Sorry for the wait, I've been very ill over this past week but thanks to those who followed or favorited during that time. I felt like shit but that made me really happy so thanks!
Geek exchanges a look with Captain. "Yeah. Isn't it the term for a wolf warrior in a pack? The second command or something? And it fits with you wolf pack that runs across your bike."
"I –"
Rainbow grins, nodding her head in agreement and the rest of the squad join her. "I like Beta."
Three days have passed. Three sleepless days and Issy is back to her wanderings during the night. This time its not Reese or Jeremy that plagues her dreams but her squad instead. Every time it's the same. Every time she's frozen still and screaming to get her body to move and help. Every time her squad died in front of her from masked Factionless and she can't do anything. Every time the last one that's alive turns to her and says its her fault before they die too. So Issy doesn't go to sleep, instead she heads to her flat to shower and change before heading back out again. She's scared to fall asleep, knowing that she'll see her squad again and it'll be all her fault.
As Issy walks into the cafeteria, she sees their table mostly full. Hector, Alec, Lilah and Bree sit on one side and Hugo, Josh, Tris, Marlene and Noah sit on the other. Issy slumps tiredly onto Hector's right and he merely looks at her knowingly as she folds her arms on the table and lays her head against them. Hec also has dark bags under his eyes and he piles a small amount of food on to a plate and pushes it in her direction. Everyone else simply stared at them weirdly. When Issy doesn't lift her head back up, Hec furrows his eyebrows and jabs her side until she lifts her head to look at him.
"What?" She grumbles at him.
He points to the plate. "Child eat."
"Child? Bitch, I'm older than you." In response he rolls his eyes and flicks her cheek until she begins to push him away. "Fine! Fine!" Issy pulls the plate towards her and starts eating slowly. "Happy?" Silently, he nods his head with a small smile. "Jackass."
The rest of the table stared at them and Issy stared at them back. The silence felt fragile, like no one knew what to say or do and it annoyed more than she'd like to admit. Issy quickly ate her food until her plate was empty and stood back up, patting Hec on the shoulder before waving to the rest of them and leaving the room.
Three days and Issy is already bored out of her mind. She had asked everyone she could think of and had nothing to do. Issy wanders aimlessly around the Pit as she thinks and thinks and thinks of what to do, what can keep her mind away from other things. She comes to a stop as something pops up and she looks to her left. The shop door is open and the sign is lit up brightly. Colour n' Cut. Issy shrugs her shoulders, having nothing else to do and walks into the store.
An hour later and the longest strands of her hair are half way down her back and the rest ascends up to her shoulders in a V shape. Layers had been put in and her side fringe had also been restyled. It feathered down, partly covering a bit of her right eye. In the mirror Issy could see the golden glow through the darkening grey strands of her hair. Issy smiled, thanking the hairdresser again as she pays before leaving the shop with a wave. Out in the Pit, her eyes fall on her eldest brother slouching slightly. When Dec spots Issy he immediately straightens his back, walking towards her quickly. Issy rolls her eyes as he grabs her upper arms and scans her hair before he relaxes again and lets her go.
"I'm guessing Eric told you I was thinking of dying my hair?"
He nods his head once. "You're not allowed to dye it," Her pokes her in the arm before running his fingers through her hair. "But I like this."
"Even if I did we could just tell Alec to grow his out." Issy winks as Declan laughs.
"Right. I gotta go do some work." He walks back a few steps, winking back. "Try not to get into any trouble."
"No promises." She shouts back and hears his laugh as he walks away.
xXx
After Issy had got her hair cut, she had returned to her flat for a quick shower and changed into a pair of leggings and a baggy hoodie over a sports bra and tank top. Still utterly bored out of her mind she locks her door and goes to the only person she can think off. Jogging through the corridor and up a few flights of stairs and Issy finally stands in front of a door. She knocks and there's a moment before she hears "Come in." shouted from inside and she opens the door.
Inside the office sits Max with Lilah in one of the chairs in front of his desk and Issy steps in, leaning back on the door frame with a frown.
Max looks up in surprise. "Issy?" Lilah turns then, a knowing smirk on her face as she lounges back. "Are you okay?"
