The Chasm

Chapter Seven

"Good morning"

As I walk into the meeting room of the leaders I see all of the new members of dauntless who want to become a leader, including Eric and Four.

"Looks like everyone is here," Max says, as he starts the meeting.

He continues. "You're all here because you've shown potential, first, but also because you've displayed enthusiasm for our faction and it's future. Our city is changing, faster now than ever before, and in order to keep up with it, we'll have to change now. We'll have to become stronger, braver, better then we are now. And among you are the people who can get us there,  but we'll have to figure out who they are."

"We'll be doing a combination of instruction and skills tests for the next several months, to teach you what you'll need to know if you make it through this program, but to also see how quickly you learn."

"The first thing you'll do is fill out this info sheet. Delilah," he says, and on cue of my name I grab the info sheets and the pens and puts one of each in front of all the people seated at the table.

"All this will do is tell us more about you and give us a starting point by which to measure your progress. So it's in your best interest to be honest, and not to make yourself sound better than you are."

I finish passing around the sheets and pens and hear Eric snickering from the other side of the table.

"Is something funny Eric?" I give him my hardest stare and he returns the look for a brief moment.

"No."

"Then focus."

I return my spot standing next to Max. Outside I can see a few buildings that are as tall as this building is. But I can't keep my eyes concentrated on them as they always go back to Eric. He's keeping his head down, focused on his own sheet. Pretty soon people are done so they pass their sheet back to me. I collect them and set them on the cabinet behind me.

"Well that was the first day of the meeting." Max says, clapping his hands together. "You're all excused.

Everyone rises up from their seats and makes their way out the door. I noticed Eric has a smug smile on his face as he looks back at me before he disappears out of the room.

"Well Delilah, I'm going to check out these forms. I want you to go down to where Lauren's at and tell her that I would like to see her later."

"Okay Max. I'll be right back. Will you be here?"

"Yes I will."

"Okay." I leave the room and make my way towards the technician room. It takes me a few minutes to get there, as I havent been down in this sector of the building. But I do get there and knock before entering.

Before me, there are a multitude of screens with a person seated at each one. I spot Lauren at the end with her purple hair.

Tapping on her shoulder she looks up with a paniked face before relaxing. I must have scared her.

"Max would like to see you later today for information dealing with the leadership program." I say quietly as to not disturb the others working.

"Okay thank you. In his office?"

"Yes."

She gives a short nod and returns back to her work.  Returning back to Max, I relay him what I said to Lauren and he dismisses me off with a short nod.

Going back to my apartment, I look at the clock. 12:46. Just barely past noon. Going through the options of what I could do, I decide to stay in my apartment for a while and relax.

Until someone knocked on my door.

I woke up, not sure of what was happening. I must've dozed off. The knock persistent, I open the door to.... Eric?

"What do you want?" I ask, leaning in the doorway.

"Can I hang out with you for a while?"

"No." I say as the door slams in his face. The knocking persistent again, I ignore it, hoping for him to go away.

It doesn't.

After a few minutes it starts getting louder until it sounds like he's going to break the door down.

"You know there are other people who live in this area," I huff.

"Why do you insist on being mean to me?"

"I'm just not interested on making friends with someone lower than me."

"Like I'm that much younger, come on Delilah."

I stand there a minute, debating my options.

"Fine come in."

"Its locked." Of course it would be.

As he comes in, he glances around my apartment. "Nice."

"Of course, what else would it be."

"Like I said last night, would you quit being so mean to me?"

I sigh. It wasnt fair for him or to me to treat him this way.

"Fine. Would you like to have some water?"

He shrugs. "You got coffee?"

"You know water is better for you than coffee is," I say as I get the coffee made up for him.

"Now you sound like my old faction." He sighs, with a hint of sadness in his voice. I must've hit a sore spot for him.

"Did you have any siblings?" I ask as I hand him the steaming cup. He shakes his head. "Just me my mom and my dad."

"I was an only child for a long time," I start to say. "But then my parents took in this girl whose parents jumped off the chasm. So now I have lily."

"Is that her name?" He asks, taking another sip of his coffee.

"Yes." My cup is halfway done, but Eric's still has a ways to go.

"Well it's getting late." He sighs after a moment of silence in the air.

"Then you can go if you want to," I say, gesturing to the door.

"Are you kicking me out already?" He says. For someone who invited himself, he should leave on his own terms.

"No but if you want to leave you can. I wasn't the one who invited you here."

"And here I thought we were getting somewhere," his tone suddenly becomes nasty, as now I become aware of what I said. He sets his cup down and starts towards the door.

"Eric wait," I try to say but all he does is slam my door as he walks out.

"Now I fucked up big time," I thought to myself just as he was warming up to me. Well that's what happens when I try to make friends.

Sorry if I left off on a weird spot, my bad! I just didn't know how to end this specific chapter. ~Kasey~