It was just another long and boring day at school. Or so I thought.

After the last bell had rung, successfully cutting of my faction history teacher, who had drowned on endlessly about the importance of erudite, back at the founding of our system, figures, I snatched up my bag and almost ran out of the classroom.

"Not so fast, Alexis."

Groaning, I turned around slowly, dreading the conversation with the stuck up woman, I knew was to come. She was standing in front me, hands on her hips and eyebrows raised.

"Yes, Mrs. Walters?" Smiling sweetly, I knew she wasn't buying any of my bullshit.

"You know exactly, what I want. This was the third time this year you forgot to hand in your assignment. I will have to inform your parents."

Oh, how I hated that woman.

"But Mrs. Walters…" I whined, knowing Dad would give me hell for this. I didn't want to endure another endless lecture, about how I had to be responsible and act for the greater good.

Apparently the fate of our faction was resting on my shoulders.

Bullshit.

Theo was the leader and for all I cared, he could stay a leader. Didn't mean I wanted to become one, too.

Three in the family were more than enough, not to mention that, if Dad wanted a perfect daughter, he still had Harper.

I absolutely adored my parents, Mom was always there for me and Dad would never even let anyone mutter a bad thing about any of us. But they still saw me as the nestling of the family, being the youngest one I had always been sheltered.

By everyone except Harper.

My sister and I had a pretty complicated relationship. I had always looked up to her, but when she got older, there was one point in her life, when she suddenly started to see me as a liability.

Just because I once accidently told Dad I saw her making out with a guy in the hallway, getting her grounded for two weeks, because she told our parents she would have to finish a report and would spend the night at Krissy´s. Ever since then she tried everything to get back at me.

She even told Sam about the erudite I was texting with, once in a while.

I mean he is my best friend and I love him, but Sam is also a guy. And he really dislikes Freddy, even though I have no idea why.

Okay, that was a lie. Freddy, being 17, three years older than me, planned on transferring to dauntless next year, or so he told me. He may or not may have asked out Sam´s long time crush, Tiffany, a few months ago and ever since they had something like a personal vendetta against each other.

Either way it didn't work out between Freddy and Tiffany and now he was somehow interested in me. I actually had no idea why.

He was the best looking guy in our school, except for one other erudite in his year. But he was kind of a reclusive snob, never talking to anyone, because he thought he was too good for the lot of them, so I stuck to admiring Freddy.

But the other one was simply beautiful.

I was pretty shy with people I didn't know, especially with boys, so the advances from Freddy totally overwhelmed me.

Every time I received a message from him, in which he told me I was pretty, or that he would like to spend some time with me, I would get all giddy.

Sam would, of course, ask me why I was running around like a rabbit on peace serum, but I couldn't tell him. He was one to hold grudges and I was sure he would ignore me, if he found out, I was texting Freddy, so I just didn't confide in him

Doesn't mean he didn't figured it out himself.

Or maybe Harper had told him.

It really was the only thing we ever fought about, if you don't count in the one time, when I had him on his back on the matt, while training and he claimed, that I had cheated.

I mean what the hell was I supposed to have done? Cursed him with my magic wand?

Ridiculous…

"ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME?!" Mrs. Walters screeched, making me cover my ears and grimace.

She really had a lovely voice.

"Of course, Mrs. Walters." Realizing that I was blatantly lying, she just shook her head in despair, before shoving a book into my arms. "Chapter 15, 2-page essay until tomorrow. No matter what ´happens´ to you, I want it on my desk before the first bell. Now… Just… just get out."

I didn't need to be told twice, before hurrying out of the classroom. Letting out a deep breath in relieve, I knew I had just escaped the clutches of the evil witch at the last moment possible.

Dad would have had my ass, if he would have had to deal with another one of my obnoxious teachers, after the gym teacher told him, I had deliberately put the gym on fire.

How should I have known that their radiators would overheat if you put a piece of clothing over it. I just wanted to dry my shirt, that was full of juice. Sam had accidently spilled it over me at lunch.

So it really wasn't my fault that the gym was on fire.

