Shout out to FourtrisHEA- thanks for being such an awesome sounding board! Love the ideas you share with me. You're the best!

CHAPTER FOUR

Uriah

"How did… what…" Marlene stutters after Tris's small figure disappears over the ledge. "How did you know?!" At the ledge, Christina is jumping; unlike Tris, she screams her head off. "Seriously how? How did you even think to say Abnegation would jump first? Stiffs never transfer to Dauntless!"

There is really no explanation I can think of that she'll accept. I shrug. "I just know things. I had a feeling."

"That must have been one strong feeling, if you risked a week's worth of Dauntless cake for it."

"Yeah, but look what I ended up getting out of it! A whole month of extra cake!" Marlene scowls at me. "Come on, let's get down there." Lynn has already gotten in line to jump, and I stand behind her. Marlene follows me.

"I'm starting to think you really are psychic. Like you just woke up yesterday with this new superpower. First the carousel, now the Stiff?"

"Can you two shut up?" Lynn snaps. Maybe she's nervous about jumping. Peter is about to jump and Lynn is lined up to jump after him.

"Well, the Stiff seems cool. We should try and make friends with her." Marlene shrugs as Lynn jumps off the ledge.

Now it's my turn. I know there's nothing to be afraid of here. I don't have a clue why I didn't volunteer sooner last time around. As soon as Max signals that it's clear to go, I let myself fall backward. It feels almost like flying or something, free falling such a long distance. I scream on the way down, just because I think that makes things like jumping off high things and zip lining more fun, and when my body hits the net, I bounce into the air and back to the net a few times before my body finally settles into it and I can pull myself out. Marlene soon tumbles into the net and rolls out next to me on the platform.

When we reach the bottom Marlene marches up to Tris and Christina. "Hi," she says with a smile, "I'm Marlene." Tris and Christina respond with their own names. "So, Tris, I have a question for you."

"Um, okay…."

Marlene grabs my arm and pulls me toward her. "Did Uriah here tell you about the net before you jumped? Did he tell you to go first?"

Tris laughed. "No to both. I did not know about the net until I first landed in it." I smirk at her careful choice of words- first landed in it.

Marlene sighs as I introduce myself to Tris and Christina. Soon all the initiates have jumped and gathered at the bottom of the platform, and Lauren and Four stand in front of the group. With a wave of her hand, Lauren gestures for us all to follow as she and Four start down the dark tunnel.

The Dauntless compound is mostly underground, basically carved out of stone, so it's a pretty dark place. The hallways have blue globe lanterns hanging at intervals, a lot like the ones at the Choosing Ceremony. I grew up here, though, so I've always been able to see in the dark. The transfers, however, seem to be walking blind, so when Lauren and Four stop, it causes a bit of a pile-up. I'm glad I stayed off to one side.

"This is where we divide," Lauren says. "Dauntless born, you're with me. I assume you don't need a tour of the place." With that, she leads us away from Four and his initiates. We keep walking until we arrive at our dormitory. A half-dozen bunk beds are lined up against the wall; we'll all sleep here, boys and girls together.

"Alright, listen up!" Lauren yells. Slowly the chatter dies out, then Lauren continues in a more normal voice. "In case anyone does not know… you will train separate from the transfers, but you will all be ranked together. Only the top ten ranked will become members; those who do not make the top ten will leave Dauntless and live factionless. The bottom four initiates will be cut at the end of stage one, and the rest after the final exam. Training begins each morning at eight and ends at six with a break for lunch mid-day. Do not be late to training! You all know where to go. Now would be a good time to gather anything you need from your parents' homes, then come to the dining hall for dinner. See you all at eight AM sharp tomorrow!" Lauren then vanishes out the door of the dormitory.

I climb onto a top bunk and peel off my hoodie to leave there and stake my claim. Marlene takes the top bunk of the bed next to me, and Lynn chooses to be Mar's bunkmate and sleep below her. "C'mon, guys, let's go get our stuff from home and get to the cafeteria. I'm really looking forward to that second piece of cake." Marlene glares at me, and I chuckle and toss an arm over her shoulders on the way out the dormitory door.

Tobias

I wait by the net for the first initiate to jump. "I bet you it's one of my Dauntless-born," Lauren, the Dauntless-born trainer, says.

