A/N

Checking my email this morning, I was surprised at how many views I had gotten. To be quite honest, I thought my writing sucked. But, I suppose it was good enough for you guys and that makes me pretty happy. I actually wrote out the next chapter (as in this chapter) at school today. I'm pretty excited about it.

Before I continue the story, I had forgotten to throw in a disclaimer in the beginning of this story. So here it is. I DO NOT OWN THE HUNGER GAMES OR ANY OF IT'S CHARACTERS. IT ALL BELONGS TO THE AMAZING SUZANNE COLLINS.

Thanks again for reading! Enjoy! :)


Chapter Two: Curiosity

Clove POV

Waking up in the morning was no longer simple. I used to be able to roll out of bed nice and easy. The sun used to stream through the curtains of my lightly colored bedroom, pulling me from my dreams and into a new day. I would be in no rush to prepare myself, for lessons began at noon and I woke up at around 6:45. AM of course. My routine was of the average. Shower, get dressed for school, pack my training uniform into my backpack, have breakfast, and walk to the district square to meet up with my best friend Delia before heading to school.

Simple. Easy. 1, 2, 3.

Now, I am awoken by a shrill voice, high enough to break glass, coming from the most annoying Capitol escort in the world. Irene Massey. Lord, help her. She clearly has no idea what style is. Even for a Capitol women. Irene wears a green powdered wig, large enough to the point where I had to check to see if my fork got lost in it. A metallic green jumper is fitted perfectly to her body, showing off the curves that she is lucky enough to have. The strangest thing was her nine inch heels, which didn't seem to bother her at all. I'd die in contraptions like those.

"Up and at'em!" She yells to me, yanking the comforter off of me. Unlike most Capitol people, Irene isn't the nicest. But she acts like it when in front of many people. In this apartment, however, she has some lip.

It's easy to ignore though.

Without saying a word to her, I slip out of bed, and walk directly to the bathroom to clean up. It is clear when Irene makes her way into Cato's room, because her screams of anger are bouncing off my walls. Typical Cato Tenae. Heavy sleeper, that one. I don't know how we are going to get him to wake up in the arena.

I smirk lightly as I hear Cato's loud groan of annoyance, taking my hair out of it's high pony tail and grabbing a towel. What an interesting partner I have.


Katniss POV

The food. Oh, the food. It's like heaven. I've never tasted anything so good. Anything so filling. Each bite of the luxurious food sets of fireworks in my mouth. Being from the poorest district, food is scarce. A full meal is almost impossible to get together. Except for those few lucky citizens who have taken up jobs as the merchants of the district. So this was a special privilege.

Breakfast went be quickly. Food ran out so fast that I couldn't even remember what it looked like. It was kind of disappointing when the food from my plate suddenly disappeared from my plate and traveled down to my stomach. I hated staring at an empty plate. So depressing...

Once, after Peeta had finished his omelette, he turned to me and frowned. "Remember when there was an omlete sitting on my plate?"

He sighs sadly, which only causes me to giggle lightly at him. I nod as I cut a big chunk off my very own omelette. Which, by the way, took up half of my plate. It felt so vacant when the lightly browned omelette was gone. "Good times."

Even Haymitch, our drunken mentor, laughed at this. Even with his riches, he struggled like the rest of us. Maybe not as much, but he still had some trouble. For being from a small district with little to eat, food was extremely limited. And when we receive it, we can't get enough.

...

We are escorted to the crystal elevator, where we await to reach the training hall. I love to ride this elevator, for some reason. The speed made me want to laugh. Made me want to beg Haymitch to let us do it again. It made me feel like a kid. Which was an excellent feeling, because that helped me forget where I am. Ugh. The Capitol.

I didn't want to be here. Of course, I'm sure none of us did. Maybe the tributes from 1, 2, and 4, but other than that? Get real. The rest of us did not get the training that they got. Years of going to a special academy just for the Games. Just to go in and make it out alive. But that wasn't the real prize. At least, that's what Haymitch said. He had told Peeta and I that going in to the Games was more of an honor for them. And that their reward for coming out alive was how it makes their home district proud. Proud to call him/her their citizen. Their new victor.

Quite frankly, this makes me sick.

It almost seems as though they want their children to be sent off the an unfamiliar area to be hunted by other kids. Although, their children most likely were the hunters instead of the hunted.

This occupied my mind the entire way down to the ground floor of the Tribute Center, not paying attention to anyone or anything as thought consumed me. I hadn't even noticed when the elevator doors opened to the giant training hall. It was Peeta who pushed me back into reality when he grabbed my arm and pulled me gently out into the room.

When I finally looked up, I saw the tributes standing beside their district partner in a large circle around the head instructor, Atala. It showed immediately that they were waiting to start. They had been waiting for us. We were late to training. Again.

"Shit." I mumbled as I make my way towards the others awkwardly, Peeta at my side.


Cato POV

A complete waste of time. That's what this was. Clove and I had been waiting for an hour for the rest of the contestants to arrive. We were first, then 1, 5, 6, and 4, followed by 7, 9, 3, 10, and 11 in that order. All that was left was District 12. The rats from the slum. They must be up in their apartment pigging out. Figures. The scrawniest kids always fill up with food before the Games begin.

