Tris and I walked back to the training room. We had just gotten back from shooting on the roof. I looked at the board and called out to her. "Hey Tris! Look!"
She ran over, but instead of smiling, a frown formed on her face. My brows came together, confused. "What's wrong? You moved up! You're 26th now. That's great..."
She shook her head, walking off. "Not good enough."
I frowned and turned back to the board. I growled as I saw my name in third. Lukas had moved in front of Edward and I. Peter was also now one behind me, in fourth. "Hell no."
I whipped around, trying to find Eric. I saw him speaking with a boy, trying to explain to him why his hits weren't doing any damage. I walked up to him, just as the boy walked away. I crossed my arms over my chest. "Put me in a fight with Edward or Lukas."
He scoffed. "You do realize you aren't invincible right? They would kill you. If you lose, your ranking would go down even further. I'm not letting you do that."
He began to walk away, but I ran after him. I came up to his left side, before jumping in front of him. "Please, Eric. I can take them. I've already beat Peter twice. I just-"
We both stopped and turned as we heard someone cry out. "Stop! Stop! I'm done... I'm done!"
Eric stormed over immediately, and I followed. He looked down at the girl, who I now noticed was Christina. He sighed, "You need to stop?"
She nodded her head fiercely, nearly crying. Eric looked at me, then back to her. "Ok. Let me give you a hand."
He held his hand out to her and she grabbed it. He pulled her up. She smiled a bit, "Thanks."
I don't know what happened, but the moment she smiled at him- I wanted to bash her face in. I was angry at him for helping her, as well. I would have probably fought her then and there, if Eric didn't yell out for everyone to listen up. "Alright! Everyone take a break!"
Eric decided we should all go on a walk. He kept Christina up in the front with him, his arm wrapped around her. I growled lowly under my breath. Peter looked to me out of the corner of his eye and smirked. "Someone's jealous."
I scoffed, "Maybe. Even so, I'm gonna find a time to make her wish she'd just kept fighting Molly."
Peter smirked and laid his arm over my shoulder. "Let's make a plan then. To get rid of her."
I smiled for a moment, when I noticed Tris looking back at us. I glared at her, finally deciding Eric was right. I just needed to get rid of her and Christina. Peter pulled me closer and leaned his head on mine. "What're looking at Stiff? Go on- keep walking."
I smirked as Tris frowned and turned around. We kept walking, nearing the chasm. I felt a little better, until I heard Eric talking to Christina. "You, uh, feeling a little better?"
She looked to the ground, "Yeah. I'm fine now."
I would have shoved her off the railing myself. That is, until, Eric spoke. "Good."
He grabbed Christina by the wrist and threw her over the railing. Her free hand latched onto the bottom rail. Eric spoke to her, stone faced. "Grab the rail... Or don't."
He released her hand, and she latched onto the rail. She gasped and struggled. I smirked to myself, making my way to the front of the group. I noticed Tris watching me as I did so, but I ignored her.
Eric spoke again, "You got three options. Hang there and I'll forget your cowardice. Fall and die. Or give up. But if you give up you're out."
I chuckled as I watched her groan and struggle. Eric smirked at me, before looking back at Christina. I rolled my eyes as I heard Tris call out, "Come on Chris!"
Eric glared at her and I stepped onto the ledge a little more, then crouched down. "Yeah, come on Chris! I mean, you could just give up- but, isn't being a coward what got you here in the first place?"
I smirked at her and she glared daggers to me. I laughed and walked back over to Peter. He wrapped his arm around me and we all smirked. Eric was smirking at Christina, until he looked over at Peter and I. He glared. "Alright- time."
I raised a brow at him, but he ignored me. Tris, Al, and Will all rushed forward and helped her back over the railing. She clutched onto Tris for dear life. I scoffed, and turned around- walking back to the training room.
I heard Eric's voice behind me, "Dauntless never give up."
I just walked faster.
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The next day was a day off. We were able to do anything we wanted as long as we stayed on Dauntless grounds. I put on a tank top and shorts. Then I headed down to the cave pool I had found a while back.
As I turned the last corner, I bumped into Eric. Great.
I took a step back. He looked me over. "A towel... Let me take a wild guess as to where you are heading."
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, so what? It's not like I'm hogging it or anything. It's freezing cold, I don't think anyone wants to get in right now. Except me of course."
He smirked at me. "Well, I happen to be going that way myself."
I smirked, "Really? In a leather jacket?"
He paused for a moment before turning around and walking towards the pool. I followed him. We walked in and I threw my stuff to the side and slipped in. I laid on my back and floated. I peeked out of one eye to see Eric standing at the edge of the pool, in his boxers.
I snorted, which caused me to fall under the water a little bit and swallow some. I came back up coughing and laughing. "Yeah, you totally planned on coming here today huh?"
He rolled his eyes before jumping in. He made a giant wave which pushed me to the opposite end of the pool. I laughed. He came back up and I could see the tattoo on his back. It was beautiful.
He turned to face me, smirking at me. I went pale. "Oh no. No, no, no!!"
He laughed and rushed towards me, grabbing me around the waist and chucking me across the water. I came back to the surface laughing and began splashing water at him. This went one for a few minutes before we had managed to get further down in the pool, and much closer to each other. I took one step and my head dipped under the water. I came back up to hear Eric laughing. It was nice.
I smiled but struggled to keep my head above the water, since I was worn out. Eric seemed to have no trouble touching the bottom.
