WOW! Sorry for not posting the next chapter in so long! School has been taking over my life... Oh, and in this chapter, there are some attempted *cough* touching scenes *cough* but nothing too bad, or I would've rated it M :) Enjoy!
Chapter 2
Alana's POV
"UGH! I can't believe it! Why would they let girls and guys sleep in the same room?! It's not fair! Gross!" Paige exclaims, throwing herself onto the closest bunk.
Madeline climbs up and claims the bed above Paige's. I rush up to a bunk-bed in the far corner, and plop down on the bottom bunk.
"Regina! Come over here, I got a bunk. You okay with the top?" I grin at my best friend.
As long as she was with me, I would be fine. "Yeah, Alana. I prefer the top, you know that. I like this spot," Regina smiles back at me and replies.
A short boy with dark brown, wavy hair and piercing green eyes comes up to the bunk and gently puts a hand on it. "Is it okay if I take the bottom bunk right here? I'm Elliot, by the way," he smiles at me and puts out a hand for me to shake.
He must be from Candor, because in Amity we hug. I tenderly take his hand and shake it, "Alana. And sure, it's fine by me." I smile as he mutters something like "cool".
I didn't feel my face heating up, but Regina could clearly notice. "Hey Alana, why is your face all red? Oh I see, blushing like a tomato!" Regina leans over the side of her top bunk and laughs at me upside-down.
Elliot looks over at me and gives me a shy smile. I blush even deeper, until the tall, muscular boy, who I believe is Derek, comes over. He nimbly climbs up the bunk and asks Regina if he could sleep on the top bunk next to hers, the one he was sitting on.
"Uh, well, fine with me, I guess. I'm, uh, Regina," she stumbles on every word.
"Derek. And thanks," he replies with ease.
"Hey, aren't you a bit rude? Shouldn't you ask permission from Elliot here instead of barging in on his bunk and claiming the top?" I yell at his surprised face.
Elliot and Derek laugh, but then Elliot's face softens. "Thanks for your concern, Alana. We actually know each other, so it's not a problem. It's just kind of automatic, we didn't have to talk about it," Elliot says to me, while giving me a dorky, yet adorable, smile.
"Oh," I quietly reply.
I climb up to where Regina is and we begin chatting. I know I shouldn't be, but I listen to Elliot and Derek's conversation.
"Dude, she totally likes you," Derek playfully says to Elliot. "Do you like her back?"
Elliot hesitates before responding. There is an awkward silence in that gap. Of course, the other initiates were talking away, but in this little corner, it was quite awkward.
"I mean, she's really pretty and nice. I guess she clearly likes me, the way she stuck up for me like that. It's too early to say whether I have a crush on her, but I really like her already," Elliot whispers to Derek, probably so I wouldn't hear.
He doesn't know I have really good hearing. I grin like an idiot.
"Earth to Alana! Hey, best friend?" Regina punches my arm and yells at my face to get my attention.
"Shut up I can hear you!" I pinch her leg really hard, and a drop of blood oozes out, "Let's go to the pit. We don't want to be late. Six and Four scare me."
"Yeah, but Four is hot," Regina replies.
We change our clothes and head to the Pit. The other initiates quickly follow. Six isn't there, but Four leads us to a spacious dining hall. "This is where you will eat your three meals. Dinner is right now. After dinner, you can do whatever you want. In the morning, report here for breakfast at 5:30am," Four instructs, and goes off to sit with other Dauntless trainers and leaders.
I take a seat next to Regina, followed by Derek, Elliot, Tash, and Caroline. Elliot directly sits across from me, and Derek sits across from Regina. Tonight is hamburgers and fries. One of my favorite meals, but never complete without lots of ketchup.
"I'm gonna go get some more ketchup, I'll be right back," I say to my table.
"I'll come with you," replies Elliot, getting up from his seat and coming to my side.
I notice that he is only about an inch taller than me, so he's still really short. I like short, how can he get any more attractive? I start walking to the condiments table.
"So, what faction did you come from?" Questions Elliot, matching my pace.
"I'm from Amity, same with Regina. We grew up together and are best friends, if you haven't noticed already," I reply.
"Oh, cool. Yeah, I noticed. Derek and I came from Candor. Why'd you leave Amity? Derek and I left Candor because we were bored. We wanted more freedom, and we wanted more adventure and danger," Elliot smiles and picks up the ketchup bottle for me.
"I figured you were from Candor because you shook my hand. I didn't like the innocent, peaceful life of Amity. I'm not like that. On the other hand, I don't like danger, or anything that endangers my life. It's just, I didn't belong anywhere else, so I figured, why not Dauntless? Plus, Regina likes danger, so she was going to pick Dauntless even if I didn't," I explain, heading back to our table.
I walk slowly, trying to get as much time alone with Elliot as I can. We talk about our pets we had to leave behind; he had several guinea pigs, like me, and several fish, once again, like me. As he hands me the ketchup bottle, our hands lightly brush against each other and I blush a dark scarlet. He just smiles that dorky, adorable smile and quickens his pace, reaching the table before me. I'm still blushing when I reach the table, and Regina nudges my shoulder and raises her eyebrow. I just shake my head and lather on the ketchup onto my burger and fries. My table talks about our previous factions and about our family. Soon, though, everyone is done eating and Elliot offers to clean up our table. We leave the dining hall, with short Elliot scrambling around to clean up our huge mess. I feel bad, but I don't want to make a fool of myself, either. Derek and Regina are ahead of me, chatting away with ease. I notice Caroline is walking back to the dormitory alone, so I hurry as fast as my cursed short legs will let me to catch up with her.
