I'll Be Good

5

I walk with Eric to the glass part of the compound that is above the rest.

'Do you know what's it going to be about?' I ask him.

'Yes, but I'm not telling you anything yet,' he says.

'Why not?'

'You have to do this alone. I just help you to get in contact with people.'

I sigh. We walk to his office.

'We'll be waiting here,' Eric says and opens his door. His office is bright with a big desk in the middle.

'Is this were you work?' I ask.

'No, it's where I sleep. Of course it is where I work.'

I roll my eyes, but don't let him see it. He sits down behind his desk. There are a couple of other chairs infront of him and I sit down on one of them.

Someone knocks on the door. My heart beats fast and I wipe my sweaty hands on my pants.

'Come in,' Eric says and the door slowly opens. I see Max coming in and he raises his eyebrows when he sees me. My mind immediately goes to things that Max could be thinking right now. What's this tiny human doing here? They look like a gnome.

'It's about this kid?' He asks. He walks in with Jeanine behind him. She has her hands folded infront of her.

'Oh, hello Ellis,' she says when she sees me.

'You know them?' Max asks, still looking at me.

'They're the child of one of my most hardworking employees,' she says with a smile at me. I smile back and hope it looks genuine. 'I'm glad his chlid wants to give the same impact as their father, even if it is in a different faction.' I swallow thickly. Max and Jeanine sit down too.

'So, let's dive into this,' Jeanine says. 'What do you know about divergents?'
My hearts beats fast. I dig into my brain.

'I- I know that they get more than one faction as result at their aptitude test and that they are a danger to our society,' I say. I look at Eric to see if he approves, but he looks at Jeanine.

'That is right. And did you know that they have in dauntless an extraordinary initiation system that can rule out divergents?'

'I didn't know that,' I say, getting more nervously by the second.

'We have a little job for you?'

'Okay,' I almost squeek.

'We want you to look for divergents in your group, because you are in contact with them a lot. Could you do that for us?'

'Of course,' I say.

'And I want you to tell Eric immediately when you find something, alright?'

'Of course,' I say and look at Eric. He nods at me.

-

I'm back at the dormitory. Ross and Tori look at me.

'Where have you been?' Tori asks a bit irritated. 'They told us at the infirmary that left a couple hours before.'

'Sorry, I've just been walking around,' I tell them. I can't tell them the truth.

'Alright, want to get a drink?' Ross asks. 'I met a pink haired girl and she invited me and told me to take my friends too.'

-

We sit down in a circle in the pit. I lean against the rough, stone wall. Ross is already red from drinking. A girl next to me pokes me everytime she laughs and hands me a flask. I take a sip from it. It burns my throat and I hand it quickly to Ross. He takes a big swing from it.