A/N: Hello my dear readers. It's CloakSeeker again. This is the new modern day AU Divergent fan fiction story I kept telling you about. The story might seem dull in the beginning, offering many facts about the characters and introducing them all at once, but I chose to do that because it is important to know which role each character plays and if you're anything like me you want to know who the hell is who int he story (I hate it when I read about a character in the first chapter and then he doesn't reappear until chapter 20 or so and i have no clue who he is).
I want to give special thanks to PMakepeace98, Hplcgirl and DivergentPansycake46 for agreeing to read this story first and share their opinions with me.
If any of you has ideas or suggestions please share them with me and if they fit into the story I might use them. Until then, please enjoy the first chapter.
Tris Prior was a teenager like any other. She was a girl. She was almost sixteen. She had a mom and a dad, a brother and a sister. She was the baby. She was highly misunderstood by everyone. She was a teenager after all. Aren't they supposed to be misunderstood?
Her father, Andrew Prior, is a very important businessman who built a multi-branch company from the ground with his longtime friend, Marcus Eaton. Natalie is a jewelry designer and together with Evelyn Eaton, Marcus Eaton's wife, they organize fundraisers and charity events throughout the city. However, their philanthropy doesn't stop there. The ladies often volunteer to help the homeless and not just on holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas, but throughout the year. They often invited their children to help, which in Tris' opinion was translated in being forced to do that. Mr. and Mrs. Prior have three children: Shauna, their eldest daughter, who was a twenty-two year old psychology student, Caleb, their only son who was twenty years old and studied bio-chemistry and of course Beatrice, the youngest who would turn sixteen on December 24th, Christmas Eve. She hated her name. This is why very early Beatrice told everyone to call her Tris. Her parents still called her Beatrice, especially when they introduced their youngest child to friends or co-workers, but otherwise they respected her wish.
Tris' best friends in the whole wide world are Lynn, Marlene and Uriah. Lynn is her cousin, her father's brother's daughter, who is a minister. Lynn was sixteen already, turned two months before. She has an older brother, Will, who is the same age as Caleb. Mr. Joseph Prior, Andrew's brother, is a minister as mentioned and a widower. He often helps Natalie and Evelyn organize charity events, but is also very smart and bought stocks from his brother's firm. He is doing well and is well advised by the company's broker, courtesy of both Marcus and Andrew for Joe's loyalty and help throughout the years. Marlene was also sixteen and the younger daughter of the Eatons. She has also an older brother, Tobias, who is the same age as Shauna.
The girls have been BFF's since they were in diapers, inseparable like they were connected by a cord. When they were in junior high and went to the Band Camp, a camp for kids who were into music, they met Uriah. Well, they've seen him in the hallways, but he seemed way too cool for them, even though many kids wanted to be friends with the trio. Uriah and the girls quickly hit it off and he soon joined their group, who was as exclusivist as ever. Uriah has an older brother, Zeke, who was Shauna's boyfriend. Funny thing: Zeke and Shauna didn't meet because of their younger siblings' friendship. They met in college and soon after became a couple. Zeke is also best friends with Tobias, since they've known each other ever since first grade. Mr. and Mrs. Pedrad, Zeke and Uriah's parents, are owners of a bakery and despite many opportunities to expand their business they've decided to keep it small and friendly.
Like in many previous years the Priors invited their closest friends and their kids to celebrate Tris' birthday, much to Tris' misfortune. She hated celebrating her birthday, at least the way her parents did: a dinner party with all the adults and then all their kids who are much older than she is. Thankfully, her best friends were also there every year and she could sneak up into her room, which is the attic, but Andrew rebuilt it to be Tris' sanctuary, as she often put it. No one ever went up there and Tris was happy about that for several reasons: (a) it was always a mess; basically everything she owned was scattered on the floor or the railing of the stairs; (b) she hated it when people snooped around, that is other people than her; (c) she really didn't want mom and dad to find her secret pot stash. What could she say? She's a musician, they smoke pot, right? It's for inspiration.
It was almost four p.m. The Eatons, Pedrads and Priors were downstairs in the living room chatting. Ever since both her older siblings went to college they acted so mature, like they knew everything. Tris hated that. It was like some brain surgeon operated on them and made them lamer and dumber. And worst thing, her parents asked her to take an example. What? Did they really want her lame and stupid? Uh-uh, no way. Not with Tris.
She went downstairs wearing her most comfortable dress she could find. Her mom forced her to wear one. She said if she didn't then she wouldn't be allowed to go back to Band Camp in the summer. Tris reluctantly agreed and forced herself to smile.
