Eric led me to the place of the game and we were smothered by awkward silence as we walked there alone. "Where is it?" I asked confused. He was leading me through the path we used to get in and out of Dauntless Headquarters. A path that was familiar enough to me so I could now avoid anything that usually tripped me. He ignored my question completely and went on like I made no noise.
He took me all the way up to the roof beside the train tracks, and when I didn't hear the blaring sound of the train's horn, I knew we were at our destination.
Off to the far corner of the roof, I could vaguely see a group of several shadows but none of them said a word to verify my assumption. I went to ask Eric if it was them already up here, but when I turned around, he was already gone. I walked up to the shadowy phantoms and I realized it was the other players, they just beat us here. In the group I saw Tris, surprisingly Four, and a tall bronzed-skin boy I previously heard Tris called Uriah. Beside him was a similar looking boy so I figured they were brothers. There was mostly Dauntless members present here, with only a couple of initiates- transfers and Dauntless-born alike. One last initiate that stood out was Peter, who was talking with a couple members of Dauntless.
"The game we're playing is Candor or Dauntless," Lauren announced, coming from behind the crowd. It's clear why I didn't see her before. The Dauntless made sounds of excitement and I saw Peter smirking to himself a bit as well. I guess it's a popular game in Candor too. "How it works is everyone takes a turn asking any person of their choice whether they want Candor or Dauntless. If they choose Candor, you get to ask them any question and they have to answer truthfully. If they say Dauntless," she smirked before continuing on with the rules of the game. "Then they get tasked with a dare, but they have to take a sip of this before preforming the dare." Lauren wiggled a sliver flask in front of everyone that was unquestionably filled with an alcoholic beverage. "And since I'm the keeper of alcohol, it's only fair I go first." Her eyes scanned the group before landing on someone to the far right of me. "How about Four... Candor or Dauntless?" There wasn't a moment of hesitation when Four told her Dauntless. "Okay... I dare you to go to the Erudite library and scream something rude and obscene while they're studying."
A protest was ready to come from me as soon as she suggested the idea. You don't get much more obnoxious than interrupting Erudites while studying. I refrained from voicing my zealous thoughts to evade their thoughts of me being faction traitor.
Four took a swig from the flask and we all headed to the train tracks, waiting for the train to take us to my old faction. The train's horn echoed throughout the night sky and we all started into the opened train doors when it passed. The cheers were never ending, even as we all huddled into the same car. I spotted Tris sitting on the floor in a corner and made my way to her until I spotted another figure beside her. Four was sat beside her and though it seemed no interaction was going on, a bizarre tension was stringed between them. Regardless of that, I continued my journey to Tris. "Mind if I sit?" I asked her, ignoring Four's stare. Tris looked at me in disbelief and smiled. "When have you ever asked permission to sit?"
"True," I said, exhaling a joking sigh. "So why stop now, right?" I sat down and Tris continued to laugh, which contrasted to Four's unimpressed demeanour. The three of us didn't interact with each other. Silence seemed a lot more comfortable.
A dip in the train's tracks had everyone's attention and they all started lining up at the opened doors. Four picked himself up and went to the head of the line without looking back at either of us. We followed.
Despite what we would be doing here, it comforted me knowing I'd be back in the Erudite compound. I walked in comfort along the Erudite pathway, loving the nostalgia of feeling the smooth pavement on the bottom of my feet.
Nothing was ever out of place here and Erudite was easily the cleanest of all the factions. Not a single piece of garbage laid on the sidewalks nor was there any vandalism of any sort on the buildings. Cracked pavement didn't even have a lifespan of a day before it was tarred over. Everything was in pristine condition. I started to lighten my steps, worried that if I stepped to hard in my heels, I'd marred the walkway. No one else seemed to care as they all walked along, some leaving shoe indentations that I knew would be gone the next day.
The group made it to the library without any problems. Finding your way around at night wasn't hard in Erudite since every building in our sector was embellished with lights, powered by a light emitting diode. My mother wasn't suppose to allow our faction to have on any lights except for in our lobby, but she tended to turn a blind eye when we didn't abide to rules set by anyone in Abnegation.
We looked through the windows and saw what was usual of an Erudite library. People reading quietly or talking quietly to one another. The old sharing with the young their wisdom of previous generations. Four left the group, heading to the main doors to cause an annoyance. I looked through and took in the sight I missed since we picked our factions.
My reminiscing was over quickly when I heard yelling. "Hey, Noses. Don't you get tired of doing the same boring shit everyday?" Snickers came from all over the group as we watched Four pick up a spare book from a table, and soon he threw into the distance. It didn't take long for them to chase him out, and we all ran with him back to the train. "Okay! Who are you choosing next?" Lauren asked Four, still laughing hysterically at his finished dare. "The Stiff," he said, the corners of his mouth twitching up. "Candor or Dauntless?" Tris contemplated his question before answering with Dauntless. This caused a rumble of excitement through the crowd. "When the train comes and we go back to Dauntless, you have to ride outside the train. You're not allowed to hold anything but the handle until we get there." The dare earned approval from everyone else, seeing as they whooped and hollered at it.
When the sound of the train signalled its approach, Tris' face displayed nothing but determination as she downed the alcoholic contents of the sliver flask. We got on and waited eagerly to see what Tris would do. She followed, but instead on coming into the train when she got ahold of the handle, she clutched it until her knuckles turned white and didn't relent her hold until we got there.
