Chapter 3
We walk up the staircase to the top of Erudite, where the offices are. It is only Johanna and I now. The others went to get their apartments chosen; Christina offered to get me one with them but I said no due to the fact them are trying to get apartments as high as they can; I rather have one as low as I can. The staircase around the walls almost remind of Dauntless and the Pit, however I still feel like this is my prison and the image of when I saw Tris is still clear in my mind.
As we walk up the staircase, three kids playing tag run past us. One Candor, one Erudite and one Amity. They are young enough not to start school so the faction system has not changed their view on the world yet. The image of the these children playing with each other gives me hope that one day we will all be able to live well without factions and in a world that everyone is everything.
We come to the end of the corridor, now we have to take the lift up to the top of the Erudite building. Sitting outside the lift is an Abnegation and Dauntless girl doing each other hair and giggling at something. The young Dauntless girl has just finished the plate that she was doing in the other girls hair, she has already had her hair done into a bun at the back of her head. She sees Johanna and I and whispers in the Abnegation girls ear. They stand up together and walk towards us. "Hi Four," says the Dauntless girl. I smile at her and go to talk but the Abnegation speaks before me.
"No! He is Tobias Eaton and Beatrice's boyfriend!" She smiles at me as though to get me to agree with her but I stay silent and just smile at them.
"Beatrice? You mean Tris! She was the first jumper and the first on the leader board." Technically they are both right but I don't try to explain it to them as it will take too long and may get confusing for them.
"Bye girls," I say to them smiling. In unison they say goodbye and skip away, hand in hand, down the corridor we just came up. Johanna doesn't say anything to me as we wait for the elevator to come to our level. It arrives with a ding and the doors slide open to allow us in.
As they close behind us Johanna speaks up; "well at least I'm choosing a celebrity." I feel my cheeks go hotter so to hide my embarrassment. She laughs at me and out a hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry, Tobias. Those girls adored you, I could see it. Anyway have you worked out why I am bringing you here?" She questions.
"No. No I haven't," I say, "Should I?"
"No but I assumed that you would have been able to work it out by now." Johanna walks out the elevator as soon as the doors open ending the conversations. She walks effortlessly through the corridors, giving off the impression that she has travelled this route may time before.
The room we need to go into is at the end of a path. At the door are three people, two Dauntless guards and a Candor woman. However before we can get to the door we need to be checked by a different pair of guards at the beginning of the corridor. They mainly search me for weapons seeing as Johanna is in control of Chicago for now. As we get searched I listen in to the conversation at the end of the corridor.
"It's a shame that she was killed, she was search a lovely girl and so young," says the Candor.
"No she isn't dead but she may as well be it's not like she is going to wake up is it? The boy needs to realise that and so do all those friends of his." An older Dauntless man - too old for me to know the name of him.
"She will be fine, you idiots. Look at everything she has done for us, freeing us and showing us we are everything. She better survive." I know this Dauntless. Felix, a year older than me, I saw him a few times at the chasm where we all had drinks.
"Poor girl though, parents dead and her brother is a traitor. All she has left is her boyfriend." says the Candor.
I finally understand who they are talking about; Tris. Johanna sees me getting tense and begins to understand to. She tells the guards to finish and allow us through. At first they say that they can't allow that but finally they do. We walk down the corridor to the door and to the three people. The Candor woman turns around to see Johanna with an arm over my shoulders leading me to them.
"Sorry Miss but does the boy have a pass to come in?" It was the older dauntless who said it, the one that I badly want to punch in the face for what he said.
Felix knows that I heard what they said and understands my body language, "Just let him through Tyrone."
"No the kid needs a pass to get in the room, especially if he is going in with-"
"If you don't let him in then you will need a pass to get in the hospital," spits Johanna.
Tyrone laughs, "I bet you can't even throw a punch, let alone make it do some damaged."
Johanna smiles, "I never said it was going to be me who would punch you." She lets go of my shoulder leaving me free to do what I want and soon enough my fist collides with his nose. I already hear the other two guards running towards us but I don't bother about them. Also my hand is throbbing again; I look down to see that I have pulled out my stitches that were healing my split knuckles.
"Tris is better than you will ever be," I spit at him. As soon as I said it the two guards come up behind me and one of he hauls Tyrone to his feet and drags him away,
"Absolute idiot he is," says the guard. He looks at me and smiles "You just did what I wanted to do all day." He pats me on the shoulder and walks back down to resume his position.
"Now open the door and let Tobias in."
Johanna leaves me in the room on my own so she can go speak to the people outside. I believe that she doesn't want me to hear what she is going to say but the walls aren't that thick in Erudite and I can hear most of the things she is saying.
"What do you think you were doing? Emily, I thought I could trust you and now he won't want to go anywhere near you. You are both meant help him but now you have been rude about Tris. Now I want you to keep your mouths shut unless you are spoken to, ok?"
The door opens and Johanna walks in with Emily and Felix. They sit at the couch to the left of me and Johanna sits opposite me. She clears her throat and the other two apologies to me; I decide to ignore them and only speak to Johanna.
"Why am I here, Johanna?" I ask without looking at her. I keep my hands in my lap - mainly to stop me from punching Emily and Felix.
It isn't Johanna who speaks up, it is Emily - great. "Tobias, you are here to be offered a job in Chicago. You will be in control of accommodation and the wellbeing of the people in society. Also you will in charge of leaving and entering Chicago and the number of people that live here. To add to that, Tris will be working with you once she wakes up."
"I thought you didn't think she was going to wake up," I say coldly.
"I believe that Tris will wake up due to the fact that she has a amazing group of friends and has a supportive boyfriend, also she a very strong woman."
"Most of our friends are dead anyway. There are only five of us left. I stand and walk towards the door, not even knowing if it is okay to leave. "I will tell you my answer in the morning."
"Oh my god, Tobias! This is amazing, you have to say yes!" Christina shouts. I made my way up to her room and she got Zeke and Shauna in from next door.
"You are thinking of not taking it aren't you?" says Shauna. I look at her and shrug. "You don't have to you know. We aren't going to think any different if you take it or not, but you have to think of what this job will do for you and I know it will do a lot for you."
"You think I should take it then?" I ask her. Shauna - although Dauntless - always thinks thing through before she speaks or does something, she is always someone I come to if I have troubles.
"Yes, I really think you should." I nod slowly taking in all she has said. Zeke comes from behind me and puts a hand on my shoulder. He agrees with what Shauna said and goes to hand me a drink. I don't look to see what it was but it smells like alcohol, I push it away and stand.
"I need to think I'll see you guys tomorrow." They all say goodbye and I leave without saying another word.
I take my time to walk down to my room that I chose earlier. It gives me time to think about the job and if I'm going to take it.
The key fits perfectly into the lock. The rooms were all newly cleaned this afternoon and the smell of bleach is roaming around the room. I shut the bathroom door before collapsing onto the sofa.