My life as Dauntless

Part 7

"I will" I said walking away from Eric. "You cant let him do that to you" I told myself. I look back and see Eric smirk them walk away.

I stop walking once I enter another room with the other initiates. "You will change your clothes here" Four said. "Change into..." a Candor girl asked. "Since you are now Dauntless...you'll have to dress like one." he replied. "Will we be changing clothes in different rooms?" asked Emit. "You'll be changing in the same room. You'll get your clothes from Tori and I expect you to be in the Pit in ten minutes" then he walked away.

I walk over to "Tori" and I receive a black muscle shirt and black pants and boots. "Thank you" I told her. "Go get dressed" she demanded. "Sorry, geeez" I walked away.

I take off my clothing like nobody was around me and everyone else does the same. I catch a glance of the Abnegation boy. He's undressing all awkwardly. He's way taller than me. Maybe around 6'4". Im 5'5" and I'm skinny. Some people have told me that I have a lot of muscle mass but I don't see it.

When Im finished changing, I walk back to the Pit by myself till I ran into Matthew. "Hey" he said, his voice low and scratchy. "What do you want?" I walked faster. "Aaron!" he stopped me. "What?!" "What did I do to make you mad at me?!" I ignore his question and continue to walk. "Aaron!" "What!" I yelled. "What did I do to make you mad at me?!"

I can feel my heart beginning to pound against my chest and my eyes beginning to water. "You want to know why Im upset?" I asked. He nods his head. "Because, I liked you and you went ahead and asked out Emit!" "What?!" "And now that he rejected you, you're hoping that Id forgive you right?!" "How do you know he-" "Im an-was-an Erudite. Im not stupid" I corrected myself. "Look. I never liked him. I liked you." "Then why did you ask him out?" I asked. He stays quiet. "Thats what I thought" I walked away. "Aaron" he puts his hand on my shoulder. "I don't EVER want to see and/or talk to you EVER again!" I knocked off his hand and I left to the Pit.

Once I make it to the Pit, I see Eric, Four, and other leaders-although I don't think that Four is a Dauntless leader-, along with initiates. "Come here" said Eric walking to a board. We all follow him. "Do you know what this is?" he asked. None of us answer. "This is your life. For the next ten weeks, your future depends on this board." he begins to walk back and fourth. "And see this?" Eric said gesturing to a section of red boxes on the board. "If you're in this area by the end of stage one...you're out" theres a low murmur. Eric stops pacing and stands looking at us. I accidentally make eye contact with him. He chuckles and puts his hand behind his back but his snicker dies quickly. "Anything to add to that Four?" Eric asked. "There are three stages to Dauntless initiation: The physical, the emotional, and the mental." Eric said. I feel someone bump into me but Im to focused to care.

Being raised as an Erudite, we savored every little piece of information.

Four continues to speak. "The initiates are separated during the first stage of initiation. The Dauntless born initiates are trained by Lauren, and the transfers are trained by Eric and myself" Four said. Eric and Four begin to switch off every categorization. "In the physical stage, initiates learn how to fight and are pitted against each other to prove what they have learned. They are scored based on their victories and losses." Eric said. All of this information gives me a big lump in my throat. Four begins to speak, "In the emotional stage, initiates are put into a simulation where they face their fears, oblivious to the fact that it is a simple simulation, and have to calm themselves to get out." "In the final stage, the mental, initiates are put into their fear landscapes, which reaches for every fear within the person subjected to it and creates a simulation in which they must face each one." Eric said. We make eye contact again.

Why am I getting the feeling that he's stalking me now.

"Tomorrow we'll begin the first day of training." Eric said. "You're free to go to the tattoo parlor" Eric said. "And make sure that you have your new name ready for tomorrow of you're going to want one!" Four yelled.

I see Matthew in my peripheral and walk away, occasionally saying "excuse me" or "sorry" to the initiates I bump into. "Aaron!" Matthew called out but I ignore him.

I walk into the tattoo parlor. "Didn't expect to see you here" said the Abnegation boy. "As did I" I said. "Aaron...hey" said Matthew. "Hi" said Abnegation. "Im sorry, I never got your name" I told him. "Im Marcus" he shook my hand. "Pleasure to meet you" I smiled at him and looked at the tattoo designs while Matthew bugged the crap out of me.

He's been tapping on my shoulder for almost the past hour. "Aaaarrrrooonnnn" he tapped my shoulder. "I think thats enough" said a deep voice. I turn... "Eric" I said almost surprised. "I think you've bothered him enough today...you should get going" Eric grabbed the back of his shirt and whipped Matthew behind him.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Matthew raised his voice. "Do remember that Im a Dauntless leader" Eric said. "In training" Matthew added on. Eric clenches his jaw. "Go. Now" Eric demanded. Matthew glares at me, then looks at Eric and walks away.

"Thanks" I said looking at tattoo designs. "You okay?" he asked. "Ya. Im fine","Need help picking one out?","No, but thanks","Alright" he smiled and walked away.

I need to find out why he's so nice to me, but a total ass to the other initiates. Why am I so special?

"Hey, Eric!" I yelled. He turns and walks back to me. "Whats up?"

I wanted to ask him why he was so nice to me, but I wimped out.

"Would this one look good?" I asked instead. He smiles and laughs a little. "Where would you want it?" he asked.

Im so stupid! I just pulled out a random design! And obviously, the tattoo turned out to be one of my biggest fears: drowning. The tattoo had a detailed wave design. Ive always had Aquaphobia.

"Around my bicep" I said. He nods his head and calls over a tattoo artist. "Mike, he wants it around his bicep" Eric told him. Mike nods his head. "Thanks" I looked away from Eric. He probably thinks Im weak, so maybe thats why he's being nicer to me. Eric just nods his head and leaves.

"Follow me" Mike said taking me to another room. He sits me down in a chair and takes the tattoo and places it on a small bag. "Wait a couple of minutes for it to be ready. Ill be right back" he said. I nod and fall asleep.

"Hey kid! Wake up!" someone shook me awake. I jolt up. Its Mike. "You're tat is done" he said. "What?!" I sit up and look at my bicep. The waves are a very light pigment of blue and it goes all the way around my bicep. "Thanks" I told Mike. "No prob kid"