Beatrice's POV
Just two more weeks I think to myself while doing the dishes. Just to more weeks and I will be independent. I am so caught up in my thoughts I loosen my grip on the plate I was holding and it falls out of my hand and onto the floor. "Shit." I murmur, a piece somehow managed to stick into my foot.
"Beatrice!" my mother calls out, "What was that noise?" Crap! Lie! Says an evil voice inside of me. "Umm... what noise?!" I yell back. I bend down to pick up the pieces of the plate scattered across the kitchen. "Never mind." my mother tells me. I look down at the piece stuck in my foot. It doesn't look that deep so I bend down and slowly pull it out, the pain is like a slap in the face.
~oOo~
I woke to the familial buzzing of my alarm clock. Ugh, I think. What time is it? 7:15 AM. on a Monday morning. I hop out of bed and limp over to the closet. Damn it! That plate got me good! I pull on my gray abnegation clothing and twist my hair up into an abnegation knot. Once I'm done getting ready I redress my foot and slip on my shoes. When I walk down stairs I smell bacon and eggs. Caleb must be cooking, I think. When I walk into the kitchen I see Caleb humming and flipping bacon. I go and set the table and as I'm doing so Caleb notices that I'm limping.
"Beatrice."
"Yeah Caleb."
Why are you limping?"
Lie, Lie, Lie!
"Um... I stubbed my toe yesterday when I was doing the dishes. It hurts a little when I put pressure on it, that's all."
"Okay." he says. He sounds like he doesn't believe me completely but he doesn't push me to tell him anything else. He puts the eggs and bacon that he cooked on four plates and we each put two on the table. We wait until our parents come down to eat our food. Once they are sitting down we pray and then, finally, we eat. I devour my food and ask my parents if I may be excused. They say yes so I hop up and walk as steadily as I can to the door, trying not to limp. My parents are pushier than Caleb and they would end up squeezing the truth out of me.
Once I am out the door and on my way to school I start to think. I start to think about my foot, about my faction, about my family, then I hear the sounds of the dauntless train and I smile. I always enjoy watching the dauntless jumping out of the train and running towards school. They all look so free and happy. It's hard not to envy them and their faction. After a few minutes of watching them jump out of the train I look away. My father would not be found of me if he found out I was staring. I walk down the hallway to my first class, squeezing through the crowd of people. An erudite boy walks out in front of me and I try to make my way around him but he is blocking where I'm headed.
"You're looking a little stiff." all of his friends laugh.
Wow, I think, so original.
"Excuse me." I say as politely as I can.
"No excuse me," he spits, "You're in my way."
The erudite boy shoves me hard and I fall on the ground. I want to hit him. I want the punch him in the face but violence is frowned upon in abnegation. But it's not frowned upon in dauntless. If I was in dauntless I wouldn't be shoved around or treated like I was invisible. I've made my decision. I will choose dauntless at the choosing ceremony even if it means betraying my family. Somebody walks up to me and offers me their hand. I take it shyly and I am pulled up. I'm bending down to pick up everything I dropped and I see a pair of hands helping me do so. I look up about to thank him but then I see he is wearing all black. I never associate with dauntless so I shouldn't recognize him but I do. The man who helped me is Marcus Eaton's son. His son transferred to dauntless two years ago. People barely ever leave abnegation so when somebody does, people remember.
"Tobias?" I whisper.