Tobias' POV

I've been training for Dauntless for two years now. Zeke, Charlie, and Shauna have become my best friends. We meet three nights a week to work out and train, at the Clubhouse. We have special permission from Charlie's dad, Max, the leader of Dauntless, to train in the middle of the night, from 11pm to 2am. I sneak out of my house on those nights, and pray my father never finds out. The most difficult part of training has been hiding my abilities from him. I'm surprised he hasn't noticed my muscles, but maybe he just assumes it's from my volunteer work at the Distribution Center. I know I could take him now, but I'm afraid of what he'd do. I'm afraid he'd keep me from transferring to Dauntless.

Tonight, Zeke says we've been working too hard and deserve a break. They've got a plan to prank all their siblings and cousins. They have their own clubhouse. It's a little yellow, two-story, house, not far from Dauntless. We're currently hiding out in the house next door. Charlie said they're having a sleepover at the house, and we're going to wear masks and barge in on them once they think they're all asleep. I'm nervous about it because these are Dauntless kids. They're all twelve and have already started their training at The Clubhouse six months ago. For all I know, they're all armed. This dumb prank could go horribly wrong.

We've all just finished off the snacks and drinks they all brought for our "stake out" and Shauna declares it's time for "Operation Black Ops". We put on our black jackets and face masks. If I'm being honest, we all look ridiculous, but I guess this is how Dauntless have fun, so I'm giving it a try. Fun wasn't a part of my childhood. We've got pot lids we're supposed to bang together once we've snuck inside the house and surrounded the other kids. Charlie said we have to get in, scare them, and leave before they realize who it is, or her mom and Zeke's will be angry.

We're heading over, Zeke and Shauna are going through the back door and Charlie, and I are going through the front. We're sneaking along, quietly, and are approaching the door, when the moon shines on what looks like a flash of a long, blonde, ponytail. I'm trying to get a better look, when suddenly, I'm hit in the chest with something that stings. I look over at Charlie and she's been hit too. It stinks like rotting fish; I think it's paint. There's hollering and screaming and before we know it, we're surrounded by masked kids with guns. I knew this was a bad idea!

"Ugh! Okay, we surrender!" yells Charlie.

A boy yells, "Bring them to the back with the other prisoners!"

We pushed along to the back with them poking us with their guns. When we get there, I see Zeke and Shauna, who are now unmasked. There's a full moon out, so we can all see each other. The four of us are surrounded by six younger kids wearing the same kind of masks we were wearing. I'm assuming these are their siblings and cousins. They must have found out or suspected what we were going to do. Zeke does have a big mouth,

"Ahem." Coughs the short one, with the blonde ponytail.

Everyone quiets down. She must be their leader.

She proceeds, "You have been caught in the act of committing war crimes. We take these actions very seriously. We are hereby gathered to sentence you. What is your plea?"

"Oh, come on Trissy. It was all in fun." Says Zeke.

Charlie and Shaunna say together, "Yeah."

Another boy says, "Be that as it may, you were warned to leave Yellow House alone. We are well within our rights to teach you a lesson."

"Oh, forget this! I didn't even want to do this but went along because Zeke said it would be 'fun'", I grumble. I'm not getting punished for a stupid prank by twelve-year-old midgets!

The blonde, Trissy, has her gun slung over her back, and her hands on her hips. By now I've realized their guns may sting, but they only shoot paint, so I'm ready to fight if I must. She stomps her foot and says, "Whatever! You still went along with them, so you still need to be punished."

I walk over and lean over getting in her face, glaring, and say, "You can try."

"Hmph!" She screeches with her voice going higher.

I reached out and tried to grab her gun from her. When our hands touched, I felt a bolt of electricity fly up my arm. I gasped and jumped back. She must have felt it too because she was staring at her hand in amazement. I don't know what to think about that. Then all the others start shooting Zeke, Shauna, Charlie, and me and we're covered in paint. The blonde joins in. When they run out of paint, there's silence.

"Alright, that's enough. Now leave us alone and don't try anything again. I think we've proven that we're worthy adversaries even though we're midgets." says another girl.

Shauna laughs and says, "Fine Lynn. You guys win this time."

Charlie asks, "How did you know we were coming anyway?"

A boy, who I now realize looks like Zeke, so it must be Uriah, answers, "Next time you're planning a hostile takeover, maybe remember to tell my big mouth brother to keep his voice down."

"I don't have a big mouth!" whines Zeke. Loudly, I might add.

