Four returns after a short while and takes us to the dorms. The Abnegation have separate dorms for males and females, but here we all sleep together in one big room.

"That door on the opposite end of the room will lead you the the bathrooms. Underneath your bed you will find a bin for your things. Each member of Dauntless receives an allowance per month to purchase the items they need in exchange for the work they do. Since you have no jobs and are not officially members of Dauntless yet, you have been provided with the basics. Two every day outfits, three sets of training clothes, and something to sleep in. If you make it past the first part of your initiation, you will be given an allowance. Feel free to do whatever you like with it. Lights out for initiates is 9 p.m. We will meet every morning in the cafeteria at 7 a.m. for breakfast. Training starts at 7:30. You will get an hour for lunch when we say you can take lunch. Training will then continue until 6 p.m. 6-9 is your own personal time. These times are non negotiable and you will not be late, understood?"
We nod in unison.

"I will meet you in the cafeteria tomorrow morning to escort you to the training center. Any questions?"
"Yeah. What do you mean if you make it past the first part?" Peter asks.
"Just because you chose us, doesn't mean we choose you," Eric says as he walks into the room. I look around and see the confusion I'm feeling on everyone's faces. "There are eight of you, and six Dauntless borns. For those of you who can't add, that makes fourteen. There are only ten spots to be filled this year. That means four of you will become Factionless," Eric states coldly.
"Factionless?" Peter yells.
"Did I stutter?" Eric roars at him.
Peter's mouth hangs open for a minute before answering, "No."
"Good. Now that we're clear on that, I suggest you get a good nights sleep. We have a long couple of weeks ahead of us."
As he leaves the room, Eric slams the light switch off, leaving us in complete darkness. I hear the door close but nobody moves.

"What a crock of shit," I hear Peter say.
Someone else laughs and it's enough to break the mood. I have no idea what is what in my bin, so instead I feel for the bed I was standing next to and lie down. I didn't even realize how exhausted I was from the events of the day as I drift off to sleep effortlessly.

"How do we even know what time it is?" I hear a male voice ask as I'm opening my eyes. It's still pitch black.
"I don't know! Just go turn on the light. Maybe there's a clock or something in here that we didn't see last night," a female responds.
I hear some shuffling, followed by an "Ow!" I close my eyes to prepare for the bright light.
"Christ that's bright! Turn it off!" I recognize Peter's voice.
"No! We need to see what time it is," the female replies. "No clock? How in the hell are we supposed to know what time it is then? Oh wait, there's a watch in my box. It says it's 6:13."
"Should we wake the others?"
"No way. Let them find out on their own."
I crack an eye and see the female voice belongs to Myra; the male Edward. They get up and head to the bathroom together. I see Peter get up and follow shortly after. I feel under the bed for my box and pull it out.

There is much more here than what we were told. Shoes. A watch. A bag full of essential toiletries. I look through the clothes trying to figure out which ones are for training, when I spy a very small shirt. At least, I think it's a shirt? I pull it out to examine it when I hear, "It's a sports bra. You put it on and it holds your boobs in place." I whip my head around and see Christina sitting up and giving a big yawn. I blush. "What? You've never heard the word boobs before?" She says with a smile. "We gotta loosen you up girl! Come on. Grab your things and lets get ready."

I grab the bag and my clothes; she follows me into the bathroom. I open the door and see that the room is shaped like a giant T. There are six doors along the entry way. I open the first one.
"Toilets?" Christina asks.
"Yes."
"Good. I need to pee like crazy," she says as she runs into the stall I just opened. I go into the one next to her.

"Ahhh. That's better," she says out loud.
"Christina, I don't think I need to know everything you're doing."
"Hey Tris. Guess what I'm doing now?" She yells out.
I can't believe this is my first friend.
"I'm wiping! And now I'm pulling up my panties! And now I'm flushing the toilet!"
"Christina!" I squeal out. I hear her giggling like crazy, so I smile. Truth is, I'm actually thankful she likes me enough to be this open with me.
"Hey now. No scaring the Stiff, yet."
I freeze. I watched Myra, Edward and Peter walk in here, but I didn't even think about them actually being in the bathroom with me. I open the door and peek down the short entryway.

