*Katherina's P .O.V.*
My mother calls my name from the kitchen. I tell her I'll be right down. I brush my long, brown hair and tie it into a ponytail. I put on my tight gray tank top underneath a baggy hoodie. As always, I'm rolling up my gray sweat pants and tying my gray cloth sneakers. I am done in under a minute. Slowness isn't praised in the Abnegation. I rush downstairs and the smell of toast and jam rushes into my nose. I see my mother and father, sitting at the table as they've done for years, talking in hushed tones and eating their toast. My mother greets me with a pile of toast, but I'm too nervous to eat. Today, I am leaving them and forging my own identity. Today, I'm learning new things and seeing new people and going new places, and I can't wait. I'm leaving that frail Abnegation girl behind and making a new, better version of myself. For their sake, I take a piece of toast and gulf it down. My father looks at me with a reproachful look and says that he can't wait until tonight to have a nice dinner. I look him in the eyes and tell him that I can't wait. My father is a very demanding man. I must be the most selfless of the selfless. I must be the best of the best at school. I must always serve others before myself. I must be the greatest of the greatest. Not that I disagree with him, but the never ending pace of perfectness tends to play with my sanity from time to time. I hear the train whistle and get ready to march into my destiny.
After a painful hour of standing up (I gave my seat up to an Amity woman with a big smile), we finally arrive. I'm nervous. My palms are moist and shaking. The other Abnegation head towards the stairs. Of course. Why would we take the elevator? Technology is self-serving. We are not self-serving. Our feet all step on the stairs with a rhythmic pace. The silence is not unbearable as it is at times; it's quite nice, actually. After many flights of stairs, we arrive into a circular room. The bowls are huge. Bigger than I thought. And there are so many people. Oh, so many people. All looking. Staring at the fresh meat. Because that's what we are. Meat. To be kneaded and shaped into something different. Somebody's coming up on stage. He's wearing crisp black pants, a white shirt and a black blazer, his hair parted on one side, very oily looking. He looks, how do I say it politely? Like an ass. As soon as he's on the make shift stage, he reads from a card, his sharp voice cutting the air like a knife. My mother clutches my hand as he calls out the first name.
''Joseph Zakary.''
A boy from Amity comes up and reluctantly takes the knife out of the Candor man's hand. He holds it up, takes a deep breath and slices his palm. His blood drips into the bowl with the gray stones. The Abnegation have a new Initiate. Lucky them.
''Miranda Yves.''
A ratty looking girl comes out of the Erudite side of the room. She takes the knife and slices her palm, letting her blood sizzle on the Candor glass. Wow. Two faction transfers already.
''Katherina Smith.'' As he calls my name, I squeeze my mother's hand once, hard, for the last time before I walk towards the stage. I feel hundreds of eyes trained on me as I make my way towards my future. The knife, whiped clean, is handed to me. I make a deep gash in my left palm as I hold it out over the sizzling coals. I kiss my old life behind and bleed into my new one, I hear shouts of glee from the Dauntless. My new faction. My faction. I go and join them. The rest of the Ceremony passes by like a breeze. I notice other new Initiates to my faction. A dark haired boy from Candor named James. A blonde haired girl from Erudite named Charlotte. A small, lean boy from Amity. A tough looking girl named Jane, from Candor. A fragile looking girl from Abnegation with black hair and a serious face that I haven't seen before. When the Ceremony is finished, we all go to the stairs and run down. I look around; there are only six new Initiates, including myself. There are ten old ones, though. Competition will be inevitable this year; I feel it deep within my bones. With some sort of relish, I imagine the looks of sadness and self-deprecation on the Initiates that will get cut. My face, serious until then, sparks up into a smile. We are still running. We reach the doors and push out, into the open air, into the hot sun. The Dauntless are yelling and shoving each other as a tall man with more ink thank skin checks his watch. He has high cheek bones, big biceps and wears black combat boots. His lime green hair sticks up a bit into spikes and yells ''TRAIN'S COMING! GET READY INITIATES.'' at the top of his lungs.
I take a deep breath as we run yet again, towards the incoming train. The blonde from Erudite, Charlotte if I remember correctly, looks at me and grins. She says ''Fancy seeing a Stiff here. Wanna jump together?''
''I'm as Dauntless as you are, know-it-all.'' I say. I feel a pang of guilt at calling her a mean name, but it's gone as soon as she replies ''First time I see an Abnegation smart mouth!''
I smile, a real smile this time, showing all of my teeth and extend my hand towards hers. Hand in hand, we sprint towards the oncoming speeding train and slam against a metal wall. We've made it. We're staying.