Training with the guns isn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. Sure, I probably have a bruise now on my chest from when the gun jerked back into me when I fired for the first time. But it's not nearly as bad as Al. The gun shot back and because of the way he was holding it, he now has a black eye. I feel bad for him and part of me wonders if he's going to make it. It's bad of me to think that of a friend, but he's been falling behind. According to Tobias said, training isn't going to go on for much longer, just another month, and if Al doesn't raise above the line he'll be kicked out. I'm worried for Al, but I fear that offer to help him, he'll take it the wrong way and he'll do something rash. Or maybe he'll think that the offer means more than it actually does. I want to help him and that's because it's how my parents raised me, but the other part of me, the part that I've kept hidden from them, I know that this place is kill or be killed. You have to do what it takes to survive and if you don't make the cut, you're gone. I know that my parents will be disappointed in me if they knew the things that I was thinking about, but I didn't have a choice here. This was my life now and I had to make sure I survived. So Al was going to have to make it on his own. He was going to have to figure out what he needs to do to raise his rankings. We aren't kids anymore. He has to grow up and do this himself.

It takes me several tries and several bullets to finally hit the target. When I finally hit the center of the target, I feel a rush of adrenaline spread through me. Before coming to this school I never thought that I would find joy in shooting a gun at a target. Let alone, shooting a gun in general, but I have. But the feeling is powerful and I can't stop myself from glancing over at Tobias who is watching the group. He doesn't look at me, but I can see the slight smile on his lips. I turn back to the target and fire again.

"It's all in the statistics," Will says from next to me.

I look over at him, surprised. Within all of the excitement and gunfire I hadn't even realized that he had even been standing next to me. "What?"

"With all the shots that you took, you were bound to hit the target eventually."

I stare at him. "Was that...a compliment?"

He stares at me. "No..." he says slowly. "Just encouragement?"

I shake my head. "No," I say. "That's not how you encourage people, Will."

"Oh," he says, offering a sheepish grin. "Sorry."

"It's okay," I tell him. "You've got to learn sometime."

He grins at me and we both turn back toward the targets before taking another shot.

Several hours later, after training is over for the day, everyone goes their separate ways. I want to linger behind to talk to Tobias, but I know that that will only makes things worse in Peter's mind. I don't need to give him the wrong idea or make him have any information that he could use against me or Tobias. So I follow my friends down from the roof toward the main lobby of the Dauntless building. We head into the cafeteria to get something to tide us over until dinner and then we all head down to the dorms again. Once we're all sitting, the gossiping starts. And the subject matter starts to make me a little iffy...and nervous.

"Have you heard the rumors?" Christina asks, a grin on her face.

"Which ones?" Al asks. "There are so many, sometimes it's hard to keep up."

He wasn't wrong. The amount of gossip that I have heard in my few short days here was incredible. It was like people couldn't stop talking about other people. I didn't really see the appeal; what was the point in trading secrets that weren't necessarily true? What joy did it bring to know that your words could hurt someone? It never made sense to me.

"The rumors about Four possibly being involved with an initiate."

I freeze in my spot, trying to make it seem like the words didn't affect me. So I let out a breath before tugging at the frayed strings on my comforter. "There can't be any truth to that," I say. "Who'd risk that?"

"Uhm, have you see him?" One of the girls from our initiation class, Molly, asks coming around the corner and joining me on my bed. Her friends Uriah and Lynn follow her over sitting on Christina and Will's bed respectively.

"Well yeah, I've seen him," I say. "But why would someone risk exposure if it meant being homeless?"

"Maybe they're not smart," Uriah says looking around the room at the other initiatives. Molly narrows her eyes at him and he raises his hands in defense. "Not you, of course," he says before turning back to us.

"I'd watch your back with her," Will says. "She seems dangerous."

"Maybe it's her," Lynn says. "He seems like he could like that sort of thing."

I glance over at Molly and I try to picture Tobias and Molly together and I can't stop myself from laughing. Everyone looks at me and I turn bright red. "Sorry," I say quickly. "I just...I don't see it. Even if he was into something like that," which he's not, "I don't think Molly would risk it."

