A/N Sorry about the delay in getting this out, all my classes are wrapping up, and that means more homework and studying for the final exam and stuff, so I didn't have a bunch of time to write. The good thing is, I figured out how to integrate factions!
Just so you know, I gave a friend of mine permission to post this on her account. So, if you see this story posted by the221cTimeLord, don't report it for copyright, I gave her permission.
By the way, I am basing what the PE is like entirely on other Divergent High School AUs, because as I've said before, I don't know what it's actually like, I've never gone to school. So just keep that in mind.
Now, on to the chapter!
I walk to the gym with Christina, dreading the upcoming class. When I was homeschooled, I had heard people who had gone to high school talk about how awful PE was. To be honest, it was one of the things I was the most scared of when my parents told me I would be attending high school.
We enter the gym, and I see a few other students milling around the large room. The teacher still isn't here yet.
Uriah and Lynn arrive shortly after us, along with a tall blonde girl. "Hey Mar!" Christina shouts, raising her hand in greeting.
The girl jogs over, saying, "Hey Chris!" Turning to me, she asks, "Who's the new girl?"
"Tris," I say, putting my hand out hesitatingly.
"I'm Marlene, but you can just call me Mar, everyone does it, even the teachers," she says, shaking my hand and grinning.
"Alright, everyone over here!" I hear a voice call from a corner of the room. As we start walking over to the speaker, I look her over. She seems to be in her mid-twenties, with several piercings in her eyebrow and purple streaks in her hair. When we all reach her, the person says, "I'm Lauren, I'll be your PE instructor for as long as you attend this school." She points to a tall guy leaning against the wall behind her. "This is Four, he'll be helping me out."
As we all look at him, he crosses his arms and lets his gaze sweep over us, never lingering on any one of us for too long. When he glances at Christina, she shivers, and whispers to me, "He freaks me out when he's like this."
I look at her, startled. "How often is he like this?"
"Bout half the time, maybe more. He only acts like a normal person around Zeke, Shauna, and sometimes Uriah. For the rest of us, he's like.. Well, like that," she answers, jerking her head toward him as he continues to survey us.
His gaze falls on me, and I'm startled by how cold his dark blue eyes are. Then, strangely, I think I see a flash of pain in his eyes before he turns to the next person. This guy has been through some shit, I think to myself.
Finally, he pushes himself away from the wall and stands next to Lauren. She grins, surveying the various degrees of discomfort and fear in our faces. "Shall we get started, then?"
Four doesn't speak for most of the class, as Lauren watches us do push-ups and sit-ups to assess what level we're currently on. He walks between the pairs of students - I'm paired with Christina - and stops next to us. I'm currently counting Christina do push-ups, and as I watch, she gives a visible start and almost falls. I don't dare look away from Christina, as she finishes the minute required. We both glance at Four, and there's a short silence before he raises his eyebrow and says quietly, "Don't you have to do yours?" He has a deep voice, the type that makes me not hesitate for a second before dropping an starting my push-ups. I don't have as much practice with push-ups as Christina, and I'm not entirely sure I'm even doing them correctly. Out of the corner of my eye, I see him watching me, and my hands get suddenly slippery. "Straighten your back a bit," he says suddenly, and I almost drop myself face-first onto the floor before catching myself. I quickly do what he suggested, and he nods, then turns to Uriah and Marlene.
Christina looks after him, looking slightly shocked. As she helps me up, she says, "He actually talked. Well damn. I was thinking he wouldn't say anything this whole time."
Not sure what to respond to that, I just nod, and wipe my hands on my pants to get some of the sweat off. I glance over at Uriah and Marlene, and can't help but smirk at the sight before me. Uriah is rubbing his nose, which has gone red, and Marlene is almost doubled over laughing. Beside me, Christina starts chuckling. "He must have fallen on his face when Four showed up," she manages to choke out before collapsing in laughter like Marlene.
The class continues, with Four not talking to either Christina or me again. Right when I'm leaving the gym, I see Zeke step in the door. Four pushes himself off the wall he was leaning on, and does that weird thing guys do where they grab each other's hand and clap each other on the back. Which I just call a "guy hug." "'Sup, man!" Zeke says, grinning.
Surprisingly, Four grins back. "Nothin' much. I get to boss you around this year."
Zeke's expression freezes, then he shouts loudly, "DAMMIT!"
Hiding my smile, I rush out the door and head to my next class.
