I wake up to see that the sun is shining in my room. Much brighter than it would in Two. I look outside and realize it's because of the bright colored buildings reflecting the light from the sun in every direction, including my window. I sigh in anger and slam the curtains shut. I turn around and hit my toe on the leg of the bed. I curse as loud as I can. After my little talk with Jayk last night, I stormed off to my room to lather in my anger. I can't see how this is turning into some sort of high school event when they're all going to have to kill each other in the end. I don't see any of this ending well for anyone.
I walk over to the door, and I see Jayk standing in the doorway, poised to knock. I look at her with a twisted look.
"I just have amazing timing." She says.
"Right," I mutter, "What time is it?"
"It's eight-thirty. You must have slept in. You go to the cafeteria and eat, and I'll lay out your clothes for today." She says.
I just glare at her. "I don't need your help."
Her face conforms into a stone. She looks at me with a furocious intensity. "You listen to me, or I will have Seneca kill you myself." She says.
"Who's Seneca?" I ask, folding my arms over my chest.
"The man that will control the whole environment you will be in for the next couple weeks. He will be the one that ultimately controls your living or your death." She says, her eyes narrowing to slits.
I almost fall backwards. How could she threaten me like that? That is against Mentor responsibility, ins't it?
I try to remain cool as I, keeping my arms crossed, slowly walk away from her and to the cafeteria. I can hear her mumble something under her breath as I walk past the other, empty rooms in the hall. If there are only two people living in this hall a year, why are there so many rooms? Just me and Jayk in this hall. In the other hall, Boniface and the Annoying Cato are probably still sleeping.
As I eat, I focus on the plan for today. I will be training with they guys at some point today. I have to make them intimidated. I have to throw knives today. There is no other option. I just eat and hope that maybe, hopefully, Jayk layed out the clothes I'll need for knives. I think about what else I will do when it's Marvel and Cecilia working with me today. I think it'll be good. It'll be better when I am just with Marvel and Max. I smile at the thought of training with them. They'll be easy to work with. When Cato's around, the whole thing goes haywire. I will show them all who's boss.
I leave the cafeteria, and hear Cato and Boniface around the corner. I run around behind the corner of our hall before they arrive in view. I listen to them as they talk.
"So you're saying she kicked him-"
"Yes," Cato says, "He had to leave the gym because he was in so much pain."
"You know not to make her angry." He says.
"Yeah, and I told her that. What she doesn't know, is that she shouldn't make me angry." Cato says with a cocky tone.
This rubs me the wrong. I am tempted to confront him and tell him to shut his trap. But I resist, even though I'd like to do the same thing I did to the trainer. I feel myself start to shake with anger.
"You just watch out for her. She is your most valuable asset, but she is also your greatest threat." Boniface tells Cato.
"Please, I could break that little shrimp in half in a heartbeat." Cato says.
"Fine, just don't underestimate her." says Boniface.
With that, I hear the two walk into the cafeteria, and the door slide shut behind them. I am so angry with him for all of the reasons I can muster up. I can't wait until I can get into the arena and kill him. I will crush his life in my hands with a smile on my face the whole time.
I turn around and see Jayk staring at me, eyes wide.
"What did you just see? A mutt?" I ask her angrily.
"Either you're freezing, or you're really angry." She says.
"I don't want to talk about it." I say pushing past her before I snap her neck too.
"You'd better talk to me right now, or you'll be in huge trouble." She says, dangling her previous threat over my head just as she did earlier.
"Can I tell you after Training, after I blow off some steam?" I ask her, trying to sound like I just need a breather, when what I really need is to rip someone's head off.
She sighs and looks me right in the eye. "Yes, fine, but you can't back out of it. I will make you tell me."
"That's all I need." I say.
I then walk to my room with a cocky smile on my face. I run right, smack into a Mute on my way to my room.
After picking myself back up, I glare down on the Mute. It was carrying somthing in its hands and it spilled all over the front of me and on the floor.
"Watch where the hell you're going!" I yell at it.
It looks up at me with wide, sorry eyes, but I just step on its hand as I walk away. I wipe off as much of the grime as I can. It smells horrid. Like chicken broth. I remember, I was home sick one day after the Institute, and my father gave me chicken broth, and I ran to the bathroom and hurled again and again. And there was nothing left in my stomach except for this strong, acidic bile that just rolled down my tongue. I shudder at the smell on my shirt and begin to walk a little faster to the room.
When I reach it, I quickly take off the shirt I was wearing and wash the front of myself off. The last thing I want to do is smell like broth and sweat during Training today. I might just have to vomit all over the floor of the hand to hand station.
