(A/N: Thank you so, so much to everyone who read, reviewed, favourited and followed! I'm so humbled. I'd like to clear up a few things too:
Tris is 14! I'm from the UK, so we start high school at 11. In America, I'm pretty sure it's 13. I'd like to make it 14 for this, because of things like body image, bullying, swearing and things like that. This is a T rated story, not M.
Four is 16 at the beginning! He is one of the oldest in his year, he turned 16 in early September in this story. Tris is one of the youngest in her year, her birthday being in mid-July. They are 2 years apart, like the book, not the movie.
I made a mistake on the timetable in Chapter 3! If you go back and read it, it misses a whole hour out like it doesn't exist. I'm sorry, that was a mistake on my part. I have changed it so there is now an extra period in each day, which on the Monday chapters 3, 4, 5 and 6 are set on, was the run. Pretend an extra training session with knifes and stuff was before that. Thanks!
I don't want the FourTris relationship to go from strangers to soulmates in a week. It just isn't realistic, especially since their relationship in the book was a slow build. It will happen, but they have to get to know each other first!
I DON'T OWN ANYTHING! I forget to write this on fanfictions, but I don't own Divergent. If I did, Tris would live and there would be another 100 books all about their life together.
I really intend this story to be long, like minimum 90,000 words. I want it to continue and be original, not be like all the many other Divergent fanfics set in high schools. I want it to actually feature things that would happen in a real life high schools, and for Tris to go through things real life high schoolers would, but still be unique with things Dauntless would do. Thank you again for your support, I hope you enjoy this chapter!)
I wake up once again to the sharp beeping of my alarm, but this time, I hit it off before it even has a chance to ring a second time. It's much earlier this morning. 5:30AM to be exact. After yesterday's fight with Peter, I realised I'm not going to get stronger by being beaten up and throwing knifes, so I made a mental note to check the school's website to see when it opens in the morning.
I did check the website, and found the gates open to students and staff at 6:00AM, giving me 2 and a half hours to build muscle on the punching bags. The only rooms open between 6 and 8 in the morning are the Dauntless training room, the Erudite study room, Abnegation volunteer centre and the amity fields, which are owned by the school but 3 miles down the road.
I'm silent when I change and brush my teeth, praying none of my family wakes up and ushers me back to bed. After choosing Dauntless, I know already that everything concerning my parents is going to be stricter. I pack my bag for the day, making note that I once again have 2 training sessions.
Tuesday
8:30 – 9:00 – Homeroom – Classroom 4
9:00 – 10:00 – Training – Main Gym
10:00 – 11:00 – English – Classroom 1
11:00 – 11:30 – Morning Break
11:30 -12:30 – Lunch – Dauntless Cafeteria
12:30 – 1:30 – Home Economics – Food Tec Room
1:30 – 2:30 – Training – Main Gym
2:30 – 3:30 – Paintball – Dauntless Forest
The last thing on my schedule interests me. I've heard things about Dauntless Paintball from Caleb and my friends, and from what I hear, it sounds pretty fun. The Dauntless forest is huge and running around it getting covered in paint sounds to me like paradise. I'm about to leave the house when I see my water bottle sitting on the kitchen counter.
I pace over to it, the zips on my backpack on my back making small clicking noises I curse at. I fill up the bottle with freezing water from the tap, and think about adding ice cubes for good measure, but then I remember – we don't have any. We never have. I slide my water bottle into the handy pocket of the black canvas bag but freeze when I turn to leave the house again.
My Dad is standing there, his arms crossed over his chest in a disapproving manner. The more he stares at me, the angrier his face becomes.
"What are you doing Beatrice? It's not even 6 in the morning yet! You don't have to be awake for 2 hours, where are you going?" he whisper yells.
"I'm going to school?" I whisper back, saying it like it's the most obvious thing in the world.
"At 5:30 in the morning? I don't think so." He says bluntly, pointing up the stairs, silently commanding me to go back up them.
"Dad, Dauntless training centre opens at 6. I have to train! If I had chosen Abnegation, would you allow me to go out at this time to go to the volunteer centre? Because that opens at 6 in the morning!" I whisper yell back. I know saying things about Abnegation, and what would happen if I had chosen it really get to him.
"Yes, but that's different. This is leaving the house at a stupid time to punch a bag! It's pointless and selfish!" he whispers back. I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose.
"I have to go Dad. Can we stop fighting? I hate fighting with you and Mom. I chose Dauntless because I belong there, and I want to be myself! I don't belong in Abnegation, okay? Goodbye Dad. See you later." I say, before walking past him briskly and leaving the house without looking back.
The moment I'm outside the door, I'm thankful for my leather jacket, and the rain coat I wear on top of it as an extra layer. The air is damp and as cold as my water. I zip my jacket up some more and start jogging to school, popping my white earphones in my ears and my phone into my pocket.
