Venus Eaton is desperate to escape the abuse of her previous faction although she is unaware and unprepared of the ordeals of Dauntless initiation. She is a stranger to her own brother until he accuses her of murdering their mother, and finds out th...
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VENUS
THE RANKINGS, as Rhett had told me, were up. I found my name in second, Tris beating me to first.
And to my luck, Rhett is straight behind me. If I wasn't competition before, I definitely am now.
Harmonie chatters happily to Emily about her rank, 5th, and I don't mind them ignoring me, in fact, they drowned me in hugs long enough earlier.
My mind is somewhere else. I am the second Edward, my eye could be stabbed next or worse. My heart drums in my chest. I can't sleep. I can't afford to sleep when I'm ranked exactly behind Rhett, because I am almost sure he is going to hunt me down.
"Hey!" I hear a cheerful voice in my ear. My whole body jolts, my cutlery clinking against my plate.
"Whoops, sorry." My eyes find a joyful face, Ollie. He is grinning although his eyes are slightly concerned. "You okay?"
"Sort of," I mumble, and inspect my bitten-down fingernails. "Just... I don't know, really."
"Is it because... Rhett?" He says, and I raise an eyebrow at him.
"How'd you guess?"
"'Just, I don't know, really'," He imitates me in a squeaky voice. I slap his arm. "I'm kidding! He keeps looking at you and whispering and lurking everywhere."
"I thought that was normal," I joke, and Ollie snorts as he sips from his juice box.
"Maybe it is," He says. "But I'd still watch out."
I nod, and find Rhett. He's sitting next to Peter, of course, but he's also sitting next to Kathleen. The girl I had completely forgotten about, Rebecca's sister. Her death seems so far away now, but I see grief in Kathleen's eyes as she glares across at me. I also see hate.
"I will." I say, not taking my eyes away from Kathleen's. Ollie pauses, then gently taps my shoulder.
"Okay then," He teases, "See ya later, stiffcakes."
"Yeah, yeah, asshole." I say back, and hear him chuckle as he walks away. At that moment, Kathleen turns her head away and Emily swivels round to me.
"Can you tell her to shut up before I steal that bow in her hair?" She looks peeved. "She keeps talking about getting a position as a Dauntless leader, and I'm going to break something if she doesn't stop!"
Harmonie is basically cackling, and I almost choke on my own saliva. Emily lets out a groan, but she is still smiling. "I think you're gonna get a leadership position, Venus." She says, and my face drops.
"Nope."
"Why not? It's not certain that Tris will last in first place." Emily reminds me, and I shrug. The job sounds busy and tiresome, but then again, aren't all Dauntless jobs like that? Then again, would that mean I'd have to work alongside Eric? Would that mean I'd have to see my father?