The showers are all lined up along the wall that forms the top of the T. They have doors that have some sort of film on them, but I can still see right through them.
Christina sees my nerves and takes my hand. "Come on. I'll help you."
We take the two stalls furthest away from everyone. "Here," she says as she holds up a towel. "I'll cover you while you get undressed."
"But what about you?"
"Me? Please. I have no problem being naked." She smiles.
"Oh really now?" Will says as he walks in.
I can't quite tell, but I think Christina is blushing. I get undressed quickly and get in my stall.
"Just let me know when you're done," she says. I can see her through the glass getting undressed right in front of Will. I'm blushing again at the thought of it.

The rest of our morning goes smoothly. Christina shields me as I get dressed. Even though her hair is short, she puts it in this fancy braid. I pull mine back into my bun.
"You want me to teach you?" She asks.
I nod. "Good. Then later I can teach you about makeup too."
"Makeup?"
"Yeah. You didn't think I came unprepared, did you?" She pulls out a bag and opens it up. I have no idea what any of it is, but there sure is a lot of it.
"Wait, how did you get this in here?"
She winks at me. "Now, now. I can't go giving aways all my secrets at once."
I watch as she puts on her makeup. Her face doesn't really look any different, but yet, it's softer. And her eyes really stand out now.
"There. Let's go get some grub!"

As we leave the bathroom I see Al is still fast asleep in bed. In my embarrassment over the sports bra and Christina's bathroom announcements, I completely forgot to make sure everyone else was awake. It's 6:52. There's not enough time to shower, but he can still make it on time.
"Al. Hey, Al. Al! Al wake up!" I shout in his ear.
"Huh?" He says, groggy from sleep.
"Hurry and get dressed. You have 8 minutes to get to the cafeteria. Everyone else is already gone so make it fast!"
He leaps out of bed, completely confused.
"Under your bed!" I say as I point.
"Oh, right. Thanks Tris."
"You're welcome," I say as we leave.

There are no other Dauntless in the cafeteria this early, yet there are muffins, eggs, bacon, potatoes, and cake laid out on our table.
"Breakfast cake?" Christina says to Will.
"Yeah. Try it. It's fantastic," Will says as he shoves a huge bite into his mouth.

I've had eggs and potatoes before, but these look different from the plain Abnegation version. The eggs are a lot fluffier, and the potatoes have a bunch of little different colored flecks all over them.
"Seasoning," Christina says, remembering I have only eaten plain food.
"I think I'll start with the cake, actually."
"Oooh, you little rebel," she says as she elbows me.
I've never had cake before, and Will is right. It is fantastic. I grab a little bit of eggs and potatoes too. I let out a small laugh and say, jokingly, "Maybe I did leave because of the food."

Al arrives at 6:59, out of breath, but on time. He sits next to me and grabs a muffin.
"Thanks again, Tris. I don't know what I would do without you."
I'm suddenly very aware of just how close he is to me. "Err...you're welcome Al."

We make small talk, but it's mostly speculation on what our training will actually be. I'm on my third piece of cake when Eric enters the cafeteria.
"Initiates. Follow me please." We clean our messes quickly and line up. "This is the path to the training center. Remember it."
We cross the pit and enter a set of double doors. They lead to a hallway that both curves and descends. It has the same dark patches interrupted by dim lighting every hallway seems to have. We walk through another set of double doors into what looks like a small waiting area.

"This door to your right is a small infirmary, for if you get seriously injured. We haven't had to use it in years. Don't make us use it now. The door across from you leads to the training center. You will be in this room every morning no later than 7:30. You may not enter the training center until myself or Four let you in, understood?"
"Yes," we say in unison.
"Good," he says as he pushes the door open.

The room is far larger than I would have imagined. There are mats in one corner, targets in another. There are large bags hanging from the ceiling. I see a table covered in knives. What exactly are we going to be learning here?

"Dauntless initiation consists of two parts. The only part you need be concerned with is this one, physical. We will spend our time teaching you how to fight. How to hold a gun. How to throw a knife. I suggest you pay attention and work hard. After this round, the two lowest ranked initiates, Dauntless born or transfer, will be leaving." We give each other nervous looks as Eric walks to a chalkboard. "These are your pairings for today. Four here will teach you basic moves which you will practice on the punching bags. After lunch you will be paired up to fight each other." He turns and leaves without saying another word.

