Erudite.
Characterized by great knowledge; learned or scholarly.
Something that I certainly didn't have much of... At all. I'd tried my hardest, tried to keep up with the other children that were calculating all kinds of sums, coming out with numbers that made my head pound. It had been hopeless.

And it's here, as I'm climbing up the side of the railway with the Dauntless members, that I realise how much of a good decision I'd made. I was destined for Dauntless.

My parents had realised that I had a bleak future in Erudite when I was about ten. They'd prayed that I'd be able to figure it all out in the end, they'd given me god knows how much tutoring, but I'd constantly failed. It wasn't until I'd completely messed up in a lab experiment at school by mixing two chemicals that weren't even supposed to be on the same desk, never mind in test tubes together, that they knew for a fact that I wouldn't ever make it as an Erudite. They'd tried their hardest to convince me that Amity would be a good place for me in the future, they'd spent the last seven years trying to make sure that I'd have a secure place to live my life. Unfortunately for them, my heart had been set on something much more wild. I wanted to join Dauntless, and that was where I was going to go whether my Parents and my Aptitude test agreed or not. My parent's faces had dropped when I dripped my blood into the dark, sizzling coals, and it hadn't been a very nice last look at my parents. My Father'd had a grimace present on his features, and my Mother had looked incredibly confused... But I was certain that they'd get over it. They couldn't protect me forever.

I stand beside the track and catch my breath as the sound of the train horn fills my ears. I knew what we were supposed to do. We were supposed to jump on whilst it's still moving. I'd watched the Dauntless after school enough to know that. The door of each train car is open, waiting for the Dauntless-born initiates to jump in, and they do, until only the new initiates are left. I take a deep breath, then start running alongside the train, before throwing myself sideways. I cling onto the handle of the door for a few seconds before managing to yank myself up and into the car.

I stand up properly and catch my breath again, smiling to myself. I hadn't even thought about it, I'd just jumped. I bit down on my bottom lip and turned to look at the view of the city. I felt the wind rush through my long blonde hair, and I couldn't help but smile again. It was then that I heard a squeal, and turned to see that a small Amity girl was still on the outside of the car, clinging on to the handle tightly. I stepped to the side slightly, and held onto the door, before reaching my hand out and pulling her in.

"Thank you so much!" She panted, pushing the mousey blonde hair out of her face.

"No problem." I answered, smiling at her.

She smiled back at me, showing a row of straight pearly white teeth. She had light blue eyes that sparkled slightly, and her hair was fairly long and wavy, the front of it pinned back. "I really thought I wasn't going to make it."

"Don't think. Just do." I told her, without even realising what I'd said. I guess it was what I had been telling myself on the run up to this day.

She nodded. "You're clever. I like you."

I laughed. "You're the first person to ever tell me that!"

"What?! You're a Erudite, how have you never been told you're clever?!"

"I was an Erudite." I corrected. "And you don't want to know why, but let's just say it's the reason I didn't stay."

She nodded again. "Okay." She smiled some more, and I saw the Amity in her, she seemed very optimistic.

I stared back out at the city, closing my eyes after a few seconds, letting the wind blow into my face.

"I'm Talulah." The Amity introduced herself.

I opened my eyes and twisted my head to look at her. "Nice to meet you. I'm Jacquetta.. But call me Jac."

"You too, lovely name."

I opened my mouth to speak, but was cut off by the shout from one of the other initiates. "They're jumping off!"

I turned my head to look back out of the car, and just like we'd been told, the Dauntless-born were jumping out of the car onto a roof. I knew that we were pretty high up, and my heart pounded at the thought of jumping off of the moving train onto a rooftop, what if I didn't make it?

Don't think, just do. I thought of the advice that I'd given Talulah just minutes ago and took a deep breath.

"Oh my, that is a big drop..." Talulah spoke, peering downwards at the edge of the car.

"Remember what I told you?" I asked her, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the door further up.

"Your name?" She replied, confused.

"No. Don't think..."

"Just do!" She finished.

I nodded. "Well..." The space between us and the door was clear, so I started to run. "Run and jump!"

I tugged her along with me, and at the time I found appropriate, I leapt from the car out into the open. I felt like I was suspended in the air for hours, holding my breath, the wind billowing into me, when really it was just a matter of seconds. I landed on the tips of my toes and palms, with a thump, before losing my balance and rolling over the gravel, scraping my hands.