I didn't feel like I deserved the compliments coming from the twins, but I didn't deserve mess hall duty for a whole month, either.

Looking at the screen of my phone, I saw that I was almost late to catch the train and several messages of Sam asking me, where the hell I was.

If I would miss this train, I would have to walk and it was a long one, through creepy alleyways.

Not to mention, it was getting more dangerous each day.

Speeding up my steps, I made my way towards the front door, but as I was almost there, a door was opened and I was pulled into a dark janitor's closet.

By reflex, I rammed by elbow into the person's guts. From the height, I knew it was a man and I got ready to strike again, as my assaulter spoke.

"God damnit, Lexi, it´s me!" A click sounded through the room and I exhaled in relief, as I recognized the boy in front of me, before turning a deep shade of red, embarrassed by my actions.

"Freddy… Oh god... I´m so… I´m so sorry!" Stuttering, I clasped my hand in front of my mouth. "Are you okay?"

Concerned, I went to grab his arm, but he waved me away, his handsome face contorted in pain. "I´m alright." Freddy smiled courtly at me, only increasing my embarrassment and the guilt, I felt.

Did I mention already that I wasn't good with boys?

Oh, yeah…

"So… why did you… drag me in here?" God, could I be any more pathetic. Harper was right. With my confidence no one would ever want me.

Freddy seemed to have recovered, because he was now smiling at me again, making my insides melt.

He really had a charming smile…

Stepping closer, he brushed one of my brown locks out of my face, playing with it between his fingers. His face so close to mine rendered me speechless. I couldn't think any longer, couldn't hear anything else but my racing heart.

I was putty in his hands.

"Your sister just finished initiation, didn't she? She was pretty good, wasn't she?" Freddy inquired, stepping closer. Furrowing my brow, I answered.

"Yeah, she came in third."

Why would he ask me about my sister in a moment like this?!

Slinging his arms around my waist, Freddy pulled he flush to his chest. "And three of your family members are leaders? You are part of an important family in dauntless, aren't you?"

Blinking rapidly, I asked myself what he wanted to achive with this information.

"I guess so…"

Freddy smiled widely, before tilting his head down, his lips only a few inches away from mine. "And have you ever been kissed before, Lexi?" He whispered seductively, making me freeze and sending my heart into overdrive.

"N.. No..." I choked out, only a second before his lips met mine. Staring at Freddy, his eyes closed and lips moving slowly, I had no idea what to do, so I placed my hands on his chest.

I mirrored his movements hesitantly, wondering what the hell I was supposed to do with my lips.

"Just like that, babe." He moaned out, his hands wandering down my waist and grabbing my ass. As I squeaked in surprise, Freddy used the moment and slipped his tongue into my mouth, exploring it wholeheartedly, while I felt like someone had stuck a snail into my mouth. I was afraid to bite it on accident.

Or not.

He flicked his little snail rapidly over my own tongue, so I guessed that was what I was supposed to do to.

So I did.

While I was trying to coordinate the movements of my tongue and mouth all at once, I realized I still had my eyes open, so I quickly squeezed them shut. It helped a little, that his face wasn't diverting my attention anymore, and soon I started to enjoy the whole ordeal a little.

Running my hands through his hair, he moaned again and pressed his lips harder onto mine. I felt like I was slowly getting the hang of it, so I returned the kiss with the same fervor.

It must have been several minutes of kissing him like that in the janitor's closet, until Freddy started to pull away. I captured his bottom lip gently with my teeth, like I´ve read before. It made him smirk and press another peck onto my lips, before pulling away.

Catching my breath, I stared at him, until I registered the continuous buzzing in my pocket.

"Someone's trying to call you." Freddy remarked dryly, before running his hand through his disheveled hair, fixing it.

"Yeah… I´m sure it´s just Sam…" My reply was dragged on, my state of confusion making it impossible to form any lucid thoughts.

"Great." Freddy muttered sarcastically, before smiling at me, but it looked kind of forced. "I have to go now. Have a great day." And with a wink he was out the door, leaving me alone and utterly perplexed in the janitor's closet.

