Invergent

Chapter Fourteen

Elise's Perspective: 

Mornings in the Dauntless compound aren't as dreadful as I imagined. I braid Chrissy's hair effortlessly. She looks good with her hair tied back; more Dauntless this way. I braid my own hair as well, only my braids are long and fluffy, more Amity than any other faction. I wear my cargo pants and long-sleeved shirt. I take my rings off and put on some mascara and call it good for the day.

I currently sit at the table of Dauntless-born for breakfast. I pick up a piece of toast, feeling too uneasy to eat anything else. I consider today day one of trying to prove the test as futile. I wish I had a notebook and pen to take down notes, but I'll work with what I have.

"I'm just saying that the whole thing is redundant!" Marlene says, waving her hands in the air. I laugh at her dramatic facial expressions. She takes a bite of her waffle and scrunches her nose. "Why did they put sprinkles in this?"

"You didn't have to eat it," Lynn points out with a ghost of a smile on her face.

"It was colorful." Marlene pouts.

"Here." Lynn slides Marlene her plate of a half-eaten omelet. "You can eat the rest of mine."

"Thank you!" Marlene excitedly squeals, wrapping her arms around Lynn for a quick hug. "You're my favorite!"

"You say that to everyone." Uriah laughs, shaking his head.

Marlene takes a bite of the omelet with a wide grin then says, "maybe everyone's my favorite, ever consider that?"

"I think that defeats the whole point of having favorites." Lynn rolls her eyes.

"Hey, are you going to be okay? I mean with cuts and everything," Jason says, turning my attention to him.

"What do you mean?" I ask, trying to hide the my offense.

"Well, I just mean—" He nervously plays with the food on his plate, looking anywhere but my face. "Just that—Well, I don't think they taught you how to fight in Amity, that's all."

"I'll be fine," I say plainly, taking another bite of my half-eaten toast.

"If you need help-"

"By all means do not ask Jason," Uriah interrupts. "No offense or anything." Jason's face turns bright red.

"Three helped my sister learn how to fight and she started improving quite a bit after that! You're in good hands with him, I'm sure you'll be great." Marlene beams mirthfully. She's the most optimistic person on this planet, I'm sure of it. I look at her with a grateful smile. I'm glad someone believes in me.

"I appreciate that more than you'll ever know."

"Yeah—You'll do great! I mean, you were already the first jumper!" Jason quickly says, his eyes darting from one side of the room to the other.

I let out a heavy breath. "I didn't exactly jump and McKell-"

"WHO CARES ABOUT MCKELL?!" Jason slams his fists down onto the table, making me flinch. I glance around the room, quickly taking note of the people that are now looking in our direction. Marlene stares at Jason, wide-eyed, and Lynn sneers in his direction.

"Dude, you need to seriously calm down," Uriah says.

"I—" Jason quickly looks down, squirming under the watchful gaze of everyone around him. "Uh—sorry," he mutters so quietly I think I must have imagined it.

"So—" I begin, desperately trying to change the subject, "What do you guys do for fun around here?"

"Tons! We play dare, go climbing, zipline, play extreme hide and seek—" Marlene cheerfully starts listing, keeping count on her fingers.

"What's extreme hide and seek?" I ask, looking around the table for an answer.

"Basically the same as regular hide and seek, except when the seeker finds you, they get to shoot you," Uriah explains, and I feel the color drain from my face as I take in a sharp breath.

"Not with a real gun!" Marlene quickly says, throwing her hands up. "With a BB-gun. The bullets are made of plastic."

"They still hurt," Jason says.

"Hey, we should all totally do something after training!" Marlene says animatedly.

"Really? That sounds amazing," I say, noticing the bright gleam in her eyes. "What should we do?"

"Oh, no! We're not telling you. We'll plan something amazing, show you how great Dauntless can be."

"You'd do that for me?" I ask, truly touched by the gesture.

"Of course," she says around a bite of her omelet. I giggle, shaking my head at her. Life in Dauntless. Could it really be more than just bearable? I quickly glance at the table of transfers, who are much harder to spot now that they're wearing all black, and feel a sense of dread. Why can't I just train with the Dauntless-born!?

"Hey, everything will be okay," Marlene says, her voice soft. "You belong here." I nod, a smile pulling at my lips. Marlene is the kind of girl you just have to adore. She's stunning, sweet, and so caring. She makes me want to be here. Lynn is bitter, but contrasts Marlene in the most perfect way. Jason is sweet, but I'm starting to feel a bit smothered by him. Uriah is funny and carefree. I want to stay here. I want to be their friend.

I allow myself a final look across the room for one final peek at my competition and I notice Sal's eyes already on me. I look away, my face flushing with embarrassment. I wonder if he hates me for last night. It didn't occur to me until after I woke up this morning that he might have just wanted to be alone.

After breakfast, Three takes us to an indoor shooting range. He hands us each a gun, briefly demonstrates how to shoot it, then lets us all have at it. I examine the foreign object in my hand. It's heavier than I'd expect. I let out a deep sigh and point it at the target. I feel so much power resting in between my hands, and I'm not sure if I like it.

I let out a breath, remembering to keep my feet pointed at the target, shoulder length apart, and I shoot. I gasp, letting my hands fall to my side, staring in disbelief. Perfect bullseye. First try.

"Wow!" Sal says from right next to me. "That's amazing! Have you ever used a gun before?"

My wide eyes are still glued to the target in front of me as I shake my head. It must have been by pure luck because there is no way I'll ever be able to repeat this. I'm almost too scared to try.

"And you hit it on your first try? Has that ever happened before?" Chrissy asks Three.

He looks over at me then to my target and back again. After a moment he clears his throat. "Not in the whole time I've been instructing." He pauses. "This is my second year."

"Do it again!" Sal says.

I let out a nervous laugh, looking at all the faces that are now focused on me. Welp, this isn't embarrassing at all. I hold my gun back up and point it at my target. I take a deep breath in and hold it. I squeeze the trigger and with a loud bang my gun jerks back slightly. I look at the target. I didn't hit the bullseye, but I was pretty freaking close.

Three lets out a low whistle. "You're pretty good." He walks over to me. "Your stance is a little off though, if I could just—" He extends his arms out like he's going to wrap them around me.

"It's fine. I think my stance is working fine for me for right now," I say, holding my gun back up towards the target.

Day one of my experiment and not only am I succeeding, but I'm excelling! This could not be going better for me.