Summary: "Are you trying to scare me to death?" I shouted at him. "What would make you say that?" he replied with a smirk playing on his face. The story of Cato and Cloves meeting.
Disclaimer: The main characters and the idea of The Hunger Games all belong to the wonderful Suzanne Collins
"Head up and shoulders back Clove, I want the other kids to fear you"
My father patted my back as if to say good luck but instead of feeling loved I flinched at his touch. My father and I had never got along very well and this was before my mother had died 7 months ago after she was in a fire at her work. I was distraught and couldn't cope with the loss of her however instead of caring my father tortured me.
He would beat me until I did what he told me to do. Every time I went against him or stepped one foot out of line I was whipped and the more I cried out in pain the more he would hurt me. Because of this I put on a face, I acted strong even though I felt like I was crumbling apart inside. Now that we were only living off my father's wages we didn't have enough money for us both to live off. At first I thought he was going to make me starve but instead he decided to send me to District 2s Training Academy.
In district 2 once you reach the age of six you have the decision of whether you go to a normal school and go on to get a normal job or you could go to the training academy and train for the hunger games. My father had always wanted me to go there but my mother wanted me to live a normal life. I thought I was safe from attending the academy. Until now.
Today was the day I was going to start at the academy. My father and I were outside the building but he quickly vanished off leaving me, a eight year old girl to look after herself and sign myself in. I could run away now but I know that the trainers inside are expecting me and I don't want to know what punishment they'll have for me if I don't turn up for my first day.
As I walked in I was shocked by how rich everything looked. I'd grown up in a poor area of district 2 and had never seen so much expensive equipment before and I was only in the reception. The lady at the front desk seemed nice enough once I had introduced myself and she started to show me around the school.
It was massive, much bigger than I had expected. Mixar the lady who was at the front desk informed me that all the other students were currently having breakfast and then having a lecture in the hall for half an hour afterwards. Apparently I was supposed to use this time wisely to try a few of the weapons and see what I was good at. I didn't need this time though as I already knew what I would excel at. Knifes.
A few months ago when my father first started to beat me I seriously considered ending my life. I know some people may think that's a bit drastic for someone of eight but I had no idea how I was going to cope. I couldn't bring myself to cut though so instead I grabbed the knife I was going to use and threw it at the wall in front of me out of anger. I was surprised when I looked up and saw that the knife had travelled in a perfect straight line and lodged into the wall. After this to calm me down whenever dad beat me Instead of running to my room to cry I would run to my room and throw knifes.
I continued to do this for months, not just to calm me down but in preparation for the games. I know I may not ever compete in them but I always feared that I would. As soon as my mother died my father had told me that he would force me to put my name in for extra tesserae so he could sell this and use the money for alcohol.
Looking around now though I know that I'm going to have to practise more than ever if I want to stand a chance against these kids. Some of the weapons here could easily kill me in a matter of seconds if I'm not prepared enough with my knifes. Mixar gave me a timetable of what I would be expected to do here over the next week. According to this sheet I had one trainer who would teach me all the different weapon skills I needed to know.
I figured I might as well use this time wisely to have a go at a few of the larger weapons which I'd never gotten my hands on before. It was clear though after I attempted to throw a spear that I should stick to knifes for now. After all I am only a small eight year old girl who can only just manage to hold the heavy object. So for the rest of the time I was on my own I threw some knifes at a dummy.
Even though I had been throwing knifes for months I'd never actually thrown them at a dummy yet I was quite pleased with myself when my first knife went straight into its heart. I did this for about half an hour and still no one came into the gym until a Dark haired man in his early twenties walked in. My guess was that this was my trainer.
"Hello, Clove my name is Krat and I'll be showing you the ropes over the next few days" He shouted as he looked down at me. I tried to remain confident as being weak would get me nowhere in this place and there is no way I was going to let any rich kids who were here to bring pride to our district think they're better than me.
"Where are the others?" I replied confidently.
"The other students? They are using the other gyms available here. This gym is our smallest and is only used for one on one sessions"
I was relieved that the other kids wouldn't see me make a fool of myself as I tried to use a bow and arrow or swing an axe.
"So Clove, got any skills I should know about it"
"You see those knifes in those dummies over there?" I pointed to the dummies that I had just been attacking and then I pointed to the pack of knifes that did hold ten but now only had three left inside.
