Xander's POV

It was the first day of school and we were all sitting at our usual table in the dining hall, eating breakfast. We being, myself, my brother, Brax, my cousin Uriah, and our friends, Lynn and Marlene. In the midst of a small food fight, we all froze when Four sat at our table. We're all pretty Dauntless, but he scares the hell out of most of us. He's also one of the youngest Dauntless leaders ever. He has that intense glare, and his voice is eerily quiet.

He cleared his throat, and asked, "Would you guys be willing to help train someone from another faction? You'd need to train late at night. If you could, it would be helpful... to me..."

He doesn't seem to hold his usual self-contained aura, He seems nervous.

Lynn, in her usual brusque manner, asked, "Why?"

"Well, I think she's going to choose Dauntless in a couple years and I would like it if she made it through initiation. Preferably in one piece." He said slowly. Obvious he didn't want to be having this conversation. We were his only hope.

I asked, "So she's choosing in two years, that means she's our age, which also means we could know her from our classes at school?"

He nodded his head and reached behind to scratch his neck. Oh, he's definitely nervous.

Marlene chimed in, "So what's the name of the girl who holds the Mighty Four's heart?"

Personally, I didn't realize Marlene was that brave. She's always the friendly member of our group. Four is scowling at her. She's nervously fidgeting with her hands. Zeke, Shauna, and Charlie arrive, looking curious.

Zeke looked at Four with raised eyebrows and asked, "Why are you sitting with the midgets, Four?"

Four rolled his eyes and Uriah spilled out, with food flying from his mouth, "He wants us to train some chick from another faction so she's ready when she chooses Dauntless in two years."

Charlie smacked him upside his head saying, "STOP talking with your mouth full! Disgusting!"

Four took a deep breath and put his head in his hands. He then jumped up saying, "This was a bad idea."

"Wait, Four! At least tell us her name so we can find out if she's interested in training." I exclaimed hurriedly.

"Fine, but this stays between us!" He said menacingly.

We all nodded in agreement.

He looked each of us in the eye and said, "I'd like you to train a girl from Abnegation. Her name is Beatrice Prior."

There's complete silence at the table. We all looked at each other and silently agreed not to let on that we know exactly who Beatrice is and that she's already trained. In fact, I think she could give the Mighty Four a run for his money.

Marlene, recovered from her fear of Four, says, "Of course, we'll reach out to her if we can find her."

Four nodded his head and stalked off.

After we saw him leave through the double doors, we all started laughing, even Zeke, Charlie, and Shauna,

Lynn grinned mischievously, "Nobody tell him. It'll be more fun this way. He's way too uptight and needs some loosening up anyway."

We cleared our trays and headed to the train to get to school.


When we got to school, Marlene skipped up to Tris and quietly said, "So, you have a boyfriend."

Beatrice gave her a puzzled look and shook her head. "No. Why would you think that?" she asked, frowning.

Uriah responded, "Well, if he's not your boyfriend, then he at least likes you. He really wants you to make it through Dauntless initiation."

Beatrice still looks completely confounded, and asked, "Who is this person?"

Brax answers, "Four. Our newest leader. He ranked first in this year's initiation."

"I have no idea who this Four is. I guess it's irrelevant though, seeing as I'm already trained."


I tried to remember Four's real name from the Choosing Ceremony. I couldn't even remember which faction he transferred from. I assumed Abnegation since he knew Beatrice. I was still pondering this, when it was lunch time. I sat at our usual table to wait for everyone to join me. I don't know where the girls are, Uriah and Brax, were the only ones to join me.

"Zeke texted me. He doesn't like that Four likes our little Trissy. I'm not sure how I feel about it either." Uriah announced.

Brax, my quiet, twin brother, angrily said, "He'd better not hurt her if he knows what's good for him." Then he punched the air.

"Does it matter? They won't even see each other for two years. Who's to say there's anything there or that it will even matter by then?" I asked.

Uriah hummed, and said, "Still, Zeke will probably give him the big brother or cousin, talk at some point. He's not allowed to hurt our girl. Though Tris can take care of herself. How many times has she broken Peter's nose?"

We all snickered at that.

"Tris is our cousin. She's little, a girl, Abnegation, and she can take all of us down if she so desires. I think we all need to remember that we aren't her bodyguards. She doesn't need one. Obviously Four underestimates her too. Granted, he doesn't know she's, our cousin. I think we're going to see a very stunned Four when she gets to Dauntless." We all laughed.


The final school bell went off and everyone got to head home, except me. Caleb and I are taking an after-school computer course. Our dads put us up to it. We've already picked up on most of what was being taught, from when we took the class last year. Caleb and I keep each other entertained by messaging through the computer's online messaging application.

