belligerent

Are You Nuts?

"We don't have any sugar." I narrow my eyes. Nita wears an overly long shirt with her hair braided, dangling on her left shoulder. She holds a bag of chips in her hands, munching vigourouslt while making me uncomfortable.

"No. I didn't come for the sugar. Caleb wants you to join him for I don't know what. But you're needed." She takes a handful of chips and stuffs them in her mouth. When she notices me staring at her chips, she gulps, making a throaty noise. I try not to flinch. "They are soooooo delicious! The bureu never provided us with such delicacies. Want to have some?" She forwards her hand. I shove it, and roll my eyes.

"What do you want?" I question her. Her whole existence makes me uneasy and then being so casual about staying in Chicago just feels prodding into someone elses matter. I wave the idea for the time being. 

"I just told you! Caleb wants you to meet someone. I don't know him very well but I have seen him somewhere. I wonder..." Nita trails off. Before she can go too far, I snap my fingers, startling her and dragging her back to reality.

"Nita. Please. Concentrate." I urge her. She shakes her head and beckons me to follow her, and I do. We walk at the same pace, a few steps differing while we walk.

"Are you thinking of going back? To the Bureu I mean?" I start. She makes a face at me, nodding many times like she want s the tought to run away.

"No. I don't and I can't. David knows I ran away so he must know I still have my memories. If I go back, he will either kill me or erase me himself." She looks down and signs. "I know you see me as a burden but I will make a few arrangements myself. I have already gotten used to that wicked old cottage!" Nita flings her arms in the air. Her hand the air near my head, only because I ducked at the exact time.

"Nice reflexes." She admires. A faint smile appears on my lips. "I guess I've still got it." The houses creep in closer and closer until I see all the small balconies popping out from their walls. "I see you are taking me to the laboratory again." We run, my breaths faster and steadier than before. "Yes, because that's where the nerds live ofcourse." Nita makes it as a joke but itdoesn't seem funny; not to me. I don't see Caleb and Mathews as nerds or Know-It-Alls. At a time, I thought the Erudites were like this but then these two changed my whole perspective, providing technology for the better good.

"If you ever call those two nerds, I swear you won't like what happens next. They are more than that. It's not funny." And with that, I walk faster, leaving Nita behind. The laboratory is small, so I don't get to waste much much time in finding them; they are always in the chemicals lab.

As I climb the second floor, Caleb stands, his back facing me. He wears his glasses and holds a clipboard in his hands. "You needed me?" I gasp. My legs feel weak. Still, I stand rigid. Caleb, shocked, offers me a glass of water and I happily take it. 

"Hey! Four. Nice timings! I want you to meet someone." Mathews emerges from a room, with a figure behind him. He wears a mask, covering most of his face. However, he hardly looks older than me with blond hair neatly brushed across his head. He isn't bulky but neither is he lean.

As he removes his mask, bile rinses my mouth and I feel horror. A familiar face. However, not a face I was looking forward to, even for a while. I stand up, angry, pointing at him. 

"Are you nuts! You want me meet this guy?" Do you have the faintest idea how evil he is? You have completely lost your mind! He is nothing but trouble." I can't quite tell who I am talking to, since my eyes were at Peter. He looks at me, almost hurt, innocently flinching at my words.

"Four, you are mista-" Mathew starts but I break in. "His memory was erased! And you brought him back? For what? He can hardly help us bring back Tris." I eye him suspiciously. Peter stands afar, awkwardly looking sideways with his hands in his pockets, humiliated. Good.

Peter starts walking towards us, an apolegetic smile peeking from the corner. But I raise my finger at him to stop. "Don't you start how changed you are because I perfectly know all about you!" I accuse him, and he steps back. "Sir, I have no idea what-" My eyes flash open.

"What did you call me?" I demand.

"Sir." Peter states. "Sorry, I didnt mean to-" Peter starts blubbering but I interupt him too.

"You called me sir." Almost amused. He still doesn't has his memories back. I see. He must not know my name either.

"What's my name?" I ask, a little less stern. "Four?" He says almost unsure.

"He doesn't know me." I murmur, almost to myself. Then I turn to Caleb behind me. "You didn't bring his memories back?" I say, smugly. Before Caleb can answer, I hear a body fall. Peter lays unconcious with Mathews hovering over him with a needle in his hand. He smiles at his unmoving body, the injection oozed in Peter's body.

"You were saying something Four?" Caleb asks wryly. Good riddance, I want to say, but he will be back. In an hour or so, Peter will wake up; the old one who makes really awful choices which end in him being in trouble or all of us.

"Cara! Is the surgery in progress?" Mathew shouts. Cara peeks through the window, her long fingers holding syringes from her gloves. "Affirmative. Bring him in." And so, me and Caleb drag Peter's body to the emergency room, situated in the chemical lab.
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"God! the line took forever, you know!" Nita marches in, panting heavily. "Thanks Four, for leaving me alone there. I come to help you and you run off without me! How rude!" Nita stares at me, hot under the collar. I just shrug, not knowing what to say. I was hardly sorry and she did get a handful of chips which are irregularly tucked in her arms. 

We three take a seat as the time paases by.

"Why do you need Peter anyway? Haven't you seen him do evil things back then?" I demand Caleb, who just plays with his fingers, unable to look directly at me.

"I thought he could be handy. He did know Tris a lot." Caleb tries to defend peter, and I see where it came from. Peter and Caleb formed a really pathetic friendship at the Bureu. He must find Peter important or else Caleb didn't seem like a person who will make mistakes again and again. I didn't care. Peter had proved how coward he is times and times. He will just do it again. 

"Who is Peter? And why are we so wary of him?" Nita asks. Her voice is muffled with so much chips in her mouth, it ridicules me.

"Peter, NEVER has a side. He always jumps from one place to the other, not sure where he belongs. Whichever side seems powerful to him, he joins them... Until it proves to be weak so he jumps back to other side. It happens back and forth till it feels stupid and you just simply decide to kill him, only it isn't that easy. He has his own way to black mail someone." That sums it up. Nita watches me with awe and then shuts her mouth quick.

After twenty minutes, Cara emerges from the room with Mathews and Peter following him. Peter looks up and smiles at me. The old smile. The one he uses to make him look innocent. Only, I don't trust his smile.

"Hello Four, long time no see."He waves at me and winks. I clench my fists, hating him already. 

Peter forwards his hand. I don't return.

"Awe! C'mon Four, don't be so scared. After all, you were my instructor at the Dauntless Compound. Its me who should be scared. Well," Peter licks his lips."There's a lot we need to catch up on." Peter smirks and I want to punch him.

Yes. There is indeed, very much we need to catch up to. It probably seems your throat.