Zeke's POV
As the train approaches I see two figures jump out smoothly and land running. One is holding a guitar case and they are both wearing big backpacks. As they walk closer I see the one carrying a guitar is a girl with long jet black hair and dark skin, Carmen. My first thought is she's hot, but then I remember she's Eli's girlfriend. Eli walks next to her. He has paler skin and messy black hair. They smile at us and Eli comes forward to shake Christina's hand, since she is the only one that has actually met them before. Then Christina turns around and introduces us.
"This is Zeke," She says gesturing to me. "He's your new neighbor. That's Cara, Tobias, Shauna, Peter, Amar, George, and Caleb." She continues pointing to everyone as she gets to their name.
I notice that Carmen looks at each of us very carefully. When Christina gets to Tobias she stumbles backwards a bit but Eli catches her. Nobody but Tobias and I notice. I give him a sideways glance and he raises his eyebrow. I'm wondering about what just happened when Christina snaps her fingers in front of my face.
"Zeke!" Christina snaps. "Do you want to come to my place for a game of truth or dare or not?"
"Oh!" I reply, "I'd love to go."
"Okay then, we'll all meet at my place at 7:00." She says.
Eli's POV
After Christina shows us our apartment next to Zeke's, Carmen and I start to unpack our stuff. We only brought items such as toothbrushes and tokens from our past. We didn't bother bringing clothes because we figured we could just buy some. Carmen smiles at me as she sets two pictures of her family and friends on the table at the apartments entrance. I was worried about her. She had been acting differently since about two weeks ago when we decided to move to Chicago. I just wanted the old Carmen back. Instead I smile back and put down a plant Zeke gave us and a picture of the two of us together next to her pictures.
"Do you want to go get something to eat?" Carmen asks me.
"We should probably go eat dinner since it's already 6:00." I reply.
She nods and we head to the cafeteria.
Shauna's POV
Zeke and I are already setted when Christina, Eli and Carmen join us.
"Hey guys." I say.
"Hello! It's Shauna right?" Carmen asks me smiling widely.
"Yeah. You guys want to join us?"
"Sure, we'd love to." Carmen replies.
I likes her well enough, but she seemed too cheery for me. When she smiles however, her eyes don't crinkle like the people from Amity's eyes do. She carries herself like she is proud, but might break down any moment. The way she talks has an air of sadness and uncertainty, not to mention nobody in the city really knows anything about her. She's clearly been through a lot. At that moment however, Carmen notices me staring at her and quickly looks away. She sits down next to me.
"Hey honey, do you want me to grab us some food?" Eli asks her.
"That would be great. Don't forget to get cake!" Carmen replies. I sigh. Saved from an explanation.
Four, I mean Tobias, comes in and sits next to Zeke. God I got to get used to his real name.
"Hey. Where's Eli?" He asks.
"He went to grab some food." Zeke says.
Tobias nods. "So where are you from?" He asked Carmen.
"I'm from Washington DC. I lived in a city called New York before that. They were both disbanded." She shrugs like it wasn't a big deal, but clearly that topic was off limits.
"What was your job back at your old cities?" Tobias asks trying at conversation again.
"I didn't have a job in New York, but I was part of the revolution in Washington DC." She says. That topic was also off limits.
"What do you like to do in your free time?" Zeke tries at conversation. No such luck.
"I like to play guitar and sing, but I don't usually have any free time." Part of me wanted to strangle her, and the other part wanted to comfort her. Why was she being so secretive? Couldn't she see we were just trying to befriend her? The other part of me understood her. She probably just wanted to start a new life. I was about to ask her about it when Eli came back with a tray of food and two forks.
"Hey Four. It's nice of you to join us!" Eli said setting his food down. Oh great. He's also bright and cheery. But, he also has that aura of sadness. I sigh in my head, these two are mysterious!
"I also bumped into Christina in the line and she said Amar, George, Peter, and herself wouldn't be joining us today. Something about a message from work." He continues.
I'm slightly confused, Amar, George, Peter, and Christina all work to help people move into Chicago, and Zoe works to help them from outside the fence. Why would there be an emergency message? I push away the thought though.
Carmen kisses Eli on the cheek as he sits down and Zeke pretends to throw up. Carmen rolls her eyes and Eli laughs. I decide to try at conversation with Eli since he seems more approachable.
