Dauntless Brothers

[Chapter 4] Confrontation.

I stayed up late last night but fell asleep waiting for Eric to get back.

I wake up to find him already gone. I'm the only one in the apartment. I dress myself and leave for breakfast.

Everyone is already there. Tris and Lauren at the same table as Kate and the other initiates. Eric is nowhere to be seen. I sit at the other end of the table. I'm chewing on a mouthful of bread when Eric walks in. He sits at the leaders table where Marcus is sitting.

I swallow just as he sneaks a glance in our table's direction. Most probably at Tris. This makes anger boil inside me. He can go ahead and have a crush on our parents enemy's daughter! But I'm not supposed to have a crush on a girl because she's my student!

When it's 9.00, everyone from my table gets up and starts moving towards the training rooms. I don't move from my seat. Tris stops in front of me.

"Aren't you done eating yet?" She asks.

I put my elbows on the table and lean forward. "I'm waiting for Eric." I reply, staring ahead of me.

"Why?" She asks, irritating me.

"What does that have to do with you?" I ask rudely.

Her face does not show any emotions. She shifts from one foot to another and explains. "It's just that you two have never really gotten along. And all of a sudden one morning you decide to walk with him to work. Isn't that supposed to seem weird?"

This makes my irritation vanish. "Fine." I reply getting up.

She goes off to her room and I walk to mine. During this time I can't stop thinking about what Tris had said. What she said had been absolutely true. Eric and I have never gotten along. But we don't show this in public. Onlu our family knows this and Zeke, as far as I know.

She must be a really good observer to see this. But then again why would he waste time doing this? I think over these things and before I know it I'm in the training room. Everyone's already paired up and are warming up.

I walk over to Evelyn and ask. "Have you finalized the pairs?"

"Yes." She pulls out a paper from her file and hands it to me.

I quickly read through it to see who Kate's up against. I'm relieved to see that it's Emily. Emily is a good fighter but Kate is stronger. This pleases me because I know that Kate won't get hurt this time.

I walk over to the board in the wall and quickly jot down the names, so that everyone else can know too who they're up against. Everyone's gathered around by the time I finish. Some look happy but others don't and Kate is one of them. I'm confused till I hear her talking to Emily once the first fight starts.

They're standing in front of me and I'm leaning against the wall with my arms crossed over my chest.

"I won't be able to hit you." Kate confesses.

"Me neither." Emily says.

"But you have to. Or else our rankings will drop." Kate pushes.

"Why can't you do it?" Emily asks her like a sulky child.

"I'm a Stiff. Remember?" She reminds her.

"Right." Emily mutters in reply.

Henry is in the next pair. Please loose Henry. Please loose Henry. Please loose Henry. I keep repeating this over and over again in my head. I don't have anything against him but the reason that he has a crush on Kate too makes me hate him.

But my wish does not come true and he wins. He helps get his opponent out of the ring and then comes to stand next to Kate. I want to reach out and pull him away.

"You were really good." Emily complements and Kate nods in agreement.

"Thanks. But you were better than me." He tells Kate. Hearing him say this makes the desire to pull him away becomes stronger.

She smiles at this but does not say anything which is a huge relief for me. Soon it's Kate's turn to fight. Instead of being worried, I'm actually happy about this.

"Best of luck." Henry calls out after her.

They've just faced each other when someone walking past the door, catches my eye. I don't know who it is but only a split second later Eric passes too. I tell Evelyn that I'll be right back and then follow Eric. Kate forgotten for now.

I keep a safe distance between me and him. He stops outside the Dauntless born's training room and then goes in. I stay well out of sight but from where I am standing, I can here everything that'll be said in the room.

"What do you want?" Tris asks him. She hates him more than me. This is something I found out over time.

"Nothing. Just came to check on you guys." He replies.

"But Max is the one who's supposed to be here. Not you." She reminds him.

This must have caught him off guard because he's silent for some time. A smile spreads across my face.

But he soon speaks up. "Fine then, I'll just leave."

"Please do that." Holding back my laughter is the most difficult thing right now because Eric just got slapped in the face.

I follow him back to the tranfer's room but pull him aside before he can enter.

"What was that?" I ask him.

"What was what?" He asks me, confused.

"I know that you didn't forget room you were supposed to be in." I tell him.

"How do you know that I went into the wrong room?" He asks, folding his arms across his chest.

"I followed you. And I know why you were there." I tell him.

"Tell me. Why was I there?" He asks testing me.

"I saw her picture in your pocket yesterday. I meant to ask you this morning but dad was there at the table and I didn't want to make the situation worse for you. You like her, don't you?" I explain.

"What if I do?" He asks.

"Then you're betryaing your parents. For some reason they kept us away from the Priors our entire life and all of a sudden you decide to change you mind." I say.

Without replying he walks back down the hallway and out of sight. I turn back around but the sight that greets me, brings me back to the present.

Emily is coming out of the room. One of Kate's arms are slung over her shoulder. There is a red bruise on her forhead and she's passes out. I move forward to help her but at the same time Henry runs out and picks her up, bridal style and carries her towards the infirmary.

Why does he have to be so annoying?!