Aberrant

Twenty: Dex

Phoebe and Jo exchange a glance, before Phoebe says "Sure!" brightly. As they get up from their table, I hurry back to Sam to give him warning. 

"Oh you're back," he says. He's taken off his glasses to write stuff down, "Did you get the answer? Tell me, what do you think is better? Pho or Joebe?"

"Plato's invited them to our table," I say breathlessly. 

"What?" He squints past me, and then, using common sense, puts on his glasses and frowns, "Great. I can't ask them now."

"Why not?" I ask. 

"Because then it'll seem like we've only invited them to our table just to ask them."

"But we have," I say, "What's the point of lying?"

Sam stares at me, "It's just rude, ok? Come and sit down." I sit down beside Sam, as he hurriedly hides the piece of paper with the list of ship names on it. 

Just as they approach our table, Isaac, Brooke and Edgar appear seemingly out of nowhere and barge into them. Phoebe loses her balance and falls on the ground. Plato helps her up and Jo makes to go after them but the trio run out of the Cafeteria. 

"You ok?" Sam asks her, as they sit down at our table. 

"Yeah," she says, a bit shakily, "I shouldn't take it personally."

"Yeah, don't," Sam advises. 

"Isaac does that to everyone," Plato smiles encouragingly. 

"No it's not that," Phoebe sighs and then looks up at us, tears glistening in her brown eyes, "Isaac's my ex-boyfriend." There's a stunned silence. 

Sam breaks the ice by saying, "Sorry, we didn't know."

"Well of course you didn't," she smiles, "I doubt Isaac would tell anyone." 

"No that's true," Plato smiles, "He doesn't seem to be the talkative sort."

"Must have been rough being his girlfriend though," I say, "Was he always this cruel?"

"Dex!" hisses Sam. 

"What?" I ask, confused. 

"It's ok," Plato says quickly to Phoebe, "We don't have to talk about Isaac if you don't want to. Dex here can be quite..." He trails off. 

"Inconsiderate." Sam prompts. 

Phoebe smiles, "No, it's ok. I don't mind. I would actually like to talk about it."

Sam's brow furrows, "Are you sure?"

Phoebe nods, and then sends a furtive glance towards the door which Isaac just left through. 

"It's ok," Jo says, reassuring her, "He's not here."

"Alright," she sighs and then leans in close to us, "The truth is; I don't understand what he's even doing here in Dauntless." She leans back, "There. I've said it."

I frown, "What do you mean?" 

Phoebe sighs again, hunching her shoulders. 

"You don't have to tell us," Sam says quickly. 

"No I should," Phoebe says, "Because I'm fairly sure he's up to something. The thing is, I know he's an Erudite-through-and-through. At least he was when we first dating." 

"Was?" I ask, "What happened?"

"When he was about fourteen, the Erudite decided to do some tests on him."

"Tests?" Sam asks. 

"Standard procedure," Plato explains quietly, "They like to work out who the brightest are in each year group." Sam pulls a face. 

"And well, Isaac was bright," Phoebe continues, " More than bright. He was the best of the best. And I'm not being biased here. I mean, everyone in our year knew it." 

Plato nods sadly, "We were always being told at the orphanage to be more like Isaac. Like he was some sort of role model." He sounds bitter. 

"What happened?" I ask Phoebe.

She sighs, "They did more tests and then, about a week later, they said they needed him to take part in this 'special program'."

"Special program?"

Phoebe shrugs, "That's all I was told about it. They took him to this Elite Academy, which is basically a tall building on the outskirts of Erudite."

Plato's brow furrows, "The building you can only enter if you have a special clearance?"

Phoebe nods, "That's the one. Apparently only 'geniuses' were allowed to go in there."

"What happened to him in there?" Plato asks. 

"He had four hours extra training per day. And when he'd come out, he'd tell me all about it and recite all these facts he had to learn."

"Facts?"

Phoebe bites her bottom lip, "See, this is the most confusing stuff of all. It was stuff about Dauntless: the average number of Initiates they trained each year, protocols the Dauntless leaders had to follow, what times the train ran. Stuff like that. Just a whole lot of numbers. And then..."

She trails off. Jo squeezes her hand and Phoebe takes a deep breath and continues, "And then, they upped the time he spent in there to five hours, and then to six. And that's when our relationship started to go wrong. He stopped telling me what he was up to. He'd just give me evasive answers. And worst of all, he didn't seem to care about me anymore. Like they'd done something to his brain and he's stopped being human and became more machine. We broke up soon after that."

Phoebe breaks down and sobs quietly into her hands for a few moments. Sam and Plato look at one another awkwardly whilst Jo just rubs her on the shoulder. I stare at the girl, waiting for her to continue. 

Eventually, she looks up at us and offers us a thin smile, "Sorry," she says. 

"No, it's ok," Sam smiles. 

"You can stop if you want," Plato says. 

"Just be wary of him, ok?" Phoebe says shakily, "Don't even try to fight him. Not only have they taught him martial arts, but he also knows everything there is about Dauntless. I think he's been sent here for a reason," she sighs, "And I'm also worried about the friends he's got-Brooke and Edgar. If he wants them as his minions, then they could be danger. Stay away from them too."

"Oh I wouldn't worry about Brooke," I growl, "There's no telling how low she can go." Sam and Jo exchange a glance. 

"What?" Phoebe asks, looking between the two of them, "What aren't you guys telling me?"

"I just still don't get why Brooke is even hanging out with Isaac," Sam says shaking his head. He turns to me and says, "Look Dex, I know what you've told me about her, and trust me, I believe you. I do. But I didn't think she'd be the sort of person who..." he trails off, unable to think of a suitable adjective. 

"Maybe she knows Isaac's up to something and she's trying to figure it out?" Plato offers. 

"I doubt it," Phoebe says, "He doesn't trust anyone. But maybe she doesn't know what kind of person he is." 

"That makes sense," Sam says, and Jo nods. 

"I don't buy it," I say, "Maybe she's hiding something too."

The others ignore me as Plato, who's been studying his hands, asks Phoebe, "Did Isaac ever tell you why he was learning about the Dauntless?"

Phoebe shook her head, "Annoyingly, no. They must have told him after he stopped talking to me."

"Maybe the Erudite want spies in Dauntless for some reason." Plato muses. 

Phoebe shakes her head quickly, "I don't think that's it. Maybe Isaac is just determined to reach the top and the Erudite wanted to help him do it."

But Sam and Plato ignore her. 

"What in the world would Erudite want Dauntless for?" Sam asks.

"I don't know." Plato replies.