I snapped my head up to find Talulah, to see her lying just next to me, panting heavily. I smiled and wiped my hands on my blue shirt, before standing up and offering my hand to her.

She let out a relieved giggle, then took my hand and hauled herself up. "I can't believe I just did that! And I'm alive!"

I smiled again, and looked up at the Dauntless-born's creating a group over the other side of the rooftop. My smile dropped as we started to walk towards them, and I spotted a Dauntless man, older than the others, with deep creases in his dark skin and gray hair at his temples stood on the ledge. I got a sinking feeling in my stomach, and I had no idea why. "I have a feeling that's not the only dangerous thing that they want us to do today." I mumbled, just loud enough for Talulah to hear it.

"What?" She quietly questioned, but I didn't have time to answer.

"Listen up!" The man spoke, looking at the group in front of him. "My name is Max! I am one of the leaders of your new faction! Several stories below us is the members' entrance to our compound. You have to jump from here. If you feel that you cannot do it, you don't belong here. Our initiates have the privilege of going first."

"Is there something to catch us at the bottom?" A Candor boy asked.

"That would be telling."

I bit my lip and watched as Max stepped down and stood beside another Dauntless male. He also looked older than the rest of the group, but still fairly young. He was at least six foot tall, smothered in tattoos, and his face was pierced in so many places that I couldn't count. The two of them muttered something to each other quietly, before they looked up at the group.

"Come on. Someone's got to go first. We don't want to be here all day." The one next to Max spoke up. His eyes swept over the group and settled on Talulah. "Amity. You first."

Talulah and a boy that was stood a few feet away from us looked up in a panic. They were both Amity's.

"The girl." The man spoke, although I already knew that he meant Talulah.

She glanced at me, the fear evident on her face. I looked down into her eyes, and I knew that she was silently pleading with me to help her. She didn't want to go first, none of us did.

"Today." Max spoke, still stood next to the one that chose Talulah.

I watched as Talulah stepped forwards, and her bottom lip started to quiver. I couldn't let her go first, not when she was that petrified.

"Stop!" I ordered. All eyes moved up to look at me, and I swallowed nervously. "I-I'll go first... I want to go first."

The one next to Max stared at me for a second, his dark eyes sending chills through me. "Okay. Go then."

I slowly walked up to the edge and looked down. The building we were stood on formed one side of a square with three other buildings. In the center of the square was a huge hole in the concrete. I couldn't see what was at the bottom of it, and that scared the hell out of me.

They wouldn't let us all jump down there without the knowledge that we would land safely... Would they? Unless it was a trick, and I was the fool for being to eager and wanting to go first... Don't think, just do. I remembered my previous words, and had a feeling that I'd be using them often.

I took a deep breath, then stepped up on the ledge, trying to breathe steadily. It was a long way down... I stopped thinking about it and looked straight ahead of me, I couldn't back out now and leave Talulah to jump, that was cowardly.

Without another thought, I bent my knees and jumped, stretching my arms out either side of me. My stomach lurched as I fell, the air around me blowing my hair everywhere. Yet again, I felt suspended in the air forever, before the hole surrounded me and I dropped into darkness, suddenly hitting something hard. I gasp in shock, as I bounce back up, then down again, each time getting smaller until I'm lying flat.

It was a net. I landed on a net.

I look around at the other initiates, some of them still catching their breath, everyone's cheeks flushed from the air hitting them during the fall. A muscly, tanned, Dauntless guy had helped me down from the net, before Talulah came next, and announced that I was the first jumper. Whilst we were waiting for everyone else, I'd stood to the side with Talulah, watching the guy talk to two Dauntless women, that didn't look much older than us, and looking to see who had dropped next.

Max and the other guy dropped last, much more gracefully than the rest of us who had either screamed or had arms flailing everywhere, before the Dauntless spoke.

"I'll leave you to it." Max had told the ones that were already waiting down here, then turned and walked down a tunnel beside us.

"I'm Four." The one that had helped me off of the net announced. "This is Lauren and Isla."

The two of them took it in turns to lift a hand in a kind of welcome gesture when Four said their names, and smiled.

"And this is Eric." He introduced the one that had been on the roof with us, and he nodded, the grim expression on his face not changing at all. "Dauntless-born go with Lauren and Isla, you don't need a tour of the place."

