Buzz! Buzz! Stupid alarm clock. I lazily slapped my hand on the desk next to my bed in an attempt to turn it off. I finally land on the right button, so I sit up and try to find my outfit I am going to wear to training.
I tug on my black shirt and black pants, the same ones I wear every day. They are boring but it is the requirement for all trainees. I head downstairs, feeling the wood floors with my feet. I don't dare to turn on any lights because then my sisters will wake up, who I don't want to bother.
My little sisters, Caitlin and Hanna, are twins each seven years old. They aren't old enough yet to train, but that hasn't stopped me from teaching them some basics about knife handling. They can hold it properly, which is better than some idiots I train with.
I grab a banana from the countertop of our kitchen and leave out the back door. I still don't feel totally comfortable with going to training. Everyone knows we do it, but I just can't help feeling that someone will arrest me for doing it. I jog down the back alleyways until I end up two blocks over at Dwayne's house.
Dwayne is the best trainer here in District 2. Only some families can afford him because he demands large sums of pay. It is worth it because one day we will get all the glory and fame that comes with winning the Hunger Games.
I enter the back door and I am not the first one here. The entire house has been transformed into a training area with dummies and weapons of every kind. Dwayne and his assistant, Daryl, walk around, training each one of us. I join the group hanging around the knifes and push right through the group of newbies, trying to figure out the difference. I grab my favorite knife, the one with the sharpest blade and the coral handle.
"Hey! Why do you get that one?" asks a kid I've never seen here before.
"It's mine! Can you do this?" I motion to one of the kids to hand me the rest of the set. I give the annoying kid a glance and then fire off all the knives behind my back, landing them all right in the heart of the six dummies.
"Now do you understand why?" I snarl at him before running off to retrieve my knives. That kid is going to be the death of me. In my frustration, I run into another kid running the other way toward the sword station.
"Whoa! Watch where you are going!" He says to me. I know him immediately because Dwayne holds him in such high esteem. That is Cato Secoy, the number one trainee at this place. I am out to grab that number one spot though. He runs off without another word.
I bet he thinks that I am just an easy fight, because I'm short and younger. I don't care. I would take him on any day without hesitance.
"Good job, Clove! Might just rank up another level, which would set a new record for moving up the fastest. Keep training with those knives. We got some new moving dummies." Dwayne tells me. I smile because I know that it will only take me a couple days to tear that dummy to pieces.
I head over with my pack of coral knives and get in line with the rest of the best knife trainees. My best friend, Kayla, comes up behind me.
"You ready to start training again? New year, new games, new tributes!" She exclaims. The way that thinks are going I plan on this being my last year. I am going to love winning a Quarter Quell, with all the odds against me. It will just prove my strength.
"Yeah and a bunch of new idiots trying to use my knives." She laughs because she knows how I feel. She has her precious set of sea blue handled knives.
"You hear the rumor right?" Kayla asks me. I shake my head. I am pretty unpopular here at the training center. I think that it is just because I'm too good for them and they are jealous. Kayla is my only friend here.
"Well, Cato is switching training centers because his dad can't afford the bill anymore. Ever since his mom died giving birth to his brother, they've been having all kinds of problems." I look over to the sword stations were Cato is currently chopping the head off a dummy. A group of new trainees look at him in amazement.
"Continue." I tell her. I'm not normally interested in this type of gossipy girl stuff, but I am interested to hear all the juicy details about Cato's absence from the school. It would be the perfect time for me to make my move up to the top!
"Well, Dwayne says that he will fund his entire tuition if he remains at the top until two months before the Games. That way, he will volunteer and his family won't have to worry about money problems anymore when he comes home a victor." She finishes her story. It puts a damper on my plans, sure, but at least he will be out of the way for the Quarter Quell.
"Dwayne told me that I was moving up this morning. Just a few more rounds and I might beat out Cato at the top." I tell her. She smirks.
"Yeah, you want to be known as the one that messed up the plans to rebuild his family? I would just stay out for now. Lay off the training, get a social life. You're pretty. Ever consider a boyfriend?" Kayla asks. Kayla is the classic girly girl. She spends most of her time staring at the boys. The only time she is ever not at training is when they are reshowing the year that Finnick won the Hunger Games. Of course, Kayla thinks that they are going to meet somehow and fall in love. I laughed when she said that.
"No way. Training is my number one goal. Who needs boys? They mess up your brain." I tell her. With that, I end the conversation because it is my turn to start throwing some knifes at the moving target. The first one hits it right in the neck.
Piece of cake.
Thanks for reading! I wanted to write about Clove for a longer time so this is right after the 73rd Hunger Games. Please review!
