Hey guys! Here's chapter 11 finally! I hope you like it! I worked really hard on it! Also, have you guys seen the cover for book three, Allegiant, yet?! Yayy! I'm sooo excited! They're also making a movie! I am SUPER disappointed about the cast though... Especially Shailene as Tris. I mean, don't get me wrong, I have nothing against her, but she is NOT how I imagined Tris. D: oh well. I don't think four is too bad.. Some are worse than others though. Well anyways, chapter 11!
Disclaimer: Veronica Roth owns everything, except the few original characters that I created which still suck compared to Veronica's fabulous ones. :(
"Well," I say, "Welcome to Dauntless."
When Tobias and I reach the training room with the two new initiates, we are early. We have already showed them around the compound, and explained how things work here, so we send them to work with the guns, knives, and punching bags after short demonstrations for each. We walk to our hidden little corner in the back of the room and sit down against the wall next to each other. I sigh.
"What's up?" He asks, slightly concerned. He can read me better than he can read a book.
"Just tired." I lie. I am tired, but i'm not just tired.
"Liar. I know you're lying. Something else is bothering you. Is it the memories? Because they bother me too." I draw my eyes to the ground. Tobias is too easy to talk to.
"Surprise, surprise." I respond sarcasticly, the trace of a sullen smile on my face. "Once again, the magical magician Four guesses Six's thoughts."
He smiles. "C'mon.." He pulls me against him, my head under his chin, where it fits so perfectly.
"They tear me apart."
He turns his head to frown at me. "Oh, Beatrice. They tear me apart from the inside out. You're the only thing that keeps me from crumbling to pieces." He squints his eyes a bit in thought and stares across the room. The new initiates from beyond the fence are doing well. Shockingly well. I suppose these are skills that they would need to survive out there. Tatyana and Liza are both hitting the targets nearly dead center.
"I love you." I say to Tobias without looking at him. "Stay with me." I snuggle closer. "Don't you ever dare leave me. When you die, I die too. Those are the reprecussions."
I smile at my quote. It doesn't take long for the smile to be replaced by a frown with the memories that come flooding back.
"I wouldn't dare. I don't think I could if I tried. I love you Beatrice. More than anything."
My smile returns. I climb on him and straddle his waist, my hands on his shoulders. "I love you more."
"I love you most."
"Alright, fine. Let's make a bet. A little bit sentimental, but who loves who more."
"All your Dauntless cake for a week if I win."
"Anything I want if I win. For a day."
He narrows his eyes at me and smiles. "Only because I don't doubt my side."
"Deal." I smile and kiss him on the nose.
"Stop being cute. It's almost time to be mean, and it's already hard enough with you distracting me."
"Oh, shut up." I say. He opens his mouth again to speak, but I cut him off with a kiss. His hand are on my hips now.
I hear the heavy training room door creak, and I know that the initiates are starting to get here. I don't care. Better that it's drilled into their heads that Four and I are together and off limits.
Tobias pulls away a bit. "We've got some training to do. Then we'll ask a few people on that bet."
"Later." I nod.
Four and I begin scribbling fight pairs onto an old chalkboard in the back of the room.
Liza Maria and Tatyana Zachary
Alanna Petris and Cole Davien
Elli Johnson and Mady Sallerio
Aly Weatherford and Amber Carosa
Delilah Helena and Angel Lauerie
Ben Lauerie and Elena Sage
Alvin Hendrinson and Jared Peterary
Once Tobias and I are satisfied with the initiate pairings, we turn to adress the initiates. They are all examining the pairs.
"First up. Liza and Tatyana." Four shouts.
They enter the ring and stare at each other a bit. Liza is the first to throw a punch, but Tatyana is swift and quick, and dodges it. Liza frowns, assesing her options. While she thinks, Tatyana attempts to elbow in her side, but Liza reacts quickly and grabs the protruding elbow, and pushes it in reverse, getting Tatyana pretty hard. She is quick to come back though, and this time, she is motivated. She puts a free arm up to block her face, and moves in to slam Liza's knee. Liza pops it forward, but she blocks it with her arm. She whacks the back of her now exposed knee and Liza falls to the ground. She tries to stand up, but Tatyana grabs her by the shoulders and slams her back down. Go around. I think. Go around and stand up. She gets knocked against the railing and falls unconcious. I sigh. I would've put my money on her.