I then walk back out to my bed and look at the clothes Jayk left out for me. She left me a tighter pair of pants that practically form agianst my skin. There's also a black shirt that sticks to all of the nooks and crannies of my top half. I feel good in these clothes and then I realize that this is what she told me I should wear during knife throwing. I smile and walk out of the door feeling content.
I leave my room filled with the chicken broth-stentched clothes and hope that the Mutes take care of them today while I'm gone. If they don't I'll vomit all over their shirt and see how they like the smell.
I meet Jayk by the corner of the hall, near the elevator. She looks at me, then taps the top of her wrist.
"You're late." She says with narrow eyes.
"A Mute ran into me with chicken broth." I say, not showing my weakness to the retched-smelled liquid.
"Very well, then. Get into the elevator now." She says.
I do so without complaint. When I get in, she presses the T at the bottom of the set of twelve buttons until it lights up, and we begin our journey down the floors.
"Want to talk now? You seem awfully happy." She says, not looking at me.
"Not entirelly, but lets just say, that Cato is definately going to be on my kills list when we get into the arena. Even when we're in the alliance, I'll be the one planning out just how to destroy him." I say, a cruel smile spreading along my face.
"You do that." She says. I look over and see she's smiling too. Good. So we're finally a team when it comes to killing Cato.
We reach the bottom and the doors open. She pushes me out lightly and when I look back at her, she smiles and the doors close.
Interesting.
I wait as the trainers pin the Two to my back. One of them pricks me, and when I turn around, I see it's the man I practically killed yesterday. I smile when I walk away, debating going back to the combat station today.
I see the group of my allies in a circle near the platform Atala gives her speaches on. I walk over to them, me being the third to last one appearing I count heads and see that Glimmer and Cato. The Fours are here and Marvel is too. They all wave me over and I walk over a little faster.
Then I see some tributes giving me a dirty look. They're from Seven and Eight.
Ill work on them later, but for now, I continue walking towards my allies. Jayk told me last night that they offered me an official alliance. I accepted. I know that they'll need me in order to survive.
When I get over there, Marvel gives me a sideways glance and looks at the Sevens and Eightes he leans in towards me, sating at them the entire time.
"I heard what you and Cato were talking about. Max and I were walking by and they called us Careers. Cecilia hasn't heard anything yet." He whispers in my ear.
I look up at the clock above the open space the Gamemakers will sit when we have our private sessions. "We have fourty-five minutes, how about we give them a little 'Career' love." I say with a smile.
He nods and gathers Max and Cecilia. We all walk over to them and they notice us when we're about twenty feet away. They look for somewhere else to walk.
"Don't even think about it. ou can run as much as you want in the Games, not that it'll do much good." I say to them.
They stand still, but are practically stone. They are petrified. We reach them, and they look like they are about to wet themselves. I walk right up to them and do a little third degree.
"You tell me in ten seconds what a Career is, or you'll all be the first ones I kill in the Games." I tell them. I turn and see that Cato and Glimmer have joined the pack, finally.
The male from Eight looks at me defiantly and musters up the best thing he can think of.
"You from One, Two, and Four are all a bunch of lapdogs that praise the Capitol and train for the Games even though it's against the law at some special school just so that way you can win every year." When he finishes the run on, he runs out of breath and looks like he's going to faint.
I go up to him and grab the collar of his shirt. I go up to an inch away from his face. "Thanks for the information, but you could have made it a little nicer. For that, your punishment is death in the arena. Under my hand. Congradulations." I say turning to my allies.
He gulps in response.
I laugh and drop his sorry self onto the floor where he belongs. He knows he's dead. That's all I needed.
Then, we all head back to where we were earlier this morning. They all talk about how us Careers are only training illegally because we're the only ones that respect the Capitol. Maybe if they did too, they'd have an Institute themselves and stand a larger chance of winning. We vow never to call another One, Two or Four tribute a Career unless it's for joking purposes. That little comment meant less than dirt to us. It doesn't stall us for a second.
"Which one of you two is swapping first?" Cato says to me and Glimmer.
Glimmer immediately steps up. "I will." she says with a smirk and a wink. A wink in Cato's direction. She walks past him, nudging him slightly as she does so. Cato sticks his bottom lip under his teeth. I just glare at him. I don't know else I am supposed to do. I can't kill him. I can't smack him. I can only glare.
He follows Glimmer like a lost puppy to the circle while Atala steps up it. She walks up to the center and calls the tributes that haven't already formed around it to gather up.
"We're doing a group exercise this morning. I need you all to get in a line, we're going to do the obsticle course." She says.
Glimmer looks slighty sad as she walks to the line. I walk next to her. "Oh, boo-hoo. You'll have him all day." I say, then walk past her, with Marvel following behind me. We all get in a line, with the little girl from Eleven first. I look and see Max behind her, and then all of the rest of the tributes, us in the back. I watch as the little Eleven girl goes through it with a little difficulty, but manages. I watch as Max's small, twelve year old body runs through the course with minimal effort. He stumbles at a few parts, but finally reaches the end.
