Chapter 3

TRIS POV

Tobias had been gone for fifteen minutes before I'd finished with the dishes and left for work. I left my hair in the messy bun it was in after my shower, found a cardigan in my carry-on luggage and headed out the door. As I closed the door behind me, I realised with an angry sigh that Tobias had never given me a key last night, so there was no way I was getting back inside without breaking in. I pulled my cardigan closer against the harsh wind and started walking towards the city.

I'd been walking for 5 minutes before I got lost and decided to call a cab. Another 5 minutes passed waiting before my transportation arrived. I told the driver the address of the school when I got in, and hoped I wouldn't be too late for my first day.

Walking up the steps to Dauntless Academy was somewhat overwhelming. The large double doors loomed ahead of me and students were standing around in small groups, staring and looking at something. After a while, I realised that it was me they were staring at. Deciding against my shy nature, I held my head high and followed the signs that lead to administration.

When I got to the administration room, anxious students, parents and teachers alike were standing around, looking somewhat lost. A girl, a few years older than me seemed to look at me, recognition blooming on her face, before she gestured for me to come towards her. As I got closer to her, I noticed that she had long dark hair and several piercings on her face. She stood up from behind her desk and held her hand out in a greeting.

"Hi, you must be Beatrice, the new transfer teacher." She said while shaking my hand. "I'm Tori, one of the office girls. It's nice to meet you."

I let go of her hand and smiled. "Please, call me Tris, Beatrice sounds too formal."

"If you insist, let me go and get your schedule and I'll show you around." She said as she walked around to the computer. Tori clicked several times and then collected a piece of paper from the printer.

"So, you graduated with honours in English Literature and History?" Tori asked as she led me through crowded hallways, handing me my schedule.

"Yes, both of my parents are professors, so I was brought up well taught already." I explained.

"That's great. Now, I'll show you around to your classes. Normally on the first day the principal would show the new teachers around, but he had an early meeting this morning, so it's up to me" said Tori.

"I don't mind. I've heard that the principal can be pretty intimidating" I said, trying to gather information.

"He's intimidating because he has to be. There's been a lot of pressure from outside sources to improve the average grades and other stuff that I don't want to get into, but there's a lot of stress involved. The way I see it, Four is just looking out for the greater good of the school." Tori said.

I glanced up at her with understanding as she led me through a door that said 'Room 6'.

"Okay, enough politics. This is your home room. You'll be here every morning, marking attendance for your class, except Tuesdays, which is whole school assembly. Are you still with me?"

"Yeah, it's just a bit daunting. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it after a while" I replied nervously.

Tori laughed and put a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

"You'll be fi-"her sentence was cut off with a shrill ringing of the bell.

"I guess that's our cue to leave. Back to school assembly this morning, I'll come with you" offered Tori.

I nodded my head in reply and we both walked out of my home room.

Tori led me to a large gym-like area where students were milling around the place, loudly talking to each other about their summer. I was too focused on the crowd of students to notice that Tori was no longer beside me. I anxiously looked around until I saw her standing over with some other staff members.

As I walked over to them, someone spoke into a microphone, asking the students to sit down where they were.

"Hey Tori, thought I lost you back then for a second." I laughed.

"I thought I'd come over and see how the other transfer teachers were doing." She clarified.

And it wasn't until then that I'd taken a good look at the people standing in a small group with Tori. There was a group of three people who looked to be about my age, all looking at me with identical looks of understanding. To Tori's left, there was dark-skinned girl with black hair wearing a modest black shirt and jeans.

"Hi, I'm Christina" she introduced. " It's so good to finally have a girl here that is half-decent and kind" she smiled gratefully.

Next to Christina, there was Will, a tall boy with a mop of blonde hair and dark eyes.

"It's nice to meet you Tris." He said.

The man next to Will took my hand and kissed it while a small blush spread over my face.

"I'm Uriah," the man next to Will said, "And you're beautiful. My brother is one of the P.E teachers here, and I went to school here when I was younger, so if there's anything you need help with, just let me know." He winked.

"Thanks," I replied, "It was really nice to meet all of you."

"Okay students, settle down, settle down." A voice sounded over the audience. I looked up to see a tall man standing on a podium holding a microphone.

"Welcome back from the summer holidays. I trust that you all had a safe break" he continued formally.

I leaned over to Tori. "Who's that?" I gestured to the man standing on the podium.

"That's Eric, the deputy principal," Tori whispered to me, "He was supposed to be the principal, but Four finally decided to take the role after years of begging from the previous principal, Max. Now, Eric is really blatantly obvious that he doesn't like Four."

I looked back up to Eric as he spoke. "Principal Four is going to be a bit late for this morning's assembly. So, I'd like to take the opportunity to talk to you all about what it is we expect here at Dauntless Academy."

A groan sounded throughout the audience.

Eric either didn't notice, or was ignoring it, because he continued. "You chose us. Now we have to choose you. If you fail your classes, you're out. If you fall below 80 percent attendance, you're out."

I looked over at my colleagues, all of which had the same look of shock on their faces.

"If you breathe, you're out." Christina muttered sarcastically.

I put a hand to my mouth and looked to the ground trying to stifle my laughter.

My hand was still stifling my laughter, however, when a gasp came out of Christina's mouth. I looked over in confusion and her only explanation was to point over to the podium.

I turned my head so that it was facing the front of the gym, and I saw Eric and a man in front of him, with his back to the audience, taking the microphone off of Eric.

I looked back at Christina with a questioning glance.

"Sorry about that." A familiar sounding voice apologised.

Christina looked over at me and whispered in my ear, "Look at the stage."

I looked over and my heart sped up.

As the principal scanned the audience, his eyes rested on me, and an audible intake of breath sounded through the microphone.

A loud clearing of Eric's throat finally shook him out of his daze, and he addressed the school.

"Welcome back students. I hope your summer was enjoyable. First off, I'd like for you all to help me in welcoming some new teachers. Firstly, we have Miss Christina Mercer, joining our English department, Mr. Will Walsh joining our Science department, Mr. Uriah Pedrad, joining his brother in the P.E department, and finally we have Miss Beatrice Prior, joining the English and History department. Please give a warm round of applause."

Loud clapping sounded throughout the gym as I felt hundreds of eyes of the little group I was standing with.

The rest of the assembly went by in a blur, and I was only broken out of my trance when I heard my name through the speakers.

"..Prior, can I please speak with you after assembly in my office?"

Christina nudged me with her elbow and wiggled her eyebrows at me.

"Come on Tris," Tori said, "I'll show you to Four's office, it's on the way."

I said goodbye to the people I'd just met and followed Tori back through the halls towards the administration building. Just as we were about to walk back into Tori's office area, she stopped and pointed towards a door that clearly said 'Principals Office'.

"Good luck." She encouraged.

I went into Four's room and sat down at one of the chairs at his desk.

About five minutes later, the door behind me opened and closed rather quickly, and Four walked around me and sat in the chair across the table from me.

I looked up into his eyes, as he looked into mine.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked harshly.

"You didn't ask me."

He scoffed. "You should have known."

I looked at him incredulously. "Me? I should have known? You're the one who should have known, you're the principal after all. Isn't that right… Tobias?"

A/N: Thought I'd be nice and post a chapter now because I'll be watching TFiOS on Wednesday when I would have updated :'''( Anyways, thanks again for the lovely reviews, and to all of those who have favourited/followed! means so much to me! Hope you liked the chapter!