She was awarded with fist bumps and nods of content when we made it back to the roof. Even Lauren, a Dauntless leader seemed to gaze upon Tris with traces of respect and pride. "And who's your next pick?" Tris didn't even look around the group to determine her pick, but her pick appeared as if she had been thinking about it since Four picked her. "Adelaide," she said confidently. "Candor or Dauntless?" I hoped to get invited to the game to investigate and evaluate Tris' personality and whether they corresponded nicely with a typical Dauntless, not to actually be apart of it. The dares I've seen so far haven't been too pleasant, but I was worried about picking Candor. It was a very un-Dauntless like move.
"Candor," I said, internally relived that wouldn't have to go through a dare this time. Groans of disappointment rung through the crowd but I couldn't say I cared. I wasn't putting my life on the line for the trill of a bunch of lunatics. Contrary to everyone else, Tris looked relieved as well. I didn't think she would've wanted to make up a dare on such short notice. "Who do you think is the most attractive in the initiates?" A laugh was kept in check by me in response to the question. I shaped my face into a look of contemplation to give the illusion I was actually thinking of a legitimate answer. "Edward," I said plainly. They accepted my answer with no questions asked - until a voice spoke up from the crowd. "Are you sure that's true, princess?"
The attention now turned to Peter, who was smirking with two Dauntless guys flanking him. "Yes, Peter. I'm pretty sure I know my own opinion." I replied sarcastically. "We were taught how to spot lies in Candor, princess. Don't think you're fooling me." When his stare didn't relent, I knew he wasn't backing down.
Peter wasn't incorrect calling me out on a lie because me saying Edward was the most attractive in my eyes definitely was. He was too much of a brother-like figure for me to even notice that about him. I was ashamed and a bit disgusted to say Peter might be the best looking. "Got nothing to say?" The smug look on his face said it all. He knew exactly what I was thinking.
Dread filled my insides when I knew I had to say something. "You," I said, not letting the nausea break through my collective barriers. "I'm sorry, who? I didn't quite understand that," his smug look increased by the second. "You, Peter." Some members snickered to each other while Peter's new friends looked at his gloating figure with a knowing expression. I ignored the commotion my answer brought about and went on with the game. "Uriah," a shocked expression came over his features, clearly not expecting me to know his name. "Dauntless." He answered before I even got the chance to ask. A lopsided grin replaced his shocked impression. "I dare you to ... hang from the chasm with one hand for a minute." Uriah grin widened as he heard my dare and eagerly led us to the chasm.
He preformed the dare without a problem. Uriah climbed over the barrier, dropped down and caught the bar just in time. They all cheered him on as he proceeded with my dare, getting louder once he let go with a hand.
Without incident, the dare passed and Uriah brought himself back up, taking a dramatic bow when his feet were back on the ground. Everyone laughed as he came back up, it even caused a slight giggle to escape my lips. Uriah apparently didn't want to wait until we got back to the roof before he continued playing. "I believe it's my turn," a mischievous grin appeared on his face before he turned to me. "It's Adelaide, right?" That sentence alone had my heartbeat increasing rapidly, all due to apprehension triggering my adrenal glands. Whatever he was about to say was not going to be good. "Since you didn't answer, I'm just going to assume I'm correct. Candor or Dauntless?"
I knew I would have to pick Dauntless this time. Two picks of Candor in a row would not help propel my reputation at Dauntless. At the same time, I didn't trust these maniacs to give me a regular, non-life threatening dare. "Dauntless," my voice didn't hold the same regal tone it usually held. Uriah couldn't smother the look of mischief on his features as he came up with my dare. "I dare you to kiss lover boy over there," nodding to Peter.
My face completely slackened, preventing any emotions from coming through; which starkly contrasted Peter's expression. A wide, white smile was on display as he looked over to me, amused at my hesitation for the dare. "Four gets to cause a scene at Erudite. Tris hung off a moving train and you got to hang off the chasm, but I have to kiss someone. What kind of dare is that?"
"An legitimate one," Lauren cut in, eyeing me with a look of animosity. Uriah smirked in content at being defended by a Dauntless leader and Peter looked beyond content at my frustration. I fixed my posture to stand straight and walked over to him with the confidence I internally lacked, eventually making it to him. My neck slightly bent back due to the height difference between us. Peter loomed over me at about a half a metre.
"Let's just get this over with," I said indifferently, though my insides were clenching from the nerves and high levels of stress. "You nervous, princess?" When I offered a glare as a response, he laughed quietly. "Don't be. Believe me when I say I know what I'm doing," he flashed a smug smirk. I scoffed, but still didn't offer any verbal reply. The embarrassment was still settling in.
I took the silver flask from Lauren's waiting hands and took a long swig from it. That was the only way I was getting through this dare with my dignity some-what intact. Giving the flask back to her, I turned back to Peter who was still smirking with himself.
My body and expression stayed relaxed, even when I realized Peter was leaning in closer, stooping down to compensate for height. A gasp left me when I felt a pair of lips - Peter's lips - connect with mine, causing him to smirk in satisfaction against my mouth. Despite the softness of his lips and the pleasantness of his kiss, I found myself just standing there, unsure of whether to kiss back or not. Instead of applying my own pressure however, I let Peter take control of the kiss, but he didn't seem to mind. His lips continued to move against mine perfectly until I sent a push to his chest, signalling my want to end the kiss. He surprisingly obliged and pulled away.
"That was cute," Uriah commented, teasingly. Though Peter didn't look at him, he flashed a conceited grin at me; whereas, my face was anything but amused. I was too disappointed in the fact I enjoyed his kiss to say or do anything. "Well, that was ... eventful," Lauren said, smirking at Peter and I, then looking at the rest of the group. "But I think it's time we call it quits for the night."
Everyone took that as their cue to vacate, and I went along with them. I set a target on Tris' direction and caught up to her so we could leave together, completely aware of a person's eyes piercing the back of my head. A person that I was hundred percent positive was Peter.