After a brief tour, Four and Shane lead us to the cafeteria. I spot my favorite food on the tables. Steak! Zach, Asher, Lizzie and I all sit at a table next to the wall. Asher looks suspiciously at the steaks. " What is it?" he asks. I look at him, shocked. " You're not a Stiff, are you?" I say. He shakes his head. " Eurdite. My mother loved animals, so we always ate vegetarian food. It was always gross." He smiles. I take the tongs and move a steak onto my plate. Baked potatos sit on a plate next to it. I take a potato, too. Lizzie looks at the steaks the way I do; Delicious juicy slabs of meat. I cut in to it, seeing that it is medium rare. Even better.
Lizzie asks me asks me about my family in Candor. "Um... I hate my sister... she judged me like I was part of a contest. Then my mom; she beat me because she was jealous of me. I was taller, skinnier, and some people even said I was prettier" Lizzie looks at me, eyes sad. " I wish I could say I couldn't imagine that, but my dad did it, too." She turns back to her food, and we eat in silence for a while. At some point when I look up, I catch Asher eyeing a Dauntless girl named Zoe. I nudge him and say, " Ask her." His eyes flit to mine, and he stands to ask out Zoe. The bench beneath me shifts. I look up and see Shane, sitting next to me.
Shane smiles at me. I am his height, so I see into his gold eyes. I think about my eyes, one green, one gray. Suddenly self-concious, I look away. I look around the room. I see Four, my other instructor. He looks at the steak sadly. I remember that look. He looked at me the same way when he shouted first jumper. Did he just lose a good friend? Family? "Hey, did you hear me?" Lizzie says. I shake my head. " I asked the trainers if I could train with you guys, rather than the Dauntless borns. They said I could." I smile. " But I thought you had friends in the other class. " She shakes her head. " Those people on the train platform? Those were my siblings. I have 2 brothers, one sister. I've never really had friends." "Niether have I," I say, knowing the feeling.
Lizzie walks with us to the training room. " This year, we have a different training tactic. Just because you ccan defend your self does not mean you can always escape the danger. So, now we do daily running drills," Shane explains. I see a black and gray track. It looks very large, most could only make one lap. " As well as running, we also do swimming. The chasm can flood!" I look to my right. A glass room holds the swimming pool. I look at the depth markings; the pool is deep. " Okay everybody, get running!"
I take off in a sprint, Lizzie running as fast as me. We run in sync, very fast. Soon though, Lizzie's speed starts to die. She slows and joins the group behind me. I speed up. The track is small enough for me to pass them; sprinting for ten minutes. " Avi, slow down! You'll be to tired to swim. I don't need you drowning!" Four shouts. But he still looks sadly at me. Like I've just killed his puppy.
When Four calls us to a halt, I haven't even started to be short of breath. " Avi, I got tired just watching you run, and you seem like you could keep going!" I nod and say, " I can." Lizzie grins at me. She is one of the few not panting, but she still didn't run as fast as me.
We walk to the pool. A shop stands in the corner, and I buy a swimming suit. It is two pieces; top half frilly, the bottom pair of shorts. I head in to the changing room. I change in to the suit, feeling uncomforatble at the amount of leg showing. Lizzie looks at me. " You're so lucky; your torso even has that hour glass thing." She looks down at her own stick strait waist. She has a decent chest, though. I look at my own. It isn't huge, but at least its there.
I head out to the pool. Four looks at me, eyes glinting. Makes my face hot. Four is in a pair of swimming trunks. He dives into the water, and surfaces with glistening hair. " Everybody in!" he calls. I leap in to the cold water. It feels great, swimming under the water. I swim up to Four. " Okay, every one, just swim around. This is just so you can swim to safety if the chasm floods." He says to anyone that can hear him. I get out and dive in to the deepest part of the pool; 20 ft deep. I swim as deep as I dare, sitting beneath the water until I need to surface for air.
When I surface, I see Shane swimming over to me. He smiles. I feel my face get warm. "Strong swimmer, good at running... Lets just see if you hold up when it comes to fighting." Shane says. " Yeah, don't think that I'll be too good at that part. I don't have much muscle." I say, and gesture to my arms. Shane grins. " I don't either. I have to rely on my speed." I look at his arms. They aren't muscular like most of the Dauntless. Built for tender movements. " Hey; do you want to see who can get the closest to the bottom?" Shane challenges. I nod. We slip beneath the water, swimming deeper and deeper. Shane stops swimming down about twelve feet down. I go for another 3 feet. Then it happens. I start running out of air. I wave to Shane, hoping he will know that I need help.
He doen't get it. He just starts swimming back up. Black dots appear on the edge of my vision. I start swimming back up, but it just wastes more air. I see Shane on the surface, swimming around. I close my eyes. I will die on my first day here, swimming. My lungs start screaming for air. I curl my knees up against my chest, and wrap my arms around them. My lungs burn. I don't know how much longer I can hold on. A second pair of hands touch my sides, pulling me up.
As soon as my head breaks the surface, I open my eyes and gasp for air. I look to my savior. Shane! His hands still touch my waist lightly. " Avi! I should have never challenged you. I-" " Avi! Holy crap, I was so scared! You just disapeared." Lizzie calls out. Shanes grip on my waist ceases. Lizzie pulls me into a hug. I just tremble; I almost died.