divergent-excerpt

“So? They already know I hate them.”
“They do? How?”
Christina fakes a smile at them and waves. I look
down, my cheeks warm. I shouldn’t be gossiping anyway.
Gossiping is self-indulgent.
Will hooks a foot around one of Al’s legs and yanks
back, knocking Al to the ground. Al scrambles to his feet.
“Because I’ve told them,” she says, through the gritted
teeth of her smile. Her teeth are straight on top and
crooked on the bottom. She looks at me. “We try to be
pretty honest about our feelings in Candor. Plenty of
people have told me that they don’t like me. And plenty of
people haven’t. Who cares?”
“We just . . . weren’t supposed to hurt people,” I say.
“I like to think I’m helping them by hating them,” she
says. “I’m reminding them that they aren’t God’s gift to
humankind.”
I laugh a little at that and focus on the arena again. Will
and Al face each other for a few more seconds, more hesitant
than they were before. Will flicks his pale hair from
his eyes. They glance at Four like they’re waiting for him
to call the fight off, but he stands with his arms folded,
giving no response. A few feet away from him, Eric checks
his watch.
After a few seconds of circling, Eric shouts, “Do you
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