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the subtle but persistent feeling of being out of place
KNOCK KNOCK! The sound boomed through the front room of the penthouse, i brushed down my clothes and ran to it in a hurry, my toothbrush still in my mouth with toothpaste spilling out the sides, "Coming!" I shouting causing toothpaste foam to splat onto the floor. Ignoring it, I pulled the door open to reveal my best friend, Will , "Hey," I said, toothpaste still spilling out my mouth,
"Hey Baby, ready to go?" he asked, frowning at the state around my mouth. And no, he's not my boyfriend, everyone calls me Baby, I guess it's some sort of nickname.
"Yeah, one sec." I left him at the door and ran back to the bathroom, spitting out the toothpaste and wiping my mouth. I grabbed a pair of heels from my room and shouted upstairs, "Jeanine! Will's here, I'm going now!"
"Okay Baby, good luck!" she shouted back. Jeanine wasn't exactly my mother, she had adopted me a couple years ago when things at my old home got...messy, let's say. Her and Will were the closest things I had to family now, unless you include my older brother, but we don't talk about him anymore.
Will and I left the Erudite building and caught the train into the city, today would be the day we took our aptitude tests, y'know, the ones that determine our entire lives? And they say it's no stress, I'll believe that when I see it. People say we're lucky to be in this city, and that the war was so terrible that it destroyed the rest of the world. Our founders built a wall around us to keep us safe, and divided us into five groups, factions, to keep the peace. There was Amity, they farm the land for everyone and are all about that peace and love type of crap, I don't know how they do it. Candor, the ones who value order and honestly, they tell the truth, even when you wish they wouldn't; and Abnegation, the stiffs, are the public servants, they're selfless and lead a simple life, you can count on them to feed the factionless- the ones who don't belong anywhere. Then there's Dauntless, the protectors and police, they're all crazy daredevils who literally have no fears. As for me, I'm in Erudite, we're considered to be the 'smart' faction, everyone here values knowledge and logic. I have neither, which is why today, I'm relying on my test results to tell me to get the hell out of there.
"You nervous?" I asked Will, raising an eyebrow,
"Me? Nah, never." he tilted his head up proudly,
"Of course," I rolled my eyes, "I forgot about your 'nerves of steel'"
"Yeah. That's why I'm gonna get into Dauntless."
"You?.....Dauntless?" I laughed, "I don't think I could picture you anywhere but in a lab with your cute, little blue bow tie." I flicked the navy tie around his neck, "You're made for Erudite, Will."
"You'll see Baby, I'm gonna get into Dauntless. Then we'll see who's laughing." he smiled,
"Still me. I can't believe you still wear that tie, all the big boys already upgraded to proper ones." I teased, pointing around us at all the other Erudite boys our age. Will flicked the side of my arm with his fingers, chuckling in disbelief. He had gotten used to all my teasing over the past few years, Will was the first friend I made in any of my classes at school and I guess it just stuck that way since. We had two other friends, Edward and Myra, but they were always busy snogging each others faces off so never saw much of them. There was another boy, in abnegation, he helped me out on a science test once and we instantly became friends, despite my embarrassment of asking for help. Being in Erudite and all, people expect you to know everything already.
Arriving at the testing compound, everyone was sent into large grey and white auditorium, where a woman dressed in blue stood at the front, "One hundred years ago, after the war, our founders created a system they believed would prevent future conflict and create lasting peace. Today's aptitude testing, based on your personality, will assign you to one of the factions. While it is our belief that choosing the faction indicated by your test is the best way to ensure success within the faction system, it is your right tomorrow, at the choosing ceremony, to choose any of the five factions regardless of your test results. However, once the choice has been made, there will be no change permitted."
People stood around waiting for their name to be called up, most people were chatting amongst themselves and their friends, others had started up ping-pong games by the wall and a group of Candor boys had began to pick on some of the Stiffs who were standing in a corner. "Baby!" I heard someone shout, the voice was coming from the other end of the room, it was Caleb Prior,
"Heyy Caleb, how's it going?" I asked as he reached Will and I,
"Good yeah, you guys nervous?"
"Not at all, Mr. 'Nerves of steel' over here has been pretty good at keeping me calm about things, couldn't say much about his own anxieties though." I laughed at Will who was running his hands through his hair and bouncing his leg up and down like crazy,
Caleb was about to say something when our names were called out by the same woman dressed in blue from before, we left with some others to testing cubicles, inside mine there was a tall, slender girl from Amity. She wore a long yellow skirt with a bright red t-shirt, her fair hair trailed down her back in two long braids. "Hi! I'm Cerys, I'll be administrating your test today." she chirped with her amity enthusiasm bursting out in every breath, I'm not sure how much of this positivity I can cope with today. "It's Bonnie, isn't it?"
"Yeah." I cringed at the sound of my real name, I hadn't heard it in so long.
"Okay Bonnie, could you just take a seat for me please. You'll be offered a series of choices to test your aptitude for each faction until you get one result. But there is nothing to worry about of course, most people end up with the faction of their origin anyway."
I hopped onto the seat she was gesturing to and laid my head down on the back-rest, Cerys handed me a small glass of a clear blue liquid, "What's this?" I asked
"Oh that's just the serum for the test, you have to drink it." she smiled sweetly.
I took the glass and drunk it down like a shot, a weird tingly feeling spread across my tongue and my vision blurred at the edges as I swallowed it. Bringing my eyes back into focus, I noticed the room had changed, Cerys and her table were gone and I was alone. The mirrors on the walls reflected multiple versions of me, it felt like something of a dream, behind me, a large table materialised and I saw myself standing next to it, "Choose" my reflection spoke. On the table, there was now a piece of meat, and a knife laid out. Without hesitation, I grabbed the knife, if there was a knife on offer it clearly means there's going to be danger.
The table and my reflection disappeared and sat in front of me was a puppy, it had big black eyes and droopy ears. I giggled as it licked my hand when I tried to pet it, "Puppy!" a young girl walked up to me and the dog, her eyes gleaming with excitement. I smiled and turned back to the dog, which had grown, it was now twice the size it was before and sharp fangs poked out of its mouth as it growled at the girl. She stumbled backwards and the dog went to chase after her, I tightened my grip on the knife in my hand and ran after the rabid dog. I could feel my heart beating in my chest as I sprinted faster and faster, jumping on the dog, I sank my knife into it's back and we both fell through the floor.
I resurfaced by nearly jumping out of my chair, Cerys grabbed my arm to steady me and pulled me back onto my chair, "I wasn't expecting to do that today, I knew I shouldn't have worn a skirt." I scolded myself, laughing slightly, "How did I do?"
"Perfectly, Bonnie, your result came out as Dauntless." I breathed out in disbelief, dauntless?! "You're free to go and join your classmates outside while I input your result."
"Thank you Cerys." I walked out of the room bubbling with excitement, Dauntless!! I knew I didn't belong in Erudite but this was amazing, I'd always secretly hoped to go there, they always seem to have the best life. The best part I hadn't even thought of yet,
I get to see my brother again.
a/n.....hey guys, it's my first time writing on wattpad lol so I'm still getting used to the system. But I hope you will like this :)
That's Bonnie's face claim at the top btw
none of this is my original story, the only character I own rights to is Baby Eaton.
