Robert is speechless,but only for a moment.
"Beatrice, you got married?" His sounds flabbergasted, which is unusual for Amity.
"Yes," I reply calmly," I did." Then a thought occurs to me." How did you get in here ,Robert?"
Robert stares between Tobias and me. " The door was left open. I called numerous times, but no one answered. Then this woman called Christina, stopped by with this little boy. She went in but I waited outside, and when she came back, she told me I could go in."
Dammit Christina, always walking in without permission. I see Four relax slightly. I guess he thought I was 'canoodling' with Robert.
When I don't say anything, Robert speaks. " I think we should all go sit in the living room," he says softly," does that sound okay? If you can't right now, that's alright."
"I'm up for it," Four says. Robert and Four stars intently at me, waiting for me to answer.
"Okay." I toss the falling blanket over the bed and try to fix my unruly hair. While Four and Robert move into the living room, I check my social networking accounts.
On Twitter, Uriah tweeted a party at his place, tagging people who need to come or else. I shiver. If you are tagged and do not come, bad things happen. Dauntless break into your apartment and kidnap you. The dauntless usually sleep nude, so they tie up the person and drag them all around the dauntless compound, for everyone to see. Often times, this person is drugged, and pictures go up everywhere. There is no way I'm not coming, even though Uriah and me are not in the best place.
Messages from Christina are filling up my inbox, asking me when I'm coming to pick up Theo— shit Theo. I totally forgot about my baby. I have to go get him. She also asks about when I'm coming to get ready for the party. The last thing I want to do is party, I want to stay home— no wait home is where Four is, and I want to stay away from him as much as possible.
I sigh, and text Shauna to see if Theo can stay with her while I'm out.
After that, it is countless retweets of Uriah's party. One including from Mia.
On Instagram, there are pics of Christina with Will, and some from other friends. But nothing new.
"Beatrice?" Robert calls, and I look up form the couch. They are looking at me expectantly.
"It's okay, if you weren't listening to me, I'll just repeat the question." Robert says from the coffee table he is sitting on. "Why are you and Four fighting?"
I choke on a laugh," he didn't tell you?" Robert looks at me expectantly. Before I continue, a buzzing noise fills the tense silence and Robert jumps up, clasping his pocket.
" I'm so sorry, Beatrice, but I must answer this call," he says apologetically," where is the bathroom?"
I point him the way, then it is just Four and I alone.
"What are you doing?" He asks, almost mad.
"What? I can't be Candor for once?" I answer, I toy with my phone in my hand. Shauna replies to my message, saying she can take Theo.
"I mean about telling him what happened," he says impatiently," you can't tell him."
I stare at him incredulously,"Why shouldn't I? We are supposed to fix out our problems, right?"
He stares at me sternly, it almost feels like when I was an initiative and he yelled at Christina," the nose that is my lawyer said it would be wise if we act as if we are a normal couple looking for a simple divorce. It would avoid the causes of losing Theo, and it's the quickest way. If you tell him," he lowers his voice to a whisper," things could get serious."
"Oh, more serious than they are now, I suppose. How do I know that's true?" I question.
He looks at me in disbelief," you didn't get the email?"
There is a tense silence. When the Erudite created Internet and phones, there were some major glitches with the software. Things would get leaked, and things would crash. Luckily, they have perfected it, but every once in a while, something doesn't go right.
I don't want him to be right, he can't be right. I snatch up my phone and quickly and check my email. There is one from Cara, but the date in the corner shows it was sent a day ago. I groan in frustration as I read it.
Dear Tris
I have been looking for the quickest possible ways of avoiding The Amity Happy Association ( that is what the association for child custody is called). You have a peculiar case and I have personally been studying the law and ways to institute a fast divorce. My results have lead me to believe that if you were to keep quiet about the affair, and simply receive a divorce including joint custody, then things would become faster, and less difficult. However, it would require you to live at your current home for the next few weeks while the 'judgement'( as I call it) would take place. They are sending a man named Robert Black, he should arrive tomorrow. I apologize for setting you on this immediately but I didn't want to raise suspicion, so it was agreed. I hope you understand. Our next meeting will occur when you have read this email
Cara
I swear aloud and Four speaks,"we need to do this,Tris."
I don't say anything, he was right and now I have to pay the price. Robert returned looking flushed," ah, now what were you saying, Beatrice?"
