Heyo peoples, I suck at posting but I've been so busy with school. Once summer rolls around I'll be a thousand times better at posting and will also be adding new stories, including my x-men story but as of right now this and Wilted will be the only stories I post for.
"You weren't allowed to have pets?" Christina demands, smacking the table with her palm. "Why not?"
"Because they're illogical," Will says matter-of-factly. "What is the point in providing food and shelter for an animal that just soils your furniture, makes your home smell bad, and ultimately dies?" I smiled and roll my eyes, they fight so often but always about the smallest and insignificant things. It was cute in a weird way.
"The point is…" Christina's voice trails off, and she tilts her head. "Well, they're fun to have. I had a bull dog named Chunker. One time we left a whole roasted chicken on the counter to cool, and while my mother went to the bathroom, he pulled it down off the counter and ate it, bones and skin and all. We laughed so hard."
"Yes, that certainly changes my mind. Of course I want to live with an animal that eats all my food and destroys my kitchen." Will shakes his head. "Why don't you just get a dog after initiation if you're feeling that nostalgic?"
"Because." Christina's smile falls, and she pokes at her potato with her fork. "Dogs are sort of ruined for me. After…you know, after the aptitude test." Our expressions as we looked to each other are grim yet guarded. We all know that we aren't supposed to talk about the test, not even now that we have chosen, but for them it must be easy. Their results wouldn't get them killed. My gaze met Tris' and the panic in her eyes tells me this rule was as important to her as it is for me. This golden rule was supposed to be protection, but here we were talking about it so openly. My chest grew tight, Tori's voice weaving through my thoughts.
"You mean…killing the dog, right?" asks Will.
Those with an aptitude for Dauntless picked up the knife in the simulation and stabbed the dog when it attacked. No wonder Christina doesn't want a pet dog anymore, I understood completely. I don't think I could ever look at another dog without feeling immense guilt.
"Yeah," she says. "I mean, you guys all had to do that too, right?" She looks first at Al, and then at Tris. Her dark eyes narrow, and she says, "You didn't."
"Hmm?" she made it too obvious.
"You're hiding something," Chris says.
"You're fidgeting," says Al, nudging Tris with his shoulder. She untensed "In Candor we learn to read body language so we know when someone is lying or keeping something from us."
"Oh." She scratches the back of her neck. "Well…"
"See, there it is again!" Chris says, nodding at her hand. Tris looked like she was trying to figure something out, maybe if she should tell us or how to lie without being caught.
"No, I didn't kill the dog." She finally said, her hands clasped tightly in her lap.
"How did you get Dauntless without using the knife?" says Will, narrowing his eyes at her. She steadies her gaze and looks more confident
"I didn't. I got Abnegation." I don't believe that, something in her eyes told me that wasn't entirely true. Maybe because Tori had put me in as Abnegation as well. She holds Wills gaze for several moments.
After dinner we all made for the dormitory, people shoving each other and everyone trying to get there first made it exceptionally difficult. Peter wrapped his arm around to keep me close, no one would dare try to shove him. Looking back, I saw Tris struggling to get through, Drew forcefully shoved her against the wall. He was an ass and there was no way to fix that.
I stood in the front of the room with my brother still keeping me close, I was thankful to have him. I just wish I knew why he has changed so much since coming here, his violence and outbreaks were more random and filled with more rage than I thought he was capable of.
Four turned to face us as he spoke "For those of you who just came in, I'm explaining how the ranks are determined," he says. "After the first round of fights, we ranked you according to your skill level. The number of points you earn depends on your skill level and the skill level of the person you beat. You earn more points for improving and more points for beating someone of a high skill level. I don't reward preying on the weak. That is cowardice." His dark blue eyes linger on Peter, a cold look flashing across his face for a mere second. "If you have a high rank, you lose points for losing to a low-ranked opponent."
Molly lets out an unpleasant noise, like a snort or a grumble. "Stage two of training is weighted more heavily than stage one, because it is more closely tied to overcoming cowardice," he says. "That said, it is extremely difficult to rank high at the end of initiation if you rank low in stage one." I lean my head against my brother, nervous tension was setting in on me. I lost to Edward, what if that drags me to the bottom? "We will announce the cuts tomorrow," Four says. "The fact that you are transfers and the Dauntless-born initiates are not will not be taken into consideration. Four of you could be factionless and none of them. Or four of them could be factionless and none of you. Or any combination thereof. That said, here are your ranks." He hangs the board on the hook and steps back so we can see the rankings: 1. Edward 2. Peter 3. Alessa 4. Will 5. Christina 6. Molly 7. Tris 8. Drew 9. Al. Al isn't dead last, but unless the Dauntless-born initiates completely failed their version of stage one of initiation, he'd be factionless.
After Molly finished yelling at Tris, acting a bit too dramatic; even for her, Peter let me go and calmly sat on his bed and began unlacing his shoes. He was very unhappy and I feared for the worst. Cautiously I walk over to him and sit beside him. "You did really good, I'm proud of you." He says but he lacks the proper emotion.
"I'm proud of you too, you're doing amazing. I'm just worried…you've been acting so differently since we came here. Is something wrong?" he turned and looked at me like I just slapped him.
"What the hell are talking about?" he snapped, his voice angry but quiet. "Get away from me. Now." My breaking heart sunk into my stomach, "I'm not the one acting different, you are. Such a freak." I didn't stay to hear what else he had to say about me. I took a shower before sitting in bed, sleeping didn't come that night. Instead I lay awake listening to a mix of silence and snores, that is of course until heavy footfalls and the squeak of a pair of shoes is heard.
I look towards the ground, what I see first is that Tris has also heard people; what I hear first is a wail of anguish that ran ice cold sparks across my skin and curdled my blood. I jumped from bed the same time Tris ripped her blankets off, someone screamed for the lights to be turned on as Tris and I desperately tried to find the source of the scream.
Blood surrounds a pale haired boy who withers in agony on the floor, a silver knife jutting out from his eye. One that was unmistakably from the dining hall. I kneel beside him with Tris, as she and I calm him I hold his arms down. Pulling the knife out seems like a horrible idea.
Once the nurse comes Tris and I move back, we each have blood dampening our clothing and making our skin slick. It takes all the energy and power I have left in me to not vomit, someone else has already done that. I look at the faces of each initiate, each were plastered with fear and panic. But two faces are missing, the two I had heard. Drew. Peter, my own brother. Never would I think he was capable of something so cruel, never would I think he would say something rude to me so seriously. I regret coming to dauntless. I have watched my brother turn into a monster. I monster I didn't want to see; one I didn't want to be.
For the next hour I help Tris scrub Edwards blood from the floor, Chris brings us new paper towels and disposes of the ones soaked in innocent blood. Soon after we finished I ran to the bathroom; I couldn't hold it in anymore. Christina and Tris followed, Chris held up my hair while Tris desperately scrubbed at her hands and legs, stripping off her clothes before getting into a steaming hot shower. I followed suit, relishing in the torrents of hot water that washed over my freckled skin. Chris waits for us with towels and a change of clothes.
We lay awake and restless for the remainder of the night.