Erase and Replace
Chapter 1
Peter walked down the stairs, wiping at his lip. He grimaced at the small smear of blood on his hand when he looked at it. He wouldn't lose to Edward again. He'd make sure of it.
"Peter!" his name echoed off the walls and back to him several times. It was Drew calling him, but Peter kept walking. "Pete! Wait up!"
"Why?" he muttered, not slowing his pace. Footsteps hurried after him and Drew and Molly caught up.
"Are you okay?" Molly asked, looking at him. "Edward really gave it to you…"
"Thanks for that. I'd forgotten." He muttered.
"That guy is unbeatable." Drew said, shaking his head. "He has no weaknesses."
"He does." Peter replied, rolling his eyes.
"Really?" Molly asked, "How would you beat him?"
"With a stick. While he slept." Peter spat.
"That's not particularly useful for our scores…" Drew mused. "But it's not a bad idea."
Peter chewed on his lip. Perhaps it wasn't a bad idea. It needed some refining, however.
"…Right, well…" Molly said slowly "Drew and I were going to go get some tattoos before dinner. You coming?"
"Yeah, why not…" He said, running a hand through his hair to make sure it was laying smooth.
Later that evening when they had all found seats for dinner, Peter looked around. He spotted Christina looking at him with a grin. She then leaned toward Tris and whispered something. He watched as Tris' eyes found his for a second before looking away. He looked down at his plate with a snarl. They were no doubt discussing his loss to Edward.
"Ignore them." Drew said to him.
"I am." He replied flatly. "You think I care what they think? I could take any one of them."
"Any one of them except Edward." Molly snickered and Peter turned his eyes on her.
"Might I remind you that I am well above you, Molly…" He watched her lip curl before she returned her attention to her food.
"Whoa, hey…" Drew nudged Peter with his elbow.
"What?"
"See that girl over there… She keeps giving me the eye…"
"What girl?" Peter asked, looking in the direction that Drew had indicated.
"The one with the purple in her hair…"
Peter found the girl he meant. "… Cute enough." He replied, his eyes looking her over. She looked about their age but he didn't think she was an initiate. She was probably either a year older or younger then. She was slim and decent looking. He nodded, turning his eyes on Drew. "What's your plan?"
"I don't know… What do you think I should do?"
"No idea."
"Well, I mean Dauntless girls are different to Candor girls, aren't they?" Drew frowned, "How do you pick up Dauntless girls?"
"Probably some act of stupidity." Peter muttered, biting into his hamburger.
"If she's already giving you the eye she's already interested." Molly said, rolling her eyes.
"So, I should just talk to her then?"
"What are you, twelve?" Molly asked.
"No." Drew snapped.
"Back home you had no problem… You went through girl after girl…"
"Candor girls." He clarified.
"And we are what? Some weird other species…?"
"Pretty much, yeah." Drew said easily.
Molly shot to her feet. "Screw you." She snapped, turning and storming away.
Peter looked at Drew who just blinked. "…What'd I say?" his friend asked.
"Think about it." Peter muttered, shaking his head.
"Is she pissed or something?"
Peter sighed, "What are you going to do about the Dauntless chick?"
"Go talk to her I guess?"
"Good idea. When?"
"When we're done eating…?"
"Great."
"Are you going to come with me?"
"Do you need me to?"
"Maybe…"
"What for?"
"To make me look all desirable and stuff…"
Peter snorted. "And my presence would do that how, exactly?"
"You could say good things about me…? And the girls have always liked you…" Drew looked at him, "It's something about your face…"
"You mean my face is better than yours?" He smirked
"Well… the ladies seem to think so…" Drew said, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, like you said, Dauntless girls are different. None of them have looked at me since we've been here but you're getting the eye from that one over there… so maybe they consider you Hot Stuff." Peter watched as Drew thought about that. He had to resist a laugh when his friend's expression changed to one of wonder. There was no way girls would prefer Drew over him, no matter what faction they were in.
