Beatrice POV
Ugh! Caleb makes me so mad! He's always telling me what to do! He also says everything I do is wrong and I'm selfish. Tell me something I don't know! I know I'm not good at being Abnegation! Why should it matter anyway? If someone hasn't picked their faction yet, then why do they have to fit in with their parents' faction!? It's so annoying! Caleb's so annoying! This whole freaking city is so annoying! My dad's annoying because he lets Caleb get away with it! "Listen to your brother, Beatrice." "Your brother's right, Beatrice." Grrr! I got so frustrated with Caleb that I ran out of the house. It was dinner time too. I'm in big trouble when I get home! I raised my voice, I yelled at my brother, I slammed the door, I ran through the Abnegation streets, and Marcus Eaton, our great leader, saw, and I'm late for dinner. Yup, I'm in trouble. My punishments aren't so bad. I just get extra chores, or no dinner, or I get sent to my room. Getting sent to my room is my favorite because it's not much of a punishment.
I was so angry I ran and ran and didn't stop until I was at the old Navy Pier. It used to be an amusement park, like a hundred years ago, but now it's just a bunch of old, broken-down rides, shops, and weird little hut things where they used to have something called 'carnival' games. I learned about it in my lower levels history class. Now their paint's all faded. I threw myself down on the grass and stared up at the blue sky. I lay there watching clouds for a while, thinking, but thinking got me angry again, so I got up and decided to climb the ladder on the old Ferris wheel.
That brought me to my current predicament. The climb up was fine. I got to the platform in the middle of the wheel with no problem. I sat here looking out at the city. It's pretty from up here, but then the wind picked up, and I wasn't sure if it was safe for me to climb down. I'm 10 years old, but I'm small for my age. So, I sat up here hoping the wind would settle a bit, but then some Dauntless kids came to play some game where they were running around shooting each other with guns that I think shoot paint. They're all covered in pink, green, yellow, and blue splotches. I wish I could play. It looks so exciting and they're laughing out loud with no one telling them to stop drawing attention to themselves. Of course, if I climb down now, they'll see me and who knows what they'll do.
So here I sit, the sun is setting, and the wind seems to be getting worse as the sky gets darker. My stomach keeps growling too. I'd happily eat plain chicken and vegetables right now, even though Abnegation food is as dull as their favorite color... gray. I freeze when I hear voices approaching the Ferris wheel. If I'm still, maybe they'll go away and won't notice me. It's crazy to climb such a tall, creaky, old ride, so it's not like they'd climb up... except they're Dauntless. Of course they're crazy enough to climb up here. Okay, but I'm being super still, so they won't see me.
Marlene's POV
I'm looking up at the old Ferris wheel, when I see what looks like hair blowing in the wind. I elbow Uriah, trying to shush him, but he yelps loudly. Wimp! I barely touched him. Lynn and the twins, Brax and Xander, all seem to get the message when I put my finger to my lips.
I whisper, "I think there's someone up there, on the platform."
They all look up, then nod their heads in agreement.
"Who do you think it is?" asks Xander. The twins are identical, both long and lean, with golden brown skin, dark, curly hair, and big, amber colored eyes. I can only tell them apart because we've all been friends since preschool. They also resemble their cousins, Uriah and Zeke, but Uriah and Zeke have darker brown eyes.
"I don't know, what if they aren't even Dauntless?" I ask tentatively.
Then Uriah snorts, and says, "Yeah right, you're telling me someone who isn't Dauntless climbed up the Ferris wheel? No way!"
"He has a point." says Brax.
"What, are we Amity? We're Dauntless! Let's just find out!" interjects Lynn. She then proceeds to yell at the mysterious Ferris wheel climber. "Yo! Who are you and why did you climb up there? Climb down now, or we're coming up after you!"
Uriah's eyes are huge, and he whispers, "What if they're dangerous?"
Lynn coughs, "Pansycake!"
"I doubt they're dangerous. Even from this distance, they look like they're really small, like maybe an 8-year-old." Xander points out.
A small voice yells down, "I'm kind of, a little bit, stuck."
We all look at each other, silently debating who is going to go up the ladder. Uriah approaches the ladder. After Lynn called him a pansycake, I know he'll do anything to prove he's not.
Uriah's POV
If only Lynn hadn't called me the ultimate insult! I am not a pansycake but now I have to prove it by climbing the ladder that time forgot. I jump on the second rung from the bottom and bounce on it to make sure it'll hold my weight. It seems sturdy enough. I start climbing. I'm not that afraid of heights, but I am a little more cautious of them than most Dauntless seem to be. About halfway to the platform, the rung under my right foot breaks and falls away. I'm holding on with both my hands and swing myself back and onto the next rung. Whew! That was close! I keep climbing and make it up to the platform. There, I find a tiny Abnegation girl, and she scoots over to make room for me where she's sitting with her legs swinging in the air. She looks a little nervous. She climbed the Ferris wheel, but she's scared of me?
