This is just something that came to my mind last night when my boyfriend was assisting me in making covers/banners for my stories. I thought I do a rehash of Differentiate. It's going to be a lot shorter than Differentiate.
For those of you who have been reading Differentiate/Eradicate, I wanted to see how things would be if Ana didn't transfer to Dauntless. This is still an Ana/Eric (OC/Eric) pairing and I hope that you all like it. There are some changes. First one is that Ana and Eric are the same age. She still has her brothers, two of which have transferred to Erudite (just like in Differentiate). I will explain details as we go on or hopefully incorporate them into my story.
I do not own Divergent. Credit goes to Veronica Roth.
My head laid on his chest as my hand slowly ran across his abs, running along the contours and defined muscles of his body. He released a sigh and his arm that was wrapped around my waist pulled onto my body tighter. It was morning I knew that much as I looked about the room. My eyes traveled up to his sleeping face noticing just how much he did get older. No doubt the stress and anxiety had weighed upon this young leader and left him exhausted.
There was an eerie calm that set in the room and I heard noises down the hallway. It would be time soon and I should wake him. But I couldn't pull myself to do so. I knew that once I did wake him up, he would leave me and then I would definitely be alone. I wanted to hang on to him just a minute longer.
I snuggled back into his warmth pressing my lips to his body as he turned, wrapping his other arm around me. Please don't leave me, I thought. I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs that he should stay, that things would be different, that things would have been easier if he only stays. But I knew that I would be lying to myself. Things would always have been this way. Things would have ended exactly like this. And it was all because I had cut my hand and dripped my blood into another bowl.
How do these stories begin? Oh yes. Once upon a time, I believe is how my mother would start them. So let me tell you mine. I will start with the day that I met this man who has me encased in his arms.
Once upon a time there was a sassy fourteen year old Amity girl named JoyAnna. I wasn't like most of the Amity girls. In fact today, like any other day, I kept behind the group that was walking to school. Gabriel was the high school's counselor and often would walk us to school if the horse-drawn wagons were needed in the fields. There had been an accident this morning in the cabbage field which meant that today we would be walking to school.
It was a lengthy distance to walk but of course the group would always remain positive and no one's spirits were dampened by the exercise. I glanced about just as my brother, Jensen had left my side. He was still attending the City's middle school. My other brother Jordan had his choosing ceremony a couple weeks ago. He had gone to Erudite the same as my oldest brother Jonathan, so I had been left without their company.
I held onto my bag and looked about the school grounds as the entryway became crowded with other students ready to be let in. How I dreaded school these days. I let out a sigh as I heard a soft chuckle behind me. I turned around to see an Erudite boy standing before me. He was dressed like any other, possibly a bit taller than the rest. He had on glasses, like most of them did and stood with perfect posture.
"Amity are supposed to be pleasant. Did someone forget their daily dosage of peace serum," he asked.
This was the first time I had ever spoke to anyone who wasn't from Amity, aside from my brothers who had defected. I had not known how to respond and briefly looked around to see if anyone had noticed. Unfortunately for me, this Erudite boy had a couple followers alongside him. One of the boys had been jotting something down in his journal, no doubt assessing my behavior. Everything to them was about assessing or should I say obsessing. The other boy just looked past me, eager to arrive to class and learn about something they probably already knew.
"Did you hear me," the first Erudite boy questioned.
"Perhaps," the second boy took a step forward. "She does not quite understand. Did you use large vocabulary beyond her reach?"
I wanted to be insulted and opened my mouth to reply. However, the first Erudite boy just brushed past me, causing my bag to slip from my hand. "Maybe she overdosed in peace serum this morning," he chuckled as they kept walking in front. "Or maybe she rolled around pig feces and it is clouding her mental faculties."
I took a step forward as if to say something, only to get pulled back by Serenity Fields, one of the more cheerful girls in Amity. She linked our arms together as I sighed in annoyance. We were not best friends or anything remotely close. I did not have friends in Amity. As I said earlier, I am not like most of the Amity girls.
"Peaceful relations, JoyAnna," Serenity reminded me as I let out a small groan of defeat. She tugged on my arm and I stood up straighter and put on a small smile for her. Serenity smiled back and I listened to her and the other girls chat about the beautiful sunrise this morning.