"Guess we'll find out." Drew mused, grinning at him. "Hey, did you hear there is gonna be a food delivery tomorrow?"
"Who would I possibly hear that off?" Peter asked, deadpan.
"I don't know. I heard it. But anyway, you know what that means…?"
"What?"
"Amity chicks."
"Ah…"
Drew winked at him. "You know what they say about Amity girls...?"
"I know what you say about Amity girls…" He said, looking at his friend.
"Yeah. Way easy." Drew laughed.
"I suppose they'd have to be to screw you." He smirked. Drew punched him in the arm.
"You're just jealous that you never got one to go near you!"
"I was unaware we were in competition."
"Yeah? Well, let's go then!" Drew exclaimed, grinning widely at him, "Tomorrow we'll both try to pick up an Amity girl… Whoever gets the hottest one wins!"
"Really?" Peter asked "We're trying to get through initiation and you want to waste time on that?"
"Sure. We need something to vent a little frustration…" Drew shrugged, pulling his hamburger apart. "Are you in?"
"I don't know."Peter shrugged nonchalantly, "I'll have to get a look at them first…"
"Ugh." Drew sighed, "If you weren't so picky, you'd get a lot more arse."
"Yeah well, I have standards…" Peter retorted, "In this at least."
"Yeah, well that's your loss." Drew said, pushing his plate away from himself. "I'm going to go talk to the purple chick."
"You don't need me, then?"
"Nope. I've decided that I'm better at this than you."
Peter couldn't hold in a snort of laughter. Drew gave him a piercing look.
"Okay…" Peter pushed his own plate away from himself. "You go try to get it on with the purple girl, and I'm going to go and try to get some sleep."
"Yeah, okay, Grandpa." Drew smirked.
"Whatever. I had a long day."
"Oh, yeah… I forgot. You did get your arse handed to you by Edward."
Peter got to his feet silently. Drew did the same and clapped him on the back. "You'll get him next time, Pete."
"There's not going to be a next time." He muttered. Drew's eyes narrowed, looking at him.
"What're you thinking?"
"Never mind. Go talk to the girl. I'll tell you later when I've had a chance to think a bit."
"Yeah, okay…"
Peter nodded and turned on his heel, heading for the exit. Casting a single glace over his shoulder, he saw Drew heading for the table where the girl with the purple hair was sitting with some of her friends. He had no idea how his friend would fare with that endeavour. It really was hit or miss with Drew.
Upon entering the dorm, Peter found that Molly was the only one in there so far. She was curled on her bunk, her back to the rest of the room. That suited him just fine. He grabbed his stuff and headed to the bathroom for a shower.
Stepping under the water, Peter closed his eyes. He could feel his muscles relax almost instantly. He knew he'd be sore tomorrow but he'd still need to work them a bit if he was to avoid becoming too stiff. That would likely mean training on his own because, if Drew was right and there was going to be a food delivery, they probably wouldn't be fighting. Dipping his head forward, Peter let the hot water fall on the back of his neck without challenge. Reaching a hand out, he pressed it to the wall and closed his eyes for a few minutes. Standing under the water in the shower was one of the few places he was able to relax since he'd come to Dauntless.
He'd had just about enough of this initiation thing. The whole thing would be so much simpler without Edward. He'd heard that Edward had been studying fighting since he was a kid. How was he meant to beat an Erudite who had studied something like that for fun his whole life? The guy had an unfair advantage, and he definitely needed to do something about it.
Once he'd washed himself down, Peter got out of the shower and dried himself off. By the time he'd dressed and walked back to the dorm, Edward and Myra were climbing into their own bunks.
"How are you feeling, Peter?" Edward smirked, "A little sensitive? A bit sore?"
"Not are sore as you're going to be?" He muttered, throwing him a dirty look. Edward just snickered. Peter turned away from him and fluffed his pillow for a moment before climbing onto the thin mattress. The guy needed to be brought down a peg or two. "An eye for an eye…" he murmured, turning onto his side and pulling his blanket over himself. What a great idea…