The moment she entered the living room everyone started singing "Happy Birthday" (ruining the song by singing in false tunes and rhythm) and she pinched herself to stop the chuckle from escaping her lips. When they were done she had to go around and thank everyone for coming and whatnot. She first went to her Uncle Joe, then Mr. and Mrs. Pedrad, who allowed her and all the kids to call them by their first names, namely Michael and Hana, then on to Mr. and Mrs. Eaton or Marcus and Evelyn. After she was done she hugged her brother and sister and shook hands with Will, Zeke and Tobias. The moment everyone was greeted she grabbed her friends and ran upstairs to her room.
"God, I hate this shit," Tris said the moment the door closed behind her.
"Tell me about it," Uriah said getting rid of his tie. His mom made him wear one; said he looked more handsome with it. He couldn't disagree with that, but he still hated it. They plopped down on Tris' queen sized bed and lay there for a while.
"Don't you hate them all?" Lynn asked all of a sudden.
"I wouldn't say hate," Marlene said next to her.
"But yeah," Tris answered Lynn's question, lying between Marlene on her right and Uriah on her left.
"Why are they so bourgeoisie?" Uriah asked and Tris chuckled.
"Just because you learned a new word, Uri, doesn't mean you can use it whenever you want," Lynn said with a snort.
"What?" he asked confused.
"They are not bourgeoisie, maybe a little, but they are better than that," Marlene said to him with a chuckle.
"Whatever, man," Uriah said and got up. He went to the drum set and started a steady rhythm.
"Let's jam," Marlene said and hopped up and went to the keyboard and joined her friend. Soon Tris and Lynn picked up the electric guitars and joined the duo.
The four were typical teenagers from the constant frustration of being misunderstood to the attire they were typical. But God forbid someone told them that. They were musicians. They loved it, loved to listen to it, loved to make it, loved to create it out of nothing. They had their secrets that they didn't share with anyone but their group.
They were all the youngest in their own families. Sometimes that was okay, but most times they hated hearing phrases such "he/she is still so young", "take an example from", "enjoy this time, child". Ugh, nerve wrecking.
Tris wasn't tall, 5'1" rather on the smaller side. Everyone seemed to be taller than her and sometimes that really pissed her off. She wasn't ugly, but neither did she think she was some sort of "I would die for you" beauty. She had medium long blonde hair and the weirdest blue-gray eyes. She was rather skinny but she liked to run a lot so she was fit.
Lynn had very short brown hair and beautiful green eyes. She often used black eyeliner to highlight them, which in the girls' opinion made them even more mesmerizing. She was taller than Tris, about 5'5" and loved to wear washed out jeans and flashy crop tops with all kinds of slogans on them. Therefore, she hated when she had to go to church or some family gathering and wear anything that she didn't like, which was a lot.
Marlene was the girl in their group. To be clear, Lynn and Tris were also girls, but Marlene liked to dress like one, act like one, enjoyed the things any girl enjoyed, such as nail polish or talking about hair and shoes. She was as tall as Lynn but had long blonde curls and blue eyes. You could say she was the typical American girl next door. But appearances can be deceiving. While she didn't get in trouble often it happened on occasion.
Uriah was the only guy in their group but the girls wouldn't have wanted it any other way. He was the tallest of them, 5'8", had a chocolate colored skin and expressive light brown eyes that all the girls in their school hoped would look at them. He was quite the charmer and heartbreaker and was very picky when it came to girlfriends.
The four of them were so focused that they didn't even hear when someone entered the Sanctuary. It was only after he coughed a few times that Tris turned around abruptly and the moment she recognized the figure behind the bushy beard she put her guitar down and leaped into her uncle's arms.
"Uncle Cam," she said and hugged her mother's brother tightly.
"Woah, there, pumpkin. You're going to cut off my air supply," he said jokingly.
Cameron Williams wasn't often around. He lived with his son, Matt, in New York. But from all the people in his family he loved Tris the most, after his son of course. She was always such a bright, happy and creative person that made you smile even when you hit rock bottom. He saw her musical talent fairly soon and persuaded her parents to encourage her. At least this way she would have a hobby that would keep her from getting into trouble, at least not too much trouble, since Tris was always a little prankster.
"I've missed you so much, Uncle Cam," she said and kissed his cheek. He put her down and gave each of her friends a hug. They all knew each other since Cameron was the owner and organizer of Band Camp. They all loved him and called him Uncle Cam or just Cam, which he loved.
"I missed you, too, all of you," he said and the youngsters smiled. "Your parents wanted me to tell you that we're ready to go to church," he told them and they all scowled.
"Do we have to?" Lynn asked.
"Lynn, it's your dad's church and he'll perform the sermon," Cameron said to her. They reluctantly nodded their heads and joined the rest downstairs. It was okay with the parents that the four friends went with Cameron and Matt, since they all insisted to do that. The whole ride they sang Christmas carols at the top of their lungs and just had fun, fun like they wouldn't have had with their parents or siblings. Sometimes it felt like these four were siblings and they would have loved that.
