Divergent: Jeanine's Story

The Aftermath- Jeanine

I go and sit with the rest I my faction, only to discover Elizabeth is missing. My friend Charlotte waves me over to her table.
"Elizabeth texted me to inform you that she has taken ill and had to go home immediately."
I frown. Elizabeth has received her vaccinations, and should not be sick.
"May I see the phone?" I ask Charlotte, who nods and drops the solar powered device into my hand. Cellular devices are available only to the Erudite and faction leaders.
Elizabeth's message pops up on the screen. "Sick. Tell J"
I worriedly punch in her number. "Elizabeth? Is everything okay?"

I hear her take a sharp breath in on the other end. "Are you alone?"

"I'm about as far from that as can be." I mutter, and it's true. Charlotte and at least half the table are listening in.

"Well, go somewhere where you can be alone!" she snaps. Elizabeth only loses her temper like this when something is very wrong.

I whisper "Restroom" in Charlotte's ear, who nods and engages my cousin Catrina in a conversation. I sneak away as fast as I can and into the restroom.

"Okay, I'm alone now. What's wrong?"

"Divergent. I'm Divergent." I hear Elizabeth mutter on the other end, clearly not wanting the driver to hear her. For me, everything just freezes.

My own twin sister is a rotten Divergent.

"Jeanine?" I hear her ask.

I groan. "Is there anything we can do? Brain surgery? Anything?"

The silence is deafening.

She finally speaks again. "You're ashamed of me. You hate Divergents, so you hate me. Your own blood."

"Oh, Elizabeth..." I say, but she interrupts me.

"This is all Michael's fault, isn't it?"

I gasp. I've been trying not to think about Michael for the past year.

That name brings so many memories tumbling forward. Michael, comforting me while I sobbed, the day after my brother Chose Amity. Michael, nearly setting his kitchen on fire trying to make a soufflé. Michael, holding my hand as we walked too the Merciless Mart. Michael.

Michael was an Erudite, like me. We dated for six solid months last year. And one day he told me that he was a Divergent. He was delirious at the time from a serum I was testing on him, so he was easy enough to question. At that time, I had no idea what Divergent meant. He explained it was a person that had different qualities, but I heard the truth behind that beautiful lie. A person who did not fit in. A threat to the system. Not someone I should be associating with. Definitely not someone I should have been in love with. I told him what I thought of him, and he hit me. Hard. I had a huge, multicolor bruise for a week. That just confirmed it. Divergents were monsters.

Well, I ran. I reported him to my parents the next day, and never saw him again. I'm not sorry. I may have loved him once, but he was a Divergent. He was a freak.

"Don't ever say that name to me again." I snap. "Ever. I still love you, but you're a freak. Just like him. I don't know what to do."

A click sounds. Elizabeth hung up. I look in the mirror and start. The girl staring back at me has tears running down her cheeks, tears she didn't even notice. Her creamy blonde hair is tangled, from running her hands through it. I stare at my reflection. I didn't even realize I was doing that.

I wash my face, but I can't get my eyes too look normal. They're still puffy and red. The door swings open and I whirl around. Charlotte looks at me curiously with her luminous green eyes.

"Jeanine? Is everything all right?" she asks in a motherly tone. I nod stiffly and drop her cell in her purse.

"I'm just going", I mumble, and practically run out. I get on the bus and sit down near the front, on the uncomfortable fading green seats. Charlotte, unfortunately, follows me. She smiles at me and says, "Ready to talk about it?"

I smile wanly. "It was nothing. Just some family trouble."

She nods and takes the hint not to ask anything else. The bus drops me off at the plaza outside the Erudite headquarters, so I have to endure Charlotte's company for an extra minute. Don't get me wrong, Charlotte's often excellent company. We both are fascinated by chemistry and biology, but I'm not in the mood to discuss either of those things. I just want to get home and go to sleep, and never have to see Elizabeth again.

A retinal scan my father designed himself allows me to access our apartment. My mother smiles at me from behind a book. Family friends always say I take after my mother. We are both ambitious, intelligent, and fantastic public speakers. My mother may not be faction leader, but she has the power of one.

"Hello, Jeanine darling. How did it go?"

I smile half-heartedly. "Excellent. I got Erudite, of course."

She looks relieved. "Your father is working late, and I haven't had the energy to fix anything to eat. Tiring day at work, you know. The Abnegation are now objecting to us experimenting on factionless. It's most tedious."

I shake my head in disgust, pulling a vegetarian burrito and a fizzy drink out of the fridge. The Abnegation are self-righteous idiots, living a life based on secrecy and lies, not selflessness.

"Elizabeth is lying down in her room. A scan indicates she's fine, but who knows what the serum did to her." my mother adds.

"I'll go see her later." I promise, and take a bite of my burrito. I can't avoid her forever, seeing as we share a room and all. She's still Elizabeth, I tell myself, but I'm lying. She doesn't fit in. She's going to cause nothing but trouble her entire life. As her twin sister, it's my duty to protect her, but that doesn't me I have to like her anymore.

Thanks for reading! I was half asleep when I wrote this chapter so I'm sorry if it's not that good. If its hard to follow please comment. I don't know why I added Michael to the story, I just thought Jeanine should have started hating Divergents for a reason besides the fact they didn't fit in. Anyways, please comment what you thought and maybe vote? Please?
-Elizabeth (midnightkitty)