I couldn't find my schedule. I went through my backpack, trying to remember what class I had next. Was it geography, math, or history? For the life of me, I couldn't remember. All of my peers were rushing past me to get to their classes. I kept hoping that someone would recognize me and tell me which class I had next. At this point, this day could not be any worse. At least I was wearing my favorite black shirt….wait. How am I naked? I could have sworn I put on clothes this morning…I would not have left for school this way…
"BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!"
I woke up disoriented, and a little panicked. Thank God that it was just a dream. I reached over and turned off my alarm clock, before it could wake up everyone in the dorm. After I turned it off, I lay in bed for a minute, mentally preparing myself for the day. It was my first day at Faction University, where I was studying physical education. I had moved into my dorm room the day before, but I had not met many people yet; not even my roommate. She had left a note simply saying, "Hi, I'm crashing in my friends room tonight, will meet you tomorrow. See you then! –Christina". I had been looking forward to meeting her, but was kind of glad when I was given the room to myself for a night. Christina had decorated her half of the room, leaving mine, as I deemed it, to be decided. After my parents helped me unpack, they went over to the Erudite dorm building to help my brother, Caleb, unpack. My brother was in the Erudite dorm because he was academically ranked in the top 20% of the school. I was in what they called the Dauntless dorm partially because of my major and because of my aptitude test results. My answers were, as they put it, "Directly linked to courageous, physical, or straight-forward results." I still have no idea exactly what that meant, but I have to say that I'm happy where I am.
When I said goodbye to my parents, I tried not to cry. But having to leave them, after all of the years of being with them, was one of the most difficult things I had ever done. I loved them with everything I had, and saying goodbye was something I never wanted to do. As they drove away, Caleb turned to me.
"Do you maybe want to tour the campus? We can get a head start for tomorrow," he said hopefully. I shook my head.
"Honestly, Caleb, I just want to be alone right now," I said sadly, "I think I'm going to go back to my dorm." I hugged him and walked away, still trying to hold in tears. When I got to my room and sat down on my bed, I let the tears fall. I gave myself five minutes of crying, and then shook it off. I needed to be strong. Not just for myself, or for Caleb, but for everyone. People look up to someone who is strong. If I wanted to be someone (which I did) I needed to be strong. Strong people don't cry.
When I chose to go to Faction University, I did a lot of research on the campus and the school itself. I found out that, while we can eat whenever, wherever, and whatever we want, there is a cafeteria that serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Meals can be purchased separately for $2, or you can buy weekly, monthly, and yearly passes. For now, I decided to just pay as I went, since I hoped to not have to eat cafeteria food daily. I ate dinner with Caleb, and he introduced me to his roommate, Fernando. I sat with them and some other people from the Erudite dorm, including this girl named Cara.
"What dorm are you in?" she asked me.
"Dauntless," I replied.
"Oh, my brother is in that dorm!" she said, smiling, "His name is Will. He's super sweet. I'll introduce you two. Oh," she said, waving her hands, "There he is now. WILL! WILL! COME HERE!" A guy that looked a lot like Cara came jogging over. "This is Tris," Cara said, "Tris, this is my brother, Will. Will, Tris is in Dauntless, too!"
"Oh, awesome!" Will said, shaking my hand, "What's your major?"
"Physical Education," I replied, smiling.
"Oh, that should be fun. You'll probably work with Four, then," Will said.
"Four?" I asked, "Like the number?" Will laughed.
"The very same," he replied, "But don't go asking him that. He takes it…personally. But anyways, he's a great guy. He helped me get settled in when I first started here. Anyways, I should get back to my friends. I'll see you around, Tris!" At that, Will ran back to a table a few rows down from ours. Cara nudged me.
"I know you probably aren't interested, but trust me, Four is a real hottie," Cara said, giggling.
"Cara, we're here to get an education," Caleb scolded, "Not to have random hookups."
"Maybe you're here for an education," Cara replied, "But Tris here is in Dauntless. I understand you wanting to study because you're in Erudite but Dauntless doesn't care. And Tris should have fun. That's what college is for, after all."
"Well I don't want to hear about it either way," Caleb snapped.
"Hey, calm down," I said, laughing, "I'm not planning on doing ANYTHING like that. Honestly, at this point, I just want to sleep tonight and get tomorrow over with."
"I know it's nervewracking," Cara said, "But this place is fun. You'll love it here."
"I sure hope so," I said, "But I should go. You guys have a good night." I stood up, cleared my tray, and went back to my room. I finished unpacking and decorating my side of the room, putting up pictures of my family and friends from back home. I fell asleep pretty early, wanting to get a good night's sleep before my first day tomorrow.
After having the dream from hell, I got up and started getting ready for my first day. I decided on a pair of dark wash skinny jeans, a simple black v-neck shirt, and my black converse. I grabbed my beat up black Jansport backpack (which I had packed the night before with my binders and everything) and left for my first class. I had gotten up early the day that registration for classes was open, to ensure that I got all of the classes that I wanted. Looking at my schedule for the week, I had to admit that I liked my classes. On Mondays and Wednesdays I had English 101, Psychology A, and Math 152A. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I had Physical Conditioning and Beginning Yoga.
When I got back from my classes that afternoon, I realized that for once, I was actually content with what I was doing. I loved my classes, and I loved the university. The campus was beautiful, and I didn't mind walking from class to class. When I got back to my room, I saw a dark skinned, dark haired girl sitting on the other bed. Her eyes lit up when I walked in, and she immediately jumped up to greet me.
"You must be Beatrice!" she said hugging me, "I'm Christina!"
"Call me Tris," I said, hugging her back.
"Ooh, I like that. Tris. It's a cool nickname," she said, going back towards her bed.
"Thanks," I replied, setting my stuff down, "So how was your day?"
"It was good," she said, pulling out her phone, "I kind of hate being home during the summer, so coming back here is like my real vacation. I know that sounds weird, but it's so true."
"No, I can understand that," I said honestly.
"So…what are your plans for tonight?" Christina asked me.
"Umm… I was thinking about studying or something," I said, unsure.
"BORING!" Christina yelled, "We're not Erudite. We're Dauntless. We do fun stuff, consequences be damned. I feel like we should do something recklessly fun tonight. You in?"
"Count me in," I said, sitting on my bed, "So what are we going to do?"
"Well, what time is your first class tomorrow?"
"Umm…I think Physical Conditioning starts at around 2 pm?"
"Good," Christina said, rubbing her hands together, and then laughed. "I'm going to call Zeke…he's one of my friends…and will probably be your friend by the end of the night. I mean, you definitely seem like a great person. So I'm going to make sure that you make some great friends." I nodded, and started organizing stuff on my desk while Christina dialed a number on her phone. "ZEKE!" Christina yelled into the phone, "So my roommate and I are bored. Yeah, she's hella cool. No, you'll like her. I think everyone else will, too. Anyways, I'm in the mood to do something reckless tonight. You down? Good. Alright, we'll be over there shortly. Layers? Really? You've got to be kidding me. This isn't high school, Zeke. Ugh. Yes, yes, I know. Alright. We'll be there soon, with layers. Bye."
"Layers?" I asked worriedly.
"Oh, that's nothing to worry about," Christina said, obviously brushing whatever it was off, "It's just for some silly little thing that we do sometimes."