A/N: This will be a bit more intense. It's got a lot of fighting and you might see a new side of Abby.
The next morning, everyone watches me as I change. The day before, I changed in the bathroom and fought Mia. No one saw me change. Now, I'm changing in the open. Mia keeps her head down. I beat her. The girl who barely survived her first fight beat a girl who's had more than enough practice.
After the next three days, stage one will be over with. Eric watches me carefully. It's as if he's calculating my movements. Sadly, he probably is. I pull on some shorts and a loose t-shirt. Each movement is tight and stiff but not as painful as it was about a week ago.
I turn and face them as I finish changing. I come nose to nose with Eric. "May I help you?"
He lightly touches my side. "Did I-" he swallows. "Did I do that?" He's voice comes out small and nervous.
I touch his hand. Looking down at my feet I mumble. "Yes. You did. It's healing well but it hurts," my voice comes out just as small. "Can I please finish getting ready?"
He nods and moves out of the way. I feel heat behind my eyes and coldness on my side. How can someone so cold, so hard, so… him be so warm and kind, at times. A tear slips out from my eyes lids. Soon they're streaming down my face. I walk as fast as I can into the hallway. When I go around the corner I run into Max. The force hurts my side and I almost fall over. Strong hand grips my elbows. Just like Day One, I think silently.
"Whoa. Take it easy." Max's voice is soothing, but I'm too upset to take it his sweet voice. His eyes are full of concern as they search mine. "Hey, you okay?" he asks.
I wipe my eyes. "Yeah," my voice cracks. I clear my throat. "I mean, yeah. I'm fine. Just my side has been hurting." His hand stays above the spot the needle went into. Why does every guy have a fascination of doing that? I push his hand away. "Stop! Don't touch me!" Instantly, he obeys and his hand drops. "I- I got to go!"
I push past Max and run. My bare feet take me to the training room. I slow down when I see Amar writing on the board. Amar turns, he sets down the chalk he was writing with and turns his head around. I am so aggravated that I can't even speak. I curl my hands into fists. I pace back and forth, on the mat. My bare feet slap with every step. The cool mat seeps through my skin. I shiver.
"Punching bag is that way. I'm not even going to ask. But, uh, be sure to save some steam for later." Amar points at the wall. He picks up the chalk and begins writing on the chalkboard again.
I nod and march to the punching bag. I have never been so embarrassed or angry. 'Did I do that?' I can't believe he had the nerve to ask that and then touch my side. Who does he think he is? Eric has some nerve. First he dates me, okay, not a big deal. Then he almost breaks my arm when we fight and throws a lamp at me. Then he kisses me and tries to get back together with me. I don't kiss and make up. Then, to top all of that, he almost kills me and tries to apologize.
"Ugh!" I scream. I throw a hard punch at the bag.
I start hitting and kicking, all I see is Eric's face. First his face is kind. Next it's hard. Then he shows his kind side. Then, it's hard again. I twist around and kick the bag. As soon as my skin hits the bag, I feel a sharp pain in my side. The chain snaps, sending the bag flying. I stare at the bag, a slow waterfall of sand pours out. I turn when I hear gasps. I watch as everyone crowds the door. Each one has a shocked face.
Eric is in front. I glare at him. When he meets my glare, he looks away, at the other end of the room. His face goes pale. I follow his gaze and smile as I see my name next to his name. I get to fight him again. Good. Amar realizes what we are staring at and picks up the eraser.
"Drop. It." I shoot at him, ice practically forming on each word. Amar stares at me. Everyone gasps in surprise, again.
"What?" Amar asks. He raises his eyebrows in surprise. "What was that?"
"I said drop it. I'm fighting him." I shoot another glare at Eric "Come on, Eric. I got a score to settle." My voice comes out cold as steel. I walk to the ring. Eric follows slowly.
"Abby," Amar gently takes my arm. "Maybe you should wait. You're too steamed up." He lowers his voice. "And, I don't want you to get hurt, again." His dark brown eyes stare into mine, his eyes pleading me to not do what I want to. I can't help it, melt a little. My face softens.
"Just this one fight," I plead. "Then I'll stop."
He looks at Eric. His face is still pale. Amar looks back at me and nods. He releases my arm. I walk to the ring. Eric is already there, in his stance. I get into my stance.
My stance isn't as tight as Eric's. No matter how wound up I am, I can't fight tight.
Eric charges at me. I make a fist and hold it out. Eric hits me with such force, I stumble back. I hear a few ribs crack. His, not mine. He falls onto his back. He tries to move out of the way. I jump, flipping in midair, I land by his face. He looks up at me, his eyes pleading. He stands up and tries to charge again. Quickly, I jab his shoulders, his chest, and his thigh. Instantly, he drops like a rock. A few quick jabs to certain parts of the body and they can either become jelly or just stop working. I hit a few pressure points that I could think of, at that moment.