I arrive at school 3 songs later, slightly out of breath but energised and warmed up a bit. I continue jogging until I get to the Dauntless Training Centre, and sigh in relief when it's open. I step inside of the black brick and metal building and find it completely vacant. The janitor or gamekeeper must open this in the morning.
I focus on the punching bags, setting my backpack down next to me and throwing a punch at the swinging red object. It bounces right back, so I hit it again. My punches are weak, and I'm flailing my arms. To be honest, they're more like slaps than punches, but whatever works. I hear a loud clang echo through the room a few minutes later and snap my head immediately in the direction of the noise to find the source. The metal door slammed shut, and a figure wearing a dark black t-shirt and jeans is walking over to where I am.
I stay silent, frustrated that I'm not alone anymore. I turn back to the punching bag, hitting it as strong as I can. As the person walks in beside me, I can feel their eyes on the back of my head. Clearly, they thought they'd be alone too. I don't look at them, I just keep punching as best I can, trying not to embarrass myself.
A deep voice sounds as I look up in both confusion and frustration.
"You're weak. You have no muscle." Four says matter-of-factly, making me hit the bag harder.
"Good to know." I say sarcastically, not turning to look at him.
"You're not gonna win, not like that. Keep tension here." He says, simultaneously placing one of his hands on my stomach. I finally turn to look up at him as he takes his hand away, and I notice how dark his eyes are. It isn't a bad dark, I've just never seen a person with such dark blue eyes before. I use the top of my arm next to my shoulder to nudge him away slightly, and follow his advice, keeping my abdomen tense and curling my hands into fists.
Four moves onto the punching bag next to mine, hitting is with such force is nearly falls off the chains. I don't see why he bothers to come here in the mornings, he doesn't have to. He has so much muscle in his arms he could knock me out in one punch. Hell, he could probably knock Peter out with one punch.
We keep at it, mostly ignoring each other, for almost 2 hours. The entire time I can feel his gaze on me, but I'm not sure what for. He's either making note of how I punch to make fun of me later or trying to intimidate me. Either way, I ignore him. After my watch beeps telling me it's 8:00AM, I start up a conversation.
"So how old are you? I don't know much about you, and we have a lot of classes together." I start hopefully, turning my head to make eye contact with him for a moment. He gives me an incredulous look.
"What?" he says with a small sarcastic chuckle.
"I asked how old yo-" I start, still trying to not get knocked over by the punching bag almost knocking me over after every hit.
"I know, but why do you want to talk to me?" he says, the same disbelieving look still plastered on his face.
"Because we've been in the same room for the past 2 hours barely speaking to each other, and I have to sit next to you a lot. Plus, you bought me lunch yesterday, I really owe you for that. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to be BFFs for life with you, I just think I should say something." I explain, still not wanting to look at him in case he thinks I'm just another girl throwing herself at him.
"You don't owe me for lunch. It didn't cost much anyways. And I'm 16." He says bluntly, and I notice he's stopped punching his bag now.
"Really? Shouldn't you be in with the 3rd years then?" I ask, crinkling my forehead in confusion.
"No, my birthday is in early September, so I recently turned 16." He says, and I sigh in understanding, sweat now gathering on my forehead and hands. It's a good thing the training room is cold, but I'm still hot and sweaty from the exercise.
"Ah. Jeez, this gets tiring fast." I say, wiping the sweat at my hairline away with the back of my hand. He chuckles lightly at this, but before I get the chance to say something, my phone starts ringing. He raises an eyebrow at my ringtone, Shawn Mendes' new song, "In My Blood." I love it so much, like I can't stop listening to it. I laugh nervously at his expression to the song but answer the call from Christina.
"Hey Christina, I'll meet you in homeroom okay? I'm leaving the training room now, I've been here a while on the punching bags." I say, trying to wrap up the conversation quick so I'm not late to homeroom.
"Sure, who did you go with?" she asks, and I want to bang my head against the wall. Of course, she'd assume I'd bring somebody with me to train.
"I didn't go with anybody Christina, jeez! I told you, I'll never get a boyfriend, boys just aren't interested in me. See you later." I say with a light, exasperated laugh.
"That's girl code for my handsome boyfriend is here flirting with me! See you later Tris!" she says with a squeal. I hang up immediately, fully aware that Four heard the entire embarrassing conversation. He wears this stupid smirk on his lips, with only one side going up, as well as one of his eyebrows.
"How do you do that?" I ask, moving my eyes and eyebrows around to try and copy him.
"Do what? Raise one eyebrow?" he asks, laughing at my attempt. I pout in defeat, but nod anyways. "I don't really know, I've just always been able to do it. So, you're into Shawn Mendes?" he asks with a laugh as I pick my backpack up and swing it over one shoulder.
