Chasing Dauntless (A Divergent OC Fanfic in Dauntless)

Chapter Eleven

"Jess! There you are!" Hannah rushed over to me. She gave me a huge hug. "Where were you?" she asked, holding me at arm's length. I rolled my eyes and pouted jokingly. "Chase made me like, run his errands and stuff. It sucked." She laughed. "That's cause you're best in the class." I shrugged off her compliment and smiled. "Stop it, I'm not." She giggled. "Come on, let's go do something. It is our day off!" I smiled, and we began discussing things to do that day.

But while Hannah and I talked, I felt a weight slowly settle on my shoulders.

I realized this would be more time spent with Chase than before.

I sucked in a sharp breath, waiting for the disgust to roll in, like it would have a few weeks ago. I tried to bring in that familiar feeling: the ugh, Chase feeling.

But it didn't come.

The next morning, Chase was back in our dorm, banging on the railing. "Get up," he called, his voice bouncing off of the stone and concrete walls. "Meet in the Pit." He made sure we were all up, then spun on his heel and walked out.

I was the first to the Pit. I walked over to where Chase was waiting, sitting on a low stack of white slabs of cement, watching me. The sunlight filtered through the incredibly high glass-paned ceiling. "Morning, Jess," Chase said. I went over and sat next to him. "Morning," I replied.

The Pit was pretty quiet this early in the morning.

I heard Chase take a deep breath. "Remember what I said-" "I know. I remember." Chase nodded after a moment, still silent. He raised one arm unsurely, then set his hand on the middle of my back for a few seconds, then took it away. I gulped and tried to slow my suddenly-pounding heart and ignore the sparks moving through my back. What the hell?

Chase seemed totally calm. "Duncan, Eve, and I will be doing the fear landscape stuff for you and the Dauntless-born initiates," he murmured absently.

I stared up at him, noticing the way the light lit up his clear skin and made his stubble sort of shine in the light. He blinked, his thick fringe of eyelashes going down, then back up. I suddenly realized how his pink lips were full and bow-shaped. The sunlight streamed in a way so it just cast his defined cheekbones in light shadow.

"Chase." The word cut through the air, resonating off of the walls, making me jump. Chase stood, and so did I. Duncan strutted over to us. "You're up early," he said to Chase. It sounded like an accusation. Chase narrowed his eyes and didn't say anything. Duncan's gaze then flicked to me. "Morning," I snapped, one eyebrow jumping in the process. Duncan stared at me, a sneer seeming to grow. "You're the bitch who shot me in paintball," he said. I bit my lip, suppressing a smile. He just realized that?

"Oh, that was you I shot?" I said innocently. Duncan glowered at me, then turned back to Chase. "Fear landscape today," he said bluntly. Chase nodded, exasperated. "I'm aware." Duncan glared at us one last time, then left. "Dick," I muttered as he walked away. A smile flickered on Chase's face.

Us and the Dauntless-born initiates sat in the small waiting room (the one with the chairs) that Chase and I had gone to the day before. Duncan, Eve, and Chase all stood in front of us. Eve explained the fear landscape: we would confront our worst fears. Our last fear would be our worst one. One of the instructors would be in the simulations with us. Duncan pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket. "There will be three groups," he announced. "One with each of us. Here are your groups." He held open the paper in front of him. "With Chase: Jessica, Kyle, Jackson, Hannah...." I didn't bother to listen to the rest of the names. Duncan and Eve's groups left for other waiting and testing rooms.

Once they were gone, Chase sat down with us in the chairs lining the walls. "I'll call you guys in," he told us. "Keep in mind that you will be facing all of your fears. If you know what they are, think about how you would avoid succumbing to the fear. You can go back to the dormitory when you're done. Anywhere else, really, but you probably won't want to." His gaze scanned our group. "Hannah. Why don't you go first." He stood up. Hannah usteadily stood up and followed Chase into the testing room.

Twenty minutes, Hannah stumbled out of the testing room. Chase watched her as she walked slowly away, a grim expression on her face. "Spiders. Heights," she weakly whispered to me. "Jess. Take her back." I nodded and stood up. I led my friend to the dorm where she laid down on her bed. I returned to the testing room.

The chairs slowly grew less occupied. Each person took at least fifteen minutes to come back out. Chase had me escort a few initiates back to the dorm. Whenever I came back, someone else was in the testing room.

When Chase came out one time, before he could instruct me to take another person back, I started talking. "Chase? When am I gonna go?" He gave me a mild smile. "Don't worry, Jess. You'll go just like everybody else." But his eyes were serious and held mine before he turned back to the room.

Another Dauntless instructor had brought us sandwiches for lunch.

Finally, just another intiate named Kyle and I were left. We moved next to each other and talked about Dauntless training and stuff. He was Dauntless-born, and had an almost completely shaved head of dark brown hair and black ear piercings. We chatted about Dauntless life and our childhoods, which had been so different. Chase opened the door right after Kyle had told me a joke, and I was mid-laugh. I looked up at Chase, still smiling. Chase was not smiling. His features were hardened, his mouth set in a straight line. "Kyle," he said. "You're up." Kyle stood up, gave me one last grin, and went into the testing room.

Almost twenty minutes later, the door swung open, bringing yellow light into the otherwise-dark room. It had grown dark. Kyle walked weakly out of the room, staring wide-eyed at the ground. He shuffled out. Chase stared Kyle down as he left the room. "Jess," Chase said.

I rose and walked into the room.