Starting Over

Chapter 33

11 months later

I wake up in Tobias' arms. I look over at the clock. The alarm hasn't gone off yet but it will in three minutes. I shake Tobias to wake him up. He groans and rolls over.

"Remind me why I wanted to do this?" he says.

"Because scaring initiates is fun?"

"That is very true."

I kiss him then quickly walk into the bathroom to take a shower. I've just turned on the water when the alarm goes off.

"Really, Tris? You couldn't have turned off the alarm?" He sounds a little angry but I know he's just grumpy.

"Nope!" I shout with a laugh. "I knew you'd try and go back to sleep!"

Once I'm done in the shower I put on some clothes. I want to look intimidating so I grab my ripped black jeans, an athletic tank top that shows off all my tattoos, and the studded leather jacket Christina gave me last year when I finished initiation. I finish it off with my favorite pair of combat boots and do my hair in a French braid that starts on the top right side of my head and curves down so it ends on the bottom left side of my head. I don't bother with makeup because I'd just sweat it off.

I meet Tobias by the door. He's wearing a black T-shirt, black pants, and combat boots. We grab muffins and eat on the way to the net.

"What do you want to be called, Tris? B, Tris, or Six?" Tobias asks with a mouthful of muffin.

"Tris. They're going to figure out who I am sooner or later. It may as well be now, on my terms."

"Okay, next question. Are we telling them about us?"

"Nope! That's something they can figure out on their own!"

"Then I'm going to do this while I still can," he says before he kisses me. We stand there kissing until Uriah comes by and starts gagging.

"Oh, like you don't ever kiss Marlene!" I shout after him.

"Yes, but I don't make other people watch!"

"You didn't have to watch," Tobias calls.

"You're in public! How am I supposed to avoid it?"

"Close your eyes," I suggest and kiss Tobias once more before we finish the walk to the net. When we get there I head off to the steps near the net that lead me up to the ground. Once I'm outside I walk around to the back of the building the initiates will jump onto. From there I climb up a small, old ladder to the top of the building. I've been up there for about five minutes before I see the train. When it gets close enough people start jumping. I see roughly 12 Dauntless born and about six transfers. None of them are from Abnegation.

"Congratulations, you've made it this far!" I shout as I jump up on the edge of the building. Nobody had noticed me before but now they all turn to look at me.

"Why are we up here?" a girl from Candor asks.

"Because," I say as I hop down and walk over to her, letting the sound of my boots on the loose gravel fill the silence. "To get into the Dauntless compound you have to jump," I tell her loud enough so everyone to hear. "Now who wants to go first?" I ask as I walk back to the edge of the building.

Nobody moves. I hear a few people shift around but none of them step forward.

"Really? Nobody wants to go?"

"We don't know if there's anything at the bottom. We don't want to die," a boy from Erudite tells me. I shrug him off.

A few more minutes pass and still nobody moves forward. I'm getting hot so I take off my jacket. I set it down by my feet and turn to look down at the hole. I know there's a net there but from up here I can't see it. I hear a few gasps behind me.

"What?" I snap.

"Why do you have the Abnegation symbol on your shoulder?" the same Candor girl asks.

"Because I'm originally from Abnegation. Does anyone else have any stupid questions?"

Nobody says anything, but a tall girl from Dauntless does slowly walk toward the edge of the building. She looks pretty muscular but still skinny and I have to look up at her. She climbs up on the small wall at this edge of the the building.

"Are you Beatrice Prior?" she whispers so quietly that I have trouble hearing what she's saying.

"Yes, but I go by Tris. Never call me Beatrice," I whisper back.

She smiles and nods at me before she stands up straight. Her legs are shaking but she takes a step forward and falls. I watch her as she plummets toward the net. About halfway down she lets out a loud, shrill scream. If I didn't know better I'd think somebody was murdering her.

"Who's next?" I ask when I know it's clear.

A guy from Dauntless walks forward, shaking his head.

"I told her to stay safe and what does she do? She goes and jumps first!" he mumbles under his breath.

He's a big, bulky guy and doesn't resemble her at all except for his dirty blonde hair which is closer to brown than hers is. She has eyes so dark brown that they're almost black and he has bright green eyes. She is pale and has a line of freckles across her nose while he looks like he lives at the beach. I don't think they're related. Maybe they're friends or go out or something. Otherwise I'm not sure why he's care so much about her safety.

I'm snapped from my thoughts when I hear him take a big breath right before he closes his eyes and jumps. He doesn't scream but it kind of looks like his face is scrunched together.

After that people start actually jumping. The people start running together but I do know that a girl from Erudite is the first transfer to jump. Once everyone is down I put on my jacket, get up on the ledge, turn around backward so I'm facing the empty roof, spread my arms, and fall backward. The whole way down I laugh and scream as the wind whips through my hair and across my body. I bounce when I hit the net and continue to laugh until I notice Tobias' hand stretching toward me.

"I love doing that," I tell him.

"That's because you're insane."

"That's right! I knew there was something I was forgetting!"

He turns back to the transfer initiates. I guess Christina and Uriah already took the Dauntless born initiates.

"This is Tris and I am Four. We will be your instructors during your initiation," he tells them in his instructor voice. It's not as scary as last year but I still wouldn't want to mess with him. Last year he was still taking out his anger over me on the initiates.

The Candor girl laughs. I push past Tobias and stop right in front of her.
"What is you name?" I ask in a cold voice.

"Audrey," she answers confidently.

"What's so funny, Audrey?"

"Nothing."

"Well obviously there was something that made you laugh and we can stand here until you spit it out."

"I just think it's funny that you're so small and we're supposed to believe that you could actually beat someone up. Look at you! I bet you're not even strong enough to lift a gun!"

Before she can say anything else I grab her arm and flip her onto her back. Before she can even gasp I have my knee on her chest, pinning her to the ground. I push down as hard as I can.
"You really want to say that? I came in first in my initiation group. Twice."

She pales. "H-How is that possible?"

"Well, it's simple enough. I went through initiation twice. I guess I can see why you didn't choose Erudite."

One of the Erudite transfers snorts and tries to control his laughter.

"But how does that work?" she asks.

"Before the factions reformed she faked her death. I'm surprised you didn't hear about it. It was a big deal for awhile," Tobias tells her. "Honestly I thought everyone knew who Tris was."

Her eyes widen like she just realized who she was messing with. I smile slightly and get up. I don't know how far she'll make it in initiation after that. She didn't even try to fight me when I pinned her.