I'm going so far off canon with this because I can and I like it. Sorry if that disappoints you, but I've decided that I'm going to manipulate their world a little bit because I refuse to read books 2 or 3 BECAUSE I KNOW WHAT HAPPENS AT THE END OF ALLEGIANT AND MY POOR LITTLE HEART CAN'T TAKE THE PAIN OKAY. So, the point is, I'm not an expert on the world of Divergent, so I figure why care about it so much.
ALSO at the point, I am not doing a chapter from Four's POV. I don't think I can do his thought process justice, and I just don't want to so yup.
A knock sounds on the door of Zeke's apartment.
"Zeke? I thought you had to work this afternoon?" Shauna yells as she walks in. At the sight of the six of us lounging on the furniture in Zeke's living room, she stops. Scanning the room, she finds Uriah and raises an eyebrow at him.
Uriah shrugs in answer to the unspoken question. "We were bored and didn't know where else to go. What are you doing here?"
Shauna replies, "I heard voices and got curious, since Zeke told me he was working the afternoon shift today. Does he know you guys have invaded his apartment and probably his alcohol cabinet?"
Uriah glances at the rest of us. "Nooo, but you're not gonna kick us out right? Don't you have a heart? You can't leave us on the street like we're Factionless!"
Shauna rolls her eyes, "Whatever. But if you wreck anything, I had no clue you were here, got it?" She leaves amid a chorus of thanks from the rest of us and Uriah runs to lock the door behind her. We honestly aren't drinking or causing any problems. After eating lunch, we'd stopped by the Pit to buy a few necessary things and then headed up here. In the hour or so since then, Christina, Marlene, and I have argued over the color scheme for our apartment, estimated how many points we can each afford to spend on furniture, and set some ground rules for the apartment.
After Shauna leaves, I look back at the paper we'd written our ground rules on. Most of them are common sense.
Parties are a joint decision
All roommates must agree if someone is going to spend the night.
Changing furniture or decoration requires agreement from everyone.
You may only loan your key to a person all parties have deemed trustworthy.
Do not leave untrustworthy people alone in the apartment.
Lock the door if you are the last one to leave.
"Visiting hours" are 8 am- 11 pm on weekdays, 8 am- 1 am on weekends. Exceptions for emergencies only.
Respect roommates' privacy.
We'll probably add onto the list as we figure out the problems living together presents, but so far the list seems decent.
"Hey, who goes on the list of trustworthy people? Like, who can we leave alone in the apartment and who can we loan a key to?" Christina asks.
Marlene grabs the pen and paper before saying, "I think everyone here should go on the trustworthy list. Hey guys!" Lynn and the boys look up from their conversation about future jobs, "Can we trust you not to steal stuff from our apartment?"
"I can promise that I won't steal stuff, but I may or may not use you as guinea pigs for prank ideas. Don't say I didn't warn you," Will says.
Christina rolls her eyes before muttering something about kicking his ass. "Put all of them on the list. If we get pranked, we know who it was."
"Can we put Four on the list?" I ask, then quickly add, "and Lauren, Shauna, and Zeke, too."
Christina and Marlene nod. "Maybe we'll add Tyler and Kyle later on, just… not now." I nod in agreement. Now that we have ground rules settled, we're back to arguing color scheme. Christina and I don't want black, white, or gray. We're both tired of those colors because of our old factions, but Marlene argues that not including black in the color scheme could lead to us being called faction traitors. As an example, she points out that the furniture in Zeke's apartment has black frames. Christina and I reluctantly agree, which leaves us with the issue of what other colors to include. We're interrupted by a frantic knocking on the door.
Will runs to the door and opens it for Lauren, Tyler, and Kyle. After they run in, Kyle locks the door behind them. I've never seen Lauren look even mildly upset, so seeing her panicked is concerning, to say the least.
Lauren scans the room, clearly waiting for us to shut up and then announces, "Eric's on the warpath. Rumors have been flying that Max is going to oust him from his leadership position, and we all know that means Four will be in as leader. The point is, Four sent us to warn all of you. Don't leave here unless you really can't help it. Never ever get caught anywhere alone, and on that note, make sure at least one person with you is a kickass fighter. Eric's crazy, and we're not willing to risk losing any of you."
We all nod, shocked at this. Eric wouldn't hurt another Dauntless, would he? But even as I think it, I know he will. And not just any Dauntless. Me. Lauren, Kyle, and Tyler join our circle, clearly settling in for a while. Lauren leans over to me, trying to appear casual, and quietly says, "Four asked us to set up a guard detail for you."
I turn to look at her, "Thanks, but I think I can handle it. I'm not Abnegation anymore; I'm not just going to let him hurt me. I'm tough." I know I can't handle Eric on my own, but how am I supposed to command any respect in this faction if I need babysitters?
Lauren smiles, but it's too tense to seem friendly, "I know that. But a fight between you and him would be fatal to one, if not both, of you. And killing members is slightly frowned upon here. So, Four and I decided it would be easier to avoid a fight by making sure Eric can't get you alone."
"And what if he's got friends?" I ask.
"He doesn't. Not a lot of Dauntless like him actually. Some of the new ones, maybe, but they're mostly just scared of him and don't want to show it. The older Dauntless hate him. They won't help him attack another Dauntless." Lauren assures me.
I don't like the idea of having armed babysitters, but if it will keep Four happy, I'll deal with it. "Okay," I say, and then add, "Thank you." I know how much it means, for them to go against a current leader for me.
A knock sounds on the door. Three knocks, a pause, two knocks, and then the sound of a key in the door. I tense as Kyle crosses the room to get the door, but the door swings open to reveal Shauna. She kicks the door closed with her foot, leaving Kyle to lock the deadbolt. Shauna smirks at us as she walks to the kitchen and sets her multitude of bags on the counter.
"Expecting someone else?" She asks, arching an eyebrow at our huddled group.
"We're just a little tense," Tyler replies.
Shauna rolls her eyes, "I know that, and I know why. I'm not stupid." Lynn mutters something to Uriah who laughs. Shauna glares at them, than continues, "Zeke got a message to me and I brought supplies. We're stocking up like there's a war coming."
"Did you bring food, by chance?" Kyle calls.
Shauna rolls her eyes for the second time in thirty seconds, "No. The plan is to act like there's nothing wrong and we have no clue Eric's jumped on the crazy train. We're just not going to leave Tris anywhere by herself."
"So what did you bring?" Lauren asks, suddenly all business.
Shauna roots around in her bags, "Communications devices, all the transfers' stuff from the initiate's dorm, non-lethal weapons, and a jacket for Tris."
"Why does Tris get a jacket, but no one else does?" Lynn complains.
"Because Eric's not trying to kill everyone else, just Tris," Shauna replies, in the same tone my mother used to tell me why we fed the factionless. The effect is, no surprise, creepy, and shuts Lynn up immediately.
Shauna tosses me the jacket, informing me that it's got stronger material to better protect me. She also tells me that the extra padding in it was intended to be used in the vests to protect Dauntless on Factionless patrol, but apparently one of her friends managed to swipe some from a destroyed vest and use it to make a much cuter prototype jacket. I pull on the jacket, thankful it fits correctly.
"Wait, you said weapons!" Tyler yells.
"Weapons?" Uriah asks.
"Weapons!" Lauren replies, "The better to defend yourself with, young grasshopper."