I do not own Divergent

Modified: 04/03/16


Your eyes go quite frightening

You lock your gaze on to my face

;Daughter - Amsterdam


Chapter 2

Eric

"Interesting mix of initiates this year" Four comments, placing his tray of food down onto the polished tan wood of our brand new Leaders table.

Over the course of the year since the most recent transfers, a selection of the latest top of the class Dauntless members had somehow managed to arrange ourselves Kind of like an elite unit that none of us decided to intentionally join. Part of it was due to Abnegation and Erudite's growing dispute over the past year. Both factions pretty much assumed responsibility for everything, leaving the rest of us to have minimal duties and way too much time on our hands so we just started hanging out together in our free time and somehow managing to be way more wild and reckless than usual. Drinking and partying was the way of most dauntless teenagers, but due to our minimal working hours and naturally reckless nature, some may say we took thing a little too far.

"I heard the amity girl was first jumper" I look over at Tris as she speaks who in turn looks right back at me as if I am nothing more than pond scum. I can't even remember what I've already done to piss her off so early in the morning because the last hour has basically been a blur to me but I give her a bitter grin and watch her face twist up so much it makes a double tied knot look loose.

"First jumper is always the bravest. Even if they aren't the best" Uriah comments, aiming his compliment at Tris, who's face relaxes to the response of his accolade.

It would be my turn to scowl now but I look across at Four who has an even mightier scowl etched onto his face.

Now I grin.

I was first jumper.

"What's with all the faces this morning?" Zeke appears, ruffling his younger brother's hair as he takes a seat down beside him.

Great, more fucking people.

"Speaking of the new initiates" Peter pipes up, ready to wreck havoc on whatever fragment of peace we had managed for a few seconds "Did you hear another faction leader's kid transferred again this year?" There was only one occasion was the crap that spewed out of Peter's mouth not completely unnecessary and it was when he was delivering information. I usually tuned out after the gossip had been delivered and ignored the bigotry or unnecessary provocation that followed. I was all for picking on people and everything, but not usually on sensitive subjects. I preferred a more general approach to making people suffer.

"Really? Who is it this time?" Zeke asks, oblivious to Tris and Four's pissed off expressions.

"Lorraine Reyes" Peter motions towards the table behind him "Daughter of Amity leader Johanna Reyes. Kinda creepy, but I'd do her"

"Creepy?" Uriah asks, unable to turn and look at her without making it blatantly obvious.

"Yeah, she does this staring thing with her eyes" Peter responds.

"I mean, it would be kinda creepier if she didn't stare with her eyes" Uriah jokes, raising his eyebrows.

There's something about her that intrigues me. Not just the fact that she jumped first and as I'd heard - backwards. But something else about the way she is in general. I vaguely remembered her from school. She took most of her classes with Erudite kids so I guess she was pretty damn smart. Apart from that, she was quiet and unbothered, nothing too impressive. But I kind of had this weird nauseous feeling when I looked at her, and once I did I couldn't quite figure out why I decided to look at her in the first place.

When you looked at her for long enough, she looked almost nothing like her mother yet she still held all the features in all the same places, somehow they just didn't create the same image. It was like saying the same word over and over again and finding that it eventually lost the meaning and weight that it once had and was now just this obscure thing that you don't recognise anymore. I turn away from the piercing black holes that just mentally assaulted me and resume my attention to the fuckwits at the table.

"Did you know they put opium in their bread?" I hear Peter say, half amused.

"Be sure to pick some up for me next time you're on patrol there" I respond.

"Uh uh, no more drugs for you Eric. You almost OD'd on my coffee table last week!" Shauna shakes her head at me.

"Almost" I shrug "Besides, it's not like we're doing any work around here what with Erudite and Abnegation lapping up responsibilities as if they're dogs drinking from a water bowl. Let's take advantage of it before we have to start doing real shit again"

"So who's place is it this weekend?" Peter asks eagerly.

"C'mon lets honestly take a break guys. Livers are not easy to come by these days and I have a very rare blood type-"

"Stop being such a pissbaby and calm your tits" Zeke sighs, punching him in the arm playfully.

"That is so insensitive" Tris rolls her eyes at him.

"Yeah, don't forget that we aren't all lucky enough to be born with boobs" I say, looking in her direction.

"Screw you Eric!" She growls.

"Ironic, seeing as you seem to be the only girl on this table who hasn't...yet"

"Eurgh!" She squeals, throwing down her cutlery in disgust.

I grin and pick my muffin up, ready to leave the table after pissing her off as much as I could be bothered to for this morning. As I leave the cafeteria, Four steps out in front of me.

"The hell do you want?" I sigh.

"Just don't make me have to kick your ass today" He frowns "I'm not putting up with your bullshit this year. Don't bully these kids Eric"

"Aww c'mon where's the fun in that?" I chuckle and punch him in the arm - not gently and he glares in response.

"Dude are you high?"

Yes.

"No" I lie, as we make our way over to the training centre.

Four and Tris had given them their tours yesterday, so all the schedules and rules had been delivered by them. The initiates had all arrived in the training centre before we did which undoubtedly surprised all three of us. They were an interesting mix. There was at least one from every faction and apart from the Abnegation kid and a Candor, none of them looked too frightened.

