She sits up with a gasp, and frantically looks around. She's back in the final testing auditorium, she realizes she's once again the center of attention as all the Faction leaders talk amongst each other, as does the other faction witnesses. She stands up and spots Four heading towards her, she meets him halfway. "You did good." He congratulates her with a quick kiss on the forehead. Jade looks up at Four, she squints her eyes at him in suspicious.
"You're real right? I'm not still in the Sim am I?" She asks while poking his cheek. Four laughs, "Yes I'm real," He clarifies as Jade and Four walk towards the waiting room. But just before she left the auditorium she glanced over at all the Faction leaders, and she couldn't help but notice Eric staring directly at her with the biggest grin on his face. She rolled her eyes and entered through the door of the waiting room. When they entered, her brother and friends stood, and before anyone could say anything, Jade walked over to Miles, looked him in the eyes and then laid her head onto his chest.
He pulled his sister into a hug, "What's this all about?" Her brother questions as his sister tightens her embrace on him. "You were in one of her fears genius." Four says, "I was? ...Well I mean, considering from how tight she's squeezing I'm gonna assume it didn't go too well for me, Did it?" Miles jokingly asks making Jade laugh, she pulls away and shakes her head. "No it didn't. It was so real and so.. terrible. Like, the second you died it was like I could feel myself die too." Jade explains, her brother smiles and ruffs up her curly brown hair. "Don't you worry sis, I'm not going anywhere, anytime soon." Miles says reassuringly. The group of friends then take their seats as Four presses the screen once again to randomize to the next initiate.
Jade waits as all her friends and eventually her brother are called for their final testing. Once every single initiate had been tested they all gathered in the pit, directly in front of the empty scoreboard. After what seemed to be an hour Max stepped into view from the pits balcony. Everyone quiets down, "With the first and second stage testing complete, I can now announce the rankings have officially been reevaluated," He pauses, "And unfortunately, just as last time if you are still in the red section, you will be forced to leave us. But if you are not, I am glad to welcome you brave few to the warrior faction and also welcome you to what we Dauntless members, call home." Max announces as the rankings began to appear on the board.
1. Edward
2. Peter
3. Rose
4. Jade
5. Liam
6. Miles
7. Tris
8. Uriah
9. Will
10. Ben
11. Christina
...
Jade was amazed she had been ranked so high, she turned to her friends and they all celebrated and congratulated each other. "You guys we did it! We're Dauntless!" Christina shouts, everyone cheers. Jade looks at all of her friends and could see nothing but pure happiness all around. Will and Chris were sat together lovingly on a large piece of cement, Miles and Tris were sat next to the couple with Ben standing beside. They were all laughing and talking, the sight made Jade happy.
She approaches them, "There's our MVP, how does it feel to out rank your brother and all your friends huh?" Ben questions her, Jade shakes her head. "Trust me I don't take pleasure, actually I'm pretty shocked I ranked fourth." Jade tells them, Christina snickers. "Don't you guys think it's funny she ranked the same number as her little crushes name. Also, Coincidence? I think not." Christina says aloud, seconds after she does she slaps a hand over her mouth as she and the rest of her friends widely stare at something behind Jade. She turns around and is faced with non other then Four himself, looking at Christina with an eyebrow raised.
"Oh my god, did I just.. Jade I am so sorry," Christina apologizes, Jade shakes her head. "It's okay Chris," Jade looks back and says, Christina tilts her head in confusion. "So I pull a me in front of him and you're not mad?" The former Candor questions, all her friends look at her and Four confused. Jade looks up at Four smiling, "Not at all," she says, and it was then he had slid his hand onto her jaw and presses his lips against hers passionately. She kissed him back as she could hear all four of her friends freaking out behind them, especially Christina.
She gasped and then started jumping up and down, "I freaking told you so! And you thought you couldn't get him," Christina pauses and it looks as if she had an epiphany, "O.M.G so that's why you've been disappearing?? I knew you didn't go to Amity. And that sweater you were wearing, it was his wasn't it! It all makes sense now. I feel happy, but deceived as well, it's weird. But do you guys know what this means?? DOUBLE AND MAYBE EVEN TRIPLE DATES! I'm so excited." The excited former Candor proclaims, making everyone laugh, except Miles. Miles was sat there with his jaw touching the floor, and his eyes were stuck on Jade and Four. She leaves Fours side and stands in front of were her brother was sat, "Miles, I know what you're think but please, hear him out." Jade insists, gesturing for Four to come over.
