Devious | Eric Coulter

11

A/N: FROM THIS CHAPTER ONWARD, THINGS WILL BE CONFUSING. CHAPTER 11 UP TO THE LAST CHAPTER HAVE NOT BEEN EDITED. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Charlie

"Alright, everyone! Gather around!" Eric bellowed while we were practicing on the punching bags. All the initiates stopped what they were doing and immediately moved towards Eric who was standing next to Four. He was holding some type of remote on his hand.

When all the initiates formed a crowd before him, Eric pressed down on the remote and the electronic board behind him came to life. It displayed a table of some sort and I can see that there were names on it. Names of the initiates.

I ducked my head low, I did not want to see where I ranked.

"See this board?" Eric stated, "Well, this board is your life. This will be shown three times per stage. At the end of each stage, if your name is below the red line, say goodbye. Five initiates will be cut every stage, regardless if you are a Dauntless-born or a transfer. And as I already told you, you will be ranked together with the Dauntless-borns."

The training room was silent, I was sure each initiate was scared or frightened. Who wouldn't be? There were 45 initiates all in all, 30 Dauntless-borns and 15 transfers. Most of us didn't stand a chance against the Dauntless-borns, take me for example.

"Those who ranked high, relish your time being on top. It is not guaranteed that you would always be on the higher end, you could fúck up on the second and third stage of initiation and drop down. Those below, toughen up and do your best to climb up. You can either go hard, or go home. Well, in this case, go factionless." Eric snickered as some of us flinched.

I almost rolled my eyes.

"Alright, everyone go have a break. Be back after ten minutes." Four's bland voice interrupted. Everyone began going towards the benches or the cafeteria to have their well-deserved break.

I stayed rooted on my spot. Do I want to see where I ranked or not?

I took a deep breath and slowly looked up.

I scanned the board for my name and found it two spots above the red line.

I breathed out a sigh of relief. Thank goodness.

I slowly walked towards the benches located on the other side of the training room, a happy smile on my face.

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Four watched his sister's movements as she moved across the training room towards the benches, a small frown on his lips.

He looked away and immediately headed for the cafeteria.

When he reached his usual table, he sat down and brought a spoon of cake towards his mouth. The tasty Dauntless treat didn't do anything to help ease his thoughts, though.

I promised to lure her away from Eric.  He thought as he remembered the way Eric was holding Charlotte when he was teaching her the right way to punch.  But that seems fúcking impossible now.

Damn it,  he cursed in his head, why did she have to break her promise? If she defected to Amity like we planned years ago, none of this wouldn't have happened.

He huffed and continued shoving Dauntless cake into his mouth.

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"Congratulations, Lottie." I looked up and saw the cheeky but barely visible smile of Eric, a twinkle in his eye.

I rolled my eyes and patted the space next to me. "Stop calling me Lottie and thanks, although two spots above the red line doesn't sound so good. You can uh-sit. That is  i-if you want. If you don't, no worries. I'll go find Peter or--"

He sat down and placed a hand over my mouth. "Did you swallow an engine or something? Your mouth doesn't seem to have an off switch." He teased.

I rolled my eyes at him and pulled his hand away from my mouth. "I was just... never mind."

We sat together in silence until he broke it.

"Why were you crying a while ago?"

I pursed my lips. "It was nothing. Just... family problems."

It was true, partially. Four was my brother, but he didn't need to know that.

He raised an eyebrow at me. "Visiting Day is two days from now. Are you worried about that?"

I lightly shook my head at him. "I know  that my dad won't visit me."

He didn't visit Tobi--Four when he was an initiate, too. I wanted to add.

He gave a puzzled expression at my response. "Abnegation is keen about transferring. That's probably why he won't visit."

Of course he won't visit. He's the leader of Abnegation! Seeing him here in Dauntless would send Jeanine's heart to leap in joy like a kid that was given a candy. It would show how irresponsible he is to leave a faction and how insensitive he is for visiting the warrior faction, the faction that is the utter opposite of Abnegation.

I gave Eric a small nod.

"Yeah, that's probably it."

He patted my head, a gesture of his I've grown accustomed to. "That's okay, Lottie. I'll be here to keep you company."

"Thanks, Eric. And please, for the hundredth time, call me Charlie."

"Anytime, Lottie."