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meant to help us forget ourselves and to protect us from vanity, greed, and envy, which are just forms of selfishness. If we have little, and want for little, and we are all equal, we envy no one. I try to love it. I sit on the front step and wait for Caleb to arrive. It doesn’t take long. After a minute I see gray-robed forms walking down the street. I hear laughter. At school we try not to draw attention to ourselves, but once we’re home, the games and jokes start. My natural tendency toward sarcasm is still not appreciated. Sarcasm is always at someone’s expense. Maybe it’s better that Abnegation wants me to suppress it. Maybe I don’t have to leave my family. Maybe if I fight to make Abnegation work, my act will turn into reality. “Beatrice!” Caleb says. “What happened Are you all right” “I’m fine.” He is with Susan and her brother, Robert, and Susan is giving me a strange look, like I am a different person than the one she knew this morning. I shrug. “When the test was over I got sick. Must have been that liquid they gave us. I feel better now, though.” I try to smile convincingly. I seem to have persuaded Susan and Robert, who no longer look concerned for my mental stability, but Caleb narrows his eyes at me, the 28
way he does when he suspects someone of duplicity. “Did you two take the bus today” I ask. I don’t care how Susan and Robert got home from school, but I need to change the subject. “Our father had to work late,” Susan says, “and he told us we should spend some time thinking before the ceremony tomorrow.” My heart pounds at the mention of the ceremony. “You’re welcome to come over later, if you’d like,” Caleb says politely. “Thank you.” Susan smiles at Caleb. Robert raises an eyebrow at me. He and I have been exchanging looks for the past year as Susan and Caleb flirt in the tentative way known only to the Abnegation. Caleb’s eyes follow Susan down the walk. I have to grab his arm to startle him from his daze. I lead him into the house and close the door behind us. He turns to me. His dark, straight eyebrows draw together so that a crease appears between them. When he frowns, he looks more like my mother than my father. In an instant I can see him living the same kind of life my father did: staying in Abnegation, learning a trade, marrying Susan, and having a family. It will be wonderful. I may not see it. “Are you going to tell me the truth now” he asks softly. 29
Page 1 and 2: VERONICA ROTH
Page 3 and 4: chapter one There is one mirror in
Page 5 and 6: shoulders. But she must hide that b
Page 7 and 8: glass and steel. In front of it is
Page 9 and 10: I pause by a window in the E Wing a
Page 11 and 12: we can’t prepare for the test in
Page 13 and 14: Susan to the exit. The people I pas
Page 15 and 16: an electrode to my other temple, an
Page 17 and 18: of the dog’s foul breath and try
Page 19 and 20: word “murderer.” It has been a
Page 21 and 22: chapter three I wake to sweaty palm
Page 23 and 24: or more of the factions, but in you
Page 25 and 26: I mean you should never share them
Page 27 and 28: subways, that I have to be careful
Page 29: chapter four I reach my street five
Page 33 and 34: natural goodness, his inborn selfle
Page 35 and 36: surprise me, but now they chide me.
Page 37 and 38: child. The infant died minutes late
Page 39 and 40: of books on his desk. He closes the
Page 41 and 42: as I walk up the front steps. The e
Page 43 and 44: Caleb on the shoulder, grinning.
Page 45 and 46: I have never liked Candor. “Those
Page 47 and 48: higher each moment, and the glass r
Page 49 and 50: I look at Caleb, who now stands beh
Page 51 and 52: Beside him, my mother is smiling. T
Page 53 and 54: sideways. I’m not as tall or as s
Page 55 and 56: What a good actor he was. The thoug
Page 57 and 58: On three we launch off the train ca
Page 59 and 60: dark skin and gray hair at his temp
Page 61 and 62: I hit something hard. It gives way
Page 63 and 64: chapter seven When all the initiate
Page 65 and 66: your mouth shut. Got that” She no
Page 67 and 68: strikes the wall beneath me and spr
Page 69 and 70: and drops into the seat next to Fou
Page 71 and 72: “You know. Like a bed of nails.
Page 73 and 74: “But we started with twelve,” p
Page 75 and 76: now. If you are really one of us, i
Page 77 and 78: the wall. No one has to know that I
Page 79 and 80: difficult, to drastically improve y
Page 81 and 82:
hit the target at least once by now
Page 83 and 84:
“Sorry, am I being rude” she as
Page 85 and 86:
+++ After lunch, Four leads us to a
Page 87 and 88:
of his palm even after he’s gone.
Page 89 and 90:
know.” I close my eyes and hold s
Page 91 and 92:
Christina dark and lean, Will pale
Page 93 and 94:
chapter nine “Since there are an
Page 95 and 96:
oth Peter and Molly, but he’s bui
Page 97 and 98:
think this is a leisure activity Sh
Page 99:
Four turns to the chalkboard and ci
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