Miles looks over at his little sister, and instead of his signature angry face she expected, he looked at her concerned. Four stands next to Jade, "Before you explain anything, I just need to know one thing." Miles says, and when he says this his voice is unfamiliar to Jade, "how old are you exactly Four?" He asks. "I'm not very much older then you guys, I'm twenty-two." Four answers, and Miles furrows his eyebrows in obvious discomfort. Four notices the sad and worried expression Jade had aimed towards her brother, "And Miles, I understand that both you and Natalie are young, and you don't like the thought of your baby sister with some older guy but, I can promise you no harm of any type will ever come to her, especially from me. My intentions with her are pure, and I want them to extend as far as a lifetime, and I can assure you that, will never change." Four reassures him. His words melted Jades heart, and surprised Miles. "Well," Miles started, "I'm glad, because the last thing I want is to see is my sister hurt over you." He says. Four looks over at Jade, "Never." He says.
"Awwee, you guys are so cute together!" Christina yells, interrupting the touching moment. Everyone laughs at how geeked Chris was, "I could say the same for you and boy genius over there." Jade says, Christina smiled as Will wrapped his arm around her. Four then announces that tomorrow is Visiting Day, where their parents will get to see them one last time after graduating both stages. He also tells them after visitation they are to report to the pit for Job selection, and instills them to spread the message to the other brand new Dauntless members. After everything's been established, Four kisses Jade and takes his leave while she decides to stay.
Jade takes a seat next to Miles on the large piece of cement, she looks around the pit and sighs. She sees crowds of Dauntless talking, laughing, fighting and even some little ones running around recklessly. She studies her surroundings as she takes a breath in, and lets it out. Suddenly, the hairs on her arms and neck stand up, and a faint chill runs down her spine. She's being watched and she could feel it. She hesitates but eventually scans the pit more carefully, and meets eyes with an unfamiliar male face from across the way.
He was far but from what Jade could see he had brown hair and wore Dauntless attire as expected. But as soon as she spots him he immediately looks away and fades from view. She furrows her eyebrows and looks to her right, at her brother. She notices he was looking in the same direction she was, just before she got his attention by looking his way. She looks down and noticed the hairs on his arm stood just as hers did.
They looked at each other, "Y-you saw and felt that too right?" His sister asked him. He nods with a confused expression, "Yeah, that was weird." Miles says. "Weird indeed." Jade agrees as she stares at where the Dauntless male last stood. "Hey wonder twins," Christina gets their attention, they both turn their heads and say 'huh?' In unison. All of their friends laugh, "Will asked if either of you guys know when we'll be getting out of that dreaded den and into these so called apartments?" Chris asked, Miles shrugged, "Probably after we get settled into our jobs, we'd technically be earning our keep for the apartments by doing the work. I'm not completely sure though." He guessed.
"That'd make sense honestly. I just hope we don't get sucky jobs." Will replies hopefully, "Good or sucky jobs depend on where you're ranked." Ben chimes in. "I'm not sure if this is true but I overheard one of the Dauntless born earlier, and they said something about the top five ranked will automatically be tested for Leadership." Tris says unsure, everyone then looks at Jade. And since her brother came in at rank six, he was even looking at her. "I just had to be rank six, and someone just had to be a little bit better then me. Who was that anyways? Rank five? Did anyone see?" Miles questioned slightly annoyed, Jade remembers back to when the final rankings had just begun to appear. "It was some initiate named Liam. I think he's Dauntless-Born cuz I don't remember meeting another transfer with that name." Jade answers, "Yeah Four did say both transfers and Dauntless-Born would be ranked together even though we were trained separately." Chris clarifies.
