants.
She looked back, "It's nice seeing you Will!"
"You too." His tone in a sense of questioning.
I noticed the doors that she was walking towards open and what looked to be a navigation room inside. The room was too dark for me to notice anything in detail other than the led lights that faintly shone.
"Well, that was weird." Sarai spoke up.
"Yeah-" I sighed.
"What do you think is goin' on?" Al questioned directly towards Will and I.
"I bet they're hunting down Divergents." Will replied as I look at him with unknowing eyes. "That's all they talk about at Erudite these days."
The talk of Divergents in the Erudite faction was something I was never exposed to, as though my ears weren't supposed to hear that stuff and out of anything I was glad I didn't.
"Wait, Divergents are real?" Al cluelessly asked.
"Come on, Al." Sarai motioned.
One more time I looked back at the door, Will noticed.
"Do you know what she's actually doing?" Will asked again.
"No." I sighed as we walked to catch up with Sarai and Al.
Taking my jacket off in the fighting room, to expose the toned arms I have been working on in the past couple of weeks, I looked over at the board to see my name at position seventeen. I sighed of relief.
From the distance I heard Eric shout, "First fight, Peter versus Quinn!"
I heard the crowd of girls' and boys' question around and an echo of," uh-ohs."
"Oh no," says Sarai, who shuffles in behind us. Her face is bruised, and she looks like she is trying not to limp.
"Are they serious? They're really going to make you fight him?"
Despite Peter and I being a similar height, yesterday, he beat Drew in less than five minutes. Today Drew's face is more black-and-blue than flesh-toned.
"Maybe you can just take a few hits and pretend to go unconscious," suggests Al. "No one would blame you, especially since your fight with Molly."
"Trust me Al, I'm not doing that." I dismissed his idea.
"Out of anything this could be my chance to prove that I have what it takes."
"I love the spirit, Quinn but this is Peter we are talking about. He's ranked first on the board." Will turns to me.
"It's just Eric trying to get back at you." Sarai told us.
Al and Sarai are just trying to help, but the fact that they don't believe, not even in a tiny corner of their minds, that I have a chance against Peter bothers me.
I stand at the side of the room, half listening to Al and Sarai's chatter, and watch Molly fight Edward. He's much faster than she is, so I'm sure Molly will not win today.
Four told us yesterday to exploit our opponent's weaknesses, and aside from his utter lack of likable qualities, Peter doesn't have any. He has an eye for other people's soft spots; he's vicious and won't show me any mercy. I would like to say that he underestimates me. I think I could be just as vicious as he is. If not more. Training was something I had taken more seriously since my fight with Molly, and I think with all the practice we've had, I believe I have a chance to beat him.
But maybe Al is right, and I should just take a few hits and pretend to be unconscious.
But I can't afford not to try. I can't go back down on the rankings, I can't show the boy who hates me most that I will easily turn down a fight.
As I make my way to the fighting mat someone pulls me by the hand. It's Four.
"Hey." He whispered, tightening his grip so I don't pull away.
"What?" I bluntly respond.
"Remember what I said about attack? First shot right to the throat and you watch him. He steps before he punches. Alright?"
"Mhm-Mhm."
I walk to the centre of the arena and my guts writhe as Peter already stands there, moving his wrists, side to side, his arm muscles standing at attention. He smiles at me. I wonder if throwing up on him will do me any good.
I doubt it.
"You okay there, Nose?" he says. "You look like you're about to cry. I might go easy on you if you cry."
Over Peter's shoulder, I see Four standing by the door with his arms folded. His mouth is puckered, like he just swallowed something sour. Next to him is Eric, who taps his foot faster than my heartbeat.
One second Peter and I are standing there, staring at each other, and the next Peter's hands are up by his face, his elbows bent. His knees are bent too, like he's ready to spring. I get in the same position as he is.
"Come on, Nose," he says, his eyes glinting. "Just one little tear. Maybe some begging."
The thought of begging Peter for mercy makes me taste bile. Even just looking at him makes me angry. As we make circles around the floor, I think to a time or person that makes me most angry. My dad. I think it doesn't help that Peter reminded me of him earlier, and despite my attempt to move on from my father's death, the same thoughts and feelings as I had when I was a child remained. Without indulging too much of my time into thinking about all the reasons I hate my dad, I just thought of his action, his action on disappearing, his death and what greatness it would have been if he was present in our lives.
"Stop playing with her," snaps Eric. "I don't have all day."
I heard the stepping of his foot move closer and I dodged quick enough and he tried to punch me in the neck. Having the time to retreat, I hit him in the ribs as he puffed out.
"Nice, Quinn!" I hear a boy speak out.
