Divergent - No War

Prologue

     When Tobias and I reach the entrance, we separate. We spent the past two hours lying on his bed, talking and kissing until we finally just fell asleep. We woke to the sounds of people shouting on their way to the banquet. I go in first and run to the table I share with Will and Christina. He enters second, a minute later, and sits down next to Zeke, who hands him a dark bottle which he waves away.
     "Where did you go?" asks Christina. "Everyone else went back to the dormitory."
     "I just wandered around," I say. "I was too nervous to talk to everyone else about it."
     "You have no reason to be nervous," Christina says, shaking her head. "I turned around to talk to Will for one second, and you were already done." I just shrug. "Question," she says, leaning forward. "The leaders who were watching your fear landscape...they were laughing about something."
     "Oh?" I bite my lip hard. "I'm glad my terror amuses them."
     "Any idea which obstacle it was?" she asks.
     "No."
     "You're lying," Christina says. "You always bite the inside of your cheek when you lie. It's your tell."
     I stop biting the inside of my cheek.
     "Will's is pinching his lips together, if it makes you feel better," She adds and Will covers his mouth immediately.
     "Okay, fine. I was afraid of...intimacy," I say.
     "Intimacy," repeats Christina. "Like...sex?"
     I tense up and force myself to nod. Even if it was just Christina, and no one else was around, I would still want to strangle her right now. I go over a few ways to inflict maximum injury with minimum force in my head. I try to throw flames from my eyes. Will laughs.
     "What was that like?" she says. "I mean, did someone just...try to do it with you? Who was it?"
     "Oh, you know. Faceless...unidentifiable male," I say. "How were your moths?"
     "You promised you would never tell!" cries Christina, smacking my arm.
     "Moths," repeats Will. "You're afraid of moths?"
     "Not just a cloud of moths," she says. "like...a swarm of them. Everywhere. All those wings and legs and..." She shudders and shakes her head.
     "Terrifying," Will says with mock seriousness. "That's my girl. Tough as cotton balls."
     "Oh, shut up."
     A microphone squeals somewhere, so loud I clap my hands over my ears. I look across the room at Eric, who stands on one of the tables with the microphone in hand, tapping it with his fingertips. After the tapping is done and the crowd of Dauntless is quiet, Eric clears his throat and begins.
     "We aren't big on speeches here. Eloquence is for the Erudite," he says. The crowd laughs. "So I'm going to keep this short. It's a new year, and we have a new pack of initiates. And a slightly smaller pack of new members. We offer them our congratulations." At the word, the room erupts, not into applause, but into the pounding of fists on tabletops. The noise vibrates in my chest and I grin. "We believe in bravery. We believe in taking action. We believe in freedom from fear and in acquiring the skills to force the bad out of our world so that the good can prosper and thrive. If you also believe in those things, we welcome you." Even though I know Eric probably doesn't believe in any of those things, I find myself smiling, because I believe them. More pounding fists, this time accompanied by whoops.
     "Tomorrow, in their first act as members, our top ten initiates will choose their professions, in the order of how they are ranked," Eric says. "The rankings, I know, are what everyone is really waiting for. They will appear on the screen behind me."
     As soon as the last word leaves his mouth, the names appear on the screen. I can't believe it. Next to the number one, is my picture and the name "Tris." I smile, and a tingling spreads through me. First. This faction is where I belong. Will's arms wrap around me and he gives me a bear hug. I hear cheering and laughing and shouting. Christina points at the screen, her eyes wide and filled with tears. I look down the list. The only name I am truly disappointed to see who is now a member is Peter. Molly and Drew are cut, factionless. It isn't quite the victory I wanted, but it's a victory nonetheless.
     I turn to see Will and Christina kissing a little too sloppily for my taste. All around me is the pounding of Dauntless fists. Then I feel a tap on my shoulder and turn to see Tobias standing behind me. I get up, beaming.
     "You think giving you a hug would give away too much?" he says.
     "You know," I say. "I really don't care."
     I stand on my tiptoes and press my lips to his.