Sat on the long benches of the canteen, it's clear to see the differences between the factions. Abnegation are sat quietly, trying to forget themselves as usual. Candor argue with wide gestures, oblivious to the Amity sat in a circle on the floor, giggling loudly every few minutes in some kind of game. Dauntless shout loudly and laugh at each other as they play cards, and us Erudite have our noses buried in books, although most of us are not really focusing on the words on the pages.
Benjamin is called in the next group of 16-year-olds, and I touch his shoulder lightly in the most casual reassuring gesture that I can. I just sit and wait until I see him come back, grinning from ear to ear, and there is no doubt as to his result.
"From Erudite, Kayla Mayberry and Kyle Colton," the voice says from the speakers. I look over to him and smile reassuringly as we walk to the small rooms. Just before I walk into room 4 and he room 3 I lightly shove him and smile slyly.
I walk into the room to see a woman from Abnegation. She is the perfect image of what somebody from their faction should be like, avoiding looking at herself in the mirrored walls at all costs. I laugh a little and then stop myself, realising that she will be the one helping to show me the way.
"Hello Kayla," she says quietly, "if you'd like to take a seat over here."
The chair is like a dentist's, and I sit back until the bright light above me shines directly into my eyes and I squint. I look to the side to see the woman preparing a vial of clear liquid. She brings it over as well as some electrodes which she attaches to my forehead and then hers also.
"Drink this. It doesn't hurt," she says calmly. I do as she says and feel my eyes closing of their own accord.
I open my eyes after a second and the light is no longer shining into them. I'm stood in the school canteen, but the tables are empty and it is eerily quiet. The glass walls tell me that it's snowing outside, but it was sunny before I went into the testing room. This isn't real.
"Choose," Janine Matthew's voice says behind me. I look down to see two woven baskets in front of me. One contains cheese, the other a long knife.
"Why do I need to choose?"
"Choose!" her voice says, getting impatient. I reach out and take the knife, changing my stance to accommodate the weight of it. The baskets disappear and a few metres away appears a dog. It has a pointed nose, crouching low as it stalks towards me. It growls.
I look around, trying to find something that can help me other that the knife. There are more logical ways to do this than just killing it straight away. I remember one of my textbooks saying about how to show a sense of submissiveness to an animal. I don't make eye contact and I sink down to my knees, head bowed, but it keeps coming at me. I lay on my stomach.
It keeps coming.
I'm not going to manage like this. Instead, I get up quickly, lashing out with my fists at the dog. It whimpers and backs away but I keep going – it will take any opportunity it can. The dog lays there helpless and I see a young girl looking at me, scared from across the room.
I blink and I'm on a bus like the ones some of the people at school travel on. I'm stood holding onto the bar above me and there is a man reading a newspaper in front of me. His hands are scarred as if burned.
"Do you know this guy?" he asks, tapping the picture on the front of the newspaper. The headline above it says, "Brutal Murderer Finally Apprehended!"
I feel like I know the man, but I'm not sure how. Something bad is going to happen if I tell him.
"No idea," I say, shrugging my shoulders. He brings the newspaper down and I see his face, rippled with scars, a snarl on his face, and he reaches out to grab me.