Title: Contradictory

Summary: No one has ever heard of a selfish Abnegation, or a dishonest Candor. So when Henry Grant is faced with a choice between the two factions, he must decide which lie he wants to live.

Disclaimer: The recognizable factions, events, concepts, characters, and settings do not belong to me and I am not claiming ownership of them. I am writing this story only for fun.

Notes: Hey, look, a fanfiction I wrote that's not about Harry Potter. There might be more, there might not. Who knows? I'm writing this in first person present tense, instead of third person past tense (which is how I write my Harry Potter fanfiction) because that's just how I write sci-fi.

I'm going to keep this intro short, so let's begin. Enjoy.

Chapter One

Aptitude tests today.

I try not to think about what my results will be as I climb onto the bus and a young Abnegation girl immediately jumps up to give me her seat, but I can't help it.

The only thing I'm sure of is that I won't get Candor. Sixteen years of being taught to never lie, to tell my enemies all my secrets or something, is already too much. I can't go through the rest of my life like that. And I'm not a naturally honest person. I would never be able to make it through initiation.

But I push that thought out of my head and focus on what's going on around the bus. I find it fascinating. It tells you a lot about people. I don't know why. It just does.

A pair of Abnegation siblings—at least, I think they're siblings—are talking quietly. Of course they're quiet. If they're loud, or speaking in a normal volume, people will look at them, and think about them. The girl, who I think is in my year at school (I'm not quite sure; I don't really notice the Abnegation) is telling her little brother to always strive to increase the number of people he's served. She says something about counting it.

"Counting how many people you've served?" I ask. I don't really want to, but I've been taught since I was very young to say whatever is on my mind. According to the founders of Candor, keeping details to yourself is the same as lying. "Don't you think that's a bit selfish?"

"I am not selfish," the girl says.

"I don't wanna be selfish," the little boy says nervously, shifting from foot to grey-covered foot.

"Then don't count the number of times you've done good," I tell him. "If you want to serve people, just...do it. But keeping track is selfish. Don't you think?" I add smugly, the question directed at the girl.

She glares at me, something I never would have thought an Abnegation could do. Maybe she has Amity's dislike of Candor. Of course she does. We say whatever pops into our honest little heads, without any sort of regard for other people's feelings. Oh, their precious feelings.

Ask me if I care.

"I've always admired the Dauntless," I tell my best friend, Oliver. It's the truth. Of course it's the truth. I'm Candor.

"Why?"

I quote the Dauntless manifesto: "'We believe in ordinary acts of bravery, in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another.'"

"Do you spend your free time memorizing the faction manifestos? That sounds like an Erudite trait to me."

Oliver doesn't like the Eruidite.

I smile at him.

I want to ask him if he's nervous, but he's part of the first ten that are called up: "From Dauntless: Elijah Marcus and Hannah Hayes. From Eruidite: Charlotte Cooke and Dexter Stewart. From Amity: Christopher Hudson and Lana Fulton. From Candor: Oliver Stark and Sienna Black. From Abnegation: Astrid Lloyd and Kyle Rogers."

They return ten minutes later. Oliver reclaims his seat next to me, looking nervous and shaken. I wonder what his aptitude is. Did he get Amity, our rival? Or Erudite, the faction he hates? Maybe Candor, which leaves him with only one choice? Or perhaps he was told that he didn't fit into any of the five factions, and that he must be cut from faction life? I want to know.

But I am not allowed to ask, and he is not allowed to tell me.