The bell rings, and I practically skip out of my last class, a wide grin on my face. This was possibly the greatest first day of school ever. I met so many people, made so many friends. I have more friends now, after one day, then I ever have had before in all my sixteen years of homeschooling.
I run into Christina by my locker, and she grins when she sees me. "Well, what's made you so happy?" she asks.
I grin wider. "The art teacher said I was really good. She wants to bump me up to a higher level."
"Awesome!" she says.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Uriah slowly sneaking up on Christina. When he sees me looking at him, he puts a finger to his lips. I shift my eyes back to Christina, and he grabs her shoulders suddenly.
"Oh shit!" she shouts loudly, turning around and slapping Uriah's arm. "Don't do that, it scares the hell outta me, I always think you're Peter or something."
Uriah grins and holds his arms up defensively. "Hey, I'm just getting back at you for last year."
I look between them. "What happened last year?"
"Oh, nothing," Uriah says a little too quickly.
I raise my eyebrow at him, and Christina whispers in my ear, "I'll tell you when he's not here."
Out loud, she says, "Well, I'll just get back at you tomorrow!"
"You wish! Zeke's been training me over the summer, and he learned from Four, so I'm basically learning from the best of the best."
"Ha, keep telling yourself that." Christina grins.
"Wait, what's happening tomorrow?" I ask, confused.
They both glance at me, then back at each other. "You haven't told her about the factions yet?" Uriah says indignantly, staring at Christina.
"I thought you were going to!" she replies, just as indignant.
"Sorry, what factions?"
They look back to me, then start talking.
"So, every Tuesday and Thursday, there's after-school clubs that we call factions-" Christina starts.
"-that are probably the funnest part of this school, it's why it's called Faction High." Uriah interjects.
Christina glares at him, then continues. "There's the ones who just make study groups, they're called the Erudite, then there's a group that go out and do volunteer work, they're the Abnegation. There's the debate club, they're the-"
"PANSYCAKES!" Uriah shouts, cutting her off.
"Ahem. They're the Candor. I used to be in debate club, remember?" Christina says in a deadly voice. Uriah nods quickly, an exaggerated expression of fear on his face. "Anyway," she continues in a bright voice. "There's the Amity, they do arts and crafts, and also cooking sometimes, then there's us, the Dauntless, who go to a local gym, and work out and do fake fighting and stuff. The teachers sometimes let us use the school gym, too, if we need it for something."
"All the people you met today are Dauntless, including Peter, unfortunately. Four used to be Dauntless, until he graduated, I think he actually works at that gym after school time," Uriah adds, jumping back into the conversation.
I nod slowly. "Alright, so can I try one out before committing to it fully?"
"Oh, yeah, definitely," Christina says.
"OH, I just remembered something! The factions also meet on every other Saturday, and normally the Dauntless one starts out at a gym and ends up at me and Zeke's house because we have a party most of the time. So you should join Dauntless. We have the most fun out of all the factions, in our highly valued opinion," Uriah rattles out quickly. "In fact, there's one this Saturday!"
"Cool. So, I guess I'll try out Dauntless this week and see how I like it?" I say, starting to get excited.
Uriah grins. "Yep!"
Zeke suddenly bounds up behind Uriah, flashing a smile at me before turning to his younger brother. "C'mon, bro, we gotta go."
"See ya tomorrow, Tris!" they both say in unison, waving as they walk away. "You too, Christina!" Uriah adds as an afterthought.
Christina and I walk together outside, where I spot my mother's car waiting for me at the curb. "Guess that's my cue to get going," I say, gesturing to the car.
"Yeah, guess so. See you tomorrow!"
"See ya!" I shout over my shoulder as I clamber into the back seat - Caleb has already claimed the front for himself.
A/N Tris's first day of school is finally finished! So that was a slightly longer chapter than before, mainly because this was the last of the establishing chapters, in a way. They'll stay this length, pretty much, maybe a bit longer. Depends on how much I feel like writing, and where the logical stopping points are.
I haven't really proofread this, because it's literally midnight right now, and I'm half asleep while I'm writing this, but I wanted to get this out and not make you wait any longer.. so sorry about any spelling or grammar mistakes :/
I've figured out how I'm going to be doing Four's backstory in this, but that won't show up for several more chapters. *waggles eyebrows*
That party Uriah mentioned will have some Candor or Dauntless in it, because I just love that game, sooo.. Please, if you have ideas for dares/truth questions, leave 'em in the comments/reviews!
