Chapter 6
My alarm clock goes off. Ugh it's the first day of school. I think about hitting the snooze button but I don't want to be late on my first day. I roll out of bed and look for something to wear. Every faction has specific colors they are supposed to wear.
Candor – Black and White
Abnegation – Grey
Erudite – Blue
Amity – Red or Yellow
Dauntless – Black
I slip on some black skinny jeans that have a couple rips in them and black combat boots. I should probably change my shirt. I dig through my drawer and find a long black shirt that hangs off one shoulder. I brush my hair and straighten it a little. Since its short now, it doesn't take very long. Christina showed me how to put on some eye shadow and black eye liner so I do that too. It only took me 10 minutes to get ready. I walk downstairs and grab a water bottle, tell my parents bye, and walk to my car.
"Perfect timing!" I hear as I unlock my car doors.
"Hey Chris. You look amazing." I say eyeing her outfit.
"Why thank you!"
She was wearing black heels, like the ones I wore Saturday night, a black mini skirt, and a black strapless shirt with rhinestones scattered at the top. We get to school and Christina shows me where the main office is.
"Hi I'm Torie. Name?"
"Beatrice Prior."
Torie goes through a bunch of folders until she finds my name. She hands me my schedule, a piece of paper with my locker combination on it, and a map of the school.
"Just come to me if you have any questions." She says. I thank her and go to find my locker.
I start to turn the dial to open it when someone comes up behind me.
"Hey baby looks like our lockers are right next to each other."
"Great. I have to put up with seeing you every day for the rest of the year!" I say turning to face him.
"Well nice to see you too Tris!" He says pulling me in to a hug.
"Okay Zeke, I kind of need air to live."
He just laughs and says "Sorry Tris. Let me see your schedule."
I hand it to him and try to open my locker again. No luck. I try for a third time and again, fail.
"Damn it!" I yell.
"Having a little trouble there?"
"Shut up Zeke. We didn't use lockers in California."
"Well let me try it." He tried twice and couldn't get it open. Just then Four comes up to the locker next to mine. He turns the dial and it pops right open.
"Girl your locker is stupid. No one's going to be able to get that open." Zeke says.
Four grabs the paper from Zeke and reads the combination. He turns the dial and within five seconds, the locker opens.
"Okay how the hell did you do that?" Zeke asks Four, his eyes wide.
"Magic." He said before giving me a quick glance, shutting his locker, and walking away.
"Is he always like that?" I ask Zeke.
"No, he just really hates school." I laugh and Zeke walks me to my first period, science.
"Well I don't want to be late. Bye Tris! See you in third period." Zeke says before sprinting down the hallway. I look around at who is in the class and see only two people I recognize, Cara and Uriah. I hand the teacher my schedule and she tells me to go sit down next to Uriah. Oh great. We flash each other a smile but don't end up talking. I tune Ms. Williams out and start doodling on my notebook. I start thinking about all of the factions. I let my hand do whatever it wants without thinking. I end up drawing a scale and writing Candor about it. I do the same thing and end up drawing a symbol for each faction. For Abnegation I ended up drawing two hands reaching for the other, Erudite I drew an eye, Amity I drew a tree, and for Dauntless, I drew flames.
"Those look really cool Tris. How did you come up with all of those symbols?" Uriah asks. I didn't know he was paying attention to me or what I was drawing.
"They just came to me." I say shrugging.
"Excuse me. Uriah, Tris, since whatever you are discussing is more important than what I'm teaching, why don't you come up here and present it to the class? Uriah grabs my notebook and walks up to where Mrs. Williams is standing.
"Well, Tris was just doodling and ended up making symbols for each faction. I was just commenting on how cool they were." He says looking at our shocked teacher.
"This is fascinating Tris. I am going to take this to the principal to show him. Everyone, there is only ten minutes left of class so talk quietly amongst yourselves."
She leaves the room and I hear a lot of people say "Thanks Tris". I didn't feel like talking to Uriah very much so I just pull out my cell phone. I have two unread texts. One from Christina and one from Zeke.
Christina: First period English sucks. The only person I know in here is the teacher and that's because I had him last year. I hope you're having a better time than I am!
Me: Ha well I have Science first period with Uriah. The teacher just left though so we have 10 minutes to do whatever we want to.
I look around to see if anyone else was on their phone and was surprised to see that everyone was. I open Zeke's text
Zeke: Hey loser. I heard you have first period with my brother, that blows. Oh and btw, I looked at Four's schedule this morning too. You have second, fourth, sixth, and seventh period with him. You better learn to get along!
Me: It's not that bad. Haven't really talked to him. About Four, I guess I'll just have to put up with him!
I get a reply from Zeke almost instantly. I should have expected that he wouldn't be paying attention to his teacher.
Zeke: What's your problem with him anyways?"
I start to reply and then erase it. Then end up typing:
Me: Just meet me after second period by our lockers so we can walk to third.
Thankfully the bell rings. I look at my schedule and try to find room 46B. I get lost though and end up being three minutes late to English. I avoid looking at anyone but the teacher when I walk in because I know everyone is staring at me. I hand him my schedule and he tells me to take the empty seat at the back of the classroom. I look around to see if there's anyone I know but I don't see anyone, not even Four. Just then the door swings open. Four walks in and drops a yellow slip onto the teacher's desk. He reads it and then turns back to talk to Four.
"Go sit down Mr. Eaton."
Great. The only empty seat left is next to me. He sits down and our teacher introduces himself as Mr. Cannon. I half listen to what he is saying. I've already learned all of this back in California. I guess we were ahead. I start to draw all of the symbols of the factions again since Mrs. Williams took my original drawing of them.
"Uh Tris?"
"What?" I say not looking up from my notebook.
"I need a pencil."
"Well then ask nicely" I say flashing him a smile.
He sighs and then says "May I please have a pencil?"
"Look, you're still alive! So it didn't kill you to say please!" I say before I dig through my backpack for a pencil. I hand him one and then go back to doodling. It feels like two minutes go by before the bell rings. I go to my locker and meet Zeke to walk to third period. He's standing there leaning again the lockers with his arms crossed.
"You still never answered my question." He says raising his eyebrows.
"It was too much to type." I say shrugging.
"Well now you can use your mouth, so tell me."
"Not enough time."
"Well we have Mrs. Piper next. She doesn't pay attention so you're telling me in class no matter what.
Well there's no way out of this. I have to explain to Zeke why I don't like Four which means reliving part of my past. That's something I've never done before. I take a deep breath. Let's see how this goes.