Tatyana picks her up with a bit of difficulty, and Ben takes her in his arms, carrying her to the bench. She comes to after a few minutes and blinks her eyes hard. She has a very stubborn look on her face. Stubborn. Like me. Tatyana sits down by her and asks her how she feels. She doesn't respond. Four has circled Tatyana's name and moves onto the next grouping.
"Alanna and Cole." Four's voice booms over the leftover chatter. The two step into the circle, but I can already tell what will happen. Alanna is over-confident. She smirks at him tauntingly, and throws a lazy punch that Cole easily dodges. She just wants to get him riled up. She tries again, and this time, Cole ducks under her arm, pulling her into a headlock. He slams her down and kicks her. She crawls away, cradling her side, and manages to stand. She looks scared.
Tobias winks at me. He pulls me into his big arms from behind and kisses my head. "You could beat her ass in a heartbeat." He whispers gently into my ear. I smile, and turn towards him, kissing him on the nose again. He just smiles and rolls his eyes.
When I look back to the fight, Alanna has gotten a few weak punches in, but is going down hard and quick. With one more good whack to the temple, she is out like a light. Cole carries her to the infirmary. Four circles Cole's name.
"Elli and Mady." He announces. The two step into the ring, and the fight begins right away, with a quick sweep quick from Mady. Elli falls, but isn't injured and stands back up quickly. At least ahe can take a hit. I think. She jabs Mady in the stomach with her elbow, and Mady keels over in pain. Elli takes this time to knee her in the jaw. The method is quite successful, and Mady is left with a nasty bruise already forming. I shake my head.
Mady shoves Elli's shoulders back, throwing her into the railing, and causing her to fall. Mady raises her foot to kick, and Elli grabs it, and slides under her legs, then pulls Mady down also. Mady grabs a good hold of Elli's hair, and slams her head into the railing with it. She is gone. Mady lifts her out wih the help of Alvin, and she wakes up shortly.
"Aly and Amber." Four shouts. We are both excited for this fight. I think Aly is one of both of our favorites, because she reminds me of myself. Neither of us really like amber. The next two fights will be interesting too. Delilah and Elena are in them, which we also like. The two new girls seem intersting too.
Amber steps into the ring, and Aly jumps over the rail. I like her a lot. She is small like me, and blonde with greyish eyes like me. Practically a clone. With these things however, she is heavily under estimated. She's very athletic and is stronger than she appears to be, as I learned watching her train. I believe she may also be divergent, but I can't prove my assumption yet. Amber throws the first punch. They are both fast. Aly is able to dodge it by moving to the side, where she has a great vantage point to elbow Amber. She does, hard, in the ribs. That's my girl. Amber grunts and grabs her side. She throws a lazy punch at Aly which she dodges again. Aly knees her in the chin, and Amber throws a hard punch at Aly's jaw in frustration. She hits Aly hard. She wasn't ready for that one. Aly pulls Amber's arms down, and knees her in the chest, and then jaw again. Amber falls, drifting into the gray area between conciousness and unconciousness.
Aly hooks her arms under Amber's shoulders and attempts to drag her out. Everyone stands there, staring in shock, besides Four and I. I think we both expected it. She is too much like me. I walk into the ring to help carry Amber out, and Amber drifts in and out of conciousness. When her eyelids flutter open about a mi ute later, Four has circled Aly's name.
"Delilah and Angel." Four calls out, drawing the surprised stares from Aly. She flashes a small smile of appreciation at him and lays on her back, staring up at the ceiling.
Delilah steps into the ring first, clearly determined. We honestly haven't given her much to fight. Angel isn't fond of the idea of fighting. Either she has leftover Amity, or she's divergent. Divergence isn't really dangerous anymore, but it's also not good to go around telling everyone what you are, because they will begin treating you like you are an alien race, trying to take over the factions or something. The divergent are given the oppurtunity to leave the factions and live in the outside world.
Delilah takes the first punch, which was expected. She doesn't look like she wants to hurt Angel, but Angel won't fight back. Angel is, however, good at defending herself. I honestly don't understand though, where she thinks this fight is going to go if she doen't do anything. Finally, Angel punches Delilah in the gut, then knocks her to the ground. Delilah stands up, and with one hit, punches Angel's temple, and knocks her out. She holds Angel over her shoulder and gets her out of the ring. After a few moments, Angel comes to conciousness and Four circles Delilah's name.
