Tris wakes up in unfamiliar surroundings.

I see a blue patchwork quilt under my head

Divergent = eyes in the back of your head.

Four is there, and he’s all bloody.  He implies that he beat Drew into disability.  No, really.  He then offers to report them for what happened.

“No,” I reply. “I don’t want them to think I’m scared.”

Okay, look, moron.  These kids aren’t just picking on you.  They stabbed Edward in the eye.  They’ll probably go after someone else next.  Also, they tried to fucking kill you.  This is the point at which your reputation or whatever doesn’t count for jack shit.  Report those fuckers before they permanently maim or kill someone.  The safety of the rest of the group trumps your desire to look brave, or whatever is going on here.

Then Four tells her that the others beat her up because they were jealous.  Yeah, that’s right, our main character is just that special.  Everyone wants to be her, and when they can’t, they beat her up. 

Dude, isn’t that the excuse butthurt fanfic authors like to sling around when they get criticism?  Or that fans sling around when you bad-mouth their favorite book?  “Yeah, well you’re just jealous!”

Oh, if only things were so simple.

Four suggests that she act more vulnerable so she won’t scare people into attacking her so much.  Because we can’t turn in the bullies and deal with the root of the problem, no.  It’s up to the victim to act right so they won’t attract hostility.

And be sure you don’t wear any short skirts, either.

Tris says she doesn’t want to face down her attackers and brings up the sexual assault part.  (So…she could have done it if they’d merely tried to kill her?  This is a really shitty reason to include something like that.  Stop tossing around sexual assault like it’s an extra-spicy flavoring.)

“I don’t want to say this,” he says, “but I feel like I have to. It is more important for you to be safe than right, for the time being. Understand?”

Halleluiah, someone said something smart!

Um…maybe?  Four says that line, but then…nothing else?  Is he going to turn Peter in with or without her cooperation, or is he just going to say stuff and let it hang there?  Because you can say all the awesome stuff you want, but unless you match it up with action, it’s just pretty words.

“But please, when you see an opportunity…” He presses his hand to my cheek, cold and strong, and tilts my head up so I have to look at him. His eyes glint. They look almost predatory. “Ruin them.”

Oh, so…back to petty revenge, then.

Because, you know, that always helps so much.

That night, Tris sleeps in Four’s room with him instead of going back to the dorm with all the attack-happy bullies that she’s not going to do anything about.

Who is he when he isn’t Dauntless, isn’t an instructor, isn’t Four, isn’t anything in particular?

Uh…let’s see…if he’s nothing, then I’d guess he’s…nothing. 

Whoever he is, I like him.

Yup, blatantly admitting that she likes the guy despite (or possibly because?) knowing next to nothing about him.

I don’t know, part of me doesn’t mind it so much.  He’s cute, he did just save her life, and there’s been a few other decent interactions between them.  I’m on board with infatuation that could lead to something more.  But it just..smells off.  Maybe it’s because  of all the forced flirting that’s been randomly inserted into some of the scenes. 

Like, the next morning, they wake up and go through morning routine and Four asks after her health.  It’s a pretty cute scene and decently done.  But by this point, I’ve been hammered with Tris’s internal blathering about how there’s “something” about him and she’s “drawn” to him and all that.  Why couldn’t we just begin the romance here?

They attacked me to make me feel weak. I can pretend they succeeded to protect myself, but I can’t let it become true.

Or you can turn these fuckers in so they don’t move on to a new target.  Or so they don’t move on to become the next Eric and hang kids of the side of a chasm legally.

Four was right. I have to do everything I can to make sure I don’t get attacked again.

No, really, I’m getting creeped out by this.  It’s not just that she’s being selfish.  It’s that this is sending a bad message.  It’s putting all the onus on the woman for her self-defense, all of the responsibility.  It’s making her change her actions and behaviors in order to not get attacked.  In this line of thought, there’s no responsibility on Peter to just not attack her, and there’s no responsibility on society to provide a safe environment for all its citizens.  Nope, it’s all on her, and if she gets attacked, well then it’s just because she didn’t do something right.

Fuck that.

Tris goes to breakfast and sits with her friends and tells them what happened.

Her friends decide they have to do something, and by ‘something,’ they plan on beating them in the rankings so they get kicked out.  

Uh…how are you planning to do that, dumbasses?  And how is that going to help in the meantime, since the next cuts aren’t for a while?

Four takes the transfers off to do something else, and they climb out of the pit.  He takes then to a room and explains that it’s basically the holodeck, and it’ll change to display their fears, but this time they won’t be brain-fucked at the same time so they’ll be better able to deal with shit.  Which begs the question “why did you brain-fuck them in the first place?”

Their final test will be to run through the holodeck and all their fears in front of a panel of judges.  This will happen in a week.

They go back to the dorm and find Al.  He tries to apologize, but Tris won’t take it.  She tells him to fuck off.

Aaaand, yeah, that’s it.  Two whole chapters of straight-up exposition.  Wasn’t that fascinating?