"So what did you do in your old city." I asked.
"I was part of a peaceful rebel group, then I joined the rebel group Carmen was part of. We had a revolution after that and the Bureau decided to shut our city experiment down. Luckily we escaped before that happened." He replies.
I was right. He was more open than Carmen, but Carmen looked like she wanted to punch him for saying so much.
"So did any of your friends and family escape with you?" Zeke asked.
I suddenly knew why Carmen didn't want to talk about her old life, she wanted to avoid this question.
Eli looks down at his plate of cake and fries, still untouched.
Zeke notices his expression and says, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked. "
Eli shakes his head. "It's fine, my parents didn't make it but it's fine." I notice he doesn't any of the signs of lying that Christina taught me. He must not have gotten along with them. Carmen however suddenly becomes really interested in her food.
He continues though. "Some of our friends made it, though they are all working in the Bureau."
Zeke nods and asks Carmen the question I knew she was avoiding. "What about your family and friends?"
Carmen stops twirling her spaghetti on her fork. She doesn't look up. "I don't really feel like talking about that right now." She says quietly. Eli looks at Carmen worriedly and puts his arm around Carmen's waist.
"So…" Zeke says trying to break the awkward silence.
"Why don't you tell us a little more about yourselves?" Eli asks.
I nod and start my story. I tell them about the war, my sister Lynn, and everything, hoping this way Carmen will be more open. Midway through my story though, she gets up and excuses herself saying she has to use the restroom. I continue with my story anyways and Carmen comes back int eh middle of Zeke's story.
"Should I start over?" Zeke asks Carmen.
"It's fine. You can continue, Eli can fill me in on anything important." She smiles happily like she forgot about our previous conversation.
Zeke nods clearly confused at her change in attitude, but moves on telling us about Uriah. At the end of his story, I can tell that he is also hoping Carmen will open up, but she just asks Tobias to tell them his story.
Tobias clears his throat. "Well, I had a complicated childhood, I transferred to Abnegation, I fought in the war, and when it ended I settled down and now I'm working in the control room."
Zeke and I both look at him expecting him to elaborate more, specifically talk about Tris, but he just stares at us.
"What? That was my life story." He says raising his eyebrows.
Zeke and I shrug, Tobias would tell them about Tris in his own time. By now it is 6:30 and Eli and Carmen have both finished their food.
"Well, we should probably get ready for truth or dare at Christina's place tonight." Zeke says standing up.
Eli nods and also gets up. Carmen follows and be all leave the cafeteria. I walk back to my own apartment and change, making sure to dress in layers.
Eli's POV
I knew there was something wrong with Carmen. I look into her bedside table, and buried under three dresses, two pairs of pants, and a shirt Carmen insisted on bringing lies three bottles of pills. I pick one up and take out a pill. It is small, round, and shiny white. I knew it. A peace pill. At first, I decide I to flush her stash down the toilet, but then I remember. The last time we tried to settle somewhere but someone had made her mad. She had left. I frowned thinking about that, I kinda like this place, so I didn't want to leave. If we stayed for a longer period of time, she would get used to this place, make some friends, and probably won't want to leave. I settle on that thought and hide the pills back where I found them. Now I understand why she was so happy in the daytime, but at night she broke. I knew that the pills could only be taken in the day, but not the night because the pills make you hipper and unable to sleep. So she's artificially happy in the daytime and suicidal at night, I think. I decide to push that thought away for now because it could be solved later. Instead I quickly change into layers because the last time I played truth or dare Carmen "forgot" to tell me about the clothing rule and I had to play the last half of the game in my underwear. This time I wear a shirt, a sweater even though it's the summertime, a jacket, and jeans on the bottom. Just as I finish changing Carmen comes out of the bathroom wearing a pair of leggings with shorts on top, a crop top with a thin semi see through shirt on top, and a leather jacket. She also put her hair up in a messy bun and put on makeup. She looked beautiful.
"I'm ready, how about you?" I ask still staring at her.
"So am I." She says and laughs playfully, "Quit gawking at me, let's go."
I grin and take her hand. We walk together to Christina's apartment in the next hallway and Carmen rings the doorbell.