"I'm bored, do you have anything I can do?" Lilah laughs to herself Max looks confused. "Like, anything?"
"I, uh, you're bored?"
"Yes! There's nothing to do. I've asked Dec if I can do anything for him but he said that there's nothing I could do unless I understood the process and that means taking the training. That then rules out asking either Jason, Luke or Tris." Issy looks at them with wide eyes as frustration seeps into her voice. "I've asked Hugo and if I could help with anything and apparently I need official pass from a Leader to even enter the block, that in turn rules out asking Alec and Will. I've even asked this bitch here and she simply patted my head and shooed me off!" Lilah snickers loudly. "Bree's a no go. I don't have enough patience for that shit nor do I have the patience to ask Noah or Flare." She paces slightly, running a hand through her hair. "I mean, fuck, I've even asked Four if there was anything I could do in the control room! Unsurprisingly though, he turned me away. Cody, Blake and Zeke simply shook their heads when I turned to them after asking Four." Issy stops pacing, meeting two amused looks with her frantic one. "I've asked everyone I can think of and they've either laughed, patted me on the head or said that I need clearance or training to help."
"Why don't you train for a bit?" Max offers, smirking when Issy's jaw clenches.
"Train? Are you fucking kidding? I go for a two hour run every morning unless I'm on morning shift. Since I've been on leave I spend at least three hours in the training room in the afternoon. There's only so much training I can do Max."
"Issy calm down. A few more days and then you're back on your rota."
"You must not be familiar with my rota because as soon as this leave is finished we're on our two weeks off. Another fucking two weeks!"
"Issy," Max starts calmly as he stands up. "Come join us for lunch and then I'll see if there's anything you can do."
"Okay, yeah, fine." Issy nods her head holding her hands up in defeat. She steps out into the hallway as Lilah and Max gather their stuff and Max leads them to the cafeteria.
Max guides them to one of the main tables that is used for the Leaders and their families and friends. Issy recognises Jason, Josh and Harrison among those who are already at the table. Max guides her into the seat next to Jason at the end of the table and opposite Josh. Lilah slides in next to her mum and Livvie further down the table as Max sits down on the other side of Josh. Josh and Jason send her a friendly smile as they pile a small amount of food onto her plate without a word. Issy rolls her eyes in annoyance but she smiles slightly, thankful for her family. Issy sits in silence, listening to the conversation around her when she feels a light tap on her shoulder. Issy shifts in her seat to see Rainbow standing at the end of the table. She shifts unsurely as others on the table stare at her before returning to their conversations. Rainbow crouches down and smiles at Issy.
"Hey Beta."
Issy grins mischievously. "Hey Bow-bow!"
Rainbow immediately frowns at her as Jason snickers. "Bow-bow? How do you even get that?"
Issy uses her hands to motion to the two parts of the name. "Rain – bow. Bow-bow. It makes sense." Jason shakes his head with a laugh as Rainbow pokes Issy until her attention is on Rainbow.
"I know its been like three or four days but how're holding up?"
She tenses slightly, nodding her head slowly. "I'm, uh, I'm dealing with it. As long as I have shit to distract me from it then I'm good. You?"
"Yeah, just trouble sleeping." Issy nods her head in agreement as she picks at her plate. Rainbow picks at Issy's plate too, staring at her intently. "So I have a question. . ."
"Yeah?"
"Why do you wear like, really big hoodies?"
Issy grinned widely at her, pushing her plate away slightly and laughs, her eyes glowing with glee. "Because I'm such a child and when I make my arms lime a T-rex's," Issy pauses to pull her arms out of the sleeves until her arms are pressed against her chest and her hands are in the shoulders of her hoodie. "I can do dis!" She says in a light and childish tone, grinning as she turns to Jason and smacks him in the face with her sleeve. Jason simply blinks owlishly at her as chuckles come from the others at the table.
Rainbow laughs as she stands up, ruffling Issy's hair. "You're so fucking adorable! How have you not got a boyfriend yet?"
Issy sees Eric tense up, almost glaring at the table in the corner of her eye at the same time Issy tenses up. Issy wasn't even aware her was on the table until then. Josh, Jason and Max look between them and share a look as the others on the table completely ignore the exchange and Issy struggles to come up with a response. "Uhhhhh –"
"Its alright," Rainbow chuckles, ruffling her hair again. "I was only joking. Anyway, I gotta go meet Billy. See ya Beta!"
