Resurgent: A Divergent Story//editing

Chapter 8

- Al -

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"I think it's time we tell them," Dad whispers to Mom.

She nods her head. Hector and I look at each other, then back at them.

"Al, it's time we tell you who you're named after." Dad says.

"Who I'm named after?" I ask, "Is it that Al guy?"

"Yes," Mom says, "My friend Al. He was in my initiation class. He was one of my best friends, besides Christina and Will, and I was moving higher in the ranks and he was at the bottom. He and a few others tried to throw me off the chasm," she says, causing me and Hector to gasp. "He asked for my forgiveness, and-and I, I didn't forgive him," she says crying. She leans into Dad and he puts his arm around her.

"Later that day, Al jumped into the chasm," Dad says, as he rubs arm circles on Mom's back.

I don't know how to feel, should I feel sad or happy or mad? I don't know. I look at Hector and he has a puzzled look on his face, too.

"It's 7:25," Dad says, "You two should get going, you don't want to be late for school," he forces a smile, "We love you Al," he says, for him and Mom both.

"I love you guys too," I say and Hector and I head towards the elevator.

"Wow," is all Hector can say right now.

"Yeah," I say back.

"Are you okay?" he asks.

"Why wouldn't I be?" I say, putting a fake smile on my face.

"I mean, you just found out that you were named after a guy who tried to kill your mom, then your mom found out and she said she would never forgive him. And then he killed himself. And you aren't upset?" He asks, in an worried tone.

"Of corse I'm upset, Hec," I say and I look at him. He looks back at me with those amazing deep blue eyes and he pulls me into a hug.

I don't know if I should be crying, but I'm not. I'm named after a coward. Even though Mom loved him, he was a coward. I guess Mom felt guilty for his death.

My thoughts are interrupted by the 'ding' of the elevator and some 'ooohs' from Jo and Claire.

"Would you two love birds stop?" Jo laughs, "We're going to be late,"

I pull away from Hector. "Let's go," he smiles.

We run towards the train. Once we get on, we relax a little in the cart. I grab a granola bar from my bag and start eating it.

I look over the beautiful city, even though many people think it's hideous, I see the real beauty of it.

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Two days later

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"Shut up!" I whisper to Hector, who is trying to get me in trouble. I pull out my journal and start writing about my faction 'experience'.

On our first night, we went to amity. I was amazed by the beautiful orchards and the calmness of everyone there. The apples, filling the trees, were delicious. The meal, consisting of fresh picked vegetables, was very good, even though we had to pick the food ourselves. My favorite part was the ride to and from in the back of the pickup truck, where I felt somewhat free, with the wind blowing in my hair.

The next night we went to candor. I thought it was crazy how every thing was black and white. Although many people stared at us, I liked candor. The food wasn't the best, but it was okay. My favorite part was visiting the compound, where they have the candor symbol, the scales, tiled in black and white on the floor.

Abnegation was the next night. I thought the squareness of the houses was somewhat strange, but I enjoyed the kindness of everybody. The abnegation food was by far the worst. It was very bland and there was very little food. I didn't like how there were no mirrors or anything else in the house. My favorite part was sitting on the roof of Jenna's house, overlooking the abnegation houses and seeing the people help each other.

I put down my pen and reread my three paragraphs. Tonight, we were going to erudite, to meet Brian's family. Hector grabs my paper and I grab his. We read each other's, and his is, well, let's just say it is nowhere near erudite expectations.

"How on earth is yours so good, Al?" he asks.

"Mine's not good, Hec," I whisper back.

"Yes it's pretty good," he says, causing me to smile, "How's mine?" he asks.

"Let's say if I were the teacher, I would give you an 89%," he smiles before I finish. "An 89% below zero," I smile, but his smile fades. He grabs his paper, and I do the same. Once we have our own, we both start laughing, for no reason.

The dismissal bell rings and we grab our bags and head towards the trains. I gulp, in two hours, we will be in erudite.