"Hey", I say. "I won't hurt you. I promise." She seems to relax a bit.
"Hey", she says back.
I climb over and sit next to her. It really is cool up here. You can see the whole city. My friends and cousins look so tiny from up here. She's not talking so I guess I'll have to ask the question of the day.
"So, why did you climb up here and how are you stuck?" I ask curiously.
She takes a deep breath and lets it out, then says, "Well, I was having a really bad day, and ran all the way here from home, and I was still feeling... um... frustrated, so I decided to climb the Ferris wheel. I was up here so long though, that the wind picked up, and I got a little bit nervous about climbing down."
"Back up a second", I exclaim with my usual amount of extreme energy. "I started this all wrong. My mom would smack me upside my head. I'm Uriah. Uriah Pedrad. What's your name?"
She smiles for the first time, well, at least at me. She's really cute, but also looks kinda familiar. I swear I've seen that smile somewhere before, her eyes too.
"Hi Uriah, I'm Beatrice. Beatrice Prior." she replies with an even bigger smile.
The wind is picking up, so I know we need to get down, but I also hear Beatrice stomach growl, so that will need to be taken care of too. Ma always says food is the first step to helping someone feel comfortable, especially if they're having a bad day. Maybe we can take her to Dauntless and get her a slice of Dauntless cake.
I ask, "Ready to climb down? I'll go first and I'll help you if you have any problems."
She looks at me, biting her bottom lip.
"How do I know I can trust you?" she asks with her brows furrowed.
"I'm Dauntless. We're supposed to help people, especially if we have to be brave to do it and climbing down this deathtrap is definitely brave, so I'm here for you, ma'am." I say with a grin.
She grins back and nods her head saying, "Let's do this."
Lynn's POV
They're finally on their way down, with Uriah coming first. As they get closer, we can see that this crazy Ferris wheel climber is a small Abnegation girl! What the?! If I weren't seeing it with my own eyes, I would never believe it. A stiff climbed the Ferris wheel. A STIFF climbed the Ferris wheel! Uriah jumps from the sixth rung from the bottom and grabs her by the waist, helping her off the ladder.
He turns to us and introduces her, "This is Beatrice."
"No." I say adamantly.
"No?" she asks.
"No." I repeat. "There is absolutely no way I'm calling you that. You climbed the freaking Ferris wheel. I am not calling you Bea-uh-triss. Nope, nuh-uh. Try again." I say drawing out her name to prove how wrong it sounds for her.
"Well, that's the only name I've ever been called except Bea. That's what my family sometimes calls me. My mom says the one time my uncle got to meet me, I was only three, and he called me 'Bumble Bee'" she says tentatively.
I take a breath and let it out loudly, "Hmph, I guess we can call you that for now, but it'll be a work in progress. That's still not the right name. I can feel it."
Uriah then goes through the group and introduces her to all of us.
"The one who wants to rename you is Lynn, next to her is Marlene, then the twins, my cousins, are Brax and then Xander is the one who wears glasses" he informs her.
Marlene and I wave, and the boys shake her hand. Of course, her handshake is stiff, but what else could we expect from a, well, from a stiff. That's the nickname everyone calls people from Abnegation. It's pretty dang obvious this girl is not a typical stiff.
Xander's POV
"Well, what do we do now?" I ask. We all look at each other, then we hear a loud growl coming from Bea's stomach. We all snicker, and she just stands there blushing and looking embarrassed.
Uriah, excitedly says, "Let's take her to Dauntless and get her some cake!"
"Sounds like a plan." my brother, Brax says.
We all smile at the prospect of getting Dauntless cake. Now to figure out one, how to sneak her in, and two, does she know how to jump on and off a train?
"Do you know how to get on a train?" I ask quietly.
"She responds, "Um, no." and looks down at the ground.
Marlene pipes in, always being nice, "Well we had to learn too, and not that long ago since we are all ten. You aren't allowed to learn before that."
"Well, I'm ten too, so I guess it's time I learned." she proclaims, with a look of determination.
"Wait!" says Lynn. "We're getting ahead of ourselves. She can't go in Dauntless dressed like that. We'll all get in trouble."
Marlene asks, "Are you wearing anything under that dress?"
Bea responds, "I have an undershirt on and dark gray leggings."
"Okay, take off the dress and you can wear my jacket over your shirt. That should work until we can get to my house and get you proper Dauntless clothes." Marlene says, removing her jacket.
Bea goes behind a small building to change. I know that being Abnegation, she's probably very uncomfortable with us seeing her in just her undershirt. She comes back out and we all run for the train. We give her a brief run down on how to get on the train. When it comes, we all run for it. Bea's fast, that's for sure. We all jump in and she grabs the outer handle, but doesn't quite have the strength to pull herself in, so Brax helps her. We all sit on the floor and learn more about Bea as we head for Dauntless.