*Disclaimer: I do not own Divergent or any of the characters from it, no matter how amazing that would be.*
I pull myself into the train car as I've done my whole life. My best friends, Brooke and Stella, jump in after me. We sit together against the wall, the wind blowing our hair into our faces.
"Are you guys ready for the Choosing Ceremony?" I ask them. We've talked about the ceremony a lot, but I didn't know what else to say. Brooke nods her head excitedly.
"Of course!" Stella says. "How many transfers do you think we'll get this year?" I shrug my shoulders.
"Who knows," I reply. "It changes every year. I know that there were eleven the year my mother transferred to Dauntless. I've heard the story enough times to remember that much."
"We've heard it just as many times as you have!" Brooke exclaims. We all start laughing. My mother and father never got tired of telling us the story of how they met. I guess it was romantic, but after hearing it over and over again, it starts to sound a little bit less romantic.
Brooke, Stella, and I walk up the front steps of the Hub together, my hands shaking slightly from nerves. There are people from almost all of the factions piling into the small elevator. We walk past them all and sprint up the stairs to the twentieth floor. I get to the top first. Brooke and Stella reach the top a little bit after I do, gasping for breath.
"How… do… you… do… that… so… damn… fast?" Stella asks me in between breaths.
"Practice," I reply. "And a lot of exercise. Something that you could benefit from," I add, laughing. Stella rolls her eyes at me. A man from Abnegation is holding the door open as we walk into the room. I murmur a quiet thank-you to him as I pass. My mother always tells me that I have to be polite to people, so I try my hardest.
I am separated from Stella and Brooke as we get in line. It's organized alphabetically by last name, so I'm standing in between Dylan Eastwood from Erudite and Caroline Everhart from Dauntless. Stella is standing on Caroline's other side and Brooke is standing at the very front.
Once everyone is pretty much settled, the representative from Candor gets up on the podium and starts to speak. I tune him out until he starts to call out names in reverse alphabetical order.
"Alyssa Eaton," he finally calls. I stand up, clutching onto my black shirt so that no one could see my hands shaking. I walk towards the five bowls in the center of the room and hold out my left hand. The man from Candor hands me the knife and I cut my hand, watching as the blood quickly pools in my palm. I take a deep breath.
Why am I so nervous? I think to myself. I know what faction I want to be in. I walk up to the bowl and turn my hand over, letting my crimson blood fall. The hot coals sizzle as the blood hits them, and it's all over. I'm done.
I walk over to stand next to Stella with the rest of the Dauntless initiates. I grip onto her arm as we watch the rest of the sixteen year-olds in the room pick their factions. Finally the man from Candor calls Brooke's name. She walks up to the front and takes the knife from the man. She cuts her and hesitates. Walk over to the Dauntless bowl, Brooke. I say in my head. Brooke turns her hand over, her blood staining the gray stones sitting in the Abnegation bowl.
Stella and I start sprinting when the train comes. We pull ourselves in and look out the door of the train, watching the transfers struggle to get in. One girl with red hair tries to pull herself into the car that Stella and I are in. She almost falls, but I grab her pale, freckled hand and yank her up into the car.
"Thanks," she says. "I was really worried that I wouldn't make it." I smile at her and Stella and I go to sit against the wall.
"I can't believe that Brooke switched to Abnegation," Stella says, sniffling a little bit. "I mean, come on, no one switches to Abnegation."
"I'm really going to miss her," I say. Stella nods her head in agreement. I watch the girl that I helped get into the train. She's standing against the wall watching the city go by. "Hey, red," I call. The girl looks up.
"Me?" she asks.
"Yes, you. I don't see any other redheads on this train, do you?" The girl shakes her head and walks over to sit next to me. "What's your name?" I ask her.
"I'm Avery," she says, introducing herself. "I switched from Amity."
"I figured, considering the fact that you're wearing a red dress. I'm Alyssa, but I much prefer Lyssa. This is my best friend, Stella." We ride in silence until I see the first person jump onto the roof. I smile to myself before I tell Avery to stand up.
"We have to jump now. Make sure you don't fall off." I grab Stella's hand and we get ready to jump off. "Just follow our lead," I say. Then I jump. I love the feeling of flying through the air before landing on the roof. Avery jumps out of the train after us, screaming. When she lands on the roof, she stands up and starts laughing.
"That was great!" she says. "When can I do it again?" I snort.
"Well if the part you liked was the jumping, you get to do it again pretty soon."
"All right, everyone!" Uriah shouts at us. "Settle down! For those of you who don't know me, I'm Uriah. Below us is the members' entrance to the Dauntless compound. To get there, you have to jump off of this ledge. Who wants to go first?"
No one volunteers. I roll my eyes. "I'll go!" I shout. Uriah sighs.
"Fine, Lyssa, you'll go first. Everyone watch." I step up to the ledge of the roof and look down into the darkness, taking a deep breath. Then I jump.
Above me I hear several gasps as I surge toward the ground. I hit the net at the bottom hard and roll over to the edge. I pull myself up out of the net and stand next to Will, the person who oversees the training of the transfers. Stella lands in the net and I help her onto the platform where I'm standing. I hear a shout as Avery falls onto the net.
Once everyone is off of the roof, Will starts to talk.
"Alright everyone. I'm Will, and this is Liam. I will be overseeing the training of our transfers and Liam will be overseeing the training of our Dauntless-born initiates. Follow me." We all follow him down a narrow tunnel until we stop. The transfers follow Will into the Pit and the Dauntless-born initiates stay behind with Liam.
"Alright," he says. "I'm glad to see that most of you are back. Let's go." We follow him into the darkness, and initiation begins.