Tris woke up early and got ready for the day, choosing her clothing carefully.
She really had no idea what to expect. Would Eric make her train? Would he do leadership exercises with her? She was ready to be challenged, but was she ready to face the wrath of Eric, the youngest leader? Although she would never admit it, Tris was a little frightened. Eric was one of the most unpredictable people she had ever met. One minute he was fine, and the next he was yelling and trembling from all of the anger he somehow just happened to realize was there. She kept asking herself, how hard can really leadership training be?
She walked through the pit in her loose training clothes and went up the elevators into the leadership offices. All of the offices were in long, dark and dreary hallways above ground, all spreading out from one big foyer off the elevator.
Sitting behind a large desk in the middle of the big foyer was Cat, someone Christina had introduced her to a while back. Cat was three years older than them, and always happy and bubbly – Tris would have thought that Amity would have been a better fit for Cat if she hadn't known that she was one of the top initiates of her year.
Cat smiled, "What's got you in the leadership offices, Tris?"
Tris smiled to be polite, but she wasn't really in a hopeful mood. "I'm here to see Eric. Can you tell me where his office is?"
Cat's smile faltered, "He is down the first hallway on your right, the last door" She pointed to one of the less-lit hallways, "And be careful, he is in a foul mood."
Tris swallowed but still said, "Isn't he always?"
That earned a laugh from Cat before Tris continued to the hallway. All of the doors on the sides were closed, which made Tris wonder why there were so many offices, and how many were actually filled. There were only a handful of Dauntless leaders, and she had never heard of any kind of people below them working in leadership, but there must be. She was just curious where they all were at this moment – it was so silent.
Suddenly, a door burst open from beside Tris, and she jumped a little; she hadn't been expecting anything to happen so sudden in the dead silence. She flattened herself against the wall, trying to not be noticed.
Out of it came a young woman in a high ponytail and a tattooed and pierced man both in dauntless black arguing over something that Tris didn't totally understand.
"We have to get the serums out now!" The woman said urgently in hushed tone. "We are running out of time."
The man was about to reply when he saw Tris pressed up against the opposite wall, and he stopped, surprised at the small girl. The woman followed his gaze, and shot Tris a deadly glare.
"Come on, Jack." She gripped his arm viciously, and pulled him away, while he stayed turned around, staring at Tris.
The whole incident made Tris feel very unsettled and she didn't know why. It was a very quick moment, but Tris had millions of questions. Who were those people? Were they part of leadership? Why did they seem so surprised to see her? But most of all, what serum? Tris couldn't focus on her questions because had to get to Eric's office on time or who knows what would happen to her.
The last office was at the dead end of the hallway, not on the sides like the other offices. There was a piece of tape falling off that had Eric Coulter scribbled on it. Tris thought that it all looked very unprofessional for the big scary man that was Eric Coulter, and she would've laughed if she had felt more upbeat. And had the big scary man not have been in the office, only a door away.
She knocked confidently, hoping that her nerves wouldn't show in front of Eric. He could smell fear.
"Come in!" Eric's gruff voice called from the office, and she tentatively opened the door.
Inside was a wall full of bookcases stuffed with books on one side, and opposite that was a bare wall. Eric was sitting at a metal desk that had two chairs in front and many stacks of papers on it, and was holding a pen over an open file. The only light was coming from a tiny lamp on his desk and from the window covered with blinds behind him; it was extremely dark considering it was 8 o'clock in the morning. The office was tiny, bare and not personal at all - unless you counted the books and the cabinet in the far corner filled with weapons of all sorts and guns.
Tris almost felt bad for him at that moment. He was a Dauntless leader – a leader of a faction - and this is what he got? She guessed that the other leaders treated him like crap judging by this barren office. Was it because he had a nasty attitude and everyone hated him, so they had given him this? Or was it that they had deemed him not fit to become a proper leader?
Her gaze focused back on Eric, who was still skimming over his file, his long blonde hair flopping down to cover his face.
"What do you want Cat?" He said. "I told you not to bother me today."
Had he forgotten about her already? "It's Tris. You know, your apprentice." She prompted.
He looked up with widened eyes, like he did forget, but recovered quickly with less hate than usual in his voice, "Of course I know, I'm not stupid, stiff."
"Okay," Tris rocked back on her heels uncomfortably, there was nothing she could do but agree with him. "What would you like me do today?"
…
Eric looked around, his eyes frantically trying to find something for Tris to do.
Eric had completely forgotten that he was supposed to train Tris today. He had been caught up in the news of the uprisings of some factionless, and even some small groups of Dauntless members, who were protesting against factions and doing violent acts. As the newest leader, Max had asked him to take on the task of identifying all of the rebels in Dauntless associated with the newest protest. This past week, a small group set fire to the Ferris wheel on the pier, and when they had sent out Dauntless soldiers to gather the traitors, they had all escaped. Eric had to track down all eleven of the people who were involved in the protest. Fortunately, they had played off the attack as some weird Dauntless ritual and that they were getting punished for it.
This was Jeannine's plan – to stamp down the Divergent and the rebels.
He was so tired and worn out that he hadn't even remembered something as obvious as the apprenticeship that he had announced yesterday.
He was sure that Tris had noticed that he had forgotten her, but she didn't bring it up and only leaned, looking amused, against the door frame. He was thankful that she didn't because he had no energy to even snap at her.
"Here," He shoved a pen and some paperwork at her, "Fill these out."
"Where do I sit?"
He was getting annoyed, and found out that he did have enough energy to snap at her, but didn't because she had a good point. "You can sit in one of these chairs," He gestured to the chairs in front of his desk, "And just…write on my desk, okay?"
"Okay," She pulled the chair closer to the desk, and pushed some files off a small space for her to work.
"No talking unless you have a question." He needed to prove to Max and all the other leaders that he could be a good leader and find those rebels. He was almost ashamed of his small office; he was a leader, not a janitor.
Tris hadn't even started on her work before she asked, "How is this training me to be a leader?"
Eric was pissed; he wanted her gone so he could have some peace and quiet. He decided that he should've just sent her away, but the extra help on the loads of paperwork he had to do was almost worth it. "As a leader, you have to fill out lots of paperwork, so this is practice. Now shut up."
They worked in silence for a bit, but Eric was getting agitated whenever she blatantly stared at him for a couple seconds, and then looked back to her paperwork. On her fifth time doing it, he gritted his teeth, trying to contain his anger. "Do you need something?"
"Why do you have such a…small office? You're a leader; shouldn't you have a bigger one?" She stared straight at him, unblinking, and Eric was almost impressed that she had been so honest and had not let her nerves show; even though he knew she had them.
On any other day, he would have shouted, yelled and spat at her for daring to ask a leader that, but instead he just simply stated, "In Dauntless, leaders have to prove their worth, especially if you're a young leader."
"Oh," Tris looked down, then back up, "But what if you have visitors? Do they really want other factions to see a leader in such a crappy office?"
"If I have a visitor or a meeting, they transfer me to another office on the floor above mine."
Eric paused then; she was asking a lot of questions, too many questions. Tris had a certain curiosity in her that was only a part of an Erudite's skill set. The realization slowly washed over him: she was Dauntless and Erudite.
Oh shit, he thought, Tris is divergent.