Born to be Dauntless

Chapter 8

The next day I wake up on time but this time I don't reach out to my bedside table out of habit, instead I get up do my morning routine which consists of ;brushing my teeth,combing may hair and then pulling it in a ponytail and after Will wakes up as well we go to the training room together, we wait for the rest of the Initiates to come and Four finally begins to speak, "Well,luckily there's an even number of you which means all of you will have to fight today." he gives us all a look and steps away from tge board, I gasp, not because my opponent is strong but exactly because she isn't, Myra is my opponent, I'm going to have to fight Myra today, I groan,why Myra out of all people,' does Four think that I'm weak? Is that why he set me up with Myra?' I look at Myra and she looks back at me with a smile,she doesn't belong here,she belongs in Erudite or Amity, but definitely not Dauntless. "this isn't good," says Christina who is standing next to me with Tris "ow." Tris groans,Christina probably nudged her, "sorry," she says "but look I'm up against the Tank." her opponent is Molly and I don't know which one she is but I'm guessing the large girl that is standing next to Peter, "The Tank?" Tris asks, "Yeah,Peter's slightly more feminine-looking minion," Christina says, I roll my eyes at the thought of Peter and my encounter with him the night before, I move a bit closer to Christina and Tris so I can exactly listen to what they say and not be counted as an intruder, "well at least it's better than Peter," Tris says and I feel like she's a little bit afraid, I don't blame her,I'd be too,"Those three," Christina points at Peter,Molly and the other boy "have been inseparable since they crawled out of the womb,practically. I hate them." I look up at the arena,Will and Al stand across from each other, I don't know who I want to win, because Will is my best friend and Al is a nice guy,I just hope none of them get hurt,"What's wrong with them?" Tris asks "Peter is pure eveil.When we were kids, he would pick fights with people from other factions and then, when an adult came to break it up,he'd cry and make up some story about how the other kid started it.and of course,they believed him,because we were Candor and we couldn't lie.Ha ha." I can't imagine crying just for an adult to believe in my innocence, that is just disgusting, "Drew is just his sidekick.I doubt he has an independent thought in his brain. and Molly... She's the kind of person who fries ants with a magnifying glass just to watch them flail around." aftet Christina says that I figure that the other boy's name is Drew,and I continue watching the arena,Al punches Will hard in the jaw, Tris and I winceI see Eric smirk at Al and turn one of the rings in his eyebrow. Will stumbles to the side, one hand pressed to his face,and blocks Al's next punch with his free hand.Al might be slow but he's strong. Peter,Drew and Molly look at us and start whispering with eachother "um Christina it looks like they know that we're talking about them," I say "so?they already know I hate them." "How?" Tris and I ask at the same time,Christina fakes a smile at them and waves. I look directly into Peter's eyes,he bows at me and I roll my eyes, could he be anymore childish,"because I've told them," Christina says through gritted teeth, " we tryvto be pretty honest about our feelings in Candor. plenty of people have told me that they don't like me. And plenty of people haven't. Who cared?" "we just... Weren't supposed to hurt people," Tris says and I nod my head in agreement with her,I would never tell a person I hate them,I would just let them know it with my actions other than that it would be impolite, and in Erudite we care about politeness a lot, "I like to think I'm helping them by hating them," Christina says. " I'm reminding them that aren't God's gift to humankind." Tris and I laugh and I look back to the arena
Will and Al keep circling eachother, they glance at Four probably hoping that he would call the fight off but he doesn't do anything, a few seconds pass and Eric shouts, " do you think thia is a leisure activity?should we break for a nap-time?fight eachother! " "But..." Al loses his gaurd and asks," is it scored or something? When does the fight end?" "it ends when one of you is unable to continue," says Eric. "according to Dauntless rules," Four says, "one of you could also concede." Eric narrows his eyes at Four."according to the old rules," hes says. "in tge new rules, no one concedes." "a brave man acknowledges the strength of others," Four replies, "a brave man never surrenders." Four and Eric stare at eachother for a few seconds and finally Al says "this is ridiculous," "What's the point of beating him up?we're in the same faction!" "Oh,you think it's going to be that easy?" Will asks, grinning. "Go one.Try to hit me,slowpoke." Will puts his hands up again and I see determination in his eyes, I smile,thia is the Will I know, confident, and smiling. He keeps dodging punches and kicks Al in the back but in one split second ke grabs Will so he can't dodge and throws a hard punch at him,I close my eyes,I don't want to see Will,my childhood best friend fall to the ground like a piece of meat and the next thing I hear is Eric shouting "Tris and Peter,you're next!"
