"Brooke Kang," the voice of Jeanine Matthews resonates throughout the room. I'm at the Choosing Ceremony; only it's empty. There's no one around- just me and Jeanine. Hesitantly, I take my knife she's offering, hilt first, and survey the five bowls in front of me: Erudite, Dauntless, Amity, Candor and Abnegation. 

"Choose," Jeanine says. I look at the bowls and head towards the Candor one. There's a brief pain as I slice the knife into my left palm but it quickly fades and I watch drops of my crimson blood drop onto the glass in the bowl. 

"No," she hisses, "That's the wrong choice."

"What?" I turn in surprise, "You can't tell me whether my choice is wrong or not!" I protest, "It's supposed to be my choice. That's why it's called the Choosing Ceremony."

"You must make the right choice," she insists. 

"Why should I?" I retort, "What's it to you whether I make the right choice or not? It won't affect you."

At this, Jeanine Matthew's body begins to change. Her body begins to turn green and tentacles begin to sprout from where her limbs have been. I recognise this monster. Thank you brain for picking one from that horror book I read recently. 

"Choose," she hisses, and steam evaporates from her mouth. 

"Fine," I say, "But this is my dream. I get to choose what happens. Not you," I visualise in my head a sixth bowl in between the Dauntless and Abnegation bowl, and lo and behold, it appears. 

"I choose this one," I say, and move my still dripping hand over the bowl.

"No!" The Jeanine Matthews monster hisses, "You can't-"

But as drops of my blood land in the bowl, she disappears. 

"Looks like I can," I smirk, "I name this one the Brooke Kang Faction."

I wake up to the light streaming through my bedroom, but remain lying in my bed as I watch the specks of dust glide and tumble through the air. This is it. The big day. The day of the Aptitude Test. 

As I stare at the sunlight, contemplating how long I can delay getting up for, I hear my sister's voice drift up from downstairs. 

"Brooke! Wake up!" Clara yells, "If you don't get down this minute you're going to have a very cold cooked breakfast!" And because I know she's telling the truth, I leap out of bed, still in my pyjamas and my hair still dishevelled, and sit down at the table. 

Throughout breakfast and on my way to school, I'm too anxious about the Aptitude Test to say anything, and just let the conversation of my dad and Clara roll over me. I want to be like them. I want to be like my friends. Fitting in is so much easier than standing out, and I'm worried that the Aptitude test will reveal that I'm something of a freak. I might even not get a Faction-is it possible to get Factionless in the test? 

Back at school, I begin to make my way discreetly towards the library. It's one of the few places where I feel truly calm. But when I'm halfway there, I spot April and stop to look at her. She's standing with her back to me but I would recognise her self-cut short brown hair anywhere. She's looking out of the window, with an Amity boy and shorter blond-haired Abnegation girl beside her. 

"April," I call and she turns round to face me. I see that there's a bruise over her eye where Isaac hit her, and the look she gives me shows that she evidently hasn't forgotten the events of yesterday. Nor has she forgiven my involvement. 

"Kang," she responds coldly. No chance she'll call me by my first name then. 

"What you doing?" I ask, attempting to appear at ease. 

"Watching the Dauntless," she replies curtly. The boy next to her turns round to tap her arm, and I can tell immediately from their matching hair and eyes that this is her brother from yesterday. 

"It's time," he says, his voice oddly soft compared to hers. 

She nods and without looking at me, turns back round to stare out of the window. I inch closer to see what they are looking at. 

A Dauntless train is speeding towards the school. It slows down slightly and almost immediately there's a flurry of black-clothed shapes, like crows. All the Dauntless begin to throw themselves recklessly out of the train-some just jump, with varying success of landing on their feet, some decided to roll once they've landed, and some of the older ones even decided to do flips in mid-air. 

I can't help but smile as I watch them and feel a rush of exhilaration past through me. But then, as the last of the Dauntless run into the school building, and the moment passes. 

The Abnegation girl nods slightly to April and River, and then leaves. As she turns around, her grey-blue eyes look quickly into mine, and I'm surprised to see that she's a few years younger than the rest of us. 

She walks quickly away, and then she's gone, heading towards whatever lesson she has first. Her Abnegation make it impossible for my eyes to follow her among the crowded corridor. 

"Who was that girl?" I ask, curious. 

