If she chose Erudite

Chapter 1

I look from the Abnegation bowl, over the Erudite bowl, to the Dauntless bowl. I want to be Dauntless, to be free, but I don't want to leave my parents. Especially because Caleb already left them; he went to Erudite. If I leave too, they will be alone.

I close my eyes and bring my hand from the Abnegation, to the Dauntless bowl. I am selfish, I am brave.

"Erudite!" Marcus Eaton shouts, and I open my eyes in shock. I didn't choose Erudite, I chose Dauntless! As I look down, I see a little drop of blood in the Erudite bowl. My blood. The blood has dropped too fast, so it came down between the Abnegation and the Dauntless bowl; in the Erudite bowl.

I press my hand against my forhead. What have I done? I have hated Erudite since I was old enough to listen to my father. I hate Erudite as much as he does, and now I'm part of that faction. I betrayed my family, and I didn't even want to.

I walk to the Erudite section of the room, still in shock, and sit down next to Caleb. At least I'm with him here; I won't be alone.

As I look at Caleb, he looks as surprised as I did when I heard I 'chose' Erudite. "I didn't see that coming" he whispers. "Neither did I..." I sigh and look away. I am stuck with a bunch of nerds for the rest of my life, but I do have family here.

I see the Erudite around me stand up and walk through the doors, to the elevators. I follow them, not leaving Caleb's side. I watch the Dauntless run of the stairs, and silently wish I could be with them.

I throw one last look at my parents, at my frowning father - he probably thinks he wasn't good enough at being a father, not good enough at teaching us the Abnegation habits, and about how bad Erudite is. I look at my mother, she is smiling at me, but I can see the sorrow in her eyes.

I feel the guilt of what I did pile up inside me; I left my parents. 16 years did they live with two children, who loved them, and now they're gone. Both. To the faction they despise the most.

Caleb tugs at my hand, to make me follow him. We walk hand in hand the elevator in and I look one last time at my parents, and I see my mother cry on my father's chest. I will probably never see them again, because of the tension between Erudite and Abnegation.

Erudite has been posting articles about how bad Abnegation is lately. They attacked Marcus Eaton, our - no, their faction leader. They wrote that his son, Tobias Eaton, would have transferred to Dauntless because of Marcus's mistreat.

The Erudite also write about how Abnegation would keep the food they should give to the factionless to themselfs, which isn't true, obviously. They're Abnegation, the selfless.

I wipe a tear from my cheek, I hadn't noticed I was crying. I left my parents for a life I chose by mistake, a life I definitely don't want. I sigh, and see we have reached the Erudite headquarters.

It's a huge building, a massive mountain with a lot of windows. At least, that's what it looks like. I follow the other initiates inside the building to another elevator. My grip at Caleb's hand tightens, I don't want to lose him here.

Caleb, on the other hand, looks far from nervous, almost natural. He observes the walls and looks fascinated by the huge portrait of Jeanine Matthews, the Erudite leader. He looks at the stairs, like he is already calculating how much time it would take him to follow them to the top of the building.

Caleb is definitely Erudite, and I don't understand why I didn't notice it before. Of course, I saw the huge pile of books on his bureau, and sometimes even books between crevices in the floor, or between the dresser and the wall.

There were always more books than I had, and even though I know everyone in Abnegation should have the same amount of supplies, I didn't really care about it. I thought he got them because he volunteered in the library. Of course I know now that he didn't volunteer out of selflessness, but because he wanted to read. The perfect Abnegation brother I once knew, doesn't seem so Abnegation anymore.

"Hello initiates, my name is Cara." I look up to see a middle-aged woman with blonde hair and green eyes. The skin around her eyes is stained red, like she has been crying. Maybe she has a younger sibling who transferred.

"The next three weeks you will undergo our initiation, and I will be your instructor," Cara tells us. "Today I will bring you to your dorms, so you can rest a bit. You can walk around if you want. The shops and library are on the same floor as your dorm."

She turns around and beckons us to follow her. She leads us to a dorm with fifteen beds. "Here will you sleep till the end of initiation" Cara anounces.

"Boys or girls?" a Candor transfer in front of me asks. "Both," Cara answers, "And I would appreciate it if you raised your hand when you want to ask a question or say something else."

"At the other end of the dorm are two bathrooms, one for the girls and one for the boys. Now, I will leave you here so you can get some rest. I will be back at six to get you to the cafetaria for dinner." with these words Cara leaves the dorm and we are left alone.

I look around and I see that Caleb and I are the only Abnegation transfers, which isn't very surprising. There are two Candor transfers, three from Amity, one from Dauntless and seven Erudite-born.

I hear my stomach rumble and groan when I remember that I have to wait till six before I get to eat something. The Candor transfer in front of me turns towards me when she hears me groan. She has long, black hair and the same grey-blue eyes as I have. "What's up?"

"Oh, it's just... I'm hungry, and we have to wait till dinner before we can get something to eat" I answer honestly.

"Oh, let's go follow Cara then, and ask if we can eat something right now. I am hungry too! I was so nervous for the choosing ceremony I couldn't eat anything! Oh, by the way, my name is Jane!"

I laugh, this girl can talk! "I am Beatrice," I say with a small  nod. "Come on, let's go get Cara! I am starving!" she says enthousiastically and she pulls me to the door. I wave at Caleb, laughing, and follow Jane. Maybe Erudite won't be as bad as I thought it would be.