We Are Divergent

Chapter Two

After lunch Tobias showed them the training room, and we instructed them what we would start with. We are working on things like muscle building and stance for the first few days. They will definitely be incredibly sore tomorrow from the use of muscles that they don’t often use.

We decided that we should help them gain as much strength as they can before they start fighting each other. Although this time they will not fight until somebody is unconscious like Eric had us do.

I walked down the row of a few of the initiates practicing on punching bags. Half of the others are at the other side of the room running or doing pushups and sit ups.

I stopped near a girl with wavy brown hair and light blue eyes. I believe her name was Sage. “You’re punching too low.” I stated, taking her hands and raising them up a bit. “If you punch low your opponent will see that flaw and hit your face if it’s undefended. Tighten your posture but be ready to move around and defend whatever area is being struck at.”

She nodded and kept punching a little higher. I stood next to the Abnegation boy, Jonah, whose knuckles were already splitting from practicing. He is taller than Tobias, with actually a pretty nice build to be just starting out. I don’t recognize him from school or around Abnegation.

“That’s all you can do? Come on stiff.” I turned around after hearing that on the other side of the room, walking up behind the boy staring over the blonde Abnegation girl whose name I can’t remember. She glared at him as he laughed, continuing to slowly do her pushups, her arms trembling.

I knocked his legs out from under him, making him drop to his stomach, gasping in shock. “If torturing other initiates is something that pleasures you, then maybe you wouldn’t mind doing two hundred pushups, since you obviously are so good at them, right?”

He glared at me with mean grey eyes and I smiled back at him before turning to the girl who stopped doing pushups in shock. I held out a hand and she took it, following me.

“I would start over here…” I say trailing off.

“Sophia.”

“Sophia, because you don’t have much muscle. That will come in time, but you should work on fighting skills so you aren’t badly injured in a few days. These punching bags will help you gain more control.”

She nodded. “Thank you,”

I stepped back to observe everyone. I looked over to my left to see Tobias walk over to the Erudite girl who called him handsome earlier. She was jutting out her hip too much, making her posture crooked as she punched. He put a hand on her shoulder, pushing it forward slightly so that her posture was more even. Her eyes widened a bit and I could see her blush from over here. She stopped punching for a second, but continued immediately after, embarrassed to have stumbled in front of him. I crossed my arms. I already don’t like her. It’s not her fault that Tobias is so charming, I tried to remind myself. But she is annoying.

“You are a very good instructor,” He tells me as he walks up to me.

“And you're a very good liar.”

He chuckled. “I am not. You have helped them a lot so far. And I saw you put James in his place over there.”

I laugh. “Any standouts yet?”

He looked around the room. “Calum is fast. That’s all I really picked up on. It’s hard to know who’s good at what this early. Some will be really good at knife throwing, shooting, fighting, or even just thinking through fears in simulations. How about you T?”

“Jonah, the Abnegation transfer is pretty strong.”

I looked around, wondering if any of them are divergent. Most likely only one or two will be. It will be easier to tell once I can recognize them all by name and get to see more of their training.

---

We had them work until it was late. They look exhausted, so I’m sure most of them will eat and go right to bed.  I walked over to the punching bags after all of them left, punching it repeatedly.

I remember when I started out as an initiate; I had no muscle, like Sophia. I got my ass whooped in almost all of my first few fights, but somehow I managed to pull through and rank first. I felt hands on my waist, turning me around and pressing me against the bag. I was about to kick my knee up into the crotch of my attacker before realizing Tobias was the only one in the room with me. He placed his hands on either side of my face, his body pressing me into the bag behind me. I felt his lips on my neck and jaw.

“I haven’t been able to touch you all day long,” He murmured.

I tried not to groan, clutching his shirt in my fingers. “I know. Why can’t we just tell them? That way they will all know you’re mine and won’t get any ideas. We can’t hide it forever, they’re all over the Dauntless compound... We can’t even hold hands in public without one of them walking by.”

“It’s not like we have to completely ignore each other. We’ll see each other all day and all night. We don’t have to go out of our way to hide it, it’s just best that we act 100% like instructors.”

I sighed. “Okay.”

He smiled, leaning in to kiss me slowly. “I’m going to go home to take a shower.”

“Alright.”

“Will you meet me in the cafeteria in a bit?”

“Yes. I’m just going to stay here and workout a bit more.”

He leaned his head against mine, staring at me with his deep eyes. “Work hard, T.”

“Don’t I always, Four?” 

He grins, kissing me once more and walking towards the door. “Of course.”

I wanted to be called Six, so we could be Four and Six, but I still have seven fears. I have not gotten over the fear of intimacy yet. I shook my head, clearing my thoughts and started punching the bad hard again.