April and her brother turn to face me again, with April's expression indicating that she dislikes the fact that I'm still here. 

To my surprise, it's her brother that responds, "We don't know," he says, "She comes here every morning to watch the Dauntless jump, just like us. She never gave us her name. Dex didn't want to ask, and, " he shrugs, a bit embarrassed, "I was too shy to."

"But didn't you want to know?" I persist, incredulous. To me, it seems impossible that they see this girl every single day and yet haven't once even asked her name. 

April seems to rouse herself, "Not particularly," she says bluntly, "Come on, Riv. If we don't go now, we're going to be late for class."

April's brother smiles at me sheepishly as she drags him away. I sigh as the bell goes a second later. I didn't get a chance to go to the library and finish that book I was reading. 

The lessons go by in a blur and soon we are called into the Cafeteria. As I make my way to the Candor table to join my friends, I pass the Amity who are sitting on the floor in a circle clapping in their hands-all that is, except for April, who is sitting at the table and glaring at them sullenly. 

I walk pass the Abnegation table, where its' members are sitting as still as statues, and also pass the Erudite who are reading books. 

I surreptitiously attempt to look at the cover of the book a blond-haired guy is reading, but at that moment he spots me, and sends me a glare. I shrink back and make my way to the Candors, who could not possibly be any different from the Abnegations-they are loud enough to make enough noise for all the factions. 

"I think we should just trust the test more than our own judgement tomorrow," Miriam declares, "I mean that's the reason why there's even a test, right?" With a sinking feeling, I realise they're talking about the decision we will have to make at the Choosing Ceremony tomorrow. 

 "I disagree," Alvara frowns, as I sit down beside them, "I just don't get why there's a test in the first place. I mean I've always known I'm Candor. I don't need to go through a pointless test to be told that."

"You talking about the Test?" Sam, one of my neighbours says. He takes off the green glasses he's wearing and wipes them clean with the cuff of his sleeve, before putting them back on and surveying us, "I'm pretty nervous about it, really."

"You're nervous about everything Sam," scoffs Matt, "There's really nothing to be scared of."

"I'm not scared, " says Sam, defensively. He shifts uncomfortably, "I just-I don't know-how do you guys feel about it?"

Miriam shrugs, "The test's important. There's nothing to feel  about it."

"I want to prove everyone just how Candor I am, " Alvara boasts, "I think the moment the Test starts, it's going to stop immediately because it'll know straight away that I'm Candor."

"There isn't a rating on how Candor someone can be," Sam argues irritably. 

"Yeah," agrees Matt, "You're either Candor or you're not." I wince at the bluntness, desperately hoping that I will be Candor enough for the test. 

I note that Sam winces too, and see him turn to talk to a dark-haired girl on his right- Maeko, I think her name is?

"What about you, Brooke?" Miriam asks, "What do you think about the test?"

"Uh..." I start, feeling on edge as they all turn to look at me, "I guess it's kind of helpful?"

" Kind of, " Matt repeats, "Come on Brooke! It's either helpful or it's not."

"Well, what do you  think Matt?" I ask, throwing the question back at him, hoping to get some attention away from me. 

"Yeah Matt," laughs Miriam, "You've been fairly quiet."

Matt shrugs, "I think it's just to help with self-confidence."

"Self-confidence?" repeats Miriam in disbelief, "It's way more than that!"

The Abnegation who are in charge of the Test begin to call names to be tested-two from each faction. Because we're Candor, we will be tested by some of the Abnegation volunteers. The first set of names are called, Miriam is forced to cut short her debate, as she and Sam get up to do the test. I see April get up, as well as another person from her faction. 

She looks so confident as she walks towards one of the doors, and I feel a stab of envy. I can't imagine myself ever feeling that sure of myself.

Some ten minutes later, Sam and Miriam return. The former looks somewhat shaky, but Miriam is positively beaming.  

"I got Candor!" she jumps up and down, "I got Candor!"

"Well we already knew that, and anyway, you're not supposed to talk about," chastises Matt. 

"I don't care," Miriam retorts, "I'm so happy I want to yell it to the world!"

My worry increases, but at that moment my own name is called, along with Alvara, and the two of us head over to where the doors are. 

I hear my heart begin pounding in my chest as an Abnegation man directs which door I should go to and I walk hesitantly towards it. I put my trembling hand on the door knob, and with a deep breath, swing the door open.