Chapter 1
Mornings in Amity have always been dull. For the large majority of my faction, the melody of the tweeting birds and the warm sun rippling down onto our skin, is the perfect way to start the day. For me? Not so much.
I do enjoy the peace sometimes, I won't lie about that, but I want more. More excitement, more adventure. I've never been anywhere but the Amity grounds, the school, and the places in between at a brief glance, and that thought is thoroughly depressing.
I yank on my red trousers and yellow top in haste. I'm already quite late for breakfast in the food hall as I slept in for too long, and I can hear Jas getting impatient outside my room (As impatient as an Amity can get anyway).
"Dani, hurry up we need to go!" Jas yelled through the oak door. My sister can be loud for someone who's supposed to be peaceful.
"Alright just a minute!" I reply, sighing as I begin to braid my auburn hair down my shoulder. It's fiddly, and the strands won't seem to flow together. My distracted mind has apparently stopped my fingers from working.
"I'll wait for you in the food hall" She eventually sighs, and I hear soft footsteps padding away down the hallway. I finish of my hair, trying to smooth down the strands of hair that are sticking up all over the place. I grab my battered leather school satchel and race after her, almost colliding with an Amity man along the way. I yell an apology as I skate round the corner and enter the food hall.
I see my sister at a table already eating her breakfast, and she's set mine out in front of me already. At least that saves me a little time. She smiles and waves me over with a chuckle.
"Thanks" I splutter as I slide onto the bench, grabbing the bread roll eagerly. She laughs at me again, before raising an eyebrow, smirking slightly. I know exactly what that face means.
"What?" I sigh. She grins again.
"You excited about your aptitude test?" She says, taking another bite of her bread. I groan, I had almost forgotten. Almost.
"I haven't thought much about it really" I reply quickly, trying to avoid her eyes. I'd make a terrible Candor.
"Sure" she draws out, and I sigh in response. Jas has a habit of guessing exactly how I'm feeling. I suppose that's what happens when your sister becomes your sole guardian.
Our Mother died when I was young, I barely remember her, although Jas does. Her death still upsets her I can tell. Our Father isn't around anymore either. When Mother died he got very depressed. He began to sneak forbidden alcohol into the Amity grounds and after a while would be constantly drunk.
He blamed Mother's death on Jas and I, and would beat us for it almost every day. Now that I do remember. When the Amity found out about this, they removed him from Amity, made him factionless. I haven't seen him since. Good riddance is all I can say.
"Dani, am I talking to myself here?" Jas snaps her fingers in front of my face, and I jump out of my brief trance.
"Hm?" I respond, Jas rolls her eyes.
"What I was saying was you don't need to be nervous. I remember my aptitude test, and it wasn't nearly as bad as I expected" she pauses "The person doing my test freaked me out a bit though" She winks, and I chuckle back. That's one thing I love about Jas, she never fails to make you laugh when you're feeling down.
"Come on, you're gonna be late" She passes me my satchel "I can walk with you if you want"
"No thanks, I'll catch up with Mary and Elliott if that's alright" I smile and give her a hug, just like good Amity girls do.
"Good luck" She whispers in my ear before ushering me towards the door. I can spot Mary and Elliott not too far in front of me and run up behind them, grabbing their shoulders. They leap up with a yelp, until they turn around and see that it's only me.
"Dani!" Mary yells, pressing her hand to her heart. "I wish you wouldn't do that, it'll kill me one of these days"
"Oh come on, Mary, lighten up" Elliot laughs. That earns him a dig in the side from Mary. I've known these guys since I was little, they are the closest things to friends I have. I've just never fit in with them. They're lovely of course but we're different in so many ways, like chalk and cheese.
"Aptitude test today" Elliott announces, I feel my stomach drop again. Why do people have to keep reminding me?
"I'm not worried" Mary replies "It'll only confirm what I already know" she smiles, and Elliott nods in agreement. I stay silent.
We continue ambling towards the school, laughing and talking just like we do every morning, but I can't focus. Not with my insides doing nervous somersaults. As we get closer, a rainbow of faction colours begin to appear as we all form our lines. Each person chats with various degrees of nervous excitement, a distinctly different atmosphere in the air today.
