Tris's POV *A couple days later*
"Tris?" A voice invades my dreams.
I groan in response.
"Tris?" The voice, Tobias, repeats. He gently pushes on my shoulder.
"Go away." I mumble, trying to return to my euphoric state of sleep.
"Trisy boo!" He says louder, his voice teasing.
"Puhhhhhh." I swat my hand in the air, hoping to hit some part of his body but unwilling to actually look up to aim properly. I end up hitting some part of his chest, but I can't tell exactly where.
"Tris!" Tobias says again, his voice closer to my ear, tickling ever so slightly. "You understand that you're unbelievably late, right?" He whispers.
My eyes fly open, suddenly panicked as I realize what today is. It's the day of the Choosing Ceremony. "No, no, no!" I curse myself, throwing my covers back and scrambling to the dresser where I wrench open the first drawer, pulling on the first shirt I see, a black tank top. "What time is it?" I ask frantically as I pull open the next drawer, once again grabbing the first black denim I see.
"Twelve." Tobias says calmly, leaning against the wall next to me.
"Why didn't you wake me up earlier?!" I shout, flying to the bathroom and running a comb through my tangled blonde hair before pulling it up into a high ponytail. I swipe a toothbrush through my teeth rapidly before grabbing my mascara wand and hurriedly brushing it across my eyelashes. "Ug!" I shout as the wand stabs my eye.
"I woke you up before I went to work, like three hours ago." Tobias shrugs.
"And you thought I would stay awake?!" I grumble, moving back into the bedroom to put on shoes. I trip over the denim on the bottom of my jeans as I go, but Tobias catches me before I fall. I shot of adrenaline rushes through me once again, making me feel as if there's a bubble in my chest on the verge of bursting open.
"Tris, you realize that those are my jeans, right?" Tobias asks, holding my shoulders and looking me in the eyes, a smile tugging at the edges of his lips.
"God damnit!" I shout frustratedly. "No wonder they're so frikin' huge." I say, trying to move away from Tobias, but he holds my shoulders tighter.
"Tris." He says.
"Let me go. I'm late." I whine, struggling against his strong arms.
"Gee, I didn't notice." Tobias says sarcastically.
I glare at him.
"Now, you're already late, so take a deep breath and get ready properly. I'm sure Uriah can manage to take them through lunch without you." Tobias says soothingly.
"But I'm supposed to be there." I insist.
"Yeah, and you're going to be late not matter what, so don't go and meet the initiates all flustered and annoyed."
"Yeah, yeah, you're right." I soften, letting out a deep breath. He's right. Uriah can manage without me.
"I know." He smirks, folding me into his strong arms.
I melt against him, allowing his protective arms to fend off my earlier panic. He kisses the top of my head and runs a hand through my hair.
"I love you." He murmurs.
"I love you too." I sigh.
An hour later, right when I know lunch will just be ending, I step out of the apartment and begin to walk to the dorms. I've taken a shower and put my hair back into a ponytail, but I'm wearing different cloths. Dark black jeans, tight but not too tight, and a loose black v neck t shirt that stops just a bit lower than my hips. It's loose, but the fabric is light and makes me look my age. I've put on a thin line of black eyeliner and mascara, but no other makeup. I wear black leather combat boots that make me look fiercer than I actually am.
I arrive at the dorms a minute later and pause outside the entrance before I enter. I'm supposed to be helping Uriah train the Dauntless initiates, not the transfers, and I can hear him explaining what's going to happen tomorrow. His voice sounds harder than usual, lacking it's usual boyish quality. "There are a lot less of you this year, but the rules still apply. Only ten of you are going to make it into Dauntless." I hear him say.
I peek around the corner into the dorm and am surprised to see colors mixed in with the black. Three Candor huddle close to each other, two girls and one boy. Both girls have their arms crossed over their chests, both of them wearing scowls. The boy wears a slight smile as if laughing at a joke only he could hear. A couple feet away from them stands one lone Amity, her flowy red and yellow dress glaringly out of place in the room, yet she doesn't look scared or intimidated. Even just listening to Uriah speak, her brown eyes look determined. Closest to me are two Erudite boys, one looking as if he's hanging onto every word and the other looking as if he's on the verge of falling asleep. My eyes scan the room in search of any Abnegation, but there are none, which isn't surprising. Tobias was the first Abnegation-Dauntless transfer in ten years, and like him, I was an abnormality. It isn't surprising that there aren't any Abnegation, but still a tiny part of me deflates.
Scattered around the room in front of Uriah, leaning against bunk bed posts or standing with their arms crossed and bored expressions, are the black clad Dauntless initiates. There are ten Dauntless initiates, plus the minuscule six transfers, make only sixteen initiates. A tiny, tiny initiate class.
I take a deep breath, square my shoulders, and step around the corner. All eyes instantly focus in on me. "Six!" Uriah grins. "You're late!"
"I know." I say, stepping further into the room.
"This is Six, your other instructor." Uriah explains to the initiates. I am itching to ask why all the initiates are in one room, but I refrain. I don't want to appear out of the loop.
"Hello." I say, nodding at the group and waiting for someone (Candor, male) to comment on my name.
"Cool name!" I am surprised to hear someone shout, not the smart alec comment I was expecting. A couple Dauntless hoots are ensued.
I smile at them. I don't know all of the Dauntless initiates by name, but I know a lot of their faces already, and they all must know me from my ranking last year.
"Alright!" I hear an authoritative voice call from the back side of the room, from a corner I couldn't see when I looked earlier. The voice is nasally, snotty. It's a voice that I've tried desperately to forget, but never succeeded. It's Harley.
She grins coldly at me, his eyes laughing at my surprise. Anger boils up in me, but I push it down. I can't make a spectacle in front of the initiates, and I can't show her what her presence does to me. "Remember, you have to be at the training room tomorrow at seven!" She says to the room, her eyes still focused on me. "That means you too, Six!" She adds, and a couple people laugh.
"I can't promise anything." I say. A couple more laughs.
"See ya tomorrow!" Uriah's voice rings in happily, diverting the tension between Harley and me.
He touches the space between my shoulder blades, turning me around and propelling me out of the room. We walk to the Pit in silence, acutely aware of Harley's presence right behind us.
"Miss me?" She asks snakily as we reach the Pit.
"What the hell is she doing here?" I ask Uriah, ignoring her.
"Ouch. I'm right here." She smirks. Uriah opens his mouth, but she cuts him off. "I was supposed to train the newbies," she says. An awful thought flashes through my mind of her creating a whole little army of herself, snarky little brats all with bright red hair. "But then there were only six, so they combined the training groups into one big group. Which puts us together." She says. Her voice is dry and bored.
"Wonderful." I say sarcastically.
"Believe me, Eaton, I'm no more excited about this than you are." She says, her tone still monotone.
"Great." I snap.
"Yeah, great!" She snaps back.
I walk away with my image of training initiates with Uriah, an image that I was rather looking forward to, completely and utterly crushed.
A/N Thanks for reading, and I would really appreciate a review :)
