But Then I Met Her | ✓

Chapter 49

Zeke, Shauna, Lauren, Uriah, Lynn, Marlene, and I don't eat in the cafeteria. Instead we grab some food and head to my apartment, where we all sit on the floor at eat whatever. Marlene lays with her back on the floor, her boot-clad feet resting on my bed.

"What's Fear God Alone supposed to mean?" She asks, staring at the red words.

"It's supposed to be encouraging, I guess. It means that I shouldn't fear any man." I tell her.

"That makes no sense." She says. "How can you fear no man? I don't know about you, but if I was tied to a chair a tortured, I'd be pretty damn scared of the man making me weak and hurting me. Wouldn't you flinch every time he walked into the room?"

I think of my father for a second. "Four wouldn't let anyone do that." Zeke says matter-of-factly. "He'd beat the living shit out of them."

She turns her head and gives me a look. She knows that we're the same, in a way, but she doesn't know the specifics of it. She looks over at Uriah and his brother. "You can't fight back. They make you believe that all hope is lost, that you can't do anything. And then when you finally get away, you feel like you're not good enough for anything or anyone."

I lock eyes with her and nod. "You sound as though it's happened to you." Lauren takes a bite of a cookie.

Marlene gets a distant look in her eyes. "It did, in a sense." The others give her looks filled with varying degrees of surprise. "Oh, come on. How my parents treated me is no secret. They hated me, and you guys more than anyone know it."

"They might've, but we don't." Shauna tells her firmly. "They're not your family. We are. And I'm sure once initiation is over, Tris will be part of this family too." She gives me a pointed look.

"What?"

Zeke grins at me. "Oh come on, Four. It's obvious you think the girl is hot."

I roll my eyes. "I do-"

"Don't deny it." Lauren cuts me off. "It's true."

Lynn snorts. "Yeah, I can totally see Four and the Stiff together."

"He was a Stiff too, ya know." Uriah says. "Don't remember what his name was before it was Four, but he was a Stiff."

Marlene laughs and pokes me in the arm. "Tris is really nice though. I'd think they'd be good together." Everyone looks at her for a minute. "What? Someone has to make him less intense. I would smack it into him, but I'd rather not have him kick me into next Tuesday."

Uriah laughs. "He'd kick you into another dimension."

I shake my head. "Nope. Marlene has imunity. I won't kick the shit out of her." I give Uriah a look. "You, however, are another story entirely." We laugh, and Lynn checks her sister's watch. She lets out a loud and dramatic sigh. 

"Fear landscape time. Who's ready?" Uriah and Marlene raise their hands, groaning.

"Let's get this over with." Uriah says.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

I don't pay attention to any of the fear landscapes. I can only see their reactions, anyway, and that bores me to death. I glance at Tris when Eric announces what the transfers will be doing. Zeke crosses his arms over his chest next to me. Lauren and Shauna disappeared, leaving us.

It's Tris's turn. Zeke nudges me in the ribs. "Ready to see your girlfriend go in?" I roll my eyes at watch the screen, zoning out.

Max pulls me aside. "Four, we have a tracking device that needs to be implanted in every Dauntless." he holds up a syringe with orange-brown liquid in it. "It's in case someone goes missing." I nod and tilt my head to the side. He wipes off my neck with an antiseptic  wipe and injects the serum. I barely feel it.

Eric walks over after Max disappears and grabs my arm. when the simulation ends. It took her less than ten minutes. "Let's go congratulate her." I nod and we walk into the room. Max, Eric, and I walk in, along with a few other Dauntless leaders. I smile at Tris. She did good.

Eric congratulates her, and she gives him a semi-convincing fake smile. Mallory, a blue-haired Dauntless and someone in charge of the serums opens a black case, and he goes over about the injecting the Dauntless with the tracking device and all of that. I tune it out.

"The banquet is in two hours." Eric tells her, then says something about rankings. The crowd leaves, but I stay behind. I motion for her to follow me, and she does. I smile at Tris, who looks nervous and scared shitless.

"I heard a rumor that you only had seven obstacles to face. Practically unheard of."

She seems surprised. "You...you weren't watching the simulation?"

"Only on the screens. The Dauntless leaders are the only ones who see the whole thing. They seem impressed."

"Well, seven fears isn't as impressive as four," she replies, "but it will have to suffice."

"I would be surprised if you weren't ranked first."

People smile at Tris and cheer, and clap her on the shoulder. She stays close to me, hesitantly smiling back at them. We go down the steps into the Pit. "I have a question." I can tell that she's biting her lip. "How much did they tell you about my fear landscape?"

I shrug. What's wrong? "Nothing, really. Why?"

"No reason." She kicks a pebble off of the edge of the path. Something's wrong, but I don't pressure her. If she wants to tell me, she'll tell me herself.

"Do you have to go back to the dormitory?" I ask. "Because if you want peace and quiet, you can stay with me until the banquet."

She gets a strange expression- fear mixed with dread and longing. What the hell happened in her fear landscape? "What is it?" I ask.

"Let's go." She says.