Jeanine Matthews daughter [Divergent]

Chapter 9: Erudite projects

It was about 7:45 in the morning. I heard the door creak open but decided to stay in bed.

"Chloe, it's time to get up now." says my mother

I moan and roll over. I open my eyes and I see my mother. She is dressed in a blue skirt that is knee length, a blue blazer with a turquoise accent underneath and black heels.

I pull the covers back over my head, hoping that she will just leave me alone. That didn't work.

She came over and pulled the covers off my head.

"Chloe you have to start getting ready." she says

I groaned and rolled out of bed. I went to my closet and picked my clothes. Sometimes I wish that I could wear a different colour than blue all the time.

My mother called for the driver when I was done getting ready.

The drive was only 5 minutes. Once we got there, the driver opened the doors and we walked into Erudite HQ.

Everyone was dressed in blue clothes, holding textbooks or reading.

I followed my mother into the mixing rooms.

"Good morning Jeanine." a man said

"Good morning." my mother answered back

"So today we will be mixing and testing new simulations." he said

I sat there looking bored and staring at the ceilings.

I don't get why Erudite needed to create more serums, but I certainly wasn't going to help them.

I took my phone out and started texting my friend Mya.

"Chloe. Are you paying attention?" asks my mother

"Ya." I say still looking at my phone

My mother takes my phone and sets it on the counter.

The scientists are mixing a yellow serum. My mother is reading out of a textbook. I just sit there and look down at my shoes. Black heels.

"Maybe your daughter can answer." says a man

I immediatly snap my head up.

"Can you tell me what the fear serum does?" he asks

I sit there, empty minded.

My mother makes me study every serum but I don't want to help Erudite.

"It does stuff." I say

"Specifically?" he asks

"Um, I don't know." I say trying to seem puzzled

"Excuse us a minute please." my mother says

She gets up and motions for me to exit the room. She shuts the door behind her and crosses her arms.

"You know all the answers. Why are you acting like you don't?" she asks

"I'm just not feeling very good." I lie

I try to hide it as best as I can that I'm not actually sick.

"We'll only be here for another couple minutes to finish off the simulation." she says

"Alright." I say sounding sad

My mother comes to give me a hug. She wears perfume that smells like warm vanilla.

"I'll take care of you when we get home." she says

We broke the hug and I looked at her physical features. I compared them to mine. I didn't get anything from my father. He died 14 years ago in a car accident and it's been me and my mother ever since then.

My mother opened the door and guided me inside.

"Sorry, we just needed a minute." my mother says

"No worry Jeanine. Is everything alright?" he asks

"Oh everything is fine." she responds

We walked back behind the science counter and sat down.

"So where were we?" she asks

"We were discussing the fear serum." he says

"So Chloe, can you tell us what it does?" he asks

I took a deep breath and looked at my mother. She gave me a nod of approval.

"Fear serums create hallucinations that cause real life fear to the people that it is injected to." I say softly

"Excellent. Your daughter is a smart one." he says

"Of course." she says

20 minutes later...

We were in the middle of mixing an aqua coloured serum.

The Erudite scientists wanted to see what I knew so they left me in charge of creating it.

"I'm done." I say while after adding the last ingrediant

"Brilliant." he says

I look slightly to my right and see my mother mouthing something to the Erudite man.

It looked like she said, "She'll never know."

After we were done, we exited the science lab and went outside to wait for the driver.

Once he got here, we got in the car and drove home. Once we got home, my mother opened the door and gestured for me to go inside.

"Are you still feeling sick?" she asks

"No, I'm better now." I answer

"Well if you need anything, just come find me." she says

She walks away into the kitchen to prepare dinner. I decide to go read till dinner was ready.

"Chloe, dinner's ready." she says

I walk into the kitchen and see all the food that my mother had prepared, was on the table.

There was pasta, a loaf of bread, some fizzy drinks and parmesean cheese. There was also a batch of cupcakes on the counter for dessert.

I ate my dinner quietly and tried avoiding eye contact with my mother.

I still hadn't forgiven her for killing off part of a faction.

"Chloe, is everything alright?" she asks

"Yea." I say while twirling the pasta on my fork

My mother reached for my hand and set her hand on top of mine.

"You really impressed the scientists today." she says while smiling

"Thanks." I mutter

She can sense somethings wrong with me. Plus, my mother's acting extra nice. She must know somethings up.

"Well, I'm going to go get ready for bed now." I say

"Alright." my mother says

I excuse myself and get out of my chair.

"Chloe." she says

I look back and face her.

She walks towards me and embraces me in a hug.

"Please come tell me if something is wrong." she says

I nod.

She kisses me on the head and I turn around and walk up the many stairs.

I brush my teeth and wash my face. I look at myself closely in the mirror. I then look away and exit the bathroom.

I walk over to my bed and crawl in.

My mother walks in and walks over to my bed.

"Goodnight Chloe. Hope you sleep well." she says

"Goodnight." I say giving her one last hug.

She turns off the light and closes the door.

I gently fall asleep.