Now. I want you to choose who you truly are and where you truly belong. Not on a whim. Not because you wish you were someone you're not. But because you honestly know yourself. I want you to choose wisely. And I know you will.

These words lingered in my head through the whole ceremony. We're supposed to choose who we are, she said. Not who we want to be, she said. Easier said than done. How am I going to make a choice knowing that I'm a Divergent and whatever I choose my family won't support me?

The sudden applause got me back to the present, as Jeanine started her speech.

"The faction system is a living being composed of cells, all of you. And the only way it can survive and thrive is for each of you to claim your rightful place. The future belongs to those who know where they belong."

My hands clenched to fists and I hoped that my parents wouldn't notice. Jeanine was talking about those who weren't divergent, those who would definitely fit into one specific faction. Hopefully no one would notice my nervousness and suspect anything as I was too afraid to be revealed.

"When we leave this room, you will no longer be dependents but full-fledged members of our society. Faction before blood."

"Faction before blood", everyone repeated.

I myself would really prefer the faction before blood.

"I love you... No matter what", I heard Natalie say to Tris.

Sadly none of my family would ever say that to me. I think they would rather die.

"Jonathan Ziegler."

One of the Erudite stood up and stepped forward and took the knife from Marcus. The Erudite cut his hand and held it over one of the five bowls.

"Erudite", Marcus called out.

The crowd applauded.

"Jeffrey Yates."

Said boy was from the Dauntless. And he chose them.

"Dauntless."

The Dauntless always were the loudest when someone was choosing their faction. They cheered and hollered very loud.

"Morgan Stokes."

It was a boy with black pants and a white jacket. A Candor. Obviously.

"Amity."

His mother was heard sobbing when her son choose another faction than Candor.

"Claire Satron. Candor."

Applause.

"Sam Robertson. Abnegation."

It must be extremely awful for a mother when her children are leaving their birth faction. But that wouldn't happen with mine. With none of my family. All my 'siblings' that were sixteen and had to choose today as well, have all chosen Abnegation so far. But I couldn't think any further as my name too was called by Marcus.

"Jennifer Allison Carter."

I flinched when my name was called. My mother pinched my arm.

"Remember. Choose Abnegation", she hissed.

I ripped my arm away from her and went down the stairs to the bowls. I eyed every single one of them. Marcus handed me the shimmering knife. I cut my hand on the inside and put the knife down. My hand hovered between two bowls. I hesitated for a moment while I looked over each of them.

Water for Erudite.

Glass for Candor.

Earth for Amity.

Smooth stones for Abnegation.

And finally coal for Dauntless.

Then I moved my hand over to the bowl with the coals. I shook my hand and let a few drops fall onto the coals and I watched as it made a hissing noise.

"Dauntless!" Marcus announced to the crowd.

Through the cheering of my new faction, I heard an angry chorus of 'what' from my family. I was greeted with warm smiles and claps on my back. I took the seat that one of the Dauntless offered me. My eyes went back to the Abnegation for a moment. My family looked at me coldly. But did I really expect them to look at me differently than before? Not really.

I turned my attention back to the front when Caleb and Tris had to make their choice. Caleb went to the Erudite. I was surprised since he could be seen as a perfect Abnegation. But then again, he always loved to read. Then it was Tris' turn.

"Beatrice Prior."

She was as hesitant as I was and she needed a few more moments than me before she decided.

"Dauntless."

I clapped and the others and I greeted Tris with a huge smile on my face.

"I can't believe it. We're going to be in the same faction. I'm happy that I'm not alone."

The other ones weren't as exciting and so Tris and me whispered the whole time till the ceremony was over. The initiates were handed band aids. Then the Dauntless rushed outside, all while cheering. Tris and me followed excitedly. It was fun to feel the wind in my hair while running between all the black clothed people. I never really did any kind of sport but nevertheless I got a good stamina. We had to climb to the rails. I breathed in and out deeply and waited for Tris who was the last to reach the top. My ribs were hurting, even more after I hoisted myself up on the rail.

We couldn't rest for another moment as a train came rolling past us. I started running and watched a few Dauntless jump and open the doors. One after the other they jumped in. Someone held his hand out to me and hoisted me in when I took it. I landed safely on my feet.

"I'm Uriah, Dauntless born", the person who helped me in introduced himself to me, "And you?"

"Jennifer. Abnegation."

"I didn't think that someone from Abnegation would transfer to Dauntless this year. And now it's two? That's a big surprise."

"Life is full of surprises", I said.

I looked around in search for my best friend. I was relieved when I found her sitting on the ground next to a girl from Candor. She had made it.

"Come on", I said and dragged Uriah towards Tris.

