"Tris."
"Hm?"
I open my eyes. Tobias is next to me, propped up on one arm. The other is lazily draped across my waist. I gather the blankets to my chest and roll over to face him. He leans in and touches his forehead to mine. I close my eyes and savor the moment. But he pulls back.
"It's Choosing Day, Tris," he tells me, toying with my hair, "Training starts today." He smiles and it's contagious, and I do as well.
"We better get ready, then," I sit up and climb out of bed, searching the ground for my clothes.
.
"Hello, my name is Will, and I'm one of the Dauntless leaders. There's only one way into your new home, and you got to jump," he claps his hands, "What lucky soul wants to go first?"
.
I whack Tobias' arm, "Look, there's the first one!" I smile, remembering how the fall felt, and lock my hand with his. He squeezes my hand, and we watch the first jumper fall into the net. It's a Dauntless born boy. I sigh. Nothing quite so exciting. Last year an Amity girl jumped first. Unheard of.
"Reed! First jumper!" Someone helps the boy down. It's Uriah. He flashes me a thumbs up and I laugh lightly. I cheer and clap as the boy, Reed, walks away from the net to stand with the rest of the Dauntless who came to watch.
.
"My name is Four, and this is Tris and Christina. We are going to be your instructors for the next three weeks, so I suggest you learn our names," Tobias pauses and looks over at me.
I jump in, " The first week is physical training. We push your bodies to the breaking point. You'll learn almost all the skills necessary to becoming a member of Dauntless."
Christina interrupts, grinning at me, "Then we push your minds, to the breaking point once more. You'll face your worse nightmares. I was once scared of moths, falling into the chasm, losing my family, becoming factionless, getting shot, getting stabbed, spiders, getting kidnapped by faceless men, losing my friends, and drowning. Now I have far less fears."
The initiates whisper among themselves, confused and Christina and I share a knowing look. Tobias tells them to follow him and I know he's showing them the dorms. Christina and I wait till they've all left, and then head to get some dinner.
.
"And then I told him to get over himself and he told me I was being immature," Will tells us about his recent meeting with Erudite, he rolls his eyes and eats another bite.
"A lot of transfers this year," Christina changes the subject, "What, fifteen? Sixteen?" She asks me.
I shrug, "More then usual."
Christina starts talking to Will about the initiates that she didn't think we're going to pass. I stare down at my plate, and take a bite of my hamburger. It takes wrong in my mouth. I cough. Uriah glances up at me glaring angrily at my plate.
"You okay?" He asked.
I take another bite, "Yeah, tasted weird for a sec," I roll my eyes, "Stop being so serious.
He grins, "Hey Tris, what do call a Candor who lies?"
"Shut up."
.
I'm laying on the bed, reading a book. It's an old notebook from school and I see my small neat notes in the margins. Everything was so different then. My mother and father. Caleb. It's been four years. So much has happened. Peter and Will became leaders. I started helping Tobias train initiates, and when I'm not training them, I help distribute jobs and basically make sure everything is getting done that needs doing. I assign who will guard the wall, and things like that.
It's not quite interesting, but it's far from boring. Christina helps out when she can, but when she tries we end up getting less work done. Every once in a while a game of capture the flag or manhunt goes on and everyone goes out to play. The zip line hasn't been used since a kid nearly died, and the leaders couldn't turn a blind eye. I'm pretty sure Zeke and Shauna still use it sometimes.
I close my eyes and hug the notebook to my chest. I hear the door close softly and I know Tobias is home. I smile softly. He is walking towards me. I sit up and he sits next to me. I rest my head on his shoulder. He's at ease.
"Interesting batch this year, huh?"
I laugh, "Seriously."
He laughs with me and wraps his arms around me. I frown and my hands drop to my stomach. I pull back.
"Tris?" His voice is low and urgent.
"Stupid hamburger," I moan, staggering to my feet and running to the bathroom. I crouch in front of the toilet. I puke up everything I've eaten.
"Tris," Tobias is next to me, brushing my hair out of my face, and holding it back as I puke again. He's so calm and patient. I lean back, the wave of nausea gone, and he lets my hair fall, "What was that? Are you okay?"
I nod, wiping my mouth, "I had a hamburger that tasted off, food poisoning or something. I'm fine now." He helps me stand.
"Lay down for a bit," he insists, guiding me toward the bed. I'm too tired and weary to argue and I let him tuck me in like a child. "Do you want anything?"
I shake my head, "I'm okay now, I swear, just need some sleep."
He kisses my forehead and leaves me to rest. It doesn't take long for me to drift off into sleep, and when I do my dreams are bright and vivid, and I can't make any sense of them. I open my eyes to what seems like only a little later, and I have slept most o the night away. It's still early, and the sky is still slightly dark. I check the clock on the bedside table. I'm late. I swing my legs off the side and stand. A note falls to the ground.
It's from Tobias. I read it to myself twice, "Tris, stay home and rest today. I'm going to have Christina check in and see if your doing all right. If you come to training, I will carry you home myself. Tobias." I sigh. He's joking and I know it, but I'll stay home anyway. This place needs cleaning.
I stand and don't take two steps before I'm running to the bathroom.
"Tris!" Christina doesn't bother knocking, she walks right in. I'm cleaning the bathroom floor. I pause and stand to greet her. "You feeling okay?"
"Yeah," I dig the palms of my hands into my closed eyes, "I think so."
"What? You think?"
"I need a huge favor, Christina," I say, meeting her eyes, "Can you buy me something?"
She doesn't bat an eye, "Anything."