Ch 11

(A/N: Thank you for the review; tye dye tail ! Ok I know none of you probably care, but I'm super excited because I made the volleyball team at my school! I'm the only freshman who made it on the team so I am really happy. Now, enjoy the story!)

Just as the previous day, J woke up before the others and ran into Four in the hall way. Four stopped, "you might want to see this, I'm about to show everyone the rankings."

She shrugged, "I saw it yesterday."

"How?" Four asked.

J smirked and just continued towards the dining hall. Eric was there again, not completely asleep this time, but he looked like he was about to dose off at any minute. He didn't even see J as she walked past him to the food that lined one of the walls. She got two trays filled with food; she walked back to the table and placed one of them in front of Eric. He just looked at it to her like she was from a different planet.

"What?" she asked through a mouthful of bacon.

His brow furrowed and he shook his head, "it's just.., why did you bring me this?"

She shrugged, "just trying to be nice, I guess. You looked half asleep, so I figured some food would wake you up."

"Uhhh.., thanks."

"No problem."

They ate in silence until the other transfers started to come in. Christina sat on J's right and Zoe was across the table from J with Will and Al on either side of her.

"Where were you? Four showed us the rankings this morning," Christina asked.

"I left early, but he showed me as I passed him in the hallway," she lied about the last part.

Four was just sitting down on the other side of Eric, he raised an eyebrow and Eric stiffened slightly.

"Did you show her yesterday?" Four whispered to Eric.

"I had to get her out of the training room so I could lock up for the night," He whispered back.

"We never lock that door," Four stated.

Eric neither looked at Four nor said anything. Four almost laughed, "I get it, you didn't want her to sit in there all night dwelling on the fight, so you made her leave."

"I was hoping that she would go to the infirmary to get her head looked at, but no such luck," he said quietly so only Four could hear.

"She didn't come to dinner, so where did she go?" Four asked.

"She was hanging out with the awesome-est person in the compound!" said a loud voice between Four and Eric's heads.

J didn't notice because she was talking with Christina and Zoe. They turned and saw Zeke grinning stupidly at them. Four put his hand on Zeke's face and playfully pushed it away. Eric, who was still upset over last night for some unknown reason to even himself, let out an annoyed breath.

Four asked, "Who's that?"

"Me of course," Zeke replied with a duh voice.

Eric scoffed, "they weren't just hanging out, he was feeling the girl up."

Without hesitation Four smacked Zeke over the head, "what is wrong with you, stupid? An initiate, seriously?"

"Hey!" Zeke protested, "It wasn't like that, I wouldn't you know that. I-"

"Zeke," J spoke up.

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

Everyone except Zeke broke into laughter.

~Page Break~

After messing with Zeke and finishing breakfast, Four led the initiates to the large training room, "today you will be using fire arms," he said as he and Eric passed out hand guns, "They are loaded and the safety is off, so don't be stupid."

Right after Four handed her a gun she clicked on the safety and flipped it into the air as if to spite him. She caught it by the handle with a smug grin, Four rolled his eyes.

Another transfer yawned and asked, "Why do we need to learn to use guns? It was Peter.

Four looked like he was about to do something, but J beat him to it. She pounced on the boy and grabbed a fistful of his shirt pulling him close so their bodies were touching. She clicked off the safety and with an evil smile she hissed, "you are holding a loaded gun, idiot. So act like it or I'll save everyone the trouble and shoot you myself."

She clicked back the hammer; Peter dropped his gun and didn't even dare to breath. He wasn't sure how far she was willing to go.

"Initiate lower the gun and back away," Eric said carefully so the girl wouldn't blow the other initiate's brains out. His hand hovered over the gun that sat in the holster at his hip.

J sighed dramatically, but backed up and lowered the gun. Peter sprung away and the danger was gone. The two adults in the room, Eric and Four were grinning; neither of them liked the arrogant initiate. Then again, they couldn't have an initiate pointing a gun at whoever they wanted, "Initiate you just got dropped to second place for that stunt," Eric said hiding the disappointment in his voice.

J whipped around smacking Al, who had been standing by her, with her hair, "What!?" she exclaimed.

"You can't just point a loaded gun at whoever you please, even if they deserve it," he said with a pointed glare at Peter.

"Give me a chance to get my spot back, please!" she said quickly.

Eric looked at Four giving him the decision of what to do because if Eric just did what he wanted she would have her spot back and Peter would be factionless.

