Their cheers fade as initiates begin to sit down at the long wooden cafeteria tables. I look up at Al and see him motioning to an Amity girl to go ahead of him. He must like her. I slowly make my way behind him when I realize the only seat left is next to Six. I sigh inwardly. Sitting next to an instructor can be a blessing or a curse, and this being Dauntless, it might be a curse. I straighten my shoulders and sit down by Al. I feel Six look over at me but I'm motioning to the Amity girl and Al how to put together a hamburger. How could other factions not have burgers? My dad always made them when I was younger, and after he died I kept up the tradition, despite my mother's displeasure.
"How do you know how to make these things?" Al asks.
"She's Erudite, Al. Erudites know everything." The Candor girl from earlier states rolling her eyes. I just roll my eyes at this. Thankfully the other initiates were far enough to not hear me earlier. Many would think it would be unfair to be in the transfers, even though I have Dauntless blood. My dad didn't teach me much, only running, self-defense, and without realizing it, how to shoot a gun. In a section of his journal he drew diagrams of the guns Dauntless use. He didn't teach me about the different sections of training, which really would have helped, but I guess he didn't know himself.
"Erudites don't know everything." A voice pipes in. I look up and see a guy with blonde hair, and no piercings. He didn't really exude Dauntless, but from his build, it was obvious he worked on the fence. It's Will, I remember him from the last year, he was originally Erudite but transferred. I was normally allowed up in the higher English classes. We worked on a few projects together.
"Yeah, and you didn't blurt out statistics during our training." A girl with dark brown short hair beside him pipes in. Six tries to hide a smile beside me.
"Yeah, and you don't blurt out the first thing that pops into that beautiful head of yours." Will taps her forehead with his finger. Four lets out a sarcastic snort from the other side of Six.
"Asshole." Is her quick response.
"And I rest my case." Her companion says giving a fake bow. I try to hide my smile but it comes through anyways. "I'm Will." He smiles at us. "This is my girlfriend, Christina."
"Really, Will? I don't want the initiates to know me." She rolls her eyes. Like you weren't an initiate last year. I think as I roll my eyes. I see Will smirk at me. He probably noticed my look.
"You know Mia, you've really learned to control that loud mouth of yours."
"Loud mouth?" I ask, raising a brow. "Last time I checked I barely talked to you." I smirk.
"Just because you don't talk to me, doesn't mean that I didn't hear you telling off that one Candor kid that always annoyed you in English." He smirks.
"He was an asshole, that's different." I say taking a large bite of my hamburger.
"Can't argue there." He shrugs.
"You two were in classes together?" Christina asks. I just nod.
"She had the highest grades in the class even though she rarely spoke. And she was a year younger!"
"What?" I laugh. "Jealous, William?"
"My name is not William." He sighs.
"I know, but I love to piss you off."
"You know, I'm starting to like you, kid." Christina says waving her knife in my direction. I feel Al tense beside me but I just smile at her before grabbing a large piece of chocolate cake. Will and the others return to their conversation from earlier. Something about the factionless getting braver and causing more trouble.
"Like chocolate?" The girl from Amity laughs. I nod a bit.
"And you will once you try this cake." I say pointing to my now smaller piece.
"You've had it before?" She asks. I nod.
"I forgot my lunch on testing day so Marlene gave me her cake." She nods at my response.
"My name is Annie." She smiles at me.
"Mia." I smile back.
"Al!" He calls out and I choke on my cake from my laughter and hit his arm.
"Ow, do you have to hit so hard?" He whines holding onto his arm.
"Oh stop being such a baby." Annie laughs.
"Mia, hit her!" Al whines.
"I do not hit on command, thank you very much. I only hit when you piss me off or make me do something stupid." I reply rolling my eyes.
"Which is almost everyday." Will pops in again.
"You're just asking for a kick in a sensitive spot, Will." I warn him.
"Is that a threat, initiate? You really shouldn't threaten a member." Will threatens but I try to keep back a laugh.
"It's not a threat, it's a promise, and you always know I keep my promises, William." I give a sweet smile as Four snorts.
"Your name is William?"
"No. Ugh Mia I am going to kill you." Will responds quickly. I finish my last bite of cake before smirking at him.
"You really shouldn't threaten initiates, William. It doesn't suit you." At this he kicks my shin roughly and I quickly kick him back.
"Jesus." He mutters his shin under the table. I find myself doing the same thing.
"Why you gotta be so mean, William? Violence isn't the answer." I imitate our old English teacher's terribly snooty accent. He bursts out into laughter.
"Bullshit. You never liked that teacher so don't even try to copy her." I laugh at that.
"She really was a." A heavy hand on my shoulder stops me from finishing my thought. I look up and see Eric. Al and Annie had already made their way towards the opening of the cafeteria.
"Forget your training, initiate?" Eric asks, his grip tightening on my shoulder.
"No, Will here distracted me. Sorry about that." I say as I begin to stand. Eric gives me a warning look before turning towards the door.
"Just don't let it happen again." He calls over his shoulder. I just shake my head and look to Will who has a brow raised in question. I just shrug before jogging to catch up to Eric. I walk at the back of the group, my hand trailing along the rocky walls of the compound, memorizing my way to the training room. We finally make our way to a set of double doors. Once opened, they reveal a huge room. There are targets along some walls, and mats, assumedly for fighting, in different sections of the room. On the far wall a large chalk board has all the initiates names, transfers and Dauntless born separate, obviously. I look back to has made his way over to the board. I start to make my way over, once closer to the board, I see Al and Annie and immediately stand by them. Once all the transfers are by the board, Eric begins to speak.
"This board if your future here at Dauntless." He begins, I swallow hard. We were going to be ranked? "Your ranking will determine your future job. Leadership is at the top, and stopping the factionless from killing each other is at the bottom. Miscellaneous needed positions like tattoos and armory positions are in the middle." He states. I nod a bit to myself. Maybe I could work with computers or weapons. I was already okay with a computer, and weapons shouldn't be too hard to learn.
"Your training will be split up into three parts. The first one is physical, we will push your body to the limit." Four states from behind us. Some initiate jump but I just turn and face him. Al gives me a shocked look but I just shrug it off. "The second and third are mental, during those sections you will be ranked along with the Dauntless-born. They don't know what the last sections are like, just like all of you." Four nods towards a door to the side of the board.
"Up there is the gun range. We will be starting with how to shoot a gun in the morning. Today we just want you to acquaint yourselves to the training room in general. You can spend as much time in here for the day as you would like. I would suggest that you use your free time today to go shopping for more clothes."
"Wouldn't want any of you to hurt yourselves during initiation, now would we?" Eric calls from behind us. I feel a twinge of anger. That cocky son of a.
"Alright, have fun initiates. Don't be late to training in the morning." Four nods to us. I just nod back and look at Al and Annie.
"Want to get tattoos?" I ask them with a smirk.
"Already?" Annie asks.
"Why not?" I reply with a shrug. Annie looks to Al for help, but he just shrugs and I laugh before pulling Annie with me. She just sighs and begins to walk by herself once we get out of the training room. Dauntless was a hell of a lot more interesting than Erudite.