"Erudite!"

Tris watched as Caleb walked towards the Erudites. How could her brother, such an Abnegation, choose Erudite?

The Erudites wore smug faces and nudged each other, and the Abnegation, normally so placid, spoke to one another in tense whispers as Marcus Eaton beckoned the crowd to quiet down. It took a few attempts, but the room eventually went silent and the Choosing Ceremony continued.

Tris heard her name being called, and with a shudder, she walked towards the bowls. Halfway to the bowls, she was so sure that she will choose Abnegation. If Caleb wasn't fit for Abnegation, how could she possibly be? But in her heart she knows that she will be the one; she will be the child who stays.

This was for her parents.

Marcus handed her the knife, and she looked into his dark blue eyes. She turned to the bowls, with the Dauntless fire and Abnegation stones both on her left. She glanced back at her parents, and her eyes met watery gray ones belonging to Jeanine Matthews. At that very moment, a thought rushed into her mind: What if she followed her aptitude test results? What if she chose Erudite as well?

Don't be silly, she thought.

Distracting her thoughts as she cut open her hand, Tris held both her hands to her chest and closed her eyes. For a second she let herself imagine what it would be like to have chosen Erudite. Then, with a gasp, her eyes snapped open and she thrust her arm out: drops of blood dripped onto the carpet, her hand shifted, and a single drop of blood drop into the bowl of water without her noticing.

Before Marcus or anybody could yell "Erudite!", Tris drags her bleeding hand to the top of the coals, and let her blood sizzle on them.

The crowd is quiet. On the stage, Marcus coughed, and the words come out slowly: "According to Section 3 Line 94 of the Rules of Faction Sorting, 6th edition, the 16-year-old's choice of faction is determined by whichever bowl their blood first drips into. Therefore, Beatrice Prior's chosen faction is Erudite."

Erudite. Erudite. I've chosen Erudite over Dauntless and the other factions, and it's all because of Caleb.

Her world is spinning around her as she walked to the Erudites. A small voice inside of her squeaked: It's because of those gray eyes. Not Caleb. It's those gray eyes. But Tris doesn't hear anything. Not the name of the next 16-year-old, not the whispers of the crowd, and definitely not that small voice telling her that it was Jeanine Matthews, her new faction leader, who made her chose Erudite.

She was almost standing beside her brother when she felt a gaze on her. Turning around, she caught herself staring into those gray eyes once more.