I told him about the whole Four/Tris debacle and how neither of them knows who the other is. Caleb messaged me back asking if Four was Tobias Eaton. That's when it hit me! Of course he is! He obviously doesn't want anyone to know who he is, so I'll just keep this information to myself. The last person I want pissed at me is Four. I considered telling Tris but decided to let her figure it out on her own. Caleb told me he always suspected they liked each other but he's also sure it never got any further than that.

Class was finally over, and I gathered my backpack and headed towards the door. That's when I bumped into an Erudite girl. She turned to look at me and she had the most beautiful pale green eyes and blonde hair. She smiled at me, and I just felt all the breath rush out of my lungs. My chest felt tight. God, I was going to pass out and never find out this girl's name.

We were in the hall, and she grabbed my shoulder. She asked, "Are you alright? Breathe! Slowly. In through the nose, hold it for three seconds, out through the mouth slowly."

I shook my head and breathed like she said, then stumbled out, "I'm Xander."

She grinned at me and said, "Hi, Xander. I'm Cara."

We walked out of the school together. Cara is fifteen, so she's one year older than me, she has one brother, Will, who's my age. She's assisting with the computer class. She's brilliant and loves computers, reading, and something called "Fizzy Drink". It's an Erudite thing. She went on and on about it. I, in turn, shared everything I know about Dauntless cake. We walked to Millenium Park and sat by the Bean. I just didn't want to leave her to head home. We talked for an hour that seemed like forever but also it was too short. We decided to meet at the Bean on Friday, after school. We would exchange Dauntless cake and Fizzy Drink.

I finally pulled away from her and ran for the train. As I sat in an empty train car, thinking about the day's events, it occurred to me... I have a date!


Cara's POV

I was walking home from school and Millenium Park, thinking about Xander. He's really good looking and so smart. I didn't think a Dauntless could be so smart, but then. He is taking extra computer classes. It was easy to get him to talk to me. Just a flash of my smile and he was mine. Now for the guilt to kick in.

My aunt Jeanine told me I had to make friends with the two boys from different factions who were taking the computer science courses. I didn't want to talk to the Abnegation boy, Caleb, but Xander is very attractive. I figured I'd find some way to meet Caleb another time. Today I just wanted to get to know Xander. Jeanine thinks we can use them as an in for spying on the factions.

I'm really not interested in any of Jeanine's plans, but she can be so sneaky sometimes. It doesn't help that my own mother follows her blindly. They're parents died when they were young and Jeanine basically raised my mom, so she has misguided loyalty issues. Jeanine doesn't think highly of men, so she thinks they're easy to manipulate. That's why my brother, Will, never gets asked to go along with any of her stupid plans.

I spent an hour talking to Xander and I genuinely enjoyed myself. To Jeanine, it will look like I'm following her directions, but in all actuality, I'm just getting to know an attractive boy, that I think I could at least be friends with. Of course, none of this really matters since we could all go entirely different directions when we choose our factions.

I reached home quickly, and Will was sitting on the couch reading a book about fighting techniques. I wondered what that was about but didn't think too much of it. Mom was still at work in one of the labs and dad was teaching at the hospital. They usually meet Will and I at the cafeteria for dinner. That gave me two hours to get through my homework and nag Will to get his done too.

We walked to the cafeteria discussing the necessity of taking Faction History every year of school. My opinion was that it should stop after we get to Upper Levels. Will said it's important for us to learn about the manifestos of each faction right before we choose, so we can make a more educated decision.

As our family of four sat down to dinner, we began discussing Choosing Day and my parents were arguing about the necessity of rooting out divergents. My mom sides with Jeanine and says they should be exterminated. My dad says as a doctor, he is against killing innocent people. Then mom argued they aren't innocent. I have no idea what it even means to be divergent. Personally, I'm more likely to take dad's side. I'm automatically skeptical of anything Jeanine feels is right. Wanting to wipe out people sounds insane to me.

Will leaned forward and asked if I wanted to leave. We excused ourselves and headed out to the grounds. Honestly, our parents are constantly arguing about this. It makes me uncomfortable knowing that my faction wants to kill people for something they can't control. I don't know much about divergence, but I've gleaned that you're born that way.

"Will?" I asked,

He responded back, "Yeah?"

"Do you ever wish time would just hurry up so we could just make our choice and stop having our lives be so... routine?" I asked tentatively.

He just sighed and nodded his head. He put his arm around my shoulders and said, "Come on, sis. In two years, we'll both have made our choice and we'll be really to take on the world."

I just wish I didn't have this sense of foreboding that something bad is coming at the end of the two years before us.