I didn't wait for anyone to wake me up – I felt wired as I headed to the shower with fresh clothes in hand. Mom was polishing my shoes when I emerged from the bathroom and headed down for breakfast. She handed me each shoe one by one and I tied the laces tightly.

"How did you sleep?" Mom asked. She rose from her chair and began cracking eggs over a fry pan to create scrambled eggs for breakfast.

I shrugged my shoulders and took a seat in my chair for the last time. I looked around at my surroundings – the white walls, black carpets, and wooden furniture with straight lines and rigid structure. In a matter of hours, this place would become nothing more than a distant memory.

Dad came down the stairs, fixing his tie to lie flat under his collar. He patted me on the shoulder and took his regular seat at the table. Mom came over with three plates of eggs, bacon, and fruit and set one each in front of us.

"Should we take the bus today?" Mom asked as she stabbed a strawberry onto her fork.

Dad swallowed a mouthful of eggs and thought about it. "Well we could do that but I know the buses are going to be packed with the Abnegation today…up to you Deanne."

The ride over was a blur – Mom agreed to taking the bus and she took a seat next to Dad while I decided to stand. Once we arrived at The Hub, we headed over to the elevators and waited for the next car to come down. Before I knew it, I was arranging myself next the other sixteen year olds in alphabetical order, taking a seat next to an Erudite girl and a Dauntless boy who cracked his knuckles loudly as he leaned back in his seat. The sound of his knuckles made the girl next to me glance over with a disapproving look. I leaned forward, resting my knuckles under my chin as Marcus Eaton of Abnegation took the stage to read the manifesto of how the five factions were formed.

"Hurry it up Stiff," the Dauntless boy groused under his breath as he tapped his foot.

The Erudite girl rolled her eyes and yawned in a bored manner. She crossed her arms over her chest and sat up straighter in her seat. What were the odds that these two would probably stay where they were?

Marcus began calling names in reverse alphabetical order. Everyone continued to remain with their same faction until a boy from Dauntless changed to Candor. The Dauntless began complaining amongst them and the Candor nodded in approval at the boy's choice. I tuned out the rest of the initiates until the sound of the usually quiet Abnegation filled the room. I jerked my head up to see that two initiates from Abnegation had changed factions completely – one had joined Erudite and the other had joined Dauntless. Even Marcus looked surprised about these two but he quickly regained his composure and called for silence in the room.

Then my name was called. "Albert Enright," Marcus read off.

I stood up and made my way to the stage quickly without looking back. I could feel my mom's eyes burning a hole in the back of my shirt as I walked across the stage and accepted the knife from Marcus. I turned toward the bowls, slit the palm of my hand, and without hesitating, placed my hand over the bowl of burning coals. I had done it.

I avoided meeting my parents' eyes as I walked over to the Dauntless section. Instead, I scanned the group of initiates and saw that most of them were Dauntless-born. There were a couple from Candor, a few from Erudite, and the lone girl from Abnegation. She was a small thing, not more than five feet tall, give or take. I looked past her and bit my lip when I spotted the three people I didn't want to see again: Drew, Peter, and Molly. They were sizing up the Dauntless-borns, most of them who were taller, tougher-looking, and more decorated than they were, with tattoos and piercings. A few more Dauntless-borns joined the group and the Choosing Ceremony was over.

Then I heard one of the Dauntless leaders yell as he made a mad dash for the stairs, which signaled the rest of the group to follow after him. I fell into the middle of the pack as we ran down the stairs, shouting and whooping loudly in the building. My chest felt strained as I neared the bottom of the building – why were there so many flights of stairs? Once we reached the bottom, the group continued to run, one of them gestured in the direction of the train tracks, which probably led to the Dauntless compound.

