"Jerk," I muttered throwing the bottle at him and ready to charge. Brandon stepped in the front. "What happened to respect? I know you all didn't want me here but there's no need to make this whole situation any more unpleasant than it has to be."
"She's right. Leave her alone," said Blaze as he arrived with the rest of the team, including Scott, Kenny, Ace and Apollo. "What is she doing here this early, anyways?"
"We wanted to spend a little time getting to know our future team leader," Taylor told Blaze.
I couldn't help but think they demanded I come here early to pick on me.
"Well, go easy on her guys. Remember she's a girl," Blaze rubbed it in. I bit my lip, wanting to yell back but refused to let them get to me more than they already have. "Tomorrow, Ana, we'll go over scheduling and then I'll set you up with the codes to get in," Blaze said looking me over once more with a sick perverted smile. It almost made me want to throw up. I couldn't believe at one point I thought him handsome and wanted to hang out with him. "Clark and I have to take care of something. Taylor, see to it that she gets a workout."
"Of course," Taylor answered.
Once he left I turned to Taylor. "I'm serious! We don't have to be best friends but we do need to work together, so I suggest you folks cut it out right now. Like Eric said, I'm not above kicking any of your asses!"
"We'll see how you last through today first," Taylor mocked me. I had a feeling that it was going to be way more difficult for me to take charge of the team.
After introductions were made, Taylor had the four guys do stretches, which proved harder for Apollo than anyone else. Taylor made me watch how they did certain exercises. I had to learn how the team moved and where their weaknesses and strengths were. I found myself paying more attention to Adam, Brandon, and Apollo than anything else.
"Tell me what you know about those three then," Taylor pointed the other direction.
I let out a sigh. "I had to fight Scott and Kenny during stage one so I know how they move. As for Ace, I sparred against him a couple times. Four made me do it because he felt that Ace was a greater challenge."
Taylor nodded. "So you noticed that Kenny…"
"Kenny is quick on his feet. He's tall and big but he moves efficiently. Scott likes to double punch a lot. He goes for the quick hit. Ace always looks at people first before planning an attack. He's quick with his mind," I covered looking over at Taylor.
"You know them well, I see."
"More than just their fighting technique I assure you," I finished. "It's another reason why I chose them three." Taylor turned to me the same time I looked up at him. "I trust them."
"Give us time," Taylor said knowing what I was alluding to. "Now look at Adam."
"Adam put less weight on his right side earlier when we were during stretches. He also leans a bit to the right side and uses his right arm more, even though he's left handed. I thought it odd. Then again that could be why you assisted Adam in stretching out his arm," I lifted an eyebrow at Taylor.
"Adam got shot on his left side a while back," Taylor commented. "You really are smarter than you look."
"I'll take that as a compliment," I replied. "I've also noticed that Brandon constantly shuts his left eye, like he blinks that eye a lot."
"He got into a fight with Eric." I turned to Taylor. "They were close once, in the same initiate class together. But when Eric became leader they got into a really huge disagreement and ended up throwing blows at one another. Eric, though, he's brutal, knocked Brandon out cold. Veronica, the head doctor here, said that Brandon could have lost sight in his left eye. It was that bad."
"What was the fight about," I asked causing Taylor to look at the group and then back at me.
"I'll tell you sometime this week. Hopefully you're still around. Right now they're finished with stretches." Always an insult but I nodded and walked over towards the guys. "We're all loosened up. What do you want us to do next," Taylor looked at me. I stared at him confused. "You're the team captain. We follow your lead."
"What do you folks normally do," I asked.
"More conditioning exercises," answered Brandon. "Of course, we do it around the compound."
"Excuse me," asked Apollo.
"We need to be visible to Dauntless," Sam said. "We want everyone to know that we're here, who the new members of the Ghost team are and who they can count on to protect them."
"Not only that but it'll help us, the team, familiarize ourselves with Dauntless," Taylor added. "We will be running around here anyways."
"That sounds good. Alright," I turned to Kenny and Scott who nodded.
