Chapter 4; New friends?
A bright light streams into my bedroom from the ajar door, a silhouette creating a shadow over my face. "Time to get up Bo, it's Saturday!" Tris' cheerful voice fills my room.
"Heck yessss!" I laugh, rubbing my eyes. I've heard many Dauntless use that phrase, I thought I might try it out. Ever since last night as I was observing The Pit, I've become more excited about discovering what it means to be Dauntless. All the little customs and traditions are so intriguing, my brain is aching to learn more.
"Unfortunately, Four has to work on Saturday's but that just means we get to have fun without him." She says with a mischievous grin. Somehow, I don't think I'm going to like this. "We are going to meet up with some friends and go ziplining!"
"Ziplining?" I ask in confusion, sitting up and stretching my sore arms. I always sleep in the most unnatural positions.
"You'll see, are you afraid of heights like your brother?" Four is actually scared of something? That's new.
"Pretty sure I'm scared of everything." I say dryly, then laugh. Everyone's dry and sarcastic sense of humor seems to be rubbing off on me. It's hard to act like an Abnegation when you are surrounded by Dauntless.
"You'll be fine; some people your age are going so maybe you can make some friends." She says, finally flicking on the light to my bedroom, filling the space with white fluorescent light. I gulp quietly; I haven't been too successful in making friends since I transferred. Nobody wants to be friends with the Abnegation gone Dauntless girl, especially when I'm a leader's little sister. One wrong move and Four will chop off your head and eat it while he sharpens his knives. I shudder at the thought and roll my eyes at myself.
...
The rushing of wind fills my ears, echoing through my body, chilling my veins, and making adrenaline course through me. I look straight ahead into the morning sunrise, small white clouds blocking my vision of the pastel colors. I breathe in the fresh, cool, untainted air and promise to not look down. I stand in the middle of the rooftop of the abandoned Sear's Tower. A crowd of about 15 joins Tris and I, some familiar faces among them. I recognize Uriah, Zeke, Marlene, Lynn, and Shauna.
"See there's some kids your age." Tris says, pointing to a cluster of three people. One girl quickly stands out from the rest, her fiery red hair and commanding posture holding the attention of the two she is conversing with. Next to her is a boy, much taller than her, with light brown hair. Their hands are clasped together, such public affection is frowned upon in Abnegation, but I can't stop staring. It's so daring, it makes me wonder what it's like to hold hands with a boy. Third is a girl who looks to be my height, so she's rather short, but the apparent muscles on her arms and legs are enough to send any opposer running. "Come on, we can watch them go down the zip line first." Tris says, pulling me closer to the edge of the building, I visibly stiffen with anxiety.
The red-headed girl goes up to the platform and Uriah helps her into the harness, parallel to the ground. "It's my favorite when they get into ziplining when they're young." He says, grinning stupidly like a proud father.
The girl rolls her eyes at him and grips the harness for stability as Uriah gives the harness a shove, a screeching sound of metal on metal filling the vast air. She lets out a 'whoop' and opens her arms, simulating a plane in flight. I can't help but smile at how free she looks, the city becomes so small and all her problems become so trivial as she focuses on rushing through the air. The other people my age go after her, and they all rejoin at the landing platform that looks like a speck from where I'm standing.
"You're next Bo! Gotta go in age order." Uriah laughs, his eyes crinkling with joy.
I look up at Tris, not sure if I'm really ready for this. "I can go with you." She offers quietly, giving me a soft smile of understanding. I nod in response and we make our way to the departure platform.
Uriah helps me on first, the elastic straps beneath me providing a stretchy cage of protection. Tris climbs in next to me, half of her body on top of mine acting as a bodyguard. Uriah finishes fastening everything and pulls back on the harness and with one hard shove, sends us plummeting down the line.
My first reaction is to close my eyes and then scream. Tris urges me to open my eyes so I do so, reluctantly. As soon as they're open they water from the violent stream of air. I can barely make out the train tracks below me, everything seems so small. I look up and laugh, the clouds are so close, I could almost touch them. We speed by buildings of all types and I can almost make out the Erudite headquarters in the distance, the tall glass building reflecting the morning sun. Suddenly we are plummeting farther down, my eyes looking right at the concrete. The ending platform is getting larger and larger, signaling our impending arrival. Tris reaches up and pulls on the brake and my body is suddenly lurched forward but my grip on the harness stops me from flying out of the restraints. Our movement eventually slows to a steady pace as we glide into the ending platform, the three teenagers clapping and cheering our descent. I can't help but smile at the praise and holler in victory, causing everyone to laugh.
