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"Wake up!"

Someone was shaking me, and talking rather loudly.

"Go away…" I muttered. "It's too early…"

Opening my eyes, I was Shimea standing at the bedside.

"It's our first day of initiate training," he said. "You don't wanna be late, do you?"

"What time is it?"

"Seven o' clock. Isn't it nice? One of the perks of being almost grown-up is that you can sleep in an extra hour. No school to worry about!"

Sitting up, I asked, "So, how much later have I gotten up than everyone else?"

"A minute or so later." Shimea shrugged.

I groaned.

"You made it seem like everyone else was ready to go out the door!"

Shimea laughed, saying, "There's no need to shout!"

Downstairs, everyone ate their porridge in thoughtful silence, until Cindy cleared her throat. Everyone looked up from their bowls, all attention turned towards our instructor.

"Today is a special day," she said. "As you all know, these next few weeks you will be doing community service, and the first day of Abnegation training is normally kicked off with a bang. This fine morning, you will be feeding the factionless."

I felt a shiver go up my spine. Feed the factionless? But, weren't those people too delinquent and harmful to fit in with society? At least, that's how everyone at Amity thinks of them, believing that nobody would so harsh as to kick someone out of their faction unless that someone was dangerous.

As if reading my thoughts, John said, "Remember, the factionless are people, also. Most are not factionless by choice, and they are like you and me. The only difference is that they live in poverty, while we live within the care and safety of our community."

So… some factions truly were cruel enough to kick people out? Must be those Dauntlesses and those Erudites. It seems like something they would do. I can inquire about it later with someone who knows more on the subject.

We were led to and left at a warehouse (but, then again, all of the buildings in Abnegation look like warehouses). Inside was more food and clothing, in boxes and stacks, than I had ever seen. Standing in front of of a bunch of food baskets was Natalie. She was with two other women.

"Good day, initiates," she said, smiling. "I hope you're having a great day so far."

"Cut them some slack, Natalie!" one of the women, a stern-countenanced, somber-looking lady, said. "The day has barely begun. How could they be having a good one? You'll just freak their brains out of their guts!"

"I said 'so far', Elgobelia," Natalie replied. "It's polite, that's all. Anyway, initiates, Olgaba and Elgobelia will be handing out these baskets to you, and will be instructing you on how much of each item in the baskets to give to each person. Now, I'd better get going..."

"It'll be individual instructions," the other woman, a gleeful-looking lady, obviously Olgaba, said. "Each of the baskets has different food items. A couple of you will be giving out clothing items, also."

"No need to bore them with stuff they'll already figure out soon enough," Elgobelia muttered.

"Oh, you're so cranky all the time!" Olgaba chuckled. "Anyway, initiates- my word! you're all such dears!- stand in a line, and we'll hand you the baskets, and give you the instructions."

"Redundancy!" Elgobelia exclaimed.

Olgaba frowned slightly.

"Do you need to go home?" she asked. "I can handle everything on my own, if necessary."

Elgobelia shrugged, then said, "We'll see. Maybe in an hour I'll be sure."

Standing in line, Sarah whispered to me, "Olgaba and Elgobelia are Matthew's parents. Olgaba's good at keeping her cool, but I think Elgobelia's all shook up about losing a child…"

"But it was mentioned yesternight that there's only one synagogue in town," I whispered back. "Wouldn't that imply that they'll see him every week?"

"It's still hard for any parent when their kids grow up. I mean, I remember when my sister became an initiate- she didn't even transfer, but my parents were down in the dumps for so long."

"Wouldn't that be considered-"

Elgobelia handed a basket of apples to Sarah.

"No whispering," she commanded.

She walked over to the stack of baskets, picked up one full of soup cans, then handed it to me.

"You, Geb kid! Your hair is almost as unruly as my son's! Hope you can blend in within the Abnegation collective. It'd be a shame for you to not pass initiation and end up as one of those factionless people I help feed almost everyday."