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My state of bewilderment, or maybe it was shock, hadn't gotten any better, so I didn't even realize I was walking, until I was in front of the school. Subconsciously, I rubbed my lips, feeling a strange tingling, that I was sure, wasn't the result of my undying love for Freddy, but the pressure he put onto them.

Letting out a breath, I just now realized, that I had missed the train for sure now and would have to walk home.

Let´s just hope that kiss was worth it.

Shouldering my bag, I made my way towards the abandoned part of the city.

"Alexis! Where the hell have you been?!" Someone shouted from behind me and I froze on the spot.

Shit…

Turning around slowly, I forced a smile onto my face, but Sam had always been able to detect my lies.

Because I was the worst liar ever.

Maybe I was candor…

"I have been trying to get a hold on you for 15 minutes." No, Sam was not amused. "Now we have to walk home." He still scowled at me, when I grabbed his arm and pulled him along. I wanted to get home and I preferred it to be before nightfall.

"Oh, you know, how Mrs. Walters hates me and the old witch threatened to call Dad. But she gave me another chance and you would be a darling to help me with it." My tone was supposed to be nonchalant, but even to my own ears it sounded forced.

"Really, Lexi?" Sam grabbed my arm, spinning me around, towards him and gave me a deadpan stare. "So Mrs. Walters, kept you in her classroom for 15 minutes?"

He was suspicious of me.

Never a good sign

"Yeah. Can we go on now?" Changing the topic, I turned away, but he once again stepped into my way.

"So you tell me that Mrs. Walter, who walked out of the building five minutes after the bell rang, kept you 15 minutes inside with her. Or maybe it was Freddie, who left the school only a minute before you did, sporting the biggest shit eating grin I ever saw?"

I clenched my jaw and pushed him away.

"It´s none of your business." Like every time we started to argue about something, I felt the need to defend myself, so walking away seemed the like the best option for me.

It certainly was better than to burst into tears, because I hated fighting with my best friend.

Too bad, Sam was faster than me. We were now somewhere in the middle of the most rundown part of the factionless sector.

"Like hell it is!" Sam shouted from behind me, before I heard him running to catch up with me.

"No, it's not any of your business, with who I spend my time with! So stay out of it." Doubling the efforts in getting away, they still were futile.

"It is my business, because that asshole is just using you!" Sam shouted at me. That statement made me whirl around, to face him. He was standing in front of me, only inches between us, so I jabbed my pointer finger into his chest.

"Freddy is not using me!" I hissed. "For what would he use me at all?!"

Sam huffed at that, looking at me like I had lost my mind. "Well, let´s see… He decides to choose dauntless. Not even a few days after his declaration in the cafeteria, where he told the whole school that he would deflect, which was if I may say so, utterly stupid, Freddy suddenly finds out, he is attracted to you.

Does it ring a bell?"

"Bullshit!" I exclaimed, taking a few steps away from him.

"Really, what did he tell you? That you are pretty, or did he place everything on one card and just kissed you?"

My flaring cheeks were answer enough for him and he just stared at me, his jaw slack. "You kissed him, didn't you?

God… are you stupid."

I chuckled at that, without a trace of humor, before cocking my head at my so called `best friend`.

He really hurt me with that.

"So now I´m stupid?!"

He lifted his hands up, as to show me it was obvious. "Well if you kissed him, then yes. You are stupid."

Not quite believing, Sam would really say something like that to me, I took another small step back.

"So you don't believe he could find me attractive in any way? Because the only way someone could want me is because of my last name?"

"YES?!" Sam answered in a D´oh! tone, as if I really was that senseless.

As I nodded curtly and hid my face behind my hair, to not grant him the satisfaction of seeing the tears in my eyes, he seemed to realize what he just said to me.

So he started to soothe me, in an appeasing and regretful voice.

"No, Lexi. I didn't mean that you´re not attractive, because you are. But Freddy just wants you for your name, not for the great person that you are."

Sam went to grab my arm, but I pulled it out of his grasp, before rasping out.

"Screw you."

With that I took off and ran as fast as I could, not really paying attention to where I was heading. The tears blurring my eyes made that kind of hard.

