a/n: this chapter needs a name - am seriously in need of suggestions :)

'Zeke! Where've you been? Come on, we're going to be late!'

I hear Uriah calling me, but don't feel like moving. I spent most of the night talking to Four and Shauna by the chasm, and I'm tired. The chasm is amazing at night; there is the barest glimpse of the stars through the glass ceiling. Shauna loves it; she has asked me to take her there again, and I love seeing the wonder and happiness in her eyes. Four says nothing; he never says anything; but I know he enjoys it. I can see it in the way he looks at the rushing water and the sharp rocks.

We go there almost every night. The place I showed them while we were fresh out of initiation, the place that Maria showed me. It's as quiet as the Dauntless compound gets, at any time, and very relaxing. I talk to Shauna there; Four seems content just listening; I don't think I've ever seen him hold a whole conversation before without lapsing into silence.

He fell asleep there once, late at night a few days ago, and after committing the picture to memory forever, Shauna and I didn't try to wake him up. We knew he needed the sleep; the initiation instructor's training is said to be rigorous and testing in all areas; and besides, we hadn't even noticed until Shauna asked him a question; we're used to the way he doesn't say much. He looked so relaxed, younger than his seventeen years, and no one would have found us, so we deemed it safe to stay there.

He woke up a few hours later, to see Shauna and me still sitting there, talking like nothing had happened. I don't think he knew how long he had been sleeping for, but he seemed embarrassed by it, and none of us have talked about it since it happened.

Last night, we were talking almost until the morning. Four left us to get some sleep before his leadership training; he has a room by himself. I don't understand why he can even tolerate the still, silent atmosphere of that room, let alone like it. He told me once that he asked to live there; I think it was his inner Abnegation showing. I tried to make a joke about that, but the look he gave me was enough of an answer.

'Zeke!'

'I'm coming,' I call to Uriah.

'Bring Shauna as well!'

I beckon to Shauna, who I've been sharing a room with since initiation ended. It was an unspoken decision; we both knew that we wanted to share a room together, despite neither of us admitting it. In the end, she was the one who asked me. She grins and follows me. 'What do you think he wants now?'

'No idea,' she replies. I smile back at her. Does she know how much I like her? I haven't ever told her. I hope she knows, but common sense tells me that she doesn't. She isn't a mind-reader.

'Zeke!' yells Uriah from outside. 'I'm getting the others; meet me in the canteen. And hurry up; I want to talk to you!'

'Okay,' I call. Uriah is even more impatient than Marlene and Lynn, and that takes something.

I run down to the canteen, pulling Shauna along with me. The Dauntless compound is busy, buzzing with people milling around, but it is easy to find a pathway through them; Dauntless find it easy to pass through huge crowds without difficulty.

'Where's the fire?' calls Four from across the corridor. I look around, trying to pinpoint his location. Shauna gestures to him, waving his arm from the other side, closer to the canteen.

'The canteen,' I call. 'Don't you know? Uriah's been banging on our door for the past five minutes.'

Four smiles slightly. 'I can imagine.' Suddenly understanding lights his eyes. 'Oh, they're announcing the jobs positions, aren't they? Max mentioned it earlier.'

'They didn't do that last year,' says Shauna, looking puzzled. 'Isn't that more like what the Erudite do?'

'Our city is changing,' says Four. I can tell that it's something he's heard many times before, but I don't ask him where he's heard it from.

'Why would Max do what the Erudite does?' I ask. 'He's not…' I trail off, not entirely knowing what to say.

Something I don't recognise sparks in Four's eyes. 'They'll be announcing the leadership position, then.' His voice is wry, and I remember that he wanted to be a leader of Dauntless, but didn't get to the final stage. At Shauna's understanding smile, I briefly wonder if he's told her more than he's told me.

'Who do you think was chosen?' I ask. I don't know many of the people who applied for leadership; it's not widely known, though we do talk about it a lot.

Shauna and Four are giving me identical scathing looks. 'It's Eric,' Four says irritably, 'of course it's going to be Eric.'

I gape. 'How the hell did he beat you? You beat him in everything! You would be so much of a better leader than him; what made Max choose him over you?'

Four gives me a twisted smile. 'It's not that. Leadership isn't for me, but it's all he wants. He'd be better off getting it; the control room is better for me. I'll be an initiation instructor as well; I wouldn't have been able to do that if I'd been chosen for leadership.'

That's not true; I know that leaders can have other jobs as well. Again, I wonder if there's something he's not telling me.

'What are you going to do about it?' I ask without meaning to

'What? Nothing. Nothing needs to be done,' he says. 'We need to get to the canteen. I'm hungry, even if you aren't.' He walks off quickly, and I pull a face at Shauna.

'I don't really want to go anymore,' I say. 'Now we're going to have to see Eric getting the leadership position.' I can already picture his smug face and know-it-all grin.

'Well, Four gets it much worse,' Shauna says. 'Have you seen the way they look at each other?' Eric always looks like he knows something Four doesn't, and Four looks at Eric with a stare enough to cut glass.

