It was eight-thirty in the morning when Wren finally got a bowl of cereal. Serena was going on and on about how the tributes have these next two days of training; then fifteen minutes of individual practice, and the next day they have individual scoring. Once she was done with the training rant she started talking about the interviews and how they had to look their best. Wren wasn't looking forward to wearing a fancy dress. Growing up around animals and mud made the girl despise the Capital's clothing choices.
At nine o'clock the four tributes from District Ten were in the training room. Evelyn and Edwin made their way to the learning center part, most of the younger tributes went there and learned about everything in the room. That station took up half of the training time. Roman had found the Careers and began talking with Marvel about spears, while Wren had walked over to the fire starting station. The stubborn girl wasn't going into the games without having the skills of fire-making.
The twig sat in the same hole of the log as the last time she was there. She slowly began to pick up the speed as she subconsciously moved her hand too low. A girl with a low braid and grey eyes sat on the opposite side of Wren.
"Hi, I'm-" Wren cut her off.
"Katniss Everdeen- I know. I saw you volunteer for your sister. That was very brave of you." Wren said looking Katniss in the eyes. "Ouch!" The shorter brunette yelped as a spark from her poorly made fire hit her hand. Katniss chuckled.
"And that's why we pay attention when we make fires," she partly joked.
"That's why all eyes were on you at the tribute parade. You guys looked incredible," Wren said in all seriousness. Katniss stood up, as did Wren.
"Thank you. My stylist- Cinna, is really good at his job. You should meet him before the-" a loud thud from across the room interrupted her. Peeta Mellark, Katniss' District partner, had fallen from the rope obstacle course. The Careers had begun laughing at him. Wren shot them a nasty glare before looking at Katniss.
"Go. Go help him." Katniss looked at her before running to Peeta. Whispering something to the blond boy and moments after he limped over to the weights. Wren was surprised when he lifted one that was one hundred pounds. Hobbling over to an area Peeta swung the weight and let go. It landed on a rack next to Marvel. The Careers stopped laughing. Wren smirked at the nods the Careers gave to Peeta- even Roman had an impressed look on his face.
Peeta, still limping, made his way to the camouflage station; Katniss followed quickly after. Wren kept glancing at the pair as they painted and talked- Peeta painted, Katniss talked. The shorter brunette girl made her way to the two from twelve. Peeta noticed her appearance as he set down his paintbrush.
"Hello," he greeted her. Wren gave a shy wave. Peeta lifted his arm and pressed it to the fake tree beside him. His arm disappeared and Wren's eye widened.
"How? Where did you learn to do that?" Wren asked him. Peeta smiled, "My parents, back in twelve, own a bakery. I decorated the cakes." Peeta picked up the brush and showed the girl from ten how to mimic the bark. Katniss sat back and watched the two talk. The tall boy from two interrupted the conversation.
"Hey, Ten," Cato said. "I think it's time you showed me a couple of survival stations. Wren rolled her eyes. "Sorry Peeta, can we continue this conversation some other time?" The short, stocky boy nodded.
Once Cato and Wren moved on to the medical station Katniss took the opportunity to speak to Peeta about the hazel-eyed girl from District Ten.
"She's too nice Peeta," Katniss said.
"And what's wrong with that?" the boy asked.
"Being too nice gets you killed," she said half directing it at him. Peeta glared at her before returning to his work. The girl from twelve kept her eyes on Wren as she demonstrated how to bandage a wound.
"Being too nice is going to get her killed."
...
"Okay, so you just wrap it this way and- no!" Wren scolded as Cato wrapped the bandage wrong. "I said the wound is here," she said pointing to the spot on his hand, "not here," she moved her hand over an inch. She looked up at him. "If you wrapped it there then you'd be losing blood faster than a bullet can fly." Cato rolled his eyes.
"If I was actually hurt I could see where my injury was, but you just pointing to a spot makes it hard for me to remember." Now it was Wren's turn to roll her eyes. The girl grabbed Cato's wrist and drug him to the plant identifying station, which surprisingly no one was at. The screen lit up and showed various different plants. Wren started with the poisonous ones first. Cato clicked on the bright red berries and the screen turned red with the words, 'you're dead.'
The blond boy's face turned into one of frustration as the red screen reflected in his eyes.
It took thirty minutes for Wren to explain to Cato that bright berries are ones to avoid.
"I'm done with this now. C'mon Ten, let's go to the knives. Clove can help with that." Wren gulped.