Four stares at me. The pressure of choice is the most burdensome one. Cara told me not to, Four's lawyer told him not to, does that mean I have to?
"I was saying," I start, unsure of what to say," that Four and I have drifted apart. We love," I feel sick as I continue," each other still, but we aren't that much in love. He wants to date other people, and I want to stay with we want a divorce, but things are getting tense,so that's why we need you to keep the peace." I bit the inside of my lip, so hard that I draw blood. I a terrible feeling sets in my stomach, as Four wraps his arm around my waist. I tense and shift away slightly.
"Really?" Robert says," well then, I would love to help. Let's first try to straighten out the differences. Lay them on the table, shall we?" Roberts cheerfulness is starting to irritate me.
"Right," I grit my teeth, this will be harder considering we lied about the entire divorce matter.
"Four, can you tell me why you want to date other people?" Robert asks.
"I don't want to, I love Tris," I cringe as he continues," and sometimes I get distracted. But we have a child together and I don't want to lose you or—"
"Wait, you have a child?" Roberts says curiously," but you are so young, Beatrice. I thought you still kept your respect—"
"Are you calling me a slut, just because I have a son, Robert? Yes, I'm young, but he wasn't an accident," I say filled with rage," I'm not Abnegation anymore, I'm Dauntless and this is my way of life."
Robert jumps up and puts a had on my arm," No, Beatrice, that is not what I meant. As long as you are happy, I'm happy." Four frowns at that, but I don't take time to ponder of Robert's words.
"Robert, I am happy, but right now I need to go. I'm sure you will have a nice stay here." I grab my phone and nod a goodbye. I leave silently and take a deep breathe after having shut the door. I take a deep breath to calm myself down.
My phone buzzes and I see Christina calling. Before I can say hello, she is blasting my ear. " Bitch, where the fuck are you? I've been dragging your offspring around all day. I love him, but He is a fucking bitch to work with! Get your ass at my apartment."
"Don't call my son a bitch," i interject," are we getting ready for the party?"
Christina's annoyed voice huffs," Why else would you come over? Just get over here." She hangs up, and I sigh. Now I have to go to a party when all I want to do is sleep.
The walk to Christina's is short, and I hear people gossiping. I hear the words : Four and Tris, Cheated, She dumped him. I cringe, but don't stop to talk. I see a girl facing a group of people. The girls is willowy and bald: Lynn.
"Lynn," I call. She turns around and walks over to me.
"Hey, Tris. Did you hear the news?" She asks as she punches my arm lightly.
"What?"
"Oh by the way, sorry about Four. I knew Marlene was spending time with him, but I thought he was helping her with something," she looks sheepish, Lynn never looks sheepish, which means she is truly sorry.
"That's okay. What news?"
Lynn lowers her voice to a whisper "There are rumours going around that Marlene, is knocked up with Uriah's kid, and honestly, I don't know what is true. Do you know anything about it?" Her eyes flash with concern, annoyance, and anger
I shake my head,"No. Why don't you ask Marlene?"
Lynn swears," Because she won't talk to me. She stopped after I tried talking to her about Four, but I don't know. Something is wrong with her." Someone calls her from the group and she turns," hey look, I gotta go, but I'll see you at Uri's."
She leaves without saying goodbye,and I continue the walk up the stairs to Christina's. The hall smells like hairspray and perfume, along with singed hair. I knock gently on the door propped open and hear Christina say," If you're not going to adopt a child, get the fuck out!"
I walk in," You were advertising Theo for sale?"
All over the room is every kind of shoe imaginable. Along with clothes thrown all over the kitchen( Will's and Christina's) and I see Christina spraying her hair with hairspray and then flipping it over, then lightly brushing. I watch in a trance as she repeats the process over and over again. She finally looks up after a few flips later and calmly says," well, neither you or Four were planning on coming by to get him, so yeah, I began auctioning him."
I roll my eyes, and my Abnegation takes over as I self consciously start picking up shoes. " I don't think anyone would have bought him."
Christina, having felt her hair was flipped to perfection, picks up a flat, champagne coloured tin holding eyeshadow, and begins dusting her eyelids. " Ha, you would be surprised. I had some really good offers you know," she warns. I cough and open a window.
"Was all that hairspray really necessary?" I wave the air with my hands.
"Yes, my hair was not accepting the wavy yet sturdy look I wanted it to have." Christina sets down the tin and looks at me. "Where did you go?"