We arrive at the canteen with time to spare. Shauna and I sit down with Four and eat; I notice that he doesn't eat much, pushing his food around his plate until Uriah, Lynn and Marlene join us.

'Zeke, I…' Uriah begins. Before he can continue, Max stands on a podium in front of a board and waves for attention.

'Quiet, everyone!' he shouts. It takes a few minutes for everyone to stop talking, but Max continues. 'Today, I will announce the newest Dauntless members' jobs. I am sure you've all heard rumours about the leadership position. And we have narrowed it down to one person.' He pauses dramatically. 'Our newest addition to the leadership team is… Eric!'

There is muted applause. Four claps faintly, but I can sense that it's more out of politeness than anything else. Eric stands up in front of the crowd and takes his place on the stage, smirking. It may be my imagination, but I am sure he locks eyes with Four for a moment.

'Many thanks to Four, Maria, and all others who tried out for leadership,' Max says. 'I'm sorry it didn't work out for you, but I know that other opportunities have arisen for you, and maybe you'll have another shot at leadership soon.'

At Four's face, I know that 'another shot at leadership' isn't at all likely for him.

'And onto the rest of our new jobs!' There is a resounding cheer that all of us join in with. 'There are, I'm pleased to say, a record number out on patrol this year. Shauna, Nicole…'

Shauna and all of the other new Dauntless on patrol stand up, taking their place on the stage as Max rattles off a fairly long list of names.

'In the control room,' Max continues, 'Four, Zeke and Steph!' A Dauntless girl that I don't recognise, Four and I walk up to the stage, standing next to Shauna. She grins at us, and even Four smiles back. 'In charge of maintenance this year, there will be…'

I have to hide my smile. Everyone knows that maintenance is just the posh word for the janitors and cleaners.

Eventually, all of our initiates from this year are standing up on the stage, but Max hasn't finished. 'And finally, last but not least; our newest initiation instructor, Four!'

Four ducks his head, looking embarrassed. Shauna and I gently shove him forward to be acknowledged. He tries to step back, but we push him back to enjoy the applause for another few seconds. As soon as it starts to die, he quickly takes his spot back in the line. What is it that makes him hate the limelight so much? He's not shy in front of most people; maybe it was just sixteen years in his old faction.

'So let's have another round of applause for our Dauntless members who are now contributing to our faction!' The room fills with cheering again. Shauna, Four and I take our seats, and Marlene and Uriah congratulate us. Lynn smiles; her equivalent of a congratulations. She rarely speaks anymore.

'Are you looking forward to starting your jobs properly?' asks Marlene.

'Yeah, definitely,' Shauna says. 'It'll be the first time I go on patrol without about three others telling me what I have to do and not do. And it's getting warmer outside.' There's a light in her eyes. 'Did I tell you I'm learning to drive a truck?' She tells us about trucks and patrolling, waving her arms around animatedly to illustrate various points. Marlene and Uriah look interested; Lynn seems bored, but it's obvious she's listening.

As we walk back to the chasm after eating, I laugh at Marlene's ineffectual attempts to flirt with Four. It's blindingly obvious he's not interested, and yet she keeps walking too close to him, trying too hard to engage him in conversation. Shauna and I hang back, silently laughing, but Four doesn't seem to know what to do. He looks at us, and I give him my cheeriest smile and shrug, mouthing sorry.

When we reach the chasm, Marlene is still flirting with Four. She puts her hand on his arm, making him almost imperceptibly tense up. Lynn seems to decide enough is enough. 'Mar, stop flirting with him,' she snaps. 'Can't you see he's not interested? You're just acting like an idiot.'

Four shoots Lynn an almost grateful look. Marlene pouts, and Shauna grins at me. I try to stifle my laughter, knowing Marlene won't back off him any time in the near future.

At the end of the day, heading back to our room, I decide to tell Shauna what I should have told her a long time ago. 'Shauna?'

'Yes?'

'Um… I, um… Shauna, I really kind of like you,' I blurt out.

For a moment, she says nothing. Then she grins. 'I like you too, you know. I've liked you since we were fourteen.'

I consider leaving the conversation at that, but I know that I can't. 'Well, Shauna… would you like to be my girlfriend?' I ask quickly.

A second passes, and I don't know what she's going to say. Then her smile lights up her whole face. 'Yes,' she says. 'Zeke, I would love to be your girlfriend.'

a/n: Okay, first of all I am so, so sorry for not updating. I just completely lost any ideas - taken a long time for me to be able to think again :P Second, there will be more updates from now on; I've hand-written out two more chapters but it's going to take me a while to type them up. Third, this chapter really, really needs a name, preferably a fairly short one. I've tried to sum up my chapters in as little words as possible for the chapter name, but I really have no idea where this one was going. And fourth, sorry if the ending was too fluffy!

So yeaah… Next chapter I'll be moving on to Abnegation for a couple of chapters - just thought it might be interesting. Character and plot suggestions welcome - I can include requests for characters.

To tristobias901, I have absolutely no idea how many chapters there will be, but probably quite a lot :)

And thank you so, so much for all the reviews. I know I've said this before, but you guys are absolutely awesome!