I groaned, "Damned tall people."
After my sentence, my head bobbed back under once again. When I came back up, I felt a hand wrap around my waist.
I froze. Eric smirked as he pulled me closer to him, and placed me on his knee, so I could sit.
I wrapped my arms around his neck. We both inched closer together. Our lips came together slowly, before quickly becoming more intense. His hand travelled down to my shorts, and that's when I pulled away.
I smirked at him. "As much fun as this was, I'm afraid I'm not going to be another girl on your fuck list."
I swam to the edge and got out. I wrapped my towel around me and walked toward the exit. I heard him slosh out of the water.
"Alexa! I..." he stopped.
I turned and smiled softly at him. Then I walked out and back to the dorms.
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We were on a train. Tris and Christina hadn't come near me since the chasm, and I only slightly felt guilty. I started eating with Peter and his friends. I couldn't call them my own friends- I hated them just as much as I had before. I'd had a few more heated sessions with Eric after the pool. However, I never let them go anywhere because I was serious about what I had said. I wasn't just some chick he could fuck around with. It'd been about two weeks of this stuff with Eric. Overall, we'd been in Dauntless for about two months now. I'd spoken with Max several times about our assignment. He hadn't told me who all was in, but that I'd find out soon enough.
Four had put me in a fight with Andrew, and I won. I was back in second. Peter, was now in first. I stopped helping Tris, and she had fallen a little in rankings. However, I think Four had started helping her in my place- because she was getting better.
Four was giving a talk about our duties of the fence. I didn't listen, I had already read about it. The train stopped and we filed out, one by one. We got to the ladder, where I saw a few Dauntless women speaking with an Amity girl. She handed them a basket full of food. They nodded to each other and the Dauntless went back up the ladder. The girl turned around, and I immediately recognized her.
I ran towards her, "Abbey! Hey! Abbey!"
She whipped around, and smiled once she saw my face. "Alexa!"
We finally reached each other and I engulfed her in a giant bear hug. I grabbed her face, turning it up and down, side to side. "How are you? Do I need to beat anyone up? Of course I do. Give me names. I'll take care of it."
She laughed and pulled my hands from her face. "Lex, I'm fine! I was more worried about you! How is Dauntless? Are you alright? Homesick?"
I was just about to respond when I felt a hand pull me back by the hood of my jacket. "Hey!"
I turned to see Four glaring at me. "We are not here to socialize with the Amity. Get back to the fence initiate."
I frowned, "But-"
Four growled, "Now!"
Abbey cowered away and steam came out of my ears. He can yell at me, but how dare he scare her. I was about to talk back when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned and saw Eric.
He glared at Four. "Alexa's parents worked on the Fence technology. She's been up there a million times. Worry about the other initiates, I'll stay down her with her and the Amity."
Four looked pissed. His jaw clenched, but he nodded stiffly and walked away. I smiled and turned back to Abbey, hugging her again. "How's Hannah? Your dad? Oh, and what about your brothers?"
Abbey laughed, "They're all fine. Your parents are in the fields right now actually. They just got in about a month ago. Nevermind all them though, I think you should be more worried about your scary friend."
I scoffed. "Yeah, he's not my friend. He's been taking a liking to a Stiff and helping her move up in the ranks. It's really starting to piss me off."
Abbey frowned, "You know I really hate it when you call them Stiffs. It's not very-"
I held up my hand, "Yeah. I know. Not very nice. Sorry kid, but I'm just not a nice person."
Abbey smiled and hugged me, "I know. But I still love you. No matter what. Anyways, I got to get back. Mom's probably looking for me. I'll let everyone know you said hi!"
I nodded and waved as she walked away. I turned only to jump back, startled. Eric's chest was right in front of me. I took a step back. I looked up and saw Eric's face. I thought he would be angry, but he was slightly smiling. I smiled back slightly, "What?"
He laughed lightly, and it was a magical noise. "Nothing, it's just surprising to see you genuinely caring for someone. The only people I've seen you 'care' about were people you felt bad for or people you are using to climb the ranks."
I rolled my eyes and started walking, "Yeah, well, she's family. Besides, the only time I've seen you look anywhere close to genuine- is when you found some random girl and you were about to fuck her brains out."
He scoffed. "Yeah, but I don't really care about them."
I laughed. "Yeah, I gathered that. You don't care about anyone."
I noticed he had stopped walking and so I did too. I walked back over, about to ask what was wrong, when he reached his hand out. He tucked a stray piece of hair behind my ear. He sighed slightly. "I can care."
I was looking up into his eyes, the butterflies coming back, before I heard loud voices coming from behind us. I pulled away and turned to see everyone else coming down from the fence. I cleared my throat, looking back to Eric. "Um, thank you, for letting me see her. I really appreciate it."
He frowned slightly, "No problem, Alexa."
I shuddered slightly as my name rolled off his lips. Then I felt a hand on my shoulder. I jumped. It was Peter. "Come on Lex, don't want the train to leave without us."
I gave him a tight smile, as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder- a habit of his these days. I turned back slightly to see Eric glaring at Peter. I immediately grabbed Peter's arm, and slid it off my shoulders. Peter looked slightly hurt, before turning and glaring at Eric. I turned to see Eric smirking at him, challenging him.
I cleared my throat, "Yeah no we should totally get going! Goodbye!"
I grabbed Peter by his sleeve, "Let's go!"
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That picture at the top is Abbey.
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