"Alexis, stop! Please!" I heard Sam shout from somewhere behind me, but like hell I was going to stop, just so he could just insult me further.

Freddy wasn't using me, no!

But he asked about your family…

No!

You asked yourself why he would ever want you, so why don't you listen…

Stop it!

Sobbing heavily, I sprinted into an alleyway, leaning against the wall, slipping it down slowly. I didn't register the dirt, or the cold, as I wrapped my hands around my knees and lowered my head onto them, letting the tears flow.

From the main street I could hear Sam shouting my name, but I didn't answer, only tried to keep my sons quiet. I stayed there, rocking forth and back slightly, until a can clinking on the ground, captured my attention.

My head shot up and I looked into the face of a filthy man.

He wore torn and tattered clothes, stains littered over them and as he smiled, he bared two rows of rotting teeth at me.

Factionless.

"There´s no reason to cry, love. No one here will harm you." I stared at him with wide eyes, as my breathing quickened. I slowly pulled myself upright, never swaying my gaze away from him, brushing away my tears.

This wasn't good.

Not at all.

Gulping heavily, I took a few steps backwards, ready to bolt. But as I turned around to run away, another man appeared in front of me, blocking my path.

I was cornered.

The second one looked a little bit more put together, but was really captured my attention, was the machine gun in his hands.

Fear threatened to choke me up, as more and more men appeared, closing me in.

My only change of rescue was to scream and it was a slim one at that.

But I did it anyway.

"SAM!" I screamed from the top of my lungs, before lunging at the men that had appeared first. Ramming my shoulder into his guts, managing to bring him down, but as I tried to escape into one of the buildings, through a broken window, I felt a pair of hands on my waist pulling me back.

I only managed to scream, before the factionless hurled me against the wall of the building on the other side. My head taking the hit.

Hard.

Stars exploded in front of my vision and pain erupted inside my whole skull.

Trying to get up again, I braced myself on my elbows, drowsily touching the back of my head, that had taken the brunt of the hit. Bringing my fingers back down, they were slick with a sticky substance.

Looking at it, I realized it was blood.

Suddenly, someone grabbed my hair, pulling me upright again. I cried out loud, as it pulled on my already open scalp.

"Shut up, bitch!" The guy, that had thrown me, hissed into my face, before slapping me with all his strength.

My whole head was moved by the force and the world once again blurred before my eyes, just as I had managed to regain my sight.

So I only slowly managed to turn back around, as I heard a commotion from the opening of the alleyway.

The shouts took a while to get to my dazed brain, but when I understood them and what exactly they meant, I once again started to struggle in the man's grasp.

"LEXI! LEXI!" Sam screamed in despair, before he threw himself on top of one of the guys, hitting his jaw.

But there were too many of them.

Simply as that.

I could only watch, rendered incapable of helping him or even shouting at him to watch out, as the factionless behind him grabbed a pipe and hit him with full force.

Sam didn't even see the blow to his head coming, before he fell face forward onto the pavement.

Unmoving.

"Sam…" I breathed, as tears streamed down my face, so I lowered my head, not wanting to see any of that any longer.

Like this, I could pretend this wasn't happening.

I could pretend I was still in the closet, making out with Freddy.

Or at home fighting with my sister, or reading, or…

"Take him with you." An authoritative voice commanded, that was followed by shuffling. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone crouching down in front of me. "Who do we have here? Lexi, right?"

Slowly raising my head, I came face to face with a well-kept man, that seemed to be in his late thirties. But the mixed colours of his clothing told me, he was still one of them.

A factionless.

"Please excuse our impoliteness, but it was necessary." The guy smiled at me, making my skin crawl.

There was nothing he should be smiling about.

"Who the hell are you?" I managed to get out, as I tried to concentrate, but everything was blurring in my mind.

"Oh, of course. How rude of me. My name is Edgar and the both of us are going to have a lot of fun together."

It was the last thing I heard, before I felt a sting on my neck and everything went black.

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This was a lot harder to write than I would have thought… :D

I hope it turned out okay.

Thanks for reading! :)