divergent-excerpt
divergent-excerpt
divergent-excerpt
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
and drops into the seat next to Four. He offers no greeting,<br />
so neither do we.<br />
“Well aren’t you going to introduce me” he asks, nodding<br />
to Christina and me.<br />
Four says, “This is Tris and Christina.”<br />
“Ooh, a Stiff,” says Eric, smirking at me. His smile<br />
pulls at the piercings in his lips, making the holes they<br />
occupy wider, and I wince. “We’ll see how long you last.”<br />
I mean to say something—to assure him that I will last,<br />
maybe—but words fail me. I don’t understand why, but I<br />
don’t want Eric to look at me any longer than he already<br />
has. I don’t want him to look at me ever again.<br />
He taps his fingers against the table. His knuckles are<br />
scabbed over, right where they would split if he punched<br />
something too hard.<br />
“What have you been doing lately, Four” he asks.<br />
Four lifts a shoulder. “Nothing, really,” he says.<br />
Are they friends My eyes flick between Eric and<br />
Four. Everything Eric did—sitting here, asking about<br />
Four—suggests that they are, but the way Four sits, tense<br />
as pulled wire, suggests they are something else. Rivals,<br />
maybe, but how could that be, if Eric is a leader and Four<br />
is not<br />
“Max tells me he keeps trying to meet with you, and<br />
you don’t show up,” Eric says. “He requested that I find<br />
out what’s going on with you.”<br />
67