disclaimer: I don't own Divergent

Tris' POV

It has been almost a month since the serum Jeanine injected the Dauntless with failed. A group of Erudite realized what was going on and switched out the serums. The serum they gave us only lasted for about a minute, so everyone affected by it was just a bit confused as to why they were by the tracks. Christina knew i hadn't been affected by the serum, but I still haven't told her why. The feeling of fear I get whenever someone gets too close to discovering my divergence still goes through me. I am not completely sure that the feeling of animosity some of those feel towards us was executed along with Jeanine, so I feel it best to hide it still.

However, things are getting better. The hateful articles about Abnegation stopped when the new Erudite leader, Asha, took charge. Asha is also the one who took charge when the group of Erudite switched the serums. As a faction ambassador, I have been trying to help the other government officials come up with a better way to run things. At the last meeting, I suggested that we could have a council made up of an equal representatives from each faction. The representatives would be voted on by the members of their faction. The people there actually seemed to take my idea into consideration. They said they would take a month or so to think it over, and then we could all get back together and go from there. Also, people can now travel in between factions, though not many take advantage of this. I still haven't visited any of family members and they haven't visited me.

I'm in my kitchen brewing tea when I hear a knock at the door.

"who is it?" I ask. It better not be Christina coming to drag me along on another of her "totally necessary" shopping trips.

"Four." says Tobias. I smirk. "Four? Like the number?" "Ha ha. Just let me in Tris."

"Why don't you just pick pick the lock? I'm making tea and it's a very delicate process that can not be interrupted for people who lose keys."

I hear Tobias let out a frustrated huff. "I didn't lose it," he says insistently, "Zeke took it!"

"Why would Zeke want a key to my apartment?" I ask, frowning.

"He broke into my apartment last night to steal a key to my apartment but accidentally stole the key to yours. I didn't know any of this had happened until I woke up this morning and saw a note on my table that said thanks for the key bro" Tobias sounds genuinely upset about it. Well, I would be too if Zeke had broken into my apartment. I shutter at the thought.

I decide to be nice to him, so I get up and open the door only to find no one there. I look around confused. Where could he have gone in such a short amount of time? "Four?" I call out uncertainly.

"I think I saw him running after Zeke," says Uriah down the hall.

"After I got up in the middle of making my tea?" I yell in mock indignation.

Uriah mocks a gasp. "How rude of him! Interrupting Trissy's tea making like that!"

"Shut up Uriah!" I yell at him, "It's an extremely delicate process, that when handled badly, can ruin everything."

"everything? Isn't that being a little melodramatic?" he says smirking.

"No, because if I don't get my tea in the morning i am more likely to ruin a certain smart-alecks face."

"Maybe you should go have your tea," says Uriah nervously.

"Good answer," I say, nodding my head.

I close the door and am about to turn around when I feel someone hugging me from behind. I reflexively elbow the person in the gut. I hear the person "oof," behind me and recognize it as Tobias.

"What are you doing in here?" I ask him as he turns me around to face him.

"I can't visit my girlfriend?" he asks while putting a hand to his chest in mock hurt.

"I meant when did you get in here?"

"While you were talking to Uriah," he says smirking smugly.

I just roll my eyes at him and go to the kitchen to finish making my tea. He strides over to the couch I have across my bed and plops down. At least he knows well enough to not interrupt my tea making twice in a row.

Once I finish, I pour two cups and hand one to Tobias, keeping the other for myself and sit on the couch next to him so our legs are touching. As much as he pretends otherwise, I know he actually enjoys the tea I give him.

We talk about trivial things while sipping tea and sometime during the conversation I wind up sitting sideways on his lap with his right hand on my shoulder and his left holding his tea.

I've just finished my first cup when I hear a knock at the door.

"Who is it?" I ask. I don't know who it could be since no one visits me this early except for Tobias. Christina usually comes earlier than this when she drags me on a shopping trip.

"It's Caleb."

Caleb? I jump up off of Tobias's lap and and rush to the I open it, I see Caleb standing there with a bag in his hand. He ditched the glasses he was wearing when I visited him in Erudite. Thank God. Other than that, he looks the same.

"Caleb!" I exclaim hugging him. I didn't realize just how much I missed my brother until this moment.

"Hey Beatrice," he says hugging me with the arm that is not carrying the bag.

