The Divergent Trilogy discussion

The Cafeteria

Coral walks into the cafeteria, looking for Willow

.

Willow is sitting at a table in the corner with some other friends. She sees Coral and waves her over.

Coral sees Willow and smiles, walking towards the table of other Amity girls. "Hi guys," she says quietly, sitting next to Willow.

Willow smiles back and says, "Hi! So are you guys ready for the Choosing Ceremony tomorrow? It's pretty exciting, right?"

Coral grins. She was normally a very quiet girl, but Willow always brought out her sense of enthusiasm and adventure. "Yes!" she squealed, along with the other girls at the table. "I'm kind of nervous though..."

Willow swallows her bite of sandwich. "I know, me too. It's a big deal. But it's going to be fine! And soon we'll all be adult faction members!" Willow replied.

Coral nods slowly, the idea seemed so...daunting. Haha, she thought, daunting, Dauntless

"So...what are you going to wear?"

Willow knows that she might choose Abnegation and not Amity, but she doesn't want anyone to know that until she makes her final decision. She knows that if anyone knows she was considering Abnegation, she would be thought of as traitorous even if she chooses Amity, so she wants to look very Amity patriotic and confident in her outfit for tomorrow. "I don't know," she says. "Maybe my yellow dress. What are you going to wear?"

Cora sighed. "Probably my really pale dress with a collar?"

(Can I post with you guys? If I can, is this after the aptitude test or before?)

((Yeah of course! :D after the test))

(Okay! I got it.)

Clarisse walked into the cafeteria with her shoulders slouched slightly, she couldn't sleep all night yesterday. She was so worried about her test results, and she was also worrying about which faction to choose.

If anything, she thought the aptitude test would make her decisions a lot easier, but it complicated things instead.

My result was inconclusive...What do I do? Should I choose Amity, Dauntless, or Erudite? Would I be safer if I stayed in the same faction? Clarisse thought feeling more worried, but couldn't help thinking about it.

Coral saw Clarisse, a girl she had encountered a few times in Amity, and saw that she looked very upset. "Clarisse," she called out, "over here!"

Clarisse looked up when Coral called her name, she smiled in spite of herself.

"Hey guys? What's going on?" She said greeting the other girls at the table.

"Excited about the Choosing Ceremony?" Clarisse asked as a way of getting into a conversation. It was the most talked about thing today at school, even her brother was perky with questions. She had answered all the questions she could, but she knew that her brother would come up with more questions later.

"It's all I ca think about!" Coral exclaimed. "Do you guys know what you're going to choose?"

Clarisse sighed and scratched her head with a frown, "That is exactly what kept me up all night yesterday! It's a really tough decision..." Clarisse said simply, telling half the truth.

That was only partly what kept her awake, but the other half of the secret she needed to keep to herself. Her test giver have warned her to be very careful.

Clarisse messed up her smoothly combed hair out of frustration, "Do you guys know what you are going to choose?" She asked not wanting to think more about her own difficulties.

"Oh I know what you mean. I want to make sure I make the right decision, but I think I know what I'm going to do..." Willow says.

"I will come up with a decision...I hope..." Clarisse said hopefully.

I should just disregard my test results, and just choose the best faction for myself. I can worry about the test results later! Clarisse thought, feeling some of the weight from her shoulders lifted because she at least had an idea of what to do.

"I'm pretty sure of what I'll choose..." Coral said quietly. She hated the idea of leaving her parents and her friends, but also wanted to choose the faction that fit her best.

Jennica walked into the cafeteria, pulling her brown hair into a high pony tail. She grabbed a sandwich and a carton of milk, and turned around to survey the area. Now I just have to figure out where to sit, she thought as she stood there.

Coral saw a girl who seemed to be looking for a place to sit. She was very clearly Erudite, not Amity, but her Abnegation-bound, Amity-raised self decided to would be nice to be invite her over. "Uh, hey!" She called.

Jenny turned towards the shout. "Hey," she replied, walking towards the girl. She smiled even though the girl was not in her faction.

Coral smiled. "Do you, uh, want to sit with us?"

Jenny nodded, glancing at the other faces at the table. A few of them seemed familiar; maybe she had classes with some of them. She slid into a seat next to the girl who invited her over. "Hi," she said. "My name's Jennica, but you can call me Jenny, or Jen."

"Hi Jenny, I'm Coral." Coral responded, scooting over to mkae more room.

