I let out a scream. Not one provoked by fear but one provoked by fun. I flip around in the air to see the sky above me and I feel like I am pure adrenaline. I fall through the hole and onto a net. A net. I let out another laugh and grip the net. Hands pull it down a little and offer to pull me off. I grab the nearest one. I roll off the net and land on my feet, my hand still connected to the one that helped me down. I look up to thank the person who helped me. But none of my words come out. I just stand there looking into his deep blue eyes and brilliant smile.
"What's your name?" he asks quietly.
"(Y/N)," I answer.
He raised my hand into the air and yelled, "First jumper, (Y/N)!"
I smile as all the Dauntless in the room cheered and shouted. The cheering died down and another initiate dropped down. It was John. He does not get any form of announcement but the Dauntless give a little round of applause and a few whoops and cheers. This is the same for everyone else. They drop down and are pulled off the net.
All of us are standing by the wall by the time that the Dauntless members start to drop down. The people that were here to welcome us start to file out. When all of the people that were on the roof dropped down and made there way out, only the boy who had helped me off the net and Eric remained with us.
"Welcome initiates. I am Four, your instructor and initiation overseer. The initiation process takes two weeks. Over those two weeks you will learn to fight, face your fears, and you will learn to be Dauntless," the boy, Four, says.
"Technically, he is only talking to the Transfers because during the fighting portion of your training the Dauntless-born and Transfers will be separate. It's only fair," Eric interjects quickly.
Four nods and continues, "Right now we're going to lead you through the Pit and to the cafeteria so you can eat and settle down."
John laughs, "'The Pit'? Clever name."
Four stops and then coldly stares at him, "If I wanted to listen to smart-ass comments from Erudites, I would have joined their faction."
John looks stunned and closes his mouth. Next to me, Michael and Galen are trying to stifle their laughter unsuccessfully. I accidentally let slip a little laugh. Four looks over to me and the corner of his mouth lifts slightly.
"As I was saying, we're taking you through the Pit and to the cafeteria so you can eat and get a little used to your surroundings," Four continues, "After you finish eating, we will take you to your dorm."
Michael lifts his hand and Four nods at him, "We're sharing living quarters?"
"Yes," Four answers, "You all will be sleeping in the same room. The dorm has about twenty beds and a bathroom right next to it."
"Great. Just what I want. To share my living spaces with a bunch of know-it-all Erudites, hippie-dippie Amities, and boring-ass Stiffs," a Candor girl mumbles under her breath. Or at least, she tried to.
"No one wants to share anything with you loud mouth Candors, so shut the hell up," John snaps at her.
Four rolls his eyes, turns on his heel, and leads us down a hallway. At the end of the hallway is a big metal door. He pushes it open and on the other side is the Pit, which is actually very accurately named. He leads us through and down the hall to the cafeteria. People are already inside, piling their plates with food. Four gestures to the line and tells us to help ourselves.
I go to grab a plate but Michael grabs my wrist and says, "I'll make your plate for you. You go find a spot for us to sit before there are none left."
I look around and see that the spots are filling up fast. I move over to an empty table and sit down. I watch Michael and Galen go through the line. Galen looks a little overwhelmed with all of the options while Michael seems to be piling everything he can on his plate. I watch as Michael also adds (your favorite food) onto my plate.
Galen makes it to the end of the line and looks around for me. I wave to catch his attention and gesture for him to come over. He turns to say something to Michael who is still piling things onto his plate, and walks over to me. He sets his plate down and sits, without a word he tears into his food. Though he didn't put as much food on his plate as Michael, he definitely put a lot more than you think he would be able to eat. Michael hands me my plate and sits down on the other side of Galen.
I pick at the food on my plate. I'm not really all that hungry. I look over to the boys who are plowing through their food. I laugh. They both look at me with puzzled looks.
"What?" Galen asks around a mouthful of food.
I was about to answer when a voice from behind me says, "You know, for boys as scrawny as you are, you sure know how to chow down."
I look behind me to see Four. He sits down next to me and begins eating his own food. We all stare at him.
Now it was his turn, "What? I can't sit here?" he asks.
"No it's not that, it's just surprising," I shrug it off and turn back to my food. The boys on my right didn't quite get the hint to stop staring so I punch Galen's thigh under the table. He grunts and gives me a weird look. I give them both pointed looks and they finally get it.
All of the boys return to their food. I pick at food on my plate some more deep in thought.
"So, Four?" I ask, "Why do you call yourself that?"
"Doesn't matter now," he responds.
"Why not now?" I challenge him.
"Because you'll probably be able to find out later and it's not something you need to worry about," he shrugs.
"Fair enough," I say quietly. The corner of his lips lift as he poorly attempts to hide his smile.
After the boys had finished eating we talked a little about ourselves to better know and understand each other. A few minutes of this was interrupted by Eric. He stood on a chair and yelled for our attention. He asked for all of the initiates to follow Four to the dorms and wish us all good luck for tomorrow.