Danger is Near

Chapter 8

We headed down to the Hall and it was already packed. Almost all of the tables were occupied. We headed over to the canteen looking area, where we grabbed trays and put whatever we wanted on them. I grabbed a plastic bowl of pasta and I also grabbed a soft drink. I didn't wanna look like a pig so I didn't grab anymore.

Once all of the others had grabbed their dinner, we searched for a table we could sit at.

Jem spotted a few vacant seats at a table in a corner. As we got closer I realised there were initiates already sitting there. I recognised them but I didn't know their names. They were all sitting at the end of the table facing each other, there was four of them. Three boys and one girl. I walked around to the other side of the table and decided to sit next to the girl. Amy sat opposite me, Jem sat next to Amy, Tess sat next to me, Tris sat next to Tess, Christina sat next to Tris and Matisse sat opposite Tris.

As I sat down, I introduced myself.

"Hey! My name's Eliza."

"What up, my name's Peter, this is Al, Will and Emma." the boy on the end of the table across from me said. The boy across from him seemed to be Will and the boy next to him must've been Al. I was sitting next to Emma.

"Oh yeah! You're the guy from the roof." I stated.

He looked at me, confused.

"You know. 'Yes, Stiff, take it off!'" I quoted him while chuckling a little.

"Oh! Haha, yes, that's me." he returned, smiling.

Tris was looking at me and instantly I regreted laughing about his funny yet unkind joke.

I turned my head to Emma and made a face that said 'whoopsies'. She laughed a little. Tris didn't notice though.

"Oh yeah! That's right. You guys were the ones late to The Pit." Will exclaimed.

"What are your names?" he asked, pointing to the others. Seeing as I had already introduced myself.

"Well, I'm Amy, this is Jem, Tess, Tris, Christina and Matisse" Amy replied, as she pointed. Showing Peter, Will, Al and Emma who was who.

We all chatted as we ate. I got to know Emma and Peter pretty well. Well, I didn't necessarily get to know them but I seemed to get along with them the most.

As we were all enjoying ourselves, another initiate I recognised scurried over.

"Where the hell were you guys?" he asked Peter, Will, Al and Emma.

"Oh, sorry Ed. You took too long so we left." Peter said, not really sounding sorry.

Ed started to walk away.

"Hang on Ed. I want you to meet all of our new friends." Peter arced up.

He began introducing all of us girls. He got each name right. Wow.

"Ladies, this is Ed." Peter finished mockingly.

"Edward as well" Ed added, correcting Peter in a way.

As Edward began to walk away with his tray in hand, Matisse called him over to sit next to her.

"Hey! What do you think your doing? Come over here." she said as she patted the free seat next to her.

Edward smiled and joined her.

For the rest of dinner we all talked, at times in smaller groups. We had a blast, laughing and telling each other about funny moments in our lives before Dauntless. Suddenly another topic was bought up between Amy, Tess, Will, Al, Emma, Peter and I.

Eric.

"He is a bit freaky, I have to admit." Tess said.

"Na, he isn't freaky. It's just he's an absolute jerk!" I then commented. Perhaps a little too loudly.

It went quiet on our end of the table. I looked up from my food and saw Eric standing there, behind Amy. Some other Dauntless men had also come to a stop. They must've been Eric's friends. Or just people he associated with because I couldn't imagine him having any friends.

His "friends" looked at him. Waiting for the rude words to come out of his mouth.

He was staring straight at me. Not at anyone else. I found this a tad bit unfair, for we were all talking shit about him.

I looked straight into his cold, grey eyes. I was nervous... scared. I was hoping Eric and his friends couldn't tell, but I think they could. As I looked at him I noticed a knife in his hand. This scared me even more. Eric's friends grinned evilly. Eric didn't though.

"You watch yourself." he said sternly, pointing his knife in my direction. Then he walked off. His friends in tow.

We all watched them walk away. Even Tris, Christina, Matisse, Jem and Edward seemed to have caught the last bits of our "conversation". They all looked shocked. I was too.

"Well, that was totally unfair." I lashed out.

"Wait. Hold up! What the hell did we miss?" Matisse questioned.

Peter was laughing. I glared at him. "Cut it out Peter." I said.

"Eliza!" Matisse shouted across the table.

"Well, Peter, Al, Will, Emma, Amy, Tess and I here were talking about Eric. And -"

"Liz called Eric a jerk just as he was standing right there!" Tess chimed in, pointing to where he was standing just a few seconds ago. Tess spoke as if something awe-inspiring had occurred.

I turned and looked at her. "Thank you" I said in a rather sarcastic tone.

"Guys don't worry about it. The jerks gone anyway." I grumbled.

"A rather hot jerk, I must admit" Emma sniggered.

Some of the other girls admitted he was hot too. I didn't. For some reason I felt that admitting he was hot, was like letting him get away with being cruel. And I couldn't have that.

But as I began to think about what happened I couldn't help but think about the fact he was holding a knife, and how hot I found it. Ugh, why am I always attracted to the wrong guys. I mentally hit myself.