Waiting Four You

Chapter 2 (Beatrice)

The bureau doesn't exist, but I'm keeping the one year age difference as real between Natalie and Andrew.

I wait with the rest of Abnegation to clean up the choosing ceremony room. That had been my only reason for having not wanted to go to Tobias's ceremony, but I had felt like if I didn't go, that I would regret it.

To say that I missed him already was an understatement because Tobias was the person who made me feel whole, and knowing that I won't be walking home from school with him anymore made me feel empty inside, as if all my organs, not just my heart, had followed him onto the train that would take Tobias to his new home, my future home.

"Beatrice," my mom says to me. "Are you alright? You've been staring at that chair for the last five minutes."

I hadn't realized that I was just standing there, but now that my mom pointed it out, I realize that I shouldn't keep dwelling on where Tobias is, or what he's doing. I need to think about where I am, and how I can prepare for my turn to join Dauntless.

"Sorry," I apologize. "I guess my head is just following Tobias instead of staying here with the rest of my body."

Mom places a hand on my shoulder, "I understand, Beatrice, but worrying about Tobias won't help him. Nor will it help you."

I nod knowing that my mom is right and finish helping to stack the chairs so that the room is clean and ready for next year's ceremony.

Once we arrive home, dad and Caleb start on dinner leaving mom and I to sit in the living room to knit scarves for the factionless. While we knit, mom decides it's time for us to talk.

"What's wrong?" she asks me glancing over the half finished scarf in her hands.

I sigh unintentionally, "I just don't know what to do now. For the past four years, Tobias has decided all of our volunteer projects because I never knew what I wanted to work on, and now, I'm alone and confused." I pause for a second as if to catch my breath. "We discussed things yesterday, that he would go to Dauntless, and when I'm sixteen, I will join him, but what do I do with the next two years without him?"

My mother smiles in a way that seems to tell me that she's knows what I feel.

"When your father and I met, we weren't even from the same faction. I was a year older, so when I transferred to Abnegation, I had to wait here for a year before it was his turn to choose."

I had never known that before. I always thought that my parents were born and raised Abnegation since my uncle was in Abnegation too.

"What factions did you come from?" I ask my curiosity unable to be suppressed.

"I came from Dauntless and this may surprise you, but your father was actually an Erudite."

A shocked expression appears on my face, "But he hates Erudite."

"He has his reasons for that, and they stem from his childhood there."

I find myself wishing I knew more about my parents, but I know that asking too many questions would be considered too self indulgent. My mother must have seen the questions written across my face, though as she shakes her head at me, "I do not wish to talk more about our past, but I do want to talk about your future. Would you like for me to prepare you?"

"Prepare me how?" I muse verbally.

"As an Abnegation citizen, I cannot condone violence, but I can at least help you get stronger. I can show you exercises that they teach the young Dauntless to help you. If you want to learn to fight, I suggest that you befriend one of the Dauntless children at school."

As mom finishes speaking, dad calls the two of us to dinner. While my parents talk, I think about her advice and decide how best to get the attention of the Dauntless at school.