"You're the captain," Ace added.
I looked to Apollo.
"We just exercised," Apollo shook his head.
"Wuss," one of the guys called out as we exited the room.
"Come on Apollo. I need you to keep up," I told him. "They're not going to relent, so we need to push just as hard."
We all started running, even up the stairs. Taylor made us stop when we came to a certain hallway and had us crawl from one end to the other. My forearms were sore but as soon as we reached the other end we all got up and started jogging again. We had found some railing that overlooked the Pit. All nine of us wrapped our legs around the railing and hung upside down. The task was upside down sit ups. I lost count of how much I did. At several points, Scott, Ace, Kenny, Apollo, and I were just hanging.
"Come on, princess, let's go," Brandon shouted when the guys started back up again and I was still taking a break.
I couldn't help it. I was out of breath but continued straining to pull myself up.
All the guys had taken off their shirts but I still had on my tank. When we finally had got up over the edge, I stripped myself of the tank, to leave me only in my workout bra. Scott took a glance and I could tell that he was looking at Eric's marks. Hell, all of them noticed it.
"Aw princess, you don't need to take off your shirt for me," Adam teased.
I was too sweaty and too tired to say anything to them now. We jogged down towards the loading dock and Taylor had called duck walks.
"What in the world is that," I asked.
"This," Sam threw some sticks our way which we caught.
Each of us followed him as he held it over his head, squatted down, and started walking with his knees bent, butt almost touching the ground.
"How far," I questioned.
"We follow the tracks," Sam shouted back to us.
"Really," protested Apollo as he was about to collapse.
"We got two princesses on the team guys," Adam teased.
"Yes, really," I pushed the stick back into Apollo's hands ignoring Adam's teasing. "We have to keep going." Apollo looked away obviously upset. I placed a hand on his shoulder, causing him to turn back to me. "Don't let them get to you, alright? You have every right to be here as they do."
He nodded and we started to exercise.
We did this until we reached a certain point on the tracks where it became obvious that train would be coming. And then the bizarre thing was that we ended up hopping on that train and riding it back to the compound. Kenny got on the train and was about to pull me in but Taylor stopped him.
"Let the princess do it herself," he smiled as I almost stumbled but eventually got in.
Ace had come by as I climbed in and gave me an extra boost before crawling in as well. I turned and pulled Apollo in. Scott had got in with the help of Kenny. Taylor looked at me angrily.
"When people can't pull their weight," he started but I had had just about enough.
"We're a team! We work together. We help one another out! We don't leave the other to fall behind! And stop with the princess shit already!"
"Those are some mighty bold words there, princess," Adam continued.
"Dauntless is about being bold isn't it," I questioned as they all looked at me. I was tired of their teasing. "Dauntless is the courage that drives one person to stand up for another," I turned to Kenny. "In shouting for those who can only whisper," I looked at Apollo.
"In defending those who cannot defend themselves," Ace added.
"Thank you Ace," I looked at him and then turned back to Taylor and everyone else. "A Dauntless believes not just in bold words but bold deeds to match them. I am sick of all of you telling me that I am not Dauntless. Those statements were taken straight from the Dauntless manifesto and I intend of living them now and for the rest of my life. So I am sorry if Kenny stood up for me or for defending Apollo or for using bold words and now matching it with action. Sorry if I was being Dauntless!"
They all looked at me with expressionless faces. I couldn't tell if they were shocked or upset.
"Welcome to Dauntless' Ghost Team, Captain Ana," Brandon said stepping forward.
I looked around at all of them and it seemed like that outburst had gained a small amount of their respect. Taylor nodded at me, as did Sam and Adam. I turned away and went to sit down by Kenny, hunching forward trying to catch my breath.
It seemed like my arms had gotten stiff. I could barely lift them now. There was tightness in my shoulder from holding that stick over my head. My legs were sore and tired. Pain was shooting around my thighs, my calves. Hell my entire leg was in pain! There were muscles that I didn't even know I had that were hurting.
