CHAPTER 37

FOUR POV

We didn't need the cameras to catch Eric. He got caught by Shane who was in the server room when Eric entered. He was interrogated by Max and Shane in the Dauntless holding cells. They didn't need truth serum. He spilled his guts trying to save himself. He didn't have any useful information. Well nothing we didn't already know.

Jeanine had wanted him to become leader, Eric had no idea why. When that hadn't happened she had asked him to gather any information he could on Dauntless and our protocols. He was told to get into the server room and take whatever files he could. It wasn't until he saw Jeanine in person in the Dauntless compound that she had told him that she wanted all our simulation files. She wanted as many as he could get. He said it was something to do with divergents but she had not told him why.

Eric has been charged with and found guilty of treason. That is an automatic death sentence in Dauntless. The death sentence will be carried out tonight. Only the leaders will be present. It isn't often that such an act has had to be carried out and we have decided not to make a big deal out of it. Really we just don't want Jeanine to know what is going on. Once we have sorted that out we will let people know what has happened to Eric.

I am sitting in the dining hall having dinner. I haven't been spending much time in here lately. Finding it easier to avoid Tris whenever possible. I don't know when she will want to talk; I think I'm more afraid of what she will say to me so I find it easier to stay away. The table is unusually quiet tonight. I think the initiates are on edge, after days of fear simulations the rankings are going to be announced tomorrow.

We are all getting ready to leave when Amar and George jump up and stand on top of our table.

"ATTENTION! ATTENTION!" Amar shouts out across the room. "I would like to announce that George and I are getting married."

The whole room erupts in whoops and whistles, stomping of feet and clapping of hands. George and Amar hug and then kiss. Which has Zeke shouting, "get a room." And the whole room laughing. They jump off the table and we all congratulate them. Tori comes running over and gives her brother George a hug and then Amar as well and she says, "it's about time."

"Now we have a reason to party," says Zeke.

"When have you ever needed a reason Zeke?" Amar asks. Which has us all laughing again. "I am not having a game of dare at my wedding, George would probably kill me."

"Yes I would," says George. "But that doesn't mean we can't have them at our Bachelor parties."

TRIS POV

I walk into the dormitory to find all the initiates standing in a group at the end of the room. Max is standing in front of them with a chalk board in his hands. I go and stand next to Will.

"What's going on?" I whisper.

"Rankings for stage two," he says. "they are giving us a progress report."

I nod. I am feeling uneasy about this. What if I have dropped lower in the rankings? With everything that has been going on with Tobias I had forgotten that it may not even matter, that I maybe on a slow ticket out of here. Max lifts the board and hangs it on a nail. When he steps aside the room falls silent and I crane my neck to see what is says.

My name is in first spot. I can't believe it. As Max walks past he says, "good job Tris. Keep this up and you will be joining us in leadership."

Heads turn in my direction. I follow the list down. Christina is in fourth and Will in sixth. Unfortunately Peter is second. When I look at the time listed by his name, I realize that the margin between us is conspicuously wide. Peter's average simulation time is eight minutes. Mine is two minutes, forty-five seconds.

Peter turns slowly; every limb is infused with tension. A glare would have been less threatening than the look he gives me—a look of pure hatred. He walks toward his bunk, but at the last second, he whips around and shoves me against a wall, a hand on each of my shoulders.

"I will not be outranked by a Stiff," he hisses. "How did you do it huh? How the hell did you do it? Are you banging Four and Max, is that it?"

He pulls me forward a few inches and then slams me against the wall again. I clench my teeth to keep from crying out, though pain from the impact went all the way down my spine. Will grabs Peter by his shirt collar and drags him away from me.

"Leave her alone," he says. "Only a coward bullies a little girl."

"A little girl?" scoffs Peter. "Are you blind, or just stupid? She is going to edge you out of the rankings, out of any hope of a good job, maybe out of Dauntless all together. All because she knows how to manipulate people and you don't. She already has Four twisted around her little finger and now it looks like she has done the same to Max. So when you realize that she's out to ruin us all, you let me know."

Peter storms out of the dormitory. Molly and Drew follow him with looks of disgust on their faces.

"Thanks," I say, nodding to Will.

"Is he right?" Will asks quietly. "Are you trying to manipulate us?"

"How on earth would I do that?" I scowl at him. "I'm just doing the best I can, like anyone else."

"I don't know." He shrugs. "You do seem really close to Four and Max is Fours' dad."