"I see so you've had practise before then"
"Not practise; it's more of a stress reliever"
I spent the rest of the morning training with Krat as he showed me how to hold a sword and a few moves that would instantly kill any opponent. It was surprisingly kind of relaxing as I just imagined that the dummies were my father and that I was finally getting the revenge I deserved. When lunch came though any relaxing vibes I had were gone. When I arrived in the lunch room it was packed full of kids between the ages of 6 and 11. All the 12 to 18 year olds were in a different room as according to Krat the older kids will take their anger out on anybody, even six year olds who aren't strong enough to hold a sword.
I felt out of place as everyone had there group of friends who they were sat with whilst I was stood on my own. An older boy around the age of 11 with brown hair walked into me and my tray of food spilled to the floor making a sound which everyone in the room heard. As I looked up all eyes were on me. Considering how innocent these kids look at least half of them look like they are planning a way to kill me.
Straight away I realised I wasn't going to fit in here, ever.
The rest of the day passed by in a blur as Krat tried to get me to use some other weapons and put my precious knifes down. Truth is I felt safe with them in my hand as here in this academy I had no idea how might come and attack me. I wasn't too bad with a sword after I practised some more, the only problem being that it was slightly too heavy and I dropped it every so often.
By the time dinner came I was relieved to find that at least half the kids who were in the canteen earlier had gone home. At this academy if you lived locally then you could go home every day but if you lived a long distance away like me who lives on the other side of the district then you board overnight. Thankfully the older trainees weren't here either and I felt a lot more relaxed than I had earlier. I grabbed some food and sat in the corner munching away.
The next two days followed the same routine. I'd get up out of bed and go and meet Krat for one on one training. At breakfast, lunch and dinner I would find a quiet area in the canteen and eat as much as I could. I would need to put on weight and gain muscle if I was to compete with the other kids here. Even some of the six year olds looked stronger than me. Krat soon realised that I was pretty incapable with most weapons and told me that tomorrow I would be joining in with the rest of the kids my age.
I didn't sleep well that night and I was thankful that the girl I was bunking with had been at the academy hospital for the past few days. I tended to thrash about in my sleep if I was having a nightmare and in this place I was having them all the time.
Once again I ate on my own at breakfast and Krat showed me to the room where I would have my first lesson with the other kids, Hand to Hand Combat. As I entered the room all eyes were on me. They all recognised me as the new girl even though none of them had directly spoken to me. I could hear a group of the girls sniggering to themselves about how easy I'll be to fight with.
The lesson went by slowly and I didn't actually get to participate as the instructor wanted me to observe and learn from others. When it did finish I went off with the rest of the group to the outdoor athletic stadium. A new instructor introduced herself to me and told me that I was now in physical exercise class. I didn't really understand the title of the class as surely all the lessons were physical exercise.
I was made to run around the track and to my surprise managed to finish first out of all the girls. I always knew I was fast but I didn't realise how fast I was until I was up against girls who had to run the track every day for the past two years. When we'd all finished doing basic exercises to build up strength we were told we had an hour in the main gym to practise whatever we wanted too.
In the main gym all the other kids between the age of 6 and 11 were there and suddenly I felt like I was back in the canteen on the first day except this time they all had weapons. Somehow I managed to find my way to a bench behind the spear and knife throwing stations. I watched as I girl around the age of 10 who looked pretty full of herself tried to throw a spear yet landed three feet away from the bulls eye. I couldn't help but laugh and before I realised what I was doing the girl had too and she didn't look happy.
"What are you looking at you little brat?"
Normally in this situation I would sit back and not say anything and let the comment pass but something about this girl made me mad.
"Nothing, I'm just sat here thinking about how incapable with a spear you are"
This took her by surprise and apparently the rest of the room had heard too as everyone stared at the two of us only meters away from each other. I should say sorry and that it was a joke before she attempted to kill me but I couldn't. I wouldn't.
"Woah, would you look at this the new girl has a voice. Like you could do any better"
"A spear, you're probably right, I couldn't. But then again I've been here for a week, you on the other hand have been here for what, four years?"
"You better watch what you're saying before I.."
"Before you what?" I know I shouldn't be fighting back but I need to stand my ground if I'm going to survive in this place. I quickly walked past here and grabbed a knife.
"Before you do this?" I whispered as I threw the knife without any real effort at the dummy and landed a perfect bull's eye. "I'm not as weak as you thought I was, am I?"
A/N: I'm trying to make this story different to others and if anybody has any ideas they'd like to put forward for the story then please tell me in a review. I hope this story will show a different side to the characters and will show some of you that the careers aren't all bad and that they have their reasons for being the way they are.
Anyway I would love to know what you thought about this so please review and tell me your thoughts. Thanks for reading so far.
Also you'll get to read about Cato for the first time in the second chapter.
