When we get back me and Tris walk towards Christina, Will, and Al. "Where were you two and why we're you with them?" Christina asks.
"Uriah.... You know the Dauntless-born who was on our flag team and is Dawn's boyfriend?" Tris says and Christina nods. "He was leaving with some of the members and he begged them to let us come along. They didn't really want us there. Some girl named Lynn stepped on me."
"They may not have wanted you there then, but they seem to like you guys now." Will says.
"Yeah, I'm glad to be back though." Tris laughs.
"I'm not, that was fun." I pout.
"Yeah, sure, you sound like a Dauntless-born." Al laughs. "Also, you missed Christina almost punching an Erudite, he was here asking for opinions about the Abnegation leadership, and Christina told him there were more important things for him to be doing."
"Which she was completely right about and he got testy with her. Big mistake." Will says.
"Huge." Tris laughs.
"Yep." I answer.
"Yeah, while you two were off having fun, I was doing the dirty work of defending your old faction, eliminating interfaction conflict-" Christina says.
"Come on, you know you enjoyed it, if you're not going to tell the whole story, I will." Will says, starting into a story.
----------
Right now we're sitting in a dark hallway, waiting for our name to be called. Tris sits beside me, Uriah sitting across from me, Marlene on his left, and Lynn on his right.
"So, which one of you ranked second, I know Dawn got first." Lynn says, breaking the silence.
"Me." Peter says, after a couple of seconds of silence.
"Bet you I could take you. I'm second too, but I bet any of us could take you, transfer." Lynn says.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that, if I were you. Who's first?" Peter asks.
"Uriah and I am sure." she answers and I notice Uriah smirk.
"Why didn't you tell me?" I mouth to him.
"Surprise." he mouths back.
"You know how many years we've spent preparing for this?" Lynn asks. "I have to admit though, I wouldn't fight Dawn, even if it meant I died after it."
"Lynn." Four says, motioning her towards the door and she follows.
"So you're first?" Will asks, looking at Uriah.
"Yeah. And?" he asks back.
"And you don't think it's a little unfair that you've spent your entire life getting ready for this, and we're expected to learn it all in a few weeks?" Will asks, getting defensive.
"Will, stop." I say, calmly.
"Dawn, I've got it. I don't see it as unfair. Stage one was about skill and Dawn beat up Eric, but no one can prepare for stage two, at least that's what I'm told." Uriah answers. We sit in silence for awhile.
"Dawn." Four calls out, I get up and follow him into the room. "You ready for this, Dawn?"
"Honestly, I don't know, I know what I might face in it." I say, nervously and sit down. He pulls out a syringe with orange liquid in it. "I thought that you drank it."
"We advance it a bit. Relax." he says, tilting my head to the side and injecting it into my neck. normal person would have pushed him away, but I trust him, he wouldn't do anything to hurt me. "It'll go into effect in a couple of seconds. Just remember, it's not real." he says, as I fade into the simulation.
I'm in the all to familiar basement of my old Abnegation home. "Dawn, I've told you not to talk back to me." I hear Marcus' voice and spin around, to see him. "This is so you can learn not to do that." he says, pulling back his belt. I feel the sharp pain on my arm, as I lift my arm up to protect my face. I feel tears falling from my eyes because of the pain going through my arm. I start to calm down, remembering when Four told me that I have to slow down my heartbeat to get out. I start to breathe slowly and I'm suddenly out of the simulation.
"Dawn, calm down." Four says, grabbing my arms. I notice I'm crying. "Hey, calm down, I don't like seeing you like this." he says, pulling me into a hug. I slowly stop crying, letting him hug me. "Are you calm now?"
"Yeah." I say, nodding and pulling away from the hug.
"Dawn, how long do you think you were in there?"
"I don't know, fifteen minutes?" I shrug.
"No, you were in there for less than two minutes, that's record timing." he says, shaking his head.
"What's wrong?"
"It's easy to tell you're Divergent, I know it's hard, but you need to try to get out slower." he say, patting my head. "Go back to the dorms, okay, see you later." he says, playfully, pushing me away.