"Tsk-tsk!" Olgaba clucked her tongue. "Elggy, don't scare him! Now, Sarah, give each person one apple. Seriously, those things are too stinkin' heavy and awkward to take more than one. Speaking of heavy, Geb, each person will get one can of soup. If only they were like socks- each person gets two pairs of those… or is it just two of those? I dunno. I'll have to memorize that inventory list."

It felt weird walking through the factionless section of the city. All of the houses and buildings looked worn down, and there was garbage in the streets. People were lurking in the shadows, like zombies in a horror story. They looked exactly how the Amity elders described zombies: Emaciated, grubbily dressed, with unkempt hair and lifelessly-colored skin.

The factionless formed a line.

"Form in a line, initiates!" Olgaba said.

Upon further instruction, us initiates formed a line, distributing what was in our baskets as we walked along the line of factionless. There were factionless of all ages to feed- factionless elders to remind us that some people live in poverty all their lives, and factionless children to remind us that some people are born into poverty without a choice.

One of the factionless looked straight at me when I handed her a can of soup. Her pitiful eyes reminded me of my father's, so empty and dead, void of existence. Her lip quivered, as she tried to speak through yellow, worn teeth.

"Please," she said, "could I get an extra can? Someone I know wasn't able to make it here today…"

I looked over at Elgobelia, who was leaning over my shoulder.

"Should I give her an extra?" I asked.

"She's most likely lying," Elgobelia replied. "But, there are less people lined up than we were expecting. We can spare one can."

After I handed her the extra can, the factionless woman muttered under her breath, "Evelyn will sure love this flavor…"

Elgobelia cleared her throat and raised her eyebrows at the factionless woman, putting a finger to her lips.

"Be cautious as to whose name slips from your lips," she whispered.

"Who's Evelyn?" I asked.

"Now look what you did!" Elgobelia scolded the woman, who shrank back in shame.

Us initiates went from neighborhood to neighborhood in the factionless community. Most neighborhoods were orderly, with people standing in lines. Other neighborhoods, though, didn't seem to know what a line was, and just walked up to whichever basket had what they wanted. The factionless, though, to be perfectly honest, seemed like a thankful and friendly group of people.

After feeding the factionless was lunchtime. Olgaba and Elgobelia led us initiates to an ugly grey house (What? You thought this one was gonna be pretty and brightly colored? Puh-leaze!). Standing on the house's stoop was Natalie, smiling at all of us.

"How was feeding the factionless?" she inquired.

"I loved it!" Rebekah said. "Those people looked so happy to be receiving food!"

Everyone else murmured in agreement.

"Come inside," Natalie said. "Lunch is on me today."

Following her into the house, we all saw that her table was set, and so were a couple of blankets on the floor. I guessed that it wasn't normal for her to give hospitality to a ton of people.

"I wanna sit on the floor!" hollered Olgaba.

"Sitting on that thing?" Elgobelia raised an eyebrow. "It'll give you a backache!"

Sarah said, "Wanna sit with Rebekah and me, Geb?"

She and Rebekah had plopped themselves down next to Olgaba.

"Why would he want to sit on that hard floor?" Elgobelia asked.

"Because I come from Amity," I replied, as I sat crosslegged. "I've sat on floors, dirt, grass, roofs, tree branches…"

"Then we should call you Dirty Butt," Shimea said, sitting next to me.

"If John and Cindy were here, they'd be appalled you'd say something like that," Rebekah said.

I couldn't help but giggle gleefully.

"Are all Abnegationers this unreserved?" I inquired.

Elgobelia, who had already sat at the table, hollered, "Goodness, you Geb kid! Have you even seen Marcus and Andrew? They're so strict and quiet- it's like they have something to prove!"

Natalie raised an eyebrow at Elgobelia.

"What? You mad I bad-talked your hubby?"