"Ben and Elena." Four says loudly, but he already has everyone's attention. It's just now that I realize that Ben has been staring at me. He's looking me up and down. It's really annoying. I grab Tobias's hand and he looks away.
When the two are in the ring, the fighting doesn't start right away. Ben stares nervously at Elena, as if he sees her as some sort of snake, hiding in the ground, and he doesn't know when she'll bite. Elena studies his movments, trying to learn to expect every move. When Ben won't act, Elena eventually elbows him, and steps on his feet. He winces a bit, but isn't really very hurt by this. He punches her jaw, and then tries to slam her down right away. Probably not the best move. As i'd expected, Elena smashes her head against his to bring her body back up instead of falling to the ground. He is dazed, and it doesn't take much to push him over. He hits his head on the railing, and he is out. She walks toward him, as if attempting to pull him out, but before she really gets anywhere, Tobias and I are lifting him out. Four sets him down and circles Elena's name.
"Alvin and Jared."
"Call me Al. I told you that."
"Uhmm.. No." Four responds immediatly. I look down. Four picks up my hand. Alvin seems to notice that the nickname strikes an emotional cord, and for some reason, takes this as a sign to take it further.
"Why? Is that Six's ex's name or something? Well, who are we kidding though? Six couldn't have an ex. No one wants to be stuck with something like that, at least with all of these beautiful Dauntless girls around. Why would you settle for her Four? Why when you could have any girl in this place?" I'm afraid Four's about to snap, so I grab his shoulders.
"Not now." I whisper, staring into his eyes. He avoids my gaze. "Hey." I snap. "Look at me." His eyes move to mine stubbornly. "Not. Now." He puts two fingers to his forhead and mock salutes to me with a ghost of a smile on his face.
"Yes ma'm."
"That's seargent to you." I respond with narrowed eyes. He nods once.
I turn back to Alvin. "Maybe i'm just lucky. Are you going to fight anytime in this century, or just keep insulting me? I'm afraid Four won't last much longer with the insults. He's also stronger than me. I'll let you figure out what that means." Alvin turns away with a scowl.
"She's gorgous." I turn to frown at Four.
"Shut it." I say.
"We're not going through this again, right? I mean, i'd be more than happy to do so, even in front of the initiates."
"But you know i'm not, and that's okay." He pulls my hands around my back as if he is handcuffing me or something.
"Fight." He tells the boys. They comply, but I don't pay attention to their fight. "Say it." He whispers in my ear. I roll my eyes. "They're almost done. I'm going to make a big scene. Say it."
Jared drags Alvin out of the ring, and drops him on the ground. That seemed too fast, but when I check Tobias's watch, it has been about 7 minutes.
"Serves the jerk face right. What a turd." Jared remarks. I laugh. Jared reminds me of Uriah. I like Jared too. Four lets go of me and circles Jared's name. I scan the initiates to find Elena and Aly. They have become best friends. In a way, Elena is to Christina as Aly is to me. It's very interesting. Aly tells Elena something and Elena giggles. Aly rolls her eyes and punching Elena jokingly. Jared comes over to them and immediatly Aly's face flushes and her eyes widen. After only a few seconds she goes back to her casual appearence. Elena smiles at Aly, and wiggles her eyebrows. It is so obvious that Aly has a thing for Jared. But I am now starting to believe thatnhe might have a thing for her too. I smile to myself.
"Tris." Tobias says quietly into my ear while the initiates chat, snapping me out of my daze.
"Hmm?" I respond, blinking a bit because his face is too close to mine and my eyes won't focus on him right. "Ohh.. Right." I'd rather not go through this again so I give in right away. "I'm pretty."
He kisses me on the cheek, pleased with my response. "Maybe someday you'll believe it. Tris, you are pretty in every way. I don't know any other person as brave as you. As selfless as you. As smart as you. You're perfect."
"Not pretty though." I say, my expression blank.
"Who says pretty has to be skin deep?"
Hey guys! Hope you liked chapter 11! Yes, Aly is me. Shame on me for putting myself into a story, but whatever. Thanks for all of the great reviews, those of you who took like, five seconds out of their day to make me SUPER SUPER SUPER HAPPY! If everyone could do that, we would all have super powers. Too bad. (No, that did not make any sense at all whatsoever.) Okay, bye Guys!