Convergence

Chapter One

Montgomery

I shrug my shoulders, adjusting the weight of my bag on them as I continue to walk towards the school. The Merciless Mart isn't too far from where the school is, so I walk there every day. It also gives me a chance to exchange words with one of my friends, who I almost don't notice running up behind me.

"Good morning, Monty!" Devin shouts, their blue and green hair bouncing on their head as the jump up next to me.

"It's certainly morning," I reply, slipping my hands into the pocket of my white hoodie.

Devin snickers, lightly shoving my shoulder. Their purple scarf blows in the wind.

"Race you to first period!" Devin says as they take off towards the school.

I keep walking at the same pace, muttering about my crazy Dauntless buddy under my breath.

Then it starts raining, and I pull on my hood, realizing that they might have had the right idea. I jog to get out of the rain quickly, but still show up to math class late, taking my seat by another Candor in the middle of the room.

"You're late," she whispers.

"I noticed, thanks," I snap back, taking off my hood and shaking some of the water from my hair.

The teacher starts to write some math problem on the board, but I'm really only half paying attention. I let my mind wander, only snapping back when the teacher directs a question to the class. I try to figure out what she had asked, but I don't need to, because a voice speaks up from the front row.

"The answer should be a mixed number, actually." I can only see the back of her head, but from the orange hair, I know that Hannah is speaking. "You shouldn't have to calculate the square root of three, because any answer you get from that would be imprecise due to its irrationality."

"Very good, Ms. Pires." The teacher turned back to the board to show what Hannah was talking about.

Devin shouts "Nose!" from the back corner, making a bad attempt to disguise it as a cough.

"Nobody asked for your opinion, Devin," I call back.

The teacher turns on us. "Can you be quiet?" she demands.

"I am physically able to be quiet, yes." I smirk at my own joke, but do fall silent.

I let my mind drift off again, thinking back to the first day I met Devin.

It was the first grade, early on in the school year. The class was seated in clusters around the classroom, divided by faction. Two of the other Candor were passionately debating something, I don't even remember what it was. The rest of our group was watching them argue, but this particular disagreement bored me for some reason. I had started to look around the room, and I saw another kid trying to stand on their head.

Though they were standing a ways away from the rest of the Dauntless, it was obvious enough which faction they belonged to. Not just because of the fact that they were trying to stand on their head, but also their green hair and dark clothing. I gave the other Candor one last glance and made my way to the Dauntless.

"You seem fun to spend time with," I said, "Can you be my friend?"

They fell onto their back in front of me and looked up. I offered my hand and helped them to their feet.

"My mom says that I shouldn't spend time with the Candor. She says that you guys are mean."

"She isn't exactly wrong," I said softly, but Devin was already talking over me.

"But I'm no coward who does anything my mommy says. I'm Devin," they flashed a crooked smile, "What's your name?"

"My name is Montgomery."

"Montgome- What?"

"Montgomery."

"Can I call you Monty?"

"I mean, you can." I wasn't in love with the idea of a nickname. It had seemed to me like it was a lie about what your name is. But it grew on me.

"Well then, Monty. Let's go find something fun to do."

Devin had grabbed my hand, and he pulled me out of the classroom, not that I put up too much of a fight. The two of us spent that day arguing with each other and climbing trees. It was the most fun I'd had in a while. My white shirt had gotten stained in browns and greens. I never let my dad wash that one. It's actually still under my bed in a box of sentimental things.

I smile to myself, then look down and realize that an assignment was passed out while I was daydreaming. I get to work on it.

I consider myself to be pretty good at math. It's nice to know that my answers are either right or wrong. No kind of in between. Devin also considers me good at math, or at least has said as much. That's probably why they are trying their best to not be noticed by the teacher as they slip a paper to my desk.

I look down at it, sigh, and scribble my answer in my usual, scrawling handwriting.

Yes, I'm planning to be at the tree for lunch. I can give you your math help then.

I stand up and drop the note on Devin's desk, not bothering to hide from the teacher as I do so. This is a common enough occurrence that she doesn't mind it. At least, she doesn't act as if she minds it.

I set my math work to the side. I can do it while I'm tutoring Devin. For now, I think I'll try to take a nap. I lay my head on my desk and let myself drift off into a dreamless sleep. I don't have dreams. After all, they're basically just your brain lying to you while you're sleeping.