"It's always a Dauntless-born. No bet." The initiates that were born here at Dauntless usually have the advantage of knowing that a net will catch them at the bottom of the drop. The cultures of our factions determine how we are raised, what is valued and encouraged. Dauntless dependants are curious and adventurous, so they've usually explored the compound enough by the age of sixteen to be aware of the net. They also grow up with an all-or-nothing mentality; when they do something, they commit and see it through. They don't hold back. For a transfer to just innately have that same mentality and personality without it being practiced would be extremely unusual.

I hear Max giving the speech and I get ready for the first one to drop. Typically, it takes a few minutes and some taunting for anyone to get the courage to jump but this year, it's nearly immediate, and when it's a small blur of gray, I'm shocked. Abnegation?! Not just any Abnegation. This is a girl is so small, it's hard to believe that she could be sixteen. She looks so fragile, I'm surprised the landing in the net didn't shatter her to pieces. She doesn't scream on the way down and when she lands she giggles with joy. That's right, she actually giggles.

I reach my hand into the net and she grabs hold. As she rolls out, she loses her balance, and I catch her, a hand on each arm to steady her. As I had first noticed, she's very small and fragile looking. A full foot shorter than me, scrawny. Her long blond hair is still in its standard Abnegation-style bun, but several strands have come loose and hang framing her face. She has full, pouty lips, a thin, straight nose, and piercing blue eyes. They are large and round and have me absolutely mesmerised. Her eyes stare directly into mine, and I could swear she's looking into my soul. It's as if she can see right through every wall I've spent my whole life building and it's unnerving. Even stranger, it's not one-sided. She seems familiar, but not because I know her from Abnegation. It's deeper than that; a connection waiting to be explored.

Lauren breaks my trance. "A Stiff? First to jump? Unheard of!"

I shouldn't care- I'm not a Stiff any more, and I certainly did not jump first my year. In fact I was last. But for some reason, I can't help defending this small but fierce girl. "There's a reason why she left them, Lauren." I turn back to my first jumper. "What's your name?"

The girl smiles and answers without hesitation, "Tris." Huh. I don't remember anyone in Abnegation named Tris.

"Tris," Lauren repeats. "Make the announcement, Four!"

I call over my shoulder, "First jumper- Tris!" As the next initiate- a Candor this time- lands in the net screaming her head off, I guide Tris to the stairs with my hand on her back. "Welcome to Dauntless," I say.

I have just finished showing my initiates around the Pit and the Chasm. This is my second year training the transfer initiates. The group is made up of five Candor, three Erudite, and, much to my surprise, one Abnegation. Up to now, I was the sole Abnegation transfer in the history of Dauntless, so for another to come just two years later is a shock.

I lead my group of transfers into the dining hall. Members cheer and stomp feet and pound their fists on the table in welcome as I make my way to a nearly empty table on the far side of the room. Tris ends up sitting next to me with Christina on the other side.

I take a bite of my hamburger and notice Tris eyeing her own curiously. It brings me back to my first meal in Dauntless and how foreign the food was. I nudge her with my elbow. "It's beef. Here, put this on it." I pass her a bowl of ketchup. Tris smiles slightly at me in thanks.

"You've never had a hamburger before?" Christina asks in shock. Somehow it doesn't surprise me that a Candor would be so oblivious to cultural differences between the factions. Typical.

"Stiffs eat plain food," I say.

"Why?"

"Extravagance is considered self-indulgent and unnecessary," Tris recites.

"No wonder you left."

Tris rolls her eyes and shoots sarcastically back, "yeah, it was just because of the food." I try to hide my smile but feel one corner of my lips twitch upward. Tris is glancing my way and must notice, because she smiles slightly back. It's like there's just this… familiarity. She's too comfortable with me. Most people are intimidated by me, so I don't understand what's going on here. Maybe she's just not easily scared.

The doors to the cafeteria open and the room grows uncharacteristically quiet for Dauntless. I quickly see why: Eric. And he's making his way toward me. Great.

"Who's that?" Christina whispers.

I answer, "His name is Eric. He's a Dauntless leader."

Christina's eyebrows raise in surprise. "Seriously? But he's so young!"

"Age doesn't matter here," I say solemnly. Connections to Jeanine Matthews do.

