I promised I'd update quickly. Hopefully I can keep it up. Please let me know if you find any mistakes! Enjoy!

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Skylar nearly skipped on her way to the cafeteria.

She had woken up in a great mood, ready for the first day of the rest of her life.

Dauntless. She was in Dauntless now! All she had to do was get through initiation, and she had no doubts that she would.

Nothing could get her down. Not even the grumpy complaints from her hungover friends.

Desmond mumbled as Skylar held the door open for them and bowed dramatically. She followed Alec to grab her and the others coffee, waiving to Jami and Perseus who were sitting with a crowd of friends.

Once they sat down, Skylar began asking the Dauntless-born as many questions about training as she could think of. She had invited Meckham, a Candor-transfer, to sit with them as well, who was listening to everything they said.

Conrad was the only one answering her though, and even then, they were one or two-worded answers.

Grumpy bastards.

When they were done with breakfast, or for those who were hungover, lack thereof, they made their way out of the large room, only to be stopped by Lucas and Eric. And by the look of them, they were in the opposite mood of her.

This was getting to be a habit that Skylar wasn't sure she was okay with. Especially with the way they were looking at her.

"How are you feeling today baby sister?" Lucas drawled, coffee in hand.

"They won't shut up," Desmond mumbled and covered his ears.

Alec grunted in agreement.

Skylar shot him a glare and put her arm around Meckham, forcing him to walk down the hallway, toward the training room with her.

"Don't get mad at me because you assholes can't handle your shit," she called back.

Lucas called after her, "hey come back here. I want to talk to you before you go."

Well shit. Skylar knew that this was likely going to be a lecture about how not to talk to her leaders.

She sighed and turned around to see her older brother nod to her friends in dismissal. She didn't have much of choice, so she stayed in place, folding her arms as Alec sent her a weak smile.

Once her friends were down the hall, she started speaking first, before she could be lectured.

"Listen, I know what I said last night was inappropriate," she told her brother, not daring to look at Eric's expression. "I was only joking around. I didn't mean it."

Lucas stared at her for a moment then raised an eyebrow. "You know I can tell when you're lying right?"

This time Skylar couldn't help but glance to Eric, though the smirk he'd sent her last night was gone. Very gone. And replaced with a glare that could probably make the devil cower in fear.

"That isn't why I'm talking to you though," Lucas sighed. "Dinner Sunday."

Skylar stopped her brother from continuing.

"I swear if you say that you are canceling it I will disown you," she growled.

Lucas stared at her, his face expressionless.

It was bad enough that her mother hadn't shown up to her choosing ceremony, but now her brothers couldn't even be inconvenienced to have dinner with her once a week? I mean, she'd heard that Dauntless wasn't so keen on family-bonds, but this was utter bullshit.

"I'm serious," she continued. "Don't piss me off and ruin my good mood."

One night. They couldn't give her one night?

But before he could answer, Lucas was interrupted by a man who insisted he needed to talk to him immediately.

Lucas put his finger up for her to wait. She nearly growled at him in frustration.

Eric spoke up as his friend was pulled aside by the man.

"You're just like him," he told her flatly, the menacing glare still held his eyes. "Jumping to the worst conclusion immediately."

Skylar stared at him with a clenched jaw. Who was he to tell her how she was? Fuck him.

"He was just going to tell you that you're all having dinner at my place," Eric stood straighter and raised an eyebrow. "And that you're cooking."

Well, wasn't that something.

Skylar looked away from her leader, then back to him to realize that he had taken a few steps toward her, so they were only feet from one another. Her breath nearly stopped at seeing how brilliantly gray is eyes really were, with tinges of blue around the center.

"Your place?" Skylar asked him.

Eric stared at her in a manner much-like her brother had only moments before, but his gaze seemed to have lightened.

"Mmmkay," she said and looked away, toward where Lucas was in a heavy conversation with the man that had pulled him away. He looked angry.

She turned her head back to Eric, who had taken another step toward her and had tilted his head.

"What am I cooking?" Skylar asked him, trying her best not to convey how uncomfortable his stare was making her.

Eric shrugged, "whatever you want."

Skylar nodded, and he took another step toward her. She stood her ground, but it was bothering her that she couldn't read his body expressions. Nervousness racked her body.

"But," Eric said, "I want dessert too."

Skylar nodded again. He had said it simply, as if he were requesting a cup for his drink.

If she weren't careful, she'd become a bobblehead doll.

"What kind of dessert?" Her voice was quieter than before, and not intentionally.

Eric's lip twitched, sending her blood racing.

But he didn't answer, only stared right into her eyes. Thankfully, he blinked, so he wasn't a robot. But lord, did he have long lashes.

