Chapter 1

Disclaimer: all characters (except for ones I may create) belong to Veronica Roth, as well as anything from Divergent, which includes the italicized beginning portion of this chapter. Sadly. The rest is mine.

Tris

Uriah

Lynn

Marlene

Peter

Peter stays. I suppress a sigh. But then I read the rest of the names.

Will

Christina

I smile, and Christina reaches across the table to hug me. I am too distracted to protest against the affection. She laughs in my ear.

Someone grabs me from behind and shouts in my ear. It's Uriah. I can't turn around, so I reach back and squeeze his shoulder.

"Congratulations!" I shout.

"You beat them!" he shouts back. He releases me, laughing, and runs into a crowd of Dauntless-born initiates.

I crane my neck to look at the screen again. I follow the list down.

Eight, nine, and ten are Dauntless-borns whose names I barely recognize.

Eleven and twelve are Molly and Drew.

Molly and Drew are cut. Drew, who tried to run away while Peter held me by the throat over the chasm, and Molly, who fed the Erudite lies about my father, are factionless.

It isn't quite the victory I wanted, but it's a victory nonetheless.

Will and Christina kiss, a little too sloppily for my taste. All around me is the pounding of Dauntless fists. Then I feel a tap on my shoulder and turn to see Tobias standing behind me. I get up, beaming.

"You think giving you a hug would give away too much?" he says.

"You know," I say, "I really don't care."

I stand on my tiptoes and press my lips to his.

It is the best moment of my life.

I suddenly am brought back to reality as I pull away from Tobias. He smirks at me and whispers, "Eager, are we?" I let out a breathy laugh and lightly shove his shoulder.

Knowing I will regret it, I turn my head and look at Will and Christina, standing barely a foot away from me with gaping mouths. I have no idea how I'm going to explain this.

Tobias looks down at me, his little half smirk lingering on his lips. I can't help but roll my eyes at him, making his half smirk morph into a full blown grin. He presses his lips to mine lightly again.

"I'll leave you to," he nods his dead not-so-subtly at my floundering friends, "that," he finishes. "Would you want to meet me at Zeke's later? He's having a party. You can bring your friends. Its fine if you aren't up to it, we can always just go back to my apartment," he stops again before continuing, "if you want to." His words are rushed and nervous and I have to suppress a laugh.

"I'll see you at Zeke's," I reassure him, smiling. He nods, his grin returning, and walks towards his friends, who quickly pretend they weren't watching. I take a second to prepare myself before turning towards the onslaught of questions, but, surprisingly, I am faced with only one,

"Did you just kiss Four?" Christina looks so bewildered it's almost comical.

"Yes," I reply. There really is no other way to say it. I could elaborate, but I want to gage her reaction before giving her any more information.

"Why? I mean, when? No, what—" she stops and tries again, "How long?"

"Some time around stage two," I smile shyly, "I didn't tell anyone because I didn't want people to think my rank was a product of favoritism. And before you ask, no, it wasn't."

"I wasn't gonna ask that!" Christina protests.

"I was," says Will, shrugging. He slings an arm around my shoulder good-naturedly, a slow smile making its way across his face. "I think it's a good thing, actually," he states.

"You do?" I ask, carefully.

He grins, "Yeah, no wonder you've been in such a good mood lately. Besides, I think some action could make you a little less, well, stiff." He winks at me and I look down, my face red.

Christina looks at me pointedly, "I need details, all of them, now." She grabs me by the wrist, deciding for both of us that girl talk is more important than celebrating with our fellow Dauntless.

Once we finally get to a place she deems appropriate for the conversation, the empty initiate dorms, she looks at me, waiting.

"What do you want to know?"

After what seems like hours of answering questions, Christina finally decides she knows enough. It honestly felt good to be able to tell her about Tobias, after having to keep it in for so long. Thinking I am free from Christina's mayhem, although knowing I'm being a bit dramatic, I stand to leave the dorms.

"Where do you think you're going?" I turn back to see Christina with her hand on her hip, impatiently tapping her foot. "There is no way you are going to a party looking like that." She nods her head towards my plain long sleeve black shirt and loose black jeans. I honestly don't see what's wrong with it, but I know it's better not to ask.

After some serious goading, I exit the dorms wearing, extremely tight, black high wasted leggings and a cropped form-fitting black off the shoulder long sleeve top. My tattoos are on full display. I refused makeup and in retaliation Christina made me wear a black lace underwear set, saying I'll thank her later and "Four will love it." I ignored the last part.