"First jumper, right? Wow! That must've taken a lot of courage. I'm Alana. I was from Amity, but I couldn't stand the innocence. What faction were you from?" I say, trying to strike up a friendly conversation. For a second, Caroline closes her eyes and I fear that I said something wrong.
"Sorry. You must think I'm rude. I was just trying to think why I left my faction. Yeah, I was the first jumper. I grew up in Abnegation. I guess I left because I'm not exactly selfless, I'm often quite selfish. Well, I enjoyed our chat! Maybe we can chat some other time. It's late and it's going to be hard for me to get up early, so I'm going to bed. Goodnight, Alana!" Caroline replies and climbs into her bed.
By the time I reach my bunk, Derek and Regina are already in their beds, chatting away. I just want some time with my best friend! I grab some clothes and a towel, deciding I'll take a shower. I turn on the shower, and hop in. I take a quick, cold shower, but I can't help singing a bit. When I turn off the water, I grab for my towel and wrap it around my naked body. I step out of the shower and look for my clothing.
"Hey, pretty girl. Alana, right? I like you better without clothes on, let's go have some fun," Connor tugs at my towel, holding up my clothes high, so I can't reach them.
Oh, how I hate it sometimes that I'm short. I try to squirm away, but he quickly pins me against the wall, tugging tighter at my towel. Tears form in my eyes and I try to scream, but he covers my mouth. He drags me into a bathroom stall and locks the door.
"Let's have some fun, now shall we, Alana?" He grins and stares at me with cold eyes.
I let out a sob as he tugs tighter at my towel; I can barely keep it on. I hear small feet running into the bathroom. Someone must have heard me!
"Alana? Where are you? Alana! Oh god!"
It was Elliot! Someone bangs on the door and manages to break the lock. Elliot. Connor flys a fist towards Elliot's face, but Elliot dodges it. He kicks Connor, hard, and Connor crumples to the ground. I kick him in the face, but he gives my towel a good yank and it falls down right as he slips out of consciousness. I look at Elliot, embarrassed, expecting him to be staring, but he's not. He has his eyes completely covered by his hands, and he isn't peeking.
"Alana? Are you okay? Did he hurt you or touch you? I've got your clothes, here," Elliot worriedly rushes, and blindly nudges my pile of clothes with his foot, careful not to peek.
I hurriedly put my clothes on, blushing because Elliot is still standing in front of me, but I know he won't peek. "I'm fine, thanks to you, Elliot. Really. He didn't touch me, at least not the way you're probably thinking. He did sort of hurt my wrists, but I'll live. Thank you, Elliot. And you can look now, I'm dressed," I say to him, truly grateful.
I wanted to kiss him right then and there, but I held back. I'm wearing black fuzzy pajama pants with a baggy, light blue short sleeved shirt. Elliot slowly puts his hands down from his face and stands there awkwardly. I decide to take that moment to run into his chest and hug him tightly. At first, he stands there shocked and stiff, but then relaxes into the hug.
"You're welcome, Alana," he whispers into my hair.
I look into his piercing green eyes and smile at him. I let go of him, and head towards my bunk.
I was quickly stopped by Tash, who asked loudly, "What happened in there?"
I was about to respond when Elliot quickly explained for me, "Connor tried to touch her when she got out of the shower. He locked her into a bathroom stall with him and hid her clothes."
Tash gasped and mumbled something that we couldn't hear, quickly running back to her bunk. Elliot gently steered me back to my bunk and sat down in his own bed. After I was bombarded with questions from Regina, I told her goodnight and sit on my bed. I blush, and go back to my bed.
"Goodnight, Alana," Elliot whispers.
"Night, Elliot. See you in the morning," I respond, and blush.
It's a good thing he can't see me blushing in the darkness. I can't believe what happened to me on the first day in Dauntless. I try to go to sleep, but I'm terrified of bottom bunks. They just freak me out. I let out a scared whimper, and sniffle. I pinch my eyes shut, trying to forget where I'm sleeping.
"You okay, Alana? What's wrong? You can tell me," Elliot says.
"No, I can't tell you. You'll laugh and think I'm a baby," I whimper again, but try to sound brave.
Everyone else is asleep. I hear Elliot get out of his bed and I feel him sit down on the edge of my bed.
"Why would I think you're a baby? I won't think you're childish. I promise, Alana," he says in a sincere voice that makes me feel warm and fuzzy.
"Fine. I'm scared of bottom bunks, happy? Just looking up at them is creepy. They're scary! And if it breaks, I would get crushed and die!" I let out a shaky sigh as I tell him, it's like a weight lifted off my shoulders.
Elliot slightly smiles and looks at my deep brown eyes, that I call dull, but lots of people say are pretty.
"Alana, that's understandable. I find them a little bit creepy too, but Derek always insists on being on the top. Just close your eyes and try to forget about it. If you keep your eyes shut, you can't see the scary bunk, now can you? It won't break, I promise. If one can hold Derek up, it can surely hold Regina up," Elliot softly says.
I stare at his gorgeous, perfect face as I start to drift off. "Thank you, Elliot. I don't know what I'd do without you here," I groggily mumble. Elliot smiles that adorable smile of his and lays down in his own bed, shutting his eyes to sleep.
So, that's Chapter 2, guys! I'll post the next chapter in a bit. I've already written several chapters, a long time ago, so I apologize if they are not good, but when I run out of pre-written chappies, they will get good! Also, someone requested that there be some romance/ flirting between initiates and trainers- I promise I shall add that stuff in once I finish posting the ones I already wrote :)