I open my eyes groggily, just fluttering them open a bit before the almost blinding light of the overhead gym lights sting my eyes and send a sharp, shooting pain through my head. I try to sit up, but my head feels so heavy I can barely manage it. Somebody gives me a hand, helping me sit up and handing me my new Dauntless metal water bottle, filled with icy water. My eyes slowly adjust to the lights, and I can see I'm still in the gym. I mustn't have been knocked out for much more than 20 minutes, because I can see Uriah and Zeke fighting in the ring, and the rest of our training class buzzing around the gym.
I stand up, and see Will, Christina and Al still standing next to me, looks of concern evident on their faces. Al looks guilty, but he shouldn't. I was standing up for him, he didn't deserve to be laughed at like that.
"I'm so sorry Tris, I should've just-"he starts, but I hold up my hand with a smile and stop him.
"It's totally fine, I've got a headache, but apart from that, I'm okay. Peter shouldn't be like that with anybody. Don't thank me." I say, and he eventually he smiles back weakly. Christina hands me a mirror and quickly starts rubbing some kind of cream all over my cheek. I angle the mirror, so I can see what she's doing, to which I stare in horror. My entire right cheek is black and blue, and Christina is dabbing concealer all over it.
Luckily, she went into my backpack and used my concealer, otherwise I would've ended up with a black and blue, tanned cheek. After a few minutes of Christina fussing over my cheek, I tell her it's fine and look around for Peter, Molly and Drew, but I catch eyes with Four for a moment. It isn't long enough for me to read his expression, but from what I saw he looks angry, genuinely foaming.
I can't believe him. I just got knocked unconscious, and he's still angry at me for one good comeback in math. Max comes over to check if I'm okay, and I tell him I am. I must look like a complete idiot, a weakling who doesn't belong in Dauntless at all. The exact opposite of what I want.
A whistle is blown, signalling the end of training and the start of morning break. I shrug my backpack back onto my shoulders, and walk off with Christina, Will and Al. I try to avoid eye contact with everybody else but seeing as the entire school spends morning break together, it gets difficult.
"Hey, we have 2 hours to have food, go on the zipline, maybe check out the guys…" Christina says to me, making me cringe. I've never had a boyfriend, simply because boys have never been interested in me. I've had a lot of crushes, some I've even been rejected for, but never a boyfriend. I really would like one, but my parents say it's selfish.
"I'm so up for that, just the checking out the boys…boys have never been interested in me…" I say, whispering the last bit. Will and Al have walked off, probably to get away from our awkward girly conversation.
"Pfft. Come on, you owned that fight with Four. Somebody will have their eye on you!" Christina says hopefully, but I really doubt what she's saying. I'm very self-conscious of my body, so far to say I have a fear of intimacy and sex. Not that it's on my mind at all right now, then again, I am only 14, but I could easily pass for a 10-year-old. I'm short, with no curves and my chest is the smallest bra size you can get.
I sigh and follow her, she's half-running, half-walking towards this massive metal tower, made up of long metal pipes, sort of like scaffolding. It's about 3 storeys high, and people dressed in black are climbing up it, pushing themselves higher. Most are only about 15 or so metres high, but a crowd of what looks like 300 Dauntless, some first years, some the seniors in 4th year, are screaming and cheering for them to go higher.
I gulp when Christina sprints forward, latching her feet and hands onto metal bars and pulling herself higher. I'm not scared of heights, but it is so easy for anybody on the mess of bars to fall and possibly die. I can see a few people who must recognise me from Training, or my argument with Four or my knife throwing and take a deep breath.
I chose Dauntless, I chose it, so I could take risks and have fun, and be with people like me. Not to stand around in fear. I push my way through a few people, and put my foot on a steady bar, both hands on the slanted one above it. Luckily, it's a pretty warm day for September, so the metal isn't slippery.
I look down, and I can see I'm literally almost at the ground. I haven't even gone 5 feet up yet. I use what little strength I have in my upper body and pull myself up, my feet scrambling blindly for the next bar. They find it, but it's hard to get a grip on it because it's almost vertical. I edge along it slowly, before bending my knees up and putting my feet on the next bar up, bending my back so I can pull my self up.
I keep at it for a while, longer than I'm aware of, until I hear what sounds like the voices of Will and Al shouting me on. I turn my head and cling on with my hands, craning my neck to see them. My eyes catch onto them, as well as a substantial portion of the crowd cheering me on.
Towards the back of the crowd, I can see Zeke and Uriah shouting the loudest, screaming me on practically. Four is standing there, looking at me with disbelief, like it's impossible somebody my size, stature and age could climb so high.
I suddenly realise how high I've managed to climb.
I've surpassed Christina, and there are only 2 Dauntless boys higher than me, but not by much. I keep climbing, loving the feeling of the cool wind blowing my hair and hitting my face.
