"You've got to be kidding me?" Parker asked.
Skylar rolled her eyes and shrugged. "Nope, I want Meck to be my partner for the rest of the afternoon."
Parker snorted, "feeling sorry for your little boyfriend?"
"Not my boyfriend," Skylar said directly. "And no, I'm just not sure I like you very much."
Parker glared at her, "excuse me?"
"Did I stutter?" Skylar drawled. "Because I don't believe that I did. And actually, I am sure. I. Don't. Like. You."
"You Candors have no manners," Parker told her scathingly. "Plus. I haven't done anything to make you dislike me."
"Hmm," Skylar said. "You're right; you really haven't. Oh well!"
She sauntered toward the punching bag where Meck was standing with the mousy girl and motioned for her to leave.
"But," the girl began.
"I'm stealing your partner," Skylar interrupted.
The girl stared at her.
"You'll be better off with Parker," she told the girl. "Go on little mouse."
"My name is Zoe." the girl told her quietly.
"Well since I don't really give a shit, I prefer Little Mouse," Skylar said as she turned her head to where Four was gathering their attention. "Don't you Meck?"
Meckham rolled his eyes, "go on Zoe. She's right; it's better for us to be with people who can help us. "
Zoe looked toward the hulking Erudite transfer, who was now seething from Skylar's comments. It was evident he was not going to helping anyone. But Skylar didn't quite care. The girl was clearly going to be staying near the bottom. She was small and weak, at least Meckham had a chance.
The little mouse wandered in the direction of her new partner as Four began showing them kicks and other fighting moves they'd be practicing that afternoon.
Skylar whispered under her breath toward her partner, "we should practice these for a bit then go back to what we worked on this morning. Your form was way off."
"You were really watching that closely?" Meckham whispered back.
Skylar nodded.
Although she was out of shape, there was no doubt that she was definitely ahead of everyone else in this room.
"We also need to work on your stamina," Skylar whispered again.
She saw a blush rise to his cheeks out of the corner of her eye.
"Running, perv. Although.." she smirked as the red on his face deepened. "You can't be in the back tomorrow-"
"Initiates!" Four's voice bellowed throughout the room. "It seems like you don't think I've got anything important to say." The trainer's eyes scanned the small group of transfers. Skylar hadn't been the only one talking.
"How about this. You can all run laps until you can't breathe," Four shrugged. "That way you'll be able to shut the fuck up long enough for me to actually do my job!"
Moans broke out across the room.
"Guess you get to work on your stamina now," Skylar murmured, earning an annoyed look from her friend.
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The past four days had gone by in a blur. Skylar ached everywhere, but since she had been training extra with Meckham and her friends, so she wasn't complaining. They had started to spar, and it seemed that her friend was coming along well enough. He wasn't at the bottom, that was for sure.
He had been helped her get back at Parker too, in multiple ways.
Every day they switched his clothing out for different ones, putting his dirty laundry folded in with the clean, and the clean with his dirty. He'd been swearing up a storm every day after his shower. The night before, they'd snuck in and stolen his towel. Unfortunately, he'd been perfectly content running back into the room to take someone elses.
A few hours before that, they'd convinced the hairdresser to "accidentally" dye his hair green when he was getting it cut. Unfortunately, he'd said it was a good look for him and decided to keep it permanently.
Parker was irritating, and she knew for sure she'd find the perfect way to get under his skin eventually."
She hadn't seen Perseus since the first day and Lucas since the morning he'd pulled her aside before training. Though she had seen Jami a few times, he'd been swamped. She was looking forward to dinner with them the next night, for oddly enough she was nervous as well.
"Sky!" Meckham called her name across the cafeteria. He was sitting next to an annoyed Alec, who looked like he was having a pretty heated conversation with Isaac.
"Baby sister!" a voice called from the other side of the room. Skylar turned to see that it was Jami, who was sitting at a table with a group of supervisors, including Lucas and their leader, Eric.
She shot her fellow initiates a smile and motioned to her brother's table, Meckham nodded and turned back to his table-mates. Alec didn't look happy that she wasn't there. He'd get over it though, and they'd get over Meckham eventually. She knew that Candors could be hard to get used to, but he was a nice guy, and he was working hard in training. He needed to be around people like them.
Once she reached Jami's table, she slid between him and a tall, dark haired man who looked her body up and down. Once she sat down, she felt him scoot closer to her and rub his leg against hers.
"Hello Baby Sky Sky," Jami said through his bagel. "Guess who I was talking to earlier?"
Skylar took a sip of her water and shrugged.
"Uriah." He took another bite of his bagel. "And guess what he said about you?"
"Who the hell is Uriah?" she questioned before taking a bite of her yogurt.
"One of your trainers, dummy," he explained. "Dark-toned skin, panther tattoo on his arm?"
Skylar thought about it for a moment, but it wasn't ringing any bells.
Jami snorted. "Well, I was going to tell you he was interested, and what he said about your "tight little ass," but if you haven't noticed him, I'll tell him not to waste his time."
"Change the subject," Lucas glared down the table at them.
Skylar was about to answer until she felt a hand on her upper thigh, coming from her left side. She pushed it off and continued to eat, but he still kept his thigh plastered to hers. She pushed it away and turned back to her brother.
"Don't tell him that yet," she smiled. "Let me get a good look at him first."
Jami laughed, "Alrightyyyy, anyone other trainers catch your eye? Or anyone else at Dauntless?"
Actually no, no one had. Though, she hadn't been looking. Not only was she focused on training, but she was also still waiting for the guards to rotate from Candor. She had a few friends there, one of whom she was quite interested in getting to know better.
