Alexander Eaton || A Uriah Pedrad Love Story

Chapter 3

Soon enough, the ceremony ended, and we headed out for the Dauntless compound.

"Hey, Stiff," one of the Dauntless borns said. He had darker skin and a really cool snake tattoo on the side of his head.

"Hey," I said softly.

"Come on, stick with me or you'll never make it," he said as we started running down the stairs. I'd taken these stairs plenty of times before, but I just now realized that Dauntless also took them, but for a totally opposite reason. Abnegation took the stairs out of respect for other factions. Dauntless took the stairs in order to be loud and reckless. You can't really do that in an elevator.

We ran clear out to the train tracks and stopped just long enough to catch our breath before having to jump on the train.

"C'mon Stiff," the boy said as we both took off running in order to jump. When my body hit the train floor, I knew, somehow, I'd made the right decision.

"What's your name?" The boy asked, standing up to catch his breath.

"Alex, what's yours?" I asked.

"Uriah Pedrad," he said. For the first time I noticed how his dark brown eyes fit perfectly into his dark complected skin. The tattoo on his shaved head seemed to describe him to a T. Well what I know of him at least.

He's perfect! I like him so much

"Too much," my father's voice chided me.

I've always felt this way towards guys and not girls, but I've always had to hide it because of my father and faction being extremely homophobic.

We talked for a few minutes before he said we had to jump off.

"What do you mean jump off?" I asked.

"Come on, we'll do it together," he said, grabbing my hand and pulling me to the opposite side of the train.

We jumped and I screamed. Especially once I hit the ground. My whole body hurt like hell.

"Come on, stop being a baby," someone said, grabbing my arm and hauling me to my feet.

"Alright, I think everyone's here," Four said.

"Welcome to Dauntless, the brave," a woman with dark hair and pale skin said.

"We're the leaders here, and we need you all to get into the compound. The only problem with that is there's only one way, and that's down," Four said. If I remember correctly, he's terrified of heights.

"Someone's gotta jump first, who's it gonna be?" A pale boy with way too many piercings asked.

"Shut up, Eric. You are no longer a leader," Four said.

"I'll do it," Beatrice Prior said.

"No way, the stiff's gonna jump first," a loud mouth Candor said.

"Natural selection. Let the dumbest die first," an Erudite kid said.

"How about you all shut up and let the girl jump," Uriah said.

After Beatrice, no one else wanted to jump either.

"I'll go," I said, raising my hand and stepping forward.

"Alex, you don't have to do this," Uriah said.

"Do you really think they'd let us all die?" I asked.

"Look at that. Guess we won't have to worry about the Stiffs anymore," Peter, a loud mouth Erudite transfer said.

"Why don't you shut up for the first time in your life?" I asked. I stepped up on the ledge and stepped forward without a second thought.

The feeling of free falling has got to be one of the greatest feelings in the world. When I hit the net I had a bright, beaming smile on my face. Immediately, I was greeted with several sets of hands to pull me off the net.

"Name?" Someone asked.

"Alex," I said, too out of breath to finish. Besides, I was in a new faction, where's the harm in changing my name a little.

"Second jumper, Alex," the person called to someone who was scribbling down our names on a piece of paper.