(outfit on side)
I look at Eric as he walks with me towards the train.
"You ready for today?"
"There is no doubt in my mind." I tell him and he nods.
"Good. There shouldn't be." He says and I nod as I see the train approaching. "I'll be on the roof when you get back as an initiate. Try to keep your mouth closed and blend in, alright?" He tells me and I roll my eyes.
"Come on Eric... You wouldn't want to marry me if I blended in!" I tell him before running and jumping onto the train. I look around the car and spot my friend standing together. "Hey." I say and Lynn gives me a smile.
I had told the truth about the Eric situation but they swore not to tell, and I trusted them. I didn't want people to know it was arranged. I wanted people to believe that someone could love me enough to spend forever with me. Connor slings an arm over my shoulder.
"How you doing today future bride?" He asked loudly and I groaned.
"Shut up Connor! People are looking." I say but with a small laugh.
"Eh let them stair." Uriah says. "They are just jealous." He says and I look at him confused.
"Of me marrying Eric? I highly doubt it." I say and we all laugh. We quiet down and soon enough we come into the city.
I walk into the auditorium and look around, my mother and father should have already been here. I find them talking to Jeanine Mathews and I groan but walk over anyways.
"Ah, his must be your beautiful daughter, Kraven Collins. Are you excited about the choosing ceremony?" She asked me, a little to chipper.
"Yeah. I mean I'm Dauntless. So it's easy for me."
"Well of course! And congratulations on the engagement to Eric. He is a very lucky man." She says and I see my dad's eyes give me a warning glance.
"I'm the lucky one. He is a wonderful man." I tell her and she raises an eyebrow.
"Is that so? I've heard is rather ruthless, doesn't care much for others." She said and I knew for a fact that she was testing me, seeing where I really stood.
I stood up a little straighter and crossed my arms.
"A good Dauntless Leader is ruthless and he cares for me." I say and she nods with a small smile.
"Of course." She says and then walks away. My father and mother give me proud smiles. I wasn't sure why I got so defensive, even if I didn't like Eric, he was my fiancé now and no one else had a right to talk bad about him.
"Where did that come from?" My father asked as we found our seats among the other Dauntless.
"He is my Fiancé now and she has no right to talk down about him." I told him and he gave me an approving nod. My father was also a scary man, right next to Eric and Max. He was tall with broad shoulders a bald head but pretty great goatee and mustache. "Only I can do that." I add in and he just laughs.
The ceremony gets under way and the fifth dauntless to go, Robert, transfers to Abnegation. We all look at each other shocked but I'm next and I now have a point to make. It was embarrassing that a dauntless would leave, especially for Abnegation. I quickly make my way onto the stage and grab the knife. I flip it high into the air, hear a few people gasp, and then catch the blade with my palm. I pull the handle and let the blood fall into the coals.
"DAUNTLESS!" I yell, facing my people with a fist in the air. And they all yell back.
"DAUNTLESS!" I run back to my section and my father stands to give me a hug. I know I made a scene but I felt that it was needed after Robert made that transfer.
"I'm proud of you." He tells me, and those words alone, mean more than anything.
Soon enough we are leaving our parents' sides to run out to the train. They would catch another one separately. I climb up onto the tracks with my friends close to my side and I don't really notice the transfers until we are on the train. One Abnegation girl barely makes in time and practically fell into a Candor.
"Dude, you where amazing! Wait till Eric hears about it!" Marlene says and I blush. Would he have been proud of my little outrage?
"Yeah, I couldn't help it. What Robert did was a disgrace." I say and they agree with me.
"What do you think of these transfers?" Lynn asked and I shrugged while Uriah answers.
"Abnegation over there won't last long. My bet says we lose at least two before tonight."
"Does that include the one that didn't make the train?" I asked and he laughed.
"Oh yeah! Three!"
"Get ready!" We look out the doors with smiles.
"What's going on?" A transfer boy asked and I laughed.
"Time to jump Erudite!" I tell him and then take a running start and leap through the air. I land on my feet with Connor right next to me and we all cheer as we run towards where Eric stood on the ledge. Finally we are all there in a group.