"Who's this?" asks Tobias from behind me. I didn't realize how this must look to him, my hugging a random Erudite that he's never seen before.

"Four, this is my brother Caleb." I can see Tobias's jealousy quickly replaced by embarrassment. "Caleb, this is my boyfriend, Four."

"You two don't live together do you?" Caleb asks. He seems kind of alarmed at the idea.

"Why is everyone against me visiting my girlfriend?" huffs Tobias.

"Oh get over it," I say. I punch him lightly on his arm.

Caleb looks at Tobias like he is trying to analyze him. I always knew he was protective, but I didn't know he was this protective.

"Why don't you come inside and have a cup of tea?" i ask, trying to defuse the tension.

Caleb looks back at me and nods. I go to the kitchen to get the kettle and another tea cup while Tobias plops back down where he was and Caleb sits in the chair. I give Caleb his tea and refill mine and Tobias's cups.

"Thanks Tris," says Tobias.

"Thanks Be- I mean- Tris?" Caleb looks at me from his chair, "Should I call you Tris?"

I think about it. It's kinda weird to hear him call me Tris. "Whichever," I say.

"How come he gets to call you whichever he wants, but I only get to call you Beatrice on special occasions?" whispers Tobias.

I have to stifle a laugh at how whiny he sounds. "Because he's my brother, it's weird to hear him call me Tris," I whisper back at him.

Caleb, unaware of our whispered exchange just takes a sip of his tea. "Hey this stuff is really good," he says, "what kind of tea is it?"

"Peach, but I also added some other stuff. What's in the bag?" I ask him.

Caleb sets down his tea and becomes suddenly serious. "That's why I came actually. In Erudite I invented something that records someones history into book form almost instantly. I tried it on myself, but for some reason, it wound up recording your history," I gape at him opened mouth, "well, it's your history with a couple changes."

"What changes?" I ask, curious in spite of how creepy it is my brother has a written history of my life.

"Well, from what I can gather, this is what would have happened if Asha and the rest of the Erudite hadn't realized what Jeanine was doing. But that's not what I'm really interested in," says Caleb. He reaches down and pulls out a book from the bag. Across it is the Chicago skyline with the Dauntless seal in the middle. In large, white, letters it says Divergent. I grab the book and stare at it in disbelief. The word that would definitely get me killed just a month ago is on my autobiography. "Do you know what it means?"

"Yes," I say slowly, "Don't you?" you'd think as an Erudite he would know all about the Divergents.

He shakes his head. "Could you tell me?" he asks his eyes shining at the possibility of learning something new.

"We could just read the book," I say, absentmindedly rubbing the cover. I know I am curious to read what would have happened, so Caleb must be as well.

"Are you sure you would let me read that?" he asks.

I look at Tobias. After all, I did learn a lot about his past, so it would be in here as well.

Tobias sighs. "It's fine with me," he says.

I eye him suspiciously, "Are you sure?" I ask him. I don't want to push him into sharing his past.

He nods his head, "Yeah. I don't see a use in hiding it anymore."

"Really? You're the best sister ever!" Caleb says excitedly. He looks like a kid on Christmas.

"I know I am," I say nonchalantly.

Caleb is just about to say something else when Uriah and Zeke burst in through the door.

"Tris! We're playing truth or dare! Bring your brother!" they say in unison.

"How did you get in here?!" I ask. Caleb just sits in his chair in shock while Tobias laughs.

"Zeke picked the lock," says Uriah.

I glare at Zeke, who shifts uncomfortably under my gaze.

"Hey what's that?" Zeke asks pointing to Divergent. He's obviously trying to change the subject.

"My autobiography," I say still glaring at him, "well, kind of. Now, stop changing the subject. I've told you before that if you two break into my apartment again I will steal all of Uriah's pop-tarts and all of Zeke's cake."

They both get down on their knees. "Please forgive us oh merciful one!" they say.

"Be nice Tris," says Tobias, "You know how short their attention spans are. Did you honestly think they were paying attention to you while you were threatening them?"

"Fine," I say grudgingly.

"What was that about a kind of autobiography?" asks Uriah.

Caleb speaks up. "I invented a machine that creates a person's history, and it printed Beatrice's. Except, in the book, no one switched out the serums Jeanine gave the Dauntless."

"So it's like an alternate reality," says Zeke.