"First day is always going to be the toughest," said Adam coming over then patting my back. "Don't lean like that," he gently moved my back to straighten me out. "Slow breaths, so your body can adjust." I nodded.
Adam left me and went over there to correct Apollo's breathing as well. I also saw Taylor talking with Scott and Sam came to sit on the other side of me. It seemed for now things were decent.
The second we reached the compound, we took a break for lunch which I swear didn't come fast enough. We sat at the table with Taylor them as I drank bottle after bottle of water. I was exhausted. It was like Abigail and Four said. The training wasn't for the weak at heart, at least Taylor folks made it that way. They seemed to accept Scott and didn't mind Ace on the team either.
"So, you're the one that is going out with Kimber," asked Taylor.
"Yeah," Ace looked down as Adam and Taylor laughed.
"I don't get it," Apollo shook his head.
"Kimber is my baby sister," Brandon answered as Adam and Taylor continued to laugh.
"Well she's eighteen now," I replied as they all snapped their heads at me.
"Meaning," Brandon asked.
"She's not a baby, Brandon," I answered.
"That's right we have a girl on the team. We can't really talk about the girls we end up with the night before now, can we," Adam teased.
"Do you end up with girls from the night before," I teased causing all the guys to say 'ooh'.
"They love me so much they don't want to leave in the morning," Adam smiled.
"No they can't wait to leave in the morning," Sam threw something at him causing all the guys to laugh.
"Okay so we know our Captain has a boyfriend," Taylor started. "Either that or she just showed up to training looking like she did."
"No trust me, she does have a boyfriend," Scott drank some water and then turned back to eating.
"Sounds like you don't approve," Taylor questioned.
"I don't," Scott turned to me and then looked away.
"Well, thankfully she's an adult now who can decide whether she approves or not," Kenny interjected.
"Thank you Kenny," I smiled. "That's what I was getting at earlier with Kimber," I turned to Brandon.
"That someone can go out with her without getting my approval," Brandon lifted an eyebrow.
"I get it. In Amity that's how courtships worked. The guy always spoke to the head or the man of the girl's household. But this is Dauntless and all I'm saying is that Kimber is eighteen now and she can make her own decisions as to who she wants to date or not," I replied.
"You got any older brothers," asked Brandon.
"Three," I answered.
"Then you know that statement you said isn't true," Brandon smiled. "Our baby sisters are always our baby sisters," he turned to glare at Ace.
"But she's not a baby, she's eighteen," I protested.
"I have a feeling your brothers wouldn't approve of your boyfriend either."
"Yeah they probably wouldn't but they know that it would be my decision to make. They can't force me to be with someone else."
"But they should have a say in the matter," Brandon continued.
"Okay, okay," Taylor put up his hands. "You two need to calm down."
"Look at it from my perspective. I haven't been able to speak to my sister in three months. I was working during visiting day so she only got to spend the day with our parents," Brandon explained. "Then all of a sudden she passes initiation and when I go to congratulate her, I see her in the arms of some Erudite born transfer."
"Who was ranked in top ten," I added. Brandon stared at me. "Alright," I put up my hands. "I get it, the least she could have done was to tell you."
"Thank you," he replied.
"How did you Kimber and happen anyway," Apollo asked.
"I don't think that's something his brother wants to know," Adam added.
"It was sometime after Emmett's death," Ace answered anyways, looking up at Brandon. "Emmett and I had gotten kind of tight. He said Kimber was like a sister."
"Our Dads grew up together," Brandon nodded.
"She was shook up about Emmett," Ace said. "We all were," he looked over at me. "He had a soft spot for Ana, Blossom and Kimber," Ace shook his head. "After he died, I just tried to fill the gap in being a friend for her. It just turned into something more I guess. I do care about your sister," he faced Brandon again.
"Just don't hurt her," Brandon mumbled.
"Isn't this nice," Adam stated before it could get quiet. "Bro love all around," he tried to hug Sam who pushed him away. "I'm hurt, man. I'm really hurt."
Everyone started to laugh.
I noticed Blossom walking in with her team and decided that I had had just about enough of the testosterone on this table.
