Chapter 2
Tris
I follow behind Christina as she chats away. Her mocha colored hair and caramel colored skin make a gorgeous combination. She is friendly and speaks well. Even her nail polish color compliments her outfit. The black skirt and light pink shirt she wears compliment her skin tone perfectly.
The building is obviously old. At least two centuries old. She leads me down a flight of stairs and down a long hallway. "One of the commons spaces is around the corner and the library is the other way. The dining hall is further down this way," I hear Christina say. I try to keep up with her as girls and boys of all ages head towards the dining room in their own groups.
We come to two large wooden doors the reach up to the ceiling. Small carvings decorate the door accompanied by stained glass. On the opposite side of the hallway are floor to ceiling windows and a door. The sun shines through the windows and reflects off of the stained glass doors. The windows look out to a cleared area with benches and a garden. Beyond that is woods.
"Come on! Tris! My friends will love you," I hear Christina say as she grabs my hand. She tugs me through the large doors along with the crowd of people. Chandeliers decorate the ceiling of the vast room. Large windows along both walls allow the fading light from the sun to filter into the room. The dining hall gives me medieval castle vibes with the large gray stones. Students must pay a lot to go here. How could mom and dad possibly of afforded the tuition to this school? God, I am going to have to sit with these rich idiots whose parents probably own Google.
The students sit at large round tables. There are about 150 students and they don't even fill up half of the tables. The school must be highly selective. Why am I even here? I'm do not even make good grades.
The room is rather beautiful, I grudgingly admit. When we walk in many people stare at me, but I have no time to react because Christina drags me to a table. The table is half full and is near a window. Christina sits down and pulls me in the chair next to her. Everyone looks at me oddly, but they aren't rude either. Well, this is awkward. "Tris," I blurt out, "that's my uhh name. Tris." A boy across the table smirks.
"Tris, this Marlene, Uriah, Al, Will, Zeke, Shauna, and Four. Guys, this is Tris. She's the new girl and my new friend." Christina announces.
"So," Marlene says, "is this your first summer term here?"
"Yeah, why?" I reply.
"Wait you attended school here in the fall though?" The girl who asked, looks confused.
"No. I've never come to this school."
"Wha-" Christina interrupts Marlene.
"Tris isn't legacy, but that doesn't matter. I'm sure she's super smart." Christina finishes off her rushed sentence with a smile.
A guy with the blue eyes looks up at me and studies me with an emotionless face. The staff brings out platters with various foods on it. I take the pasta. Conversation surrounds the table, but I just sit and listen. I don't belong here. Everyone here obviously comes from rich families. My family is not rich. I am lost in my own thoughts until I hear my name. Everyone looks at me expectantly. "What?" I say.
"How old are you," the blue-eyed guy asks.
"Umm, I turned sixteen a few days ago." Everyone's head at the table turns to me. Al's jaw drops.
"What?" I quickly ask.
"You must be insanely smart to be here," Marlene says slowly." "All of us are seventeen and a half, except for Shaunna, Lauren, Four", she nods to the blue-eyed boy, "They are all a year ahead of us. They are graduating after fall term." Marlene's response raises even more questions, but I just sit quietly and nod. Slowly, a conversation begins to rise up around the table again.
I eat with the rest of them and they ask about my life before Faction Academy and what I like to do. When Christina notices that I'm finished eating she grabs my arm. "Come on! I should give you a tour and then we need to go to the commons before anyone else does so we can get good spots," Christina says all of this without taking a breath. She hustles me out of the dining room before I can say anything. We walk down the quiet hallway together. "Let me show you the library. It is absolutely magnificent."
He heels make a soft noise as we walk down the massive stone hallway.
"Sooo...," I trail off, "those are your friends?" I say trying to make some kind of conversation.
Christina giggles in response then says, "Yeah. We're an interesting group, aren't we? Marlene and Will are friends and they just started sitting with us recently. But, Will is super cute don't ya think? Zeke and Uriah are brothers and they are the pranksters of the entire school. Zeke is best friends with Four. Everyone has a crush on Four. He used to be super quiet when he first got here, but ever since he got Zeke and Uriah into Divergent-," she stops, her eyes wide. "Oh crap! Pretend you didn't hear that," she says quickly.
"Divergent? Is that the group we aren't supposed to talk about?" She looks around us nervously, but no one appears to be around.
"We could get into a lot of trouble if we are caught talking about this, but Divergent is a group. It pretty much consists of the elite of the elite at this school. I really don't know what they do, but they meet at night with the teachers. Uriah, Zeke, and Four are all at the top of Divergent. I'm pretty sure Will and a girl I sometimes talk to, Lauren are in Divergent too. Maybe even Marlene, but I'm not sure yet. We aren't supposed to know who is a member. Let's talk about something else."
"But-" She interrupts me.
"Come on, enough of that let's go to the library." I will eventually make her talk.
Christina walks me down the long hallway and eventually we come to large wooden doors that are propped open. We walk in. I am met with the smell of lemon and something older, almost ancient. "Wow," I gasp. The library is three stories high with a balcony on each level. Books cover the walls. The ceiling is made of glass that allows light to filter in. The floor is covered in a dark purple fluffy carpet. In the center of the room, a giant globe sits made out of gold and silver. Tables and chairs are scattered around the room. Near the door, a large desk sits on a pedestal. Christina points to it, "That's where Johanna, the librarian is most of the time if you ever need to find her."
We leave the library and head to the commons. We turn around and pass the dining hall and most people are still in there. The long hallway opens up into a large room filled with comfy chairs. At the far end of the wall are bookshelves filled with various games. In one corner sits a piano and the other corner contains a large spiral staircase. A large fireplace sits in the middle of the back wall. "So this is where most people are when we aren't doing school work," Christina announces.
"There's no TV or-," she interrupts me.
"No. Of course not. Faction doesn't allow electronics. No phones or anything. We are supposed to pass the time in more...uh...traditional ways. Such as conversation and reading and board games or cards." My stomach drops at that. This place is like a prison. All of these people are obviously from rich families, while mom and dad can barely make ends meet. I can not possibly survive here. What in the world am I doing here?