Love, Lies, Secrets and Manipulation (Divergent/Eric OC)

1. The Lobby

As I sit here on the white sofa waiting outside Jeanine's office, all I can do is stare at the immaculate, white, coffee table that sits in front of me. I stare at it blankly, thinking of today's events and contemplating what my soon-to-be new life will be like.

For the past year, I've known for certain that I wanted to transfer to Dauntless as soon as the day of my choosing ceremony came around. It wasn't a matter of whether I fit in here or not, but more the fact that my time here at Erudite had come to an end. I wanted something new, something more. I spent the last several years of my life being the idealistic Erudite, always displaying exemplary behavior and academic performance.

Just about everyone here at Erudite knows who I am. Natalie Muñoz. The eldest daughter of Ray Muñoz. The older sister of Audrey Muñoz.

My father works alongside our faction leader, Jeanine Matthews. He's worked closely with her for many years and has been her right hand man for quite some time now. My father is a very intelligent and accomplished man. He's both a scientist and a doctor, who happens to specialize in medicine and technology. He's helped Jeanine with the development of certain types of serums, and has developed certain types of medicine himself.

As for my sister, she's less than a year younger than I am. Although she's quite popular among her various groups of friends, she isn't the quintessential Erudite. Audrey spends most of her time socializing with friends, and accepting the compliments and admiration of teenage boys in her age group. I myself couldn't care less about those types of things now.

I don't have very many friends. I'm social, but I find it difficult to establish close relationships. I wasn't always like that, though. I used to be a happy-go-lucky type of girl who always wore a smile on her face, but that all changed about a year ago.

Last year I was happy and in love with my boyfriend, Jacob. Jacob was one year older than I was. We used to have a class together; Statistics. Since I was always the brightest in all my classes, one day he asked me if we could go study in the library together. I had a small crush on him at that time, so of course, I agreed to it. We started making it an everyday thing, meeting up in the library to study after our last class of the day.

He eventually asked me to be his girlfriend, and I gladly accepted. We were together for about eight months. It was the type of relationship where we were so comfortable around each other that it just seemed like we were inseparable. We were best friends and could talk to each other about anything and everything. Which was the reason why it hit me so hard the day that his choosing ceremony came along and he chose to defect, and transfer to Dauntless.

Jacob leaving Erudite wasn't what hurt me. It was the fact that he never even told me he was planning on leaving. He could have told me that he had no intention of staying here at Erudite. I would have understood that. I wouldn't have been mad if he had told me, and I wouldn't have begged him to stay for me either. The truth is, even back then, I already knew that I wouldn't be permanently staying here at Erudite.

What hurt me the most was the fact that we never even broke up or said goodbye to each other. He slit his hand, watched a couple of blood droplets fall and sizzle onto the coals of the Dauntless bowl, and never looked back. I was forced to move on and forget about him, my own mind telling me that those eight months were never even real. Surprisingly, it only took me about a week to pull myself together. I convinced myself that if he could leave without even saying goodbye, then I could move on and forget about him just as easily. But you never forget. You may forgive, mainly for yourself, but you never forget.

Despite the fact that Jacob transferred to Dauntless, I promised myself that I would set out to do the same thing. And it wasn't because I wanted to follow him like a little lost puppy.