I tapped my fingers impatiently against the cafeteria table and look around at everyone around talking to their friends, laughing at a joke or two, but not me. My faction, the Erudite, had started a war five years ago, and now everyone still hates us even though we weren't the ones in involved. My mom told used to tell me stories about the war, I think it was to keep me from acting out of place, but they never had the desired effect on like it did the other kids. People have always found me weird, maybe because I was a daredevil, maybe it was my ability to stay "creepily" calm in the worse of situations, or maybe it was my willingness to take a punch or two to stand up for someone. It doesn't really matter to me even though having a friend might have helped me when I was younger, but the need has now just gone away. I brush my dark bangs out of my face and look at the clock watching the second hand tick away.
I looked over at the Amity who always wore red and yellow, they were the peacekeepers in a way. They always tried to include everyone in something, everyone except me that is. The Abnegation were at a different table to my right with their heads bowed and whispering to each other. They were selfless, but I guess not selfness enough to do any good. The Candor were sitting in front of me, they always told the truth no matter how painful it is in the end. My own faction sat a few tables behind me, we were suppose to ne the smartest of all the factions, but if we were the smartest the past generations wouldn't have started a war that tore through the Abnegation faction area that was near the Factionless area. The Factionless were initiates who didn't pass their initiations into their chosen faction, which I see as pointless since that person should've thought it through before choosing a faction. Then there was the Dauntless who now have a splotched reputation because of their hand in the war though there were a few that didn't get involved.
Today was Assessment Day when we all went through a simulation that would show us the faction we mainly fit in, I saw someone throwing up outside the school, and I suppressed a laugh. I didn't really see why a little simulation would get some people so bent out of shape. I barely noticed a girl sit in front of me until she was about to touch me but I spoke intently.
"Touch me and you will lose that hand." I told her.
"Wow, you are as unapproachable as they say." She replied while taking away her hand.
"It helps when I don't have any friends to have to keep in good eye with." I replied coldly
"Yet you throw yourself in the way of fights to protect people, and then you're gone before they can thank you." She replied.
I looked her slightly and she smiles at me. She's wearing the colors of Amity, her brown hair is tied back into a ponytail, and her eyes are watching my every move.
"Why did you come over here?" I asked her.
"Well, you looked lonely, so I thought I'd come talk to you." She replied.
"Look, I've gone a long time without a friend, so I'm good without one." I responded.
"But for how long?" She asked before smiling.
"What's so funny?" I asked her.
"My friends are being weird." She replied.
I barely glanced over my shoulder to one of the tables filled with Amity to find a bunch of girls making faces at us.
"Very funny." I replied.
"You seriously need to loosen up, have some fun." She told me.
"Fun is illogical and wastes time." I replied.
"Very Erudite of you to say that." She replied, sarcastically. "Just come and meet them they won't bite."
"Yeah, sure the first thing I think about when I see someone is watch out they might bite." I retorted.
She laughed slightly, but I just shook my head slightly before standing up.
"Where are you going?" She asked me.
"I'm not going to win the argument in the end so might as well as get it over with." I replied. "But aren't you worried about what everyone else will think?"
"If I was I wouldn't have come over in the first place, now would I?" She asked me.
"I guess not." I replied.
She looped her arm through mine and when I looked at her like she was crazy she simply replied. "It will help other people see as approachable."
As we walked over to the table I saw her friends had all quieted down when she had looped her arm through mine, and as we sat down by each other they exploded with questions.
"Are you two already dating?" One girl asked.
"What's his name?" Asked another.
"What are ideas about your faction?" The girl that brought me over asked.
"Mellisa, it's rude to someone to speak out against their own faction." A blond-haired replied
"Don't worry, I don't have a problem doing so," I replied "but it seems they are starting to call names."
"Oh, not a problem, we are all towards the middle of the list so we've got awhile." One of the girls replied. "By the way I'm Victoria, and from left to right there is Fayth, Jasmine, Riley, and Yvonne."
I nodded my before starting why I didn't agree with Erudite so much, and occasionally stopped to answer a few questions, but soon it was only me and Mellisa left at the table.
"What's your last name?" Mellisa asked me. "But first your first name."
"Desmond Stein." I replied. "And your last name is?"
"Summers, so it looks like you will be going before me, but could you wait for me outside of the school?" She asked me.
"Okay, I'll see you then good luck with your aptitude test." I tell her as my name gets called.
I sat down in the metal chair without a second thought, and as I felt the needle go into my neck I felt relieved as the simulation washed over me. I opened my eyes to find myself face to face with a Rottweiler that was foaming at the mouth, I smiled as I got onto my stomach and let the dog run at me, but as soon as it got close I tackled it. Then that simulation disappeared and I was face to face with Mellisa, she pulled out a knife and lunged at me, but I dodged her swing. I grabbed her wrist and yanked down so that the knife dropped to the ground, and then I rolled to pull her down along with me. When I looked up there was someone with a gun pointed at both of us, I slowly got to my feet as the gun followed me, and I put my hands up.
"You wouldn't want to shoot us, but if you must, shoot me, not the girl." I told the guy.
I saw that the guy was shaking violently and I smiled as best as I could since I wanted to disarm him, but if I tried at the wrong time I knew me and Mellisa could get shot. I waited for his arm to relax before launching myself at him and wretched the gun from his hand but soon everything disappeared to be replaced by a train. I was thrown into a nearby seat by the change of movement, but I was back on my feet just to be stopped by someone in Candor apparel.
"Do you know this guy?" The guy asked me while showing me a picture.
"No, I don't know him, haven't seen him once in my life." I replied while pushing past him.
Then I woke up back in the chair with the woman typing frantically away on her keyboard, she noticed that I was awake and ushered me out the door. I waited outside the school as Mellisa came walking down steps, and she smiled when she saw me.
"Didn't think you would remember to wait for me." Mellisa replied.
"Why would I forget?" I asked her.
"People from Amity usually stay in their own faction for friends." Mellisa replied.
"You came and talked to me in the first place, and everyone says even the Dauntless don't even want to talk to me." I replied.
"We should get going my parents might go crazy if I get home any later." Mellisa told me.
"Of course, this town has been through a lot, I can relate." I mumbled.
"Do you want me to see if you can come over for dinner?" Mellisa asked me.
"Sure, not like my parents will notice or care if I don't come home." I replied.
"Don't say that, I'm sure they do, but they just don't know how to admit it." Mellisa replied.
"They look at me like I'm worthless, like they wished I was someone else's kid." I replied without looking at her.
"You never know that." Mellisa replied.
"You're parents barely keep their cool around them, the first time I watched them talking to each other I swore your dad was going to blow." I replied.
"So they know each other, that is something I never knew." She replied
"They are Amity, not Candor, so don't act so surprised." I told her as the train got closer. "Ready? I'll be behind you to help you on."
Mellisa nodded as she started to jog next to the train and when she tried to pull herself on she was hanging halfway through the doorway. I grabbed the handle right above her hand and wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her the rest of the way in with me. We both sat down quickly so that the wind didn't knock us over as the train sped towards the gates, and I looked over to find Mellisa laughing to herself.
"What's so funny?" I asked her.
"My friends are going to think that I'm insane for hopping onto a train like dauntless do. How long have you been doing this for?" Mellisa asked me.
"As long as I care to remember." I replied before leaning my head against the wall of the train. "Of course my parents reprimanded me for doing, but after a while they just told if I died doing this they wouldn't care."
"God, your parents are sounding worse and worse by the second." Mellisa told me.
"Told you, and you are just now starting to believe me?" I asked her.
"I've been taught to give everyone the benefit of a doubt." Mellisa replied. "I'm glad I did with you."
"Thanks." I replied as the train started to slow down.
I took Mellisa hand and led her to the doors of the train.
"We jump on three." I told her.
She nodded as I started counting when I got to three I leaped out of the train pulling Mellisa, when I landed I defused the momentum and wrapped my arm around Mellisa's waist to keep her on her feet.
"Thanks." Mellisa told me as we walked towards the gate.
The two Dauntless guards at the gate eyed both of us suspiciously and the shorter couldn't help but asked what was on her mind.
"What is an Amity and Erudite doing together?" She asked us.
"I'm a friend, or is that illegal?" I asked her.
I smiled as the woman got angry, but she didn't retaliate. The guy put in the code in the gate and we slipped through as soon as there was enough room.
"You didn't have to do that you know." Mellisa told me.
"Come on, don't say you didn't think it was funny." I replied.
When we got the Amity compound a little girl ran up me and wanted me to pick her and when I look at Mellisa she nodded. I picked the girl and we continued to walk towards the Amity compound, and when we got there my eardrums nearly exploded from all the noise bouncing around the room. Then two tall adults came walking up to us, the woman had shoulder length brown hair the color of a hazelnut, her grey eyes full of joy as she looked from Mellisa to me. The guy on the other hand seemed suspicious of my, his black hair cut very, and his grey eye stayed trained on me.
"Great to see you again Jason." The guy told me.
"At least my parents aren't around." I replied.
"Follow us, we already got Mellisa message, and we agreed." Her mom told me. "You might want to put the kid down."
I placed the kid back on her feet and told to go to play with her friends before walking Mellisa and her parents. "Just don't feed me any bread."
"Don't worry we did away with all of that a long time ago." Her dad laughed.