Chapter 2

They all sat in the cafeteria, trying not to look scared. Chris was pretending to sleep on his arms, Zeke sitting on the table and rolling his eyes next to him, whilst balancing a knife on his finger for as long as possible. Jessica sat with her friends, smiling as they played the clapping game that was tradition whilst waiting for the test, clamping her mouth tightly to avoid saying what she thought of it. Juliette sat, watching her two best friends Kat and Will having an animated argument and chiming in occasionally. But her mind was elsewhere. Amy was reading, well, looking at a book, not taking in a single word and worrying about what she would face in the test. Michael just sat, on the outside, his face was a mask of calm, but inside he was worrying. He was then worrying about worrying, because wasn't Abnegation supposed to be about looking away from yourself? Wasn't he being self-centred?

"Are you alright Michael?" asked Tobias in a low voice. He had seen through Michael's mask. He smiled at Tobias.

"I'm fine, are you ok?" he asked, seeing Tobias was slightly ashen-faced. Before Tobias could answer, the doors opened and a lady came in with a sheet of paper, where she read out 5 names.

"Abnegation: Tobias Eaton. Amity: Leila Fields. Candor: Juliette Clearglass. Dauntless: Ezekiel Pedrad. Erudite: Cara Connaison". The five 16 year-olds stood and left, to cheers from Dauntless, choruses of 'good luck's from Erudite and Amity, 'see you later' from Candor, and nods from the Abnegation table.

Juliette was shown to a room with glass walls and a reclining dentist's chair in the centre hooked up to a computer. A Dauntless man walked in and introduced himself as George. He hooked her up to the machine and then himself.

"Drink this," he told her, handing her a vial of liquid. Knowing it was to do with the test, she took it and downed it silently.

She was in a room, facing a table. On it was a knife and a piece of cheese.

"Choose," a voice told her. She looked around wildly for the source, but couldn't see where the disembodied voice was coming from.

"Choose!" the voice came again. Juliette looked at the table. It was stupid to take either when she had no idea what she would need it for. She picked them both up.

Suddenly, her blood chilled as she heard growling from behind her. She turned to see a very angry-looking dog advancing on her slowly. She knew about dogs and realised what the cheese and knife would be for. But she didn't want to kill it when it hadn't attacked her yet and she didn't want to try to feed it only to have it eat her arm as well. So she tried to calm her beating heart because dogs could smell fear, and she sat down, making herself look less fierce and avoiding its eyes. And, miraculously, it stopped growling and wagged its tail. She smiled and it nuzzled her hand, begging to be petted. She fed it the cheese, rubbing its head and smiling

I heard a scream and looked around at a girl, who shouted "puppy!" and reached out for it. Its teeth were bared and it was racing towards the girl. Without thinking, Juliette raced after it, still holding the knife. She threw herself in-between the dog and the girl and as it jumped and held out the knife, closing her eyes. She loved dogs, but some were too dangerous to live. She felt the impact of its body on the knife and knew that the girl was safe.

When she opened her eyes, the scene had dissolved and she was on a bus. A man came up to her.

"Do you know this man?" he asked, angrily pointing at a picture. It was of a man that Juliette vaguely recognised and the headline said 'murderer apprehended'. She knew that, as a Candor, she should immediately tell him that yes, she knew him. On the other hand he looked very angry, and she wasn't sure if he'd like her answer. But she stood her ground, and answered as truthfully as she could whilst keeping him calm.

"I don't know. He looks familiar but… I think I may know him."

The man's whole demeanour changed. He looked desperate.

"If you did, you could help me!" he told her.

"How could I help you?" she asked, shaking her head.

"You can save me!"

"How?! How could I possibly help you?"

"Because I need to know if someone knows him," he replied brokenly. She felt a little guilty and then muttered "I think I do. I'm sorry." He looked happy.

The scene changed yet again and she was in a garden.

"What do you want?" the disembodied voice was back.

"What do you want to be?!" even more insistent.

"I… I don't know!" she shouted back.

"Choose! What is your goal?" She thought about all the factions.

"I want to be happy. But I want to be honest, I want to be selfless, I want to be intelligent and I want to be brave!" she told it, blinking back tears. The scene dissolved and she found herself back in the mirrored room, blinking at George, who looked shocked. He glanced at the corners of the room, and then looked at me.

"You've broken the system," he told her matter-of-factly. "Everyone will have to put in the results manually, which will help," he said cryptically, leaving the room and returning a few minutes later.

"I've put you down for Candor," he told her, sitting down and running a hand through his dark hair.

"What is my result?" she asked him, fearful of the answer.

"Your results were… inconclusive. You are what is called… divergent." She gasped. She had heard of this, and assumed it was a fable.

"Most Divergent show an aptitude for two factions, but you… you, Juliette, have shown aptitude for… all of the factions." Her mouth opened.

"All of them?" she whispered in horror.

"Yes. Choosing either the cheese or the knife was supposed to rule out either Amity or Dauntless. You chose both. The way you dealt with the dog was Erudite when you averted the attack, Amity when you gave it the cheese, Abnegation when you threw yourself between it and the girl, then Dauntless when you killed it. On the bus, you told the truth- Candor. But you showed discretion- not Candor. You wanted to calm him- Amity. You didn't back down- Dauntless. You wanted to help the man- Abnegation. But you needed to know how and why- Erudite. I manipulated you into the garden to try to get any kind of answer, but again, you chose all of them. You see?"

She nodded, although her mind was spinning.

"You cannot tell anyone what you got. Do you understand?" She nodded again.

"No-one. Not your friends, not your family. There's a good chance that you can remain undetected, because the system couldn't cope with you, which means everyone will have to have their results put in manually. Stay under the radar, don't show your Divergence- that is, if you're put in simulations like that, don't reveal that you know you're in one; non-Divergents cannot tell they are in a simulation. I would recommend Abnegation or Amity, where you'll be safer. Everywhere else is dangerous. But it is up to you- I can only recommend. If you choose Dauntless, you prove you are brave. If you choose Amity, you prove that you're peaceful- but these won't define you. Act like your faction. I suggest you take a moment before you rejoin your friends. It's all danger from now on."

She nodded for the third time and got up, leaving the room.

When she rejoined the Candor table, she saw that the five testers had come into the room, and were explaining that due to a fault, all results would have to be put in manually. The Erudite woman added that it would not affect the results, just that they would have to leave the room to record it. Then, she pulled out the list and read out the next five names. The testing carried on.