And joy oh joy, it's my lucky day. Eric drops into the seat next to me. After a moment he says, "Well, Four? Aren't you going to introduce me?" Nope, hadn't planned on it. Tris tenses next to me. Can she sense the evil radiating off of him?

I sigh in annoyance. "Eric, this is Tris and Christina."

"Ooh, a Stiff." Eric smirks at her and I clench my teeth. I don't like how he's looking at her- like she's his next meal. "We'll see how long you last." I resist the urge to remind him that the last Stiff that transferred to Dauntless- me- knocked out one of Eric's teeth, and took first place in the rankings, leaving him as second. That would give away who I am and where I came from, though, so I don't. On the contrary; I silently pray that he doesn't make a comment revealing that I was a Stiff, too. And the truth is, he's right. When Eric and I were initiates, the fights weren't as brutal, and there was not a limit to how many initiates could become members. Small and weak as Tris is, it's very unlikely she'll make it through the first stage of training.

Tris's expression hardens. "You never know, I just might surprise you," she says. My eyes widen slightly- Eric is a scary looking person, especially coming from somewhere as conservative as Abnegation, but then again, she didn't seem even remotely intimidated by me, either. From what I've seen so far, what this girl lacks in body mass, she makes up for in spirit.

Eric's eyes narrow at her as his fingers tap the table, but he lets it go and turns his attention to me. "What have you been doing lately, Four?"

I shrug one shoulder. "Nothing, really." I just want him to leave already. Eric and I are not friends by any stretch of the imagination. I outranked him in our initiation, and even though I turned down the leadership position, leaving it to him, he's never gotten over it.

"Max tells me he keeps trying to meet with you and you don't show up. He requested that I find out what's going on with you."

Again? Isn't Max ever going to let it go? "Tell him," I say, "that I am satisfied with the position I currently hold."

"So he wants to give you a job."

"So it would seem."

"And you're not interested?"

I roll my eyes slightly. "I haven't been interested in two years."

"Well," Eric claps me hard on the shoulder- a gesture meant to appear friendly… but feel menacing. "Let's hope he gets the point then." Eric gets up and walks away, and I relax the tension I had been holding throughout my body.

Tris looks like she's trying to figure out how to say whatever it is she's thinking then she says, "so… are you two… friends?"

How do I answer this without answering it? "We were in the same initiate class. He transferred from Erudite." Being from Abnegation, I know she will be wary of the Erudite, so hopefully she will get the clue to stay far away from Eric.

"Were you a transfer, too?" Tris asks with a small smile.

I don't like to answer personal questions, and we are in a cafeteria full of people. She is much too comfortable with me- I have no idea why, but she is. I guess I'll be fixing that now. "I thought I would only have trouble with the Candor asking me too many questions," I say with the coldest tone I can muster. "Now I've got Stiffs, too?" I internally cringe and apologize for using a derogatory term like Stiffs. I have to play the part, though. No one knows where I came from, and that's the way I like it.

Tris looks at me with a hard expression. "It must be so because you're so approachable. You know, like a bed of nails." How did this girl come from Abnegation?! The Abnegation don't use sarcasm. At all. And yet in her first hour here, she's been sarcastic to me- me, the guy everyone is always afraid of- twice already. I'm surprised she's even fluent in it at all.

I stare at her and she stares back, like she refuses to let me win. She's fascinating. So stubborn! And very brave; standing up for yourself is something you just don't do in Abnegation, but here she is.

"Careful, Tris," I say. Her kind of bravery is dangerous in Dauntless. She should be careful what she says, to me and to anyone else. It's when I say her name that it hits me. I know exactly who she is. Tris is short for Beatrice. She's Andrew Prior's Daughter.

Tris

One thing I'm not particularly excited about with this whole second chance thing is spending another month or so living in the co-ed dorms. I'm even less excited about the co-ed bathrooms. I thought I was done with all that… and now I'm back to it. I'm more comfortable than I was when I arrived here the first time, at least, though.

I recall how hard it was to fall asleep here, at first. I had never slept in a room with other people before and was suddenly thrust into a situation where there were eight others breaking the silence with their breathing, beds squeaking as they tossed and turned, and worst of all, the crying. Only one initiate, though, is loudly and openly crying, and that is Al. After what happened to him, well, I suppose I've forgiven him… I know I had… but I didn't think I'd ever be put back into a situation where I'd see him again. How could I? He was dead. Yet, here I am. I'm really not sure how to feel about him or what to do over these next few weeks, in regards to him.

