Sky lay with him until his breathing evened out, signaling that he was asleep. She waited about 20 more minutes before quietly sliding his arm off her hip and crawling out of his bed. She grabbed her shoes and shut the door silently behind her. After she put her shoes back on, she re-braided her hair and walked slowly towards the dorms. She touched her lips and noticed they were already a bit swollen from the make out session she just had. Her thoughts were so consumed by what just happened, she didn't hear Al calling her name until the third time he said it. She was surprised to see him out this late, "Oh Al! Hey, what's going on?" He walked towards a bench, "Well I just uhh wanted to talk to you about something," he said this as he patted the spot next to him. She slowly walked towards him, knowing what he wanted to talk about. She already had a pit of guilt in her stomach for what was going to happen next.
He held her hand gingerly, "Sky, I think you're amazing. Like really amazing. And beautiful, probably the most beautiful person I've ever met. And you are so incredibly brave and loyal to people around you, I've been so thankful that I was lucky enough to meet you." She blushed and that pit in her stomach began to build. "Thanks Al, you are pretty great too! I'm lucky to have a good friend like you."
He turned so he was fully facing her, "But that's the thing Sky. I don't want to just be your friend, I want to be more. I've had the biggest crush on you since I saw you jump off the train our first day here. And I've been trying to find the courage to finally do this before I lose my chance…" Before she could reply, he pulled her towards him and started kissing her. After getting over her initial shock of what was happening, she pulled back from Al. Ignoring the hurt in his eyes, she began the speech she's mastered over the last two years. "Al, you are an amazing guy. And I'm so lucky to have you in my life, but as a friend. I love our friendship and would never want to jeopardize that by trying to make it something more." His expression reminded her of a kicked puppy, he nodded sadly "yeah, definitely. Don't want to lose that friendship. I uhh gotta go…" His voice was wavering on that last word, but before she could try to comfort him any further, he was already up and heading to the dorms.
She sat there quietly for about 15 minutes before taking a deep breath and walking to the dorms. She showered and then lay down, she didn't fall asleep until a couple of hours later. By the time Four woke them the next morning she had only gotten two hours of sleep and she felt exhausted. When she looked up at Four he looked miserably hung over, he also wasn't making eye contact with her.
During their five mile run, Sky hung back with Rae again who was eyeing her closely. "What happened to your mouth?" Sky laughed, "What do you mean? Nothing happened to my mouth.." Sky was noticeably cheerier than usual, but Rae couldn't pin point why. "You're lips look really…swollen…" Rae took a few minutes to think before exclaiming "Oh my god! You made out with someone didn't you?!" All of the initiates stopped and turned to her when they heard this. "What?" she asked, pretending to be clueless. "I don't know what you're talking about? Who would I have made out with?" Before Rae could reply, Four shouted at them all "Sprint to the building now!" And they all took off, Al was behind everyone so Sky slowed her pace to match his. "Hey Al, how's it going?" she asked, gauging the level of awkwardness. "It's going," he replied coldly before picking his pace up to pass her. It's like he's trying to ignore me….but I didn't do anything? She was confused and frustrated, so she thought she'd catch up to Four for some pleasant conversation. "Hey, how you feeling?" He glanced at her quickly before coldly replying "Fine." He too ran ahead of her. There goes my good mood..This looks like a great forecast for the day…awesome. When they finished their run, they headed into the training room and began stretching out before practicing their knife throwing. Sky threw a few and hit the target dead on, feeling Al's glare on her back. When she went to get more knives, she realized Al was there as well. Not for long though, he walked away as soon as she reached him.
Eric walked over, "Wow, it's feeling a little chilly in here…" Sky laughed harshly, "Tell me about it…Today is great." Handing her a knife, Eric winked, "Let me know if there's anybody messing with you I should take care of." She shook her head and replied "Thanks I'll keep that in mind," before returning to her spot. They continued like this for about an hour before Sky couldn't bear it anymore. She walked over to Al and pulled him away from everyone saying, "We need to talk Al." When she turned around, his arms were crossed and he wore an angry/hurt expression. He arched his eyebrow waiting for her to start. She grabbed his shoulders saying, "Al, I need you to not hate me. This is exactly what I was afraid of happening. I don't want to lose you Al, you mean a lot to me and I jus-" He interrupted her with another kiss, again surprising her. She threw her hands up before pushing him roughly away, "What the hell Al?!" He glared at her and shook his head, "You are such a fucking tease Sky! You play one moment being super nice and friendly with me and then when I take it as affection you push me away? What kind of game are you playing?"
The fact that he called her a tease pissed her off, "I'm a tease because I am nice to you?! Because I consider you a friend? Are you kidding me?" He stood close to her so his face was a few inches from hers, "No, you're not just a tease, you're a slut too! You flirt with every fucking guy here! Which one was the one you were making out with, huh? Or should I say was I the only one you WEREN'T making out with?" At this she gasped and backhanded him, "Fuck you Al! I never did anything to lead you on, I was a FRIEND AL! I thought you'd understand that I just wanted to be friends, but obviously not. But don't worry because now I want nothing to do with you!" With that she stomped back over to the knives and continued target practice with Four and Eric's eyes on her.
It wasn't long until Rae noticed the tears in her eyes, "You okay Sky?" She nodded quietly before turning to her friend, "He called me a slut and a tease….all because I didn't want to be more than friends with him. Can you believe that?"
Rae hesitated, "Well…you had been pretty friendly with him that day on the tracks.." Sky was shocked at Rae's words. "And you did say you'd give him a chance…" Sky interrupted, "I did! I tried! He kissed me and I felt nothing! I can't help that I'm not attracted to him!" Rae nodded, "No it's not your fault…but there have been rumors Sky…about you and a few other Dauntless members. And your lips are swollen like you've been kissing someone very intensely…who were you kissing?"
Sky bit her lip, "No one…" she corrected herself when she realized Rae could tell she was lying. "I can't tell you, at least not yet." Rae just shook her head, looking hurt. "You don't trust me enough to tell me? Really Sky? Best friends my ass…" Rae turned to walk away when Sky grabbed her arm, "Rae I do trust you, and you are my best friend.. we just…haven't figured the whole thing out yet, so I want to keep it under wraps…" Rae looked at her coldly, "Yeah sure Sky, whatever." And walked away.
Sky returned to throwing knives at her target, hitting each one with tears silently falling. She heard someone walk up behind her but she was determine to stay focused on her target. "I always did hate seeing you cry" Peter said. "Broke my heart seeing you cry a year ago, breaks my heart now." She sniffed and turned to him, trying to keep her voice from wavering "Whatever game you're trying to run, just stop Peter. Ok? Just stop, I can't take this right now." She walked towards the doors past Four and Eric, "I need some air."