Eric stands with his back toward me, facing the other buildings. I walk over and stand next to him, hoping he will start talking first. He doesn't.

"You've been avoiding me."

His eyes flick over toward me briefly before he looks away. "I have."

"Why?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Yes it does," I say. "I want to know why you've been avoiding me when I haven't done anything wrong."

"I was mad," he says, "and needed time to think."

"Why were you mad?"

"Because you weren't on my team," he says, his voice rising. "Because you captured the flag, meaning Four beat me again. Because you are all I can think about."

He runs his hand through his hair and turns toward me. "I was in my apartment all weekend to keep from seeing you."

"I'm not sure what to think about that," I say, averting my gaze.

"You've woven your way into my head and I can't think straight," he says. "I needed time to think things over, but all my thoughts kept wandering back to you."

"Why does that make you mad?"

"Because I've barely known you a week and you've become important to me," he says. "Nobody else here has bothered to try and get to know me, but you have."

"I'm still not understanding why you were mad."

"I'm mad because I kinda sorta have feelings for you," he says, taking a step closer to me. "And I'm mad that I can't do anything about it."

"And why can't you?" I step forward, eliminating the distance between us, and rub my hands up his chest, over his shoulders, and down his arms.

"The rules." He gulps and his eyes flick to my lips before he focuses them back on my eyes. "It's against the rules."

"Being friends isn't against the rules, right?" I say, resting my hand on the back of his neck.

"No," he says softly, "it isn't."

"Okay, we're just friends," I say. "To everyone else, at least."

"So, what you're saying is..."

"I'm saying that we're just friends in front of everyone else," I say, leaning in closer. "But when it's just us, we can be whoever we want. What they don't know won't hurt them."

I tug on his neck and the butterflies in my stomach take flight. I allow my lips to brush his before pressing my mouth on his. His lips are soft and warm against mine. His hands find my hips and he tugs me forward, pulling me against him.

My eyes flutter open and I pull away, feeling slightly out of breath. I smile up at him and his mouth up turns to form a grin.

"So, did that seem like I haven't kissed anyone or?" I say, causing him to chuckle. My cheeks turn red and I bury my face in his shirt. "Sorry, I ruined the moment."

He gently grabs my chin, making me look up at him. "It's okay. We'll have more moments."

***

"Except for Mr. Grouchy making us run twenty laps around the training room this morning," Tera says, "this has been a pretty decent day."

Four didn't say that we had afternoon training and neither did Eric, so we had the rest of the day off. After the roof scene with Eric, I decided to take a much needed nap. Training and the trip up and down the stairs really wore me out.

After Tera and I woke up from our naps, we wandered around the halls and ended up in the daycare. Agetha, the woman who runs the daycare, let us play with the children for a couple hours. She informed us that she runs the daycare by herself, and that she rarely gets a day off. We offered to watch them whenever we don't have training so she can have a break. She gratefully accepted.

"It really has," I say, thinking about the scene with Eric on the roof.

"To make it even better," Tera says, "I am going to get a slice of Dauntless cake. You guys want some?"

"Oh, I do," Raiden says. "I made sure to save room for cake."

"Me too," I say. "Thanks, Tera."

"No problem." She practically skips away from the table, clearly excited about getting cake, and I chuckle.

"Four showed us the ranks earlier," I say, turning toward Raiden. "And I couldn't help but notice that a guy named Raiden earned the first spot. You know him?"

"Nope, am I supposed to?" he says, with a grin on his face. I chuckle.

"Congrats on being first." I give him a half hug and ruffle his hair before he swats my hands away. "I'm proud of you Rai."

"Thanks," he says with a small smile.

"Welcome."

Tera sits down in front of us and puts our cake on our plates. "Dig in."

"Oh, I plan to," Raiden says.

After finishing our cake, we put up our plates and dump our trash before heading out of the dining hall.

"Night, ladies," Raiden says before we part ways.

"Night, Rai," we say in unison.

We walk into the dormitory and collapse on our beds.

"Gosh, I'm so tired," Tera says, her arm sheilding her eyes.

"Better get some sleep," I say. "We have training in the morning."

She sits up to unlace her boots and I do the same. I shove my boots off and walk toward the light switch.

"Ready?" I ask, my hand hovering over the light switch. She nods. I turn the lights off and head back to bed. I peel back the covers and hear a crinkling noise as soon as soon as my head touches the pillow.

"Night, Rori."

"Night, Tera."

I lift up my pillow to see a light up wristwatch next to a crumpled piece of paper.

It reads: meet me at the chasm at 12 am in messy handwriting. I glance at the watch and notice it is set for five till twelve. I lay there smiling for the longest time before sleep finally pulls me under.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

I jolt awake and my hands scramble to turn the alarm off. I don't want the other transfers to wake up and see me leave, especially Jillian. She would tattle and then I'd get in trouble and have to explain myself, depending on who she tattled to.

I lace up my boots and throw my hair into a ponytail. I grab a sweater from the chest at the end of my bed and put it on over my tank top. I wipe at my eyes before getting up and sneaking out the door.

The halls are quiet, and lucky for me, empty. Eric isn't at the chasm when I get there. I grab the watch from my pocket and check the time. 10 pm.

I hear footsteps approach from behind me and I turn around. A blow to the side of my face makes me lose balance and fall on my side. I blink a couple times, but my vision is too disoriented for me to make out who it is that punched me.

"That's cowardly, don't you think?" I say, standing up and wiping my mouth. "Punching when I'm not expecting it."

My vision clears enough for me to see three figures standing in front of me, each of them wearing masks.

"Maybe," a female voice says. "But if it bumps you down a few ranks, then I'm all for it."

"You know you guys are going to get busted for this," I say, my heart rate spiking. "You'll become Factionless, unless they execute you."

"There aren't any cameras in here," another voice says. "Lots of people have jumped in the chasm, so nobody would think anything of it if you did the same."

"My friends would," I say. "They know I wouldn't jump in there willingly."

"Guess we'll have to find out."

They charge toward me and I run toward the door but one of them grabs my arm and yanks my arm back, making me slam into the concrete floor. The smaller figure hovers over me while the other two pin my arms down.

"Eric's not here to stop me now," the smaller one says.

My eyebrows furrow before I realize what she is talking about. Eric pinned Jillian after she hit me.

"Jillian," I say, my voice hoarse.

"Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner," she says. "Took you long enough to figure that out. It's obvious you were not Erudite "

The other two chuckle.

Jillian raises her fist and sends it into my jaw. My head snaps to the side and my ears start ringing.

I scream, hoping someone will hear, but a big hand covers my mouth. I try to wiggle free and buck her off of me, but a punch to my ribs makes me lose my breath. She throws a punch to my nose, and I instantly feel blood running down my face. She throws a few more punches before she wraps her small hands around my neck.

I go into a coughing fit and my vision blurs in and out before they shut without my permission. I hear some grunts and other various noises before her hands are removed from my neck. I take a deep breath before everything goes silent.