Into the Night

Chapter 4 - Tris POV

Wednesday, September 17th

I clung to Caleb when our parents died. And he clung to me for a moment, before shutting out everyone and everything and pouring his life into his books. We've sent letters to each other, but neither of us have gone to visit the other since he left. It's been a long time since I've seen him.

Robert says goodbye to me at the employee entrance around back near the parking lot and then walks off to who knows where. Robert is notorious for walking around town without a clue of where he's going. He just likes to walk.

The first room I enter is the locker room, where I can change into my uniform, thankfully it's not as bad as my uniform at Dauntless. Here we still have to wear black. But we wear black and red. A pair of black pants with a dark red shirt. I snap my name tag "TRIS" into place and pull my hair back into a ponytail. Some of my hair falls out and frames my face, but I ignore it. I tie on my black apron, which isn't that big; just big enough for a pad of paper, a pen or two, some straws and napkins.

Mathew and David are our cooks. They're here full time. Matthew has always been nice and a good guy to talk to, but David I've always found kinda creepy. And I know this isn't a good thing but I take slight relief in the fact that he's always been extremely creepy towards Cara out of any of us.

Christina, Cara, Shauna, and I are waitresses. Lynn is the hostess, and the one who takes the bills, and Molly fills in when needed, though Max doesn't like to let her work the customers very much because she has a bad attitude when it comes to dealing with people who disagree with her or annoy her. She can be a bit of a hot head, much like Peter the Prick.

One of Eric's goons are always sitting in the back watching us, making sure no one handles us inappropriately. All of the guests here who are also guests at Dauntless know that if they see us in public, they are not to address us by our stage names or even mention the club. No one is let in unless they are invited by a member. And if any member breaks the code and calls us out in public, they are banned from the club and will most likely have a target on their back from Max and his men.

Harrison is back there today. He's just sitting in one of the back booths, sipping coffee and reading the newspaper, or so it seems. Though he's not the only one keeping an eye on us. Max or Eric are probably watching the footage from the security cameras lined all over the building right now to make sure we stay in line. They like to get here before the cops if something happens.

It's just Shauna and me working when we open. Technically it's just Shauna since we open at 4pm. I get here on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 4:30. Cara will get here at 5pm, and Christina will get here at 6pm. Lynn is here sometime between 4:30 and 5pm. She and Max have some kind of mutual understanding that she'll get there between those times and not to push her on it. How she got him to agree to it, I have no idea. But I imagine it has something to do with performing free acts for him in private time.

Eric would never let me have that much freedom. He has me a tight leash. At times it feels tighter than everyone else's, but I know better than to ask for time off. We all do.

Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays are the days I dance so I'm out of there by 9:45pm and on my way to the club. All the other days except for Sundays I'm here till 3am when it closes, just like the club. Thankfully the club and the diner are both closed Sundays so we all get a day off.

It's not usually busy until 5ish, so I'm not surprised to see only a handful of people here.

"Hey Tris. How was class?" Shauna asks, sleep still apparent in her eyes. She's not in school anymore so she has been taking care of her neighbors kids from 10am to 3pm. She and Tori are the only dancers not in school, and if you're not in school, you tend to get transferred. Dauntless is only a club that likes to display younger women. Educated women tend to go to Erudite, to escort and converse with the high made CEO's of the city. Having an education makes the experience more pleasurable for the men or women who come. Cara will probably go there. Candor receives the next grouping of educated dancers. Christina is likely to be transferred there in the next few years. Abnegation tends to receive the slightly educated women. Amity receive women with or without education, but those who can be family friendly. I have a feeling this is where Shauna will be transferred. Tori would have been transferred to Erudite a few years ago, but she's so good here that Max kept her.