Then Peeta walks up to the line. He is told to start and is actually quite fast for being from Twelve. I watch him closely as he works away at all of the obsticles. His weakness is the net at the top. He almost falls a couple times, but then when he reaches the top, speeds through the last half.
Katniss is next and she's not to bad at climbing up the wall. I watch her as she easily works her way up the first wall and then the net. I know that if there's trees, we're going to have to watch out for her.
There are a few more tributes that go until one of them gets hurt. The tribute from three is attempting to crawl up the net, when she sets her foot in the wrong weave and slips, falling a good thirty feet before hitting her knee and twisting her ankle. I laugh a small laugh and watch as trainers carry her out of the gym.
Cecilia, who was in front of me, takes her place at the starting line and when told to go, sprints up to the course. She reaches the wall and then runs like crazy through all of the obsticles. So crazily, in fact, that she falls right before a gap that she was supposed to use the net to climb over, and almost falls down the side. She finishes easily after that, and then, I am told to take my turn.
I walk up to the line that is the starting point, and see the timer on the wall clear to zero. I loosen my shoulders and look back at the three remaining people. Marvel, who gives me a thumbs up, Glimmer, who's glaring at me, and Cato. He's staring at me, almost as if willing me to go. I look back at the obsticle course, confused, when they tell me to get ready. I poise to run, and wait for the signal to go. The buzzer goes off and I sprint to the wall. There are a bunch of crevices and bumps in the wall, and I easily scurry up the side. I then reach the swinging obsticles. They all attempt to knock me over with zero success. I run through them like there's no tomorrow. I then reach the net that everyone had trouble with. I go up it, and reach the top faster than anyone else here has. There's then a balance beam, thirty feet in the air, that I walk over smoothly. There's people at the end that swing padded paddles at me, but I block them all and climb down the pole, no problem. I keep my eyes on the prize. There's then this group of step like objects that I have to climb up and down while people attempt to hit me with more paddles. I get hit once, but it doesn't stop, or even stall my running. I continue on as there's a slanted floor that leads to the finishing line. Instead of running down it, I do a forward roll down it, and split my time getting back down in half.
When I get myself up, I look back and see that everyone is gawking at me. I smile at them all, knowing that I am the best. That's why I'll win these Games. I look out of a window and see that leads to the hall outside of the gym and see that Jayk is watching me, smiling. I smile back, and when the trainers and Peacekeepers all look where I was smiling, she ducks under the window. I'm assuming Mentors aren't allowed to watch their tributes during training.
I look back at Marvel, Glimmer and Cato and see that Marvel is smiling at me while heading to take his place at the starting line, Glimmer has her mouth agape at me, and Cato is giving me an approving nod. He's messing with my head. He's been doing it all along. He just didn't want me to know.
I almost want to smile back, to mess with his head too, and don't want to, but can't find a reason not to. So I do. I smile back at him and then walk away next to Max. When I reach him, he smiles at me approvingly and looks up at me.
"You were awesome! You beat everyone's time." he says, pointing to the screen. I see a flasing 3.0012 on it before they clear it to zero for Marvel, who does the course about as easily as I do, but with an added minute. Glimmer has an extra thirty seconds on him. Then Cato's up.
Glimmer tenses up nexto me as he takes his place at the starting line. I look at her. Her eyes are glued to him.
"You like him." I say.
"I don't have to answer that." She says, still watching him.
"It wasn't a question." I say. She turns her head and glares at me.
"I sense you have some sort of thing going, too." She says.
"Yeah. Hatred for the tributes from Twelve, and an extreme distaste for you." I say.
"Because I stand a better chance with Cato?" She asks, watching him.
I take my eyes off of her. "If anything, you're going to make him weaker. Easier to kill. You're just helping me win right now."
She looks back at me again. "You're planning on killing him?"
"Somebody's got to win." I say.
There's a sort of finality about my last sentence that puts her in her place. She shuts up and continues to watch Cato run, a fierce expression on his face.
Then it's time for lunch. We all walk into the cafeteria on that floor and grab our food. After that, I have Marvel and Max sit on either side of me. I was raised in a house with a man. These two are the only two I actually don't feel the need to intimidate. They already know I am not one to be messed with. Neither is Cato, but no one is really comfortable around him except for Glimmer. And she's a little too comfortable.
I talk with them about teaming up with them for training this afternoon, when all of a sudden, we're all called back into the gym. It's already time to start back up again. We all agreed that we'd hit the knives today before we leave. Marvel wants to do a little spear work, and Max decides he wants to work a little on knots and snares. He says that even though we may have food when we get in there, it won't last forever. We agree to do that, and we do that first. We only learn a few simple snares and then leave. We need to learn some more offensive tactics.