"Yes," says Caleb nodding excitedly. Tobias, Uriah, and I just look at him in shock.

"What?" says Zeke defensively, "I payed attention in school on occasion."

"Who are you and what have you done with my brother?" asks Uriah.

We all laugh at that.

"Let's go. We don't want to miss anymore truth or dare," says Zeke.

page break b/c i'm lazy

We're sitting in a circle at Zeke's with Shauna, Lynn, Marlene, Christina, Will, Tobias, Caleb, myself and of course, Zeke and Uriah. I'm sitting in between Tobias and Caleb. After everyone is introduced to Caleb, Zeke starts the game.

"Okay!" he says, "As always, I will start. Tris! Truth or Dare?"

"Dare."

He grins evilly. I have a bad feeling about this. "Let us read your sort of autobiography," he says, "Muhahahaha."

"It's fine with me," I say I look to Tobias, and he just nods, "Let's do it then."

Caleb explains how my sort of autobiography came to be while Zeke just hands Divergent to me. I'm not surprised he took it.

"Oooh," says Christina, "We all get to read her first impressions of us!"

"You better mention how ruggedly handsome I am," says Will.

I just roll my eyes at him and start reading.

4's POV

bold = story

There is only one mirror at my house.

I hear a chorus of what's.

"It's not that big of a deal," says Tris, "It's just kind of how it was."

"If there are interruptions after every sentence, this is going to take forever," I say. I for one, am actually quite eager to see what her life was like before she came to Dauntless and to hear her first impressions of everyone. Especially her first impression of me.

It is behind a sliding panel in the hallway upstairs. Our faction allows me to stand in front of it on the second day of every third month, the day my mother cuts my hair. I sit on the stool and my mother stands behind me, trimming. The strands fall around us in a dull, blonde ring. When she finishes, she pulls my hair from my face and twists it into a knot. I note how calm she looks and how focused she is. She is well-practiced in the art of losing herself. I can't say the same for myself.

"But you are selfless Tris!" says Marlene.

"Personally," I say, "I don't think that being selfless and losing oneself are necessarily the same thing. You can be selfless while still acknowledging who you are. At least, that's what I think."

"Wow," says Uriah, "Deep thoughts with Four."

"He does have a good point though," says Caleb.

I raise my eyebrows at him. "For some reason," i say, "I was under the distinct impression that you disliked me."

"I just think that you're a little old to be dating my sister," he says, "I don't dislike you as a person, and even if i did dislike you, that wouldn't change my thinking that what you said was a good point."

"If you didn't dislike me even a little bit, you wouldn't have a problem with Tris and I dating," I say. I know that her family is important to Tris, so I want Caleb and I to at least be able to have a decent conversation without him glaring daggers at me like he has been doing since he showed up.

Caleb ponders that for a moment. "It's not that I dislike you," he says slowly, "It's that I just don't really trust you."

"Isn't that the same thing?" Tris asks.

"No, says Caleb decisively, "After all, I am assuming neither of you dislike Uriah or Zeke, but you don't seem to trust them when it comes to your apartments."

"Hey! I resent that!" say Uriah and Zeke at the same time.

I laugh. "He does have a good point though," i say parroting what Caleb said earlier. Caleb much catch this because he looks over at me and smiles.

"While it's nice that you two are bonding by making fun of those two idiots," says Lynn while ignoring the identical looks of hurt that the two idiots direct at her, "But I think it's about time we started reading again, or else we're going to be here all night."

Tris nods and starts reading again.

I sneak a look at my reflection when she isn't paying attention-not for the sake of vanity, but out of curiosity. a lot can happen to a person's appearance in three months. In my reflection I see a narrow face, wide, round eyes, and a long, thin nose- I still look like a little girl, though sometime in the last few months I turned sixteen.

The other factions celebrate birthdays, but we don't. It would be self indulgent,

"Please tell me that you at least know when your birthday is," says Christia.

"I don't know when my birthday is," says Tris. I just realized that I don't know when my birthday is either. I just consider Choosing Day my birthday since I know i has to be then or before.

"Abnegation is so weird," says Shauna.

"I could find it," offers Caleb, "I've been meaning to look up our birthdays anyway."

"Thanks," says Tris.

"There," she says when she pins the knot in place. Her eyes catch mine in the mirror. It is too late to look away, but instead of scolding me, she smiles at our reflection.

