Thanks so much for all the support! Please continue reviewing, favoriting, and following!
P.S I forgot to mention this earlier- I do not own Divergent. Is my name Veronica Roth? No.
It's Beatrice, but I go by Bea.
P.P.S I do not own anything by Ke$ha
(You'll see why- I decided to continue with the random Divergent song parodies for each chapter.)
HOT AND DAUNTLESS, IF YOU'RE ONE OF US THEN ROLL WITH US, 'CAUSE WE MAKE FOUR 'N TRIS FALL IN LOVE, WHEN WE TRY TO HOOK 'EM UP, AND YES OF COURSE BECAUSE WE'RE RUNNING THE PIT JUST LIKE A CLUB AND NO YOU DON'T WANNA MESS WITH US, GOT THE GANG ALL UP IN THE CLUB!
Song- We R Who We R
Gang: Tobias, Tris, Christina, Will, Zeke, Shauna, Marlene, Uriah.
Chapter III. The Traitor and Unnamed
BEATRICE
Today's the day.
The day I leave my living hell.
The day I become Dauntless.
I get up from my own bed; which hasn't happened for weeks, as I have been spending my torturous nights in the closet.
Marcus and I take the personal car—which the higher Abnegation government positions are allowed to have—to the Choosing Ceremony. We walk inside the hall, and I sit down with the other Abnegation kids, in surname alphabetical order.
In the middle of the stage, Marcus is standing alongside with Max, a Dauntless leader, and Jeanine, the Erudite leader. Things have been tense between our factions. He looks at me in the eye. He wants me to choose Abnegation. I look at the five bowls onstage.
The first has the Abnegation symbol; one hand helping another, and gray plain stones, just like us.
The second has the Amity symbol; a tree, and soil.
The third, Candor symbol; an uneven scale, and glass.
The fourth has the Dauntless symbol; flames, and lit crackling coal.
The fifth and final has the Erudite symbol; an eye, and water.
Jeanine comes up and silences all factions. She begins reciting each faction's manifesto. Each faction hollers at their own, with the exception of us quiet Abnegation. My heart pumps at the Dauntless Manifesto.
"We believe that cowardice is to blame for the world's injustices.
We believe that peace is hard-won, that sometimes it is necessary to fight for peace but more
Than that: we believe that justice is more important than peace.
We believe in freedom from fear, in denying fear the power to influence our decisions.
We believe in ordinary acts of bravery, in the courage that drives one person to stand up for
another.
We believe in acknowledging fear and the extent to which it rules us.
We believe in facing that fear no matter what the cost to our comfort, our happiness, or even
our sanity.
We believe in shouting for those who can only whisper, in defending those who cannot defend
themselves.
We believe, not just in bold words but in bold deeds to match them.
We believe that pain and death are better than cowardice and inaction because we believe in
action.
We do not believe in living comfortable lives.
We do not believe that silence is useful.
We do not believe in good manners.
We do not believe in empty heads, empty mouths, or empty hands.
We do not believe that learning to master violence encourages unnecessary violence.
We do not believe that we should be allowed to stand idly by. We do not believe that any other
virtue is more important than bravery."
"WOOT WOOT!" a Dauntless hollers, making the rest of them laugh.
I believe in everything in that manifesto, but am I transferring for good?
Or to get away from Marcus?
Marcus quiets everyone down. Max begins calling names. I zone out, hardly hearing the faint voice of Max yelling out, "Dauntless!" or, "Erudite!"
-o0o-
"Beatrice Eaton."
I sigh, and stand up.
I make my way over to the bowls.
I look Marcus dead in the eye.
His are telling me to thrust my hands over the Abnegation stones. Well, for once, I'm telling him no. I take the knife from his palm; his hands are rough and calloused from beating me.
I cut my palm, which compared to Marcus's beatings, is more like a butterfly landing on my finger.
I drop my blood onto the Dauntless bowl. I hear the sizzle of the blood sizzling on the lit coals. I look up.
Marcus looks furious. "My only daughter!" He screams. He gives me a look that says, 'You're dead'.
However I know his wish would only be fulfilled if we were alone; which we aren't.
I smile, knowing that I am finally gone from my living hell, finally safe.
I smirk, and head over to my new faction. They cheer for me, and clap me on the back. The pain is unbearable. I try not to wince when their hands put pressure on my scars and wounds.
"My only daughter is a traitor!" Marcus growls. The other Abnegation council members frown.
I can hear their rushed, disgusted whispers. "Traitor!" or, "Poor Marcus!" Before the Dauntless leave, I see Marcus glaring at me. The other Dauntless around us start sprinting up the stairs, so I do the same.
-o0o-
I follow the hooting and hollering Dauntless. Once we stop running, we are by the escalated train tracks. The Dauntless climb the side of them. Great. I groan inwardly.
I follow, and slowly climb the beams. Don't look down, I tell myself continuously. Don't look down.
"Hurry up Stiff!" I look up to see a Candor girl pulling her arm out to help me. I gratefully accept it.
Once I'm on the tracks, I take a few needed breaths. I hear a loud siren, and the Dauntless around me start running. I follow them, and jump inside the train.
I accidentally overestimate my jump and my nose smashes into the train car door.