Then I saw several forms clad in black running to jump onto the train that approached without any hesitation. Soon, it was just the transfers left. I swallowed hard and I bent my knees before pushing off from the ground and grabbing a hold of one of the handles on the train. I used the handle to hoist myself in and I sat down on the hard, bare floor of the train car. I ran a hand through my hair, which was no longer slicked down but was windblown, with a few of my bangs falling into my eyes. I grinned – I managed to jump on a train like the Dauntless.

"He should have run faster," a girl declared near me. "I told Xavier to keep up and what happens? He fails to get on, just like that."

"Guess that means that initiation just began," a guy grumbled.

The train whizzed by the factionless areas and we passed the tops of some buildings. I sat up on my knees and peered out the other side of the car I was in. In the cars in front me, Dauntless members were jumping out of the car and onto the roof of one building.

I swallowed hard as I rose to my feet, trying not to lose my balance as I inched toward the doorway. Some of the transfers from other factions jumped first and I crouched low before throwing myself out of the train, hoping that I'd land on the rooftop.

Thud. I hit the ground on my back and I groaned as I slowly rolled over, using my hands to push me up and onto my feet. Nothing seemed broken but man, I was sore all over. A girl near me had finished dusting herself off and she ran over to the side of the roof and screamed when she looked down. I stumbled over to see what she was screaming about and wished that I hadn't looked.

There was a body lying face down, several stories below. Her body was sprawled out with her arms and legs lying in awkward angles. She not only failed initiation but had risked her life to do so.

I tried to shake off the sight as I walked over to the large group of Dauntless initiates that had gathered over by the opposite side of the roof. One of the Dauntless figures stepped forward and introduced himself as Max.

"Several stories below us is the members' entrance to our compound. If you can't muster the will to jump off, you don't below here. Our initiates have the privilege of going first," he announced as he pointed over the edge.

"Is there water at the bottom or something?" someone asked.

Max shrugged. "Who knows?"

Everyone froze and began muttering amongst themselves about not wanting to be first. Then the little Abnegation girl pushed her way to the front and got up on the ledge. She pulled off the loose fitting grey top she wore to reveal a grey t-shirt. She balled up the loose grey top and threw it at Peter who became disgruntled when it hit him. He fiddled with it and eventually got a grip on the edge of it and tossed it on the ground. Meanwhile, the girl had looked down and jumped down below into the hole.

Then a Candor girl with short hair stepped forward and positioned herself to jump next. She cracked her knuckles and breathed deeply before bending her knees a few times and jumping. I heard a high pitched scream travel down the hole and the group snickered a little. One by one, a few Dauntless-born stepped up and jumped with ease. I positioned myself in the middle of the group and decided to go after one girl who bounced over to the ledge and jumped with lots of energy. I swear she was smiling as she jumped – figures since she was a Dauntless-born. I stepped up quickly after she disappeared down the hole and I clenched my fists tightly as I looked down.

A strong gust of wind pushed me forward and I began to fall down the hole. I was tempted to yell like the Candor girl but couldn't open my mouth in time as my back hit a net. I stumbled out of the net's ropes with the help of a Dauntless girl with three piercings in her eyebrow and a Dauntless guy with intense eyes.

"Another Candor – man there's a lot of them this time around," the girl said as she let go of my arm.

"No kidding," the guy replied. "What's your name?"

Albert didn't sound right – too rigid for Dauntless. If I was going to join these guys, I definitely needed a new name. "It's Al," I said.

The girl glanced over at the Dauntless guy and said, "Let them know Four."

The guy named Four glanced over at the Dauntless that had gathered around the platform. "Seventh jumper, Al!"

The Dauntless cheered and nudged each other as I descended the steps and began following the crush of them into the heart of the Dauntless compound. I waited around with the other initiates until Max came down and brushed himself off. He spoke briefly with the girl and Four on the platform and they descended the steps together.

"Welcome to Dauntless," Four said. "Most of the time I work in the control room, but for the next few weeks, I am your instructor. My name is Four."

