Enigmatic - Divergent/Eric Fanfiction

Chapter Seventeen

"Hey, where did you go after seeing Freddie? We looked for you, but..." Talulah questioned as soon as I entered the initiates accommodation.

"I went to work out."

"Work out?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, you know; punch bags, get sweaty?"

"I know what you meant, Jac. Why didn't you wait for us? We'd have joined you..."

"I wanted to be alone." I stated, although it hadn't exactly gone the way I wanted.

"Oh, okay..." She said quietly. "Eric come and spoke to us in the infirmary, after you left."

"Yeah? What did he want?"

"He wanted to know where we were when James beat up Freddie and hung him off of the Chasm, and what James' behaviour was like over the last few days."

"Right," I nodded. "And your answers?"

"Nathan and I were on the roof, just being alone. When we came back we heard all the noise at the Chasm and saw the men pulling James away from the edge of the Chasm, and the woman pulling Freddie up. And about James, well I said that he was quiet and always looked menacing. That's all I really could say."

I nodded again.

"Eric said that he was going to find you next, ask you the same thing."

"Well, he found me." I muttered, searching in the compartment under my bed for my shower things and a towel.

"And?"

"The same thing. He asked, I answered."

"Well yeah, but what did you answer?"

I pulled out the things I needed, then kicked the compartment shut. "Reading in the hallways, and James was quiet but clearly angry. He was furious that he ranked last in the progress check."

She nodded, and stared down at her legs that were crossed in front of her on the bed. "Jac?"

"Yeah?"

"You seem really distant. I feel like over the last few days you've isolated yourself from us."

I frowned.

"I just wanted to know if you're okay, and if you need someone to talk to then I'm here. But you should already know that."

I swallowed, feeling a little guilty. She was right, I had distanced myself from her. She'd had such a good few days with Nathan, I hadn't wanted to kill her happiness by sharing my issues with her. I'd even lied to her... And no one should lie to their best friend.

"I'm sorry." I told her. "I didn't want to be a burden."

"You're not! I care about what's going on with you just as much as I do Nathan. You're important to me."

I sighed. "I'll talk to you after I've had a shower... I'm really sticky and gross right now."

She smiled and nodded. "Yeah go on then smelly! I'm going to go and grab a drink whilst you're in there."

"Okay." I smiled softly at her, then grabbed my items from the bed and headed into the bathroom. I found a stall and locked it behind me before hanging up my things and stripping off. I hung my dirty clothes over the door, then turned the shower on. As the warm water padded against my tender and sore skin, I tilted my head back and closed my eyes, allowing my mind to wander.

I really didn't want to keep arguing with Calvin, but he was just so stubborn and he wouldn't believe the truth if it waltzed up to him and slapped him in the face. The only person that could possibly convince him was Lu, and she was gone for the next few weeks which wasn't helpful at all. I'd have to figure out what to do by myself.