Today is the day of the Choosing Ceremony, the day we get our new initiates. I walk with Lauren over to the net, where the transfers and Dauntless born will go through their second test of bravery, their first being when they jumped off the train onto the roof seven stories up.
We get to the net and a crowd of Dauntless surrounds us, waiting for the first jumper. It takes awhile but finally I her faint voices above us. The first jumper will be coming soon. I can hear Max talking to the new initiates and finally there is a silence, my bet is that no one was too anxious to jump off the roof.
I know I wasn't.
Then finally I see a small figure step to the ledge. Then it jumps and a slight scream escapes her but I don't think she noticed at all. When she hits the net I notice that she is wearing Abnegation grey. She laughs into her hands for a few seconds then accepts the first hand she seems to see, which is mine.
I haul her to the ground and she almost falls but I steady her.
"Thank you" she says in a small voice.
"Can't believe it" Lauren says behind me, "A Stiff, the first to jump? Unheard of" she smirks as she says it.
"There's a reason why she left them, Lauren," I say in a low voice, then focus my attention on the Abnegation girl, "What's your name?"
"Um..." she hesitates and I smile a little at that.
"Think about it," I say, "You don't get to pick again,"
Finally she firmly says, "Tris,"
"Tris," Lauren repeats a grin on her face, "Make the announcement Four,"
I look over my should at the Dauntless surrounding the platform where we stand"First jumper- Tris!" Then it hits me, she really is the first Abnegation jumper, she jumped first, unlike me, she was brave, good. Then the next initiate hits the net a scream following her all the way down and the crowd around us laughs but eventually cheers.
I set my hand on Tris' back and say, "Welcome to Dauntless."
