Essence "Essie" Marymount

Ebberman Scorge

Chapter One: The life of a career

I guess you could say I was a career. I had been training for the games since my twelfth birthday, but not for the reasons the others do, But I wasn't one of the girls who "Trained" to stay thin either. I trained because I knew, deep down, one day I would have to enter the Arena. I don't know how I knew this, but I could feel it deep inside that somehow I would end up as the female tribute of District Four. So I trained, because I knew that if I entered that arena, I would have to come out too.

My name is Essence Marymount and I am fifteen years old. I am five foot three, have long golden hair, pale sea green eyes and light skin. I live in district four with my mother and father, my older sister, Apple, and my younger cousin, Caspian.

I walked into the training center and the air conditioning hit me like a saving grace. District four was the most southern of the districts and the hot air was almost suffocating at times. The training center was a large, one story building with a main lobby with a snack bar and a lounge area, two dressing rooms, the girls on the right, boys on the left, and a large gym with four different sections. There was a weaponry section, a strength section, a cardio section, and a warm up section.

In the dressing room, I threw my school bag into me locker, number 226, and went over to check the schedule. I found my group and read our plans for the day, smiling as I read we would be swimming today. The training center had its own small part of the beach for us to use, one were we wouldn't get run over by boats or mistaken for a large fish.

"Hey." I turned and smiled at my friend, Marina who had just walked out of one of the bathrooms .

"Hey." Marina was tall with tan skin and dark hair and eyes. Her father was the mayor of district four, so she had taken a car here. She was more popular than I was at school, mostly because I had gone through a rough period a while back, where I'd sort of ditched all my friends and became somewhat of a loner. Surprisingly enough, it was training that had helped get me back on my feet. The first year was tough, but by thirteen, I was back to my old self. Marina had been there to welcome me back. "What are you guys doing today?" I asked, referring to what her group was doing at training.

She rolled her eyes slightly, "Running." But then she smiled slightly. I knew Marina loved running but the thing that irked me was she was part of the large group of girls who went to the training center just to stay thin and pretty. I understood wanting to stay in shape, more than most probably, but they could do that by actually doing something useful, like learning how to defend themselves in a fight. Their wasn't always a volunteer willing to take someone's place, especially for girls, and people rarely won the games by running.

I smirked slightly at her, "My group's going swimming." The added disdainfully, "After we do Strength training and some running." I could tell she was jealous, everyone loved swimming days, and my group got them the most often.

"Lucky." She murmured slipping in her running shorts and tank top with a built in sports bra. I stripped down and put on my black one piece swimming suit. Privacy wasn't something people worried about in district four, especially when it came to each other's bodies. I pulled on teal workout shorts over and an oversized tee-shirt. We walked out into the lobby, just as a large group of girls entered, all of them smiled and said hello to Marina, and some even greeted me as well.

We walked over to the snack bar and got in line behind a tall blonde boy with broad, perfectly muscled shoulders that were visible under his white tee-shirt. I knew who it was. Ebberman Scorge. I mentally sighed. He was two years above me in school and easily the most attractive boy ever. He was a hardcore career, but was also surprisingly nice and friendly. He was in my training group. He paid for his water and turned to go, smiling, "See you in a few." He said before walking away. Marina nudged me, giggling before steeping up to order a water and a protein bar. She paid and I ordered the same.

We sat down on the couches and chatted while eating our snacks for the remaining twenty minutes before training started. The TV in the lounge was playing a bit about the upcoming Hunger Games and had interviews with capitol citizens. "I'm just so excited! The opening ceremonies are always so brilliant! I love all the costumes. And I can't wait to get to know the tributes!" One women trilled in her ridiculous capitol accent. I almost scoffed. I guess they would like "getting to know us". I like getting to know people and then watching them be murdered as well.

"Are you excited?" Marina asked me, not taking her eyes off the screen. It was a dumb question, I could never answer honestly, and I'd learned that the hard way.

"Yes. It'll be fun and think of the school we get to miss." I forced a smile. I think Marina knew how I truly felt, but I knew she didn't share my feelings. Not many people in D4 did.

"Are there going to be any volunteers this year?" She asked. I know she was hoping there would be, just in case she got picked. Hypocrisy at its greatest. Of course Marina loves watching the games, but she would never want to be in them. Her and so many others. At the moment there were only three girl volunteers and nine boys.

"Nothing set in stone; no one is eighteen this year. Two of the boys will be next year, so one may volunteer this year, and then they both could go. Alisha will be eighteen next year two, but Brook and I are younger, so she wouldn't have to go yet." I could see her face fall. "Don't worry about it. Your name is only in their four times. And if you did get chosen, it would be a great honor."I told her repeating the line we had been force fed since before we were old enough to even understand what the words meant.

She nodded, "We should go." She said, standing up and walking into the gm without waiting for me. Oh the Hunger Games. Making things awkward between friends for fifty six years.

I walked into the gym and sat down in next to Brook. She was a year older than me, had medium brown hair and dark blue eyes, and was about three inches taller. Alisha was about the same height with almost black hair and icy blue eyes. Brook had tan skin, but Alisha was pale like me. The three of us didn't talk much during training, but we usually stuck near each other.

There were twelve kids in my group, the smallest group here. We were the volunteers. The ones who would be most prepared to go into the arena. The other groups were kids from rich families who came to either stay in shape and learn some minimal self defense or to fulfill gym requirements for school. Those groups were larger, with about twenty kids in each group and were separated by gender.