They had dragged me to class, humming or giggling about something unimportant. We had taken our usual seats in the back of the classroom across the Dauntless. Usually the Erudite sat up front with the Candor close by, ready to object or debate something that was being taught. The Abnegation mostly in the middle or sometimes took to sitting off to the side, giving up their seats for students who were late.
Miss Matthews walked in and started to discuss the papers that we had handed in. Miss Matthews had currently become the leader of Erudite. This would have been her last year as teacher at the City school and no doubt some other Erudite would take her place. When she handed my paper to me, I happened to glance up and notice the smile that played upon her lips.
"Well done, Miss Summers," Miss Matthews said and then continued to hand back the reports.
I turned my paper over to see that I had gotten another excellent grade. A few of the Amity girls leaned forward to look. Some of them stared at me in shock. One of the girls made a comment that soon I would be joining my brothers in Erudite as well. It caught the attention of a Dauntless boy on the side that grabbed my paper and looked it over.
"Seems like this one is the wrong faction," he elbowed his friend next to him. They had started to laugh.
I took the paper back and stuffed it in my bag. I was already treated differently in Amity. I didn't want to be labelled so soon as someone who didn't belong. Miss Matthews continued with the lesson for the day. I didn't want to pay attention today. I didn't want to be singled out any more than I already had been. Miss Matthews had called on a boy from Erudite to answer a question. When the boy stood, I noticed that it was the same boy from this morning.
"Miss Summers." I looked up quickly to see that Miss Matthews had called on me. "Perhaps you can explain to Mr. Eric Coulter the five levels of need as determined by Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs?"
"I don't know the answer," I said.
Miss Matthews lifted an eyebrow and then came to stand where she could get a better view of me, I suppose. "I believe you do Miss Summers. Please tell Mr. Coulter here the five levels of need."
I glanced over at the boy to see his eyes narrow at me. I slowly stood up, playing with the sleeve of my sweater, tugging at it. Miss Summers cleared her throat and put a hand up motioning towards the boy.
"What are the terms," Miss Matthews questioned.
"Maslow used the terms psychological, safety, belonging or love, esteem, and self-actualization," I answered. Some of the Dauntless started to laugh as well as a few Candors. They had begun to tease the Erudite boy and he looked at me harshly.
"Silence class," Miss Mathews said. "Thank you Miss Summers." I slowly went to sit back in my chair as did the Erudite boy.
I did not notice it until this day but the boy who Miss Matthews called Eric Coulter was in every single one of my classes, even the farming and agricultural class. Each time I dared to look at him he would be glancing my way with a scowl present on his face. I would try to hide behind my books or even tried to avoid him during lunch. No matter where I had situated myself he was always in a spot where his eyes would stare me down.
After class had finished I hurried out to walk back to Amity. I wanted to get home. That wasn't the first time that I was graded high on a paper. It started happening last year. My eldest brother Jonathan had been giving me books ever since the first time we went to visit him during visiting day. Since then I had been noticing more things at school, memorizing more facts and details, recognizing certain procedures and methods. It was bad enough that I wasn't always happy and didn't have friends. Gabriel had arrived at our house later that evening after my father had come in from the fields.
I sat down on the stairs with Jensen next to me as Gabriel spoke to my parents about my test scores increasing and about today's incident in class. When Gabriel had left, my father called me out to the back porch where his favorite chair was. I walked there shyly looking at the ground.
"Come here, Songbird," he opened his arms. Even though I was fourteen, my father still pulled me into his lap and started to hum the melody that would make me less frightened when I was a child. "Gabriel said that you are receiving excellent grades in school."
"I don't mean to," I spoke, sitting up and on the verge of tears.
"I know you don't. As hard as you try there is that quality in you that both Jonathan and Jordan possessed."
"I don't want to leave," I cried.
"Songbird, no one is making you leave. It has been brought to their attention though that you do have the capacity to become an Erudite in the future."
"Please Papa, don't make me go there. I don't want to be different anymore," my teeth bit at my bottom lip to stop from trembling.
"Then you won't be," he kissed my forehead. "You can always have a home with your mother and me. Always," he pulled my head to rest on his shoulder.
My parents had never pressured me to be happy all the time. Well at least my father didn't. Sometimes you could see the disappointment in my mother's eyes. She did not take to the idea that her only daughter did not enjoy cooking or baking. Even though I did like to sing, I didn't like to dance as often, braid my hair, or admire the rain. It was nice to look at the first minute or so, but really? It was just water that fell from the sky.