Four stood with his arms crossed for a minute, thinking, then he said, "ok, since you were so eager to use that gun, let's see how you are with it. If you hit the target with in the first three tries you can have your spot back and Peter will go back down to second."

"I'll do it, but can you at least show me the stance first?"

"Guess that's only fair," he responded.

He took the gun from her hands and stepped up to face the targets. He spread his feet shoulder width apart and squared his shoulders to the target. He held the gun with both hands. J stepped up next to him and mirrored his movements, holding an imaginary gun. She watched as the gun moved slightly and saw how he aimed. He fired three shots, then handed the gun back to her.

She took it and carefully aimed at the target. She took a deep breath and pulled the trigger. Not expecting the recoil, the gun shot up and almost smacked her in the face. Eric almost laughed; the bullet hit a foot outside the circular target.

Her expression hardened and she aimed again, muscles tense. She took the shot and the distance was half as much, but on the opposite side. The recoil wasn't as bad this time because she was expecting it.

One shot left to get her rank back, she could do it, she had to. She bit her bottom lip and shook out her arms. She raised the gun again taking her time to aim. Her finger was on the trigger and the instant before she fired, Peter spoke in a voice louder than needed, "don't miss."

She had been so tense the noise made her jump; the bullet hit the very edge of the target. J shouted in frustration and went up to the target, it was so close, but she couldn't tell if it hit or not. She looked at Four and he shook his head.

She stalked up to Peter grabbed his shirt with both fists and pushed him back until his back slammed into one of the metal support beams.

"You did that on purpose," she shouted in his face.

He just smirked and said, "I was just giving you some advice."

J's vision was red with rage; she aimed a punch at him, but was cut off by Eric yanking her off the initiate. He grabbed her from behind, one hand around her waist the other covering her mouth. J struggled, trying to get at Peter. Somehow she got out of his stone grip and attacked the nearest person, which unfortunately was Eric. She still thought she was fighting someone Peter's height and she punched him full force in the neck.

As a reflex, his fist came down on her left cheek bone. It was strong enough to knock her to the ground. Her vision cleared and looked up at Eric, who looked extremely angry, with a mask of no emotion.

She got up quickly, "I'm sorry, sir, I didn't mean to hit you."

He scoffed and looked at Peter and J, "both of you, by the end of the day Four and I will decide who did better and one of you will be put in first place the other in third. Now everyone get to work."

Everyone stood in front of the paper target, J finally hit the target, very close to the center. Most of everyone else missed horrifically. J was still startled by what had just happened, but she did her best to block out everything and only focus on the target and the gun.

Eric walked behind her just as she pulled the trigger again. J hit the dead center of the bullseye; Eric grunted in approval and then continued walking down the line. She almost smiled, almost.

They continued practicing until lunch. She sat in her normal spot across from Zoe, Christina on her right and Eric on her left. Zeke came over and sat between Eric and J. Does this guy even have a job? The muscles in J's hands were so sore from being worked hard she couldn't get them to stop shaking.

Zeke noticed and asked, "you alright, Dredd?"

"I'm fine," she said casually.

"But your hands are shaking."

"Oh, we were using guns today," she explained.

"Anything else fun happen? How did you do with your aim?"

"My aim was ok, but I'm worried. I attacked one of the other initiates and now I'm sort of in a competition with him to get my spot in first place back. Also I punched Eric," She mumbled the last sentence.

"What was that last part," Zeke asked leaning closer to J.

Zoe who had been watching laughed slightly, "She said, that she punched Eric, she didn't do it on purpose, she thought he was Peter.

Zeke's mouth dropped open and he howled with laughter. J looked down at the table and Eric clenched his jaw in annoyance. He was really bothering Eric so the tattooed man swung around and punched Zeke in the face. He fell back, K.O.

J started snickering but asked, "Is he going to be ok?"

Four cut in, "he's fine. Its Zeke were talking about here, once he wakes up he will be as bouncy as ever. He's been through worse."

J nodded and Four continued, "I'll take him back to his room and come to the training room later."

With that he picked up his fiend and slung him over his shoulder, leaving the dining hall. Eric got up and shouted to the initiates that lunch was over.

(A/N: Do you think J will get her rank back? It was fun to write Eric confused at the beginning by someone being nice to him. J+ guns+ annoying Peter= not good. Haha, I don't know if you guys liked this chapter but I sure did. Tell me what you think!

-DarkFlameJ)