the Lost One

Four's POV | 1

I'm sitting in the dining hall, already eating when I see my initiates walk. They notice me sitting alone and walk in my direction. As I see everyone sit down, Jessica Damon just happens to sit right next to me. Great. I swear she gets on my nerves. You know, sometimes I hate my job. I can never sit with my friends at dinner. They sat down and started eating. They made small talk about the food. I just casually sat there, eating my food and minding my own business. To be fair, that was really hard since I still don't know anything about Jessica and I know she can't possibly be Erudite. There's something about here, something that makes me wonder. I need to find out what it is. The only thing I've figured out is that her friends here are Sarah Roberts from amity and Joshua Hayes from candor. When I finally started paying attention to what they were talking about I couldn't help but stare at Jessica. She practically threw the plate in her mouth. God, does she have any manners? You'd think she'd be factionless by now. Sarah just stared at her in absolute disgust. I chuckled, don't think they heard though.

"Come on, have some politeness, Jess," Sarah begged. She's definitely the mom-type friend.

"Whatever," Jessica responds.

"You told us you were from Erudite. Erudite are usually known as well-mannered at the dinner table, or at least that's what I've heard," Josh looks at her. 

I agree with him, but decide not to say anything because I want to hear what she says in response.

"Well, I'm not an Erudite anymore, am I? Come on, let me live life a little," she says.

"YOLO!" she shouts at them. They all laugh. I'm just genuinely confused. What the hell does 'YOLO' mean?

"Lucky that your friends are so gullible," I whisper to Jessica so nobody else hears.

"Shouldn't you just mind your own business? Have some small talk with your friends maybe?" she snaps back.

I roll my eyes at her comment. "Oh and by the way, where are they? Don't have any? Oh, too bad," she says. That threw me off guard. God, she can be rude. I was about to snap back at her but decided not to since I'm technically supposed to be treating all of my initiates fairly.

I saw Eric walk in through the main door, Jessica noticed too.

"Hey guys, I'll be right back, if I don't come back during dinner, I'll see you in the compound, alright?" she says to Josh and Sarah.

"Yeah, alright," Sarah said.

"See ya," Josh said right before she left.

She started walking in the direction of the exit so I didn't bother looking her way until I saw she stopped right behind Eric. She said something which made him immediately turn around.

"Hey, everyone, you all know your way back to the compound I assume, so if you'll excuse me, I'll see you tomorrow," I say to the initiates. They all nod and I walk over to my friends' table.

"Hey Four," Christina says, not even bothering to look at me.

"What's up, big boy?" Peter jokes. I give him a stare.

"Alright, alright," he says, backing down.

"You know, one of my initiates I talked to you about?" I ask them.

"The one who kicked ass? Dude, everyone's been talking about her," Peter says.

"I can't believe she's from Erudite," Tris finally says. She doesn't look weak, never has, but she does look wounded.

"You alright, by the way?" I ask her.

"Me? Alright? Of course, never better," she jokes. I give her a small chuckle.

"Anyways, what about her?" back to the urgent conversation.

"Look," I nod in Jessica's and Eric's direction. Everyone at the table looks their way.

"So, what? They're having a conversation. Come on, Four, he's a leader of our faction AND he works with you, helping the initiates, what's the big deal?" Christina asks, giving me the worried look.

"No, look again," Peter says. "They're having an intimate discussing, almost like they're fighting about something,"

"Or," I say, knowing that what I'm about to say is insane. "They're being discreet about something. As in they're-" I say confidently but Peter cuts me off.

"Hiding something," Peter's thoughts trail off. I give him a dirty look, but he doesn't seem to notice.

"Exactly," I say.

Peter snaps back to reality. "I had a conversation earlier with my brother who just happens to be an initiate," he says, pointing towards Josh. I knew his last name sounded familiar.

"And he says she's been acting weirdly, almost like she doesn't care or know her old faction,"

"Give us an example," Christina says. 

"Well, when everyone threw their old-faction clothes away, she didn't seem emotional at all, like she didn't even know what she was throwing away," Peter says.

"I mean, to be fair, that is pretty normal. If you had a bad experience in your old faction, it'd be easy to let go," Tris says and I agree with her.

"There's more," he says. "She's strong and fearless, he said. You know how she beat everyone earlier? Well, apparently she didn't even seem surprised about it herself like it was normal for her to be stronger than everyone around her," 

"It's as if she doesn't understand the faction life," Christina says, in deep thought.

They all look up at me when I make my own accusation. "Or simply doesn't know it," I say, watching Eric drag Jessica into the hall. A few minutes later I see her standing at the entrance, searching the hall with her eyes like she's looking for someone, someone specific. 

"They're definitely hiding something and I'm gonna find out what it is, no matter the cause," I say standing up from the table and heading towards the exit.

authors note: I'm really sorry for the short chapter!!! There's a part 2 of Four's POV coming soon (today) so stay tuned :)