I had originally planned to wait until later in the story to talk about Rhys' past, but my writing seemed to have different ideas. With that being said, this chapter gets a bit intense towards the end of it. My intentions were for the rating to remain neutral until at least the middle of it, but it is now going to be 'M' rated. I'm not sure if the vaguness that I used falls into that category, I just figured it's better to be safe than sorry.
I own nothing familiar, that would belong to Veronica Roth. I do, however, own Lance, Kadence, Rhys, and Wyatt along with the storyline.
Sleeping in a room with eleven other people is weird. Hearing all their various breathing and sleep sounds. I hated being this defenseless and open in a room full of strangers. Any of them could attack and I was vulnerable to it.
Despite that, I listened to the different breathing patterns in hopes that it would lull me to sleep. I had an anxious mind that wouldn't let me shut it down for the night. There was one person who snored like a chainsaw and I could heard the faint sounds of someone crying quietly. I was really thankful that the crier wasn't me.
I guess I did fall asleep eventually because a loud ringing sound jarred me out of it. I was used to being woken up by the call of a rooster or the sounds of my mother singing in the kitchen, not this harshness. I loved it! I was never the soft girl that Amity wanted me to be, I had hard edges that had only been made harder by life.
"It's time to get up, training starts in fifteen minutes. This is the only time you're getting a wakeup call, don't get used to it," someone shouted, but I was too zonked to figure out who it was.
I rolled out of my bed reluctantly and dug through the clothes that I'd found under my bed last night after Max left us. I looked around and saw Kadence strip off her white Candor blouse and put on a black Dauntless t-shirt. When I looked around, I saw that others were following her lead and taking off their old clothes out in the open.
I swallowed my embarrassment and pulled my peasant top over my head. I pulled a tight fitting black t-shirt on in its place. I liked the way it hugged my body, there were no tight clothing in Amity everything was loose and roomy. I tugged off the bell-bottoms happily and replaced them with tight black pants, so tight that they were like a second layer of skin. I even wore boots, thick black ones, for the first time in my life.
I looked over at T and saw him staring at the black clothes with his gray ones still on him. His Abnegation side was showing, he had too much modesty. There was no way he would be comfortable enough to change in front of this many people, even if no one was paying attention to him.
"Hey, duck into the bathroom and I'll keep watch," I told him. "I don't think anyone's in there just yet."
His face was a mixture of relief and chagrin that he'd been caught. He grabbed his pile of black clothes and made his way into the bathroom. I twisted my hair back away from my face, sitting it on top of my head and securing it right as T made his reappearance decked out in black. The color suited him a whole lot better than gray ever did, but I knew better than to make a comment about it. We had to take baby steps into things like that.
"I heard someone talking about a fire that we could throw our old clothes in. It's supposed to be therapeutic," Kadence said as T and I walked up her. "You guys down?"
I had my old Amity clothes in my hands before she even finished speaking. "Yes! I can't wait to get rid of these. Red clashes with my hair and yellow is just an ugly color in general. Please the stench of apples is making me want to vomit."
"At least you had some variety," T said, gesturing to the gray in his hands. "There's only so many different shades of gray and they're all equally as boring."
Kadence and I laughed with him as we balled up our clothes and left the room. We found the fire easily enough, there was a line leading up to it. We waited our turn before tossing our clothes onto the heated embers. I watched as the flames engulfed the red and yellow until they were black like everything else in the compound. It was yet another freeing moment, and I realized that I was going to have a ton of those before I was officially Dauntless or the other option…
"As interesting as watching polyester burn is, I think we need to go to training, blaze," Eric said, making me jump in surprise.
Kadence and T were ahead of me in the burning line and must've already left. I'm sure they thought I was behind them the whole time. I would be a liar if I said Eric didn't make me a little bit uneasy. Most guys made me uneasy most of the time with the exception of T and maybe Lance…
Eric was about six foot even with really nice blue eyes that twinkled with mischief. He was attractive, that much was for sure, but he seemed to be a little arrogant. I thought I would be turned off by that, but he made it look really good. I kind of wanted to kiss his lips, they were so full and plump. I wondered what they would feel like pressed against mine in one of the dark tunnels throughout the compound…
"My name is Rhys, and I'm not your mother. Whatever I do doesn't affect you in the slightest," I told him as I willed my face to not turn bright red.
I turned on my heel and made my way to the training room, proud that I'd found it without anyone's help. Lance wasn't in there yet which meant I wasn't technically late, but I made a note in my mind to show up early from now on. I stood with Kadence and T while Eric stood in the background, sulking like a kicked puppy. I wanted to figure him out, there was something under the surface that made my curiosity spike. I may not have been in Erudite, but I had a more than healthy curiosity of things, I just didn't enjoy reading books that much…
"We're going to training with knives, throwing them. While this might not be everyone's cup of tea, it's a more than vital skill to have in one's arsenal," Lance said, announcing his entrance and making us look at him strutting into the training center.
