Chapter 1

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"What's your name?" I asked, helping the boy draped in white and black clothing out of the net.

He pushed his long black hair from his face. "Uh, it's Anders."

"First jumper, Anders!"

The crowd cheered.

I directed Anders to stand near where Tris was. He nodded and obeyed me quickly. Already, he seemed like he had some sort of potential. Not too confident, but not so timid he would lose points because of it.

The next jumper fell, a blur of grey.

She was crying. I helped her out of the net and made sure she wasn't going to faint. Her face was slowly regaining color, and I noticed her brilliantly brown eyes. I assumed she was Asian from her facial features. Her brown hair was long—Abnegation long.

"What's your name?" I asked. She froze. "You can pick a new one if you'd like, but make it good."

"Lee," she said, finally.

"Welcome to Dauntless, Lee."

Once everyone had jumped, we lined them up.

"Initiates!" I shouted, grabbing their attention. "Listen closely. For the next few weeks, you'll be fighting for your place in Dauntless. I'm Four, this is Six. That is Uriah and Christina."

Each person waved as I introduced them.

"Dauntless-borns, you go with Uriah and Christina. Transfers, stay with us."

Once we were left with the fourteen transfers, Tris stepped up beside me and crossed her arms, switching into her 'Six' mode. I fought the urge to hold her hand. Our relationship was definitely a secret.

"Your names are numbers?" Caspian snorted.

Tris turned. "Is there a problem, Candor?"

"Do you not have normal names?" he smirked. "Like John or something? Why numbers?"

Slowly, Tris moved closer to him—so close that she was in his face, most likely breathing on him. She whispered something in his ear, making him flush.

"You do not question your instructors, got it?"

"Yes, ma'am," he rasped.

I smirked. "Follow us, initiates."

We showed them around the compound, explaining and naming places like the chasm, the pit, and finally, the dorm. They groaned at the sight of it. Them seeing the privacy-less bathroom and dorm room made the entire job worth every bit of it.

Tris and I left them alone for ten minutes to change and pick beds.

Then, we were on our way to the cafeteria.

I gave the traditional initiation speech. As a Dauntless leader, it was a requirement. Tris and Tori stood beside me, also fellow leaders.

After the almost attack on Abnegation, Max and the other Dauntless leaders had been arrested.

And we had been elected.

Tris and I took our seats with our friends: Zeke, Shauna, Uriah, Christina, Marlene, and Will.

"You scared him so badly, Six!" Uriah laughed.

"Four taught me well," she said, glancing at me. "Besides, Candors are kind of.. honest."

Christina threw her hands up. "I was raised to be honest! Not my fault, T—Six. When a Candor, everyone knows everything about you."

Zeke laughed. "Defensive."

"Uh," Lee's voice came from behind us. "Can I sit here?"

Tris gestured to the seat beside her. "Go ahead. Lee, isn't it?"

"Uhm.. yeah,"

I watched as Lee poked at her burger, looking unsure of what to do with it. Tris helped her out, thankfully.

"You eat it with your hands," Tris said. "It's a hamburger. Don't worry, I was confused too."

Lee's eyes lit up. "You—You were a stiff?"

"Yep. Ready for training?"

She looked a little saddened by the thought. "I.. I'll probably drop out. I can't make it here. I mean, seriously. I don't know how to fight."

Zeke piped in. "Believe me, if Six has taught us anything, it's that a stiff can be a terrific fighter."

"Really?"

"Really." I nodded. "And if you need it, we'll help you out. That's our job."

Tris grinned at me, and I saw Lee watch as she leaned further into my side. If Lee was as intelligent as I could tell she was, then she'd caught on by now. Lee's mouth turned up in a smile.

"Four and Six? You're dating, right?"

Tris threw her hands up. "We didn't last an entire day."

"To be honest, you are all over each other," Will said. "It's obvious."

I grinned. "That's a secret, got it?"

"Got it,"

"Be in the training room in five minutes!" I yelled, banging a pot and pan together.

