Monday came all too quickly the following day. She was still deliciously sore from her full weekend of exertions. She was dreading the day, suddenly the idea of training the initiates and group therapy sounded very mundane. Still, she made herself a cup of coffee, had a small breakfast and headed down stairs. As she made it down the stairs sipping on her coffee she made it to her old floor where her, Christina, Four and Will all lived. She was too groggy and sleeping to even realizing that someone was right in front of her. She ended up spilling her coffee all down the other person.
"Oh I'm so sorry-," Tris said quickly looking up, "Four."
"Hey," Four said looking down at his now drenched shirt. He seemed just as surprised to see her there.
"Four I-, I'm sorry," Tris said now feeling her mind come to a halt.
"It's fine Tris," Four said slipping down his jacket which had come coffee on it as well, "I'll just go get another shirt."
"Ok I'm really sorry," Tris said embarrassingly, "I wasn't really paying attention."
"Don't worry about it," Four said with a stern look on his face, "I'm sorry you lost your coffee."
"Well guess I deserve it now," Tris shrugged awkwardly.
"Here take mine," Four said holding out his cup to her.
"No I'll be alright," Tris shook her head.
"I made it just how you like it," Four said holding out the cup to her again, "two shots of cream, you can take it. Besides I really gotta go change now. I'll just make myself another cup."
Tris sighed unsurely, "Are you sure?"
"Yeah take it," Four said sternly and blinked a few times.
Slowly Tris took the cup from him, "Thank you Four. I really appreciate it."
"You're welcome," Four replied with a similar nod, "well I really gotta go or I'll be late but…it's nice to see you."
Tris could only nod in thanks at that sentiment. Four turned away down the hall shaking his jacket off lightly. Her interaction with Four reminded her so much of Abnegation, all formal and polite. Tris shook her head and began downing the coffee needing it desperately. When she had finally made it down to the pit she looked around. The morning rays shone through brightly, life was bustling within Dauntless without Eric. Tris scanned around again trying to find him and glanced up at the clock. It was 7:47, he was two minutes late. Tris had to go get the initiates at 8.
Just a few minutes before Tris had to go them Eric finally arrived rubbing his eyes tiredly.
"You're late," Tris said trying to sound playful.
"What?" Eric spat out and yawned.
"You're late," Tris said with a sly grin, "better start running."
"Just shut up and go get the initiates," Eric replied leaning against a nearby boulder.
Tris huffed irritated, cranky Eric. Great. Tris rolled her eyes feeling Eric's contagious bad mood spreading to her. With a wrench in hand, she went down the stairs and banged it on the metal piping loudly. Most of the initiates woke with a start, shooting up in their bed.
"Everyone in the gym," Tris called out to them, "two minutes."
Back upstairs, Eric still sat on the boulder with clenched jaw and cold eyes. The initiates started making their way up the stairs groggily.
"Let's go," Eric said before everyone had even showed up and started pacing towards the gym. Tris practically had to run to keep up with him as did the initiates. When they finally arrived Eric stood up on the platform while there were still a few straggles in the back making their way in.
"Move!" Eric yelled at them, his loud voice echoing off the walls.
Now the stragglers began running towards them quickly and looked up at Eric nervously.
"Everyone start running!" Eric yelled out again, "Amber, come here!"
Tris looked up at him confused, what did he need to talk to Amber about? All the initiates seemed to hold their breath while Amber's sleepy eyes were now filled with fear. However Amber still step forward while the initiates began their laps around the gym. Amber and Tris both stood nearby Eric waiting to hear what he had to say except he turned his cold gaze to Tris quickly.
He fished into his pocket and threw his keys at her, "go get the knifes out of the closet."
Tris caught the keys hastily throwing back her own daggers with her eyes at him as he did. What the hell was his problem? Sure she didn't expect him to be all lovey dovey after the weekend they had together but she didn't expect him to be such a dick either. She kept reminding her self he was a fuck buddy, not a boyfriend, she didn't want to be in love with him. He was cold and complicated and closed off and not the kind of person she wanted to be in love with. She knew he would break her heart if she did so she kept reminding herself, sex only. For now she was fine with that but she still didn't quiet expect him to be such a jackass.
Still, it was Monday. She had to focus on the initiates not him right now. So she collected the knives and set them out on the tables near the targets they use to practice. From across the gym, the initiates had finished running their laps. Amber looked reserved and kept her gaze down to the floor solemnly. Tris wondered what Eric said to her as he strode towards her with clench fists. Tris took the keys out of her pocket and threw them back at him. He caught them a lot more gracefully that she did and slipped them into his pocket.
"Today we're learning a new weapon," Eric said striding past her to the knives, "you're gonna all stand at that red line and throw them at the targets. Land inside the body and if you don't keep throwing until you do."
Leave it up to Eric to give the simplest explanation. Tris continued on lining them all up and before she had them start throwing she showed them different ways of holding and throwing the knives. Eric stood nearby with crossed arms looking pissed. Once Tris had finally gotten them all lined up with a knife in hand she had them begin throwing. Very few of them even made them stick in the target, Tris wasn't surprised for the first few throws.
"You're pathetic!" Eric said to them all, "Throw harder at least make em stick in the board!"
A few of them moved anxiously and began throwing harder. A few made it into the board sticking cleanly. Even fewer actually made it to the target. Tris could see the flaws in most of them and made quick work to go between them to correct them. She figured the sooner they got it right the sooner Eric would leave them alone. Eric was hovering over them like a hawk and Tris kept a close eye on them.