He stood next to a table that had a silver case sitting on it. He clicked it open and took out a knife about the length of his hand. He held it by its blade and launched it at the target twenty feet in front of him before I even blinked. It bedded itself in the direct center with the entire blade sank into the thick target, making me and few others look at Lance in total surprise.
"Don't just look at me, get to it!" Lance barked, making a couple people jump in surprise. "Be good or be Factionless."
I judged the weight of the knife in my hands and switched it from hand to hand for a second. I needed to know everything about it before I even tried to hit the target. I also took note that I was the only one that hadn't thrown one yet and felt Lance's eyes on me, but I pushed that thought back.
After I knew the blade's balance and weight, I thought back to how Lance had stood. He put weight on the foot in front and tossed the knife with the opposite arm. I did a couple play-throws, never letting go of the knife. I could throw it like he did, blade in my hand, or I could throw it with the handle end in my hand. Judging by the other initiates, the blade in hand version was harder to control so I decided to do the latter.
"You're supposed to throw the blade, blaze," Eric snickered his spot a couple of people down from me.
"Yeah, and you're supposed to hit the target," I snapped back without looking at him. "Watch me and see how it's supposed to work."
I hoped with everything in me that the knife would land in the target, preferably the center, so I wouldn't look like a total tool. I took a centering breath before letting it fly. It barely grazed the edge of the target, but I was the first one to hit it and make it stay there. Even if it wasn't the center, I was really impressed with myself.
First jumper. First to hit the target.
"You're not good enough to be that cocky, red. You could've had three knives in that target by now and you barely have one," Lance shouted, zeroing in on me. "You don't have time to think when you're in the middle of a fight. Your throat would've been cut and you'd be staining the floor if you took that long to make a decision. It's fight or flight out there and you sure as hell better not chose flight. Did I say any of you could stop?!"
I knew Lance was trying to break me, to make me look weak in front of all the others, maybe even to make an example of me. I held his intense gaze even after all the others scrambled back to throwing their knives in fear of what he'd do if he didn't. As much as I wanted to win the staring contest, I knew I had to figure out this knife thing because I wouldn't do well Factionless. I pushed my stubbornness down and took my stance again.
The holding-the-handle method didn't seem to be the way I threw best so I tried the other way. I took my usual calming breath before letting the knife fly. It still didn't hit the center of the target, but it hit closer and sank in deeper. That was improvement and I let it drive me to keep trying.
I wasn't the best when it came to throwing knives, but I wasn't the worst either. The Erudite girl that I'd comforted on the roof yesterday didn't even hit the target. All of her knives fell at least a foot in front of it with the blades pointing in different directions.
Lance walked up to the girl and placed his hand on her shoulder. I thought he was going to comfort her before he barked out, "You're at the bottom of the list, get your shit together or get your shit out of the compound."
He turned on his heel and walked out of the training room. We all looked around at each other curiously but didn't move. None of us wanted to be on the receiving end of another reprimand from Lance. He was cruel and cutting, he knew how to cut to the bone with the simplest of words. I'd already had one lashing from him and most certainly did not want another one now or ever.
"He's a Candor transfer," Kadence whispered to me. "I remember him from school, always speaking his mind and making little girls cry in the process. It just clicked that he was the same person, he looks so different down here."
"It's your lunch break, initiates. Why are you all standing around?" Lance shouted from the doorway. "I will make you run laps through lunch, don't think I won't."
T and I started walking to the dining hall with Kadence on his other side. I felt someone fall into step beside me and saw that it was Eric. His expression lacked its usual hardness and I decided that I liked it that way. He was a lot cuter when he didn't look like he was plotting how to take down everyone at once.
"I didn't mean to get you in trouble," he apologized quietly so only I could hear. "I was just messing around and it got serious."
Everything Eric did had a sarcastic edge to it, almost like a double sided blade. I couldn't tell if he was being sincere right now or if he was just taunting me. I decided to take a chance considering I was working to become Dauntless now and believe him.
"I should thank you, you know?" I replied just as quietly. "If you and Lance hadn't made me mad, I probably wouldn't have figured it out. I'm stubborn and won't take failure as an answer, I just won't accept it. It was one of the main reasons I could've never stayed in Amity."
"I'm really glad you didn't stay in Amity," he told me as we walked into the loud dining hall. Before I could react to that, he quickly added, "I could help you with the knives. I'm kind of okay at it."
To say that I was skeptical was an understatement (I was also confused by what he said before, but that was a different story), I never wanted to be alone with a stranger. Yet Eric didn't strike me as someone that wanted to hurt me. I didn't doubt that he could, that was clear in his eyes at any time, but something just told me he wouldn't. Right as I was about to tell him yes, I remembered him and closed up.
"Uhm, I don't know about that. I already made plans to train a little with T tonight," I said louder, wrapping an arm around T's shoulders and bringing him into the conversation. "Isn't that right?"
I'd never made any plans with him and knew that touching made him nervous. I also knew that out of him and Kadence he would be more likely to go along with my made up plans. Kadence was fresh out of Candor, the urge to tell the truth was still strong within her. I also played on the fact that T was trained to make others happy above himself. That might've made me sound a bit selfish, but he owed me for having his back this morning.