I frown a little. Why doesn't she reprimand me for staring at myself?

"Could you really have gotten reprimanded for looking at your reflection?" asks Will.

"Yes," says Tris, "They don't care as much when you're younger, but by the time you're sixteen you are expected to be able to resist temptation."

"So, today is the day," she says. "Yes," I reply. "Are you nervous?" I stare into my own eyes for a moment. Today is the day of the aptitude test that will show which of the five factions I belong in. And tomorrow, at the Choosing Ceremony, I will decide on a faction; I will decide on the rest of my life; I will decide to stay with my family or abandon them.

"Being kinda melodramatic aren't you?" says Christina.

"It's true though," says Caleb.

Tris doesn't even really acknowledge the comments.

"No," I say, "The tests don't have to change our choices." "Right." she smiles. "Let's go eat breakfast." "Thank you. For cutting my hair." She kisses my cheek and slides the panel over the mirror. I think my mother could be beautiful, in a different world. Her body is thin beneath her gray robe. She has high cheekbones and long eyelashes, and when she lets her hair down at night it hangs in waves over her shoulders. But she must hide that beauty in Abnegation. We walk together to the kitchen. On these mornings when my brother makes breakfast, and my father's hand skims my hair as he reads the newspaper, and my mother hums as she clears the table- it is on these mornings I feel the guiltiest for wanting to leave them.

"Had you known which faction you wanted to go to at that point?" asks Caleb.

"No," says Tris, "I just knew that I couldn't stay in Abnegation."

"Why?" asks Christina.

"I wasn't very good at following the rules," says Tris

I snort. "You've already broken some of the rules here," i say, "Is it possible for you to follow rules period?"

"You've already broken some of the rules here?" asks Caleb. He seems kind of horrified at the idea.

"I visited you, remember?"

"Oh yeah."

"Tsk. Tsk. Tris. You're a very naughty girl," says Zeke.

"Like you have any room to talk." says Tris while rolling her eyes.

"BURN!" says Shauna laughing.

"My own girlfriend!" exclaims Zeke.

"As much as your antics amuse me," says Lynn, "I kind of want us to be done with this chapter sometime this year."

"There's a break." says Tris.

The bus stinks of exhaust. Every time it hits a patch of uneven pavement, it jostles me from side to side, even though i'm gripping the seat to keep myself still.

My older brother, Caleb, holds a railing above his head to keep himself steady. We don't look alike. He has my father's dark hair and hooked nose and my mother's green eyes and dimpled cheek. When he was younger, that collection of features looked strange,

"No I don't!" says Caleb.

"That was my opinion, and I said when you were younger," says Tris tiredly. It is interesting to see Tris arguing with her brother. I've never really seen the sister side of her before.

but now it suits him. If he wasn't Abnegation, I'm sure some of the girls would look at him.

"Happy now?" asks Tris. she smirks.

Caleb opens and closes his mouth. "Whatever," he grumbles.

He also inherited my mother's talent for selflessness. He gave his seat to a surly Candor man on the bus. The Candor man wears a black suit with a white tie- Candor standard uniform. Their faction values honesty and sees the truth as black and white, so that is what they wear. The gaps between the buildings narrow and the roads become smoother as we near the heart of the city. The building that was once called the Sears Tower- we call it the Hub- emerges from the fog, a black pillar in the skyline. The bus passes under an elevated track. I have never been on a train, though they never stop running and there are tracks everywhere. Only the Dauntless ride them. Five years ago, volunteer construction workers from Abnegation repaved some of the roads. They started in the middle of the city and worked their way outward until they ran out of materials. The roads were I live are still cracked and patchy, and it's not safe to drive on them. We don't have a car anyway. Caleb's expression is placid as the bus sways and jolts on the road. The gray robe falls from his arm as he clutches the poll for balance. I can tell by the constant shift of his eyes that he is watching the people around us- striving to see only them and forget himself.

"Actually," says Caleb, "I was looking around because I was curious."

Candor values honesty, but our faction, Abnegation, values selflessness. The bus stops in front of the school and I get up, scooting past the Candor man. I grab Caleb's arm as I stumble over the man's shoes. My slacks are too long, and I've never been that graceful. The Upper Levels building is the oldest of the three schools in the city: Lower Levels, Mid-Levels, and Upper Levels.