"You're right," Al says. "So who could it be?"

"No idea," I say.

"Well, you've spent more time with him that anyone," Christina says. "You should have some soft of clue who he's into."

"What?!" I ask her, my eyes going wide. "I don't spend any time with him."

"No, shut up," she says. "I just mean that he's spoken to you more than any of us in this group. Plus, that first day he couldn't stop looking at you."

I shake my head. "He's just said some stuff about training."

"Ooh...maybe it's you!" Marlene teases me.

"Ha ha," I tell her, forcing out the sound. "Please, you weren't there earlier today. He called me plain. To my face. There's no way that he would be interested in me." And even though I knew he didn't mean anything by it, I couldn't help but feel like there ran some truth to the words. It really didn't make sense, him and me. What he saw in me, I mean. I showed up here, weak, and a little girl. But things were different now. I was growing. But I guess it was a good thing that it wasn't so obvious that something was happening between the two of us . It meant that my friends wouldn't figure anything out.

"Yeah," Christina says, after a while. I see Peter walk into the room and I do my best to avoid his cold gaze. Christina notices him as well and she straightens up. "She's right. He could barely look at her. But...he gave really great advice about if a guy liked a girl, that he should just tell her. Come right out and do it. Because Dauntless is about being brave, after all." She looks at me and winks and I have to fight back a shudder.

"Who started that rumor, by the way?" I ask her. "About Four and an initiate?"

"Who else?" Will shrugs. "It was Peter."

"What did I do?" Peter asks coming toward us.

"You're making up rumors," Lynn says. "What's up with that?"

"Who said it was a rumor?" Peter says. "It could very well be true."

"Do you have any evidence?'

"Well...no, but-"

"There you go," I say. "It's not true unless you have something to back it up."

He stares at me for a second before looking at Christina. "What was that you were saying about a guy telling a girl he likes her?"

"That you should just do it," she says standing up with a grin. "Be brave, Peter. Be brave."

She cocks her head to the side and everyone gets up to follow her up the stairs toward the cafeteria. I stay where I am, but only because Peter is blocking my way. I look up at him. "Can I help you?" I ask him. I try to sound more strong and less nervous, but my voice comes out sounding shaky anyway and it embarrasses me.

He's staring at me. Not normal Peter scowl stare, but he's staring at me. The muscle in his jaw pulses and I realize he's holding his hands together in fists. Oh god no. Please don't tell me that Christina just gave him the okay to tell me that he had feelings for me or something. This on top of the awkward as hell conversation about Tobias and Molly would just be too much. I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't be able to handle it. How in the world could Peter like me?

"Can I talk to you?"

"About what?" I ask. I can't even move at this point. It's like I am stuck to the comforter and if I try to move, I'll fall over and make a scene and it'll end up being more embarrassing than this actual conversation.

"Uh," he pauses and it makes me look up at him. And what I see on his face is so strange...so different that what I've seen on his face before that it takes me by surprise. I see something human. I swallow past the lump in my throat. "I've been kind of a dick to you."

"Yeah," I say. The answer is quick, but uncalled for. Even I know better than that.

"Can I continue?" he asks. I nod. "I've been a dick and you deserve to know the reason why."

I shake my head and finally find the strength to get up from the bed. "I don't think we need to do this," I tell him.

He grabs my arm, I think maybe out of reflex and then he drops my hand like it's burned him or something. "Sorry," he says. "I like you, Tris."

There it was. It was out there and there was no taking it back. "No," I tell him. "No you don't."

Peter looks confused. "Yeah I do," he says.

And that's when he grabbed my hand and pulled me toward him. I was too surprised to move. I felt like an outside party watching as he leaned in to kiss him. It lasted longer than it should have. I yanked my arm away and ran for the door. Past Tobias who had been standing there, for how long, I have no idea. But I ran toward him and up the steps toward the front hall. I'm not leaving the grounds of the building. I just need some air.