"That is an understatement. I'm freaking obsessed! His music is great, his voice is perfect…yeah, I'm obsessed." I say with a laugh, putting a dreamy tone on my voice, almost drooling.
"You're drooling." He says bluntly, causing me to laugh.
"Sorry, I'm ridiculous. See you later Four." I say with a smile as I walk out the training room. I swore I saw him wince when I called him Four, but what reason does he have to do that? Probably a trick of the light.
-Homeroom goes by as slowly as yesterday, but this time, I have the added joy of Christina giving me side looks the entire time. Will must know too, because he's trying and failing to hold back his laughter. I roll my eyes and try to ignore them, but that just makes both of them break out into laughter. I bite my tongue to hold mine back, looking away to not be dragged into this mess with them.
"Would you care to tell the class what you find so amusing?" he snaps with a frustrated tone toward all of us. I open my mouth and point to myself as if to say "I didn't do anything!" but that just annoys him further.
"Yes, you did Miss Prior, I've been watching you for the past 5 minutes." He says. Part of me wants to go "Nothing creepy about that," but I hold it back and turn to Christina and Will, who seem to be nowhere near as embarrassed as I am.
"Well?" the teacher snaps after a few moments of awkward silence.
"It's nothing sir, just an inside joke." Will says calmly, but he snorts again at the end of it. Christina giggles too, and I'm reminded of this exact same thing happening on the group chat the night of Choosing Day.
"Can you keep your inside jokes outside the classroom please? You're disrupting the class." He snaps, before continuing with his lecture about something or other. I try to concentrate, but with Christina and Will still red faces and holding back laughter, and Zeke and Uriah across the room doing the same, I only catch bits and pieces of what he's saying.
When the bell goes, he once again reminds us to walk in silence. Of course, that doesn't happen. Hundreds of Dauntless are cramming into that one hallway, and with doors and a few staircases leading onto it, it just fills even more. I stick with my friends to training, but I'm so short I can easily get lost in the crowd of laughing, shouting Dauntless.
We arrive at training and see a scoreboard on the wall. Everybody pairs off and fights each other, the winner fights another winner, and if you lose, you're out from the fights, until the final pair face each other in the ring. Fortunately, I have to fight Marlene. She'll probably just knock me onto the floor and not hurt me too much.
We're the first up, so they state the rules, which shock me. We have to fight until either somebody concedes, or until somebody has been pinned to the floor for a solid 10 seconds. We have to actually fight too, not just let our opponent win because we're friends. Just great.
I step into the ring with Marlene, leaving my shoes at the side. I gulp, and she gives me a look as if to say "I'm sorry, I don't want to hurt you." I nod in response, and step forward, punching her shoulder. I don't think it hurts her all that much, because she tackles me with her body in seconds. I try to get out her grasp be punching her side, but she doesn't budge, and I just wriggle around for the next 10 seconds until the match is over. Just fantastic.
Christina goes against Molly and ends up with a bloody nose. She concedes after that punch to the face. I can tell you for a fact that Eric dislikes Christina for that. Probably thinks she's weak, which isn't fair considering Molly is twice her size anyways. Literally, Molly is so tall and muscular it's scary.
The fights continue, until Peter ends up in the ring against Four for the final. It gets brutal fast, Peter getting a few solid punches in, but otherwise being completely beaten up by Four. Even after Peter is on the floor, Four continues to kick him a few extra times. Of course, he wins. He gets 50 points on his card for his victory and joins the cheering group of our friends. He tries to act modest, but I can tell he's happy that he won and beat Peter to a bloody pulp. I'm very happy he beat Peter to a bloody pulp.
Marlene apologises for winning against me again, to which I tell her it's nothing. Four and I make I contact, to which I give him a full smile, glad he put Peter in his place. He gives me a crooked smile back. I turn back to Christina and Will, who are still laughing about the "inside joke". To be honest, I don't think it's the same inside joke I think it is.
"Are we talking about the same inside joke? The one with you two on the group chat?" I say with a chuckle. They look between each other.
"You think that is the inside joke!? Oh my God Tris!" Will howls with laughter. I chuckle again, but tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. This better not be embarrassing.
"Tris, we're talking about the worlds best ship ever! My new OTP…" she says dramatically. She actually gets my interest, I have my own OTP and ships I absolutely adore! Will starts some stupid drum roll I can't help but laugh at.
"FOURTRIS!" Christina yells. I immediately freeze and stop laughing. FourTris?! She means me and Four? Where did she get that idea?!
"Christina! What the hell?!" I say in a hushed voice, to stop the strange looks I'm getting.
"What? You two are so cute together!" she exclaims, squealing and having what looks like a fangirl attack.
"We don't even like each other as friends…you guys are so embarrassing. Come on, we have classes to get to." I say, hurrying the end of this conversation. People can't think I like him…right?