Nearly five hundred years ago this city became the safe haven for our ancestors. The founders of our city came here to start a life and rebuild society. We're lucky to be alive within these walls, there's almost nothing left from back then but we all know that nothing good lies beyond the city; some say that a war still rages on, others say that there's nothing at all just wasteland as far as the eye can see. All that we have of the founders, our ancestors, are the doctrines they wrote for us; six separate documents to detail how we are supposed to live once they're no longer alive to explain it. The first five are unique to the individual factions, manifestos for how their respective people are to live; and the sixth is for the city at large, the document detailing how we're meant to live in harmony, always separate but united in our need for peace. We may not know how our founders sounded, looked, how they were as people rather than legends; but we know what they believed and we know what they wanted for us, it's all that we can do to live up to the plan they designed.

We all a part to play; each of us knows where we belong. We exist in five factions; the Abnegation the selfless; are our civil servants and the chief governing party because they aren't in politics for personal gain, the Candor are the honest; are our justice system they're the most honest they always tell the truth, the Amity are good and kind; they farm the land and care for those who can't care for themselves, the Dauntless are brave; they protect us from threats inside and outside our walls; they protect everyone, and the Erudite; they value knowledge, they know everything. The Erudite are my people; I was lucky to be born into a faction that encouraged me to work hard and to learn. But I'm not sure if I can be happy here, I love to think but I admire the Dauntless more than anything. I want to help people just like they do.

By the time my alarm goes off I'm already awake, sitting sideways in my desk chair with my feet up on the wood and messing around on my laptop. I'm nowhere near ready to go, naturally, still in my pajamas and my hair a curly mess framing my face.

The lights brighten with the alarm and I squint at the change. "Computer," I say, "stop."

The alarm falls silent. I sit there for a few minutes before closing my laptop and getting up. The very first thing I do is put last night's school stuff in my bag. I'm not the most forgetful person, but I also don't like to leave anything until the last minute.

It's not a bad workload, not for an Erudite anyways; we're expected to work hard so really nothing but the truly insane seems too bad. That said, I know more people than I can count that gladly take on the truly insane just because they enjoy it. My family members come to mind.

But I'm not someone who relishes in pushing themselves to the breaking point, even if it means not being the best the world's ever seen. I'm plenty competitive and even more ambitious, I don't like the feeling of just sitting around doing nothing. But I like being able to sleep at night and devoting my time to more than classes and homework.

"Computer, run me a shower."

I grab my robe and walk down the hall to the bathroom accompanied by the smell of cooking eggs and coffee, and a metal spatula scraping against the pan. The voices of my parents drift up as well, but I'm too tired to lean over the floors railing and greet them.

"Computer," I say as I get in the shower, "play me something."

The music sounds strange in the acoustics of the shower, but I like this song. I close my eyes and let the already hot water run over my back.

"Computer, what day is it?"

"Today is September first."

I sigh. "Fuck." I want to just relax and pretend like it's another weekday morning, but I know that I can't. The Aptitude Test is held today, which every other year has just marked the last day of school which was also one hell of a scheduling nightmare what with the shortened classes and general end of the year chaos. Today it marks my last real day as a child. Today I'll take the test that will decide my fate and tomorrow I will follow through with that decision. No one is obligated to of course, but it would be stupid of me not to. Besides, I already know that it will say.

At least I hope I do.

I've taken to reminding myself that I am Erudite, that I belong here, that I will follow the life set out for me. But there's this niggling little thought in the back of my mind, the notion that there's something better out there.

I try to just chalk it up to my eldest brother and sister transferring. They left and I've never looked at anything the same since, not my home and not the factions they chose. They're the reason that I don't feel quite completed here, that and I've been toeing the line between Erudite and Amity all my life. My family doesn't believe in faction before blood , we haven't for generations and because of that the fourth of my family that resides in Amity has always remained pretty close. We see them and they see us and it's fun; a little unorthodox, but fun. I've grown up knowing endless grass fields, orchards, and sunshine just as much as I have knowing glass skyscrapers, massive libraries, and soda breweries that have pamphlets explaining the chemical reactions of their process.

