All rights belong to Veronica Roth.
"I wake to squeaking mattresses and shuffling feet. It's too dark for me to see clearly, but as my eyes adjust, I see Christina is tying her shoelaces."
I check my watch, it reads a little past midnight. "Christina, what are you doing?"
She lifts her head up, "Oh my gosh Tris! What are you doing just sitting there? We're already running late." I give her a blank look, late for what?
"Oh yeah, you fell asleep before we could tell you. We're all heading over to Zeke's party to celebrate our initiation! Now hurry up and get dressed." Suddenly, I get really nervous. I've never been to a Dauntless party. Who knows what they do there? I shove my feet into a pair of combat boots and throw my hair into a sloppy ponytail. Apparently I'm taking too long to get ready because Christina grabs my hand and takes off in a sprint. I start thinking back to when I first joined Dauntless: so timid, so weak. Now I can sprint for hours if I have to, shoot a gun, take someone down. Of course, I then feel the pang of guilt when I start to think of my parents. I love them, but here in Dauntless, I feel like I'm finally home.
When we get to Zeke's apartment, the party is already in full swing. Someone hands me a drink and soon enough all eyes are on me. "To Tris!" they all shout, raising their drinks in the air and banging on any surface available. Eventually they all quiet down, well as quiet as a group of Dauntless can be. I scan the room and see that everyone I know is here: Uriah, Will, Lauren, Marlene, Lynn, including the older Dauntless. Then my eyes find Tobias. He's already staring at me from across the room. I remember that I need to tell him something, something important, but the drink I've been sipping on impairs my ability to think. I'm sure it can wait a while longer. I cross the room to him, the liquid courage coursing through my veins. Everyone already saw us kiss when the listing was posted, but still, it's weird to finally have everyone know that we're together.
"Congratulations Tris," Tobias says as I cuddle into his side.
"Thanks. I can't believe that I'm finally in Dauntless, officially now. Won't life be boring compared to the weeks I've spend during initiation?" I ask with a laugh. I can't imagine life in Dauntless boring, but after facing my fears multiple times, getting attacked and almost killed, and pushing my body to its absolute limit, I can't imagine anything topping that.
Tobias' hand sneaks down my side and strokes the exposed skin right above the waistline of my leggings. "I'm not so sure about that," he whispers into my ear. I try to will the blush away, but of course that doesn't work. Just as I'm about to say something back to him, Zeke shouts,
"Alright everyone, it's time for a little game of Candor or Dauntless!" All around us people erupt into hoots and cheering. I look up to Tobias with a question in my eyes.
"It's basically just a game of truth or dare," he says with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Truth or dare?" I ask. He starts to laugh.
"How could I forget you're a Stiff?" he says as he bumps playfully into my shoulder, "Truth or dare is a game where someone asks you either 'truth or dare', or Candor or Dauntless. If you choose truth, then they get to ask you whatever they want and you have to answer honestly. If you choose dare, then you have to do whatever they dare you to do." My palms start to sweat. Well, I'm definitely not picking truth. The idea of a dare would seem exciting to me, but now that everyone knows that Tobias and I are together, I have an awful feeling in the pit of my stomach. Then a thought comes to me.
"What if you refuse to do anything?" thinking I finally had my way out of this game.
"Well there's the twist. If you refuse, then you have to take off a piece of clothing. The game ends when someone gets completely naked." I look down at what I'm wearing: combat boots, leggings, and a tank top. Fantastic.
"Don't be nervous," he says as he takes my hand in his, "This is supposed to be a fun game." I chug the rest of whatever is in my cup. When everyone is finally all in the circle, the game begins. Zeke stands up and walks to the middle of the circle.
"Ok, Tris. Since you ranked first in your initiation class, you have the honor of selecting the first victim," Zeke says with a malicious laugh. I look around the circle.
"Christina, Candor or Dauntless?" She looks around at everyone in the room. Being a former Candor, I figure she'll choose truth.
"Dauntless," she says confidently. Everyone cheers and waits for the dare. Oh no, but what is a good dare?
"I've never played this game before, help me out guys!" Voices explode, all talking about what should be the first dare of the night. Uriah walks over to me and whispers his idea into my ear.
"Ok Christina. For the rest of the game, you have to lie about everything," I smirk as I watch her face transform from a look of confidence into one of sheer panic.
"But, but I'm a C-," she cuts herself off, "Fine, should be easy since I'm Dauntless!" she exclaims as people look at her with pride and respect. Knowing Christina, this is going to be way harder for her than she's letting on.
The game goes on and on. Slowly I relax and start to enjoy myself, that is until someone picks me.
"Tris," my head snaps up to Will, "Candor or Dauntless?"
"Dauntless," I say, as if I'm not totally terrified.
"Alright then, I dare you to give Four a lap dance, right now in front of everyone," he says with a mischievous look in his eyes. Oh god, I think back to my fear landscape. If I was being honest with myself, that one was the one I was most terrified. My hands start shaking and before I know it, Tobias throws me over his shoulder and starts to walk out. As we leave, I can hear everyone hooting and whistling though it's like I'm underwater. When I'm set down, I look around to see we're back in Tobias' apartment. He paces the room with his jaw and fists clenched, hair wild, and nostrils flared. It must be the alcohol, because with the way he looks right now I'm almost half-tempted to give him that lap dance. Almost. Once I finally sober up a little, I realize he's sitting on the bed, still fuming.
"Hey," I say gently. "Hey it's alright, Will didn't know." I start rubbing circles on his back, just like my mother would do to me to calm me down. Eventually, he unclenches his fists and his shoulders droop down. He looks like he's about to say something, but decides not to. I take his hand in mine.
"Let's just go to bed."
Author's Note: So, from the very first moment I started to read Divergent, I was hooked. I couldn't stand the way the trilogy, or even the way Divergent ended, so I decided to change the story line! Hope you all enjoyed reading this, please comment whether you loved it, hated it, anything (: