Chapter one
Blink. Blink. Blink. I stare at the monitor of my computer seeing the name 'Athena Matthews: Erudite' blinking back at me.
Ever since I was a little girl I was smart, and not in the normal way, but in the way that I can remember every thing I: see, hear, smell, taste, feel, and do (like, any activity). I'm the smartest person ever to live in our city.
But the thing is, I don't want to be Erudite. I don't know what I want. I just know that I can't live anther moment living in my mother's shadow.
My mother is the leader of Erudite, and if she got it her way she would be the leader of all of the factions.
Factions are what keeps our city running and everyone fits into one of the factions. Over a hundred years ago everything was destroyed. Our founders built this city, put and wall around it and created the factions to keep the peace.
Our society is divided into five Factions:
Abnegation are selfless and are the leaders of all of the factions. They usual wear plain clothing.
Amity are peaceful people and live right outside of the fence and grow all of our food. Their clothing colors consist of a lot of earth tones.
Candor are honest and never lie. Their clothes are black and white,much like their views on the truth.
Dauntless are brave, reckless and are the ones who protect everyone. They are covered in tattoos and piercings, and their clothes are black.
Erudite are intelligent. We do everything that has to do with intelligence. From computers, medicine, to the serums that are used by some of the factions for whatever they are needed for, and anything else that could be thought of. Erudite people range from smart to extremely smart, but no one comes close to me. My own mother doesn't even know that i'm as smart as I am. I knew at a very young age that I should keep that to myself.
Then there are the Factionless. They have no status or privilege in society. They are the people who leave their factions or are kicked out. They live on the streets and in abandoned buildings. It's the Abnegation people who feed them and give them cloths.
Now back to me. I'm sixteen, have long wavy black hair, green eyes, i'm 5'8'', and most importantly today is my choosing ceremony
When children reach the age of sixteen, they are subject to a serum-induced psychological test which recommends their best-suited faction, then are allowed to choose any faction as their permanent faction at the subsequent Choosing Ceremony.
The thing is though, once you chose a faction there is no going back. You can't even talk to your family. 'Faction before Blood'.
Since I already knew what the test was going to be,(I hacked into the program and memorized everything thing that would happen, which only took about two minutes.) I did the test the way I knew my mother would want me to, but that didn't mean that I would choose Erudite. I just wanted my mother to see that I did what any true Erudite would do.
As I sit here staring at the screen I hear someone walk though the door. "Athena Matthews! Today is your choosing ceremony and no daughter of mine will be late!" My mother yells at me as she straitens out her perfectly fitted outfit.
My mother always has to look perfect and confident. She always wears nice clothes, her chin length hair is always perfectly straight with just a slight curl, and she always hold herself straight up, shoulders back, and chin up. Though the the things that annoys me is the way she acts so kind to everyone, but I see the fakeness of it all. She doesn't like everyone, she just wants to control them all.
"My apologies mother. I was just about to head over there." I said in my 'perfectly obedient daughter' voice. I shut off my computer as I stand, running my hands over my blue blouse and white slacks as I do so.
She gives me and approving smile as she turns around and walks out the door and starts to head toward the ceremony. I take a deep breath and then I follow her.
Once we arrive I look around the room and see all of the people talking amongst each other, each staying in their factions. The seating is set up so that each faction has a walkway between them so that they stay separated.
I follow my mother around as she greets the different faction leaders and gives 'encouraging advise' to some of the teens choosing today. To which I can only role my eyes at.
We take are seats as Marcus Eaton calls the ceremony to begin. Marcus is the leader of Abnegation and of all of the other factions. I look over at my mother and even though she is smiling I can see the daggers she is shooting at him.
Up one the stage there are five bowls, each standing for a faction and a knife. Marcus calls the fist name and the boy (Candor) goes up onto the stage and he cuts his hand with the knife, he then holds his hand over bowl and lets a drop of blood fall into the bowl. "Amity!" Marcus calls.
This goes on for quite some time until my name is called. I stand up, give my mother a smile and then I walked onto the stage. Without hesitation, I cut my hand and hold my hand over one of the bowls, and I watch as my blood drips into the bowl. I take the cloth that the man hands me and I hold it over my cut as Marcus announces, "Dauntless!"
I can hear the gasps from the crowd as the daughter of the Erudite leader chooses a different faction. I look over at my mortified mother and then I smile to myself as I walk offstage towards my new faction.