After that, Marvel shows off at the spears. He teaches me to hold it and work it, and the first time, I hit the dummy. It takes Max a few more tries, but he eventually gets the hang of it.
"Cato's just soaking it up, isn't he?" Marvel says while he's supposed to supervise me throwing the spears. After I whip the one, I turn to him, and then follow his train of sight.
I see Cato messing around with Glimmer at the camoflauge station. What in the hell are they doing at the camoflauge?
"Yeah, I guess so." I say. I see Marvel's hurt look when he turns back around. "What's wrong with you?" I say.
He just looks at me and says, "We're in the Games. It doesn't matter anymore."
With that small sentence, I know what he's talking about.
He likes Glimmer. I think about the two together, and I just can't see it working out. Marvel may not seem like the smartest person when you first meet him, but he's actually quite intelligent. She's too bubbly and stupid. I want to tell him that, but I think it'd actually hurt his feelings. I mean, he taught me to throw spears, and I honestly don't want to hear him blubber about it the rest of the day. I turn my attention back to my spear throwing.
Then, finally, we reach the knives. My life is good today. I reach for the most professional sets of knives and hand them to Marvel and Max. They begin to complain, asking if they could start with an easier set, but I tell them that they only have a certain amount of time to learn, and they might as well learn the good ones. That shuts them up.
They are both newbies to this whole thing, so I hold the knives in their hands and show them how it works. I guide them through the arm motions and help them get a feel for it. Then, I turn them loose. Glimmer points over near us, to the archery station, and they all head over. When Marvel and Max both get the hang of it, I stand in between the two lanes. I don't need to be any closer than where the rails guide me. I wait until Glimmer, Cecilia, and Cato are all settled in their station, then grab the two extra sets of knives. I begin.
I throw the first one, and it goes right in the center of the dummy, between the cross-hairs. My fingers tingle with bloodlust as I whip the next one. And the next one, and again, and again. For the last one, I turn and throw it over my shoulder on the other side of my body, and it lands with a thunk in the center of the dummy. I look and see Katniss and Peeta staring at me. I smile cruelly and watch as they timidly go back to what they're doing.
I look over at the girls and Cato and see that Glimmer has her arms wrapped around Cato's one and it sets me off. I walk over to the archery, and ironically, it's now Glimmer's turn. I grab the other bow and get behind her. She shoots and her arrow sticks in the black surrounding the dummy. She said this was her strength. More like a weakness.
I quickly knock an arrow and shoot it, the arrow leaving a breeze in the loose hair hanging from her neck as it almost hits her cheek. She stands there, rigid, as the arrow flies right into the neck of the dummy.
She then whips around to face me, yelling at me about some sort of stupid thing, when I hand her my bow, and sounding almost bored, I speak.
"Focus on training." I then turn to the knives, and Cato's searching around frantically for something. I walk over and stand next to him.
"What are you looking for now?" I ask.
"My knife. My knife!" He yells.
I don't know if he knows crap when he does this, but he turns to the boy from Six and begins to yell at him.
I see a glare on the floor, and I look up to see the girl from Eleven, looped into the ropes in the ceiling, holding a knife. I see a few people around me smiling at her, so that's the one I'm assuming was Cato's. I don't say anything because I enjoy watching him make a fool out of himself. Makes him a sort of joke. He goes balistic and begins to push and threaten the boy, saying he'll be the first one to kill in the arena, and the Peacekeepers come along, threatening to taze him. I smile. This is priceless.
We all, then decide to stick together for the rest of the day. We are over, picking out swords, when we hear a thud, and see Peeta on the floor under the net. He must have been trying to work on his net climbing. We all laugh and call him pathetic, when the Katniss walks up to him and tells him something. They both stare at us, and I cross my arms over my chest. She makes eye contact with me, but then imediately looks away.
He then nods and goes over to the weights. He picks up the largest medicine ball and drags it along the floor. I hear the heavy metal screeching against the floor. He then does what we did not expect.
He heaves the ball over his head, and it goes sailing toward us, and hits the spears, which is a good thirty feet away.
I am appauled. I feel my mouth drop open, but I immediately close it. The spears go, shattering, to the floor and the whole gym goes silent. He looks at us, as if asking for approval, and Cato nods, and we all walk away. Training's over anyways.
Again, we are dismissed by District, and Cato and I leave after Marvel and Glimmer. He attempts to make banter on the way back up to our floor, but I shut every piece down.
When the doors, I walk away, even after he says goodnight, without a sound. And I head straight for my bedroom, locking the door.