"Smooth," an Erudite boy says. I expect him to laugh at me, but his emerald-green eyes say that he was just joking, and his easy smile proves it.
I help up that Candor girl from earlier. We exchange smiles as we take short, shallow breaths. I look at her. She has dark, tanned skin, she's tall, and has short black hair. Pretty.
I doubt I will ever be.
"My name's Christina." She offers me her hand, and I shake it, not being much of a fan of the Dauntless gesture, but I still do not to be rude.
"What's your name Stiff?" She asks.
As much as I'm used to saying 'Beatrice', I don't think I'll be sharing my past here.
I scoff. "You can call me Stiff for all I care."
She laughs. "Okay Stiff," she seems pretty nice.
-o0o-
After one long train ride, I hear, "They're jumping off!" Christina, who sits next to me, nudges me gently. I wince, as she hit my wrist Marcus nearly broke last week.
"Sorry. Come on, let's get up." We stand up together, and the other initiates decide to do so as well.
I lean outside of the train, and I look down to see that we are eight stories up. The Dauntless in the cars in front of us are jumping onto a rooftop meters in front of us. I back up into the back of the car.
"I can't do this Christina." She shakes her head, and holds my hand. "Yes, you can. We'll jump together."
An Amity boy stays behind. "On three. One, THREE!" Christina and I sprint, and leap off the roof, successfully landing on our feet.
"What happened to two?" I ask her. She shrugs. I watch as one of the Dauntless born tries to comfort another. I look over the ledge. A girl in black has her limbs twisted in odd limbs. I back away, trying to get rid of the urge to vomit.
I wonder how we are supposed to get off of this roof.
"Initiates!" I turn around to the voice. A man who doesn't look any older than us, with short blonde hair, and a face made of more metal than skin stands on a ledge by a hole in the middle of the roof.
And there's my answer.
"My name is Eric. I am one of the leaders of Dauntless. Here you will jump into Dauntless compound. The transfers have the right of going first." At first, no one moves.
Eric shrugs. "Alright then. Dauntless born, be my guest."
A Dauntless-born with tan skin and a snake tattoo curling his ear, steps up and beckons cheers from his friends with his hands.
"Go Uriah!" one of the girls shouts.
Uriah hops onto the ledge but misjudges the jump and tips forward right away, losing his balance. He yells something unintelligible and disappears down the hole. His friends burst into laughter. "I guess it runs in the family!" One of them shouts, and some of the older Dauntless members laugh.
Moments later, Eric gestures to the ledge again. The Dauntless-borns line up behind it, and so do the rest of the transfers. I know I have to join them, I have to jump no matter what.
I can't be Factionless.
I can't.
I move toward the line, stiff like my joints are rusted bolts.
The line is slowly shrinking, dissolving.
Suddenly, after a small Erudite girl, it's gone, and I am all that's left.
I stand on the side of the ledge, looking down at the seemingly bottomless pit. I gulp. "Any day now initiate." Eric sneers. I close my eyes, and I'm frozen; I can't even push myself off of the roof.
All I can do is tilt and fall.
The whole trip down I remain silent.
I let out a grunt when I hit my bruised back against something.
A net.
I laugh in relief. I grab a hand and I nearly fall on my back when I jump off the net. I look at the arm, then at the person who it is attached too. He's tall, muscular, with dark brown hair and dark blue eyes that could be black.
"Name?" He asks.
I bite my lip and look at my feet.
"Is it that hard?" A girl with pixie-cut blond hair with purple tips asks. I nod. I look up. The two exchange thoughtful glances.
"There's a reason why Lauren." The boy says.
Lauren, I think, says, "Six, address the crowd."
Six turns and yells, "No name! Last jumper!" A swarm of Dauntless emerge from behind him. They look skeptical at first, of course, probably because I don't have a name, but they start cheering.
I run to Christina. "So, no name, how was the trip?" She smirks.
I just scowl.
-o0o-
Christina talks to me about tattoos. I just nod my head occasionally, pretending to listen. I feel pain on my wrist. I hold it back with my other hand, and wince.
"Are you okay?" she asks. I nod.
"Initiates!" We turn to the voice. "Transfers go with Six! Dauntless born come with me! I assume you don't need a tour of the place." The Dauntless born clear out, and Lauren leaves. I notice we only have nine.
We also seemed to have separated into our own little groups.
A group of three Candor—Peter, Drew, and Molly—all have a familiar cruelty in their eyes. They look ready to kill.
A couple, Edward and Myra, both Erudite. Edward looks very Dauntless-material. However, Myra looks like Amity, kind.
Two boys, one Candor tall and stocky who also seems like Myra, and the Erudite one who seems to be sneaking not-so hidden glances at Christina—who is returning the favor—Will, I recognize him from the train earlier.
And finally, Christina, Candor, and me.
We have a total of three people coated with various shades of blue, five people baring black and white, and one wearing grey—me.
There seems to be no sight of yellow and red.
I am the only transfer from Abnegation, which isn't strange.
Most of us transfer to Amity, or stay in Abnegation.
But I would never decide to stay.
Well there we have it, chapter three of Switched! I hope you guys enjoy my stories, please check out my other one. Please review, favorite, and follow! I am expecting 5 to ten reviews for this chapter! Come on! I know you guys can do it!
~TrissyPoo