I see I am paired with Molly.

She is much larger than I am. She sees my name next to hers and sneers in my direction. This is bad. This is very bad. We gather around a mat and listen to our instructions from Four.
"While aggression is important, you will not win a fight if you do not know how to deflect a hit. Today we will learn specific moves to hit your opponent with, and tomorrow we will learn how to defend those hits."
"So wait, you're going to let us fight without showing us how to defend ourselves first?" Peter interrupts.
Four stops his pacing directly in front of Peter. He leans in so their faces are mere inches away and simply states, "Yes."

After giving us a very basic lesson, we take our places in front of the punching bags. I hit and kick the bag, but I'm not strong enough to even make it move. I stop to watch the others after some time; looking at their stances and seeing the power behind their punches. I find Molly and watch her for a moment. She punches the bag and I watch it sway, imagining the bag is me. She catches me staring and taunts me a bit, pointing at me and then kicking the bag. I want to cry and give up. I can't win against anyone here. I'm holding back the tears I can feel welling up when I hear-
"Do you think you are better than your fellow initiates, Stiff?" I spin around so fast I almost lose my balance. Four is now inches from my face, glaring. Everyone stops.
"No," I say, barely audible.
"I don't think they heard you. Are you better than your fellow initiates?"
"No," I say, louder this time.
"Then what makes you think you can just stand around and stare while they work hard?"
"I...uhh...I'm not and I umm...-"
"Get back to work," he cuts me off as he continues down the line, observing us.
This time I can't fight the tears.

We break for lunch sometime around 1. I am so exhausted I barely have enough strength to hold onto my plate of food. Christina and I make our way to the initiates table, and I have never been so happy to sit down in my life.
"So...you wanna talk about it?"
"Not really. I just want to eat and take a nap." It's true. Even my hardest day of work in Abnegation is nothing compared to this.
She laughs. "Okay. I'm here if you want to though."
For being a loud mouth Candor, as everyone says, Christina really does have a gentle side to her. I'm glad I have her.

I sit with my head in my hands, eyes closed for the remainder of lunch. I must have dozed a little bit because before I know it, I'm getting an elbow to the ribs.
"Ow. What was that for?"
"Time to go kick some ass. Come on! You don't want to be late!" Christina says, hopping on Will's back. He races out of the cafeteria as she giggles wildly. I smile at them and I clean my mess.

We line up in the waiting room as Eric gives us instructions. "Tris, Molly, Peter and Edward, you are with Four. The rest of you, come with me."
We stay put as the others follow Eric in. Four looks out the open door and motions for us to come in. We follow him to the closest mat. "Peter, Edward. You're up."
I watch as they approach each other, fists ready. Peter is quick to attack, but Edward is faster and stronger. The fight is over in less than two minutes, with Edward landing a solid punch to Peter's jaw, leaving him unable to continue. I watch Peter sulk off the mat and let out a small smile.
"Molly, Tris. Let's go."
Great. My heart is beating so hard it might just burst from my chest.
"Hey Stiff, I wonder if they give out special awards for being the quickest to get your ass kicked," Peter sneers.

I have to make it longer than two minutes.

I raise my hands into fists; Molly does the same. She circles like a predator and I turn, never letting her get behind me. She makes the first move, aiming for my head. I don't know how, but I move fast enough to not get hit. It doesn't matter though because she is punching me in the stomach with her other fist. Hard. I double over but I do not take my eyes off her hands.

We circle each other before she pulls the same move again, head first, then stomach. I dodge both. I'm not so lucky the third time. She lands a hit, square on the side of my head, and everything goes out of focus for a moment. I blink and my vision clears just enough to see her fist coming for me again. She hits me in the jaw, then the stomach. I lash out and land a fist to her eye. I know I'll never knock her out, but it's just enough to throw her off balance. I seize the opportunity and strike again, landing a punch to her jaw, but my small victory is over as quickly as it started. She pulls her fist back and hits my jaw again, only this time everything goes black as I fall to the ground.