I Am Divergent

Melina's Choice

I stood in the shower, letting my body be steamed by the burning hot water. I felt like, if I stood here long enough, all my confusion and fear could wash away down the drain.

But I know it can't.

"All of them..." I mumble, "I was all of them..." I don't even put shampoo in my hair, just let the hot water drench me.

"Divergent..." I breathe the word.

I get out and dry off quickly, pulling on my blue pajamas.

The Abnegation woman told me I was...all of the factions. She even gave me percentages. Funny, she knew I would want them...because I am everything, including Erudite.

-

I go back into my room, and shove the flash drive I brought with me to the school into my laptop.

The Word document she downloaded to the file was still there.

"Abnegation= 52%

Amity= 37%

Erudite=11%

Candor=5%

Dauntless=3%"

Normally...one faction holds a hundred percent status. The computer is glitchy, because having every faction hold a percentage is never done.

I type a word below the text, in big red letters. I'm not supposed to say it, but my fingers run across the keys.

"DIVERGENT."

A pitiful three percent of me was brave. I did the analysis.

I refused the gun. Twice. Twice, because I was afraid to kill the man, even though he would have tortured me. (I read up the simulation manual.)

I didn't even pick the tazer, which would have lowered Abnegation stats and raised Amity and Dauntless stats, but I chose the hammer, which did nothing but lower my Dauntless status and raise my Abnegation. (The hammer gives an opportunity to save the traumatized girl.)

Three percent.

However, if I picked the bike, that would have cut my Dauntless status deep and raise my Erudite for seeing the riddle.

So, I wasn't a complete coward.

But I was still a coward.

I expected Candor to be my poorest faction, but it wasn't. It turns out, the simulation reads my thoughts too. Therefore, if I did whatever I thought, then I was being truthful to myself.

Most of the time I wasn't. I wanted to abandon the insane girl, I wanted to pick the gun up and shoot the horrid man in the torso.

I didn't. And that's why Abnegation and Amity took the cake.

--

The door begins to creak open, and I shut my laptop closed.

"What was that?" Helen asks.

"Just some research. Faction percentages. It's still in progress." And that is why I am not in Candor. I chastised myself for typing Divergent in huge red letters.

"Can I see?" Helen leans over. Now I know she just wants to catch me red handed. She never takes interest in my research.

As I open the laptop, I slip my hand under it, and click the battery out.

The screen glitches black.

"What the heck...?!" I feign shock. I put the battery back in, but the computer must be turned back on to reboot. I shake my head and slam the laptop closed.