A/N: this is like a one shot canon type filler thing, with only OCs and stuffs. Since I'm writing this hours after I read Divergent, don't expect anything from the other books, so I guess this is set before the war thingy. Well, wish me luck! Be sure to review if you like!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Divergent, its factions, or Jeanine (you'll see). I do own all the OCs in this fic though. All rights reserved to Veronica Roth.
*Note: there will be jumps in time, I apologize in advance, and cliffhangers too. Word choice and usage may not be well, either.
My name is Cambria. I am nearing my sixteenth birthday, which means I will have to take the aptitude tests soon. I was born into a powerful Erudite family; my mother is Jeanine's cousin.
"Cambria! Time for your classes!" That's my mother. Alicia. She's short and slim like me, with brunette curls growing from her head.
"Cambria! Hurry! You'll be late!" And that's my father. Daniel. He was a Dauntless transfer, seeking knowledge rather than the thrill of another crazy stunt. He still has that Dauntless look sometimes, especially when he's excited.
"Fine! I'm coming!" I yell impatiently. I gather up my books and stuff them into a book bag. I spring down the stairs, something only the Dauntless would do, which means I got something from my father, whereas my twin brothers, Tristan and Levi, are totally obsessed with their pre-algebra textbooks. Levi is downstairs waiting at the door when I arrive, and Tristan meets us a few moments later.
"Race ya to the trains!" Tristan yells at us.
A smile brightens up my face. "On my count. One...two...three!" We take off sprinting, and I go easy because my brothers are two years younger than me, and because of the fact that I inherited long legs from my father. Trailing behind, they join arms and put an extra burst of speed to catch up with me, trying to trip me as they run. I already thought of tactics to outmaneuver them. As they run up, I stop in my tracks and curl into a ball, my arms extended. Just as I thought,they try to avoid my outstretched limbs, but they end up tripping and fall down, and laughter explodes. We brush each other off, and walk the remaning ten feet to the train stop.
"Look-it's coming!" Tristan exclaims. The train slows and together with my classmates and others from the Erudite faction, we board. The cars are already half-full with Dauntless, and we move away from the entrance to allow them to jump off when we reach the school. The train lurches forward, gaining speed. I try to remember the diagrams we studied about the trains. A few minutes passes, and the train decelerates.
"Yahoo!"
"Owie! Landed on my shoulder."
"Who wouldn't want to be Dauntless?"
"Weeeeeeeee!"
These are the sounds the Dauntless students make as they disembark from the cars.
Going at a steady pace, the train rounds a bend, mimicking the contour of the school. It stops at a side entrance, where we file in the door silently. Most of the students my age go into Trigonometry class, where we spend the next hour discussing different formulas and things.
After Trig, I go into the bathroom to fix my hair, which was messy from the race. An Abnegation girl emerges from a stall and casts a glance at me. Her gray clothes look boring compared to my blue sweater vest over a pinstripe blouse and a plaid skirt. She stalks out of the room, and I continue twisting my hair into a bun and securing it with a rubber band and some bobby pins. I stick a lacy blue bow underneath it and head out the door.
"Cambria!" My best friend, Danielle, runs up and we hug. "Your birthday's two days from now, right?" I nod. I'm glad it's on a Sunday this year. Danielle and another friend, Noelle, always humiliate me at lunch by making everyone sing. "Well, since I'm gonna be busy this weekend, here's your gift!" She hands me a small box, wrapped in printed paper with owls on it. I hug her back and we giggle. Just then the bell rings, signaling tthe next class.
"Bye, Danielle!" I run to my next class, Psycology, and spend another hour taking notes on a lesson on human brain patterns and behavioural problems. As Erudite, these type of classes are compulsory.
After second period, we all get a half-hour break. They sell snacks at the cafeteria, so I buy myself a pack of dried fruit. That's the only kind of snacks that the Erudite norms allow at school, so I might as well consume it. I chat with Noelle, and I let her have a dried strawberry.
