It's almost time to head to the choosing ceremony and meet this year's initiates. This is my second year training them. Unfortunately, Max never made good on his promise so that also means having to train them with Eric.
The ceremony is held in Abnegation this year which means coming in eye contact with my father again too. I jump on and off the train and find a place to sit among the Dauntless near Zeke, Shauna and Lauren. The ceremony starts off boring until I see an Abnegation boy who is handsome with amazing blue eyes.
His name is announced as Tobias. He slices his palm and lets his blood fall into the coals. Damn! That means he'll be one of my initiates this year and I can't be falling for an initiate, much less a sixteen year old boy. The ceremony finishes quickly and I head back to the compound where I wait near the net.
Lauren and I made a bet about which initiate will jump first this year. She bet it will be a Dauntless born while I decided to take a chance that it might be a transfer. Last year, it was a Dauntless born and the year of my initiation, it was Zeke. Third time's a charm, though.
I see a blur of gray fall through the air, not the black I was expecting. As he rolls onto his back, I see it's the boy from the ceremony. Tobias. I'm lost in the deep blue of his eyes for a moment as I hold out my hand to him and ask his name.
He doesn't answer and then finally says "Just call me Stiff." not wanting anyone to know his real name. Lauren is amazed that a Stiff jumped first. She takes the Dauntless borns and I am left with the transfers. "My name is Six! I usually work in the control room but I will be your instructor through initiation. I will show you around the compound and then we will head for the fear landscapes." I announce. A dark skinned girl from Candor asks "Six? Like the number?" and I answer "Yes, exactly like it. Is that a problem?"
She shakes her head but keeps talking and interrupting me so I get close to her face and ask in a low whisper her name. Christina. "Well Christina, if I wanted to put up with Candor smart mouths all day, I would have joined their faction. The first lesson you'll learn from me is to keep your mouth shut, got it?" I warn her as we finish the tour.
As with before, I bring them through their fear landscapes and the Stiff's is last. While all of the other landscapes have been normal and uninteresting, his is. He only has a total of four fears, remarkable. "You're amazing, Stiff. Only four fears? We need to come up with a better name for you." I think about this for a few minutes then blurt out "Four, how about we call you Four?" he nods and flashes a quick smile at me.
I sit alone as the transfers sit with each other. Four wanders over to our table along with Christina. I hope she won't be too annoying. I watch Four pinch a hamburger, chuckling to myself as I remember my first meal during initiation. "It's a hamburger, a patty made of beef." I say in his direction, handling him the ketchup "You eat them on a bun, try this on it."
"You've never had a hamburger before?" Christina asks, shocked by this idea. Four shakes his head as I answer "Stiffs eat plain food." before eating my own food. Eric makes his way over to us, squeezing Four's shoulders as he says "Ooh, a Stiff this year!"" and the way that he is looking at Four repulses me.
"What have you been up to lately, Six?" I don't respond or meet his eyes so he continues with "Max is still interested, what should I tell him?" he asks and I don't answer him still so he walks away.
"Who was that?" Christina asks and I answer that he's a Dauntless leads which Four questions because Eric is so young. I tell him that age doesn't matter in Dauntless and hope there won't be any more questions.
Thankfully, we finish the rest of the meal in silence and I head to bed myself.
I wake at 7:30 in the morning which leaves me enough time to eat a quick breakfast before we start training. I drink a cup of coffee and try to feel a little more awake. Eric and I demonstrate different fighting techniques and then have the initiates go to work practicing with the punching bags.
Four's shimmering ocean blue eyes find mine and I try not to let him distract me even though it's hard not to focus on his tanned, built physique. He's had a magnetic pull on me that I haven't been able to resist easily since he arrived.
The first round of fights takes place the next morning. Eric goes to work by writing the matches and I don't agree with them. It makes me sick to my stomach to see how he won't spare anyone of his brutality.
The matches are as follows:
Will versus Al
Edward versus Peter (the only one I am somewhat looking forward to as Peter has been nothing but trouble since he arrived for both us trainers and initiates!)
Molly versus Christina
Myra versus Drew
The fights between the girls make me feel the most anxious for them as they are against opponents that are stronger and bigger than they are with the exception of Molly. When I mentioned this to Eric earlier, he said that they need to learn to be tough and I shouldn't baby them in this way.
Four isn't fighting today as we have an odd number of initiates. I look his way then hold my breath as the first fight begins.