When he stopped next to Amber, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. With a look of determination on her face, she threw the knife. It landed in the wooden board but no where near the target.
"Tris!" Eric called out to her, "Come here!"
Tris strode over to him determined to hold her ground. She shot him a cold blank stare, waiting to see what he wanted. Amber was next to her too, she glanced over her shoulder at her but kept throwing but getting more shaky.
"You two are good friends right?" Eric mused softly to the both of them.
Tris nodded, she guessed they were friends. Amber just kept throwing.
"Well?" Eric demanded towards Amber.
Amber stopped throwing and turned to face them slowly, "I'm better friends with her then I am you."
"Good," Eric nodded.
Tris could see the gears in his head turning what was he playing at?
"Tris," he said turning to her, "go stand in front of the target."
"Again?" Tris said putting her hand on her hip and rolled her eyes.
A few of the initiates seemed either shocked or impressed at Tris's words.
"Go," Eric said venomously.
Rolling her eyes again she decided to just follow his orders knowing it'd just piss him off even more. She was curious to what he was doing, why was she standing in front of the target over Amber?
"Amber," Eric said walking past her a bit and glanced between her and Tris, "pick up those knifes and throw them at your friend."
Tris felt her stomach drop; she wasn't prepared to be hit by a knife. She could tell Amber wanted to protest as her wide eyes shot between Eric and Tris. All the others seemed to be holding their breath or looking at Eric with either disgust of shock. Still Amber scrambled around picking up some knives off the ground and stood back at the red line. She just stood there nervously as Eric got out of the way and kept his dark gaze between the two girls.
"One thing you all must learn here is that orders are not optional," Eric said loudly to them all and turned back to Amber, "Go."
Amber slowly raised her hand with knife in hand; Tris took a deep breath and kept her eyes on the knife prepared to dodge if needed. Amber half hazardly threw the knife not landing anywhere near Tris. She could tell she was missing on purpose. Tris stood there stony faced as Amber threw another knife at her. This time it landed in the board about six inches away from Tris's thigh, she still refused to flinch. For whatever reason Eric was punishing both of them and Tris would bear it. With two more lazy throws that bounced off the ground Amber was out of knives.
"Alright," Eric said nodding, "good enough. Tris get out of the way, everyone keep throwing."
Tris angrily walked out of the firing range while everyone began collecting the knives on the ground to begin again. What the hell was wrong with Eric? Was he mad at her, what for? Tris decided to instead do her job and focus on the initiates, Eric did the same. The two ignored each other while they took the initiates through knife training, took them out on a run around the compound, did some weight lifting and kickboxing just in time for lunch to roll around. After lunch they would head up to the roof for more weapons training with Sierra and Jason.
When Eric had kicked them out of the gym to the cafeteria he turned to the knives putting them back into the box Tris had gotten them from. They were alone.
"What the hell is your problem?" Tris demanded once they were alone, "What the hell are you trying to prove by having Amber throwing knives at me?"
"To follow orders," Eric said boldly still keeping his back to her.
"At the expense of me getting stabbed?" Tris said crossing her arms.
"I knew she wasn't going to fucking hit you," Eric said now turning angrily to her, "I wouldn't have let her if I thought she'd actually hit you. The reason why I told her to throw them at you is because of you I got my ass chewed out this morning by Max and Walter!"
"Over what?" Tris questioned.
"Because you took that stupid kid to the party over the weekend!" Eric yelled at her, "She's only 18 and she's not even supposed leave the initiates training area! She's just a kid, what the hell were you thinking bringing here there?"
"I didn't bring her there!" Tris yelled back, "I told her not to go but she said she was going to go either way!"
Eric scoffed, "Wake up Tris! You're not her fucking mom, or her sister, or her best friend! You're her leader! You knew she wasn't allowed to go to that party and you knew she was going to go anyways?!"
"I told her not to!" Tris screamed back but knew she was at fault, "I'm sorry!"
"When the hell were you talking to her about this anyways?" Eric asked.
"It was on the day of the party," Tris said quickly without thinking, "She came up to my apartment and-,"
"She came up to your fucking apartment?" Eric asked crossing his arms, "Again, she's not even allowed to leave the initiates area especially the floor for leadership! Do you realize you could get fired for having an initiate in your apartment?"
Tris felt her stomach drop at that one, "I'm sorry… I didn't invite or anything she just-,"
"You need to stop fucking babying them alright?" Eric declared, "They're not dependents anymore and you need to start treating them like adults! You babying them and doing your stupid group therapy sessions is making them all the more pathetic."
"So what, you wanna just treat them to be mindless robots?" Tris shot back at him, "The mental training starts next week and I really think they'll all do a lot better if we actually try to help them instead of just berating them like you do."
"Someone's gotta teach them how to be strong like a dauntless," Eric said throwing the last knife into a box and picking it up, "teaching them how to talk about their feelings isn't going to save them when they're in a real fight."
"Yeah and teaching them to burry everything down inside of them ignore it like you do isn't going to help them either!" Tris spoke quickly before she could think and her mouth kept running without much thought, "Is that what you want, for them to turn out like you? So that all the things raging inside of you drown you but act like you're fine to prove that you're strong?"
Eric's eyes became deathly cold as he clenched his jaw. He sighed angrily looking at her as if wanting to throw all the knives in the box at her. Tris felt like she should regret her words…ok she felt a little guilty but oddly enough not as guilty as she felt in the things she had said to Four in the past.
"Fuck you," Eric said as he picked up the boxes and stalked off to the closet with them.