The rest of our group came over and we began stretching. Soon our trainer, Mortimer, came over to lead us in warm-ups. Mortimer was in his mid thirties and had won the games about 20 years ago. Now instead of leading a peaceful, relaxing life, he had chosen to run a gym. Freak.

We started with so easy running, a quick lap around building which was about a quarter of a mile then some sprinting exercises. Soon we went over to the strength section and lifted then did some abs. After we had finished those, I was time to go to the beach. The training center had been built on the water, so we had easy access to our section.

We went into the boat house and grabbed towels and fins for cool downs then stripped into our bathing suits. I quickly braided my hair to prevent it from knotting and lined up next to my group mates on the dock. A small area had been roped off for us, about fifty meters square. "To start off, I want you all to swim to the rope and back twice, but only using about 75% effort. Got it?" Mortimer told us. We all nodded and jumped in. I loved swimming, I was good at it. I'd been swimming my whole life, like most people in the district, but I was a natural. I had fallen off my dad's boat when I was three and hadn't been wearing a life vest, so I just mimicked what I had seen so many times before and ever since, I'd been a water bug.

I finished quickly, before Brook and Alisha, as well as four of the boys, and climbed the ladder to and sat down, waiting for the others. "Good job." Someone said sitting down next to me. It was a voice I'd know anywhere, Ebberman, but I'm just going to call him Ebb.

"Thanks." I smiled up at him, "You too." He laughed and I couldn't help but admire his perfect teeth and tan skin. Like me he had sea green eyes, but his hair was a lighter shade of blonde. Plus he was one hot Mofo. I didn't think I was ugly, but there were definitely prettier girls out there. Luckily for me, I'd become a lot prettier over the past two years, especially after losing all my "baby fat".

Ebb moved his arm slightly so that it was touching mine and I flinched slightly. His skin was wet and almost as hot as his physical appearance. I smiled to myself. The rest of the group finished soon after and sat down before we were all yelled at for being lazy and told to stand up. "That's better. Now we are going to do some relay races. Partner up!" Mortimer told us all. Brook and Alisha always partnered up, so I usually got stuck with one of the guys. Usually Kai, who was in my year at school, but today, Ebb smiled down at me, "Partners?"

I smiled and nodded a bit too enthusiastically. "Marymount, Scorge! Help me roll out the lane lines!" Mortimer called, and we obliged. Ebb and I won every race and practice ended too soon for my liking. We were all packing up when Ebb asked Mortimer, "Can I stay and do a few more laps?" Mortimer nodded. Ebb looked at me, "Want to stay?"

"Yeah, I'd love to." I said and walked over to them.

Mortimer handed Ebb the keys to the boathouse and said "Make sure you lock up. See you too tomorrow." He walked back up to the training center, following to rest of the group.

Ebb tossed the keys down on his towel and smiled at me, "You ready?"

"Of course." I said and walked over to the end of the dock and dove in. I was halfway to the rope when I heard Ebb call my name. "Essie! Stop! Essie!"

I stopped a turned toward him, confused, "What? What did I do?" He was in the water, but was floating by the ladder.

"Come here." He called, so I swam back to him.

"What happened? I thought we were swimming laps?" I asked.

He laughed, "We aren't actually swimming laps. What's the fun in that? We're just going to hang out. Have some fun."

"Ohhh." I said, then smiled slightly. "What kind of fun?"

"Essie, I really like you. I have for a couple of months now and with the reaping coming up, I felt like I needed to tell you." He said, and took a deep breath, looking at me, trying to predict my reaction.

Of course I had the wrong one. I know I probably should have said I really liked him too and all that jazz, but I'd never had anyone remotely like me before, so I said, "Are you going to volunteer?"

He looked disappointed, and I felt sort of bad, because I did like him too, I just didn't know how to say it. "I don't know. Caleb and I trying to decide what we want to do. I think he's getting cold feet, says he doesn't know if he wants to do it yet. He told me If I go this year then he'd go next year, but if I want to wait, he just won't go."

"Well that puts a lot of pressure on you." I stated and he nodded, agreeing.

"There's a lot of pressure on all of us. It's how the capitol keeps us divided. How they-"

I cut him off "Don't say things like that. They can hear you. They know everything you say." I warned him, at the risk of him thinking I'm and paranoid freak.

"What? How do you know?" He whispered.

"I can't tell you, just trust me. Please." I told him and he nodded. I could see the trust in his eyes and I smiled. "I forgot to tell you something though," I said seriously, suddenly gaining a crapload of courage.

"What is it?"

I leaned closer and softly placed my lips on his. He eagerly kissed me back and I could tell he'd had some experience in this department. I hadn't. But this was perfect. He pulled me closer, putting both his hand on my small waist and I wrapped my legs around him under water putting one hand on his cheek and the other on the back of his neck. I pulled back after a few minutes and smiled at him and he grinned back. "That was the best kiss I've ever had." He told me softly, his hands still on my waist.

"Me too." I said and laughed.

"What's so funny?" He asked confused.

"Oh. It was a joke. That was the only kiss I've ever had, so it was a funny statement to make to seem like I kiss people often. Or at least I thought it was funny."

He shook his head and grinned at me. "We should probably go. Do you want to get dinner at my house, though?"

"Sure, I'd love too."