My eldest brother – Mark – crossed that line, my middle sister and brother – Melanie and Michael – chose to stick with our side of the fence so to speak, and my eldest sister – Minerva – rejected the dichotomy entirely to run away to Candor. To marble floors, loud voices, bare faces; and she's the odd one out.

I won't do that. I love her, but I don't really like her faction all that much. She's done great things there as the representative, nothing short of everything she could to better the lives of people within her faction and relations with people beyond.

You would think that having family serving on the Faction Council as well – a brother and a mother – might make things easier; it doesn't. We don't mix family and business, we would fall apart if we did. Just because they have blood ties doesn't mean that they always agree, though the thought does make people a little antsy. One family making up roughly a third of a governing body doesn't make anyone anything but nervous. Family members being within a general proximity of the council makes people nervous and given that my father and other siblings skirt the edges of the council as other leadership within Erudite, my family makes people nervous. But the clear-cut separation of the factions for once works in our favor, allows them to maintain their positons without constantly wading in controversy.

Mostly. There's…other things, for all that we don't like to mix family and business I'm never exactly out of the loop about the council's affairs. My parents talk to each other and to me about it almost daily, they indulge each and every one of my questions and confusions about the intricacies of inter-faction politics.

A two-toned beep interrupts the music and my thoughts, the tell-tale sign of the computer about to speak or ready to listen. "It is now four-forty-five."

"Computer," I say, "turn the water off."

If I don't get going soon, my parents will be gone for work before I get a chance to see them. Wouldn't exactly be the first time it's happened.

I plug in the hairdryer and turn it on after wringing out my hair and sliding on my robe. It turns my hair into a frizzy, curly mess but it's a dry , frizzy, curly mess. I run the comb and three different kinds of product through it before pinning it back with half a dozen bobby pins, a hairtie, and a clip then hair-spraying it all.

If that seems a little much for just a school day, Erudite places nearly as much importance on physical beauty as we do on academic prowess. Someone who looks frazzled and not well put together is clearly lacking in either the motivation or time management skills to be otherwise. Anyone can be pretty with a little bit of effort and Erudite expects that effort.

I walk back to my room and pull an outfit from my closet that I find suitable for both autumn chill and my own style preferences. Then I switch on the lit mirror and start on my makeup. Aside from being an unspoken requirement, I just find that the practice of doing my makeup every morning is a calming ritual - though I guess anything can be when you've been doing it for years. I don't look like my family, I don't have their brown eyes or tall stature. We all have the same black hair though and I'm not as light as the twins - who take after our father more. But I don't look like our mother either. I just look like me.

I finally go downstairs when that's done, my bag slung over my shoulder, only to find that my father is already gone and my mother is sitting alone at the dining room table. She has her tablet in front of her, reading over something as she drinks her coffee but she looks up at the sound of my footsteps.

"Good morning, Mimette."

"Hi, Mom." I sit down at the table. "Where's Dad?"

"He had to leave early for work, Choosing Ceremony coming up and all." She gets up and walks into the kitchen to get me a cup of coffee and scrape the last of the eggs from the pan onto a plate. "You just missed him in fact. He said to tell you good luck and that he loves you very much."

"Are you guys busy today?" I ask.

They're busy every day, but some days are better than others and I hope that they can at least be home with me tonight.

She hums in thought. "Provided nothing goes horrendously wrong, my schedule is relatively tame. I should be home by…let's say eight at the latest." I know good and well that I can't hold her to that, that as the faction representative she doesn't have the luxury of putting her family first and has to do pretty much whatever's asked of her. Mostly working late into the night on whatever the latest upset with the council is – be it the Faction Council or the Abnegation one, or meetings with the other branches of Erudite's leadership.

She sets my plate and coffee down in front of me and then reclaims her seat at the head of the table.

