Candor or Dauntless: Truth or Dare (Watty Awards 2013)

Part 50: Like Armor

Bekkah just stares at her. Jess doesn't seem like the person to have a temper, and apparently she doesn't. She couldn't hold in her anger any longer. Bekkah stands up again and coughs,

"You're right, I don't have a filter, but I've got something you don't...Do you know what that is?" Bekkah taunts. It sounds like she's really asking, but Jess doesn't move or respond.

Bekkah plows through, "I've got your itty-bitty boyfriend wrapped right around my finger. Don't I, Dylan?" Jess's eyes dilate and she lunges at Bekkah. No one moves to help her. Jess pins Bekkah down and punches her in the face repeatedly. Dylan shakes his head and walks to them. He grabs Jess's arm and pulls her up. Jess looks at him for a minute before wrenching her arm from his grasp and slapping him, hard, across his cheek.

"Cheating bastard..." She mutters as she passes me. She slams the doors closed behind her. Bekkah is laying on the floor, nose bloodied, lip split, gasping for air.

"Jaden, take her to the Infirmary, then come directly back here, got it?" I didn't want him alone with Bekkah. He nods and picks her up, making a sound of exertion as he does. Everyone scrambles back to their seats.

"Everyone, continue playing with Four...I'm going to look for Jess. I'm worried." I say. Dylan looks like he swallowed a marble and it was caught in his throat. His pained expression got worse the longer I scowled at him. Jess's handprint was painfully visible on his cheek.

How could he cheat on her? Jess is the sweetest person I have ever met and she is one of the strongest people I know, maybe not physically, but mentally. She had patience and she cared. She really cared. I got up and walked out. I pondered, Where would she go? The answer was obvious. I had taken her there once before, when she thought Dylan didn't like her anymore and I wanted to know why. I climbed down the slippery stairs of The Chasm, into the small cave where Jess sat. She had her head on her knees and she was rocking slowly. I touched her shoulder gently and sat down near her. She looked up for a moment. I thought she'd be crying. I mean, I would have been, but she wasn't. She just looked angry.

"I am going to kill her," She said, blowing strands of blonde hair out of her face. "But first, I'm going to kill him." She says it like it's a fact, like the fact that she has blonde hair and that she's tall. She's going to kill him

"Jess, you've got to see reason--" She cuts me off by standing bolt upright.

"I don't have to see reason! He cheated on me with that--that....." She screams in anger and kicks the wall. I stand up next to her and let her vent. The words tumble out of her as she kicks the rock wall.

"That no good bitch" Kick "Stole my Dylan" Kick "How did she?" Kick "She's uglier than a cow," Kick "Dylan, he's just as bad." Kick. Yell. "He's a cheating dick." I couldn't help it, a small gasp came out of my mouth. She was being a little harsh.

"Jess, I understand your angry, but you have to calm down. You have to." I say, my hands raised in submission. She exhales slowly and nods.

"Alright, but I'm going to hurt her--and him. Maybe I can't kill them, but I can do worse, way worse." She says. She turns around and storms out of the cave and up the stairs, taking them two at a time. I sigh loudly, the noise echoing on the cave walls. I chase after her, doubling my pace to catch up to her. I reach her just as she's opening the Training Room doors. I stand there frozen, one eye brow raised asking the silent question, 'Are you going to be okay in there?'

She looks at me quizzically, "Well? Aren't you coming?" I smile and bolt in after her. Everyone still sits on the floor, except Alex is leaning in towards Anna. His lips barely touching hers before she pulls away, unsure of herself. It's the Abnegation in her, I know it. I still haven't rid myself of those traits and I don't want to. I wear them like armor, like I'm proud to be this way, because I am. I am proud to be Divergent. I am proud to be Dauntless. I am proud to be part Abnegation. I am proud to be me. Just as I process these thoughts, Anna turns back to Alex and pulls his lips to hers.