Skylar shook her head and started finished her yogurt, but Jami shot her a look like he didn't believe her.
"I'm saving myself for marriage, remember?"
Jami elbowed her and cracked a broad smile.
"Or," he said and squinted his eyes at her, "you're waiting to see if that little Candor-transfer lives up to your expectations, huh? You have been helping him in training, right?"
Wait, did he mean Meckham? Skylar laughed and shoved the hand that had appeared on her thigh away again.
"God no," she said and shook her head. "Not no, that I'm helping him because I am. And trust me, he'll be in the top five. I mean no that I'm interested in him."
Jami hummed and began talking to a few others at her table, so she focused on her muffin next. Blueberry, her favorite.
After she had taken the first bite, however, she felt a hand on her thigh again, this time much higher. This guy really wasn't catching on, was he?
She clenched her jaw and turned to glare at the man, who grinned at her.
"Who is this?" She asked, jaw still clenched. The entire table turned in their direction.
"I'm Brady," the man answered, clearly thinking she was asking because she was interested. He was in for a surprise.
"Well, Brady," she put her elbow on the table and her head in her hand, tilting her head as she spoke. "I'm not sure what you've heard about me. But I'm not really the kind of girl who likes to be touched by people I don't know. So, if you don't stop putting your hand on my thigh, I'm going to shove this," she picked up her spoon with her other hand and pointed to him with it, "so far up your ass, that you aren't going to be able to walk for a month."
Brady's eyes widened, and he attempted to scoot over a bit, but the man between him and Eric wasn't budging. Probably because Eric wasn't letting him. Skylar tilted her head around to see that their leader was glaring alongside Lucas in Brady's direction.
"You know," Brady said and stood from the table. "I forgot I was supposed to meet someone. So, I'll just uh, go." He grabbed his tray.
"Good idea," Lucas shouted. "And don't plan on sitting here tomorrow Brady."
Brady gulped and walked away quickly.
"Fucking dick," Jami said from beside her.
"Seriously, pretty sick of dick right now," she said and took a bite of her muffin. She turned her body, so she was no longer looking at her oldest brother and his friends, and only had a view of Jami and whoever was sitting across from him. "Where does that Bethany chick work?"
Jami grinned and leaned forward, setting his half-eaten bagel on his tray.
"Ohh! She's bartending at one of the bars just off the Pit tonight! The Dark Room!" he told her enthusiastically. "You can be my wingman," he grinned.
"Hah!" Skylar took a bite of his bagel.
"HEY!" He pushed her down the bench. "Don't eat my food you little bitch."
"You," she took another bite and plopped it on his plate, "are some kind of stupid of you think I'm going to be your wingman! Now when I KNOW, I can get that hot piece to play for the other team for a while. Why the hell would I help you?"
"Because" Jami began.
"She isn't allowed in the bars," Lucas growled from down the table.
"Oh," Jami said and poked his bottom lip out. "Can't we make an exception? I mean, she's a Smith for damn-sake. I won't let her drink!"
Skylar didn't have to turn around to know that Lucas was glaring at the two of them.
"We're trying to eat," he said, his voice seething. "If you are going to be disgusting go somewhere else and talk. And please, for fuck's sake Sky, put on a shirt! You're sending people the wrong message. And you wonder why Brady was throwing himself at you."
"Excuse me?" Skylar snapped her head toward Lucas. "Just because I'm wearing a tank-top doesn't mean people have the right to put their hands on me if that's what you're insinuating?"
Lucas glared at her, "No, I'm just saying it'd be nice if your brothers weren't forced to look at your tits all the time. And that guys wouldn't want to touch you so much if you weren't showing off all the time."
"Ohhkay," Jami said and stood up, grabbing both of their trays as he did. "Let's just go sit over there for a bit," he motioned to an empty table across the cafeteria.
"Fine," she snarled at Lucas, sending him a smirk and staying in her seat. "I'll stop wearing tank tops."
Lucas smiled at her, thinking he'd won. But he hadn't, not by a long shot.
Skylar stood up abruptly and ripped the black tank top off her body and threw it on the table in front of her older brother. It had almost landed in his yogurt.
"Oh, fuck me," Jami said exasperatingly.
"It's always so hot in here anyway!" she said, ignoring the heads that snapped in their direction. Even Eric's snapped toward her uncovered stomach. "I'm perfectly content just wearing a sports bra around. Plenty of others do."
She stood and grabbed her tray from Jami, cursing under her breath, then marched over to the trash. She pulled the muffin and her water bottle off and dumped the rest of it.
"Dude, I told you to let me deal with that!" she heard Jami say to her brother. "You know you can't tell her what to do, you, asshole. You have to make it seem like it's her idea!"
She turned and shot Jami a glare, who stuck his tongue out at her and grabbed her tank top from the table. As he walked toward her, she walked out of the cafeteria, ignoring the glances she received along the way. Except for one, from an attractive girl with purple hair, whose face was covered in piercings. She shot her a wink and earned a grin right back. Damn right.
"Don't even think about it Vi," she heard Jami say to the girl as she exited the cafeteria. "My sister doesn't need to deal with the crazy-ass bull shit that comes with screwing around with you."
Skylar stopped just outside the door and waited for her brother, who exited the cafeteria only seconds later. He looked surprised to find her waiting. She snatched the tank top from his hands and walked toward the shops, throwing it back on as she went.
"Come on Jami," Skylar said, motioning for her brother to follow. "You're helping me pick out some new shirts, and I'll need you there to confirm that it's going to Lucas's tab. If he wants me to wear more clothing, he's paying for it."
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