When I pry my eyes open, it's not sunlight that comes through the windows, it's moon light, like it is every morning I rise. I grab a red dress, yellow leggings, and my black ankle boots with heels, and walk to the girl's bathroom.
I know that black isn't an Amity color, but I invented them myself and I knew I wasn't going to stay in Amity. They're not ordinary ankle boots though, they are spring loaded with a knife in each heel so that if I stomp a foot on the ground, then a knife will come out, bounce against the ground, and then I can catch it. Also, it is completely sealed meaning that the handles are the color of the boot so you can't see them if you were looking at the bottom of my boot.
Ten minutes later I walk back out of the bathroom and towards the dining hall where I grab an apple and take a bite. It's a red delicious and is super juicy since we grow them with a mixture of chemicals the Erudite gave us.
I always leave early because ever since my brother died, my parents blame me and I'm really not in the mood to be yelled at this morning. Now, I sit at one of the empty tables. Although I'm 16, I don't have that many friends. I'm a kind of outcast here, I was always pretty wild. Once, I tripped on a cat and someone saw and ever since then I've been given the nickname cat-kicker.
Sometimes I go into the orchards just to train myself for the faction I've already decided I will choose. I'm definitely leaving Amity, there's no place for me here. Johanna and the others will be glad that I left. I've been told that I've made more trouble in Amity than anyone else has. I'm actually quite proud of it.
After a while I get up and start walking towards the fence. Today is my aptitude test day, so I figure I better not be late. A couple of people are milling outside that I know are watching me from the corner of their eyes. I've been told before that I walk with too much authority, but I don't care, let them be scared of me. It's not like I'll be here much longer anyway.
By the time I get to the hub, the sun is fully out and students are walking in it already. I sigh and start walking towards the entrance. I hear whispers as I walk down the hallways; it's not only Amity where I get into trouble apparently. My first class is advanced math. I may be a trouble maker, but I'm also a whiz at math. After that it's faction history.
Aptitude tests are after lunch. I sit by myself at the end of a table.
"From Amity: Clarity Nobolist and Melody Johnson," an Abnegation volunteer calls out. I stand up at the same time as Melody. We know each other, but I know for a fact that she hates my guts. We walk to the exit together. When we walk into the hallway with ten doors, she talks.
"Listen, I know we've had our differences, but I just want to say good luck," she states.
I look at her and nod.
"You, too," I reply. Then she walks into room 2 and I into room 3. Inside the room I see a guy with tanned skin and dark eyes. He has a tattoo of a snake right behind his ear. I walk over to the reclined chair, like one you'd find in the dentist's office, and sit down.
"Hi, I'm Uriah. Dauntless," the guy says when he sees me.
"Clarity. Amity," I respond.
"You scared?" he asks. I scoff.
"I would be more scared of a fluffy bunny," I smirk.
"Good," he adds, grinning. He takes out a vial filled with clear liquid in it and hands it to me. "Have fun," he interjects as I down the vial. I feel my eyelids become heavy, and my eyes shut.
When my eyes are open again, I'm in the cafeteria, but there is only a basket full of cheese and a basket with a knife on a table.
I hear a person's voice announce, "Choose."
I look around and see no one, so I look back at the baskets.
"Why?" I ask.
"Choose," the person states again. I roll my eyes and reluctantly pick up the knife. Immediately the cheese disappears and I hear a growling behind me. I turn and see a rough looking dog with baring teeth and rabies. A second later the dog is inching towards me. I remember something I read once and start to lower myself to the floor.
When the dog is less than a foot away from me, my face is only inches off the ground. I don't look it in the eyes, that would only make it mad. I can feel the dog's breath on my face and then I can feel it's tongue, too. I look up and see the dog's tongue hanging out of its mouth like a little puppy. I laugh a little and pet the dog's head and slowly start to stand.
"Puppy!" I hear a high pitched voice squeal. I turn and see a little girl with brown hair and green eyes. Then the dog starts running towards her.