What was she to do, look away again? Did she handle this situation like she was facing a rabid dog?

Skylar took a deep breath, arms still folded, "cake?"

Eric nodded, "sure. But nothing compares the cake in the cafeteria."

Skylar raised an eyebrow and folded her arms around her tighter. More and more people had begun to exit the cafeteria, so she assumed it was almost time for her to be at training. She made a mental note to get a watch later from one of the shops she'd seen near the tattoo shop.

"I'll bet I could make a better one," she told him confidently and shrugged.

Eric's expression didn't change. How the hell did he do that?

"What are we betting?" The expression the same, the voice, very different. Curious. Dare she say, husky? Was he flirting with her?

This was the third encounter she'd had with the leader, and she had no idea what to think.

"What do you want to bet?" She asked him quietly, realizing he'd taken another step toward her, so he was out of the way of the people on their way past them.

He didn't answer her question. Instead, his gaze darkened as he narrowed his eyes. He was staring at her mouth.

"Did you get your tongue pierced?" he asked her quietly.

Skylar tightened her lips together.

She could see that Lucas was still in an argument with the man out of the corner of her eye, because she was not about to look away from Eric. Who knows what he'd do?

"Hmm," Eric hummed and looked her body up and down. Or had she just imagined that?

Skylar gulped when his gaze reached back to hers, his pupils had widened.

That smirk was back. The same one the leader had given her last night when she'd winked at him.

"Knowing you'll lose, what do I want to bet you?" he said flirtatiously. His voice was quiet, and he'd said it as if he was asking himself that question.

Or, as if he was asking himself what he'd want to do to her.

Holy. Fuck.

"Skylar," Lucas was finally done with his heated conversation.

Which meant her and Eric were done with theirs.

She snapped her head in her brother's direction, hoping that he didn't notice her flushed cheeks.

"Eric told me. Sunday dinner at his place," she quickly said.

Lucas's frown deepened as he glanced between the now expressionless leader and his baby sister.

"He also gave me a lecture on how stupid I was to be drinking last night," she told him, hoping he'd buy her bullshit lie. "So, there is no need for you to tell me the same thing," she rolled her eyes. "Although I'm clearly fine. I need to go, don't want to be late on my first day."

With that, she turned on her heel and walked quickly down the hall, in the direction of where she hoped she was supposed to go.

Dinner on Sunday was definitely going to be interesting.

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"Initiate!" Four's voice bellowed from across the room.

Skylar glanced over to see that it was Meckham who was being yelled at. It was clear that the Candor-transfer was struggling. They'd spent the morning running, and he'd been in last. And since then they'd been learning fighting techniques, it had become evident that Meckham wasn't picking up what Four was putting down.

Skylar knew had known that Meckham was sort of wimpy, and had always tried to be his friend because he had been friends with Shade as a kid, but he was proof that she was wrong.

He wasn't just wimpy, he was pathetic.

Skylar decided that she would pair up with him after lunch, instead of with the Erudite transfer she'd paired up with that morning. Unfortunately, they were training separately from the Dauntless born until they began fights the next week. So, she'd chosen the person that had seemed the strongest competitor among the transfers; a kid named Parker who had nearly as much muscle mass as Desmond.

Parker had been more than happy to oblige. And considering he got a few glares from the other, it was clear that she wasn't the only one who thought Parker was competition. It was also quite clear that a majority of the transfers weren't a fan of hers.

Skylar didn't quite care though. Every person in this room was her competition.

Hell, even her Dauntless-born friends she'd seemed to have made the day before was her competition.

Skylar watched as Meckham pathetically punched the bag in front of him, the mousy Amity transfer, whose name she'd already forgotten, that was paired with him, seemed to be struggling as well. Poor guy.

A snapping hand suddenly appeared in front of her. She watched the fingers as they clicked together quickly, "snap, snap, snap."

Did Parker really just fucking snap at her to get her attention? She wasn't a fucking child!

Skylar shot him a glare, "if you ever snap at me again," she growled, "I'll start punching you, instead of this fucking bag."

Parker rolled his eyes but put his hands up in defeat. The eyes around them had snapped to their direction, and to Skylar's dismay, so had Fours. She hadn't realized their trainer had made his way around the mat and was standing only feet from them.

"Is there a problem, initiates?" Four asked. If people thought Eric was frightening, surely, they thought this man was. My god was that glare mind-numbing.

"No sir," both her and Parker said at the same time.