"I think it's pretty ironic us transfers ranked higher then most Dauntless-Born." Tris says with a laugh, everyone agrees. After about an hour and a half of just sitting and pleasantly chatting with her friends in the pit, Jade excused herself from them and her brother to venture off towards Fours apartment. When she's in front of his door she does the faintest knock and waits for him to answer. When he does he's in nothing but a pair of black comfy pants and socks, with his short brown hair messy as ever. "Awww did I wake you up?" She softly asks with a frown on her face, Four shakes his head side to side while he yawns and opens the door wider.
"You're such a liar. Definitely not cut out for Candor." Jade jokes as she enters, "Ha. ha. Very funny," He replies as he pulls her close by her waist. Jade closes the rest of the space between them by placing her lips onto his, and loosely wrapping her arms around his neck. He gladly kisses her back, making sparks fly for the both of them. Four pulls away before Jade wanted, causing her to pout. He chuckles at her now poked out lip, "Don't worry, there's plenty more where that came from. I just wanted ask, how'd it go with your friends after I left?" Four asks curiously, she smiles and sheds off her black leather jacket.
"It went well. First we were talking about getting into apartments here in Dauntless which lead to talking about rankings. Tris said the top five ranked will be tested for leadership regardless. Do you know if that's true?" She asks him slipping off her boots and plopping down onto his fluffy bed. He sits down as well, "Yeah I heard from Max it's a fairly new regulation, originally it was only the top three ranked." Four answers. "Hm," Jade says, wondering as to why they raised it from three to five. A few moments of oddly comfortable silence went by, "What else did you guys talk about?" Four asks breaking the silence. "Oh um," Jade pulls the gemstone at the end of her necklace out from under her shirt.
"After talking about rankings Tris, Chris and Will were wondering the story behind my long lost necklace. Since me and Miles's childhood bestfriend, Ben had found it for me and mentioned there was a meaning behind it in front of them." She explained, he tilted his head and looked more closely at the gemstone hanging. "I'm intrigued. What's the story behind it?" He asks, and she smiles before beginning, "Well, before me and Miles were born, or even conceived actually, my mother June had met this girl and just like that they became bestfriends. They were nearly inseparable growing up, and were always mistaken as sisters. As they grew up they became closer, so close they made the decision to stay in Amity together when their choosing day arrived. Soon after my mother met my father Anthony and of course, they fell in love. When my mother was about seven months pregnant with us, unfortunately her bestfriend fell ill with a terminal sickness. Right before she passed she took off this necklace and gave it to my mom." Jade sorrowfully explained, "her bestfriend's name was Natalie. And as you can see, this necklace is made out of Jade." She adds.
"Natalie Jade Harris. Your mother named you after her bestfriend and something that meant a lot to her." Four says in realization. "You're spot on. She gave this necklace to me on my tenth birthday, and I lost it around the time of my eleventh birthday. Me, Miles and Ben everyday, for about a year looked for it but never found it. I just can't believe after me and Miles gave up, Benji kept looking for it all these years and actually found it." Jade confesses as she looks down at the gem around her neck. "I'm glad he did. That necklace seems to be apart of you." Four tells her, "I have a question though." He says, "Since you brought it up, when exactly is your birthday? Or I should say, you and your brother's birthday?" Four asked. She smiles at him, "I wanna see if you can guess it. It's coming up actually." She give one hint. Four sits and ponders for a moment, "It's September right now, so I'd have to say, it's in December maybe?" He assumes, and Jade was shocked that he had guessed the month correct. "That's right, what day though?" She questions him. He ponders once more, "I'm gonna go withhh... the 1st?" He guesses.
She gasped a little, "How did you know? Did Miles tell you already?" She insinuated. "Just a lucky guess. You won't believe when mine is." He tells her, "I'm horrible at guessing, so you're gonna have to help me out a bit." Jade tells him, and he agrees. "I'll only tell you this, it's in the same month as yours." Four says, and Jade gasped and got excited. "We share the same birth month?! Oooooo, tell me please? I don't wanna guess." She begged him with her big hazel eyes, knowing all to well he'd give in. "Alright alright, it's actually the third. A day after yours." He tells her and she smiles wide at him. Soon after she looks over at the sunset through his apartments multi-colored window pane wall and covers her mouth as she yawns. Four lays down and gestures for her to lay with him, she gladly lays down next to him, placing her head on his bare chest, and listens to his peaceful heartbeat as the both of them drift fast asleep.