I've come to dislike how empty it seems, meant to seat ten and almost never seating more than four. Ever since my siblings moved out our huge house has felt too empty, for me at least. Their bedrooms have been repurposed, all the space makes this place the ideal place to hold parties, and everyone can for the most part do as they please without disturbing anyone else. Still, I miss being little and surrounded by the warmth of a half dozen and then some people always around.

If it bothers my parents too, they don't show it.

"So." My mother sets her tablet down, leaning forward on the table just slightly.

"So," I repeat, taking a bite of my eggs.

"Aptitude Test."

I nod and swallow. "Uh, yeah, that's today."

"Are you feeling okay?"

If I say no, can I stay home? I think. But I say, "Uh, yeah. I'm…excited." I force a smile that I'm sure doesn't come out quite right.

She touches my arm. "Don't be nervous. Everything's going to be just fine."

I nod again, quietly not believing her. Maybe for her it was, but she's the perfect Erudite, my whole immediate family is so perfect and it kills me to think that I might wind up the disappointment. Mark and Minerva may have left, but they've done things with their life that we're all proud of; they're perfect in their factions.

But I'm not perfect. I'm trying, I really am.

I avoid any obligation to keep the conversation going by taking a long drink of my coffee. Cinnamon, my father's favorite.

"Are you coming straight home after school?" she asks.

I shrug. "I don't know. I might hang out with Casey and Eliza if they want to. Why, is there something you need me to do?"

"No, I figured that I'd ask though." She stands, tucking her tablet under her arm. "I should get going. I love you, have a wonderful day, try not to be so nervous." She kisses the top of my head as she passes me.

"Love you too." I wave to her as she disappears out the front door.

If I could, I would stay here all day and avoid the test all together. But after I finish my food I drag myself to my feet and rinse my dishes in the sink. With every minute that passes the dread in the pit of my stomach grows and grows.

I'm scared of what the test will tell me, I'm scared of choosing wrong, I'm scared of not being able to live up to my family's legacy no matter where I go. I've had sixteen years do decide what I want and I still don't know, I really just want to be happy. But that's not enough, not in the world I live in and not for the family I come from. I cannot be the one child that fails to amount to anything.

Heaving one more sigh, I turn the sink off and grab my bag, then walk out the door.

I don't want to do this, in fact I would rather be doing pretty much anything but this. But like it or not, today is the day that I face my fate.

At the edge of the Erudite sector where it melds into City Center, the common area of the five factions where the government buildings and most of the businesses are, is the upper levels campus. The mid-levels campus is a few blocks down but lower levels, from early childhood to about ten, are taught at the discretion of the individual factions. Mid-levels and upper levels are one of the many responsibilities of Erudite. In mid-levels, from about eleven to thirteen, kids from all five factions and factionless are taught in the same building but classes are still separated by faction. In upper levels, we're all just thrown together on one multi-building campus. Of course, in the first year no one knows how to deal with each other and no one knows how to act but as we get older...well actually scratch that, the Dauntless and Candor still don't know how to act; but to an extent we can put up with each other. Each faction is a separate entity with its own ideas of how people should and shouldn't behave and so of course there's going to be some clashing. Dauntless are brash, Candor are impolite, but Amity and Abnegation are pretty alright. Despite their obvious flaws, I think that both Dauntless and Candor are pretty okay. I'm not like my parents or the twins, who hold an obvious distaste for everything that's not Erudite.

Except for my siblings of course.

Upper levels runs all the way through age eighteen but only the first two years are mandatory, something about us being allowed to plan for our own lives or something. There are many who just choose not to return and let today be the last day of school for the rest of their lives but there are others who move onto the collage in the Erudite sector called Oxford. In fact, for us Erudite's it's a requirement. Though the school is mostly Erudite and Candor there are a smattering of miscellaneous students from Amity and Dauntless, Abnegation never attend because to be educated is to be selfish or whatever .