"Are you serious?" I almost scream. "You have been in the simulation, how can I be manipulating them? Do you really think that Four or Max would be corrupt? I'm your friend, I would not do that."

"Don't be an idiot Will," says Christina. There is no conviction in her voice and I wonder if she even believes me. Christina hops down from her bunk and she leaves the room with Will following.

This only leaves Al and me in the room together. His shoulders are slumped making him look extremely small compared to his usual large frame. I don't think I can handle any more crap from anyone today so I walk out of the room before Al can say anything to me.

I find a quiet hallway to sit and think. I don't really want to be alone at the moment but I don't think Tobias would be happy to see me so I close my eyes and pay attention to the cold stone beneath me. The cool stones help to calm me after the showdown in the dorm.

"Tris." I look up to see Uriah jogging towards me with Lynn and Marlene in tow. Lynn is holding a muffin.

"We have been looking for you," Marlene says. I must look a little confused. Because Uriah adds, "We heard you ranked first. We wanted to come congratulate you and see if you wanted to come with us. I'm going to shoot a muffin off Marlene's head."

"Well thank you," I say. I start to laugh, the idea of shooting a muffin of Marlene's head seems ridiculous but also probably a great distraction from today's events. "Why are you shooting a muffin off Marlene's head?"

"She bet me I couldn't aim well enough to hit a small object from one hundred feet," Uriah explains. "I bet her she didn't have the guts to stand there as I tried. It works out well, really."

We walk down to the training room and Uriah flips the light switch. It looks the same as the last time I was there: targets on one end of the room, a table with guns on the other.

"They just keep these lying around?" I ask.

"Yeah, but they aren't loaded." Uriah pulls up his shirt. There is a gun stuck under the waistband of his pants. "Okay," he says. "Go stand in front of the target."

Marlene walks over to the target with a skip in her step.

"You aren't seriously going to shoot at her, are you?" I ask.

"It's not a real gun," says Lynn. "It's got plastic pellets in it. The worst it'll do is sting her face, maybe give her a welt. What do you think we are, stupid?"

Marlene set the muffin on her head. Uriah squints one eye as he aims the gun.

"Wait!" calls out Marlene. She breaks off a piece of the muffin and pops it into her mouth. "Mmkay!" she shouts, the word garbled by food. She gives Uriah a thumbs-up.

"I take it your ranks were good," I say to Lynn.

She nods. "Uriah's second. I'm first and Marlene's fourth."

"Your only first by a hair," says Uriah as he aims. He squeezes the trigger. The muffin falls off Marlene's head. She didn't even blink.

"We both win!" she shouts.

Marlene picks up the muffin from the ground and bites into it. Uriah shouts, "Gross!"

The door to the training room opens. Shauna, Zeke and Four walk in just as Uriah fires at another target. The plastic pellet bounces off the centre of the target and rolls along the ground.

"I thought I heard something in here," says Four.

"What are you doing in here?" Zeke asks.

Uriah starts in on his explanation when Four comes and sits down next to me.

"Hi," he says.

"Hi," I say back.

"Congratulations on your ranking," he says. I just nod. "What? I thought you would have been excited about it."

"She would but it seems the other transfers aren't," Lynn says and then she walks over to where Uriah and Zeke are talking about the dare.

"You belong here, you know that?" Four says. "You deserve your ranking. I saw the times; there was nowhere else to put you other than first."

"Yeah I get it. Are you sure you didn't have anything to do with it?" I ask.

"NO!" Four says. I can hear the agitation in his voice. "Tris you did it all yourself, don't let others put stupid ideas in your head. I don't need to cheat to have you make it into Dauntless. And I would hope you wouldn't think I would cheat."

"I'm sorry. I do know you wouldn't cheat; it's just, well Peter said some stuff and it just made me question everything. It was more that it made me question me not you."

We sit in silence for a moment watching Zeke and Uriah fool around. I look back towards Four and his hand is so close to mine it is almost touching. I decide that I need to take action here. I need him to know that I care and although I've been angry it isn't at him. It has been about everything. I put my hand over his. He looks at me startled.

"I'm sorry," I say. "About everything."

He takes my hand in his and entwines our fingers. It's nice to be able to touch him again. "I'm sorry too," he whispers back. We look into each others' eyes and we both smile.

"We should go get some dinner," Uriah calls across the room.

"Is that all you think about Uriah, food?" Marlene says.

"I was only really thinking of cake," Uriah says. This makes us all laugh.

"Shall we go?" Four asks me. I nod and he pulls me up and we walk out of the training room hand in hand.