ATTLYWYLLB (With more Eric)

Part 22

Peter was gathering a stack of books into a pile and shoving them into a bag. He bit down on a red pen and carried the bag out of the room; I heard the books inside it smack against his leg as he walked down the hallway. Eric had been gone when I had woken up and I was willing to bet that he had found something to occupy his time while I had been off playing hero again. I was sitting on my bed when Tris turned to Christina.

"I've been trying not to ask you, but I'm giving up," she said. "What's going on with you and Uriah?"

Christina, sprawled across her cot with one long leg dangling over the edge, gave her a look.

"What? You've been spending a lot of time together," Tris defended. "Like a lot."

It was sunny today, the light was glowing through the white curtains. The dormitory smelled like sleep—like laundry, shoes, night sweats, and morning coffee. Some of the beds were still made, and some had rumpled sheets bunched up at the bottom or the side. Most of us had come from Dauntless, but I was struck by how different we were anyway. Different habits, different temperaments, different ways of seeing the world.

"You may not believe me, but it's not like that." Christina propped herself up on her elbows. "He's grieving. We're both bored. Also, he's Uriah."

"So? He's good-looking."

"Good-looking, but he can't have a serious conversation to save his life." Christina shook her head. "Don't get me wrong, I like to laugh, but I also want a relationship to mean something, you know? Besides," she said, "not every friendship turns into a romance. I haven't tried to kiss you or Bri yet."

I laughed. "True."

"Where have you been lately?" Christina asked. She wiggled her eyebrows. "With Four? Doing a little addition? Multiplication?"

Tris covers her face with her hands. "That was the worst joke I've ever heard."

"Don't dodge the question."

"No 'addition' for us," she said. "Not yet, anyway. He's been a little preoccupied with the whole 'genetic damage' thing."

I pretended to gag.

"Ah. That thing." She sat up.

"What do you think about it?" I asked.

They hadn't excluded me from the conversation and it felt like we were back in the Dauntless dorms and I was being dragged into another gossip session.

"I don't know. I guess it makes me angry." She frowned. "No one likes to be told there's something wrong with them, especially something like their genes, which they can't change."

"You think there's really something wrong with you?" I asked.

"I guess so. It's like a disease, right? They can see it in our genes. That's not really up for debate, is it? "

"I'm not saying your genes aren't different," Tris tried to defend. "I'm just saying that doesn't mean one set is damaged and one set isn't. The genes for blue eyes and brown eyes are different too, but are blue eyes 'damaged'? It's like they just arbitrarily decided that one kind of DNA was bad and the other was good."

"Based on the evidence that GD behavior was worse," Christina pointed out.

"Which could be caused by a lot of things," Tris retorted.

"I don't know why I'm arguing with you when I'd really like for you to be right," Christina said with a laugh. "But don't you think a bunch of smart people like these Bureau scientists could figure out the cause of bad behavior?"

"Sure," Tris said. "But I think that no matter how smart, people usually see what they're already looking for, that's all."

"Maybe you're biased too," Christina retorted. "Because you have friends—and a boyfriend—with this genetic issue."