The upper levels campus isn't very big, it's one large building where all of the general classes are held surrounded by multiple smaller buildings where more specialized subjects are including the science labs, the gymnasium, and the library. It's easy to mistake this place for being part of the Erudite sector, my faction designed it. Most of the buildings in City Center were designed by the five factions together; a tangible symbol of faction unity. Some of the buildings are very old, left standing after the pre-faction war and made new again. Others were built after the fact, up from the rubble and the ash decades or even centuries ago; while some were completed just a few years, or even a few months ago. Things are always changing in the city, here and everywhere.

I walk to one of the larger of the side buildings with three stories made mostly of glass, the performing arts building. I know that in the back is a beautiful auditorium where the student recitals are held. I've performed on that stage a few times before, both during solo performances and with the student orchestra. I've played the cello since I was ten because my parents wanted me to take up an instrument so that I could be more well-rounded. I guess that I enjoy it, it's a nice way to destress and the other people in the orchestra always sound so good. No one is really committed to it except for the older kids, the ones who have already chosen their factions, the ones who are considering actually doing something with it. I don't know if I might, after tomorrow I might never play again. I guess it all depends on where I go.

After my cello practice is over I start to make my way toward the main building. The sun is higher in the sky and I can see other people starting to go toward the same building. As I'm walking someone wraps their arm around my shoulders, drawing me in close to them.

"Good morning, Mimette," Cassandra – though she prefers Casey – Diarmond says as I turn my head to look at her.

She beams at me, bright eyed despite the early hour. I've never been a morning person, but Casey is sort of an all hours of the day and night person.

She and I have been friends since we were four, we met during preschool and she was the first friend that I ever had and one of the few friends I have now. I tend to stick to my own, the people that surround my family. Casey's father and my parents are something like friends and the two of us are often shooed away from dinner parties and other social events along with all the other children. It used to annoy me, now I dislike so many of my parents' acquaintances and friends that it would be something like a mercy if their kids weren't just as bad if not worse.

Casey is one of the few I know that is genuinely kind, she always has been. I can imagine that's why she hates it here so much.

"Hey Casey, how are you?"

She shrugs, "I'm well. The Aptitude Tests are today. Are you excited?"

"Well, uh…no."

She nods, "I mean the worst that could happen is that they tell you to leave, right?"

I wish it were as simple for me as it is for her. She has every reason to hate her father, he's a monster, and she has no love for the general culture here for good reason; it's competitive, and cold, and built on vanity and cruelty. But for every flaw I see, I find something that I love. The little pockets of warmth that exist here – within my friends, within my family – it makes my faction easier to love.

I don't know how I could ever leave, but I'm not entirely convinced I can survive if I stay.

"Uh…sure?" I try at that half smile again. I think it comes out worse than the last time.

Her arm tightens around my shoulders, tugging me against her as she giggles. I instinctively wrap my arm around her waist in response. "Mim, you're gonna be fine. We're gonna be fine." She drops her voice. "You've always been Erudite, I've always been Amity. All the test really does is confirm what we already know."

I don't bother to argue with her about it, to tell her the truth that I don't know . I've avoided thinking about it and avoided thinking about it because it bothered me that thinking of myself as Erudite never has quite felt just right, as accurate as it could be. But nothing else does either and really even thinking too long about leaving puts my stomach in knots.

Nothing's ever just come naturally to me, Erudite or otherwise. I have to try at everything I do and I genuinely don't understand people who have 'natural talents' or whatever. In Erudite we say that everybody has a ' niche ', something that they're just naturally kind of good at and the idea is that you find your niche and stick to it. Casey's niche is botany – because of course it is, my mother's is politics, Melanie's is psychology, Michael's is engineering. Hell, it applies outside of Erudite too; Mark's niche is diplomacy, Minerva's is law. It doesn't even have to be an academic skill; Maureen – Michael's wife – hers is figure skating, and my father…well he's just a people person.

But everything that I'm good at, I'm good at because I did everything I possibly could to become good at it. I'm well rounded because I like to learn and accomplished because I'm relentless. Not as relentless as other people that I know, but pretty relentless.