"I had an understanding to attend to," I choose my words carefully," and...things didn't go how they wanted them to. So I'm here now." Im careful not to twitch, or to bite my cheek, as Christina studies me. When she turns around, rummaging for something, I silently let out a shaky breathe I was holding. I will tell her later. She is in such a good mood, I don't want her to worry about me. Then, the thought occurs to me: I haven't seen Theo.
"Where is Theo?" I demand, turning my head around trying to get a glimpse of him.
"Somewhere." Christina says as she dabs on and off lipgloss.
"Christina," I say sternly.
"Thethe?" Christina calls, and Theo's head pops up from under a pile of clothes. He looks silly with a shirt on his head, that he frowns at sternly, and reaches up and throws it at the corner wall. Satisfied, he looks up, studying me. "Mama!" He cries happily. He tries to stand up, but I am faster and get there before he has made it up.
"Theo," I pick him up and he buries his head in my neck and wraps his arms around me tightly. I close my eyes as I embrace him. At least I don't need to question Theo's love for me. He smells like Christina: perfume and new clothes, with the bit of metal smell everyone in Dauntless has lingering on their clothes.
"As cute as this is," Christina says, applying wicked amounts of mascara," we need to get you ready. Drop the kid."
"I am not," I say, still hugging Theo," going to drop him. I haven't seen him all day."
"Cause you left him with me," she sighs dramatically," which by the way sucked. Do you know how embarrassing it is to walk into the best dauntless outlet, with a baby attached to you?"
"No," I point out, but Christina is happy to continue.
"Everyone was pointing! Everyone came up to me like: ooo Christina, I didn't know you had a kid, and : awwww he doesn't look like you though."
"What's so wrong with that?" I say cradling Theo," he is adorable."
"Adorable? I'm supposed to look badass! But with a toddler attached to you..." She trails off looking at herself in a hand mirror. "I look good!" She sings, stretching out the oo part.
"Are you done? Before we go we need to drop him off at Shauna's." I gesture impatiently at Theo, and Christina gives me a once over. " I am, but you're not."
"No," I say almost immediately," I'm not changing."
Christina fake pouts,"Why not? We need to look hot."
"You can do whatever you want with my face," I say, knowing I have just sold my soul," but I am comfortable in these clothes." Christina and I both look down. I am wearing the black training clothes. It is thin, and stretchy, giving you the ability to move at your own will. I'm also wearing boots. I think I look okay, but Christina says other wise. "You can't go into a party like that!" She protests. "You need to dress up."
I sigh, knowing that she will never let me go out," I am not wearing a dress or skirt. I have no plans of going home with someone."
"That's what they all say." Christina smirks, I put Theo down as Christina rummages through her plies of clothes, and watch him toddle back to the shirt he threw into the corner. He picks it up and brings it back to me. I smile, as he hands it to me,"Thank you."
"Here," Christina says, face deep in her pile," these jeans are yours, and I think I found a shirt you can wear." She hands me a pair of dark jeans and picks up a shirt. The front is black and looks as thought it will cover me fully, despite the low neckline, meaning my ravens will be showing, but I think it will stay up. The back, however, is bunch of black string meeting up at the top. My entire back will be exposed, barley hidden by the strings." Chris, I can't wear that top! My entire back is going to be shown."
"She shakes her head lightly," you will be fine. And that was the best one I could find now, so go change." She literally shoves me in the bathroom,"I'm getting stuff out for your face, too!"
I groan, but change as quickly as I can, then look in the mirror. The black contrasts with my pale skin,putting colour in my skin. As I thought, the front does reveal my tattoos, but it's alright. The back, is as worse as I thought. My tattoos there are exposed, as well with my back but the strings cover more than I thought.
I reluctantly get out of the bathroom and Christina eyes me,"See, you look fine."
"My entire back is exposed Chris! We have very different opinions on what fine is." I cross my arms and she shrugs her shoulders." You aren't changing, so get with it. Now sit," she shoves me down in a chair," I'm doing your make up."
"No," this time I stand my ground," I'll dress how you want, but I really don't want any make up."
"Fine, but retie your hair at least." Christina offers.
I retie my hair as Christina puts on a pair of shoes. "You ready?" I ask as I pick up Theo.
"I was ready a while ago, let's go."
