I had a dream about my mother's death. It happened so unexpectedly. I come back from school and she was on the ground. Blood and broken glass were everywhere. I dropped to the ground as I helplessly crawled to her trying to wake her up. Tears were blurring my vision and all I could make out was the clouded memories of the good times I had with her. Just when I was about to go more deeper into this dream the curtains were drawn open to reveal the bright sun. "Wake up you have aptitude testing today." This might be weird considering that I told you that I was the daughter of Jeanine Matthews. I'm related to her but she's not my mom.
My mom was the leader of Erudite. My mom was Theresa Davis and when news went around of my her death I was immediately put into custody of Jeanine Matthews since she was the only living family member I had left. She adopted me or she was kind of forced to adopt me considering the fact that I was under sixteen and haven't chosen yet so being factionless was not an option for me. So I'm no longer her niece I'm her daughter now. My mother was Jeanine's little sister they never got along on the best of terms but they did tolerate each other. They were both born into Erudite and when the time came for one of them to be chosen leader of Erudite it was given to my mom.
When I said that people in Erudite were snobbish I didn't mean all of them. Not all of us are rude and invasive. My mom was the one who wanted to use knowledge to better our society. She wanted to rebuild our city to what it once was in its glory days. She created new and productive ways to cure us of diseases. She even made a peace treaty with Abnegation. She teamed up with them so they can help the Factionless. Those were the good old days until it ended when she died. Now Jeanine is the leader and she basically broke down everything that my mom worked so hard to create. Jeanine doesn't even trust or like Abnegation she thinks they're hiding information from the rest of society.
I got out of my bed and went over to my notepad to make another tally mark. I've been counting down the times I had the dream of my parents death. I looked at the picture I had on the counter of them and me as a little girl. " Morning mom it's time. Wish me luck." I put on the usual outfit. A white button down shirt, a blue pencil skirt, a blue blazer, and black heels. As I was done putting up my bun and my glasses I walked almost forgetting the most important thing I need.
My mother's necklace. She always wore a necklace of a star. She always called me her little wishing star. When I turned thirteen she gave it to me so that when I'm older she'll need some way to find her way back to me and that as long as I wear it she will always be with me.
I was spreading the grape jelly slowly on my toast and ate my breakfast quietly like all other days and meals. I really don't connect and talk with my mom. I mean my aunt. I know she adopted me as her daughter but it's still weird. I've always looked at her as my aunt so I called her my aunt doesn't seem to bother her when I still call her that.
"Are you nervous?" she asked. "No why would I be I'm sure I'll get Erudite and choose Erudite during my ceremony." This is why I dread this day. I'm gonna get Erudite as a result and will be forced to choose Erudite which means I'll be stuck here in my boring, slow life and to be honest I don't want to be Erudite leader. I'm sure I'll do bad job at it. Even my mom said that when the time came and I choose a different faction she'll love me no matter what. I don't think that applies to Jeanine.
"Ariana when I was your age." Oh no here we go again the story about how she chose Erudite and how it was the greatest decision of her life. "Me choosing Erudite was a choice not forced upon my parents but upon me because if I didn't then how would the factions be in line." she said. "First off your mom didn't choose you to be the leader in the first place she chose my mom and my mom did a great job running Erudite and then when you came you just broke everything that she once built. Look at the relationship we have with Abnegation. We're writing horrible articles about them and blaming them for the problems in our society. It's not right and not fair."
"Sometimes we have to make some sacrifices and those sacrifices are necessary. Your mother may have improved Erudite slightly but it is me that is thinking of the good of the factions."
"Faction. Remember you're only in charge of Erudite. It's Abnegation that runs the city and I like it that way." I said finishing my toast and taking a sip of my tea. "I'm leaving. Will's probably waiting for me." I said walking off. Remember when I said about me having barely any friends. I have one friend and that's Will. He's my only friend. The only one that's not scared of me just because of Jeanine.
"Hey Aria did you see this article that our faction published?" he said. I took the article from him and quickly read through it. "Now they're blaming Abnegation for stealing food. This is unbelievable! This is going too far! I can't believe Jeanine is letting our faction publish these articles." I said in frustration crumpling the article up. "She's still doing nothing about it? I thought she said she take care of it?"
"You know my aunt. I swear if my mom was still in charge she would never let this happen. She would never create this rivalry between us and Abnegation." Will and I took my private car to school. Since I'm Jeanine niece/daughter I get special treatment. Well I always have since the day I was born. "You nervous for your test?" asked Will. "Why is everyone asking me that?"
"Sorry didn't know it was a touchy subject. I'm gonna guess you really don't care." he said. "You're right I don't because it's just gonna give me Erudite and I'm gonna have to choose Erudite and guess what I'm gonna take over for Jeanine and she expects me to do things her way. If my mom was still here she wouldn't care if I stayed or left. She would want what makes me really happy. I miss her now."
"Yeah I agree. It's been rough ever since Jeanine took over. We all miss Theresa. Everything was better with her around. Your mom had something. She had an eye to see the good in people and in the world and I think you do too which means you don't have to choose Erudite. You can always choose a different faction. I mean c'mon you're miserable after her death she wouldn't want you to be so sad. She would want you to be happy and live by your own choices not Jeanine's and not anyone else's. Let loose have some fun in your life."
"I wish but it can't happen. I'm supposed to pick Erudite because traditions." I said. "Yeah well sometimes traditions must be broken like with your mom. Jeanine was the oldest and next in line but your grandmother chose Theresa because I guess she could see the light and good in her. There's gonna be a time when you'll stop worrying about Jeanine." Will sounds like mom now. I really need my mom at this time. I love my dad too but my mom and I had a connection. It's like we shared the same light and the same dream. We were one and the same. As soon as we got out of the car when we made it to school I made sure to tell the driver I'll be taking the bus home. I always want to take a long time going home so I can be alone for some time.
When I entered the school I bumped into Lara (who's a Dauntless born) and her two little cronies (Chloe and Lizzie). "Watch it knowitall." she said. I'll go into detail about Lara. She's nothing but mean, rude, brutal Dauntless bitch. She even punched me in the face when I accidentally spilled my lunch on her. It wasn't my fault there was a spill on the floor and I must've walked through it and slipped and fell. I said I was sorry but she didn't take that as an apology. She took punching me in the face as an apology. I had to tell my mom I banged my face to the wall by accident thank goodness she fell for that.
Her sister is in Dauntless leadership this is why she acts like a brat. My mom and aunt may have been in leadership but at least I don't act like a total brat. Our classes were cut in half today for our aptitude testing. Thank goodness because I don't want to deal with Lara in Faction History. She sits right behind me and she pulls on my hair a lot. I always sit with Will but since he's testing I was alone. I saw some Erudite girls and I wanted to try to make more friends or at least make a good impression to myself. I walked over to their table and introduced myself very nicely and asked them how they are doing. They just looked at me as if I was factionless and started shaking with fear. I went back to my table and waited until they called my name.
When they called my name Will came back out and patted me on the back wishing me good luck. Well here we go.