"Hey, Noelle. Look out of the corner of your eye. See that guy over there?"
An Amity boy about my age stands at the end of a table, talking to his friends. "Him?" I could tell Noelle was looking at him.
"No." I shake my head. "Behind him."
"Oh. What about him?" A cute Dauntless guy was looking at us, dressed in blouses and skirts and with our hair up. We catch his gaze, and he looks away, joining his buddies being, well, dauntless.
"Ooo, Cambria, I think we've found ourselves an admirer!" Noelle jabs me, and we laugh hysterically. When we finally calm down, we both find ourselves casting glances at the Dauntless guy.
I wake to find myself buried under two fourteen-year old boys. Instinctively, I kick one of them, and he shrieks. Tristan.
"Tristan! You're sitting on the gifts!" Levi rolls off my bed and drags Tristan down with him. I sit up and two heads popped up from behind my footboard.
"Happy birthday Cambria!" I smile, and they pelt me with gifts labeled from various people. Mom, Dad, Levi, Tristan, Noelle, plus the one from Danielle, and a couple more from others. They must've gone around to all my friends and gathered the gifts for me. I count eight gifts in all. Eight people who deeply care for me.
"C'mon sleepyhead! Get up! My parents appear in the doorway. Tristan and Levi gather up the gifts while my father lifts me up into his arms. I feel the strong muscles cradling me, and I think of the Dauntless guy from Friday.
I spend the rest of the day celebratind with my family and opening gifts.
From Mom: my favourite- chocolate swirl cake
From Dad: a book that I've been always wanting: a 320-page illustrated version of Erudite history
From Levi: a new 200-page burlap covered journal
From Tristan: a high-tech calculator that can do trig
From Danielle: a crystal-studded mechanical pencil, refills included
From Noelle: a new pack of stationery paper
From Jeanine: a personal pass for a tour of the Erudite HQ
From someone anonymous (is it the Dauntless guy?!): a plain card with the Erudite faction symbol on it; on the inside in careful calligraphy: Happy birthday, Cambria!
"Omygosh! The aptitude tests are tomorrow!" Danielle, Noelle, and I were freaking out at Noelle's house on a Sunday night.
"I know right!" I took a sip of the tea Noelle's mom made for us. "I don't know what to expect. Too bad no one's allowed to talk about it."
"Who made that rule, anyway?" Noelle munched on a biscuit. No one cared to answer.
"What faction do you think the tests will say you are?" Danielle wondered.
I dunno. But even it the tests say something, we don't have to choose what it says," I said.
"True," Noelle agreed. "If I transferred, I would go to the Abnegation."
"If I did, I would choose Amity." Danielle reached for a cookie, but decided against it.
"I think I would go either Abnegation or Dauntless, since, you know, my father and all that. " I sipped my tea.
Noelle nodded understandingly. "I know how that feels. My mother was a Stiff, so yeah."
"And mine was in Amity."
We assemble in the usual fashion, waiting for our names to be called. I am called first. My group consists of Danielle and Noelle, three Stiffs, two Amity, a Candor kid and the Dauntless guy. I poke Noelle in her stomach, but she already saw him. We are guided into a hallway and are separated into the rooms.
I open the door, and a Candor woman stands next to a chair-like contraption with a needle in her hand.
"Hi, my name is Julia. I'll be administering the aptitude test to you. Now sit down and relax."
I sit obediently, and ask about the stuff in the needle.
"It's a simulation-inducing serum. Developed by your fellow Erudite members."
I try not to stiffen when she says "fellow Erudite members." Julia presses some sensors onto my forehead and chest, and sticks one to her forehead as well.
"Arm, please. It will hurt." I lift my arm and the needle slides into my skin. I have a hard time relaxing, but Julia pulls the needle out faster than I expected.
"Good luck," she says, and I drift off.
This is a simulation. This is a simulation. This is a simulation. Why can't I see anything? Oh, wait. Duh.
