The Boy Behind the Curly Hair
Chapter 1: Training
"Gill...Gill... Gill. GILL! Get up! You're going to be late for training!" Mom was always so panicky in the morning. I opened my eyes a little and saw that she was fairly distraught that I had slept in, yet again.
"Mom, whatever, I'll go tomorrow," I said turning over and facing my ocean view window. She was having none of that this morning and practically pulled my arm off getting me out of bed. "Or not..." I mumbled as she tossed a stack of clothes at me. Then I remembered, today was my last day to train before the reaping tomorrow.
She stresses out a lot over the reaping, having 5 kids and all, even though only me and my older sister Nette are eligible to get put in the Hunger Games. This was also my first year to get reaped, so it's doubtful that was making mom feel any better about this situation.
I put on my clothes and headed downstairs. Everyone was already at the table, mid-way through breakfast, except dad and my brother, which meant they had probably been at work for at least a few hours by now. I pulled out my chair and mom put down some seaweed bread and fish in front of me.
"Eat up. You dont have much time before you and Nette need to leave," She gave me her 'scolding' eyes. I just shrugged.
Soon enough, not for mom though, she pretty much shoved us out the door, we were on our way to the training facility. I really hated training. On top of it not really being fair to the other districts, it was fair for ME. I'm not even 5 feet tall and yet, I'm expected to practice with guys about double my height and weight. Nette on the other hand, loves it. Probably because she's built like an athlete and has a ton of friends in training with her.
"Are you nervous for the reaping tomorrow?" Nette asks, breaking the silence.
"Yeah, I guess so," I shove my hands in my pockets, I hate being the weakest kid in my family.
"Are you embarrassed about being nervous? I get nervous every year. I'm always scared I will have to volunteer for someone. I really don't want to be in the Games," I nod. I like my sister. I look up to her. I also look up to my brother, Trawl, but at least she treats me like I am an important person.
When we arrived at the facility, I held the door open for Nette, like a gentleman, and she ran off to do girl things on their side of training. I walked to the boys side and saw that they were already doing warm up stretches, and I was glad mom threw my training clothes at me this morning.
The training facility is really cool because its split into two sections, a boy side and a girl side, though it doesn't really seem like that because it's a wall made of windows. Actually, the whole building is pretty much all windows except the changing area. Since we train here every day for five hours, except on Sundays we only go for 3 hours and on reaping day we don't come in at all, we keep our swim gear and our workout stuff in our own lockers. There are two gigantic pools, different areas for lifting weights, making nets, and mats for stretching, on each side. My favorite part is the upstairs loft area, because you can look out over the ocean and District 4, even though that's where all the scary exercise machines are, and because the boys and girls work out up there together.
Some days they split the age groups up, but there is only one boy instructor today, so we all work out together.
I sit down in my usual spot, way off in the corner away from the rest of the group. Like I said, I really hate training. Just as I was going into the stretch, the instructor told us to change into our swim gear and get in the pool.
"Look who it is," Said a deep voice behind me. I sighed because I knew who it was. "You showed up late. AGAIN. Why do you even bother coming, it's not like you've gained any muscle at all, twerp." Jeff snorted, he thought he was the funniest person on the planet. I headed in the direction of the change rooms, but one of Jeff's 'possy' stood in front of me. I tried to move past him, but this guy was huge. I looked to the instructor but he was reading a magazine on his lifeguard chair. I decided I wasn't in the mood for this nonsense today so I jumped to the floor, scrambled under the guy and ran like there was no tomorrow to the change rooms.
That's the only good thing about being small. You're fast. Really fast. Don't have any of that muscle or big bones weighing you down. I know they don't follow me because they all think I'm weird for crawling under some guy. Whatever, it's not even that big of deal anyways.
After I'm in my swim gear, I come out and hop into the pool. Being from District 4, it's mandatory for you to be able to swim. As soon as you can walk, you've been swimming for months before that. You start training when you turn eight, but swimming begins as soon as possible because fishing is our whole livelihood. Though, for some reason, swimming just hasn't been my thing. I'm not saying that I do not have the capability to swim, I do, but its either doggy paddle or really awful front stroke, and I get tired really easily, trying to keep up with people who are natural swimmers. Even my three year old sister Aqua is better at swimming than me.
We are supposed to do 50 laps, and that probably sounds like a lot, but some days they make us do more. Usually I do about a quarter of what we are supposed to do, and just rest at the side a lot. Jeff is swimming towards me, so I just dip under water and wait for him to pass. But he doesn't.
"You have been waiting at the side for quite a while. You're scared of the water, aren't you? Wussy," He splashes me in the face and dives under again. My goggles weren't on, so my eyes burn from the salt water pool.
I swim a few laps and take another break. Jeff comes over, calls me names, splashes me in the face, and I make sure to wear my goggles. This cycle continues until the instructor tells us we are having a water treading contest. Jeff pushes me under water, getting me disqualified. I get out of the pool and look at the clock. Three and a half more hours to go.