The next morning I had another encounter with the Erudite boy, Eric. I had seen him in the hallway walking after another Erudite girl with brunette hair. She didn't seem to care about whatever it was he was saying to her. She simply kept walking. I thought that was rude. Eric's eyes glanced over at me and I quickly looked down. I didn't think I had said it out loud.
"No, you're right," he said. "She is rude. I guess you're right about everything aren't you?"
"I didn't mean to..."
"Whatever. Just stay out of my way, Amity."
At the end of the week I had seen him again receiving a stern speech from Miss Matthews. I tried to pass by quickly and walk straight into class. Miss Matthews noticed me though. Who wouldn't notice anyone from Amity? We always used red, yellow, and orange, sometimes brown or green. But those colors always stood out. She had asked me to head a research team for a class project.
The project was on the factionless. Miss Matthews informed me that Eric was doing the subject of factionless rights and felt that he was ill qualified. She knew that I was brilliant and responsible enough to lead the project and wanted me to take over. I saw Eric shake his head and turn away.
"Forgive me, Miss Matthews but I must decline," I stated. Eric looked over at me.
"May I ask why, Miss Summers," Miss Matthews placed her hands one over the other in the front of her.
"I do not feel that I am responsible enough to lead. As Amity has no leader, I do not know what 'leading' would cover. I do not want anyone to fail on my account. And if it means anything," I turned to Eric, but kept my head down when I noticed his gaze looked cruelly at me. "The students as is already look up to him to get the job done. I've heard that many, not just the Erudite students, feel that he is intelligent and reliable. It would cause dissention in the group if I were to take over. And being from Amity, I do not work well where there is a disturbance of the peace."
"Well answered, Miss Summers. There you are Mr. Coulter, it seems that one of your classmates already entrust you with authority," she said before entering the classroom. I followed quickly to avoid another conversation with Eric.
The days had gone by at school without another incident at school. I tried to keep my head down in class or hide myself among the other Amity girls. I still believed that their speech was pointless. After a couple weeks, I had finally discovered that my presence had gone back to unnoticed by the curious Eric Coulter from Erudite. This brought me joy because I was finally able to relieve myself from the giggling company of Serenity and the other Amity girls.
It was the first day that I broke away from their posse that I ran into Eric again. I had escaped to the library to find a continuing book of the series that my brother had introduced me to. The librarian did not need to tell me where to go since I already could understand how the system worked. As soon as I found it, I couldn't help but smile. I had been dying to find out what had happened to the main character and made my way towards a table. Right as I rounded the corner a tall figure in blue caused the book to slip out of my hand.
"Well if it isn't the Amity," he smiled. He glanced down and saw the book had fallen. I don't know why he did so but he leaned down to pick it up and handed it to me. "Here you are." I slowly reached out to take it and was about to walk away when his hand shot out. "My name is Eric Coulter."
"I know," I said softly which caused him to raise an eyebrow.
"It seems that you know a lot of things don't you, Miss..."
"Summers," I answered. "My name is JoyAnna Summers."
Eric pressed his lips and titled his head. "Summers? As in Jonathan Summers?"
"That is my oldest brother. Well," I looked away remembering our City's rule. "He was my oldest brother. Faction before blood," I shrugged.
"Right," Eric smiled.
I couldn't help but look, like actually look at him as he did. I realized that this time around he did not have the glasses on. I was able to look directly into his light blue eyes. I detected a hint of grey, almost like a storm cloud was present in the sky. That's what it was. His eyes were like the sky full of clouds. I smiled at my thought and looked back down.
"You should do that more often," he stated as I looked back at him confused. "Smile I mean. Amity are supposed to smile and you have a beautiful smile."
"Thanks," I said looking away.
"Anytime," he stated as he walked past me. "JoyAnna," he called out. I turned to see him smile. "Thank you for the other day. I was feeling down and although I don't know why you said it but your words to Miss Matthews made me feel better."
"You're welcome," I smiled.
"That's a good book by the way," he nodded towards my hand. I smiled again looking at the book. "Let me know when you get to book four in the series. Things really get exciting from there."
"I will."
"Bye JoyAnna."
"Goodbye Eric," I waved as he smiled one more time before exiting the library.
That night I found myself devouring page after page of book three in hopes of reaching book four. I really wanted something to speak to Eric about in the days to come. Little did I know that we would have so much to talk about for the next ten years.
How did you all like that? Tell me what you all think. I'm just trying this and seeing where it will go.