"You sure about that?" Four asked as he stepped between the two of them, "I'd be more than happy to see you two hash it out on the mat if you feel you're ready for it. "

When neither of them answered Four ordered them to focus and moved on. Parker gave her an apologetic look, but she only frowned at him. She didn't give a shit if he was sorry so long as he didn't snap his hands at her like a child again.

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By the time lunchtime rolled around, Skylar's good mood had disappeared entirely.

She had thought she was in good shape; had spent the past few weeks running twice a day and doing extra sit ups, push-ups, just about anything she could from her small, nearly empty house back in Candor to ensure that she was in well enough shape not to struggle. But this training was far more intense than anything she'd ever been through.

She had bruises in places she never thought possible.

Unfortunately, her friend's mood differed greatly from the ones they'd had that morning too. She was greeted with smiles and cheers when she plopped herself on the bench at their table and put her head in her hands.

"Noooo. What is this?" Alec said and poked her. "You were so happy this morning!"

Desmond slid his coffee cup in front of her, "seriously, what happened to the "I'm Dauntless-yippee-Skylar" we've grown to love in the past 24 hours?"

Skylar lifted her head and looked from the coffee cup to the boy across from her.

"It's just regular, plain-old coffee," Desmond promised.

Alec chuckled, "what do you think we are, alcoholics? We only celebrate when the occasion calls for it." He put his elbows on the table and his head in his hands, smiling charmingly at her, he added a "gorgeous" to the end of his statement.

Skylar glared weakly at him.

This time it was Isaac who reached across from where he was sitting between Desmond and Alec who poked her.

"Cut that out," she snapped.

"Someone's hangry," Conrad spoke up beside her, "you should go get food." He pointed to across the room with his fork.

She rolled her eyes but got up to grab a tray and food.

Once she filled it, she turned to see that Meckham was sitting alone. The other initiates were at other tables across the cafeteria.

Skylar sighed to herself. She couldn't just let him sit alone.

"Hey Meckham," Skylar walked up to where he was sitting, his eyes widened.

She nodded to where her friends were waiting, "there's room at our table," she said simply.

When she began to walk away she noticed he wasn't following, so she turned around and stared at him for a moment.

"Are you coming?" Skylar asked him.

Meckham shrugged, "your friends.."

"What about them?" Skylar questioned.

"They ignored me on our way to the training room after we left you with your brother their morning," he explained quietly.

"So?" she questioned again.

"So, they don't like me," he responded simply, as if he were used to it.

Skylar thought for a moment, was he used to it? She didn't remember if he'd had friends in Candor. Never really paid that much attention.

"I like you," Skylar told him.

"Why?" he asked her.

"I don't know?" She told him and raised her eyebrows. "Who cares? Come sit with me."

Meckham seemed to think about it for a moment, but grabbed his tray and followed.

Skylar slid into her spot next to Conrad and scooted him over, so there was room for Meckham. Alec sent his friends an annoyed look.

"Meck is sitting with us," Skylar explained simply and took a bite of her sandwich. Once she'd swallowed, she continued.

"I was planning to ask him to be my partner for the rest of the afternoon too," she looked at Meckham. "Parker is pissing me off."

Meckham smiled weakly and took a bite of his apple, "I saw him snapping at you earlier." He motioned to her with the apple. "I'm surprised you didn't knock him out cold."

"Four intervened before I could," she shrugged.

Meckham took another bite, the others started eating as again as well.

Good, Skylar thought, get over yourselves. Unfriendly baboons.

"I'm still not sure why you want me, as your partner," Meckham said quietly.

There were nods of agreement around them.

Skylar almost growled at them. Assholes.

"Because it's clear that some of the transfers have been training to be at Dauntless for a while," Skylar explained. "you haven't."

Meckham frowned at his plate.

"Which is a good thing in my opinion," Skylar said simply.

Isaac spoke up, clearly not buying it, "how so?"

Skylar ate a french-fry off Alec's plate, who shot her a charming smile.

"Because it means you've not only got room to grow but that you don't have any bad habits. With Four's training, if you work hard enough you'll be better than all of them in no time. Maybe even me."

Meckham smiled a bit, but he was still looking at his tray.

"Plus," Skylar told him, "I need your help."

Meckham looked up at her. "My help?" he asked surprisingly.

"Uh, yeah," Skylar explained. "Parker is obviously our biggest competition among the transfers. You and I need to ruffle his feathers a bit, Candor-style. And I supposed we'll have to teach these brutes," she motioned the the Duauntless-borns sitting around them, "how that's done."

Meckham's smile grew. "What did you have in mind?"

The Dauntless-born at the table was now grinning alongside both of them.

She knew a prank would work.

Skylar shot him a mischievous look, "you'll just have to wait and see."

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