In the little bit of light coming through a crack in the doorway, now that my eyes have adjusted, I can see the face of my watch. It reads eleven twenty-five. I am to meet Uriah in five minutes. I quietly slip on my shoes- I am still in the habit of sleeping in my clothes- and tiptoe out of the dormitory. I wait just around the corner for about two minutes to be sure no one is following me, and no one comes. With Peter around, I can't be too careful.

Uriah is there waiting when I reach the chasm. "How was your double-serving of cake?" I ask him with a grin.

"Delicious, of course. You don't really expect me to share that, do you?"

"I think you know better than to ask me that." I glance around one more time to make sure we are alone, and then down into the chasm where I know Tobias likes to sit and think. I don't see anyone anywhere. "Let's go somewhere not so out in the open," I suggest.

Uriah leads us into a little alcove nearby, away from any hallways. "Okay," he says. "So… what do we do? You're the brain here, Nose."

I roll my eyes. "Well, um... I don't know. I suppose we can't tell anyone what we know because no one would ever believe us. Four did tell me a few days before the attack happened on Abnegation, though, that something was happening and he just hadn't figured out what. Maybe we can come up with some believable story by then. And maybe we should start by brainstorming everything we know about the war- who our enemies are, who our allies are… when different things happened, and what led up to them, what the motives were. What information we would need to get Candor to arrest the people in charge of all this, maybe?"

Uriah nods. "There's going to be a lot to think about. One thing I did think of… Caleb." I huff in disgust and anger. Just like with Al, I may have forgiven Caleb before, but now I'm back in this situation where he's going to betray me. It's no longer in the past. "He took information you gave him to Jeanine. What if we feed him false information, if it does ever get to the point that he's involved?"

That's brilliant. "I thought you said I was the Nose here, Uriah? Sounds pretty smart to me."

Uriah grins proudly. I get the feeling that, cocky as he may be, 'smart' is not an adjective that he usually associates to himself. "How are we going to meet without people seeing us or hearing us? This is going to take some time. And this is initiation. We need to sleep, too."

I shake my head. "I really don't know. I guess maybe like every third or fourth night we could meet like we are tonight, then maybe at the end of each stage when we have a day off we can meet for longer." We're coming out of the alcove now. "How's Marlene?"

Uriah smiles sweetly. "I really missed her. It's… I don't have words for how good it is to have her back. You're going to help me keep her this time, right?"

I use my index finger to draw an X over my left breast. "Cross my heart and hope- well, I don't hope to die, but you know what I mean." After all we have been through, death is nothing to take lightly.

"How is it so far, seeing him?" Uriah looks serious and concerned.

I sigh. I have tried my best to keep Tobias off my mind but he never seems to go far from the forefront of my thoughts. "He just… he doesn't know me. And I know him and I love him. I'll just be glad when these first few weeks are over."

"He'll come around," Uriah assures me, pulling me into a hug. I rest my head on his chest and sigh as I hug back.

A familiar, deep, rumbling voice startles us both. "What are you two doing out here?" Shit!

"Oh, uh, Four! How's it going, man?" Uriah says nervously. Tobias arches one eyebrow. "Uh… I think I'll be getting back to my dorm and getting to bed. Night, Tris!" Wow… I didn't know Uriah could run that fast.

"I can see why you transferred, Tris. You sure don't act like you're from Abnegation. Guess you'll fit right in here with the Dauntless boys like Uriah," Four says so coldly I almost shiver. Immediately I feel a familiar pressure behind my eyes and pray that I can hold back the tears until I get back to the dormitory. It's the first day, I just 'met' Tobias a few hours ago, and I've already screwed things up!

"I'm not- we weren't-" I stutter, desperate for him to understand that there is nothing between me and Uriah. Tobias is mine and I am his and it's the only way it can be. He has to understand! But I have no idea how to explain it to him.

"I don't care who you mess around with, Tris, just get your ass back to the dorm."

I bite my quivering lip and try to stand strong, but I'm too crushed. His glare is so cold… I just want my Tobias back. As I turn away from him and walk back to the dormitory, I taste blood where I've chewed a hole in my lip and the tears begin to fall.

I can't believe I already messed up. What if I can't fix it?