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Disclaimer: I do not own any Divergent content, all rights go to Veronica Roth.
Now usually, I would sit with Zeke, Shauna, and Lauren on occasions, but I decide to be social with the initiates and sit between Christina and Will, and across from Tobias. I almost laugh when Tobias pokes at his hamburger, unsure of what to make of it. I remember my initiation when I did the same, so I try to be somewhat friendly.
"It's a hamburger, put this on it." I say, handing him a bowl of ketchup. He eyes it suspiciously as Al, sitting next to him, speaks up.
"You've never seen a hamburger before?" He asks, laughing. Leave it to the Candor to state the obvious.
"Stiff's eat plain food." Will answers for him. "You know, because extravagance is considered self, indulgent and unnecessary." He adds, matter-of-factually. Tobias just shrugs and takes a bite. Christina and Al start talking something about math class but I tone them out and eat in silence. That is, until Eric walks in. They whole room goes silent. His metal-covered face gleams in the lights of the cafeteria as he approaches our table. I curse under my breath. I notice the initiates visibly tense up, but I try to look as calm and relaxed as I can. It's not that I'm scared of Eric, it's just that his presence makes me want to puke and beat him senseless at the same time.
"Hey Six." He says, almost kindly. Almost, but not quite. "Gonna introduce me to your friends?" He smirks, he really doesn't care about them at all, and I know why he's here, Max asked him to round me up and give me a job as a leader in training. I was ranked first, so I was their first pick in leadership, and Eric hates me for it. But I don't want the job, my divergence means I don't really belong here, and I don't think I would do the roll of leadership justice. But if I knew that Eric would take my place, I would have accepted whole-heartedly. Now, the thought of working with him irks me.
"What do you want now, Eric? I'm not going to talk to Max, and I'm happy with the position I currently hold." I say, coldly. He looks at me wide-eyed, as if he has no idea what I'm talking about.
"Relax, I just want to know the initiates names, jeez."
I sigh. Please, please leave me alone! "This is Will, Christina, Al, and the Stiff." I say, gesturing to each of them. He nods, grinning as I say Stiff, and twirls his latest lip piercing. Then he leans in and whispers in my ear, so quietly that I can hardly hear.
"I know why you won't take the leadership job, Stiff. And as soon as I get some proof, you'll be as good as dead. No, wait, you'll literally be dead." He laughs sadistic, evil laugh. I feel as if the word 'Divergent' is plastered over my face. Eric's a genius, and ever since our initiation he's been suspicious of my Divergence. I scowl at him.
"I won't take the job because I'll have to work with a slime ball like you, now leave me alone." I say in my most deadly voice. He raises his hands up in mock surrender and walks out of the cafeteria again. The conversation in the cafeteria gradually picks up again, and the initiates visually relax.
"I take it that you're not friends?" Tobias says. I roll my eyes.
"What gives you that idea, stiff?" I say coldly, still trying the intimidating act. But I don't to turn them away from me and follow Eric, so I decide to turn them away from him first. "That's Eric, one of the Dauntless leaders. We were in the same initiate class." I lean in and whisper to them all, "He's kind of an asshole." I hope only the initiates can hear me, because speaking out against the leaders is a crime here, but they don't know that.
"Was he a transfer?" Tobias asks. Perceptive, I smile a little. Eric is more Erudite than anything, but he covers it well, not well enough though, if he recognized it.
"Yeah," I say, "From Erudite." He nods, knowingly.
"Where you a transfer too?" He asks, curious for more information. This is not Abnegation. This screams Erudite, Divergent. I can't tell him I am a transfer, or he'll ask more questions, maybe even figure out who I am. I decide to shut him down; maybe he will learn his lesson.
"Does it really matter to you? That's an awful lot of questions, for a stiff." I say in my most deadly voice. He doesn't turn away, but instead he locks his eyes on mine. He isn't afraid, anyone else would be afraid. I'm suddenly excited to see his fears.
"Why, are you scared to tell me? You're in Dauntless, aren't you?" He says, flatly, boldly. The other initiates are gaping at us, but he just keeps his eyes locked on mine. He's challenging me, everyone knows it. For a few long seconds we just stare each other down, daring the other one to back down, and after each second I gain more and more respect for his bravery, or stubbornness. I decide to just let it drop.
"Careful, Stiff." I say. If you challenge the wrong ones here, you'll have a fight on your hands. But I don't know if he gets it. I take a mouthful of coffee, ending the eye contact. Inside I'm still shocked that he has so much guts to stand up to his instructor on his first hour. I'll have to keep my eye on him. I eat the rest of my meal in silence, listening to an argument between Christina and Al. They are certainly Candor, but it's something I'll have to beat out of them. I finish my hamburger and head to the control room, leaving the initiates with Eric, just for tonight. I don't usually work there, but Zeke wanted to go zip-lining so I volunteered to take his shift, even though I wanted to go badly. The inner Abnegation in me is so annoying sometimes.