We walk in silence out of the apartment, and towards Shauna's and Zeke's apartment, we start to talk." I'm guessing you heard about the Marlene thing." I say cautiously. Maybe Christina doesn't know anything about it, and then we can keep it under the radar.
Christina is fired up,"Hell yeah! That's the best piece of gossip I've heard in weeks! And the fact that everyone thinks it's Uri's," Christina breaks off into a cackle- like laugh, making me more uncomfortable than I am already," anyway, Marlene is going to be 'The Talk of the town' as I would say when I was Candor." She turns and squints at me. "You don't know anything about it right?"
I don't want to lie to Christina, she would find out anyway, but I don't want to talk about it. "I know just as much as you do," I say slowly," maybe a bit more." Theo looks at me knowingly, then pulls my hair. I cry out and come to a stop. "Theo!" I say scoldingly, Christina sighs exasperated, and takes him from me. "Even Theo know you should tell me. What more do you know?"
Suddenly feeling tired and weary I shrug,"There is nothing more to say," I say, surprisingly bitterly," Marlene slept with Four, and now she has to pay the price." I don't say anything else, but thankfully, Christina catches on quickly.
"Are you saying... That Marlene," she starts uncertainly," is having... Four's?"
I nod as I look around, will this walk ever end? The building comes insight and I exhale, not knowing I was holding my breathe. Christina stands agape. "How?"
I raise my eyebrows,"It takes two to tango. And if I don't remember but we took the same Science class, before choosing, so I think you know how the baby got in there."
Christina shakes her head," I'm an expert on that, but that's not what I'm asking. How was Four that...careless? He hardly messes up."
I snort,"He makes mistakes, I make mistakes. Chris, we are free to make mistakes, but there are some mistakes people cannot afford to make." We open a door with glass windows, and climb the flight to Shauna's apartment. Christina is lost in thought, a frown hung on her face. When we reach Shauna's apartment, she faces me. "You're right. Four and Marlene; but I don't think you can call it a mistake. If they love each other, then it was meant for good, but calling an innocent a mistake, even if they are one, is just cruel Tris. Besides, that 'mistake' is going to be Theo's little brother or sister, so you should come to terms with it."
"Wait, what?" I frown. "No, no, Theo is not going to be this child's brother, what are you saying?"
Christina gives me an' I'm sorry' smile, the one doctors and nurses give when they say they can't help you,"Umm, Tris,technically, since they share the same father, it's biologically Theo's sibling."
I glare at her. "Whose side are you on? I thought you hated Four and now your supporting him?"
"I hate him for being the asshole he was to you, and I would go a year without makeup than side with him. I'm just telling you the fact, that whether you like it or not," she stares hard at me," Theo is going to have a sibling, whose mother will be Marlene."
I don't reply. I am too mad to. More than ever, at this moment, I want to rewind time, or create a serum that can make me forget everything that happened. The Abnegation have one, but it's currently out of use. I don't want Theo having any part in this life; filled with lying and deception. He is so innocent, he doesn't deserve this. Not a cheat for a father, nor a surprise of a sibling.
Uriah doesn't deserve this; he is throwing this party to forget, maybe it will help me forget.
I shift my body till it is facing Christina directly,"I may not be able to change DNA," I say, surprised at the coldness in my voice," but I can change who sees Theo or not. Theo is innocent in this, and I'm not about to let Four change his innocence by allowing his son, to see Marlene's child. I won't allow it. I didn't ask for this, neither did Theo, and he may not know it now," I glance at the boy in my arms, not saying a word," but I'm doing him a favour, by getting rid of Four in our lives."
Christina shakes her head with her arms crossed,"Why don't you get it? The child Marlene is about to have: is as innocent as Theo. You can't control things like that! Yeah there are ways, but this child is happening for a reason. And ripping Theo away from his jerk father: stupid. I ," she points to herself," am ready to hang for off the Chasm. He may be a terrible husband, but he is a damn good father. You've seen it, look how he takes care of Theo."
We stand in a tense silence; a staring match. The hard glint in Christina's eyes match the ones I can see reflecting off her's. I don't say anything; there is nothing left to be said. I simply knock on the door, the one we have been standing in front of for 5 minutes arguing, and wait for the knob to turn. For Shauna to come and take Theo, and for me to later then, walk to a party and try to forget. The Abnegation serum, despite the intention, has never looked better.