"The Dauntless-born initiates are with me," the girl said as she waved her hand. "I'm Lauren. I assume you don't need a tour of the place." She beckoned the Dauntless born initiates to follow her and they began moving quickly out of the area.

Four stepped forward and gestured for the transfers to follow him. He led us towards an area called the Pit, which made the Candor girl snicker at the name. He stopped short and turned around to face us.

"What's your name?" he asked the girl.

I looked over at the girl who shrank a little when he focused in her. Then I realized that I knew her – Christina, who was in some of my classes prior to the Choosing Ceremony. She had a younger sister that resembled her and she was quite a talker.

"Christina," she squeaked.

"Well, Christina," Four said, "if I had wanted to put up with Candor smart-mouths, I would have joined their faction. The first lesson you will learn from me is to keep your mouth shut. Got it?" He turned back to the front and continued to show us the compound.

Christina bit her lip and muttered something under her breath to the Abnegation girl clad in grey. I shoved my hands in my pockets and took in the sight of the compound. It was incredible – the Pit itself was sight to behold. Shops and recreation places like tattoo and piercing places were built into the walls with narrow paths leading up to them. Four paused over a bridge where there was rushing water and jagged rocks at the bottom. He yelled over the noise of the water that a careless jump into the chasm would kill you. I forced myself to look straight ahead and we continued on. Yeah, no way would I try jumping off, even if it was for a dare.

The Dauntless had hamburgers for dinner on the tables when we came into the cafeteria. I took a seat at a table with some other transfers and began to prepare my burger the way I liked it. The Abnegation girl pinched one of the patties and frowned in confusion.

"It's beef," Four said. "Put this on it." He slid the bowl of ketchup over to her and she stared baffled at the food.

"Wait, you've never had a hamburger before?" Christina asked.

"Stiffs eat plain food," Four replied.

I looked up from eating mine and my eyes widened. Guess it was good that I hadn't chosen Abnegation. Slowly, the Abnegation girl began preparing her burger the same way as Christina and she took a bite. Soon we were joined by another Dauntless member who had multiple piercings in his face who introduced himself as a Dauntless leader named Eric. He shot a glance at the Abnegation girl and smirked, which made color rush to her face.

"We'll see how long you last," Eric said before turning to Four.

My ears burned as I continued to chew on my burger. It wasn't fair that the Abnegation girl was getting picked on right off the bat. There had to be a good reason for why she left her old faction in the first place.

After dinner, Eric took the transfers to the dormitory. He mentioned that we were expected to get up at eight AM and train until six. The rest of the day was open for us to do whatever we wanted. As he started explaining how initiation was going to work, Molly spoke up when he announced that half way through initiation, some of the initiates would be cut.

"That's not fair!" Molly protested. "If we had known-"

"Are you saying that if you had known this before the Choosing Ceremony, you wouldn't have chosen Dauntless?" Eric snapped. "Because if that's the case, you should get out now. If you are really one of us, it won't matter to you that you might fail. And if it does, you are a coward." He shoved the door to the dormitory open and crossed his arms. "You chose us. Now we have to choose you."

It was silent after Eric left. Everyone got ready for bed and grumbled about the revelation of possibly being cut halfway through. I clambered into my bunk and looked up at the ceiling. A pang of guilt and nerves hit me. Eric's response lingered in my mind – maybe I would have stayed in Candor if I had known that there was chance I could get cut. Yet I wasn't sure if I wanted to stay tethered to the same place where my parents were – it was clear that they had regrets about their choices.

I felt a lump form in my throat and I tried to hold back the tears that were pooling at the bottom of my eyes. Home. I wondered what Mom and Dad had done after I left in hurry with the Dauntless. I wished that I could have seen their faces after I chose – why had I chosen to avoid them?! Were they proud that I had left? Angry? Disappointed? I would never know.

I took the pillow out from under my head and used it to muffle the choked sounds coming out of my mouth as tears ran down my face. I only hoped that I could acclimate quickly before too long.