Well, I'm a Dauntless. And a tattoo artist. And I'm still barely stretching past five feet, two inches but at least my hair is longer and easier to wrap in a bun.

It's been a little less than a year since my initiation into Dauntless, and even longer since my last encounter with my old faction. Susan and Robert have slowly become faceless over time, and sometimes it's even takes a tiny bit of effort to recall if Caleb had a long nose like mine or one perfectly shaped like my mother's. There were some opportunities in the last couple months to see my family, like the city's winter festivities, but I was kept back by the little guard jobs Eric assigned me.

Sure, I missed my family. I guess that would be considered betrayal to the whole "faction before blood" thing but I don't care. I even hope that my parents will still visit me on the next Visiting Day. My chances are slim however, with the whole anti-Abnegation stigma floating in the air. I've been able to win over it because my success at initiation erased most of the prejudice around me, but it's only getting stickier in the Abnegation quarters.

I'm absently flipping through a tattoo example book when Iris, one of my coworkers at the tattoo parlor, looks over at me. "Hey, you're shift is over."

My eyes shoot up to the clock. It's four. "Oh yeah," I say shrugging. It wasn't a busy day, so really my shift could've ended a while ago. I pick up my needles and begin carefully wiping off ink with a musty rag when a familiar voice breaks the silence.

"Tris!" I hear Christina shout in the distance. Of course, Will follows quickly behind her. "Tris!" she shouts again, waving frantically as she almost reaches the shop. I smile at their silliness, and stifle a laugh when they breathlessly burst through the doors. "Tris, I have the greatest news to tell you."

I raise my eyebrows in question and ask, "What is it?"

"I just beat the shit out of Molly's nose," she says, grinning. "And I managed to kick Peter in the nuts."

"Why?"

"Because she was talking Erudite trash about your dad again," Will responds grimly. "It was a real show though. I think everyone's tired of hearing her because no one bothered to stop Christina from jumping at her."

"Someone needed to shut her up," adds Christina, rubbing her knuckles gleefully. Traces of blood coat her fingers. "She and Peter have been at it non-stop for weeks now. It's a surprise I haven't stabbed one of them in the eye yet." She sighs and shakes her head.

I grin too. Even though I want to burst into laughing, I guess I'm obliged to feel at least a little sorry for Molly.

We walk into the dining hall together where the rest of the faction is and get ready to eat. I grab a piece of toast and a carton of milk and find a place to sit among the initiates I trained with last year. Before I start eating however, the doors swing open and I see Peter walking stiffly into the room with Molly, whose face is covered in bandages. I suppress a guilty smirk and look across the table. Christina is smiling cutely as Will wraps his arm around her and pulls her in closer.

"Get a room!" Zeke teases two spots away. Uriah sits laughing next to me while Lynn and some other initiates dine, amused.

"Hey!" Christina grins maliciously at Zeke, "I'll mess you up."

While those two go at it (with Will joining in every now and then), I can't help but think of a time when a certain someone held me like that. A twinge of jealousy makes my stomach feel slightly acidic and I try to swallow down the piece of toast with a gulp of milk. I haven't seen that certain someone in a while.

And yet as that last thought finishes, a person across the room catches my eye. My body stops. Is that—

"Oh, Four is back!" Uriah exclaims. The table cheers and claps, attracting the attention of the whole place, but I can't seem to help but stay frozen. Four is back.

Did I mention that I've had a slight crush on Four since initiation? We never dated but I feel like we were for a while. Until he had to leave. He's been gone on some sort of mission issued by Eric for what feels like years.

My heart skips a beat. I didn't notice him walk into the dining hall, but I can definitely confirm that's him by the broad shoulders and the length of his hair. He glances at me with toast hanging in his mouth, then quickly turns away and sits down. I avert my stare too and start eyeing at the remainder of my second slice of toast, tearing it to pieces little by little. Maybe he doesn't want to see me.

I look up again and find Will smothering his face in Christina's hair. I don't know whether to feel happy or jealous towards them, and the conflict feels awkward in my chest. But everyone else is smiling and having fun, so I guess I get sucked into the laughter. I'm almost through with my toast when I hear a stern voice behind me.

"Tris."

I jump at the sound, and my head suddenly feels light and airy. I stop fiddling with the toast and drop it all together on the plate before turning around. "What?" I ask, as if I just saw him recently. But I didn't. I haven't seen Four for two months, and now here he is, casually before me in a black shirt and a pair of loose-fitted dark jeans.

He gazes quietly at me, his blue eyes almost piercing through my skin, "Let's go for a walk."