Greater Games [A 72nd Hunger Games Fanfic]

Chapter 5

"Alright, what happened?" Shade asks.

"It's not my fault that the boy from 8 was hurt!" I wail without answering his question.

"Yeah, I get that," he says.

"The boy from 8 threatened me with a knife because he wanted my spear lane," I finally answer. "Then the guy from 2 came and hit him with the sword." I pause. "Where do you think the Peacekeepers brought him?"

"I don't know." A smile plays on his lips. "What, you are worried for him?"

"What? No!" I splutter.

The girl from 3, who's a liitle younger than me, comes over to our lunch table. "Hey guys, can I sit with you?"

"Yeah...sure," says Shade.

"I'm Lilly," she says.

"Oh," I say awkwardly.

She waits for me to give her my name. Shade steps up though and introduces both of us. I get the feeling that she wants to be our allies.

Well, too bad, because I'm not going to have allies, I think. Not even with Shade.

"So are you anxious for the individual training tomorrow?" asks Lilly.

"I'm anxious for everything," I say. "I can't get my damn mentor to give me any advise."

"Why not?"

"Don't know," I say.

After lunch, Lilly goes with me to the archery station. She asks, "So who's the boyfriend?"

I lower my bow. "What? What boyfriend?"

"Yours," she says. "The boy from... what district is it again? Two? What's his name?"

"Alright, did Shade put you up to this?" I say, irratated. "I don't have a boyfriend and even if I did it wouldn't be a Career."

"Sorry," she says, grinning. "And no, Shade did not put me up to this. I just thought it's pretty obvious that he likes you."

It's pretty obvious that he likes you. The words bounce around in my head. I guess I knew it somewhere in the back of my mind... but really? A Career, who are tough, arrogant people, who has a crush on a District 5 girl?

I ignore Lilly's comment and keep shooting. I can't concentrate on romances, I have to concentrate on training for the fight-to-death Games. Otherwise I will certainly be dead, I think bitterly. Not that it matters. My chances are low no matter what.

At dinner, Nerine is quiet and snappy. "So Nerine, I found out today that we have individual training tomorrow. You never told us when it was," Shade says.

"Yeah, cool," she mutters. "I've got enough damn things going on and I don't need you to give me more work, kid."

He seems taken aback and doesn't talk after that.

"So, you guys have your interviews the day after tomorrow," comments Acacius. "You excited?"

"Oh, we didn't know about that either," I say, hinting Nerine of her own irresponsibleness.

"Oh, that's just too bad." She keeps eating.

After dinner, I'm so furious with Nerine that I push her into the wall. She slams into it and falls hard on her back. "What the hell do you want?" I scream at her. For the first time she doesn't have the cocky, superior look on her face. "You're our mentor and you give us nothing but crap! So you don't care about us, huh? You want us both dead, don't you!"

Nerine is staring at me with a mixture of surprise and hatred. She stares daggers at me and clumsily gets back on her feet. "You want advise?" she says. "Well, kid, I've got news for you. Advise won't help you at all in these games. And if I did you'd be damn stupid to get your hopes of winning up. So I think I might just save my breath." Then she pushes me away and walks back to her room.