Erudless

Coals.

Aaron, who sat with us at lunch the day before, handed me a bandage and smiled. I stood near the others who chose Dauntless. Ryder and Laura,who must've chosen before me, 6 other Dauntless-born, 2 Candor, 3 Erudite, 1 Amity, and 1...Abnegation, which was quite peculiar.

The Ceremony went on. A few more children chose. 1 more Candor chose Dauntless. We ended up with 8 Dauntless-born and 9 Transfers.

The Dauntless were cheering, all rising from their seats. Laura tugged on my arm.

"Come on we're running!"

I looked back at my family as the wild faction stormed past me. I have to do something. They have to remember me bye.

"Eric whats wrong?"

I shook my head and grinned. Come on think fast. What to do...

I held my hands in the air, my middle fingers raised, a move I saw a few Dauntless perform a while back. Laura laughed.

My family looked at me in shock, and I ran off down the hallway with Laura and the other Dauntless.

"I can't believe you did that!!" Laura shouted in excitement.

We continued to run until we got outside.

"The train's coming!" someone shouted.

The ground rumbled and a giant metal train came flying down the tracks. The Dauntless leapt forward, matching their pace with the train's, then they grabbed rails attached to the side of the metal train cars.

One by one they pulled themselves into the train. Laura and I ran next to it. She grabbed onto the handle then reached out. I caught hold of her outstretched hand and we both fell into the train. Laura executed the boarding of the train swiftly, smoothly, then again she's done this her whole life. Throwing myself onto a moving train is a new concept I'll have to get used to.

2 of the other Erudite slowed down as they got to the edge of the platform. I watched them become smaller and smaller as we flew gently across the metal rails. From Erudite, to Dauntless, to Factionless, just like that. Now we have 7 Transfers and 8 Dauntless-born.

I sat next to Laura to look at the others. The Dauntless-born were all talking and laughing. Ryder was scowling at me in a corner with a bandage of sorts below the bridge of his nose. The Transfers were silently talking and smiling. All except 1 Candor, the last person to choose Dauntless. She was standing in the doorway looking out at the city.

I'll admit, she was beautiful. Her long, dark hair blew in the wind. The sun reflected off her brown eyes which made them appear to be glowing. She was tall for most girls, but not my height, and she was small in size. Then again most Erudite women were skinnier than she was.

"Hey Laura." I whispered.

She looked at me.

"Do you know who that is?"

Laura looked at the pretty Candor girl.

"She's been in a few of my classes, but I've never like talked to her. I don't know her name either. Why? Do you like her?"

She grinned and nudged me in the rib cage with her elbow. I pushed her shoulder and we both laughed.

"Seriously though why?"

I shrugged. I wasn't going to tell Laura I liked her because she looked beautiful. Normally Erudite men fall for girls with smart personalities, high IQ's. I really need to forget about the faction I just abandoned like 10 minutes ago.

I think about a half an hour passed before anything happened. Everyone in the train stood and threw themselves out of the doorways. Even the Abnegation Transfer.

"Get up we're jumping onto the roof." Laura said.

Come on we're running, get up we're jumping. Do these people ever just stand? I hope not. We did too much standing in Erudite when we would like look through microscopes or whatever.

We stepped toward the doorway, hand in hand, then we sprinted out of the train, flying through the air. We landed on the rough, gravel covered rooftop. Laura helped me get to my feet. The Candor girl followed us and all the initiates stood on the roof. There were of course older Dauntless who attended the Ceremony like Aaron, or the guy standing on the edge of the rooftop.

"Hello everyone my name is Max. I am one of the leaders here at Dauntless. To me you are all Factionless right now."

We all looked at one another. Murmurs filled the air.

"You aren't officially Dauntless initiates until you jump ." He motioned to the large space behind him.

The calmness in his voice was suspicious, as if there was some sort of trick to this 'leap of faith' type of thing.

"I'll go!" I shouted.

Max looked at me with a hint of admiration.

"Looks like we have a volunteer. Alright Nose-"

"Eric." I said. I spit the word out like it was venom. The name Nose kind of uh pissed me off.

"Okay..Eric. Go ahead."

Max stepped off the ledge then I took his place. I wanted to prove myself, make a good first impression. So I turned around, folded my hands in front of my waist, and smiled.

"There's two things you should know about me sir. 1.) is that I am certainly not a goddamned Nose. 2.) is that I am brave."

With that said I let myself fall back. I heard a few people gasp or shout. The sensation of falling felt like flying. It didn't frighten me, it made me feel alive and free. I let my arms stretch away from my sides.

"Hell yeah!" I shouted.

I heard the cheers of my new faction coming from below me as my back hit a thick patterned material. It was a giant net. The Dauntless were yelling, clapping, chanting the word Nose. The net lowered and a man helped me out.

"Hello Transfer. I'm Amar, one of the trainers. What's your name?"

He held out his hand. I shook it.

"Like I said up there I'm no Nose, I'm Eric."

Amar found that amusing. He shouted,"First jumper Eric!"

The Dauntless now chanted my name, not the slang term for Erudite, but my name.

Maybe I'm cut out for this faction after all.