A/N New story! I understand how the name is confusing but the summary explains it. I was going to do an introduction to the story but I am completely unable to do that! So what you need to know: Beatrice and Tobias are the same age, 8, and Caleb is 11 months older than Beatrice. This chapter all takes place on the same day. Otherwise I think everything is fine, so enjoy!
Beatrice's P.O.V.
I stand in the kitchen waiting on Mama. She grabs the scissors out of the silverware drawer to takes them upstairs with me following closely behind.
I sit down and think of something. "Mama? Does Marcus have a kid?" I ask when Mama opens the cabinet that holds the mirror behind it. Marcus is the leader of Abnegation, and Dad's boss. He is joining us tonight for dinner.
"Yes, honey, he has a son named Tobias, and he is your age." She calmly answers. She doesn't scold me like I expect.
Another question pops into my head. "Why haven't I seen him?" I ask.
"Because he's homeschooled." She answers again before putting the scissors to my hair and making the first snip.
"Is he going to come here with Marcus tonight?" I may be pushing my luck with all of these questions, but I guess Mama does not care since no one else is around us.
"Maybe, I don't know, honey." Mama continues to answer.
"Okay." I say happily.
For the rest of my haircut I sit silently in my chair waiting for Mama to finish. When my hair is the perfect length all the way through, Mama ties my hair into the plain, Abnegation style bun in the back of my head. Before the cabinet closes in front of the mirror, I catch a glance at myself. I haven't changed much since the last time I saw myself, three months ago when Mama last cut my hair. I'm still short and plain with my blue-gray eyes and blonde hair. I am so pale, I look sickly.
•
"Breatrice, Caleb, time for supper!" Mama says. It's so quite in the house that she only has to talk for me to hear her from the kitchen when I'm upstairs in my small, gray bedroom. The only thing in my room that looks any different than Caleb's, and every other kids' bedroom in the Abnegation sector, is the order of the books on my desk. I walk down the creaky stairs and down the short hall into the small kitchen and dining room combination. Caleb is already down here and helping Dad to make the table longer in order to accommodate our guest. They finish soon after I arrive.
"I'll set the table." I say. I pick up the plates, and Caleb gets napkins, spoons, and forks. When I put the last fork on a napkin, I hear the front door open and close.
"Marcus." I hear my dad say from the front room.
Dad and Marcus walk into the room with a boy my age trailing behind them. When I see the boy, who must be Tobias, I grab another plate, napkin, fork, and spoon while Caleb gets another chair. When we're done, we nod our heads Abnegation style toward Marcus and his son, who is, in fact, Tobias. He has pretty ocean blue eyes and dark, curly hair. He has a spare upper lip, full lower lip, ears that stick out a little too much, and a hooked nose. His skin is a beautiful olive color.
Everyone grabs a bowl of the food Mama cooked and puts it on the table. Dad and Marcus get to fix their plates first, since they are the men, and then Mama. Caleb, Tobias, and I get the rest of the mushroom soup, wheat rolls, and salad without dressing.
Marcus says that his wife felt sick and could not come to dinner with us, but says she will try to come next time. Dad and Marcus soon turn the conversation to work related things, and I have absolutely no idea what they are saying. Caleb and Tobias seem to be just as lost as I am.
When everyone is finished, Caleb and I go into the kitchen to wash dishes, and then go to our rooms like we're supposed to. I have no idea where Tobias goes, maybe back home since he lives beside us, in the living room with his dad, or even to Caleb's room. After a few minutes, I hear a knock on the wall outside my open door. I turn away from my multiplication homework and see Tobias standing shyly in my doorway. I smile.
"Hi." He says.
"Hi." I say back. We are both obviously nervous about his being in my room.
"So you're homeschooled?" I ask.
"Yeah, but I wish I could be normal and go to real school." He answers with a laugh. When he laughs, we both seem to forget about him being in my room.
"Really?" I ask. " I would love to be homeschooled and not have faction history everyday." Now I laugh.
"Tobias!" Marcus actually yells, well not as loud as the Dauntless, or even the Candor, but it's still a yell.
"Bye."
"Goodbye." I say.
•
When I finish my multiplication homework, I head into the bathroom to take a quick shower. I dry my newly cut hair with the towel, and go to my bedroom to put on a plain, long sleeved gray tee shirt and fuzzy pajama pants. When I am completely ready for bed, I sit in the living room knitting myself a scarf for the fast approaching winter in front of the warm fireplace. I hear a small knock on the door. "Can I get it, Mama?"
She looks up and nods slightly. I rush to the gray door and open it. It creaks a hello to me. I see nothing until I look down, and about a foot from my small, bare feet, I see a pair of pretty ocean blue eyes looking back at me helplessly.
A/N First chapter down! Please review and tell me if you have any ideas I have a lot but am completely open to others. This chapter is shorter than I wanted but I liked this ending so I went back and gave it a lot more details to get from around 750 words to over a thousand. I hope you liked it.
-T