Waiting Four You

Chapter 1 (Tobias)

As I walk up the stairs to my choosing ceremony, I feel more alone than I ever have before. I already know what choice I'm going to make. Beatrice and I had discussed it yesterday after my aptitude test.

"I don't feel selfless enough for Abnegation," she had told me. "And I know that you want to get away from him."

We had talked about it and decided that I would choose Dauntless and that in two years, when she gets to choose, Beatrice will too. Although I knew what we had agreed upon, that was still two years that I would be alone; two years where I wouldn't be allowed to see the girl who I loved.

"I'll visit you on visiting day," she had smiled at me. "I'm sure mom would take me."

I had agreed with her then that Natalie probably would bring her to see me, but that still wouldn't make my loneliness any easier. It still wouldn't make it so that I could see her every day.

I take my place in the line of dependents and look around the Abnegation section. At the front, sits my father looking smug like he thinks that I am going to choose Abnegation like he told me to. Just behind him, I see her. Beatrice is sitting directly behind my father between her mother and brother with her father, Andrew, sitting on Calebs other side.

Now that I know where Beatrice is sitting, I stare at her hoping that she will somehow give me the courage to follow through with our decision. Can I really transfer and leave her behind?

I don't notice anything except the back of her head until I hear the name just before mine called and watch Anne walk forward to choose Abnegation. When my name is called, I wipe my hands on my pants and glance over at Beatrice. She smiles at me encouragingly, and before I can lose my nerve, I quickly drop my blood into the Dauntless coals.

Shuffling towards the area where the Dauntless initiates are standing I glance back at her and see that she is still smiling and trying to be inconspicuous about pointing at my father. His face is stricken with a mixture of shock, hurt and anger, and I smile a little at it knowing that I put that look on his face; I did that.

As the rest of the faction dependents are called, I notice that Andrew isn't trying to comfort my father. That seemed weird since the two are close friends, but from the glare that is on Andrew Prior's face, I determine that she must have told her parents about what Marcus had done. She must have told them about the marks criss crossing my back from his belt and the bruises on my side from his fists. I smie hoping that he gets what he deserves.

Max calls the last name and once they make their choice, the Dauntless stand without being dismissed and begin running down the stairs. I run with them releasing the Abnegation jacket from my shoulders so that my darker grey shirt underneath helps me to blend into the crowd better. We run to the tracks and climb the stairs everyone pushing and shoving their way onto the platform ready to jump on the moving train.