We make it back to the dorms before anyone else and I hand Four his jacket through the dorm door before closing it on him. I rush to find my spare cap and sigh in relief when I find it's where I last put it. I don't bother with a scarf since I've already ruined two since I got here.

I exit the dorm and make a beeline for the bathroom to wash out the cut. "Rita, what are you doing, come on." I groan when Four calls my name, accidentally flexing my hand in the process.

"Such a shallow cut and it hurts so bad," I gasp.

"It's like a paper cut in between your fingers," He says.

There's some truth behind his statement, I've had plenty of paper cuts in my time–well wounds in general. It's hard not to get hurt on everything when it's all either broken down from the passage of time or just plain dangerous. Any building has the chance of going crashing, we were lucky enough to find the building we did.

I don't even know the way to the infirmary, when I walked Russ to it, I won't lie–I was following his lead. I'd been too spooked by the pit to pay attention to the rest of the tour that first day. "I doubt they'll do much for me, probably just slap a bandaid on it and send me on my way."

"You're just lucky it didn't cut any deeper." I shut up because I know he's right, "Hey, Kelly can you help my initiate out? Cut herself while talking back–think it was karma." Four seems at ease with her, I smile at the difference in personality, finding it funny.

"Sure thing, Four." Kelly gives the poor man a weird look. She leads me over to the counter and winces at the slice in my hand, "Jeez, what'd you do to her Four?"

I laugh, "I think it was more Eric's fault than anything." The look Kelly gives Four is full of understanding. It makes me chuckle and then wince as she dabs it with peroxide. "Do I need stitches?"

Kelly shakes her head, "It's nowhere near deep enough, just gotta keep it covered and change these daily. It should heal in about three days. Just a big paper cut."

"That's what I said," Four says.

"Thank you," Kelly gives me a few days worth of bandages and I leave the infirmary trying to ignore the dull pain in my hand. "Never heard you talk so much before," I say to Four as he leads me out. "Not willingly at least."

Four shakes his head at me. "Please stop wasting this opportunity and make people like you. Initiation is the first step to surviving here, if you want to thrive you need some allies–friends are better, but you're kind of unlikable."

"Wow, thanks so much, sir." I turn away from him and begin walking toward the dorms.

"Dorms are the other way, Rita."

"Whatever," I mumble but I turn the other way.

—

Russ lucked out, he's set to fight Peter today and I'm painfully jealous. My face is still recovering from the bruises Molly so graciously gifted me but I'd like nothing more than to beat Peter. I've won every fight so far–including the one against Four. But I think I owe half of my win against the instructor to dumb luck.

Tris is going up against Molly, I think she'll do fine. Christina versus Al, we all know who's going to win with Al's streak of losing. Myra loses to Will a few minutes in, but I'm surprised how long she lasts. I get Edward and this might be the first time I'm actually nervous.

Christina said he's been studying combat since he was 10–apparently, Edward and Russ are childhood best friends and would fight each other to put their knowledge to use. I'm one of the last people to fight and I try not to gnaw my fingertips off while I wait.

He's good and I'm just alright. I use my frame to trap people but that won't do against Edward. For once I might have to use my fists to win. But Edward is strong, he fought Peter once before and the bruise on Peter's jaw turned purple before they even finished their fight.

I sneak glances at Edward throughout the other fights, he's at ease–of course, he is, he's confident and I'm over here tripping out of control because I'm worried. It takes all of my willpower to force those thoughts from my head and to focus on what David and Baba taught me.

David's way bigger than me and he taught me how to use my body to immobilize someone but he always made sure I knew how to punch and kick. He also said it was fair game to bite and scratch. I fully intend to leave Edward marred with scars even if I lose.

—

He beat Peter. And the smile I give him is wide, it's a thank you. Russ nods his head at me, wishing me luck. Weird. I enter the ring with Edward, my previous anxiety gone from my body as reality bows down on me.

The beginning of the fight is slow, we're both trying to figure out our opponent. I can tell Eric's getting impatient when he sighs like–three times in a span of a minute. But I can't risk this fight. Edward is in the first spot, then Peter, and me.

With Peter's recent loss, he's going to drop one or two places. And if I somehow manage to win–I'll be in first. Where Baba said I had to end up. If I wanted the limited comforts Dauntless could offer, I had to be top of my class. And I would be. Somehow.

Edward strikes first and I bounce out of the way, following every movement of his body. Even the slightest twitch of his wrist catches my eye, I will not lose. He's very fluid while I'm a bit shaky in comparison.

He doesn't even seem a little worried he might lose to me. But I notice something about the way he's standing, his shoulders are kind of bunched up. Leaving his sides unprotected. It must have slipped his mind with his many victories. It's not that hard to grow lazy when you're a winner.

I punch at his left shoulder and when he tries to catch my arm, I tilt and kick him in the side. The sound of the air leaving his lungs is satisfying as I turn back to watch him carefully.

Fire is in his eyes. Peter was the only person who put up a good fight against Edward. I bet he expected me to do what I usually do, that's why he's so tense by his neck. He rushes at me but I'm expecting that and drop my body, running at him by tackling him around his stomach.

I use all of my strength in order to throw him to the ground. I have very limited time to win and I will be cruel. Edward falls onto his back and when I try to kick at him, he yanks me onto the mat with him. My head slams on its side, temporarily impairing my hearing in my right ear.

He's on me before I can even think about what to do next. I'm fucked. I try to thrust my hips up so I can throw him off but he's holding my entire body down. Edward brings one of his fists back and I'm unable to twist out of his hold enough to avoid the hit.

Pain blossoms all over my face even though he just hit my cheek. Woah. The disorientation from my head hitting the mat only adds to my delirium. My eyes roll backward and I feel another punch hit my face. I think he broke my nose again.

He takes one second too long to catch his breath and I jump up. There's blood blurring my vision, I'm not sure when he broke the skin on my forehead but that's the least of my worries. My hands are tightening around Edward's neck and soon I have that grip on him that saved my life from falling off of the Ferris wheel.

Edward's hands tighten around my neck. I'm sitting upright, fighting against him pushing me backward. My hands are bigger but I have thin fingers and my nails have grown a bit despite my usual biting.

His face turns red so quickly I'm worried but then I begin to lose my sense of alertness. He's so distracted by my attack that I'm finally able to push him off of me with my hips. Edward rolls over, gasping for breath and I force myself to stand upright.

I begin kicking at him, it's my only option at this point. I'm too worn for wear to choke him out. There's some sensibility in me as I only kick at his stomach, maybe his family will come to see him tomorrow. It'd be mean for me to worry his family. Although they should be worried.

A few dozen kicks later and my leg burns, Edward's still conscious, so I keep kicking. That's when Four yanks me off of Edward, pushing me back, I stumble backward and fall onto my butt. I push the blood out of my eye and blink to clear my vision. "You won," He's pushing Edward onto his side but I'm not paying much attention.

The only thing that matters is how I'm the first one to beat Edward, now I'm the only undefeated initiate.