A/N Hey guys! Just wanted to let you know that I will be trying to update my new story every Tuesday and Thursday. Feel free to remind me if I forget! Enjoy!
Tris POV
I thank the cabbie and hand him the money with a little spare change as a tip. Once I shut the door the yellow car zooms off leaving the smell of exhaust floating in the air. My hands are clammy and shaking slightly, and my nerves are also on end, but my brother's hand on my shoulder helps bring me out of my stupor. Caleb is probably just as nervous as I am, if not more, but his 'big brother' instincts are always alert. Although, he's only a few months older than me, Caleb has been like a third parent. My eyes sweep across the tall buildings and bright city lights of Chicago, wonder and amazement crowding my brain.
"You good?" Caleb asks. I nod and he removes his hand from his shoulder. I follow him down an old grey sidewalk, that probably needed to be replaced a while ago, and onto the gravel path leading up to the campus hall. I step under a twisting metal gate with the words 'Chicago University' stamped across the top. The grounds are crowded with freshmen and mentors all dressed in different colors to represent the different sororities. A tall boy in all black clothing sweeps by us, bumping shoulders with Caleb then running into me. My black duffle bag slips out of my hand and sends my registration papers flying across the grass.
"Thanks jackass." I mutter as I kneel down and begin to gather up the papers. Caleb does the same. I reach over my duffle bag to grab a small yellow slip but another hand beats me to it. I look up to see a tall girl with dark olive skin and short black hair that's slightly windblown. Several other of my papers rest in her arms.
"Don't mind him, that's just Eric. He hates everyone so don't take it personally." She hands me the papers and holds out her hand. Without thinking I grab it and she helps me to my feet. I pull Caleb up as well.
"I'm Christina by the way." She holds out her hand again, but this time as a friendly gesture. I take it firmly in mine and shake it. She smiles at Caleb politely then walks off in the other direction.
"She seems…unique." Caleb comments as he hands me the rest of my forms. I pick up my duffle bag and sling it over my shoulder as I watch Christina continue towards a large dark bricked building surrounded by people dressed in dark clothing.
"I like her." We continue on the path until we reach the large oak double doors leading into the main hall of the building. Caleb and I each push one open and are met with a huge crowd of people holding schedules and waiting in line. I inwardly groan and continue forward on the white linoleum floor.
"What if they ask about our parents?" Caleb asks suddenly beside me. I shrug.
"Then you tell them what they need to know." I say in an annoyed tone. Caleb has been grilling me the entire thirteen hour car ride on possible scenarios about our parents, and wealth, and whether or not we look famous.
"What if they ask if they know we're here? I can't just tell them that the famous Prior children ran away from their billion air parents. Oh no, what if they call them and tell them where they are? We'll be all over the news! Maybe we should just go back." He says in a tone that would make you think he's seen a ghost. I roll my eyes and stop him in his place.
"Caleb, they are not going to ask about our parents. We're eighteen, technically adults, we don't need permission from our parents. There is no way I'm riding another thirteen hours in the car with you to go back to New York City after we haven't even been here for an hour. This was our dream remember? We've been planning it since I turned sixteen, you can't back out now." My voice is tired and annoyed, something that happens when you endure a long car ride with your brainiac brother. Caleb can never deny . I lead him over to the registration line where we join the other students with duffle bags. The boy in front of me accidentally steps backwards on my foot and spins around almost the second he did.
"Oh, um, sorry. I'm just…a little…you know…" I notice the way his eyes are glued to the floor and how his shaggy blonde hair is messy and slightly snarled, and decide that he's just your average shy kid.
"Nervous? Me too. It's cool dude, really." He looks up from the ground with his light green eyes and nods awkwardly, then turns back around. Caleb nudges my shoulder and wiggles his eyebrows. I scoff at him and smack the top of his brunette head. He winces and rubs the sore spot but doesn't wipe the smirk from his face.
"Next!" A voice calls from behind me. I turn to see that the blonde haired boy is gone, revealing an old grey counter scratched and worn down from years of use. A middle-aged woman with short blonde hair in a formal blue dress suit sits behind it, motioning for me to step forward. I take a step forward and observe the name plate in front of her reads 'Jeanine Matthews'.
"Name?" She asks in a bitter but professional tone. I get the feeling that she's been sitting here a while.
"Beatrice Prior." I say as blandly as I can, hoping she or anyone else here won't recognize the name. She turns to a small monitor beside her and types a few things. Even if she did recognize it she doesn't seem to care.
