͏𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭 || 𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐬

TWO

《︎𝘈𝘳𝘪𝘢 𝘎𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘯》︎

"Sit up straight!" Adrien hisses, pulling me out of my trance. I straighten myself out. "And fix your scarf!"

"It's itchy!" I whisper as I claw at the stupid thing. I was only wearing it to hide the bruises. They were dark purple, it looks atrocious. There is no telling when they'll go away.

"Keep it up and I'll give you a reason to complain!" He spits.

"I have plenty of reasons, thank you." I mumble. He turns to speak but he's cut off by clapping as Jeanine walks on stage.

"The faction system-" My brother glares at me before turning to listen. That was a close one. "-is a living being composed of cells, all of you. And the only way it can survive and thrive is for each of you to claim your rightful place. The future belongs to those who know where they belong."

Marcus is up now. "When we leave this room, you will no longer be dependents but full-fledged members of our society. Faction before blood."

"Faction before blood." We repeat.

"Jonathan Ziegler." Marcus calls up. The boy walks up and slices his hand choosing his faction. "Erudite." The crowd applauds. They continue to call teens up to the stand.

"Remember what I told you-" Adrien warns me, placing a hand on my knee. "Stay here. With me. Your family." He whispers.

My blood boils. Enough is enough. This is my choice. Not his. I swat his hand away. "No." I spit.

His eyes darken. "Excuse me?"

"This is my decision to make, not yours." I sneered.

"Aria Griffin." I quickly stand and go to the stage. I grab the knife and make the cut. With no hesitation I pick Dauntless. Everyone cheers.

Marcus nods at me. "I can see you're determined. That you know what you want. Good luck, kid."

I nod and go to the Dauntless side. "Welcome to Dauntless!" One of the leaders pat my back. I don't dare look toward my brother.

***************************************

"Come on! Let's go!" We run through the streets. I don't know where we're going. Anywhere is better than where I'd come from though. The Dauntless start climbing some railing up to the train tracks.

As I've mentioned before I'm not the strongest person. This may be more difficult than I'd thought. But I start climbing. When I reach the top I just about fall right off. A set of arms balance me.

"Watch it there Ghost." Peter. For once I'm happy to see him. "You've only been in Dauntless for about five minutes. Don't want to get taken out already do ya?" I shake my head.

A train approaches. I follow as everyone starts running along side it. Some start jumping onto the train. I grab a handle, but I can't think of a good way to swing my body up. I hear them yelling telling me to hurry. Peter holds an arm out. I grab it and he yanks me in, just in time too.

"Geez Ghost. I can't pull all your weight around here." He huffs. Was that a joke?

"Sorry." I try to catch my breath.

His eyes widen. "She speaks."

I roll my eyes. "Oh hush."

"No I don't think I will. Besides you owe me. I saved you twice, in one day." He remarks.