Chapter 6 - Just Breathe

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Corrine

I can't actually remember the last time I slept, without the help of the medicine in the infirmary. Days maybe? I couldn't sleep last night, waiting for this morning to come.

I quickly laced up my boots, trying to be as quiet as possible so I didn't wake anyone. But as hard as I tried, Marie still popped up her blonde head and looked at me.

"Where are you going? It's not time to get up yet." She groans.

"I know. I just don't want to shower with everyone else..go back to sleep." I try to smile at her. She rolls her eyes and plops her head back on her pillow.

I tiptoe the rest of the way out of the room and jog down the corridors to the training room. When I got there, Eric was already inside. He was laying on his back on a weight bench, pushing a bar that looked far to heavy. I walked over carefully.

"Um...hi." I said looking down at my feet. He pushed the bar up one more time and dropped it into its holders with a loud bang, standing up and wiping his face with his arm. The white tshirt he wore clung to his body, allowing the ink underneath to show through. I must of been staring too long, because Eric coughs and for the first time I see the smallest of smirks on his lips.

"Shit. Sorry." I pull my bottom lip between my teeth and look down again.

"Stop apologizing. You look tired." He says, swiping his hand over his forehead again.

"No..I..I'm fine. I promise."

"You're not sleeping?" He asks.

"I just can't. Okay?" I say, a bit of frustration in my voice.

"It won't always be so horrible, you know? But you have to get through initiation first." Eric says. I nod.

"Where do we start?" I ask.

"You need to build up strength. You're weak and you won't last one on one when the fights start."

"Fights?"

"It's part of the first stage, you have to fight each other and earn the points from winning to stay." He explains. He's right, I'll never last. I've never hit anyone in my life.

"What should I do?" I ask.

"First, you need to run and warm up." Eric says. I nod, as I take off running to the other end of the large room.

I had been running about 20 minutes when he stopped me.

"That's good for now. I'll show you how to use the weights, now." He picks up some smaller hand weights and shows me how to properly hold them.

My muscles feel sore and my body aches from yesterday. But I push through everything he asks of me and I don't quit. And now, it's getting close to time for everyone else to get here and I'll have an entire day full of more.

"You did well, initiate." Eric says, pulling his black jacket onto his body.

"Oh. Thank you. And thank you for doing this, with me." I say with a small smile. His face stays serious and he nods before walking away.

I sit on the floor and stretch my muscles as everyone else files into the training room.

"How early did you get here?" Finn asks.

"Just a minute ago." I say quickly.

"Wait for me next time, I'll walk with you." He says.

"You can't protect me all the time, Finn."

"No matter how Dauntless we become, I'm always going to protect you. So get over it." My brother pushes me playfully and I let myself laugh a little.

"Alright, everyone line up with a punching bag." Four says as he comes in the room.

I stand between my brother and Drea at a punching bag. I wish anyone else would of stood next to me but her.

"I think you'll be doing more damage to yourself than you will that punching bag, stiff." Drea says. I clench my fists and look away from her. Waiting for instructions from Four.

He shows us different combinations of punches and kicks to do against the bag, then let's us practice them while he and Eric walk around watching us. It makes me nervous when they watch me.

"You're going to have to do it faster than that." Eric says from behind me.

"I'm trying." I say, a little out of breath.

"Try harder." He says. I stop punching the bag and turn to look at him with a scowl on my face, I can see Drea watching me from the corner of my eye.

My jaw tightens and I bite down on my tongue so hard that I can taste blood. I say nothing to him, I just look at him a moment before I turn back around and kick the bag as hard as I can, causing it swing backwards quite far.

"Better, but you need to use all of your upper body, like this." Eric says as he comes up behind me, he presses his chest against my back and places his hands over mine, my skin breaks out in thousands of goosebumps.

"From the waist." He says quietly into my ear, he uses my hands to show me how the punches should be thrown, then slowly takes them off and steps away from me, leaving my body feeling cold.

Drea looks at me with anger in her eyes. More than usual. And I can assume, it's because Eric walks by her without even a glance in her direction. No compliments to feed her ever growing ego. I can't help but smirk at her, turning back the punching bag again.

We had been at it for hours when they finally called it for the day.

"You did well today, Corrine." Four tells me as I walk past him.

"Oh, um, thank you." I nod and walk out of the room. I rush to the room and grab different clothes, before going into the bathroom and pulling the shower curtain closed. The shower curtains were the only small piece of modesty they gave us.

I showered as quick as I could and changed my clothes behind the curtain. I ran my fingers through my damp hair as I walked back into the room.

"Corrine! Come on! Everyone's going for drinks." Marie says, standing next to Ricky.

"I don't drink." I say.

"Abnegation you didn't drink, Dauntless you totally does!" She grabs my wrist and pulls me behind her.

"It'll be fun, Corrine. Come one." Richly smiles at me. I sigh loudly.

"Okay, let's go." I give in. They both smile at me widely as we make our way back to the Pit.

I would have to get used to things like this.

What's the worst that can happen?

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