Chapter 2: The Choosing Ceremony
GEORGIA'S POV
"Well?" asks Mom, pacing back and forth from the window to the middle of the room. "What was the result?" I look down at my shoes and avoid her eyes. And Dad's too.
"It's a long story," I struggle to make myself sound stable. I know my parents know that something is up, and they will get it out of me soon.
"This isn't a joke, Georgia."
"I didn't get a result," I blurt the words out, so fast that I almost don't understand what I just said. I sincerely hope Gabe will barge into the room any minute now, distracting mom and dad from asking me about my tests and will bother him instead.
"You mean you did not just get one result? Like me?" Mom stops pacing and stands right in front of me, staring me in the eyes. I shake my head, indicating that I am not Divergent like Mom is. She stares at me harder, demanding the truth. I guess that I should just tell her now rather than have her pester me for the rest of the day.
"I don't know, okay? This woman told me to drink liquid, and I dozed off. All I saw was a white room and a golden box that contains a purple diamond in the middle. I know right? I sound crazy. But that's the truth. Oh, and incase you were wondering, back when I tried the fear thing, what I saw during the test is exactly what I saw during the fear simulation." I spit the words out like all the secrets in me are spilling out. I feel relieved; free from all the things I have kept from my parents all these years.
"What the hell?" Dad says, scratching his head. Mom just looks up at the ceiling, speechless.
"So the serums don't work on you? At all?" Mom finally says, after minutes of silence.
"Isn't that what you and dad experience too? When you're injected?"
"No. We can be aware during simulations, we can manipulate it. But it still works on us." Then what am I?
"I think I know someone who can find out what this means," Mom says, but only saying it to Dad. "Will's sister, Cara. Remember?"
It soon becomes clear that the two of them are having a conversation of their own, not including me. I go outside and try to process all the things I encountered today. Then, in the midst of all that, I wonder how Gabe is doing. I wonder what he got for his tests, and wonder if this will truly be our last day together.
Faction before blood.
I can't imagine what kind of people would believe in that crap. After dinner, I go back to my room and fall asleep. I have a big day ahead of me tomorrow.
"Where were you after the tests yesterday?" I ask Gabe when I see him during breakfast the next morning.
"In The Hub, preparing all those bowls for today's ceremony. I volunteered to help with setting it up, remember?" I almost forgot that this year, the Dauntless is in charge of the Choosing Ceremony.
"So, I know I'm not supposed to ask-"
"I'm not telling you the result of my aptitude test, Georgia," Gabe immediately interrupts me, like he can read my mind and tells what I was about to ask. I decide that it was best if I give him his space, and because I need space as well. I need a clear head. I didn't get a result. Technically, I didn't even do the test. So now, I have the freedom to choose whichever faction I want to, because I do not know where I fit, and I do not know where I don't fit.
When I arrived in The Hub with Cass and Jaden, two of my closest friends, I see all the different people in different colors of clothing. I join the pack of Dauntless, but don't bother to find Mom or Dad because both of them will be the ones giving the opening speeches.
"Nervous?" Cass asks. I squeeze her hand and look to the crowd of Abnegation, trying to spot Grandma and Grandpa. I don't know why I do that, because I don't even remember how they look like.
"Will everyone please settle down as we will begin the ceremony soon," I hear Mom's voice. I look to the stage and see her standing in a podium, beside all the 5 different bowls. "We would also like to have children of each faction line up according to their first names instead of last. Because Dauntless is the faction in charge of this year's Choosing Ceremony, all the Dauntless children are going first." Hearing this, I feel relieved. Georgia. I will be in the middle. Gabe. He will choose first.
I don't pay attention to the people in front of me, going up the stage one by one. I scan the crowd of each faction, studying how they behave, picturing myself in factions. When Cass's name gets called, I see Uncle Will and Aunt Christina cringe in the crowd. I give them a small smile, assuring them that Cass is going to choose Dauntless. She has a constant need of danger. Surely enough, she did choose Dauntless. So did her brother Jaden.
"Gabriel Eaton." Dad called out. I die a little inside. This is the moment. This is the moment when I'll find out if I'm still going to have a brother. I watch him cut his hand, and he moves closer and closer to the bowl with the lit coals. I suppress a smile, hoping that he will pour his blood into the coals. But he moves to the bowl next to it. The one with the gray stones. I close my eyes, too afraid to admit that he won't be choosing Dauntless.
Then, it happened. He pours his blood into the stones, his blood then trickling down the sides of the bowl. I turn to his left to see what Mom and Dad's expressions were. Mom looks like she is going to cry, and Dad pretends to read the list of names of children.
Don't cry. Not here. Not now.
By the time Dad calls my name out, I already know what faction I'm going to pick. I don't doubt my choice a single bit. I cut my arm and move towards the lit coals. I pour my blood into it and step down from the stage. I try to make the process as fast as it can get, because I know that if I linger, if I stand between those 5 bowls too long, something might change my mind. Something might just change the plans that I have been thinking about for as long as I can remember. When I was down the stage, I look back to see Mom and Dad. They smile at me, and I smile back.
I am the child who chooses to not leave her mom and dad behind. I am the opposite of what my own mother did during her Choosing Ceremony. And I feel proud.