Natalie sighed, then confessed, "I wish Andrew wouldn't be so rigid; if only he knew how to have fun…"

It became apparent that some members of Abnegation gave it its stereotype. And to think Shimea had told me just today in passing that Abnegationers only act like legalistic no-nonsense folk when outside of their community… Some stereotypes definitely turned out to be true. My fellow initiates spoke rather quietly, though the same could be said about my old neighbors back in Amity. And, even though we were guests, we all helped Natalie clean up afterwards. (I caught myself dusting her furniture, which felt like overkill, until I noticed Jael scrubbing the floor; most just helped her clean dishes and put away leftovers, though).

Just as all of us initiates were about to leave, a girl and guy about our age walked through the front door.

"Wait? Aren't you…" Natalie started to say. "I forgot! Today was a half day at school… Happens every year."

I guessed that the girl and guy were Natalie's children.

"Hey, Beatrice!" Abinadab said, waving.

The girl, Beatrice, looked somewhat irritated.

"Hello, Abinadab," she muttered.

"Beatrice…" the guy whispered in a disapproving tone.

"Caleb, I'll handle this," Natalie said. "Beatrice, smile and be cordial. You know all of the initiates."

Beatrice gazed at all of us.

"Not that one," she said, nodding towards me. "What's your name again? Jed?"

"Geb," I replied. Wow, I thought. She sure looks like she's had a bad day. I mean, there's red around her eyes, like she cried, or something, and the way she's slouching… "You should eat some chocolates, or something. You look like you could really use some."

"What are chocolates?" Beatrice looked confused.

"Um… They come from a bean. They taste really good, and help you feel better when you're upset, and…" I realized I had said far too much. Maybe it would have been better if I hadn't verbally reacted to her defeated attitude.

"They sound like medicine." Beatrice grimaced. "Disgusting."

As us initiates left Natalie's house, I noticed both Beatrice and Caleb staring at me. The former was looking confused, as if I was some sort of enigma or something. The latter, though, was staring curiously, as if I'd said something weird.

Drat! I thought. I'm being so stinkin' noticeable!

Elgobelia and Olgaba led us initiates to another ugly grey building. It looked just like every other building in the Abnegation community. It was so thrilling to behold. Brought a tear to my eye.

Anyway, us initiates were left at that building, which turned out to be a giant cafeteria and kitchen. Standing in the middle of the kitchen was a short lady as wrinkled as a rotting orange. She studied all of us, as if assessing us in a judgmental manner.

"Okay, kiddos," she said. "We've got a dinner to prepare for all the single, lonely people in the area tonight."

Rebekah whispered to me, "This is a gathering place for single, lonely young people just starting out being grown-ups. Without this place, some of those folks would have no social life. It's interfactional, but don't tell Jeanine Matthews about it, or else she might spread more Hitleresque propaganda about our kind."

The old lady continued, "So, we gotta get started! I need half of you as cooks and the other half of you as place-setters."

Apparently, this old lady thought that guys couldn't cook. Therefore, all of the girls became the cooks, and all of the guys became the place-setters.

It took hours to cook all of the food and set all of the tables. By the time it was done, it was dinnertime. Young single people who lived either alone or with roommates started piling into the building like ants piling on a watermelon left on the sidewalk. There were folks of all factions, except Erudite, Candor, Amity, and Dauntless; therefore, it was practically just full of young Abnegationers. You know, I'm beginning to think that, since Abnegation isn't in charge of The Nosies newspaper, word about this place hasn't been able to spread. No wonder Jeanine Matthews hasn't bashed on it yet!

Back at the dorm house that night, all of us initiates were doggone tired. John and Cindy were on the sofa, talking about what to name the baby they were going to adopt. Apparently, it was going to have brown eyes and black hair as curly as curly can be. They were thinking it should be called Balaam or something like that.

"Get to bed," John said. "You'll have another really long day tomorrow."

As we climbed up the stairs, I noticed Rachel caught up so she could walk beside me.

"Hey," she said.

"Um… Hello?" I replied. Why's she saying hi when we've been at the same places all day?

"So… Are you gonna sing again tonight?"

"I can't. We have to go to bed."

"Oh. You have a good singing voice."

"In what world?"