"Excuse me," I said standing up.
"Where you going, princess," asked Adam. "We were sharing bro love here!"
"Well, I'm not really a bro."
"You kidding, you're like one of us now," he said. I shook my head throwing away my food and then putting my tray away. "Seriously where are you going," he asked when I walked by again.
"Somewhere with fewer penises," I replied making them all laugh.
Blossom smiled widely when she saw me and waved me over. She nodded and the guy next to her stood up and moved down some. Kenny had walked over too.
"You look really tanned," I told her.
This made her laugh a little. "Yeah, well, you look tired."
"I am," I let out a sigh.
"How are things Kenny," she asked him.
"Good, despite the fact that I am having trouble keeping up during some points of the training. I don't know how you're doing it Ana. I'm beat."
"We're all having trouble," I added before turning back to Blossom. "So has your team accepted you?"
"They have actually. Things are going very well," she smiled. I almost felt jealous at her answer.
I had one hell of a morning with my team accepting me.
"Everyone has been helping me adjust and showing me the ropes."
"Who you got on your team," I nodded to the table.
"That's Bolt, Stone and Katalina. Bolt and Katalina are the oldest on my team. They're Dauntless born, passed initiation five years ago, with," she paused touching my hand. "Tori," she finished.
"Tattoo artist, Tori? The one that works with Six?"
Blossom nodded. "Stone is from Candor. I don't remember him though. Mainly because he's older, I guess. They're all really cool. What about your team?"
I groaned. "They were giving me hell this morning. I guess it's true they really didn't want me on their team."
"It'll take time," she said. "Is that them," she nodded to my table.
I looked back. "Yes. They're all Dauntless born. I believe the youngest is Taylor and Adam. They're three years older than us. Then of course I got the rest of my team which is our initiate class," I smiled.
"How did it take," she asked.
"Like I said it was hell this morning. They kept calling me princess."
"Stone calls me sweetheart. In fact Martin and Don have started doing that too. Ooh, speaking about the rest of my team," she motioned to two girls sitting in the middle. "That's Jaya and Red. They're both Dauntless born from last year's initiation class. Get this," she turned. "Jaya," she said as I nodded. "She has a crush on my brother. Red ended up telling me. I think that perhaps we should help…"
"Don't try to set them up," I warned.
"What? Why not? I think she's cool. Besides, my brother was too busy with that dumb Tasha to notice Jaya. But after I..." I pinched her side. "Ow!"
She hit me playfully.
"Ow," I told her.
"You pinched me."
"You're trying to set up your brother."
"What's so wrong about that," she asked.
"Your brother just got back, Bloss," said Kenny, coming to my defense. "Let him get settled first and then he can think about a serious relationship."
"Thank you, Kenny," I told him.
"Fine," Blossom rolled her eyes. "I'll wait. But, ooh, guess what else was I told," she was back to her happy talking self, which caused both Kenny and I to shake our heads. "Jaya's older brother is Samir from the Ghost team," she nodded towards my table. "Well, they call him Sam but she said it's Samir. Sam is about," she paused and I could see her trying to do the math. "Twenty four or twenty five years old, I think she said."
"That's the same age as my brother Jonathan." I looked back at him. "He doesn't talk much as the other guys but I have to admit he is handsome."
Kenny and Blossom looked at me.
"Of course I'm with Eric. To me he'll always be extremely satisfying to my eyes. And everywhere else," I mumbled as they both started to laugh.
"Which is obvious by the marks I see," Blossom pointed to me. "Those are new. Are they from last night?"
"This morning," I rolled my eyes. "I really hate him for this. I took off my shirt while we were exercising and now everyone on the team saw."
"Everyone in the cafeteria can see now," Kenny added which made me punch him. He quickly responded by pinching my side. "So that is where you ditched us last night? Blossom and I thought we were going to sleep in the dorms together. You know, one final night there?"
"Eric wanted to talk about my teammates," I muttered and nodded towards Scott.
"I'm sure he did," Kenny shook his head.
