The next day she was radio silence towards Four. She was still irritated with his little game so she hung back and ran with Rae, who was curious as to why she got back to the dormitory so late. "We all saw you go off with Eric…what happened after you met Leadership?" Sky noticed Four turn a little at the mention of Eric, so she was careful with her response. "He just helped me with my form for shooting, and then showed me where he works when he's not training initiates." She shrugged, "It was cool, but nothing big." Rae smiled as though she believed her and went on to tell her what she missed at dinner.
The day went on without any interesting events, for once since they began initiation. The only difference was that Four and Sky were mutually ignoring each other and Eric was nowhere in sight. After they finished training, Sky, Rae, Will, and Al decided to go for a walk on the train tracks. Will and Rae were holding hands in the front, leaving Sky and Al in the back. Sky had the sudden feeling this was a setup, she couldn't help but notice how often Al's hands brushed against hers even after she tried to create more distance between them. "So…..the weather's pretty nice today huh?" His attempt at conversation was pretty sad. She just laughed "yeah it's pretty nice…." They walked in silence for a few seconds before she decided she needed to save herself from an incredibly boring walk, "Tell me about your family Al." This seems to have taken him by surprise because he stuttered as he began, "I..umm..my family? They were pretty cool, my parents were really nice. But I think my sister was their favorite, I failed a lot of the lie detector tests and she always passed…"
This shocked her, "They make you take lie detector tests?" He nodded sadly, "Yeah, every Friday. If you failed them, they'd make you clean the whole dining room and bathrooms for the whole weekend." Sky couldn't believe it, "So that's why candors don't lie, I never knew before…" He just laughed, "I guess that's one of the reasons…What about your family?"
She took a deep breath, she never really talked about her family. "My mom and dad were great, they never forgot to show me they loved me. But I didn't really fit in with them…They wanted me to become Abnegation Leadership, and as you can tell I would not make it there. I didn't really spend much time at home, I guess my parents were a lot more lenient and relaxed than most Abnegation parents." He tried to hold her hand, after a few minutes she tried to nonchalantly pull her hair out of her face and into a braid. Luckily, he didn't seem to notice. He was intrigued by her story, "So if you weren't home much, where were you?" She gave a small smile while playing with her braid, "I spent a lot of time with my best friend Tobias. We would run off and explore empty buildings or climb on someone's roof and eavesdrop on their conversations." Thinking of her time with Tobias brought a giant smile to her face. Al looked at her, "I love seeing you smile, you have the most beautiful smile I've ever seen…" She blushed and thanked him before continuing, "Our favorite spot to go was the marsh, there was this willow tree right by it. The willow branches were long enough that when we went under them, we were in our own little world. It was like no one existed except us. It's actually where we met….and the last time we were together…" Seeing her smile fade, Al wrapped his arm around her and she let him. "You really miss him don't you?"
She nodded and blinked away any possibility of tears, "He was my best friend in the whole world, the only one I would willingly die for. The only one that new everything about me. When he left, my entire life flipped upside down." She looked Al in the eyes, "Nothing has been the same since." Al couldn't quite place the sadness in her eyes, but he hated seeing her like this so he changed the subject.
"So I heard we're doing war games in a couple days, that should be thrilling yea?" She nodded excitedly, "I'm so happy we get to do it, it'll be awesome! Better hope you're on my team," she poked him playfully in the arm. He got a dreamy look in his eyes, "I hope I'm always on your team…you know, I never thanked you." She stopped and turned to him, "Thank me? For what?"
He was shocked she didn't remember, "For standing up to Eric for me, if you hadn't stood up to him, I would've flinched when Four was throwing knives. And then Eric would've kicked me out of Dauntless. I owe that to you." She just shrugged, "it was nothing, he was being a jerk. I stand up for my friends Al, always have, always will." She made sure to emphasize the word 'friend' hoping he would get the hint. He pulled her into a long hug, very long. She counted to 30 before he let go, Nope. Did not get the hint, she thought.
"Okay lovebirds," called Rae, seeming pleased with herself. "Let's catch this train and get back to the compound!" Al blushed at this while Sky rolled her eyes before beginning her run to catch the train.
Once they were on the train, she pulled Rae away from the boys so they could talk, "Are you guys seriously trying to play matchmaker?" Rae smiled sheepishly before replying, "Maaaayyybeee… How would you feel about that?" Without a second's pause, Sky replied "No. No. No. Please no." Rae's face was a mix of disappointment and sadness, "Why? Al is great! He's cute and nice and sweet! He'd be a great guy for you, like Will is for me.."
Sky shook her head vehemently, "Please don't do this Rae. He is a good friend and I don't want to lose him. But I do not, I repeat do not, have any feelings for him other than friendly ones." Rae hit her playfully on the shoulder, "Oh come one! You haven't even given him a chance! He could be made for you, but you won't know unless you give him a chance to show you!" Sky just crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, "Rae, I really have no attraction towards him. At all."
Rae smiled and pinched Sky's cheeks before replying, "You will if you give it time. Just give him a try, a few days!" Knowing she would not get out of this argument, Sky uncrossed her arms and let them drop in defeat. With that, Rae skipped back to the boys with Sky following.