As soon as they arrived at church Joe ushered them inside to take their places next to the rest of the children's choir. They all hated it when someone called them children. Just because they were younger didn't mean they were kids. The four of them deliberately stood in the back, avoiding looking at their families. They weren't shy or anything, they just hated how their families looked at them. Sure they were proud of their kids, but at the same time, and especially the mothers, looked at them like "put your shirt back in your pants", "smooth down your hair", "for God's sake, spit out that gum". Exhausting.
It seemed like the Christmas sermon took forever. Tris loved her uncle, but what in the world was wrong with spending Christmas at home?
When the service finally ended everyone went home and they promised to visit the Eatons the next day for Christmas lunch. Why did they have to go to these things anyway? Why couldn't they just spend Christmas or any holiday for that matter in their own homes? It seemed to Tris that her question would never receive an answer, or at least not a satisfying one. She vowed that when she would leave home she would (a) live alone or only with these three people she absolutely loved hanging out with and (b) stay at home for the holidays or at least not go to some stupid social event.
It didn't take Tris long to fall asleep that night. She was tired both physically and mentally and her warm bed was just what she yearned for that entire day.
The next morning she was woken up by her uncle and for once she didn't protest. Her mom usually came to wake her up, these being the only times when she came into her daughter's room. She had long given up on persuading her youngest child to clean up her room. Tris went downstairs to open presents with her family and afterwards they had breakfast together. It was a happy day for her, since Matt was there. He was the same age as Shauna, but he was way cooler than any of the other older kids. They both shared the same love for music and understood sarcasm and obviously shared it with her older siblings (in a derogatory way). You might think they would get it, but both Shauna and Caleb, who are both high achievers and super smart, never grasped it. Instead they went on and on explaining pro's and con's regarding whatever Matt or Tris just said. The latter would only roll their eyes and get on with it.
When the time came to go to lunch Tris was allowed to drive with her uncle and cousin, which was a huge relief.
"So, tell me, pumpkin. Have you thought about my offer?" Cameron asked her.
"You know I have and that I would love to, but I doubt mom and dad would say yes," she said a little sad.
"I can talk to them. In fact, Matt and I were thinking of moving to Chicago," he said surprising the girl.
"Really?" she asked hopeful.
"Yes. I wouldn't tell your parents about the musical career per se, just that I would like to keep the four of you preoccupied in the afternoons, keeping you from doing some new bullshit prank," he said with a laugh. "You know, all of them expressed their concern about how you kids are going wild. They kept saying that you should take an example from your older siblings and whatnot. I kept my mouth shut about how that would only block your creativity. Instead, I told them I would keep you busy," he explained.
"And what did they say?" Tris asked curiously to know the answer.
"They looked at each other at first, pondering about what I said, but then seemed to agree. They even went on how you kids could have recitals. Obviously, they think you all are into Mozart and Beethoven, not AC/DC and Metallica," he said and they all laughed.
After they arrived at the Eaton residence everyone greeted their hosts and went into the living room. They sat down and talked about all kinds of things, boring mostly, until Marlene politely asked her parents to excuse her and her friends. Evelyn nodded smiling and the four of them went into Marlene's room. Unlike Tris', Marlene's was clean and neat and all in all the typical girl bedroom.
They sat down, Marlene and Tris on the bed, legs crossed under them, Lynn sat on the desk chair while Uriah set on the floor. Tris told her friends about what Cameron had told her in the car and they all seemed just as enthusiastic about this like she was.
"Do you think our folks would allow us to do that?" Uriah asked no one in particular.
"I don't know, but I sure as hell wanna do it," Lynn announced.
"I think that would be awesome. Doesn't matter if we become famous or not. I just love hanging out with you guys," Marlene said.
"Me too," Tris agreed. "Besides, we're not doing it for the fame or money, we're doing it because we love it."
"Yeah, Tris' right. Who cares if anyone listens to our shit? We do it 'cause we want it," Uriah said and they laughed.
Soon Tobias, Marlene's older brother, knocked on the door and entered the room. Tris looked him up and down. She had seen him before, but she never noticed how handsome he really was. Too bad he was so old. The young man told them that lunch was ready and they should join the others. They nodded and followed him into the dining room. Tris sat down between Caleb and Matt and almost jumped onto the food, much like Uriah, when Joe started saying grace. Damn, she always forgot about that.
Lunch was delicious, but as expected boring. The adults and the wannabes kept talking about politics and business and some other bullshit that neither one of the youngsters cared about. Cameron, sensing the boredom of the four teenagers, spoke up. He officially informed them about his intentions of moving to Chicago and taking them under his wing, teaching them music. The four friends each looked toward their parents and they all nodded their heads smiling, but instead of hugging any of them the teenagers all jumped happy on Cameron hugging him and thanking him. The older siblings just shook their heads at the childish behavior.
A/N: What do you think so far?