I open my eyes to find myself in a dark room. Two tables are beside me, and lights shine on them as I examine room. On one table there is a basket with some cheese, on the other is a dagger.
A voice asks, "The knife or the cheese?" I am perplexed, and I continue looking.
A doorway is on the far side of the room. I consider going through it, but something restrains me. I hear growling, snarling, and heavy steps coming from it. A large dog, wild-looking and drooling, saunters up to me.
"Hey there doggy. Want some cheese?" He sits down at my voice, and I feel strangely calm.
What can I do with a hunk of cheese? I would eat it, but... what about the knife? The dog's not acting hostile, so I won't have to worry. What if I pet it? Well, here goes nothing!
I slowly inch forward. The dog cocks its head. It begins sniffing me curiously as I near, and its tail starts to move. I offer a piece of cheese I unknowingly ripped off, and it gulps it up. I pet it all over the place.
Just then, a girl appears in the doorway. From my investigations, I thought the dog would be hostile toward her, but its attention is focused on me. I grab the rest of the cheese and the dog begins tearing it up.
Now that the dog is distracted, I call out to the girl. "Hello? Do you need help or something?" No reply. Instead, the scene fades and I find myself in another phase of the simulation.
I am on the bus. A Candor man sits near me reading the paper.
Oh no, a test of honesty, I think.
"Hey, girl. Do you know this man?" He points to a man's picture on the front cover. I swear I've never seen him, but he seems familiar.
"So? Do ya?" He presses me.
"Uh, duh, sorta kinda. Looks familiar," I manage.
"Hmph."
Oh snap. Am I Candor? The scene dissolves and I am roused into consciousness.
"Ookay..." Julia looks at me. "That...was...confusing."
"Confusing? I only acted to my instincts," I said, also confused.
"Well," Julia hesitated. "How do I start? Okay, so there's this conclusion called Divergent, which is like a mix between the factions. So, uh, you're Divergent. Equal aptitude between all the factions. If I were you, I'd stick to Erudite. They're tracking Divergence down, you know."
"Um, okay. Anything else?"
Julia thought for a moment. "Try not to expose yourself. Act...Erudite. Be on guard. Good luck on the Choosing Ceremony!" I shake her hand, and leave.
All of the sixteen-year olds sit in their faction groups in an auditorium in The Hub. Our families sit in front of us. This year, it's the Dauntless' turn for the ceremony. A tatooed woman stands at the five bowls on the stage. I didn't catch her name, but it doesn't matter. She reads off the contents of the five bowls, then starts to read people's names in alphabetical order, staring from Z to A. Since my last name is Vegnoa, only twelve people get called before me. I don't pay any attention to them; I just wait until my name is called. And it is.
"Cambria Vegona?" The Dauntless woman asks. I nod, a little too vigorously. "Prick yourself with this knife and let your blood drip into the faction you choose," she instructs.
I take the knife from her hand and make an incision on my left palm. I move toward the Erudite bowl, but I falter. It lingers a moment too long over the Dauntless bowl and a drop falls in. I jerk my hand. It hovers over the Erudite bowl, which is filled with water. My blood makes the water turn a bolder red. I turn to the Dauntless woman.
"Uh, I kinda, er," I stammer.
The crowd leans in.
The woman looks in my eye. "Stay here after the ceremony. We'll see how we'll deal with this." I let out a sigh. I'll survive for now.
Jeanine sits in front of me. Because she is the representative of the Erudite faction, she has to deal with me.
"It appears you hesitated. Why?" Her eyes flicker between me and a small television unit on which footage is played back.
"I was nervous, I guess. I don't know why, I'm sorry, but I wanted Erudite for sure. I-" she interrupted me.
"It's fine. I made that mistake too. But I got let off easier. Nowadays, things are harder to get by. Now, I'm pulling up your test results so we can check." She hummed as she scrolled through files on her computer.
Oh no! She's going to find out about my Divergence! I mentally screamed.