We walk through the double doors into the crowded main building. I can see all of the colors blurring together; black, red and yellow, blue, gray, black and white, all in one place. I've been fighting my way through these crowded hallways for years and before this year today used to excite me. It was the last day of school and then I was free for a whole three months to do what I wanted when I wanted. It meant that I was free to spend the day with my friends doing something or just doing nothing at all. I was free to hang around my mother and Jeanine, following them like a shadow and doing what little I could to help. It meant that I could just hang around and have the house to myself all day while my mother and father were at work.

But all year I have been dreading this day. I've known this was coming and I've known it was coming but I was hoping that I might just ignore it and keep things business as usual. To just try and be relaxed and not think about it, and I succeeded for the most part. Of course, there were times when I stressed about the impending doom that is the aptitude test, but who didn't?

"Hey Cas-" What I was about to say is cut off when a smaller form slams into me, knocking us both to the ground. I look up and a small, thin Abnegation girl is picking herself up off the ground. The girl's bag is knocked away from her and as she reaches for it in the crowded hallway a tall Candor boy kicks it further from her. I stand and pick it up for her, shouldering my way through the crowd.

"Thanks," she says softly. "Sorry about that."

"It's fine." I look around and I can't see Casey anywhere. The congested hallway is beginning to thin around us as people go to their classes.

I don't bother to keep looking for her, instead continuing to make my way toward Advanced Language Arts. I pause by one of the long windows, slowing my walk to a crawl that keeps me going but I can also pay attention to what's going on outside. A train races by the grass courtyard, shining silver in the morning sun and silent from inside the noisy building. I watch in wonder as dozens of teenagers clad in black leap from the train in packs, running off their momentum or rolling on the ground. Some push each other around playfully and I can tell by the way that they move that they are speaking loudly.

Dauntless and Abnegation are the only two factions I don't have family in. My parents can't stand the Dauntless, they think that they're too loud, too brutish, too vulgar. I think that they're fascinating; they all look so happy the way that they are, happy in a way that so many in Erudite don't look. Dauntless seems like an infinitely warmer place that Erudite. Does that mean I would join them? Well no, I mean I don't think so; I've never really considered it much. Even watching them as I do sometimes I'm still not entirely sure if I'm awestruck and admiring or just intrigued. I really wish that we learned more about other factions; I think that it would be a lot easier for me to choose if I knew what I was getting into. Although I think that's the opposite of the point; we're supposed to choose our faction because that is what we are, because we are intelligent, kind, honest, selfless, or brave and not because we want all the perks that come with being that. I know that there are great differences between every faction, that each lives to best suit their virtue. Erudite, as an essential and enriching faction with a hand in everyone's lives and also being one of the largest factions, lives in luxury. Prosperity is our priority, always striving for more and better and pushing ourselves farther for our own gain. Abnegation says that makes us selfish, not that I care. I know that I will never be Abnegation. Still, their suggestion is annoying; it's not just about that they say it, it's how they say it. With the insinuation that they are somehow infallible because they alone are free from desires, that even the Amity will take drastic measures for their own gain if they thought it would make them happy. Now of course, Abnegation are not to insult others it goes against their code of conduct. Doesn't mean it doesn't happen, they're just obnoxiously polite about it. If they really didn't fight, then Erudite wouldn't have the problems with Abnegation that we do. I know that watching the Dauntless is foolish, useless, and childish. I know that I have places to be. I'm not like the Dauntless; it's useless thinking about it. I don't want to think about the other factions at all, that should make it easier to stay, right? That isn't to say I haven't thought about joining Mark or Minerva, but I just don't know how I could ever leave my parents and everything that I've ever known. I don't know how to quell this feeling of dissatisfaction, this hunger for more inside of me. I don't know what I want, but I want it more than anything in the world and it's driving me nuts.

I turn away from the window and walk toward my first class.

I don't have to think about it right now. The next four or so hours are business as usual.

And then I will have the answer to all of the questions I've been asking myself.