Tomorrow is Visiting Day. If I were in Abnegation, my parents will fully disown me.
I wake up before the alarm and after I shower, I dress in black sweatpants, a big black t-shirt, and black tennis shoes. I sit trying to practice my word search when Tris, only wearing a towel, comes in. Peter, Drew, and Molly, who are standing in a corner, start laughing as she comes in.
She tries to ignore them as she makes way towards her bed and is in the process of finding her clothes when Peter goes over and clamps a hand around her.
"Didn't realize you were skinny, Stiff," he leers.
I stand up, a vein pumping blood in my temple.
"Get away from me," she says, her voice steady.
"This isn't the Hub, you know. No one has to follow a Stiff's orders here," says Peter.
Drew and Molly move in closer and Tris tries looking for an escape. I sneak up behind them, a plan in mind to stop them.
"Look at her," says Molly, crossing her arms. She smirks at Tris. "She's practically a child."
I'm sorry, but those who are practically a child are the ones you need to watch for. And why are Molly and Drew still hanging around Peter after I told them that he doesn't care for them?
"Oh, I don't know," says Drew. "She could be hiding something under that towel. Why don't we look and see."
No. No he didn't. That's sexual harassment!
Rage fills me and I practically grab Drew by his shirt and throw him against the neighboring bed. Everyone stops and looks as I grab Peter by the shoulder turn him to face me and punch him hard in the eye.
Tris runs back in the bathroom.
"Do you want me to file a sexual harassment complaint?" I ask. "Because it will be easy for me to go to either Eric or Four and report you."
Drew looks at me, his eyes full of shock; Molly looks dumbstruck, while Peter is looks stunned and dazed. Through Drew's and Molly's small brains, they know by my tone of voice that I wasn't kidding around.
I get a plain black t-shirt, black sweatpants, and underwear from Tris's chest drawer before going back to the bathroom, where I find Tris huddled in a corner.
"Are you okay?" I ask her, my voice full of genuine concern.
She looks up me and says," I don't know."
I approach her and hand her the black clothing and underwear. "If you are paired against Peter or two of his thick headed cronies, i am confident that you will outsmart them, they wouldn't know what will hit them."
She smiles a little and says, "I wish I had your problem with Peter, even though I hate his guts."
I nod, understanding her response. For once, I'm relieved that Peter is annoying me by trying to hit on me instead of committing mean spirited harassment, though I think part of his problem is that he could be sexually frustrated.
I leave the bathroom to give her privacy.
All of us slowly enter the training room while Tobias is writing the names of the opponents.
"Hey, where have you been this morning?" Christina asks Tris when she walks in.
"I got held up," Tris tells her.
From across the room, I see Molly and Drew. Their smirks are wiped from their faces when they see me.
"What was that about?" Christina asks me, noticing that Drew and Molly basically just shrunk under my gaze.
"Nothing," I lie and I glance at the board. I see that my opponent is Drew and we go second – after Myra and Will, who go first.
Will and Myra basically just shuffle across the platform, missing a punch here and there. Tobias leans against the wall and yawns.
When Drew and I take the platform, it's like he's trying to forget the fact that I threw him against a bed.
He manages a punch to my abdomen, which only has me budge a step backward. I swiftly dodge a second punch and I grab his wrist and punch him hard in the nose.
I thought I hear Peter chuckle across the room.
Drew, probably too baffled, manages to throw a weak punch here and there, only for me to send him powerful punches. The fight lasts six minutes and ends when I knock the wind out of him after kicking his stomach.
"Drew got beaten by a girl! Drew got beaten by a girl!" Peter chants after I step from the platform.
Al loses to Christina, while the fight between Peter and Edward lasts ten minutes because they are both very good, only that Edward is smarter, and managed to send a punch to Peter that knocked the wind out of him.
The last match is Molly and Tris. Let's see how this plays out.
Molly taunts Tris for a bit before putting her weight into a punch, only for Tris to duck and drive her fist right above Molly's bellybutton.