As for me? Ha. Trust me, food is the least of my worries.

All of us have been standing here for nearly 10 minutes, waiting for the remaining pair. Atala was clearly nervous. She had a worried look plastered across her face as she glanced up at the Gamemakers. It was obvious that if they get behind schedule, she will be removed from the Tribute Center. I wasn't the least bit concerned with her job. I just want to get this show on the road. I want to get training.

Beside me, Clove huffs, probably agitated with the absent partners. She is always on a strict schedule, and hates it when something is delayed due to others. I would honestly hate to be them. They will more likely receives a worse death. That is, if Clove manages to get to them before I do. Because they are my kill. Both of them. So good luck to you, Clove, if you plan on trying.

Just when Seneca Crane gestures for Atala to come up to the balcony where the Gamemakers sit, the two walk through the elevator doors. They look like they hadn't expected everyone to be here. The boy seemed less phased than the Girl on Fire. Her expression brings a smirk to my features. She was shocked, her face was redder than I had ever seen before. Embarrassed. That's what I could see as she moved towards us not so smoothly, her district partner holding tight to her arm as he guided her to where they would stand.

I could see something interesting in the boy's eyes. Softness, the most sincere look I've ever seen. And it disgusted me. If I didn't know any better, I'd the blonde boy had a thing for his partner. Well, this game just got a little more fun.

"Alright, now that we are present, we will proceed with the itinerary for today's training. You must attend at least one of the survival stations. Do not ignore these. It is vital that you learn just exactly how to survive, without the use of weapons." With this, we are dismissed to train on our own.

I shoot Fire Girl one last murderous glare before turning away to the hand-on-hand combat training. There was no way I was going to those sissy survival stations. I learned all about that in school. That's useless information now.

Apparently, the other Careers feel this way as well, because they all walked to their respected stations. Marvel at spear, Clove at the knife-throwing (of course), Glimmer... trying to conquer the bow and arrow again to no avail, and me to the hand-to-hand combat. As I said before. District One wasn't very useful this year, and I have yet to see what District Four can do. But Clove and I will make a pretty good team, I know that for sure.

Standing at the mat across from the instructor, I crack my knuckles loudly, staring down my prey. My tactics always seemed to work, just because I have always been intimidating. The instructor watches me curiously as I sink down into a position to be prepared to spring forward. I stay in my stance, focused on my goal. There was only one word I needed to motivate me. Win. Failure is not an option. Only winning. If someone manages to defeat me, my reputation would plummet miserably. All I have worked for would have been for nothing.

So as soon as the whistle blows, I am racing toward the smaller man with such speed that he didn't have time to get out of the way. I hit him hard, right in the gut. His breath is knocked out of him as I slam him hard on the floor, moving to pin him down. But the man slips out from under me before I can hold him down. I growl under my breath, standing up and quickly turning to face him. The instructor blocks a blow I throw to his side cleverly, but isn't fast enough to block the next one I swing to his jaw. He grunts in pain and stumbles back a few steps. While he tries to regain his balance, I wrap my large hand around his throat. It was too easy. I throw him to the ground effortlessly, and hear his head it the ground with a thud. I pin him to the mat, and suddenly the whistle is blowing again.

My victim is declared dead. I win, as always.


Katniss POV

I am tying off a knot when I hear a loud crash on the ground not too far from where I sit. My head snaps up in time to see the massive boy from District Two mercilessly pounding into one of the instructors. Honestly, I'm surprised they hadn't stopped him from getting too hard on the instructor. But, this is what he signed up for. His own fault.

The whistle blows just as the boy raises him arm back as if to hit him again. I watch curiously as his leaps off of the instructor and pounds his fists on his chest triumphantly. The large boy yells out, and his allies come immediately to congratulate him. It was a pretty big deal to be able to win so easily. Especially if you win against a trained professional. So for this Career, it only shows farther that he is determined to win this one. But I refuse to believe that he will. Because I need to get home.

I hadn't noticed I was staring until the boy's icy blue eyes met mine. They were cold, deadly even. They sent a tremble down my spine. But I couldn't stop watching him. I was frozen completely. Like his eyes were holding me in place. Then I realized that he saw me as a coward at this point, and I wasn't going to allow that to happen. With a burst of confidence, I stand up, and stare him down with equal intensity, trying to mimic his cold glare. And it seemed to work.

He arched a brow, looking at me as if I had just done something insane. And maybe I had.

When he turns away, I feel a pang of regret hit. Perhaps that wasn't the best idea. Most likely, he now sees me as an obvious threat. He will be after me first. Then what happens? I will die slowly under his blade.

Curiosity might just have blown out the flame of the Girl on Fire.


A/N

This chapter was hard to focus on. I was listening to some really old music by artists like Aly and AJ, Hilary Duff, etc. Long story short, I spent just about an hour and a half on each POV of this chapter. Okay, hopefully, the next chapter should be up by Sunday. Working hard on it! If you ever have any suggestions, feel free to tell me. I will do my best to apply them and make the story better for you guys. Don't want to disappoint. Thanks for reading!

- Charlotte :)