Without thinking I yell, "STOP!" and the dog stops dead in its tracks. "Even Amity couldn't forgive biting an innocent little girl," I say, again, without thinking. The dog starts to whimper so I add, "Stop whimpering. Now I'm glad my parents never allowed me a dog."
The dog keeps whimpering. "Alright, alright. I forgive you! Just stop it with the whimpering!" Then the girl and dog are gone. I'm completely alone so I walk through the doors to see if I can find somebody. When I push through the doors I did not expect that I'd be on a bus. I walk a little ways up the bus and an old man holds out a cup.
"Food for the factionless?" he asks. I feel something smooth in my hand and look down to see that I'm holding an apple. I look at him, take a bite, and keep walking.
The bus is moving so I decide to hold onto a poll. To my left is a tough looking guy with a newspaper. He looks up and points to a picture of a guy, who I feel like I know, but can't remember who it is.
"Do you know this man?" he asks me. The picture is in the "Wanted" part of the newspaper.
"Maybe I do, maybe I don't. What's it to you?" I ask. He stands up after I state this.
"Do you know who he is?" he asks trying to look more intimidating.
"Nope," I reply.
"You're lying," the guy accuses. "I can tell you're lying!" he then screams.
"I'm not lying," I retort.
` "Yes you are! If you know this man you can save me," he whispers the last part.
"Well, then. That's just too bad for you because I. Don't. Know. Him," I sass. And then the bus and the guy are gone.
My eyes snap open and I'm back in the testing room. My head feels a little dizzy, but other than that I feel completely fine. I look over at Uriah who is looking at the computer screen with a confused expression. He then looks at me with the same expression.
"I'll be right back," he reports. He gets up and walks out of the room. A couple minutes later he's back.
"So?" I ask.
"So," he repeats. "I'm guessing you want to know your results."
"That's kind of why I took the test in the first place," I intone. He nods.
"Well, your test was… Inconclusive," he states.
"Inconclusive?" I repeat.
"Yeah. Usually each part of the aptitude test removes a possibility for what faction would be best for you. You had three factions that suited you, though," he reports.
"Which three?" I ask.
"Amity, Dauntless, and Erudite. You didn't have a chance for Candor or Abnegation," he explains. "Well, sort of Amity, Dauntless, and Erudite." My eyebrows rise. "I mean, Taking the knife suggested Dauntless, but you didn't kill the dog. Choosing the cheese suggests Amity, which you didn't do, but forgiving the dog suggested Amity. Your response to the dog, however, suggested Erudite. People with more than one faction result are called," he looks around the room and then leans in closer and whispers so that nobody could hear, even though we are the only ones in the room. "Divergent," he finishes.
"Divergent?" I ask.
"Shhhh," he whispers looking around the room. "Being Divergent is very dangerous so you can't tell anyone about it. I manually put in the system that you would be Dauntless because that's what you showed the most faction result for," he explains. "You should probably leave, though. Go home early. Tell whoever asks that you don't feel good. You've got a lot of thinking to do," he helps me down from the chair and leads me to the back door.
I walk back to the gate and to my house. I'm Divergent. I have to keep it a secret, which won't be a problem because I'm nowhere near Candor.
My mom is in the house when I get home. There's also an Erudite women who I recognize as Jeanine.
"Ah, Clarity, there you are," my mom speaks through a plastered on smile. "This is Jeanine Mathew's, you know, the leader of Erudite. She has a couple questions to ask you."
"Ok," I say confused.
"Would you like some cookies?" my mom asks getting up and walking away before we could answer her.
"Please, sit down," Jeanine tells me. After I sit she starts asking her "couple of questions". "So, you had your aptitude test today. I heard there was a dilemma with yours. I was hoping you would enlighten me on this," she inquires.
"Oh, yeah. I didn't feel well so I came home. No biggy though," I reply casually.
"Uh huh," she narrows her eyes as if she doesn't believe me. "You know, sometimes people are inconclusive on their aptitude test," she begins. This wasn't going to end well. "Are you sure you aren't one of those people? Or you don't know anybody who is?"
