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When Initiation Day arrived, Lilith Ovard was more nervous than she cared to admit. Her stomach was constantly flipping, making her feel as if she would throw up if she had any food, and her hands shook in antecipation. She'd nearly dropped her hairbrush, earlier that morning, making Peter glance at her and release a scoff. The brunette had given him the middle finger, narrowing her eyes in a glare, before finishing braiding back the front pieces of her hair. If she looked put together, no one would be able to see how truly anxious she was, and that was a good thing, in the faction of the brave.
The past few days had been hectic. Lilith had actually put some work into delving deeper into her fears and coming up with ways to face them and, even if she had no idea if her methods would work, they made her slightly more confident about the final test. When she wasn't doing that by herself in the roof, either Nate dragged her to spar or the Dauntless borns invited her along to their plans. Between all of that, Lilith also had given herself the task of avoiding Eric at all costs, quickly exiting the cafeteria whenever he entered and sneaking around the compound to not be seen. Once, she'd even gotten to the extent of hiding behind Nate, making the boy shake his head and mock her for a solid ten minutes after.
But Initiation Day was upon them, and Lilith couldn't hide any longer.
Tris was fast asleep on her bed when Lilith returned to the dorm, after lunch. The rest of the transfers were either still having their meals or milling around the compound, as the Dauntless borns went ahead and faced their fear landscapes first. In normal circumstances, she would be up there watching them and trying to pick up tactics that she could use, once it was her turn. But Eric was obviously present, and she didn't feel prepared to face him just yet. Lilith kept silent as she walked to her bed, reaching under her pillow for the napkins she had used to scribble down her possible fears and techniques to move past them. They'd be evaluated on their time, so she wanted to make sure that she took as little as possible.
Minutes ticked by and, as much as Lilith racked her brain for more answers, she couldn't picture any more of her possible scenarios, nor answers to how to react to them. Her dark eyes skimmed the words on the pieces of paper, and she was so focused on trying to memorize what she'd written down that she didn't notice Nate approaching her bed and furrowing his eyebrows at the notes on her lap.
"You do know that you can't study for this one, right?" he questioned, the girl jumping slightly at the sound of his voice.
She gave him a nod, "I know. I just..." Lilith paused, shrugging her shoulders as Nate sat down beside her, "It makes me feel more prepared."
"To each their own, I guess," the boy grinned, his eyes lingering on the napkins for a few more seconds. When he held out his hand to grab one of them, Lilith noticed his bloody knuckles, and instantly furrowed her eyebrows. Her friend's fingers hadn't looked so drastic since Phase One, and they were certainly not covered in dried blood the last time she'd seen them. Before she could ask, Nate spoke, "I needed to let out some stress. Might have mistakingly punched the wall instead of the punching bag," he shrugged, "It doesn't hurt anymore."