I lean down to where he fell. Pushing the same pressure points, he slowly stands back up. He turns to me. He drops and turns, kicking a leg out and sweep my legs out from underneath me. I fall.
I land on my bad side and a sharp pain stabs me. He stands up and brings his leg up to kick me. I scramble up before me can kick me. I jump up, again, and twist in the air. I kick him in the head. My foot slaps his face. The force spins him around and he falls. I hit the one place that anyone would fall. I land, softly.
I look at the other initiates. Everyone stares at me. Me, a girl who barely survived her first fight, just beat the guy who almost killed her. Eric moans and rolls on his side. He looked bad from the day before, when Four fought him. Eric took a bad beating. Now, he looks worse.
Amar takes my elbow and leads me away from Eric.
"Alright, next fight!" Amar yells. The next two people scramble forward. Amar pushes past the group of initiates. He stops at Four. Locking eyes with him, a silent message is sent between them. Four nods. With that, Amar pulls me into the hallway.
I don't fight against him. Instead, I push past him, shake off his arm, take his hand and drag him as fast as my hurting side and my legs will take me. His warm hands seep through my cold skin. The warmth spreads until my whole arm is warm.
Once we're out of earshot of the group, Amar releases my arm. "What was that?!" he practically yells at me.
I don't shrink into myself, like I would if it was someone else yelling at me. Since it's Amar, I yell back, "I wanted to fight back. And I did!"
"So? You almost-" His face is hard. He locks eyes with me. I can tell that he saw a side of me that he didn't even know existed.
"I almost what, Amar?" I yell at him, tears falling from my eyes. My voice grows eerily quiet, "Almost killed him? Like he did to me?"
That makes Amar stop. His face softens. He brings me into a hug. At first, I tense up. I thought there would be more yelling. In a way, this is kind of worse. I almost killed Eric, like he did to me. Amar should be yelling at me, not comforting me. On the other hand, I don't want him to let go. So I relax and wrap my arms around his strong body.
His lips kiss my hair. "Yeah, like that. He could have. But your response was scary." He take my shoulders and gently pushes me away. "Eric is a monster. He's crazy but he is terrified of a lot of things." his voice becomes quite, like mine was. "One of them is losing you. He's terrified of that. I guess we actually have something in common."
I raise my eyebrows. That can't be right. Eric doesn't care about anything. He doesn't care about me or his family. He is a man made of stone. Yet, he can be a little puppy dog, when he wants to be.
I wrap my arms around Amar again and burry my face in his chest. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let myself gotten carried away like that."
His hand runs over my tangled hair. "It's okay. Just don't let yourself become a monster like Eric."
Tears fill my eyes. "Okay." my voice cracks.
His warm hands lift my head. After looking behind him, he bends down. Our lips meet in a passionate kiss. His arms lay on my lower back. We kiss until we're breathless. When we break away, we stare at each other. I remember that we have to get back to the class.
"We have to get back." I mumble. He kisses the hollow of my neck. A giggle escapes my mouth. "Really, Amar, we got to go."
He mumbles, "Later. They can wait."
I roll my eyes, "No. You can wait." He laughs against my neck. I can feel him smiling. I push him away. He gives me the puppy dog eyes. "Usual spot? Maybe after dinner?" I whisper.
His smile carries into his eyes. He nods. That's all I need.
Then, without a word, he becomes serious and stomps off. I try not to smile as I follow him. We have to be serious. We can't let people know about us. As much as I would like to take his hand and walk through Dauntless, I can't. I'm sure the Dare group knows. But if any of the initiates found out, I would become a target. I can't let that happen.
I try to look flustered as he does. We stomp into the training room. Four just finished calling time for the fight. When we walk in, everyone looks at us. Amar and Four discuss something I can't hear. I'm sure Four knows about us. He was a part of the Dare group.
I do, however, hear a girl murmur to her friend, "I was sure she was going to become factionless for that. I guess not."
Before I have time to stop myself, I turn on my heel and slam her into the wall about two feet away from us. Her body hits the wall, making a small sound. I'm in her face, my grip tightening around her arm and her neck.
"I guess you're stuck with me, huh?" I voice a deadly whisper. "But, here's a question for you. Ready? Why should I become factionless if Eric did something ten times worst to me? He nearly killed me! He put me in the infirmary for most of stage one. But, hey, he's still here so I am too." I release her arm. Still, I keep my grip on her neck. Her eyes plead with me.
Amar's words play in my head. How he doesn't want me to become a monster. I release her. I don't want to become a horrible monster. I can't, so I won't. I watch as the girl lightly touches her neck. As if making sure that it was still there.
"By the way," I lean forward, my voice still a whisper. She flinches, automatically moves back. "If you want to date him, go ahead." I smirk at her. Her face is pale.
I turn and walk back to the group. Eric looks at me. He saw everything. Oh well. I guess he has an effect on me. An effect I want to get rid of.
A/N: So? Does Abby have a few screws loose or what?