A train screeches along the tracks, and without even needing to turn around I know who it is. Swarms of black clad teenagers hurl themselves out of the moving train, whooping and laughing as they did so. Mary visibly shudders beside me.
"I wouldn't be able to do that, imagine if you fell!" she exclaims.
"Well it wouldn't be the first time something like that's happened" Elliott grimaced.
"I think it looks quite exciting" I murmur almost inaudibly. I feel both pairs of eyes on me and immediately regret saying it. "I mean if you're into that kind of thing" I attempt to backtrack. They seem happy with my response and turn away again.
We wait for what seems like hours for them to open the door. I can feel all the factions around me get restless. What once was excitement is now a collective bundle of nerves across all the teens waiting. All I want to do is to go home. To curl up in bed and avoid ever having to find out what faction I truly belong in. Part of me wants to stay in Amity, it's where I grew up and all I know. My sister's there, my friends, my home. Then the other part of me wants to leave. To go somewhere, anywhere else but there. If adventure is what I want, I'm not going to find it in Amity.
After what seems like an age, the doors open and we all flood through the threshold to gather in the hall. Mary grabs both mine and Elliott's hand and pulls us with her, laughing.
"It's nearly time" she squeals. I follow her slowly, letting her drag me with her.
We take our seats in the large hall. The ventilation isn't the best in here so the nervous sweat of other factions mingles with my own, and it doesn't exactly make me feel any better.
"Settle down please, settle down" Marcus, the Abnegation leader, raises his hands to bring the murmur to a silence. He launches into a speech about how this isn't a final decision, only a mere indication of which faction we should choose. Mary and Elliott hang on to his every word. I, on the other hand, let my mind and eyes wonder to the Dauntless.
They look effortlessly confident, even just sitting down they radiate an aura of self-assurance that makes me envious. It wasn't something I could picture being like, in my red and yellow Amity clothes. Amity girls aren't confident, Amity girls are timid. I am anyway.
As Marcus's speech draws to a close, we all begin to shuffle again, and as he lets us move to the waiting area, a chorus of unintelligible ramblings begins from each person, and doesn't stop even for a moment. Elliott, Mary and I take our seats once more, waiting for them to call our names.
More waiting. Fantastic.
My mind is cloudy with an assortment of thoughts, and I barely register time passing until I hear:
"Danielle Coleman" a woman shouts from the end of the hallways. I rise slowly from my chair as I feel various pairs of eyes on me.
"Mary Powell" A man yells. I feel Mary leap up next to me, and she grabs my hand as we edge through the crowds on the way to the doors ahead of us. We reach where the test administers are standing, and just as I am about to walk into the room, Mary throws her arms around my neck. I wrap my arms around her too and I wait for her to let go. I was used to the incessant hugging, it's something Amity like to do, Mary more than most.
"Good luck" She smiles.
"Damn Amity" The man waiting to test Mary grumbles at our affection, and at that we part ways and I trail behind the woman into a room.
It's almost empty, there is a large mirror covering the wall and a medical looking chair in the middle. The fear suddenly becomes more real as I realise I can't leave now. The only way out now is to complete the test, a hurdle that I'm not particularly looking forward to. The Dauntless woman nudges me towards the chair and I reluctantly lie down on it. I feel awkward and out of place in these bizarre circumstances.
"My name is Tori, and I will be administering your test today" she explains, boredom laced through her voice. It's probably the hundredth time she has had to recite that today. Have to feel sorry for her really. She begins to attach various electrodes to me before attaching one to herself, and then proceeds to hand me a small glass filled with a peculiar looking liquid. I raise an eyebrow at Tori, and she rolls her eyes in response.
"Just drink it" she sighs. I raise the glass to my mouth, and slowly tip it so the liquid runs over my lip, across my tongue, and down my throat.
I begin to feel hazy as the liquid takes effect. I'm scared, I'm alone, and I don't know what's going to happen...but I suppose there's only one way to find out. I let my eyes slowly droop closed as the world outside slips away from me.