Villainous Love (A Divergent Fanfic)

Chapter 10

I stare into his eyes, admiring the forceful blue. I graze my hand across his jaw, the way I imagined earlier today. He leans down so we're level. His hands grip my waist, and he leans to kiss my neck. He makes his way up to my jaw. One hand releases my waist and holds my throat. He looks me in my eyes before closing the gap between us, and-

"Wake up, girl. Time to go. You totally slept through Eric and his stupid pole," says Kali.

"Huh?" I say, still half-asleep.

"We have 45 minutes! We're throwing knives today. Luna's getting breakfast so we can get to the training room early. Why didn't you wake up? You're usually up and running by now."

"Uh, good dream," I say curtly. At this point I'm more or less fully awake and I feel my cheeks heat up from blushing. Honestly, I miss Kali as a friend - I want to talk to her about everything that's been happening. Apparently she feels the same way, because she looks at me and says, "wanna go to the club tonight? Just the two of us, for old time's sake. I miss us, and I feel like we need to hang out."

I smile. "Definitely. I was thinking the same thing."

Luna returns, pastries in hand. She hands me a chocolate chip muffin and Kali a custard danish. Kali smiles at her softly.

"Thanks," she says.

"I know you love them," replies Luna. She sees me staring and clears her throat. "Um, let's get going!"

-

"Alright, initiates, gather round," shouts Four. "We're practicing knife throwing today. I'm going to demonstrate a proper throw using this target and walk you through the appropriate measures to take so yours mirrors it."

Eric is off to the side sharpening the knives laid out on the table. Four put his hand up and he casually tosses one to him, like it isn't a freshly sharpened blade that could slice into his skin. Four catches the knife effortlessly.

"Eyes on me," he says and begins to show us the ideal throw and how to execute it. "If there aren't any questions, get to a target and start practicing."

The girls and I choose our targets at the end near Eric and next to each other. After a few minutes of practice, he joins Four in evaluating us. Rayne, who is next to Luna, has yet to hit the target, and his stance is poor. Eric, after having yelled at a poor Abnegation girl for her flimsy arms, picks on him next.

"Pathetic," he says bluntly. "Did you bother watching Four at all?"

"Yes, I-"

"Then it should show, if even a little. You haven't even hit the stupid board yet."

Rayne puts his head down. Once again, I feel for him. His closest friend, albeit nobody else's, has mysteriously disappeared. I can't imagine that is easy to ignore.

"We've been doing this for, like, fifteen minutes, Eric," I say, then mentally hit my head against a wall. I am getting too comfortable around him, and I know we are not on that level - yet. He raises his brows and expresses a feigned look of curiosity, stalking over to me. The rest of the initiates pause their knife throwing to observe.

"You're right, initiate," he says, suspiciously understanding. "Difference is, some of you have the basics down. Why don't you show us what you've got?" My pity for Rayne fades; I see this as an opportunity to show off, to show to Four that I belong. I hesitate to admit to myself that I also see it as an opportunity to show Eric I still deserve his respect. I have become embarrassingly needy of his approval.

I position myself accordingly, one leg in front, one behind. I relax my shoulders and arms, raising the one with the knife behind me. I take a deep breath. When I exhale, I send the knife flying to the target. It hits the ring outside the bullseye - unlike Rayne, it actually hits the board, and closer than any other initiate has managed to get theirs thus far. I suppress my smile, indicative of my own impressive self-regard, and look not at Eric, but at Four. His jaw is clenched, but that is as far as my observations take me.