Tris moves out of the way when Molly lunges at her and blocks a punch with her forearm. Molly tries a sloppy kick which Tris dodges and Tris sends an elbow up her face.
Molly sends a punch to her ribs, only for Tris to stumble to the side before coming back. They both put their hands up their faces and stare at each other before Tris sends her fist below her bellybutton and sweep-kicks her legs under her and proceeds to kick Molly who is curled up on the platform until Tobias stops Tris and tells her to take a walk.
"Whoa," says Edward quietly. "What drove her to win against Molly?"
"It's called adapting to one's environment, Edward," I say. "After one loses, it only drives them harder to succeed."
"You're just like your aunt," says Edward. "A walking, talking computer."
In Erudite, they choose leaders based on IQ scores and guess who became a leader due to her IQ score?
Erudite leaders have to very intelligent, Dauntless leaders the most brave, Candor leaders the most honest, Amity leaders the most peaceful, with Abnegation leaders being the most selfless.
Though I doubt Marcus Eaton qualifies as selfless if he beat his son with a belt.
"You see that the Stiff won against Molly?" I tell Eric that night in his apartment, as I read the other half of the file about the Dauntless Simulation Serum. I mentally cringe when I used Stiff.
"Four didn't hesitate to divulge the information," says Eric. "If a Stiff is ranked first again, I'm going to hit something."
"If Four was ranked first, were you second then?" I ask.
"What gave that away?" asks Eric.
"Because you are a Dauntless leader," I tell him.
"Max wanted to give Four my position," says Eric, sitting down next to me. "However, Four's Abnegation modesty prevented him from taking it. He doesn't know that the reason I have this position, are some strings pulled by Jeanine."
"She told me," I acknowledge. "Why?"
"Two reasons," says Eric. "First, to help assist Max in the alliance against the Abnegation and to properly train the initiates for war and brutality. Second, the main reason is to look for Divergent rebels."
"Divergent rebels?" I ask.
"She gave me a tip-off the night of the Choosing Ceremony," says Eric. "Your aunt said that a certain Beatrice Prior chose Dauntless when her results were Abnegation. The other problem was that her test was not recorded, that it was given manually."
I remember the night of the aptitude tests, when dad told Jeanine about a faulty test and Jeanine expressing that there could be a Divergent on their hands. Straining my memory, I remember that Tris (at the time, she was wearing a grey sweater, a grey dress, and wearing her hair in a non-descript bun; typical Abnegation wear and style) didn't return from her aptitude test.
"Do you think Tris is a Divergent?" I ask him.
"What do I think after she displayed Abnegation selflessness yesterday?" says Eric, in his usual calculating manner. I remember when Tris took Al's place when Eric was going to have Tobias throw knives at him.
That was both selfless and brave.
"Jeanine told me to pay attention to the simulations during stage two for signs if Tris is a Divergent," Eric continues. "Currently, no signs will be shown at stage one, but I can't help but suspect that –"
He's interrupted by a knock at the door.
"Who is it this time?" he mumbles as he strides to the door. He only opens it just enough so no one would know I was in the apartment. "Well, Four, what brings you here?"
"Max sent me to find you," I hear Tobias say. "He didn't tell me why, just that it was important."
This has to do with Aunt Jeanine. I know it. Why else would Max not tell Tobias?
"Okay," says Eric. "Tell him I'll be there shortly."
He closes the door and says to me, "I have to go. Stay here until I come back."
I nod and watch as he leaves the apartment and I hear the door lock. I sit back and continue reading the file, waiting for him to come back.
Three hours pass and I have finished reading the fifty page document, and Eric still has not come back. It's ten o'clock at night, and I'm tired as it is. The other initiates are probably at the dormitory while I'm still here.
The door is locked. I have to stay here until Eric comes back.
My drowsiness overtakes me eventually, and I lay down on the couch before I fall asleep.