"Of course I'm not. I got Dauntless and we're not supposed to share results," I reply. I really hope she takes the lie. Thankfully she does because next she says,
"Well, I better get going then. See you tomorrow," and with that, she leaves. I breathe a sigh of relief then go to my room. I don't actually have that much to think about.
When I wake up the next day, I do my daily routine. Today, though, I brush out my long, wavy, sun-kissed hair more than usual. After breakfast I walk towards the Hub. A bunch of Amity is already up today and heading out. A truck usually used for delivering food is taking kids to the Choosing Ceremony. Before I hop on one I look back and think a silent goodbye to the orchards.
When we arrive to the Hub, there are kids everywhere. I take the elevator up to the 20th floor and am put in the line of waiting 16 year olds. It's in alphabetical order by last name, so I won't be in the first kids to choose. When everyone's settled a volunteer from Abnegation recites something about adulthood, which I pay no attention to. Since it's alphabetical order, Melody will choose before me.
Once he's done, he starts calling names. Melody chooses Erudite and by the time it gets to me, I'm so bored I could stab my thigh with the knife, not just cut my hand.
"Clarity Nobolist," he calls. I pull my head up a little bit higher and walk up onto the stage. I hear a few whispers as I stand up there, probably because of my shoe choice. I also spot Jeanine a little ways away, watching me with her narrow eyes. I wrap my hand around the knife without looking at the person holding it. When the person doesn't let go of the knife, I look at him with an impatient look.
He lets go of the knife and I bring it across my hand, making a cut big enough for blood to drip out. Then I hold it above the burning coals.
I am now Dauntless.
After the ceremony I follow the dauntless, running out of the Hub. We are all screaming and there's a rush of adrenaline. Then the train comes and I'm the first transfer initiate to jump on the train. Once on I'm hanging out of the door, feeling the wind on my face.
"If you're going to do that, you may as well just go on top," yells someone from inside the train.
"Good idea!" I yell back and find the latter that goes to the top.
"I was kidding, you'll kill yourself!" the person yells at me, even though I'm already climbing up.
"Where's your sense of adventure?" I ask. I sit cross legged on top until we I can feel the train slowing down. I noticed earlier though, that I'm being followed. I could tell because the person inside the car that was racing alongside us was the narrowed eyed Erudite leader, Jeanine. I climb back inside the train, startling a few people inside.
The corners of my mouth fold up. As we come across the roof of a building, I jump with a few others, rolling on my back as I land. I barely have any scrapes, which I'd consider good, considering that someone broke their arm. You can tell by its unnatural direction.
Once everybody's off the train, you can hear someone's voice from the front of the crowd. I push as much as I can to the front, landing me a couple people in front of me. I can tell the person who's talking is male.
"To get into the compound, you have to jump," he announces.
"Jump?" someone screeches from behind me. "But we just jumped from a train!"
"Well, now you have to jump from a building," the guy replies. "Or be factionless."
I can feel my mouth's corners move up again.
"Any takers?" he asks. I am the first to answer.
"I will," I yell loudly for everyone to hear, raising my arm in the process. People make way for me and some scoff.
"You're not seriously going to jump off a building, are you, tree hugger?" Someone asks.
"That'd be suicide!" screeches another. I look over the side of the building and shrug. There's a hole at the bottom, so there must be a net or something. I turn around grinning.
"What? You scared?" I ask taking a step backwards and falling towards the Earth. I hear a scream from the roof. I close my eyes and spread my arms out. It feels like I'm flying. I find myself cheering until I hit something. I was right, a net. Arms are reaching out for me and I grab the closest, giggling like crazy.
"A tree hugger?" I hear someone ask. "As the first to jump? That's not something you see every day."
"Shut up, Zeke," someone else retorts.
"Name?" the person whose arm I grabbed asks. It's a short girl with blonde hair and three ravens on her collarbone. I think a minute before answering.
"Clare," I respond.
"First jumper- Clare!" the girl yells. The room bursts full of cheering.