CHAPTER 17

FOUR POV

I still don't know what I want to chose for a job. I keep thinking about what mum said and I know what dad wants me to do. I'm just not sure what I want. I get to the door of dads' office and give a small knock on the door. Dad looks up and sees me there, he is on the phone and he waves for me to come in. I walk in the door shutting it behind me and I take a seat in front of his desk. He puts the phone down and sits down.

"How are you feeling? Still hung over?"

"I'm okay, probably better than I deserve," I say with a smile. Dad laughs. Which is a relief, I didn't know if I would get in any trouble for everything that happened last night. Just sitting in the dining hall and hearing from others what we had got up to was scary enough.

"Well you are truly a Dauntless now with what you, Zeke and Shauna got up to last night. You three are the talk of Dauntless this morning. The stories that have been coming through are really funny."

I blush at this. I have always tried to keep low key, maybe it's those first nine years in Abnegation that have made me shy away from attention. But I have it now.

"So you need to pick your job today," dad says. I nod my head I don't really know what to say. "What is really stopping you from wanting to take the leadership position? You know you can talk to me. Let me in Four, we haven't kept secrets before please don't start now."

I know what I need to tell him but I don't want him to think I'm a coward. Dad has always been here for me. I don't want to let him down now.

"Is in because of him?" he asks.

I nod. My elbows are resting on my knees and I put my head in my hands. Dad gets up from his chair and walks around and puts a hand on my shoulder.

"It's ok Four. I understand," he says. I lift my head up to see that Max is crouching next to me. "You won't have to deal with him, not until you are ready. Even then it may not be often. There is enough work to be done around here without you having to deal with the leaders from the other factions. I can't promise that you won't have to deal with him but for now I will be able to limit it."

I stand up and give dad a hug; I have a lot to think about. As I'm about to walk out of the room dad says, "Four you are going to want to confront him yourself one day. You may not think you are ready but I have watched you grow into an incredible young man and I know that there is nothing you can't achieve."

"Thanks dad, I'll see you soon," I say.

I walk down into the pit and find Zeke and Shauna kissing. "So does this mean you two are finally together?" I ask. I hope so. Shauna has had a crush on Zeke forever and Zeke being the man whore that he is had no clue. Hopefully this will fix that. It will also mean I don't have to go on any more double dates with Zeke. The memories make me want to throw up.

"Yes we are," says Zeke with a big grin on his face.

"Is the tattoo staying?" I ask.

"I talked to Tori and she said that she painted Zeke's name on. The rest of the tattoo is real just not the word Zeke. So maybe one day I will make it premanent but for now it should wash off in a couple of days," Shauna says.

"You should get it put on there now," says Zeke. This makes me laugh. "What? I think it would be really cool if she put it there."

"How long has your longest relationship been Ezekiel?" I ask.

"Hey don't use that name, only my mum gets to use that. And my track record isn't relevant here."

I raise my eyebrows at him. Seriously I think. No girl has lasted more than five days at the most.

"Okay so I haven't got a good record but that is changing, I promise," Zeke says.

"It better," says Shauna. "For now I am going to leave it blank. There is no rush."

"How's the leg?"

"I am going to be in this cast for six weeks. They said I was lucky I didn't need surgery with how high I fell. I didn't know but Amar told me I was one roll of the dice away from the win. So I was at the top when I fell. The alcohol probably helped me they reckon."

"Initiates," my fathers' voice booms across the pit. "Time to pick your jobs. Line up in the order you were ranked so we can get this over with. You will also be getting your apartment keys while you are here. You will have a week off before you start your jobs. Try not to party as hard as you did last night. We would like to see you all make it to your jobs next week." With that we all have a laugh. We all know how hard we partied last night. Well what we can remember of it.

As I was first I go over to where dad is standing to make my choice. "Leadership and initiate trainer," I say.

"Excellent choice," dad says. "Go and pick up your keys to your new apartment."

I walk over to get the keys to my new apartment and I know I have made the right decision. I know I will have to face Marcus one day and now I won't be facing him as a scared nine year old. I will be facing him as a leader of Dauntless. It sounds confident in my head but I'm still not sure that I'm confident enough to deal with it in reality yet. I hope I don't have to find out just yet.

I walk over to the dorm to grab my stuff. I don't have that much to get so I decide to wait until Shauna and Zeke come back. I will probably have to help Zeke carry his stuff to his apartment. I sit on the bed waiting. I know the apartment I got is only a couple of doors down from mum and dad. I'm glad I'm going to be close. That way it will be easy to see Charlie whenever I want. I'm sure she will make me decorate a room at my place for her. I don't mind I've missed being woken up by her in the mornings.

Zeke and Shauna walk in. "We got apartments next door to each other," Zeke says.

"What jobs did you pick?" I ask.

"Control room and Shauna is in the patrol leadership programme. So what did you pick?"

"Leadership and initiate instructor," I say.

"You are going to be the best instructor Four. I wouldn't be here if you hadn't helped me," says Shauna.

"Thanks. Do you want some help moving your stuff Zeke?" I ask.

"No we should be right I don't have much and Shauna should be able to carry it for me," Zeke says.

"Okay well I'll see you guys later. I'm going to check out my new place," I say.

I walk into my apartment and it is exactly the same layout as dads place. I sit on the couch and just chill. So glad that initiation is finally over and just enjoy the quiet now that I don't have to share a room with so many people. I must have dozed off because I can here knocking on my door.

I get up and find Charlie is standing at the door with a picture she has drawn. "I wanted you to have one of my drawings for your new place," she says as she barges past me and into the lounge room.

"Okay, where do you want me to put it?" I ask.

"On the fridge of course," she says.

We walk into the kitchen and I see that there are already magnets on the fridge. I have a feeling mum has already been here. I can't imagine fridge magnets being a part of the welcome to Dauntless here is your new apartment experience. I open the fridge and can see that mum has definitely been here. The fridge is stocked with everything I will need. Awesome no need to go shopping.

"You don't put it in the fridge silly," says Charlie.

This makes me laugh and I shut the fridge door so that she can hang her drawing on the door. She grabs the magnets and puts the drawing exactly where she thinks it should go. Then she says, "c'mon we have to go home mum has dinner nearly ready."

I take Charlies hand and we walk out of the apartment together.