Rachel looked confused. At this point, we'd reached the top of the stairs and were in the hallway where the doors to the bedrooms were. Everyone else had gone into the rooms.

"Do you seriously not like your singing voice?" she asked.

"It's as bad as my talking voice."

"But… I mean…"

She looked as worn out as could be. Her bun of curly hair was starting to sink down the back of her head (Would John and Cindy's baby have hair as curly as that?), and there were bags under her humongous brown eyes. She obviously wasn't thinking straight, and needed to get some sleep.

"Let's talk in the morning," I said. "I mean, you can't even get out a proper sentence! By tomorrow, you'll be able to think clearly."

Rachel nodded, though I could tell she didn't agree.

"Good night," I said.

I walked into the guys' bedroom.

"Ooh, Geb!" Nethanel said. "Hitting it off with Rachel!"

"What?" I was perplexed.

Ozem said, "You, Rachel, getting to know each other…"

"Huh? You aren't making any sense."

Shimea laughed, then said, "Can't you see, Geb? Rachel really fancies you."

"But she's only known me for two days." I thought the idea was very trivial. How could you feel such for an individual you barely met?

"I said 'fancies', not 'likes'," Shimea said.

"Well, it's still weird." I reached under the bed and grabbed my grey pajamas. "I don't know what's so fanciable about me, or anyone for that matter."

"If there's one person I fancy," Eliab said, "it's Beatrice."

"Beatrice is so gorgeous!" David said.

"She looks somewhat like a child," I said. "She's a tiny little person, that's what she is."

"Her neighbor Susan sure is fantastic, though," Raddai said. "Only problem, though, is I'm pretty sure she's taken, or, rather, she likes a guy already. People mention that whenever I talk about Susan and how fabulous she is..."

"Too bad," Ozem said. "Well, there are other girls out there. Let's just hope they don't prefer other guys compared to us. I don't want to be single for the rest of my life…"

"Why not?" I asked. If there's one thing I didn't understand, it's someone who felt like one of life's demands was to get married.

"I don't wanna be lonely," Ozem replied.

"But what if you have friends?" I inquired. "You won't be lonely if your life is full of friendship."

Shimea laughed, then said, "It's so good you came along, Geb. I thought I was the only sensible one here."

For the rest of initiation, every now and then, the other guys would jokingly call Shimea and me "the Bachelors". (They started with "the Confirmed Bachelors", until they learned that that wasn't necessarily polite or accurate). The girls never seemed to get the memo, but Rachel soon realized I wasn't interested in her.

Shimea's and my bed were next to each other's. In the dark, I could see his pale face as it looked straight at the ceiling, his eyes open and unblinking.

That night, I whispered to him, "You know, that's really creepy, you staring at the ceiling. I mean, I expect someone with peacefully closed eyes."

"Well, my eyes close eventually, I assume," he replied.

I thought about the many sets of eyes I'd seen today- the factionless woman's lifeless eyes, Beatrice's red and puffy eyes, Rachel's tired eyes. Now, I was seeing Shimea's total creeper I-look-asleep-and-awake-at-the-same-time eyes.

"You know what, Geb?"

"What?"

"I think tomorrow, if I have the time, I'll…" He yawned. "I think I'll… I don't remember what I wanna do tomorrow. Oh, well. I guess I'm just tired."

I felt sleep start to make my eyelids droop.

"I'm probably tired, also," I said. "Of course, I can't be as tired as you. I'm an expert at staying awake."

"Whatever."

"All right. I still like going to bed around nine o' clock in the evening. I could stay awake if I wanted to, though."

"We'll see about that. Good night, Geb."

"Good night, Shimea."

What do you-all think? BroTP for Geb and Sarah, or Geb and Rebekah, or Geb and Shimea? Should Geb mention Delilah/Ella again? (I was thinking of doing it in this chapter, but decided not to; but, if you want any idea what she was like in Amity, I could shed some light on the subject). Should Beatrice and Caleb come more in the story? Reviews, please! :)