Focussing on the motion of Peter's feet like Four said, I timed on when he was going to his back. A slight move in his feet were made and I hit him back in the neck, knocking him back a couple of steps.
I could sense his blood was rushing in anger. It didn't make me nervous, because so was my blood.
He attempted to use his full force to swing his fist to my head but I ducked and used that move against him. Hitting him right in the nose, where I saw gushes of blood streaming down.
Attempting to get his ribs, He grabbed onto my arm and used his other arm to hit me in the ribs and then again on my face. My face stiffened before he put his hand to my face and so when he hit me, my face barely moved.
As he still had a grip on my arm, I bent down on an angle and flipped him over onto the mat with a thud. I guess my height sometimes comes in handy. Straddling on him that's where I had the power to punch him continuously in the face, more cuts formed and his lip was busted.
Despite what I thought would be the last, he had enough energy to dodge my punch and roll over so he could stand. When we were back in both of our fighting positions again, he did the same thing I did. Punched me in the ribs.
Seems like all he is doing is replicating my moves...How original.
He threw me almost to the other side of the fighting mat.
As I tried to get back up, he used his foot to push me back down.
Taunting at me he said, "Get up, Get up!"
"Come on. Stop playin' with each other." Eric sternly focussed.
As I stood back up, Peter stared into my soul, making a slight move closer to me, he swung his fist against my face and I fell back onto the ground again. I could feel blood dripping down my nose, the same way his was. Coughing, I look up to see a faint shadow of a man walking away. It was Four.
To what it felt like it seemed like no one believed like I could do this, fight Peter. I mean even my friends couldn't believe that I had even a shot against him. I knew I needed to prove something. Shifting my focus back into reality again and moved just in time to where Peter had stomped his foot onto the ground. It sent vibration waves through the ground. I could tell that he hurt his foot.
Regardless of Four walking away, I got back up on my feet and began to focus. Concentrate on his stepping was all I could think about. I saw him turning and running back over to me. I dodged to what look like he was going to full body attack me. Before Peter could turn round back to me, I kicked him sending him to the ground. My body had enough, I had enough, but I wasn't stopping until I won, until I beat Peter.
My bloody and cut knuckles pointed in against his neck. I drove both knuckles into his neck, on either side of his Adams apple. His body jerked from the move but that didn't stop me from fighting back to keep the position. Peter wanted a fight, so I'll give him a fight.
I noticed quickly that Peter fighting back less and was easily relaxing, it was working. All I needed to hope now was for Eric to say time. Briefly looking up I saw Eric's face. It hadn't changed, he just motioned me to keep doing it.
I blocked out the faint shouts for me to stop but all I wanted to do was win. I had to. I had to prove everyone that I could do it, that I can be better, that I was brave and I was Dauntless.
Peter's eyes eventually fluttered shut which was when I knew I needed to let go. I stood up from my position, breathing heavily as I watched Peter's unconscious body lay on the ground, a group of people ran over to him to see him as I backed away. I looked over to Sarai and Will who both share similar scared faces but then I looked over to Eric who was staring empty at me.
I ran out of the training room and didn't stop until I reached the open bathrooms of our room. I looked up at the mirror to see a girl who I didn't recognise. The light brown hair I had darkened to a near black colour and the eyebrow scar I had reopened along with extra cuts and a swollen purple cheek.
The lightness that childhood had brought was no longer there or could be restored and instead I was looking into the eyes of someone who matured and became too cold for the world. I brushed the shorter ends of my hair back behind my ears which had fallen out from my lose ponytail. A tear dropped from my eye onto my cheeks, quickly I wiped it away. I was supposed to enjoy my victory against Peter but instead I was judged by the initiates that surrounded me. This isn't what it's supposed to feel like, I should be happy but, I'm not like Molly or Peter, even Drew and despite me wanting to be like them, that would be impossible.
"Don't cry!" I whispered to myself. But the tears continued to stream no matter how hard I tried to stop them from streaming down.
"Don't cry!" I repeated, only louder, still staring at my tired reflection.
Instead of fighting the tears, I just let them stream down my face. No matter how hard I could've tried I don't think that they were going to stop. Turning round I saw the figure of a woman in a blue dress. It was my mum. She walked towards me.
"I'm sorry!" I cried to her.
She pulled me into a hug and my hands caved between us as though she was protecting me from anything that tried to interfere me. Brushing my hair gently back as I cried into her chest.
"It's okay." She eased.
"I thought I could do it, be Dauntless." I sniffled.
"Shhh, I am here. I am listening to you." She reassured me.
~~~~~
I was really debating whether to let Quinn cry or not but here we are lol.