"So the stiff isn't as stiff as we thought." The red head grins, approaching me as Tris helps me down.
"Guess not." I shrug, a little shaky from the whole experience.
The girl laughs and steadies me by tossing her arm around my shoulders. "Don't worry, we can help you with that. I'm Hendrix, you're Bo." She says, not even questioning my name. I guess word travels fast around here, given it's not every day that a 15 year old gets to transfer factions.
"God, Hendrix! She knows her own name, quit being weird." The brown hair boy jokes, joining us. "I'm Nathan, her boyfriend."
"Umm yeah, I can see that." I say awkwardly, physical contact with someone I just met is very out of the norm for me so I'm trying to stay as calm as I can with Hendrix's arm slung over my shoulder. I remember how they were touching and holding onto each other earlier, I could only assume that they were in a romantic relationship.
"This is Jess." Nathan says, pointing over his shoulder to the girl who has the incredible visual muscles.
"She's a silent killer." Hendrix says, a grin on her face. My blood turns cold and I pale, I thought Dauntless killing others was just a rumor.
"She's just kidding." Nathan says, giving Hendrix a scolding look as he shoves her shoulder. "Jess is just anti-social." He says as Jess gives me an acknowledging nod.
"Would you like to sit with us at lunch?" Hendrix asks, finally removing her arm from around me only to put her arm around Nathan instead. I shudder internally and I notice Jess does the same, both of us giving each other an understanding smile, a little humor hidden behind both of our eyes. By now, the rest of the group has made it down the zip line.
"Yes please, that would be nice." I reply to Hendrix, my Abnegation formalities showing through my speech.
"I have SO much to teach you." Hendrix laughs, leading the way towards the train tracks. This part of the city is abandoned except for a few factionless that meander about. I keep my head down, a little nervous about being in this part of town. When the train tracks are in view, I glance back at Tris and she gives me an encouraging smile, I know I have to try and get on the train by myself.
"When you jump, push from your calves." I hear in my ear, turning to be face to face with Jess. She glances down at my weak legs, there are no visible muscles. Jess grimaces and shakes her head. "Just, use what you have."
"Thanks, I guess." I say awkwardly as the screeching sound of the high speed train fills my ears. The moving cars are getting closer and closer and the dust from the dirty surroundings starts to fly in the air. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, trying to relax myself.
I hear whooping and hollering as the Dauntless leap onto the moving train. I somehow convince myself that I can do it and with one final breath I open my eyes and leap straight forward, miraculously making it into the train car with Hendrix and the other two but landing painfully on the side of my left ankle. I grunt in pain and fall to the floor, clutching where it hurts.
"Woah, you okay?" Nathan asks, him and Hendrix bending down next to me as Jess stands, observing from above us.
"Yeah, fine." I gasp, trying to hold back my sounds of anguish. I slowly exhale through my mouth and shake my head. "I'll be okay; I'm not really made for jumping onto trains." I laugh dryly.
"You'll get the hang of it, we were all like that at one point. No big deal." Hendrix smiles, all of them sitting down with me so I don't feel awkward.
"Thanks." I reply, giving her a genuine smile of gratitude. "Thank you all, you're the only ones who haven't been hostile to me during this transition."
"Ah, it's alright. We don't go with the flow, we aren't bitches like most in our faction." Hendrix jokes. I see Jess smirk out of the corner of my eye and glance out the side of the train car.
"Bitches?" I ask, sincerely confused. I have never heard that term before in my life.
"A female dog." Jess snorts. A female dog? I didn't think animals could be members of a faction. I lower my eyebrows in confusion and twiddle my hands like I do when I get uncomfortable.
Hendrix laughs and Nathan rolls his eyes. "It's a derogatory term, usually about girls, but could go either way. It's a pretty bad insult." Hendrix explains, leaning back on her hands as she sticks her feet out in front of her.
I nod my head, understanding a bit more but still a little lost. "So are you a bitch?" I ask, tilting my head to the side.
Nathan starts to laugh but coughs to try and hide it. "Oh?" Hendrix asks in a higher pitch, raising her eyebrows in question. "I sure hope not, stiff." She fires back, smirking.
"Oh, I didn't mean to insult you. I'm sorry, I didn't-" I start to apologize.
She cuts me off, "It's alright" She laughs, "Just don't let it happen again." She warns jokingly.
For once, we all laugh together as I see the Dauntless compound appear in the distance. Oh no, here we go again with the departing of a moving locomotive...
A/N: It's been 578076222787560 years since I've updated so I tried to make it extra long. Please don't hate me :-))))) Comment/review on what you think and any ideas or thoughts on Bo's new friends!