"On second thought, I don't need your file. Just looking at the footage is enough." I breathed a sigh of relief.
"But we'll check just in case." I practically leaped on her but I restrained myself.
After a moment, Jeanine looked frustrated. "Where is it?" She muttered under her breath. She looked at me. "Um, it seems your file is corrupt. There's nothing about the aptitude tests in here, just general info and your grades."
Thank you, Julia!
"Does that mean I have to take it again?" I asked.
Jeanine sighed. "No. You have to tell us your results."
I gulped. "E-erudite."
The Erudite representative narrowed her eyes. "Are you hiding something, Ms. Vegona?"
I shake my head. "No, ma'am. I was just surprised that I had to say the results of the aptitude test so openly," I say, looking at the security guards tuning in. I also surprised myself at how easily the lie slips.
"Good. Then you're safe. Erudite it is, then. You're dismissed, Cambria." Jeanine smiles.
"Thank you." I begin heading out the door.
"Oh, and say hello to your mother for me!" She calls, and I nod in assent.
I stand with Noelle in the dormitory of the Erudite headquarters. Five other Erudite-born initiates are there: Kharisma, Josephus, Benjamin, Cynthia, and Jeremiah. We have all met before this time, and Kharisma and Cynthia are my friends. My mother volunteered as a initiation supervisor, so she got chosen for the Erudite-born initiates.
"Your initiation consists of five tests, each for your five main subjects. Today you study. Tomorrow you take your Sociology test, followed by the other four subjects. On the last day, you take a final exam which will help you determine what career you are fit for. Got it?" We nod.
That afternoon, we take turns quizzing each other. We go to sleep with ease, knowing that we are prepared.
The next morning, we are ushered into the testing room. Half an hour later, seven Erudite-born initiates walk out of the testing room, laughing and joking about the test. The transfers stand with gaping mouths as we walk by. Then they gulp loudly and walk in.
For next few days, we repeat the same procedure. Study, test, eat, sleep, study, test, eat, sleep, study, test, eat, sleep, study, test, eat, sleep.
On the final day, we are all ushered into a large glass room overlooking the marsh. Individual modern-looking desks with comfortable chairs fill the room. A paper, a pencil, an eraser, various mathematical instruments, and a small notebook. We are arranged by alphabetical order.
"You have two hours to complete you final exam. Start now." My mother sets a timer and leaves the room.
I pick up the pencil, a sleek, heavy mechanical pencil like the one Danielle gave me. I guess we get to keep them. I flip through the notebook. Formulas. I guess I'll keep that too. I sign my name on the top of the page and start.
I finish forty-five minutes later, with notebook, mathematical instruments, and eraser barely touched. I take them with me anyway, and lay the exam facedown on a basket at the front of the room. Noelle finishes as I lay my exam down, so I wait for her.
After dinner, our results are posted on an electronic screen in our dorms and in the dining hall. All of the Erudite-born tie for first, third, and fourth, and the transfers fill in the gaps. I am tied for first with Noelle, Josephus, and Cynthia. My mother congratulates everyone and says their reward were the test materials. Seventy five percent of the group rush back to the testing room. The ones who are left burst into laughter. Suddenly I feel a tap on my shoulder. The Dauntless guy is standing there.
"Follow me," he says, and we slip away unseen.
He makes me jump onto the train, which was easier than I thought, and we jump off near the Dauntless headquarters. We are on the dead part of the city. He leads me through back alleys and abandoned streets.
"What's you're name?" I ask innocently.
"Julius," he growls. "Yours?"
"Cambria."
Julius directs me into a dilapidated brick building. "Downstairs. You'll see."
I obediently descend. I see Danielle down there, but I resist the urge to go and hug her. I haven't seen her since she transferred to Amity. Julius jumps down the renaming steps and spreads his arms. "Welcome to Divergent headquarters."
A/N: so the story ends there, for now. I'm not sure if it's perfect the way it is, but we'll see. If you liked this fic, be sure to review!