Yet.

A few minutes later, they were lined up across the running track out on the field, readily awaiting their starting signal. Today was just laps around the field to assess their overall endurance skills. I scam the line and walk over to the Amity girl as she's seated on the ground undoing the laces of the black trainers she's been given and slides them off her feet.

"What's the deal with you and shoes?" I say from where I'm stood, about a metre or so away from her.

At first I think she doesn't hear me, and I repeat myself, this time standing directly in front of her and speaking louder.

She doesn't answer.

"I'm talking to you initiate"

She continues staring blankly at me, kicking her shoes to the side of the field and stretching out her limbs.

"Listen up" I obstruct her as she turns to walk over to the start point "I don't know what kind of bullshit you're trying to pull here but I'm not putting up with your crap. So guess what? You wait here, and you start running after the rest of them"

She grins at me and I feel rage welling up within me.

How the hell did she manage to be so damn infuriating without even opening her mouth?

"Say something and I might just reconsider" I remind her, inching closer and staring down at her.

She doesn't even flinch. She paces to the edge of the track and sits on the ground, folding her arms over her chest and frustratingly waiting for me to give the go ahead. Four's at the other end of the track, glancing over at me and the small figure sitting down on the ground. I can't make out his facial expression but I refuse to let his empty threats turn me into a weak leader. After the rest of the initiates complete about a quarter of a lap, I give her the signal to begin running. Needless to say, she outran them and out lasted them. All while barefoot and despite staring a minute or so after the rest of them. She clearly had way more practice in the field of long distance running than I thought and I mentally kicked myself for not thinking of a worse punishment.

She honestly impressed me, but I'll be damned if I let it show.

I watch her pace the rest of the initiates, dazed, exhausted and slightly confused as to how she is a whole half a lap ahead of them, and somehow not showing any signs of physical exhaustion. I spot Four out of the corner of my eye, clearly impressed and staring at her with some kind of admiration.

The rest of the day proved to be even more frustrating.

I tried to make her speak, but all she did was silently grin even when I asked her to hit the bag differently, to kick a certain way or to shoot the bullet in random locations on the target board and not once did she question me. I tell her what to do and she does it.

I didn't know if I wanted to strangle her or push her off a cliff.

She also manages to keep all emotion off her face. No shock, no confusion, and hardly ever pride. Just the same daring grin in response to everything plastered onto her stupid face. Not that her face was stupid. It was fucking far from it. It was kind of a good looking face. Kinda round and it didn't suit her slender figure but I got what Peter meant about totally doing her. She was hot in that 'could probably murder you in cold blood without any personal conflict' kind of way.

Shit, she was hot wasn't she?

Hot as in, even when she had just finished running a whole mile and was dripping with sweat, I wasn't even grossed out.

What was it about her...?

It wasn't anything in particular. Her boobs were great, but I'd seen better. Her limbs were kind of bony and her knees had this knobbly thing going on. She had a great ass though. Yeah it was probably that. Her shoulders are also kinda weirdly sexy. Smooth and a rich orangey-brown colour.

Why am I thinking about her?

Probably because in the space of an hour she'd made it to number one on my to do list. Number two on that list was probably to never to mention that line to anyone. Ever.

"She not talking to you either?" Four and I are standing at the back of the room, assessing how Tris is handling their target practice. If she didn't irritate me so much I might have actually commended her on her trainer skills. I turn to face Four as he stands there, arms crossed in his signature authoritarian pose with the solid look of judgement on his face. It was a good look for him. One of the rare occasions where I didn't think he was a stiff in disguise.

"You think she's a mute?" He asks me.

I shake my head.

"She's paired with the abnegation guy for fight training. Should be interesting" He says sternly.

"That's if they don't impale themselves on each other's limbs first" I scoff "They're both all bone"

Four announces the fighting system and the apprehension on their faces is almost calming to me. Inducing fear is one of the rare things that makes me feel as if things are in order.

At Four's request, she strides up to the mat and the stiff approaches on the opposite side. A stiff and a hippie battling it out with each other? This should be interesting. The stiff attacked first, lunging towards her jaw, but she's fast and in an instant she's disappeared from her former position. He goes in for an overhead swing next but she ducks down and kicks a leg out from underneath him while he collects himself.

Impressive.

Clearly none of the others were expecting the fight to be this eventful.

"Come on, let's hear some bones crunching" I say, faking a yawn. Four and Tris both grimace at me simultaneously as if they share a brain and I resist the urge to say something even worse before they start with their melodrama.

He grabs one of her legs after he'd fallen, pulling her down to the ground with a painful thud. Before she can get up, he kicks her in the ribs, and she flinches slightly before rolling over onto her front. She pulls his leg back down as he had done to her earlier but he's expectant and jumps out of the way before dragging her up off the ground and holding her in place with his forearm. She tries to pry him off her with her arms and but he had her held firmly in place, cutting off the air travelling down her windpipe. For a moment I think she's going to stop clawing at his arm but she doesn't and it only takes Four's intervention before he releases her neck.

"That it?" The stiff asks, looking nervous. What kind of guy has a person in a death grip and looks as if they're worried for their own personal safety?

I nod, deciding that maybe authorising initiates to choke each other to death maybe wasn't optimal for the first day of training.