Choose Your Own Adventure: Divergent

Lunchroom Loners- 36

You grab a plate and plop yourself down right under the spiral staircase that leads up into the leadership rooms. 

Sure enough, Eric rounds the corner with his magazine. He almost drops his tray when he sees you.

"You again?" he hisses, glaring at you. "What do you want, Amity?"

You shrug. "I didn't want you to eat alone."

"How very Amity of you," Eric spits, walking away so he can sit at the opposite end of the stairs from you. "Learn to be Dauntless. Go away."

"Maybe you should learn to be Dauntless," you say dubiously, gesturing to his magazine. "That's an Erudite medical journal."

Eric's face flushes, and he clutches it closer to his chest. "That's none of your business."

You shrug. "You're allowed to read what you want." You take a bite out of your dinner roll. "What's new today?"

Eric hesitates, then thrusts the magazine towards you. 

"It's the genetic technology," he says, face suddenly warmer than you've ever seen it. He edges towards you. "They've figured out how to reverse this disease that makes you age faster using CRISPR genetic technology. I never imagined... I mean, the technology has advanced so fast. And if they're using this so well today, just imagine what we'll be seeing tomorrow. Rapid healing? Immortality? The possibilities are endless. We're living in tomorrow..."

He trails off, face glowing, turned towards you.

"Y/N," you say, smiling at your peas.

"We're living in tomorrow, Y/N," he says, a small smile on his face. He flips the pages of the magazine, gently, like it's precious. 

You flip through pages of technology, full to the brink with blue-clothed Erudite doing new and wonderful things. Eric points out all of it, the lunchroom almost disappearing around you.

"You're so good at this," you say, amazed as he explains a new serum. "Why aren't you in Erudite?"

His face stiffens, and just like that, the moment is gone. Eric jumps up, scowling and stuffing the magazine back in his pocket.

"That's none of your business," he says gruffly, as if remembering who you are. He stalks back off into the cafeteria. He leaves his food.

1+ Eric

Advance to 38