"Jenny, you made it. For a moment I feared that you didn't make it. I almost didn't", Tris said.

Her cheeks were still pink from all the running. We Abnegation weren't used to this much of sport. I looked at the girl next to Tris.

"Oh sorry, I'm Christina", she said.

"Jennifer."

"Do you think they might be trying to kill us?" Christina asked referring to earlier.

"Get ready!" an older woman yelled.

"What does she mean with 'get ready'?" I asked Uriah.

"Well if you're afraid of heights than..." he trailed off.

I looked outside and my mouth fell wide open when I saw a few people jump off the train and on the roof.

"They're jumping", I stated when I looked back to Tris and Christina.

"What?" Christina asked dumbfounded and stood next to me.

"What if you don't jump?" I heard someone else asked.

He was from Candor.

"What do you think? You'll be factionless. Good luck, Al", another replied.

I looked at him closely and realized that he was the guy who approached the Abnegation and accused them. I was so looking forward to be in the same faction as him. Not.

"Jenny?" Uriah nudged me from the side.

"Together?" he asked me.

He seemed to know that I was nervous about the jump.

"Yeah", I answered.

We grabbed each other's hands and counted to three before running and jumping out. Uriah landed on his feet while I made a not so elegant crash landing. Uriah was laughing a bit, but he still helped me up. Some of the gravel had dug through my dress and into my skin but at that moment I wasn't really caring.

I looked around for Tris and saw her with Christina. I was relieved that she had made the jump as well. I wanted to go over to her but Uriah pulled me to the edge of the roof. There were a few people standing there, one of them on the edge of the roof. He looked over us initiates with a cold and distant look, matching his eye color which was a mix of blue and grey. A cold blue and grey. He had tattoos on his neck and piercings. He looked very muscular as well.

"All right, listen up! I'm Eric. I'm one of your leaders. If you want to enter Dauntless, this is the way in. And if you don't have the guts to jump, then you don't belong in Dauntless."

Wow, he got straight to the point.

"Is there water at the bottom or something?" one of the Erudite transfers asked. Typical Erudite. Always want to know everything.

"I guess you'll find out. Or not."

That's relieving. Or not. Great, now I was mimicking that leader guy. Oh I already forgot, his name is Eric.

"We just jumped and now we have to jump again?" I whispered to Uriah who only shrugged.

"Someone's gotta go first. Who's it gonna be?" Eric asked.

The others whispered among each other but nobody wanted to step forward and be the first. And they wanted to be Dauntless?

"I am", I said abruptly, "I am going first."

Everyone turned to look at me. Yes, a stiff wanting to jump off of the roof first. I stepped forward and ripped a part of the dress off because it was too long for me.

"Yeah, stiff, take it off!"

I glared at the person who yelled it. And guess what, it was that guy again who yelled at us the day before when we stood in line for the test and who talked to Al about what would happen if someone wouldn't have jumped off the train earlier. I stomped up to him.

"What's your problem?"

"Ooooh. Am I supposed to be scared? Help a little stiff is trying to murder me with her ridiculous face."

I bit my lip and kneed him into his crown jewels. He groaned and went to his knees.

"Shut up", I said.

It felt so good to have done that. I knew he would try to get payback for that during the training. But I think in order to become fully Dauntless, I would have to leave the shy and vulnerable girl behind and become a much stronger one.

Some of the others around us 'ooooh'-ed. I turned back around and climbed onto the edge, almost missing the lightly impressed look of Eric. Almost. Without thinking even another second, I leapt of the edge. The wind rushed past me as I fell through the hole in the ground and it prevented me from breathing. A few seconds later I landed in a net that made me bounce upwards again. My ribs still hurt from the morning and the day before.

The air slowly came back into my lungs. The net was lowered on one side, causing me to roll to the lowered edge. There was a guy with dark blond hair almost brown hair and brown eyes. He lifted me out of the net.

"Did you get pushed?" he asked me.

"No", I shot.

"What's your name?"

"It's... uh..."

I didn't want to keep my original name since it connected me to my past which I wanted to forget. But I wasn't sure if I was allowed to pick a new one.

"Is that a hard one? You can pick a new one if you want, but make it good. You don't get to pick again."

"Okay..."

Before I could tell him, Tris landed in the net and was lifted out by the man.

"What do you want for a name?" he asked me again.

Tris leaned over and whispered into my ear. I smiled and nodded.

"Good idea. My name's Jen."

He nodded and turned to Tris.

"And you?"

Now I whispered in her ear.

"My name's Tris", she said using the nickname I gave her.

"First jumper, Jen and second jumper Tris!" he yelled to the assembled Dauntless.

"Welcome to Dauntless", he said over the cheering in the background.