Cato's District partner, one of them, was very intimidating. The pale, freckled girl was shorter than Wren, but she was quick with knives. Wren and Cato walked over to where the girl was at, but she had already started the simulation. A dummy popped up and the girl threw her first knife at it. A second and third appeared and she threw two knives; a fourth and fifth appeared and she threw her last two knives and the simulation had ended. Clove Kentwell had just terrified the girl from ten even more because all the knives hit dead center. With a fire in her eye, Clove turned around and greeted Cato. She looked Wren up and down, "You must be Ten- I mean Wren."
"Clove can you show her the basics of knife throwing? I told her I'd show her a couple of weapon stations, but the swords are going to be too heavy." Cato asked her. Clove gave an annoyed nod not wanting to share the knives. The shorter girl showed Wren to the table of knives. Clove had a look on her face when she looked at the pointy weapons. Wren picked up a gold knife and felt the weight of it in her palm. Clove quickly snatched it and put it down. The girl grabbed three silver knives and placed them in her hand. They were thin and flat.
"You need smaller knives when you're throwing. The smaller they are the faster they are," she said as she threw a knife at the target without looking. Bullseye. Wren's jaw dropped slightly. Clove guided her to a basic stance moving her shoulders and hips square with the target. Wren threw a knife- it landed on the dummy's leg. She frowned. Clove lifted Wren's arm an inch higher.
"Throw again," she demanded. Wren threw the knife; this time it landed in the dummy's kidney. Clove shook her head and twisted Wren's left foot towards the target.
"If your feet aren't fully aligned you'll miss every time."
"But your feet don't always point to the target." Clove chuckled darkly.
"I've thrown knives since I was eight years old, I don't even need to look at my target."
Wren threw the last knife right in the throat of the fake person. Clove nodded in slight satisfaction at her teaching skills. Cato appeared and saw the knife Wren had thrown.
"Not bad, Ten." He commented. Wren shot him a smirk. "Now, let's go to the hand-to-hand combat station." Wren's smirk faltered.
The hand-to-hand combat station was a simple black mat on the floor and the trainer standing off to the side. The pair stepped onto the mat. The trainer stepped forward.
"Tributes, there are three rules to this station. Rule one, do not harm your opponent. You will have plenty of time for that in the arena. Rule two, if blood is drawn stop immediately. Rule three, if your opponent taps out release them at once." The trainer stepped back into his previous position.
Cato took his place a few feet from Wren. His blue eyes scanned her stance and he prepared for every move in his head.
"Don't worry, I'll go easy on you," he joked.
"You may begin," the trainer said.
Cato came at her first swinging high. Wren dodged the right hook and kicked him in the stomach. He staggered back a few steps with a laugh. Within seconds Wren's face was against the mat and Cato had her shoulders pinned down. He held her there for a brief moment and then let go. She got back up and got ready to fight again. Five minutes later her face was against the mat.
"Ow," she said as she hit the mat a third time.
"You're too stiff," Cato critiqued. "You need to loosen up."
"I'm trying!" She snapped. "It's difficult when you're twice my size and as strong as a bull." She half yelled.
That's it, she thought, I know how to beat him.
Wren held up her finger at the trainer signaling she needed a moment. She walked over to the knot tieing station and grabbed some rope. Roman, amongst the other Careers, looked at her. He knew what she was up to. Wren stepped back onto the mat and Cato gave her a weird look. He was confused as to why she had rope, but he shook it off and prepared to take her down.
"Hey Clove," Wren called to the girl that stood next to Marvel, "time me." Clove was confused but began counting as soon as the trainer said to begin.
Cato, as usual, swung first. Wren dodged his left hook and stepped to the side. Cato's back was to her for a moment and she struck. Kicking his back hard enough to push him to his knees. She quickly grabbed his wrist and shoved him down more and tied a rope to him. Now on his stomach, Cato had both wrists tied together. Wren wrapped the rest of the rope around both of the tall boy's ankles and finished him off by tieing them together in the middle of his back. Cato struggled as the girl stood up and lifted her hands high in the air. Wren looked at Clove.
"Thirty seconds."
Wren grinned as she bent down and undid the knot holding Cato helpless. The tall boy stood up to his full height and glared down at the smirking girl.
"That wasn't fair. I didn't have anything against you." Wren shrugged. "You had your strength. I just used the rope to my advantage." Cato continued to glare at her as she walked over to the plant station. He returned to his fellow Careers as they all held in their laughter. Clove especially made fun of the blond boy.
