Page 8 (1/2)

"Never forget to keep tension here," he says in a quiet voice

Four lifts his hand and keeps walking I feel the pressure of his pale, but I have to stop and breathe for a few seconds before I can keep practicing again

When Four dises me with her elbow

"I’m surprised he didn’t break you in half," she says She wrinkles her nose "He scares the hell out of me It’s that quiet voice he uses"

"Yeah He’s…" I look over my shoulder at him He is quiet, and remarkably self-possessed But I wasn’t afraid that he would hurt ," I finally say

Al, as in front of us, turns around once we reach the Pit and announces, "I want to get a tattoo"

From behind us, Will asks, "A tattoo of what?"

"I don’t know" Al laughs "I just want to feel like I’ve actually left the old faction Stop crying about it" When we don’t respond, he adds, "I know you’ve heard me"

"Yeah, learn to quiet doill you?" Christina pokes Al’s thick arht now If ant all the way in, we should look the part"

She gives me a look

"No I will not cut e color Or pierce my face"

"How about your bellybutton?" she says

"Or your nipple?" Will says with a snort

I groan

Now that training is done for the day, we can do whatever ant until it’s tih thatwith people Christina announces that she and I will shigher above the Pit floor, scattering stones with our shoes

"What is wrong with ray anyhs "Will you just let me help you? If you don’t like what I put you in, you never have to wear it again, I promise"

Tenplace wearing a knee-length black dress The skirt isn’t full, but it isn’t stuck to hs, either--unlike the first one she picked out, which I refused Goose bumps appear on my bare arms She slips the tie fros wavy over my shoulders

Then she holds up a black pencil

"Eyeliner," she says

"You aren’t going to be able to make me pretty, you know" I closethe line ofbefore ht be sick

"Who cares about pretty? I’ for noticeable"

I open my eyes and for the first time stare openly at my own reflection My heart rate picks up as I do, like I a the rules and will be scolded for it It will be difficult to break the habits of thinking Abnegation instilled in le thread from a complex work of ehts, new rules I will becorayish blue--the eyelinermy face, my features look softer and fuller I a--but I can see that Christina is right My face is noticeable

Looking atsoirl I saw in stolen moments at the mirror, who kept quiet at the dinner table This is someone whose eyes claim mine and don’t release "

Under the circuiven me I smile at her in the mirror

"You like it?" she says

"Yeah" I nod "I look like…a different person"

She laughs "That a good thing or a bad thing?"

I look atives " I shake my head "Sorry, I’ve just never been allowed to stare at "

"Really?" Christina shakes her head "Abnegation is a strange faction, I have to tell you"

"Let’s go watch Al get tattooed," I say Despite the fact that I have left my old faction behind, I don’t want to criticize it yet

At home,every six ets the sa is ets a certain amount of points to spend per month, and the dress costs one of them

Christina and I race down the narrow path to the tattoo place When we get there, Al is sitting in the chair already, and a s a spider on his arh books of pictures, elbowing each other when they find a good one When they sit next to each other, I notice how opposite they are, Christina dark and lean, Will pale and solid, but alike in their easy s at the artwork on the walls These days, the only artists are in Aation sees art as impractical, and its appreciation as tih I have seen works of art in textbooks, I have never been in a decorated rooet lost here for hours without noticing I skiertips A picture of a hawk on one wall reminds ht

"It’s a raven," a voice behindthere I feel like I am back in the aptitude test room, with the mirrors all around me and the wires connected to ain

"Well, hello there" She sain Beatrice, is it?"

"Tris, actually," I say "Do you work here?"

"I do I just took a break to administer the tests Most of the tinize that name You were the first jumper, weren’t you?"

"Yes, I was"

"Well done"

"Thanks" I touch the sketch of the bird "Listen--I need to talk to you about…" I glance over at Will and Christina I can’t corner Tori now; they’ll ask questions "…so Sometime"