Tris may be living in a dystopian Chicago where everyone is in some faction, which is totally unlike your life. But here she is experiencing something that you're probably familiar with: she's sharing a secret look with her friend Al, but it's an uncomfortable look because he like likes her. How very ordinary.

Here's one way Tris finds to deal with past guilt. Yes, she abandoned her family, but she can still put into practice some of their lessons, like helping other people, or scrubbing the floor like her mom would (17.3). Does this make up for her past guilt, though? Or does she still feel guilty?

Ever notice how Tris has this habit of saying one thing and then saying kind of the opposite thing? Like here, she starts off saying "it is easy to forget" that we're competing; but in the very next sentence she notes that she's going to have to beat her friends. This is a pretty clear example of how friendship and competition are constantly tugging in her different directions (and getting her to say opposite things).