Tris walks to the center of the arena and Peter comes towards her,deep down I'm wishing for Tris to beat the crap out of him,but I know that's practically impossible,he's taller and more muscular.
"You okay there,Stiff?"he says " You look like you're about to cry. I might go easy on you if you cry." They both get into position and Peter keeps annoying her "come on ,Stiff," " Just one little tear. Maybe some begging." Tris kicks him in the side which was wrong since he caught her foot and yanked it forward,knocking her to the ground,she scrambles to her feet. "Stop playing with her," snaps Eric " I don't have all day." Peter hits Tris in the jaw and both Christina and I wince ,he kicks her in the stomach. She falls,she tries to get up but Peter grabs her hair and punches her in the nose,she tries to push him off,but he punches her again,this time in the ribs,he shoves her down,but she gets up. I am honestly astounded by her bravery,she really is something. Peter hits her side and she stumbles,apparently in her state she manages to hit Peter because he groans,but barely,at least it's something,and it'll earn her points,right? He slams her ear with the flat of his palm, she falls and Peter slams into her side and she screams. He hits her again until someone shouts " Enough!" ,after that they take her . I am lost in my thoughts until I hear my name being called ,along with Myra's, there's no escape from this now.
I walk towards the arena and so does Myra,she tries to smile at me,but I don't return it,I must think logical,they might score us based on anything. I get in position and so does she,we circle each other since we're both reluctant to hit the other,but I remember that Eric is watching us and I punch her in the jaw,she loses her defense and holds her jaw and I kick her feet from underneath her,she falls. It takes her quite some time to get up,it would be logical to hit her and end it,but I don't,I hate that my brain works half logical and half emotional,guess that's part of being Divergent,you're different things. She gets up and stands in front of me,seeming determined, I kick her at the side but she sees it coming and catches my foot,she tries to copy Peter and make me fall,but before she can do it,I turn my foot and push her . She falls down,I go close to her,for a few seconds we're both still and don't know what to do,but I suddenly get an idea,I lean towards her so that my hair covers her face,I whisper in her ear " act unconscious," I then grab her head and then "hit " it on the ground,apparently she got the message and acted unconscious,but I can clearly see that her breathing is still the way a conscious person's breathing would be . I stand up ,Eric smiles at me and I feel disgusted by myself. I won.
Next is Molly and Christina,I walk to the corner of the crowd,away from my friends,I'm so caught up in my thoughts that I don't notice someone approaching me until I hear him say " I saw what you did there nose," I'm not even surprised,I sigh and answer " so what? You're gonna tell on me? Are you really that childish,oh and by the way that was not a challenge," " I could you know ,I was candor," I open my mouth to correct him and say that he was candor but I realize he said it correctly,so I close it. I turn my attention back to the fight in front of me,Christina punches Molly in the ear,and I notice another person coming near me ,I turn to tell Peter to go away but I am met by Al," Hey,are you okay?" He nods his head and turns his attention to the fight like me,Christina is on the ground and suddenly she shouts " Stop!" Molly goes to kick her again,but she says " Stop! I'm..." she coughs "I'm done ." I gasp ,Eric will not like this,as if on cue,Eric walks to the center with his arms folded " I'm sorry,what did you say? You're done?" Christina pushes herself to her knees and nods, "get up," he doesn't yell ,which makes me think that there's something bad about to happen,he yanks her arm up and drags her , " follow me," he says to the rest of us,and we do .