"I'm Willow. Don't we have math together or something?" Willow is naturally friendly to newcomers, but she is curious about this Erudite girl. Having someone from a different faction join them for lunch isn't common, and Willow wonders if Jenny is having trouble deciding for the Choosing Ceremony, too.

Clarisse smiled, "My name is Clarisse, and we were just talking about The Choosing Ceremony. Any chance that's been troubling you too?" Clarisse asked, everyone was probably curious.

Maybe Dauntless would be the right choice for me... Clarisse thought, but the initiation truly worries her.

"Hello Coral, Willow and Clarisse," Jenny said, nodding at each of them in turn. "Yeah, it has. There's a lot of pressure on me to stay in Erudite, but..." She trailed off.

"But what?" Coral asked gently.

"Well, I think I'm going to leave my faction." Jenny shifts as she speaks, picking up her milk carton and turning it over in her hands.

Clarisse smiled at Jenny, "I think I am too. I am just not Amity Material..." Clarisse said trying to make a joke, but leaving family members behind wasn't at all funny to her.

She thought about her brother, and then of her mother or father. She hoped that Nick would actually want to stay in the same faction once it is time for him to choose. If she doesn't stay, her brother needs to stay.

Such a sad topic... Clarisse thought and smiled at her friends.

"Well, let's not worry about that just yet! After school, we will be all alone. We can always worry then." Clarisse said suggestively, though she wasn't sure what to talk about.

Jenny cracks a smile, but she can tell that Clarisse wasn't really trying to be funny. "Okay," she says, turning towards the group. "What's your guys' favorite music?"

"Hmm...I don't know, I like most genres." Coral said. "How about you guys?"

((I wonder if bands exist in the factions? And if so, genres would probably be separated according to how they make people feel! Like Amity would probably not have death metal bands...lol))

Clarisse smiled, this was the perfect topic to keep her mind off of The Choosing Ceremony.

"I really like rock music, especially in the mornings! It gets me energized! Ready for a new day. R&B is very good too." Clarisse said with a smile.

"I don't know, music in general just makes me happy!" Willow adds with a laugh. She had been shocked when her friends were actually talking about changing factions. Even though Willow herself was actually considering choosing a different faction, it still seemed strange to talk about. Talking about music brought her thoughts back to the conversation.

Coral smiled. "Well, then we're a perfect pair!" She said, looking at Willow. "I love composing - I love seeing how happy it makes people."

"We are!" Willow smiles at Coral. "You should compose a song for me to sing! I mean, if we're still in the same faction..." Willow is struck with the reality of the fact that she might not see Coral again after the Choosing Ceremony.

Coral's eyes widen. What if we're not in the same faction?! she thought, what if I never see my best friend again??? "Of...of course I will." She said quietly, smiling sadly.

Jen purses her lips. Things just got a bit more awkward, but she doesn't know how to relieve the situation this time. She starts tapping a beat on the table quietly with her fingers.

Coral sighed. She didn't know what to do or say to make things less awkward.

I guess there is no hope of steering clear of this topic even when no one actually wants to think about it... Clarisse thought with a sigh.

It was a good attempt, but it ultimately failed. Clarisse crushed the empty orange juice box that she had been drinking from. She aimed at the nearest garbage can and threw it, it hit the lip of the trash can, and bounced to the ground.

"Aww...darn it! I almost had it..." Clarisse said and went to go get the juice box, she tried again and made it just narrowly.

She then thought of an idea, "Hey let's go play basketball or something." Clarisse said excitedly.

If we do something active, we will be so consumed in the activity, we won't have time to worry about The Choosing Ceremony. Clarisse thought, hoping her friends are up for it though.

Jenny stood up quickly, nodding. "Yes, basketball sounds good!"

Coral grimaces, "I'll watch...I'm not really one for sports."

"Well I'm in! It sounds fun. You can be our cheerleader, Coral!" Willow grins.

"Yea! Come on Coral! Please, please, please, please! Pretty please?" Clarisse said making a begging face.

"I did say please! The game will get your whole mind off of...what is waiting for us...you don't have to play, but doing another activity letting your brain rest is a good thing! So come on! Let's go!" Clarisse said faster and faster getting more excited and finally patted Coral on the back excitedly as a finish.

((lol, we should pick a tense to write in; we are all switching back from present to past and it's getting confusing, haha. i say, since the book is written in present, we should do present. anyone else?))

((I didn't really realize that! I'm not good with my tenses...but I always thought I write in past tense.))