Lauren beckoned them towards the tunnel, and they all headed off, soon disappearing from sight. I looked at the left overs around me. There was only seven of us left, no Abnegation, two Amity, three Candor, and two Erudite - including me, although I'd never seen the boy before.

"Most of the time I work in the control room, but for the next few weeks, I am your instructor." Four spoke again. He also led us down the tunnel that the others had gone down. We walked for about a minute, before he pushed a set of double doors open. "This is the Pit."

It is an underground cavern that is absolutely huge. Uneven rock walls rise several stories above my head. Built into the stone walls are places for food, clothing, supplies, leisure activities. Narrow paths and steps carved from rock connect them. There are no barriers to keep people from falling over the side. It was amazing.

The Dauntless are everywhere, children running around, adults chatting and joking. The chaos was mesmerising.

Four led us to the Chasm next. It is a large ledge, with a river at the bottom of it, and just by leaning on the rails at the top, I could feel small sprays of water.

"A jump off this ledge will end your life, without a doubt. It has happened before and it will happen again." Eric called out, and I turned to look at him. Some how I had managed to forget that he was here.

"You've been warned." Four said, looking at us all sternly.

I shared a glance with Talulah, and her eyes widened slightly, before she looked back over the railing.

"Lets go and grab something to eat." Four spoke again, and led us down another tunnel.

I glanced back at the Chasm, wondering if people really had killed themselves by jumping off of that, or if they were trying to scare us. Why would anyone want to jump off?

I walked a little quicker, so that I was a few steps behind Four and could talk to him easily. He looked much more approachable than Eric.

"Four?" I called.

He glanced over his shoulder at me, and slowed his steps so that we were walking side by side. "Yeah?"

I turned my head to see Eric at the back of the group, looking at some Dauntless that just walked past us, before turning back to Four. "Was he being serious about people jumping off of that?"

He nodded. "Yes."

I shuddered and he noticed.

"It's not a nice sight, and it certainly doesn't keep the spirits high, so I'd suggest not to do it."

"You've got no worries when it comes to me, I'd like to live." I mumbled.

I saw a smirk appear on his face, as if he had a funny thought. But as soon as it appeared, it disappeared in the same second.

"Turn right." He instructed, and I did as I was told and saw a gaping hole in the wall. Beyond it, was a dining hall, full of people and food. When we walked in, the smell made my stomach rumble, and I couldn't wait to grab something to eat.

I turned to look at Talulah and she smiled, also spotting the food.

"Help yourselves!" Four called out, then wandered off.

Talulah and I stood and looked around for a second, taking in the sight, then decided to find somewhere to sit. By this point, the rest of the initiates had already sat down and started eating, so the only available seats we could find were by a few of the older Dauntless members. As we got closer, I recognised one of the women as Isla, and the one next to her looked familiar too.

I sat down opposite Isla, and started to pick at the food, deciding what I wanted to eat.

"Don't fill yourselves up too much, the deserts here are the best."

I looked up to see Isla smiling at me.

"Dauntless cake is amazing." The woman sat next to her joined in.

I smiled. "I'll have to try it then!"

"You have to, without a doubt!" Isla said. "You'll love it."

I plopped a french frie in my mouth and looked up at the woman next to Isla. "I recognise you." I told her.

"Well I should hope you do, you only saw me a few days ago, Jacquetta!" She cried.

And then it registered. She did my Aptitude test. "Oh of course!" I said, my eyes widening a little. "Lu, right?"

She nodded. "It's good to see you here."

"Thank you." I grinned at her, then turned my head to see Talulah quietly watching us. "Oh, this is Talulah by the way... I don't know if you've met."

Lu shook her head. "No we haven't. Nice to meet you, Talulah."

"You too." Talulah smiled and engaged in a conversation with her.

I stuffed another french frie in my mouth and looked around the room, watching other people interact. It was then, that the table at the end of the room caught my eye. Max and four others were sat there, eating and discussing things. I realised that it must be the Dauntless leader's table, as no one else had dared to approach it.

I looked along the row, taking a mental note of the leaders, and almost gasped when I saw the one on the end. Eric? I hadn't the slightest clue that he was a leader. He looked too young... Way too young. How had he progressed up the ranks that quickly? Unless he didn't and had been offered the job by chance, or immediately. Oh I didn't know.. But I wanted to find out.