I Was Amity...

12

Today is visiting day. The second I open my eyes, I remember. I see Amy hobble across the dormitory, her nose purple between strips of medical tape. She should be happy I didn't do anything worse. Once I see her leave, I check for Scott and Mikey. Neither of them are in the dormitory. I don't need to beat someone up right before they see their family. Especially because they will probably never see them again after today, if they even see them at all.

There is so much tension in the air you can cut it with a knife. Everyone gets dressed in silence. Not even Olivia smiles. We all know that we might go to the Pit floor and search every face and never find one that belongs to us.

Eric walks in, all eyes on him. "Attention!" he announces, flicking a lock of dark blonde hair from his eyes. "I want to give you some advice about today. If by some miracle your families do come to visit you..." He scans our faces and smirks. "...which I doubt, it is best not to seem too attached. That will make it easier for you, and easier for them. We also take the phrase 'faction before blood' very seriously here. Attachment to your family suggests you aren't entirely pleased with your faction, which would be shameful. Understand?"

The way he speaks makes it sound like a threat. We're Dauntless and we need to act like it. I wonder if Eric has seen his family since his visiting day. Being a leader must mean he can pretty much do whatever he wants. The way he acts makes me guess he hasn't thought.

On my way out of the dormitory, Eric grabs my arm to stop me. "Do you think your family is gonna be here today?" he asks.

"Honestly I don't know. It was just my mom and I when I transferred," I reply.

He looks down at me, almost like he is confused. "The other day you mentioned a brother."

"Oh? You remember that?" I ask him, surprised that he had.

"Yeah, I did," Eric tells me.

"My brother died two years ago. I was fourteen, but I'd rather not talk about it now," I say reluctantly. I don't know if I want Eric to know anything about me right now. I don't want him to somehow use my family against me.

"I get it. I meant what I said. If your mom does show up, don't get attached. If you want to succeed in Dauntless you have to let go of your past," Eric reminds me.

"Trust me I've already let go of my past," I assure him.

He nods and lets me slip out the door.

Once in the hallway, I see Olivia and Calum ahead of me, Calum laughing, probably at a joke Olivia made. I don't try to catch up. For some reason, I feel like it would be a mistake to interrupt them. Liam is missing. I didn't see him in the dormitory, and he's not walking toward the Pit now. Maybe he's already there. I look down at my clothes tight and black, the complete opposite of Amity clothing. I'm wearing a tank top so you can see the tattoo on my right arm. Part of me hopes my mom will like it. Even if I were to cover my tattoo you could still see my piercing, and there is no way to cover my teal hair.

I stop just before the hallway ends. Clusters of families stand on the Pit floor, most of them Dauntless families with Dauntless initiates. There is no mistaking what faction they are from. One mother has a pierced eyebrow, a father has a tattooed arm, and an initiate has purple hair, a wholesome family unit.

I spot Mikey and Amy standing alone at one end of the room and suppress a smile. Is it wrong that I'm glad their families didn't come? Scott's family did show up. Now they can see the busted nose I gave him yesterday morning. He stands next to a tall man with bushy eyebrows and a short, meek-looking woman with red hair. Neither of his parents looks like him. They both wear black pants and white shirts, typical Candor outfits, and his father speaks so loudly I can almost hear him from where I stand. I hope they ask him who broke his nose. I hope he lies and says it was another boy, he wouldn't be able to live down telling them it was little old me who had done it.