"Listen up! I'm Eric! I'm one of your leaders! This is the way into Dauntless and if you can't jump. You're not Dauntless." He says and when I move to step forward the small shake of his head stops me. "Transfers first!" He says and I cross my arms while rolling my eyes.
"I'll go." The abnegation says I get annoyed with how slow she moves. Finally she jumps off the ledge. The transfers all go first and then the Dauntless born are finally allowed to jump. I end up being fifth to last and I go after Connor. I give Eric a wink and then I fling myself off the ledge and let me body flip through the air and then I land perfectly on my back as I hit the net.
I laugh as Four pulls the rope and I roll towards him. He lifts me off the net and sets me on the ground.
"I thought you'd never come down." He says with a small smile.
"You know me. I like to keep you on your toes."
"You keeping your name?" He asked and I nod.
"Of course."
"Good." He says and nods in a direction where I move to stand by Uriah and Lynn.
I walk up the table four is at, even though the transfers sat next to him, and I take a seat across from him and next to some transfer boy who checks me out.
"If I remember correctly, you owe a girl a piece of cake." I say and I feel the Stiff's eyes on me, she was too curious for her own good.
"That I do." He says and pushes his tray towards me where I gladly steal his fork and start eating the cake.
"How are the transfers?" I asked him and he shrugged.
"They are transfers, what do you expect?"
"Not much."
"We are right here you know. We can here you." A black girl with short black hair sitting on the other side of the Stiff says and Four smirks as I send her a death glare.
"I don't care." I say and turn back to Four, "Have you seen Eric?" I asked him.
"Not since earlier. Why?"
"I need to talk to him."
"You mean he actually talks to initiates?" The Stiff says and I look at Four with a look that shows my annoyance.
"He has to talk to her." Four says and the transfers look confused.
"Why?"
"Because she is his fiancé." He says and one boy shoots water out of his mouth on accident as he starts coughing.
"Speaking of the devil." I say as I spot Eric as he starts to walk by.
"Literally." Four says and I give him a playful glare.
I reach out as Eric walks by and stop him. He looks at me and then looks to see who I'm sitting with.
"Why are you sitting with them?" He asked.
"Four owed me cake."
"For what?" He asked, refusing to look at my brother like figure.
"It's a secret. Can I talk to you?" I ask and he nods before looking around.
"Let's go then." He says a little annoyed and I laugh to myself and stand up. I turn to look at Four and see the stiff and her friend giving me a shocked looked.
"He loves me I swear." I say before quickly following Eric out of the cafeteria. I was almost sure I could hear Four laugh.
"What do you want Kraven?" He asked, once we are alone in a hall.
The bravery I had in front of everyone else was gone. In front of people he would never hurt me because it would look bad, but alone? Alone I wasn't sure what he would do.
"Uhm I just thought you should know that word of our engagement is already spreading. Jeanine Mathews knew today when I saw her."
"What did she say?"
"Well in a nutshell, congratulations and that you were lucky. I told her I was the lucky one and how great you were and then she questioned your state of mind and I shot her down. Dad was proud." I say and he nods, the smallest hint of a smirk forming at his lips. "Anyways, I was just going to say, I think it's best if we stay on the "in love route." It looks better." I say and he nods.
"Yeah it does. But that only means I'm going to be twice as hard on you during training." He says and I look at him confused.
"That's bull..."
"It's what I would do if I loved you. I'd want you to succeed." He says and I know I have a hurt expression on my face.
"Wow... go ahead and just rub it in that you don't care about me at all." I say and go to walk away but he grabs my arm and spins me around.
"Don't walk away from me!" he says angrily and I frown but hold his gaze.
"Then don't be a jerk."
"That's not what I meant Kraven. Calm the fuck down." He says, letting go of my arm.
"I hate pretending, it would be better if we didn't have to. If it was just real." I say and he raises an eyebrow.
"You mean if we really loved each other?" He asked and I shrugged then nodded and he sighs. "Kraven, I'll never be able to love anything, that's just how I am." He says and I nod. I gently place my hand over his chest.
"I know Eric, but maybe one day you'll learn to care about me." I say and then walk away. I was going to be married to a man who could never love me.