"She just made you look like a joke." The freckled girl said with a cocky grin.
"Shut the fuck up," Cato snapped.
Marvel decided to jump in on the conversation. "So are you going to ask her to join or keep her as a threat in the arena?" Cato's head snapped in his direction. Marvel stood holding a spear. "I wasn't going to ask her to join." Marvel snickered, "Are you sure? Because I think she'd make a great ally. If she isn't one of us then she's a threat." Clove interjected, "And what if she says no? What then?"
"We kill her." His eyes held both regret and confusion.
...
Wren was occupying the plant identifying station and a voice startled her.
"You'll really want to avoid Nightlock in the arena," the red-haired girl from Five said. "I'm Finch."
"Wren," Wren said as she stuck out her hand towards the girl. Finch shook her handly gently. "Do you mind if I-" Wren shook her head, "Go ahead."
The ginger girl stepped up onto the platform and began speeding through questions and finally acing the quiz. Wren was intrigued with how quickly she was able to answer the questions and get them right.
"How do you go through that so quickly?" Wren's eyebrows pulled together as she tried to figure out the girl.
Finch smiled, "I have a photographic memory, so when I first read up on them over there," she pointed to the main station that the kids all went to. The fox-faced girl smiled brightly at her hopefully knew friend. The girl began showing Wren all of her different methods of remembering the plants and by the end of training, she knew almost all of them.
"Before we go I had a question," Finch started as she stuck her hand out to the tanner girl. "Allies?" Wren grasped her hand with a smile, "Allies." She agreed.
Atala stood on the podium before the forty-eight children. "You are all dismissed."
Wren and Finch made their separate ways, but the District Ten girl was stopped by Cato Hadley.
"Ten! Hey, Ten! I'm talking to you." Cato tried to get her attention. "Fine," he muttered before he threw her over his shoulders like a sack of potatoes. Wren began thrashing around and hitting his back. "What the hell, Two!" she yelled. "Put me down!"
Cato chuckled as her hits only felt like taps against his back. "Oh, calm down, Ten," he said.
Once Cato reached the rest of his group in the hall he put her down. Wren tried to make a break for it, but Cato kept a firm grip on the back of her shirt. Glimmer and Ivory glared at her while Roman stayed silent. Marvel and Kale chuckled under their breath and Clove relished in the drama.
"Why is she here?" Glimmer whined.
"Trust me, Glitter, I don't want to be here," Wren said her name wrong on purpose. "It's Glimmer," she snapped.
Wren looked at her darkly, "I don't give a fuck what your name is. Wanna know why? It's because we'll be dead in two weeks, so forgive me if I don't care, Glitter," she spat. The green-eyed girl narrowed her eyes.
Wren turned towards Cato. "What do you want?"
"We have a proposition for you. An offer." Cato started dragging out the suspense. Clove jumped the gun leaving no time to waste.
"We wanted to know if you would be interested in joining the Careers." The tiny girl from Two said. Clove crossed her arms and tapped her foot as she awaited an answer.
Wren paused before giving her answer, "Thanks, but no thanks." Marvel and Glimmer but spoke at the same time.
"Thank God!" Glimmer sighed.
"You're saying no?" Marvel asked. Wren nodded.
"I can take care of myself in there, thanks." She said. Her hazel eyes landed on Cato. "Considering I took you down in thirty seconds." Glimmer rolled her eyes. Cato's face turned red with both embarrassment and anger.
"I let you win," he said trying to regain his pride. A sly smirk played on Wren's lips. "Is that why you tapped out? To let me win?" she teased as Cato's face flushed redder.
She turned on her heel for the elevator. Roman let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He didn't want Wren to join the Careers. It was an alliance he had gotten on his own. If Wren joined that meant that she was more at risk of being betrayed by them. He didn't want her to get hurt, even if he got himself hurt in the process.
...
"You joined the Careers?!" Ariana Galde yelled at her tributes.
Roman scoffed as he lifted his spoonful of corn. "Yeah, so what? I joined to get on their good side. Wren told them no which means they're going after her first in the arena." Ariana's eyes snapped to Wren, "You rejected them?" The girl nodded as she ate her turkey.
"Good God, the year I actually think I get tributes that can win and they just walked into the firing range," Ariana said to herself. Oliver Thaden placed a hand on her back. "We still have Evelyn and Edwin," he said looking at the two eating handfuls of candy. "Maybe not," he muttered under his breath.
