CHAPTER FIFTEEN

TRIS POV

It has only been a few days since Tobias left but the mood in our home has already changed. I'm sure it also has to do with the fact that Natasha is currently living with us. There isn't the usual noise of three teenagers running through the house. The mood has been sombre.

I am sure that it doesn't just belong to the fact that Tobias is no longer here. Dad has been extremely serious and has had a lot on his mind. Marcus has been arrested and taken to Candor. While Abnegation is usually preaching forgiveness they have decided that Marcus needs to be held accountable for his actions. Thank goodness.

Both Evelyn and Natasha have written statements stating the abuse they have endured under Marcus's roof. Dad has kept Tobias out of this. He said that he will only make him get involved if he has too. He wants him to have a chance of a new life without the past hanging over his head. I think he is feeling guilty for not doing more when Tobias first came to live with us. I heard him tell mum that he regrets that he put the faction before Tobias and that if he had done something sooner than Natasha wouldn't be going through what she is going through either.

Dad was also surprised to find out just how many people had helped Marcus to cover up that Evelyn wasn't in fact dead. The matter has turned the council upside down. With so many people involved they have had to reassess just who is on the council and how many. Dad has been made interim leader and he has had to spend a lot of time away from us trying to reunite our faction.

Erudite and their leader Jeanine Matthews have been extremely vocal in their need to want to take power from Abnegation. I can see why dad didn't take steps when Tobias first came to us to have Marcus removed. But I can also see that it has caused more lives to be affected than should have ever been. I just hope that once Marcus has been put on trial at Candor that we can all get back to normal.

I don't think Erudite are going to let this go any time soon. There are almost daily reports being released from Erudite about the corruption that is in Abnegation. The only report that seems to be correct is the report about Marcus.

Caleb and I have been helping with the initiates. It is the most boring job ever. It has been a good distraction for me. While the rest of the faction's children are on holidays, Abnegation have always made their dependants volunteer over the holidays. The last few years Tobias and I would work at the distribution centre and Caleb always helped in dads' office. But this year dad thought it best that Caleb wasn't in the office, something to do with sensitive information. So we are showing the transfer initiates what to do.

"Ready for another fun day with the initiates?" I ask Caleb.

"Beatrice you make it seem like the worst thing in the world," he says.

"Don't you think it is?"

"Well. I don't know. It could be a lot worst I guess," he says.

"I guess. Do you find it hard to encourage these people?"

"You don't need to encourage them Bea, they chose to be here. You just need to show them what to do."

"Do you think Tobias is having fun?"

"I don't think Dauntless initiation is about having fun Beatrice," Caleb says.

"You know what I mean Caleb," I say.

"Well I'm sure his life is a lot more interesting than ours are," he says.

"What do you think they are teaching him?"

"How to fight. Probably how to shoot a gun," he says.

"Do you think mum would teach me how to shoot her gun?" I ask. I would really like mum to show me how to shoot.

"I don't think dad would let her do it, even if she did want too."

"Maybe."

"I don't think maybe would come into it. Just be happy that he isn't here bored out of his brain with us. And hope that he is doing well," he says.

"I miss him Caleb. I didn't think it would be this hard," I say. I remember back to our last night together and I am wishing that I had asked him to stay. Marcus isn't here anymore; it would have been easier for him to stay.

"I miss him too. Maybe we should go to the meadow this afternoon. If you want to transfer to Dauntless you are going to need to keep training."

Caleb and I are laying in the meadow watching the clouds float by. We have just finished our 'training session' and now we are just trying to forget about what is happening around us.

"Can I ask you a question?" Caleb says.

"Of course you can," I say.

"Did you and Tobias kiss?"

"Caleb," I say with shock in my voice.

"Come on Beatrice. I've seen the way you look at each other. What happened?"

"I didn't even realise he felt that way until I heard you talking to him," I say.

"How could you not?"

"Really? Have you not been listening to what they have been telling us our whole lives? I didn't even realise what I had been feeling was more until your talk with him," I say.

"So, did you kiss?"

"Caleb," I say. I know I am now blushing. This is so embarrassing.

"Beatrice," Caleb counters with.

"He kissed me on my forehead. That's all," I say turning away.

"Do you think if we were in any other faction it would have been more?"

"How would I know. Why all the questions Caleb? What's going on?"

"I don't know Beatrice. I just see kids at school and wonder if what we have been taught is right. Is it really wrong to show affection for others? You and Tobias have always touched. Do you think that it was wrong?"

"I'm not really sure. I never thought about what I was doing, it just seemed right. No one told me that I shouldn't. Do you like someone? Is it Susan?"

"Beatrice," he says with the same shock in his voice that I showed him earlier.

I can't help but smile at the shock in his voice. Maybe now he won't be so quick to ask me embarrassing questions.

"Don't like it as much now hey Caleb?"

"It's not like it can go anywhere anyway," he says.

"Why? Are you that sure you are going to transfer? Do you really want to go to Erudite after all the things that they have been reporting?"

"It's not just that. I have to go by Abnegation rules. It's not like I get to touch her or anything until we have passed initiation. Then we have to court for god knows how long. It doesn't seem natural to me."

"Don't you think it makes it all that much more special?"

"How can you say that? You of all people should know that it is unrealistic. What if when Tobias had first come to live with us, that mum and dad told you that you couldn't touch?"

"I was nine Caleb," I say.

"Are you going to follow him?"

"I want too."

"But?"

"I don't know. What if he finds some Dauntless girl while I'm stuck here? What about mum and dad? Tobias transferred and if you go as well then I am going to feel extremely selfish for leaving them too."

"Do you think mum and dad were thinking about their parents when they transferred. They were in love. You should follow your heart. Don't let your insecurities guide you. Go because it is right for you."

"I'm glad we still have two years to decide. But at the same time, so much can happen in two years. I just really hope he doesn't forget me," I say.

"That won't happen."

I hope he is right. "So Susan?"

"Yes it's Susan but I don't want to talk about it," he says. I can't help but laugh at him.