Divergent: A Retelling

Love, Pain, Panic

I wake up with a start. The lights have turned on and everybody groans. I groan with them as I sit up. I swing my legs off the bed. I clutch the mattress and stare at my legs. Everything is sore. I get dressed and while I am, Peter is silent next to me.

"Don't expect me to apologize." I say, pulling on a shirt. "Oh, never." Says Peter sarcastically. "We both know that's below you." I shoot daggers.

I let my hair down and stretch.

As everyone leaves, Christina walks up to Tris's bed. This is when I realize that Tris is here. "C'mon. Up and at 'em." She says, shaking Tris's shoulder. "We'll meet you at the tracks."
Says Christina. I nod and walk with Will and Al to the tracks.

We walk to the pit and then up the stairs to the glass building above the pit. My body aches. I want to go back to sleep. Every other initiate is already there when we reach the top. Christina and Tris get here right as the train does.

"What took you so long?" Says Will over the train. The wind whips my hair. "Stumpy legs over here turned into an old lady overnight."
Says Christina. "Oh shut up." Tris retorts. Four stands on the side of the tracks, not more than a couple inches away from the moving train. If he were to move, it would take him with it. He steps to the side to let the other initiates get on first. We all start jogging next to the train. Will jumps on before us, landing on his stomach and then wiggling the rest of his body on us. Four grabs the handle on the outside and gets on smoothly, as if he's done it a hundred times; which he probably has.

I grab the handle just like Four did, but I didn't get on as smoothly as he did. My foot catches the edge of the car and I trip as I step on, almost falling. Will laughs and I playfully punch his arm. I go and stand at the other side of the car. "What, he can laugh at you and I can't?"
Asks Peter next to me. I look over and he's smirking at me. I walk away and stand over by Christina and Will. I peek out the car and see Al lift up Tris and put her on the train. Christina and I grab her. Tris leans against the car wall, blushing with embarrassment. "Feeling okay there?" Peter says with mock sympathy, lips turned into a frown and his eyebrow pulled in, arched. "Or are you a little... stiff?" Peter laughs at his own joke as we all glare at him. Molly and Drew join in, snorting and making ugly laughing faces. The only reason I don't get mad is because I know I can at least take Molly down. "We are all awed by your incredible wit," Says Will. "Are you sure you don't belong in Erudite?" I add with a roll of my eyes. "You're one to talk." Says Peter, a glint in his eye. I blush with anger and Will grabs my arm, holding me back. Before anyone can say anything, Four speaks. He stands at the doorway. He always looks intimidating no matter how or where he's standing. "Am I going to have to listen to your middle school bickering all the way to the fence?" Everyone goes quiet and Four turns back to the opening of the car. After a few moments, Tris speaks. "What do you think's out there?" She asks, nodding outside the train car.

" Beyond the fence." I lean against the wall and slide to the ground. "A bunch of Amity farms." I say, head against the wall. The thought of being so close to home makes my stomach lurch. "Yeah but I mean... past the farms. What's the city being guarded from?" "Monsters." Says Christina, wiggling her fingers at Tris. She rolls her eyes as I give a small laugh. "We didn't even have Dauntless guards near the fence until five years ago." Says Will. "Don't you remember the Dauntless police patrolling the factionless sector?" I shrug. "Tris would, coming from Abnegation." Tris nods. "Oh right." Says Will. "I bet you saw them all the time." He says. "Why do you say that?" She asks sharply. My eyebrows raise. "Because you have to pass the factionless sector to get to school, right?" "What, did you memorize a map of the city for fun?" Asks Christina, a teasing smile on her face. "Yes," Says Will with a puzzled expression "Didn't you?"
As Will and Christina continue to talk, my mind wanders. I feel a deep pit of loneliness brewing inside my chest. Christina and Will are clearly a match made in heaven. I wonder if I'll find someone like that here? I flirted with Catherine when I was in Amity, but it never went farther than that. Ren is attractive, but I can't look at him that way, plus they're older, and I have no idea which way they swing. I like Christina, but I have a feeling that if I flirted, she'd flat out reject me.