There's a pause before Josh speaks up. "She's certainly different. Very colourful."
"Yeah that's Rainbow."
There's a low chime and everyone stops what they're doing. Literally everyone. The screens light up and the letters OR come up on the screen before they fade away and are replaced with a ranking board. Its then that Issy recognises it as the leaderboard from the first obstacle course her class did during initiation.
1 st - Issy VINCE - 09:45:37
2 nd - Bree ROWELL - 09:46:02
3 rd - Alec VINCE - 10:17:52
Other Dauntless members had taken on the course but none of them could mange to bet Alec's time for third place. There's another chime when Alec's name begins to move, replacing Issy as first and pushing her down to second.
1 st - Alec VINCE - 08:39:45
2 nd - Issy VINCE - 09:45:37
3 rd - Bree ROWELL – 09:46:02
"That," Issy starts quietly and she feels a lot of eyes on her. "TWAT!" She snarls, rolling her shoulders and her eyes glowing fiercely as they settle on her twin. Alec prowls towards her, the smuggest pleased grin on his face and he simply smirks as he passes her. "Challenge fucking accepted." She hisses as the screens go off.
Josh regards her for a moment. "You're not gonna let this go, are you?"
"Nope." Issy stands up and Jason grins, standing up too.
"Oh my god, I'm watching this!"
Josh just rolls his eyes, tapping the table for a moment before standing up too.
Jason and Josh follow her out of the cafeteria and towards the OR room. The door creaks loudly as it opens and Issy turns the lights on. It looks the same from when she first entered it. Josh moves towards the medium sized screen low on the wall a sets up the timer as Jason turns on the rest of the screens and on by one different parts of the course can been seen. Issy pulls off her hoodie, folding it on one of the crates that are normally used as seats and breathes deeply as she stretches her limbs out before moving to the starting line.
"Ready!" Josh's voice calls out and Issy closes her eyes, concentrating on the course ahead and nothing else. "Set!" Her eyes reopen, focused and golden. She rocks back lightly on her finger tips and toes as she hears someone breathe in deeply. "Go!"
Issy launches herself forward. Not once did she allow herself to slow down throughout the whole course. At one point she did trip a bit but she got herself straight back up again and carried on. Once she crossed the line, Issy allowed herself to collapse. She leaned her forehead against the cool rock wall and the butt of a water bottle appeared in the corner of her eye. She looked up to Josh and smiled as she took the bottle from him.
"How'd I do?" Issy says after taking a few sips.
Josh holds his hands out and pulls her up. "Why don't you see for yourself." He pulls her back to the front of the course to the screen and she stops suddenly when she sees her time.
Issy VINCE – 07:09:22
Issy laughs to herself as Josh and Jason start to clap. "Alec's gonna be furious." She jogs over to her hoodie and ties it around her waist. "C'mon! I want to see his face!" Issy pulls them both out of the room. They jog lightly through the corridors and Issy laughs as Jason starts jogging backwards. Josh pulls him around to face the front as he trips, nearly face planting the wall. They jog into the cafeteria and Issy smiles, rubbing her hands together as she spots Alec stood by Dec and Hugo, their older brothers sat where Issy and Josh was. Jason and Josh follow after her before sitting next to her older brothers. From where she stands she watches as the old leaderboard appears.
"No," Alec hisses as Issy's slot is moved above Alec's, pushing him down into second. "No!" His head snaps in her direction as she walks over to him slowly with a smirk growing on her lips. His eyes are gold and blazing and a dark snarl covers his face.
"What was you're time?" Issy says as she's within arms reach of him. "Seven minutes and thirty nine something?" Issy smirks at him, patting his cheek. "I think you might need to work on your timings." She whispered tauntingly. They both stand there, eyes golden and bodies tense. Issy smirks at him as she stares him down. Alec scowls back as his eyes flickers before he looks away. Her smirk widens as she falls back a step, winking at her older brothers as she walks out of the room without another word, aware all eyes are either on her or Alec.