I look around, surveying the group of people with me in the conference room this morning. There are nearly twenty of us, a roughly even mix of men and women, all appearing to be in their early twenties like me. I wonder if everyone is fresh out of undergrad like I am. We sit, in silence, waiting for somebody - anybody - to show up and tell us what's going on. That is, it was silent, until a girl dressed in only black and white starts to talk.

"Hi! I'm Christina. It was so much work to actually get in this place. I swear I think I got lost in the same place twice just trying to find the bathroom," the girl apparently named Christina jokes. At least, I hope she's joking. Fuck, she's looking at me. Am I supposed to talk with her? I guess I could use a friend to go through training with.

"I'm Tris. Maybe you can show me the way later." I make myself smile in an effort to be friendly. It's hard for me.

I attended school far away from my small, midwestern hometown, desperate to get away from the monotony of the "everybody knows everybody" environment. I wanted to disappear into a sea of students, so I ended up choosing a large public university on the east coast. I finished school with a degree in social work at the urging of my parents. At my school's career fair, I stopped by the CIA booth just for fun. I figured, if nothing else, I needed to at least get rid of a few more of the resumes I had printed. Little did I know that the recruiter, Tori, really liked me. I ended up getting a call at the end of the week. They wanted to begin the interviewing process for a position without any description. Even though I had no real interest to begin with, I quickly realized I was far more interested in this opportunity than any other I had been contacted about so far. So I agreed. After a few months and rounds upon rounds of interviews, aptitude testing, and physical testing, I was told to be at this location at this time in Langley, Virginia to meet the others who had passed the preliminary screenings like I had. Other than that, I have no idea what's happening today.

Before Christina had the chance to talk to me again, two new figures entered the room. Both the man and woman were covered head to toe in layers of black clothing. Even through the layers, you could tell they carried their weight in muscle. I looked down at my grey pants and lighter grey cardigan and suddenly felt very self-conscious, like a kindergarten teacher being stared down by a marine. My head snaps up as the man introduces himself to the room.

"Welcome to training. I'm Four - "

"Like the number?" interrupts Christina with an incredulous look on her face. Four stalks over to her, leaning down so their faces are nearly touching.

"Precisely like the number. Is that a problem, initiate?" his voice quiet.

Christina doesn't speak, just shakes her head. I don't think she could have gotten words out if she tried. I would have thought she peed her pants from that stare if I hadn't known she'd already been to the bathroom. Four seems satisfied with Christina and heads back to the front of the room.

"And this is Lauren," he continues, as if nothing had happened. "You've all completed the basic screenings the company puts forth. For your information, we started with over 100 initiates in your group. There are 18 of you left. By the end of training, we typically see ten initiates move on to become members. We do not remove initiates from our program, but you are free to

leave at any time. If you want to leave after today, you will need to file some paperwork with Tori, our lead recruiter." Four looks around the room at the stoic faces of my initiate class. "This training program will last four months. You will be housed here, fed here, and train here. These people sitting with you are your family now. Best get to know each other." With that, Four walks to the back of the room. Lauren addresses us now.

"You'll be training in two separate groups; family of CIA members train with me and transfers with Four. Split up."

I get up slowly, looking at the others in the room. We are all glancing around at each other, almost as if we aren't sure if this is real. I start toward the back of the room and find myself somewhat relieved when I see Christina walking beside me. At least I know someone. After a few moments, the groups are divided. About two-thirds stand with Lauren at the front of the room and the remaining third is with Four at the back. Before I have any more time to observe, Four speaks again.

"Alright, transfers. Let's take a tour of the facility."

We walk through the central Pit, training rooms, bathrooms, and end at the initiate dorms. Christina and I choose to room together. Initiate dorms are set up as several bedrooms sharing a small living space and bathroom, something that's at least vaguely familiar from college. Once again, I'm thankful Christina's here with me. We may not know each other, but she has a nice presence. On his way out, leaving us here to sort out rooms, Four tells us to meet him at one of the training rooms tomorrow morning at 6.

"Six!? In the morning?" Christina exclaims. I can tell from the look on her face she knew it was the wrong thing to open her mouth as soon as it happened. Lucky for her, all she gets is a stare down from Four before he leaves us. The rest of the day is a blur as we all get settled in the dorms.

Later that evening, we all introduce ourselves in our common room with all 18 initiates. The first to go is a short, muscular man with dark tan skin and nearly shaved black hair.

"Hey everybody, I'm Uriah! I'm from Virginia, my parents and my brother work here too," he says a way to explain his home state. This boy can't stop smiling. "Oh! And I, uh, just graduated from USC."

Next to him, the tall, thin boy with wavy blonde hair I recognize as a transfer introduces himself. "I'm Will, a transfer. I'm from New Jersey. I got my bachelor's degree in electrical engineering this past spring." I already think I'll like Will. He seems nice enough but not too friendly. Kind of like me.

A few more people go before it's my turn. I try and remember their names - Peter, Lynn, Al, Marlene - but there is no way I'm remembering everything about everyone here. Especially if half of them won't be here in four months. When it's my turn to introduce myself, I do my best to be brave. People aren't my strong suit. "I'm Tris, I'm a transfer. I'm from Michigan. I studied social work in school." I think I make out a quiet call of "stiff" from one of the boys that's already gone. I want to roll my eyes at the term.

Next is Christina. "Hi! I'm Christina, my fellow transfers already know me as Four's chew toy," That gets a few laughs from the transfers. "I'm 22, I'm from Portland, and I studied psychology at Northwestern," she finishes with a smile. A few more people finish up introductions before we all split off to find dinner.

Christina and I get to talk more as we make our way to the Pit. "So where are you from again?" she asks.

"I'm from Michigan"
"Yeah but where? I went to school in Chicago, I'm a little familiar with Michigan," she replies.

"Oh, uh, just a little farming town. I don't think you'd know it. Abnegate?" I say, almost as if it's a question.

"Okay, yeah, I guess you're right." Christina leaves it at that. "So how'd you end up here?"

We each go through the abridged version of our respective stories by the time we get food at the cafeteria-style tables in the Pit. I'm looking around for somewhere to sit, but all I see are a few empty spots by Four and Lauren. Whatever, I think to myself. He can't actually be that bad. I nudge Christina to show her I found seats and we make our way over. I smile to Four and he nods in acknowledgment.

It's more awkward than I thought. I try and break the silence by talking to Four since it's obvious Christina won't.

"Hi Four. I'm Tris, this is Christina. We're both transfers," I offer. He glances at me. What the hell, I'll try again.

"Are you a transfer or is your family here?" I ask.

A low, steady voice replies, "What makes you think you can talk to me?" His dark blue eyes, almost like an ocean, distract me from feeling the embarrassment I'm sure his comment was supposed to have brought. Christina elbows me, bringing me back to this awkward reality.

"Must be because you're so approachable," I snap back. All he does is nod at me again with a little smirk. This better not be a "thing" he does. That's going to get irritating, very quickly.

The silence between us isn't so awkward anymore. Christina and I talk throughout dinner and I find that I'm really beginning to like her. I admire her outspokenness. Eventually, long after the departure of Four and Lauren, we make our way back to the dorms. After getting to know other transfers a bit more, we get ready for bed, anxious to be well-rested for our first day of training, whatever it is, tomorrow.

Author's Note:

It's my first fic in a long time, please let me know what I can do to improve! I can't wait to explore more about Four and Tris's relationship.