Roman looked at Wren, "Why'd you say no? I mean, now Cato will actually let Glimmer kill you, and if Glimmer misses, which she probably will, then Ivory will get you."
"I said no because I already have an ally and I don't need help from the Careers unlike you." Roman glared at her, but Wren innocently smiled as she forked a noddle. Evelyn thanked the Avox as the woman sat a pitcher of hot chocolate on the table.
"Don't speak to that traitor," Serena snapped at the little girl. Evelyn's eyes widen and filled with tears. "Oh, honey, I'm sorry I didn't mean to yell. Avoxes are people that betrayed the Capital. Their punishment was to have their tongues cut out and they can only follow commands." Her blue eyes glanced at all of the workers in the room. Wren hung her head in sorrow for the people with no tongues. As Serena began to speak more Wren drowned her out with thoughts of the boy from District Two.
...
It was ten o'clock when Cato Hadley appeared on the roof. The first thing he noticed was that he wasn't alone. Wren Eldrid was laying on the concrete floor looking at the stars above.
"What's up with you and the roof," he joked. His blue eyes looked at Wren on the concrete ground.
She sat up on her elbows. Her gaze meeting him. Cato took a moment to really look at Wren. Her dark hair was messy, from just having been laying down, her eyes were bright with the reflection of the stars. Her smile was small as she looked at him. She was beautiful. He shook his head inwardly. He shouldn't think about her that way. Wren Eldrid was just another obstacle to his crown of victory.
Wren propped herself up and took a second to study the boy before her. Cato stood at his full height, and his hair slightly damp from his shower. His black v-neck shirt clung to his muscles and defined his jaw even more. His eyes seemed to sparkle under the moonlight. He was handsome. Her lips turned up as she looked at him. She moved her eyes away and blinked rapidly. She shouldn't be smiling at the boy that was in her way of getting home.
Cato was still, not knowing what to say. Wren froze in place.
"Um, is this spot taken?" He asked pointing to the ground next to her. His voice cracked ever so slightly.
Since when do I, Cato Hadley, get nervous? He asked himself.
Cato knew his voice only cracked if he was nervous or scared and he sure as hell wasn't scared right now. He ran his hand through his blond locks.
The brunette giggled. Since when the fuck do I giggle? She asked herself.
"Do you see anyone else around, Two?" Wren teased. Cato rolled his eyes and sat down.
The pair, after a few more minutes of silence, laid their backs on the cool ground. They faced the galaxy above them. Thousands of stars gleamed and glittered around them. Constellations and patterns created an endless map in the sea of darkness. Cato turned his head slightly in Wren's direction.
"Why'd you reject the alliance?" he whispered. He didn't have to whisper, but the stars seemed so loud that he felt he had to. Wren turned her head to face him. Her bottom lip was pulled between her teeth before she answered.
"I knew that if I agreed then I'd die. I mean hell, I'm gonna die no matter what, but at least no one will turn their back on me." She sighed, "And besides, I already have an alliance with Finch. She's the girl from District Five. Having too many alliances isn't good because in the end friends turn on friends." Wren averted her eyes from his and faced the night sky again.
"And I'm sorry for embarrassing you in front of your friends. I just wanted to show that I wasn't as weak as you all made me out to be." She apologized.
"I know you're not weak," the blond boy whispered.
Cato, however, kept his gaze on her. He studied her features in the silence of the night. Her nose was slightly crooked as if she broke it once or twice before. Freckles of various sizes stood out on her cheeks and nose. Her lips were full. Her eyes were trained on the thousands of blinking lights. The corners of her mouth turn upwards and she mentally traced the constellations. Before he knew it he was smiling at her. A full-blown grin.
Then reality hit him.
The blond boy from District Two shot up and placed his hands to his forehead. Rubbing his eyes he shook his head slightly.
"Cato Hadley doesn't do crushes- no!" he mumbled to himself and prayed Wren didn't hear.
Wren, still laying on her back, looked at Cato in utter confusion as to why he sat up in a hurry. As quickly as he sat up, he left leaving her alone on the roof. "Cato?" she called, but it was too late. The doors of the glass elevators closed and she was alone under the stars. He left with a goodbye. Her heart was hurt and she didn't know why.
Cato Hadley found himself outside of his bedroom door as he hit his head on the frame twice. "What the hell is wrong with me?" He asked. "Crushes are for ten-year-olds, not me."
Leaving the hazel-eyed girl on the roof that night taught the boy from Two one thing; he was starting to like the girl from District Ten whether he wanted to or not.