The bars are getting further apart now, and one false move could mean I fall almost 2 storeys. I'm so high now I can see the abandoned amusement park in the distance, and almost all the school buildings.
The metal bars are all slanted now, and my fingers are getting sweaty. I can feel them slipping off of the bars, threatening to kill me. I wipe them on my jeans quickly, and push on, determined to get as high as I can.
I look down again, and I can't help but smile widely. I'm not going any higher, I'll probably fall to my death, but when I catch sight of Abnegation, standing on an uneven gravel square for their break, in their tight, itchy uniforms, I'm so proud and pleased I chose Dauntless. I get to have experiences like this, get to live life to the full and take as many risks as I want to.
After a few moments of admiring the view, I start to pull my self down slowly. It's much more difficult, as I'm almost blindly placing my feet on the bars. The further down I get, the safer I feel, and the sturdier the bars get. When I get to the bottom, I can't help but laugh as Christina, Will and Al come running over, laughing with me.
"That was amazing! Where did you learn to climb like that?" Christina squeals gesturing to the few Dauntless boys looking over in my direction with smiles. I blush a bit, embarrassed.
"I don't know, I've never climbed anything more than a small tree before…" I say, catching my breath while talking. We start to walk to the Dauntless Cafeteria, it's almost lunch by this point, but I stop as Zeke, Uriah and Four start walking with us, Zeke and Uriah full of praise for my climb.
"I am seriously impressed! I'm Zeke, the better twin- "Zeke starts, smiling widely at me. I look closer at the two of them, with their hooked noses, wide smiles, prefect teeth and brown eyes. They do look alike, but Zeke is clearly the less sensible of the two.
"I'm Uriah, the less arrogant twin. Nice to meet you Tris, your climbing is brilliant. Do you mind if we have lunch with you today? Our girlfriends are on a field trip today- "Uriah says, but I feel my gaze drifting to Four.
He's walking behind the pair, looking straight at the back of my head, his hands in his pockets. I can just see the top of a tattoo on his back reaching up his neck now, the black ink marked on his tanned skin. He looks up at me for a moment, and our eyes catch, but I look away before he can scowl at me. I go back to the conversation with the Pedrad brothers.
"Actually Tris, my girlfriend Shauna is on a trip with her best friend Marlene. Uriah doesn't have the balls to ask her out is all. So, can we have lunch with you? Four included." Zeke says with a snicker, earning a glare from Uriah.
I look at Christina, Will and Al to get their approval, and see them all either shrugging or nodding.
"Sure. Sorry Four, about this morning. I really shouldn't have snapped at you like that. I'm Tris, it's nice to meet you." I say, stopping for a second so I'm walking next to Four, instead of next to him. He looks up at me, and I can see the ends of his lips curve up a bit. His half-smile doesn't last very long, but it looked genuine when it lasted, so I take it as a victory.
He shakes the hand I'm holding out. His grip is firm, but it feels gentle. He lets it go after a few seconds, but he doesn't drop behind me again.
At this point, Christina is basically squealing in our faces, but I shoot her a look and she turns back to her conversation with the boys. Four speaks up, in his deep voice.
"It's okay. It's nice to meet you too Tris." He says quietly. We've reached the lengthy line of Dauntless waiting eagerly for food, but from what I can see, we're just in a long, cleverly designed corridor that leads to the main cafeteria building I was in yesterday. There are 5 corridors just like it, all leading into the room, one for each faction.
The corridor is designed so that there's this half wall in the middle of the corridor, with people waiting for food on the right-hand side of it, and those with food coming the opposite way to us, heading back to the Dauntless cafeteria. I stand behind Zeke and in front of Four, fiddling with my purse to get my points card out.
The line goes down pretty quickly, so I manage to get a tub of salad and a cup of a strawberry smoothie, hoping that starting a healthier diet will help me build up the muscle. I'm about to pay, but when I swipe my card over the contactless key pad, the woman at the register looks up at me sympathetically.
"I'm sorry, you'll have to drop one of those items. You have a point limit set on your card." She says, gesturing to my salad and smoothie. I'm so embarrassed, the people in the line behind me are eye rolling and sighing because I'm holding them up.
"I-I didn't know I had a limit, I never set one." I say, taking a deep breath, but my nevers are getting the better of me and my hands are shaking with anxiety.
"Your parents must have set one. Abnegation parents normally do for their children. Do you want the smoothie or the salad?" she asks with a strained smile. She wants me to hurry up too. I'm about to toss the salad, just have the smoothie instead, when somebody else swipes their card over the reader, effectively paying for both.
"She can have both, on me. Come on Tris." The deep voice sounds, paying for his lunch as well as mine, and motioning for me to follow him. I do, very grateful he bought me my lunch, but I'm just confused.
Confused as to why Four just decided to buy me lunch.