Blossom took my hand excitedly. "Did you two talk about the apartment? I was talking to Abigail this morning and she said that they found our apartment already. We could move in there tonight but I told her that..."
"Eric said I could," I whispered to her. Kenny choked on his water. "What?"
"So, uh," Kenny cleared his throat. "How did you convince him," Kenny winked at me. "You must have done something good to allow you to have Scott on the team and keep a separate apartment away from him."
I pushed him playfully at the suggestion. In the back of my head though, I did wonder if I did do something unintentionally to persuade Eric to let me take the apartment or if he and I were really growing deeper in our relationship that he trusted me. I went with the latter.
"Eric and I discussed it," I replied which Kenny only shook his head to. "We did discuss it," I almost yelled.
"You two only talked last night?"
"Yes," I looked at him.
"So he still hasn't…"
"Hey, I was talking to her about our apartment," Blossom interrupted.
"Sorry," Kenny muttered. Blossom nudged him and they both smiled at one another.
"Apartment," I tapped the table causing the two to look at me. Yeah, I think there was something going on.
"Well, Abigail said that there's also no cameras set up yet on that floor. Right now it's just me and you occupying that floor. It's kind of a small level with only two other apartments. But it's fully furnished already. Since Eric is letting you we could move our stuff there after work today," Blossom shrugged.
"Yeah, we'll move in tonight. It sounds perfect. Although I have a feeling that Abigail was trying to warn us."
Blossom looked at me weird. "About what exactly," she asked.
"No cameras set up yet? Anything could happen."
"That's true," Kenny added. "Please be safe up there, you two." We both nodded at him.
"I need to get a schedule of that camera set up," I spoke as I drank some more water.
"Good luck with that," added Blossom. I asked her if something was wrong. "I asked Four for the camera access that way I could set up the security check for Eric's meeting with Johanna Reyes at Amity in three days. He kind of danced around the issue and said he would get it to me later."
"He's a new leader, he probably has a lot to do," I shrugged.
"I guess," Blossom said looking away. "I am from Candor though, Ana. I saw his eye movements. It's a sign of lying."
"If he still gives you a hard time again then perhaps you should ask Abigail," I let out a sigh. "I wonder if he's making things complicated for you, now that you're a member."
"I have no idea but it just seemed weird." I nodded at her.
Peter did say that she had a sixth sense for that sort of thing. The only problem was that it was Four and I didn't want to doubt Four. At the same time, she needed to secure the route for Eric to travel to Amity. I wanted Eric to be safe but in no way did I want to use my care for Eric to rush Four in doing his job.
The rest of training was spent running drills in one of the warehouses outside where we had conducted stage three. We had been partnered up with at least one person who was already on the team. We were given neurostim dart guns. Of course I asked if there was any like a handgun and surprisingly there were. I still didn't feel comfortable shooting with the larger gun. For some reason the handgun I liked the most and was able to aim better with.
The first time I ran my task with Taylor, which was to clear the building, we worked fairly well together. I had a good feeling that they weren't going to continue teasing me as they did this morning. When I was with Brandon or Adam however, I sometimes went off on my own, which ended with me getting shot with a neurostim dart by Scott, Ace or even Kenny.
"Never leave your teammate," said Brandon. "You need to cover their back and they will cover yours." I nodded as we took another short break.
Sam and I were really good. In fact it was almost like I was working with Dillon or Kenny and Scott. I asked if I could call him Samir, which he said yes to but only not around the guys. Scott really did click well with all of them. I knew they would favor him. Kenny for the most part followed suggestions. Sometimes I had to intervene. I could see that Kenny didn't take orders from guys too well, considering his past experience with men.
"You're babying him," Taylor told me.
"No I'm not."
"You're making excuses then," he replied.
I let out a sigh. "I was told that Kenny's Dad wasn't a good man."
"Everyone knows that Kenny's Dad wasn't a good man. We all wondered how Amar turned out so well."
"Amar?"
"Kenny's brother," he said as I nodded.
