The pair never talked after that. They had no reason too; Eric was still a cruel and mean leader, while Tris was adjusting to Dauntless life on her one month break after initiation and her life after Four broke her heart. Yeah, they passed each other in the hallways, Tris saw Eric at Dauntless holidays with the other leaders and they occasionally glanced at each other in the pit - but they never talked. Well, until the new Dauntless members got assigned the apprenticeships.

Each initiate got assigned an occupation according to their rankings, so the people in first and last place got the best and worse jobs. These jobs were just for a month and were picked by the Max; an apprenticeship with someone in that career to make sure the initiates get the right job.

Tris didn't like this system. She was ranked first which meant the job she was going to get was a leader. She was going to have to be an apprentice to one of the leaders, like Max, a leader she didn't know, or Eric. Could she refuse to be a leader? She thought about that all night long. What would she do if she had to spend a month with Eric? She would have hated that before the Situation- as she and Christina were calling it - because Eric was a mean jackass who had hung Christina over the chasm, but now it was just awkward. Eric had seen Tris when she was vulnerable, and looking back she didn't know why she even told him about Four.

Next thing Tris knew, it was the morning, and she walked out of her new tiny apartment, down several hallways and through the damp and dark tunnels into the pit. It wasn't packed to the brim like on a Friday night, but quite a few people were there in front of the ledge in the pit wall that was used as a stage. She recognized all of the initiates, and some of their family. Tris walked over to where Christina, Will and Uriah we standing in a circle. They all looked fairly happy; she didn't miss the announcement did she?

"Whoa, what happened to you?" asked Uriah, smiling cheery as ever, but with concern in his eyes.

"Hello to you too." She frowned.

"Aww, hon, it's gonna be okay, hopefully you'll get a good leader to follow." Christina smiled and placed her arm through Tris's, trying to comfort her.

"You have to apprentice a leader? What if you get Eric?" Uriah says in between fits of hysterical laughing, while Christina glared at him. He didn't know about the Situation. No one except Christina did.

"Hey!" Christina bit, "You might get a worse job, so shut up."

The microphone squealed before Tris could say anything to Uriah, and she suddenly looked up to the stage that Eric was now on. She blamed her nervousness on how they were getting their jobs, not because Eric was staring at her.

"Welcome!" Eric's voice boomed from the speakers. "And congratulations to all the new members who made it here! Without further ado, the apprenticeships!"

Behind him was a big projection on the wall of the pit with all of the initiates and their occupations.

Tris: leader, Eric

Uriah: Initiate Trainer, Four

Lynn: Weapon Maker, Harper

Marlene: City's Security Force, Jett

Peter: City's Security Force, Zeke

Will: Fence Guard, Callie

Christina: Tattoo Artist, Tori

"Shit."

…

Eric hated this ceremony more than the last. The other one just gave them their ranks, this one meant he had to school around a stupid and clueless initiate like a trainer with a dog. Last year was his first time doing it because he had been an initiate the year before, and that one time was enough. He had had a boy named Sebs, and yeah, he was smart, but he didn't care or show up.

Eric had no idea who was apprenticing with who. He was involved in all of the important decisions, but Max liked to take on these little tasks. It was either that or Jeannine forced him. They had deemed Eric too young to be a leader - even though age didn't matter and he had been second in his initiate year - the other leaders still teased him. So Eric had no idea who Max was going to make him suffer with.

Tris: leader, Eric

Eric blinked. Then he winced and inwardly groaned. Why did he have to get the stiff? The pathetic, stupid, little stiff who told him practically all of her secrets three months ago and who he had caught staring at him more than once. It felt like she wasn't afraid of him, which he didn't like. He wanted to have control, to predict people and Tris was always so unpredictable. He also didn't like it because if she wasn't afraid of him, she wouldn't respect him.

He asked himself why he cared and he told himself that he wanted everyone to respect him.

Tris was going to ruin his life with her questions and big mouth for the next month, he knew that much.

He rolled his neck around. "Congratulations to everyone for their positions. All of the people who you will apprentice are here today, find them and they will tell you where to report to tomorrow. You have had a month break so I expect you to do your absolute best with this."

…

"Listen, Honey, I got to go. I'll see you later, okay? I'm so sorry you got Eric, Tris." Christina was sorry for Tris, but excited about being Tori's apprentice and being able to do her dream job as a tattoo artist. Tris resisted an eye roll; it was obvious that Chris wasn't really that sorry. "Bye Tris! Sorry."

Tris stood at the same spot she was with her friends a few seconds ago. Uriah had happily gone to find Four and Will had gone to find out who Callie was. She waited for Eric because he had had people come up and ask questions, and she thought that that must have taken a lot of bravery to go up to Eric with his cold eyes and glares.

While she awkwardly stood there, she felt sorry for herself; even though she knew it was selfish to do so she couldn't help it; she had to spend a whole month with Eric. How would she do it with all of his snarky words and mean smirks? With him degrading her for all of her flaws, as if she didn't know she already had them? She could have almost screamed at her frustration.

The thing that had worried and scared her most about this apprenticeship was the Situation. She worried about how much Eric would tease and taunt her about Four and about her stupidity about trusting and loving him.

Four, thankfully, had left her alone after it, but she had caught him staring at her a couple of times. A couple days after the Situation, she did go to the dining hall only to see Four and Eric all broken and bruised. When Eric saw Four he grinned triumphantly, so she guessed he had been practicing his fighting to finally beat Four.

Tris turned and looked around at the new Dauntless members and the people they were going to have to spend the next month with. Where was the sadistic man who was going torture her for the next month?

She turned to look at the stage and was instead met with cold, relentless eyes. She took a deep breath; she didn't think that she would be this unsure what to do when she finally came face to face with Eric.

He smirked at her, as if he could sense her discomfort. "You ready, stiff?"

It was then that she had realized that during the Situation, he had called her Tris.