Divergent: Peter's Tale

Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Already two chapters of this but once again, Veronica Roth takes all apart from Cathy and a few others.

Cathy's P.O.V.

I wake breathing heavily from a nightmare. Peter, with... wait. Had he been brandishing a butter knife? I couldn't quite my her finger on it. It had made sense in the dream, but then again dreams always do. All I knew was that Peter was going to die and I couldn't do a thing to stop him from running into that beast of darkness...

I know it sounds funny, but it really wasn't. Peter's my best friend. No one else ever understands me completely. When I'm with him I can let go of my deepest secrets, as he does too.

Nightmares are rare for most Amity, but not me. I think I'm somehow different from them, more rebellious. Peter's different from his faction too, we both know that he doesn't belong. I'm not sure about me though. In some ways I'm different, other ways I'm exactly the same.

The adrenaline I felt when I woke gradually seeps away and I relax slightly. I'll see Peter at school today and it won't matter what happened yesterday. That I didn't answer him, that he walked away.

I leap out of bed and get dressed in record time. I'm excited because this is the last week of school before half term, and that's when Peter'll be coming to the Amity compound with his dad.

I'm ready before mum and dad have even finished their cereal, and I half skip out of the door.

"Bye Mum! Bye Dad!" I yell as I race out of the door.

"Goodbye Sweetheart! Have a good day!" My mother calls after me. Unfortunately for my Dad, his mouth is full of cornflakes, "Hummagumdumm!" I hear as I race down the path.

I climb aboard the bus and almost immediately, an Abnegation boy offers me a seat. I nod my thanks and wait for Luce and Lil, the twins, to come aboard. Everything somehow is more in-focus than usual. I shrug it off as Lil plonks herself down beside me where another Abnegation was sitting moments before. We all take it for granted now, you see. The Abnegation are the seat-savers for whoever happens to pass them first. The way most people view an Abnegation's seat is an empty one.

"Whatcha been up to at the weekend then?" Luce asks. Lil giggles slightly before sharing a glance with her sister before I answer.

"Helping my parents at the orchard mostly. You?"

They both ignore my question, "You sure you were just picking apples?" Lil manages to fit in before bursting into another fit of giggles. I look at her strangely.

"Yes," I insist, "quite sure..."

"What she MEANS to say is... is..." Then I loose Luce to the giggles too.

I stare at them then slowly edge my gaze back to the window, where the landscape is gradually slowing. Erudite pile into the bus. The next stop is Candor, then school.

"We... we... SAW!" Lil exclaims between laughs.

"Saw what?"

"IT! You and... and HIM!"

"Whoever he is!"

"Wha-?" Then my mind clicks. They must have spotted Peter and me out on the fields. "Oh.. that...! Look, he's only my friend! More than you two at least." I force a small laugh.

Lil is still clutching her chest. I wonder if she's on the peace serum. She and Luce have only just become of age to regulate their own volume of the stuff: fourteen. It can have very... heavy affects if you take too much.

The peace serum is something the Amity take in an injection all the time. Each of our doctors in Erudite have a chart showing how much we should be taking to remain kind enough. The first time you can regulate yourself, as I've already explained, on your fourteenth. You're MEANT to be able to be mature enough by then to take the right amount, though I doubt Lil has been keeping to her schedule by the looks of her. She might have got addicted, as some Amity do occasionally.

Luce looks okay though. She glances at her sister as if reading my mind but turns back to me quickly, "Well okay, but as long as you're sure. The moment you begin to waver off course it'll be our business!" She winks at me.

I nod, my mind back to my dream. Then I remember something. All this thinking about the peace serum and I've forgotten to take it this morning! No wonder my vision's sharper. My eyes widen as I turn back towards the twins, "Do any of you have any peace serum on you?" I ask urgently.

"No, why?" She asks.

"I forgot to take it!" I say.

"Well you seem exactly the same as usual. I bet no one will notice." She assures me.

I'm not so sure though. What will happen to me if they do?

Just then my thoughts focus on something else, more worthy of my attention that the peace serum. Some Candor are entering the bus. Peter's one of them. I instinctively brush some of my brown locks behind my ear, then notice Lil looking at me. She explodes again and the whole bus stares at us. I feel as if I'm bare in my classmates' stares. All of my secrets can be seen, Peter included.