Like all the other buildings around it, it is made of glass and steel. In front of it is a large metal sculpture that the Dauntless climb after school, daring each other to go higher and higher.

Uriah sighs. "What fond memories I have of that sculpture."

"Like when you made me fall off it?" asks Marlene angrily.

"I've said I'm sorry Mar!"

"You made me break my leg!"

"Aw, how cute. They're having a lover's quarrel," says Lynn snidely. They both turn red and shut up.

Last year I watched one of them fall and break her leg. I was the one who ran to get the nurse.

"Thanks for that," says Marlene.

"No problem," says Tris shrugging. I find it interesting how she insists she isn't selfless, but she still does things like getting a nurse and then calls it "no big deal" or "no problem". I don't think I'll ever fully understand how Tris can see herself as not selfless and not pretty.

"Aptitude test today," I say. Caleb's not quite a year older than I am, so we are in the same year at school.

He nods as we pass through the front doors. My muscles tighten the second we walk in. The atmosphere feels hungry, like every sixteen-year-old is trying to devour as much as he can get on this last day. It is likely that we will not walk these halls again after Choosing Day- once we choose, our new factions will be responsible for finishing our education. Our classes are cut in half today, so we will attend all of them before the aptitude tests, which take place after lunch. My heart rate is already elevated.

"You sound like an Erudite," says Will.

"So?" says Tris

"Nothing," he says smirking, "It's just that I distinctly remember you making fun of me for sounding like one."

"That was Christina."

"You aren't worried about what they'll tell you?" I ask Caleb. We pause at a split in the hallway where he will go one way, toward Advanced Math, and I will go the other, toward Faction History. He raises an eyebrow at me. "Are you?"

"Question dodger much?" says Christina.

He just shrugs his shoulders.

I could tell him that I've been worried for weeks about what the aptitude test will tell me- Abnegation, Candor, Erudite, Amity, or Dauntless? Instead I smile and say, "Not really." He smiles back. "Well...have a good day." I walk toward Faction History, chewing on my lower lip. He never answered my question. The hallways are cramped, though the light coming through the windows creates the illusion of space; they are one of the only places where the factions mix, at our age. Today the crowd has a new kind of energy, a last day mania. A girl with long curly hair shouts "Hey!" next to my ear, waving at a distant friend. A jacket sleeve smacks me on the cheek. Then, an Erudite boy in a blue sweater shoves me. I lose my balance and fall hard on the ground. "Out of my way, Stiff," he snaps, and continues down the hallway.

"What a jerk," says Christina.

"Seriously," says Marlene.

My cheeks are warm. I get up and dust myself up. A few people stopped when I fell, but none of them offered to help me. Their eyes follow me to the edge of the hallway. This sort of thing has been happening to others in my faction for months now- the Erudite have been releasing antagonistic reports about Abnegation, and it has begun to affect the way we relate at school. The gray clothes, the plain hairstyle, and the unassuming demeanor of my faction are supposed to make it easier for me to forget myself, and easier for everyone else to forget me too. But now they make me a target.

"Kind of ironic, really," I muse.

I pause by a window in the E wing and wait for the Dauntless to arrive. I do this every morning. At exactly 7:25, the Dauntless prove their bravery by jumping from a moving train. My father calls the Dauntless "hellions." They are pierced, tattooed, and black clothed. Their primary purpose is to guard the fence that surrounds our city. From what, I don't know. They should perplex me. I should wonder what courage- which is the virtue they value most- has to do with a metal ring through your nostril.

"What does being selfless have to do with the color grey?" I ask.

Tris just shrugs.

Instead my eyes cling to them wherever they go. The train whistle blares, the sound resonating in my chest. The light on the front of the train clicks on and off as the train hurtles past the school, squealing on iron rails. And as the last few cars pass, a mass exodus of young men and women in dark clothing hurl themselves from the moving cars, some dropping and rolling, others stumbling a few steps before regain their balance. One of the boys wraps his arm around a girl's shoulders, laughing. Watching them is a foolish practice. I turn away from the window and press through the crowd to the Faction History class room.

"Done!" says Tris, "Who wants to read next?"

"Me!" say Zeke and Uriah at the same time.

"Jinx knock on wood padlock!" says Zeke, "Ha! I win."

Tris passes the book to Zeke.

"Chapter two…"