CHAPTER ONE PART 2

DISCLAIMER:THIS STORY ISN'T MINE,I'M JUST TYPING IT OUT. SO DO NOT REPORT ME OF PLAGIARISM!

The bus stinks of exhaust. Every time it hits a patch of uneven pavement, it jolte me from side to side,even though I'm gripping the seat to keep myself still.

My older brother, Caleb, stands to the aisle,holding a railing above his head to keep himself steady. We don't look all.He has my father's dark hair and hooked nose and my mother's green eyes and the dimpled cheeks. When he was younger, that collection or features looked strange, but now it suits him.If he wasn't Abnegation, I'm sure the girls at school would stare at him.

He also inherited my mother's talent for selflessness. He gave his seat to a surely Candor man on the bus without a second thought.

The Candor man wears a black suit with white tie- Candor standard uniform. Their faction values honesty and sees truth as black and white, so that is what they wear.

The gaps between the buildings narrow and the roads are smoother as we near the heart of the city.The building that was once called a Sears Tower- we call it the Hubemerges from the fog,a black pillar in the skyline. The bus passes under the elevated tracks.I have never been on a train, though they never stop running and there are tracks everywhere. Only the Dauntless ride them.

Five years ago, volunteer construction workers from Abnegation repaved some of the roads. They started in the middle of the city and worked their way outward until they ran out of materials. The roads where I live are still cracked and patchy, and it's not safe to drive on them.We don't have a car anyway.

Caleb's expression is placid as the bus sways and jolts on the road.The gray robe falls from his arm as he clutches a pole for balance. I can tell by the constant shifts of his eyes that he is watching the people around us- striving to see only them and forget himself. Candor values honesty, but our faction, Abnegation, values selflessness.

The bus stops in front of the school and I get up,scooting past the Candor man.I grab Caleb's arm as I stumble over the man's shoes. My slacks are yoo long, and I've never been that graceful.

The Upper Levels building is the oldest of the three schools in the city : Lower Levels, Mid-Levels and Upper Levels. Like all the other buildings around it,it is made of glass and steel. In front of it is a large metal sculpture that the Dauntless climb after school, daring each other to go higher and higher. Last year I watched one of them fall and break her leg.I was the one who ran to get the nurse.

"Aptitude test today," I say .Caleb is not quite a year older than I am, so we are in the same year at school.

He nods as we pass through the front doors. My muscles tighten the second we walk in.The atmosphere feels hungry like every sixteen-year-old is trying to devour as much as he can get of this last day.It is likely that we will not walk these halls again after the Choosing Ceremony- once we choose, our new faction will be responsible for finishing our education.

Our classes are cut in half today, so we will attend all of them before the aptitude test, which take place after lunch. My heart rate is already elevated.

"You aren't at all worried about what they'll tell you?" I ask Caleb.

We pause at the spilt in the hallway where he will go one way, toward Advanced Maths, and I will go the other, toward Faction History.

He raises an eyebrow at me. " Are you?"

I could tell him I've been worried for weeks about what the aptitude test will tell me - Abnegation, Candor,Erudite or Dauntless?

Instead I smiled and say, "Not really. "

He smiled back. "Well...have a good day."

I walk toward Faction History ,chewing on my lower lip.He never answered my question.

The Hallways are cramped, though the light coming through the windows creates the illusion of space;they are one of the places where faction mix,at our age.Today the crowd has a new kind of energy, a last day mania.

A girl with long curly hair shouts "Hey!" next to my ear, waving a distant friend. A jacket sleeve smacks me on the cheeks. Then an Erudite bot in a blue sweater shoves me .I lose my balance and fall hard on the ground.

"Out of the way, Stiff," he snaps , and continues down the hallway.

My cheeks warm.I get up and dust myself off. A few people stopped when I fell,but none of them offered to help me. Their eyes follow me to the edge of the hallway. This sort of thing has been happening to others in my faction for months now - the Erudite have been releasing antagonistic reports about Abnegation, and it has begun to affect the way we relate at school. The gray clothes, the plain hairstyle, and unassuming demeanor of my faction are supposed to make it easier for me to forget myself, and easier for everyone else to forget me too.But now they make me a target.

I pause by a window in the E Wing and wait for the the Dauntless to arrive I do this every morning. At exactly 7:25, the Dauntless prove their bravery by jumping from a moving train.

My father calls the Dauntless "hellions." They are pierced, tattooed and black-clothed. Their primary purpose is to guard the fence that surrounds our city .From what, I don't know.

They should perplex me. I should wonder what courage-- which is the virtue they most value--has to do with a metal ring through your nostril. Instead my eyes cling to them wherever they go. The train whistle blares , the sound resonating in my chest. The light fixed to the front of the train clicks on and off as the train hurtles past the school, squealing on iron rails. And as the last few cars pass,a mass exodus of young men and women in dark clothing hurl themselves from moving cars, some dropping and rolling, others stumbling a few steps before regaining their balance. One of the boys wraps his arms around a girl's shoulders,laughing.

Watching them is a foolish practice. I turn away from the window and press through the crowd to the Faction History classroom.

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