The groans that followed my rude entrance made both Tris and I laugh. We turned and made our way down to the training room, meeting Uriah and Christina there. They tossed us both a muffin and we happily ate them.

"Where are they?" Uriah groaned. "Slow pokes."

They began to file in, taking their spots in a long line.

"Listen up!" I shouted, the room going silent. "Today is your first day of initiation. I'll go over the basics; there are two stages. The first is physical, which we start today. Uriah and I will be teaching you how to fight, so I recommend you pay attention."

Uriah stood across from me in the ring. The initiates were all watching.

He moved closer to me, throwing a punch and freezing in that position. "When you punch, you need to make sure your thumb is not on your ring finger. Keep your feet apart, and turn your hips away from your target."

"And you'll block a punch by bringing up another arm." Tris said.

We relaxed and then Uriah surprised me by punching at my face.

I caught his hand before it hit me and swept him off his feet with my leg, effectively tripping him. Before he could slam his head on the padded floor, I lowered him gently to the floor. The initiates were gaping now, Lee probably the most appalled.

"Anyone want to challenge Four here?" Christina laughed.

No one raised their hands.

"Okay, get to work, initiates," Tris ordered. "Pick a punching bag and we'll come around to help you out."

It was easier to help them all with four instructors, honestly. My job last year was both time consuming and stressful. There had been one of me and like ten of them.

Tris helped Lee, and I went to help the initiate named Luella.

She had been Amity, with blonde hair and stunning green eyes. As most Amity did, she had tan skin and apparently preferred for her hair to be up and out of her eyes. It was tied back in a braid.

As for her fighting skills, she had none.

She was kind of smacking the punching bag, tears pouring from her eyes. I put a gentle hand on her back and led her from the room, taking her to a break room Tori had put in the training room.

I handed her a bottle of cold water from the fridge and let her sit for a second. Sometimes we all needed a break.

"Could you just kick me out?" she asked. "I can't do anything."

"No. You need practice, and that's what we're here for."

"But everyone else is so good at this! Even Lee is."

I sighed. "Do you want to give it another shot?"

"Fine."

We returned back to her punching bag.

I showed her every stance in the book and helped her do them herself. Once she'd gotten the hang of how to stand, I helped her throw punches at the bag. She was a bit jumpy when the bag would move, but that was normal with Amity. They weren't used to aggression.

"You have to hit it," I explained. "Make it move."

"Okay," she nodded. "Okay. Yeah, I've got this."

She hit it with such force that it moved for the first time, and I congratulated her but had to go help everyone else. She thanked me immediately.

Once lunch came around, we all sat down at the typical table with the typical people.

Tris stole a fry from my plate. "Luella isn't doing too good, is she?"

"No," I said. "She and Lee are the weakest of all of them. It'll be more work for them to stay in the ranks."

Zeke shrugged. "They'll get the hang of it, right?"

"Maybe. They have to be willing to try."

"Tris was able to do it," Christina said. "But then again, she only got three hours of sleep a night. Unless she just wasn't with us—"

Tris threw a random carrot at her.

Will laughed. "She's defensive. Definitely was the reason."

"Is not!" Tris huffed. "I was training because I was losing every fight."

"She's blushing!" Zeke wheezed. "And Four is grinning!"

"I was with her," I said. "Helping her train."

"For what? A bed-a-thon?"

Christina's snark comment earned her a bad hair day.

I poured my drink on her head, getting a shriek. The rest of the table collapsed into a fit of laughter, including me. She poured hers on me in return, and then began to pelt me with beans. I'd never had a more entertaining argument with her.

"Four!" she shrieked, getting up from her seat. "I will kill you."

"Not if I kill you first," I teased, getting up from mine as well.

I walked backwards slowly before turning and racing down the hallways, her hot on my trail. She was yelling at me for ruining her hair and getting her makeup wet.

We finally gave up when we got to the training room, both of us falling down on the boxing mat thing. She shoved me playfully, clawing at my face.

I squealed and that sent us into another fit of laughter.

"Guys?" Zeke asked.

"He ruined my hair!"