"Right," I responded. "Well without his older brother, Kenny doesn't have strong male role models in his life. It doesn't help that you all belittle him like that," I said softly as Taylor took me a distance away.
"You put him on this team for another reason didn't you?"
"I'm not telling you that."
"Trust works both ways Ana."
I crossed my arms over my chest. "Well if I'm still here by the end of the week and you tell me about Brandon and Eric then I'll tell you why I chose Kenny."
Taylor chuckled and shook his head. "I was wrong about you. You're going to fit in just nicely around here."
Other than Kenny's disrespectful tendencies, the guys were receptive of him. Ace hit it off with Sam and Taylor. Brandon still glared at him and often made things difficult. It didn't help that Adam would tease Brandon about Ace and Kimber doing it the dorm room, which never happened. The guys eventually liked Apollo.
"That's why you chose him, isn't it," asked Scott as we were prepping for Apollo's last run with Samir.
"You may think he's arrogant because he's Erudite born, that he thinks he's better than us," I said.
"He's always telling what's what, that's why," Scott shook his head.
"Apollo is also susceptible to taking advice," I replied. "In stage three he did really well. Stage three tests not just our physical and mental skill but also how well we work with others in a team setting. I needed someone inclined to that type of thinking. That's why I chose him."
"Excellent move," acknowledged Brandon coming our way. "I never would have thought to do that."
"Neither would I," added Taylor. "Our job does involve more than just using ones strength. We need to be able to exert ourselves cohesively as one. And we need to think outside of the box, so to speak. Like Brandon said," Taylor looked at me. "Now that I see him out in the field, you made a good choice."
I smiled at him. I was glad that we were slowly learning to work together. Adam still called me princess and I had a feeling that the name was going to stick. Kimber was waiting down on the bottom level when we all walked out and shifted her feet uncomfortably when she saw Brandon. Adam of course teased Brandon which made Kimber grab Ace's hand and run down the hall. I had a feeling that Adam was probably the team's funny guy like how Noah was our initiate class clown.
That night Blossom and I had moved all our stuff from Peter's to our apartment. Peter came to help of course.
"Okay so ground rules," Peter said setting down the box.
"Excuse me," Blossom looked at him as I shook my head and laughed.
"Hey, just because you got first ranking, a cool job and your own fancy apartment," Peter looked around. "That doesn't mean anything changes. You're still my baby sister."
"Oh boy," I rolled my eyes and went to side hug Peter. "Baby sisters will always be baby sisters," I added.
"Exactly," Peter exclaimed. "See Ana gets it. She has three older brothers who would probably do the same so she gets it."
"I get it," I smiled.
Blossom threw a rag at me.
"Ew, disgusting," I threw it back at her.
"What are the ground rules," Blossom shook her head, smiling at her brother.
"No parties, unless I'm invited," Peter stated. "No boys, unless I'm invited," he continued causing us to laugh. "No alcohol…"
"Let me guess," Blossom interrupted. "Unless you're invited," she smiled causing him to walk over and pinch her side.
"Sadly yes," he replied.
Mina had appeared to check it out. She ended up working in the infirmary, which I wasn't surprised by. Whenever we were down there she was always questioning the treatment that we were being given. Mina left not too long after with Ryan and the rest of the guys, who also just had to look at our apartment.
"Dude, we are throwing parties up here," Noah said. "Look at this living room. It's a decent size, man," he shook Chase and Hec.
"When are you getting your apartment, Noah," I asked him.
Noah shrugged.
"They'll probably leave him in the dorms," Ryan joked.
"Nah, I got VIP listed somewhere on my file. I'm getting the big apartments next to Max," Noah said making us laugh.
"Like Max would let you move next to him," Kimber rolled her eyes walking in with Ace and Apollo.
"Sup Captain," Ace nudged me and then went to fist bump Blossom. "Nice place. You should have told the team to help you."
"We didn't have much stuff to move," I shrugged.
"Hey since you're all here, we should have a party now," Blossom suggested.
"Yeah, let's have a party," I smiled.
