Splatter [DIVERGENT]

nine; breakdowns

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Tris
1: 29PM 
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"Miss. Prior, how great of you to join us!" Evelyn beams from the end of the long table, her arms folded patiently. My cheeks burn and I quickly place myself in the chair furthest away from her, my binder and laptop tucked close into my chest. 

Adjusting one of the buttons on my blazer, I stare down at the grey wood the table's made out of to avoid the dozen of faces looking my way, "I'm so sorry I'm late, miss--" 

"Not a problem, Beatrice," she replies, cutting me off as she rummages through her notebook, pages flying back and forth in search for a specific flyer. This is my second meeting in this office, and it doesn't seem like I've made a great first impression. 

Although some people would say that I'm one of the most successful women in advertising, everybody in this room is ten times higher than I am. Mostly men, dressed in crisp suits, papers neatly stacked in front of them with straight lips and tightly drawn brows. 

Trying to avoid the tingle in my fingers, I gently place my paperwork onto the table, the chair slowly squeaking underneath my weight. Focus, Tris. Today we're discussing the potential of the next advertisement--that I'm responsible for, no pressure on myself--and where the company wants the ad to be displayed.

It doesn't help that the last time I saw Evelyn, I spilled juice all over her. 

Usually, most of Inquisitive's promotion goes into magazines and the art workshops downtown that our company owns. But if my pitch goes perfect, it has to potential to be on aired during shows, and on billboards. 

I haven't slept in weeks, not only because of the stress I'm under for the ad. But because of what happened between Tobias and I.

He's such a gentlemen, and he's very attractive. Tobias is the only man I've met who hasn't pushed me to stop being a pain in the ass, or forced me stop working on what I'm doing in life. To take a break. I think the only reason why I snapped at him the other day was because I didn't want my opinion on him to change. 

Every other person in my life who I've let get close to me has just tried to change me. 

Sure, I could get more sleep and definitely want a vacation away from everything, but just the thought of that sends chills down my spine. People keep giving me duty's and jobs to complete, and by the time it takes to finish them, another thing is needed of me. 

It's like I've slowly become a robot. 

"Okay," Evelyn begins, her head looking around the room, scanning the all the familiar faces to her, "everybody seems to be here, today. Shall we begin?" She looks over at one man, with sickly pale skin and three ear piercings. A streak of green hair is tucked behind his ear, and he nods, the strand tipping over. 

I remember when I had green hair. 

When I was in university, I fell into kind of that rebellious and incredibly stupid mindset. Never did I follow the rules, I had hooked up with five too many guys, dyed my hair different colours once a month and gotten a belly button piercing. 

But, once I got a job at Inquisitive Industries offered me a job here, my parents yelled at me to get my shit together because I was just a total mess. 

So, I brought back my natural blonde hair, took out the piercing and stayed away from clubbing as much as possible. 

Never did I think that I could transform into the person I am today. Sometimes I wish that I could just go back to those days where I had zero things to worry about at all, but then I remember that somebody needs to pay my bills, to get work done and put food on the table.