"Yeah, she sucks and I don't," he said simply, shrugging off my arm and leaving me with Eric.
Whatever kindness had been in Eric's eyes earlier was gone now. He'd completely closed himself off from me liked I'd done to him earlier. Suddenly the blue in his eyes suddenly turned brown. They were laced with a familiar malice that made the hair on the back of my neck raise. I had to get away before I had a full blown panic attack.
I pushed past Eric and ran until my lungs completely constricted. I hit my knees on the hard stone floor of the Dauntless compound, thankful for the darkness to hide my weakness. I didn't want anyone to see me have a total breakdown on my first day.
I was back in the apple orchards, finishing up my picking duty that I'd arrived late for. That meant I had to stay late until my basket was full. I really hated apples and picking them off of trees.
"Mar, why're you out here so far by yourself? It's not safe," Wyatt shouted, making me jump and pour out my basket of apples.
"Damn you, Wyatt! I was almost finished with my duties for the day! Now I have to pick all these up and throw out the bruised ones," I shouted at him before dropping to my knees to gather the scattered fruit. "You'd better hope that most of these aren't bruised or you're in trouble."
"Who gave you the idea that you're intimating?" he asked, crouching own and helping me gather up my apples. "You're like a house cat trying to be a mountain lion."
"A house cat still carries a nasty bite," I retorted, tossing the bruised apples into a pile and the good ones into the basket. "Why are you out here? You finished your pickings on time."
"I wanted to spend some time with the most beautiful girl on the compound," he said, taking my hand in his and holding it tight. "I see the way you look at me when we're on picking duty together, Marhysa."
"I don't know what you're talking about, Wyatt. I'm not interested in you like that," I told him, trying to pull my hand free, but he held strong. "Let me go, I have to finish this up. My mom's going to come looking for me soon, I'm already running late and she expects me to help her with dinner."
His eyes turned dark and his lips rose into a scary smile. "Don't worry about that, I've already talked to her. She liked the idea that I was coming out here to make sure you got back safely. I didn't figure she'd want to know the dirty details of what we were going to do before that."
His words made an icy finger trace down my spine, leaving goose-puckered skin in its wake. Adrenaline started pumping through my veins as I tried in vain to tug my hand out of his vice-like grip. He pulled my body to his and forced his lips onto mine, pushing the kiss even when I tried to fight him off of me.
He had almost a foot of height on me and well over a hundred pounds –there was no way I could fight him off. He felt like a thousand pounds of stone when he laid his body over mine, pushing my skirt up my legs without my permission. His voice was nails on a chalkboard as he whispered that I'd love it when he ripped my panties off. His scent reeked of sweat and apples when he forced himself inside of me.
"Rhys?" a calm voice drew me out of my own personal hell paired with a timid hand placed on my shoulder.
"Don't touch me!" I screamed through a raw throat, shuffling away from the person on my butt and hands clumsily.
"Rhys, it's okay," T said, keeping his distance from me. "You ran out and I thought I would make sure that you were okay."
"I'm fine," I told him even though my voice sounded like it was being forced through a wood chipper.
"Normally people that classify themselves as fine don't have mental breakdowns in dark tunnels instead of eating lunch," he remarked, smirking at me.
"Go fuck yourself, stiff," I forced out through clenched teeth before standing up and shakily making my way to a bathroom to see the damage my meltdown had caused.
My neck was red and looked like I'd been strangled, but that was normal for me when I got worked up. I was more worried about my eyes giving away that I'd been sobbing, I could pass off the redness for an exercise-induced flush. I splashed my face with cold water and the redness around my eyes went down considerably, but I couldn't do anything about them being bloodshot.
I just pushed the thought away and placed it in the same box that I kept him and the memories of that night in. I was going to go train and be a badass at knife throwing so if I ever saw him again, I could throw one and kill him without even getting close and smelling his sick scent again.
I squared my shoulders and held my head high as I walked back into the dining hall. I saw Kadence smiling at me, but T was missing. I remembered that I'd called him "stiff" and knew that had hurt his feelings. I had to apologize to him later on, he was just trying to be a good friend and make sure I was okay and I bit his head off.
"You look flushed," she remarked as I sat down and started eating the pork that was provided for us. "Did you and T get it on by the chasm? Knock boots in the dark, romantic tunnels? Bump uglies in the training room?"
"You're literally too Candor for your own good, Kadence," Lance remarked before sitting down across from us. "Sorry to jump your ass, red. I can't let the others think I let you half-ass training because I think you're beautiful."
"Why don't you do us both a favor and shove your excuses up your ass for me, sweetheart?" I asked sweetly, fluttering my eyelashes at him.
That made the entire table burst into laughter and effectively took the attention off of our encounter. I didn't know if Lance was aware, but he drew a lot of peoples' gazes when he sat with Kadence and me. It increased tenfold when he made a comment about how beautiful I was. The last thing I needed was for people to think I was sleeping my way to top rank.
Thank you for reading, I hope that past scene wasn't too bad to read...