We leave them so we can figure out how to wash off all this paint. We ended up at a little pond outside Amity. We swim and get most of the paint off ourselves if not our clothes. That's a good thing for me because I don't know how I would have explained the paint to my father. We head to the train tracks and jump on the train. I jump off at Abnegation sector and head home to sneak back in and get a few hours' sleep before I get up to do my Saturday volunteering at the Distribution Center. I fall asleep thinking of the weird electricity I felt when my hand touched that little blonde girl. I've never felt anything like it.

The next day, I get up, make him breakfast, and head to the Distribution Center. When I arrived, Natalie asked me to help with some lifting in the back storage room. When we get there, she closes the door, so I know she wants to talk to me and doesn't want to be overheard.

"Tobias how is your training going?" she asks.

I give her a half smile and reply, "It's going well. I'm already a decent fighter and my aim is good."

She smiles proudly at me, like I imagine my mom would, if she were still alive. "Are you still planning on transferring to Dauntless in two years?" she asks.

"Yes. I feel like I could really belong there. Zeke has become one of my best friends." I told her.

She nods her head and continues her questioning, "Who else do you train with?"

"My other two best friends, Charlie and Shauna." I reply.

She laughs a small laugh, "Charlie is my niece. I'm glad she's part of your group. I don't know Shauna, but I know Zeke and Charlie will take care of you. Of course, they'll also get you in trouble." Her laugh turns into a chuckle, and she smiles widely. She's obviously fond of her niece and nephew.

I smirk, saying, "Yeah I found that out last night."

She raises her eyebrow questioningly.

"Well, I guess we tried to pull a prank on their siblings/cousins, last night." I say sheepishly.

At this she actually laughs out loud. She smirks and says, "Yeah, I bet that group gave you a run for your money. Zeke and Charlie tend to underestimate them."

I snort, "I think their leader alone could probably take them on."

She raises her eyebrows and asks, "Who's their leader?"

"A girl named Trissy." I say and try to hide my confusion and wonder about her.

Natalie looks at me curiously, smiles fondly, but doesn't say anything about Trissy. I'm sure she knows who she is by her reaction. We spent the rest of the day sorting and organizing the storage room. Natalie's easy to work with, but then, I guess anyone who doesn't whip you with a belt is easy to work with. She still shares food with me and during the school week, she sends lunch to me through her son, Caleb. I don't know how I'll ever repay her for everything she's done for me. Maybe, if all the stars align, Beatrice will transfer to Dauntless, and I'll be able to look out for and protect her. That will help pay Natalie back for her kindness and I think even love. I wish Natalie was my mom, but at the same time, I don't want Beatrice to be my sister.

I woke up Sunday morning and my back hurt from the sting of my father's belt. I got up and made a quick breakfast of plain oatmeal. I snuck a little before he came down. After breakfast, we walked over to the meeting hall, where we have church services. They're usually led by Andrew Prior, so they aren't too bad. We arrived early so we could set up. The Priors were already there and almost everything was done. Beatrice was passing out the small hymnbooks that are the only form of music allowed in Abnegation.

My father and I took our seats, and Beatrice came by and handed him a hymnbook for us to share. I noticed she had blue paint on her fingers and on her nails. I furrowed my eyebrows. It's odd that an Abnegation girl would have paint on her fingers. They weren't allowed to paint their nails. It didn't really look like it was something she did on purpose, so I guess it's probably from some kind of volunteer work she did. She's rarely at the Distribution Center, so I guess she was volunteering somewhere in Erudite yesterday and got blue paint on her. I see my father look at her hand in disgust. She drew her hand away quickly and noticed my stare. When I looked up at her, she quickly winked at me. It was so fast I'm not even sure it happened.

We sing a hymn, then Andrew talks about ways we can help our fellow man. If it were my father speaking, I would have a hard time not snickering. I've noticed Andrew's words always seem genuine. I think he's a good man. It makes me wonder what our faction would be like if he were in charge. With Marcus in charge, we're left to follow all these petty rules that don't really have anything to do with being selfless. People report non-compliance to the Abnegation council. Abnegation has become a faction of petty tattle tells under Marcus' leadership. If we had someone like Andrew Prior as leader, maybe we would have laws that help people. Maybe the factionless sector would have less people. They'd get real help, and all these people wouldn't be thrown away.

My father talks about me taking over his position when he retires. It makes me feel guilty for wanting to leave. If I stayed, maybe I could make a real difference, but I'm a coward. I know I'd never be free of him. He'd make all my choices. My job, where I live, my wife. No, I just can't do it. I must leave in two years as I've planned. Maybe there's a way I can make a difference in Dauntless. What if Beatrice stays in Abnegation? That's the only reason I would stay but her being two years younger, I can't stay and hope. She's just too interesting to stay in Abnegation, so I just have to make my decision for myself and hope the universe is looking out for me.