"Is there anything else you are called so there is no confusion?" She asks in a nasal tone. My brother was really my only friend growing up due to the isolation from other kids, and he never called me anything other than Beatrice, but this is a new life, and I'm up for a change.
"Tris." I say as strongly as I can. It fits. I think to myself. She types again and holds out her hand.
"Form." Her rude attitude is slightly offensive compared to how I'm usually treated, but I sort of like not being called 'miss' and 'madam' all the time. I hand her my registration form and she snatches it away before I've even released it. After waiting several more minutes for her to type, she finally hands it back.
"Alright Tris," She makes sure to exaggerate my name for some odd reason. "If you continue out the doors to my left there's an activities fair where you can sign up for clubs and such. The sorority leaders will be scouting out people to join, if you get a flyer, you're in."
"What if I get more than one flyer?" She rolls her eyes annoyed with my interruption but painfully answers my question.
"You won't. Never happens, and if it does…well…it doesn't." The way she worded her response…it was odd. Like she didn't want me to know what happens if I got more than one flyer.
"Anyways," She continues. "At six o'clock the leaders will take it from there. Secret initiation things that are pointless and obnoxious in my opinion. As you're probably aware the school is different here and the sororities include both boys and girls, so if you're not good with that then pack up and go home." She says robotically. She turns to her computer and presses several buttons, then grabs a piece of paper from beneath the counter.
"Here's your schedule." She says as she hands it to me. "Classes start three days after orientation." I open my mouth to ask another question when she shouts,
"Next!" I shut my mouth and move out of the way for the next person. After a little bit of searching, I finally find the door the lady was talking about and walk out back onto the campus. Tables and banners are everywhere across the sunny lawn crowded with people carrying flyers and coated with buttons.
"Great." I mutter to myself. "They have buttons."
"Oh cheer up grumpy. The sorority scouts need to know what you're into." A familiar voice says from beside me. I turn to see the girl from earlier standing there, gazing at the crowds of people.
"Oh, hey. Christina right?" I say as cheerily as I can. She winks and pokes my nose.
"You know it." We both laugh loudly and earn a couple glances from several girls in red and yellow.
"Oh man the Amity dorks are looking at us. Quick, punch me in the arm." She says in a sour tone. I glance at her, not sure if she was kidding or not, but the look on her face tells me she isn't. I clench my fist and punch Christina just above her elbow; not full on, but enough to make her stumble to the side. The Amity girls scowl and turn away where several other people dressed in black nod approvingly.
"So, what is it with these sororities? Like how do you 'impress them'? What's the best one to be in?" I ask taking the opportunity to understand a little bit more about the strange traditions of this college.
"Hold on." She replies. She grabs my arm and drags me across the lawn until she pulls me down next to her on the grass, leaning up against a tree.
"Sorry, I just don't like being so close to the administration office, that Jeanine lady scares me." She ignores my sideways glance and continues on to answer my question.
"Alright so there are the five sororities, get it? And they each have their own like, 'ways' I guess. There's the Erudite, these stuck up nerds who read books like every hour of the day, and not to mention are in the highest classes," Sounds like Caleb's type to me. "Amity, which is who those girls from earlier are, they're all love and hugs, no violence, lame shit like that," Definitely not my idea of fun. "Abnegation, or as everyone else calls them, 'stiffs', which is this lame ass group of people who do nothing but help other people, they call it 'selflessness', I call it 'lame'." The way Christina is explaining them makes it sound bad, but I don't see why helping people is necessarily a bad thing. "Then there's the Candor, who seem alright, but they never lie. Ever. I don't think I would last long there." Me neither. "And lastly there's the Dauntless," She says motioning towards the dark building I saw her at earlier. "That's where I wanna go, they're like the jocks of this place, total adrenaline junkies, always doing these crazy stunts, my kind of people." Tempting. "They have these 'leaders' in the sororities, some of them are actual adults that work here, but for the most part they're just students, but they scout out who they want in their sorority and hand 'em a flyer, which is basically saying, 'you're with me now'." She says as she picks at the collar of her black leather jacket.
"So, do you have to pick the sorority that scouts you out?" I say curiously. She takes a minute to think about it, then eventually shakes her head.
"No, I suppose you don't. Some kids that go here are following in their parents footsteps, and just go to the same one their parents did, but usually you do end up in the one that picked you." She says slowly as if still considering it herself. I consider this then another question pops into my head.
"How do you get into a sorority? Like how do you impress them?" She smiles.
"You gotta do the things they like. Ya know, for Amity, be nice to everyone, Abnegation, be a total killjoy, and Dauntless, be badass." She says with a laugh. I feel a smile creep up my face.
"I know how we can get into Dauntless."