THE FOURTH DAY AT THE TRAINING CENTER
Cato and Marvel instantly walked passed the snare-making and edible plants stations and settled themselves at the weightlifting one. No point in learning that stuff when you can kill for the supplies the Cornucopia had.
Marvel picked a sizable dumbell and began pumping his arm. Cato took note of which one he picked, and then directly chose a heavier weight. After a few reps, he noticed Clove and Glimmer at the knives station. Glimmer stood quietly as she watched Clove throw several knives at dummies, piercing each one in the heart like child's play. Damn, she was good. When finished, Clove smirked triumphantly and glanced to see if anyone was watching. Glimmer remained silent, but nodded at her training partner, impressed. She was offered a turn at the dummies, but declined politely.
Cato put down his weight. "Marvel, what's the deal with her?" He gestured at Glimmer.
"Who, the princess? Oh, there's not much to say. Our families are close, so we grew up together," He continued to lift his dumbell, so his reply was broken up between his breaths. "Everyone back home knows her; she's popular. Has a couple sisters. Comes from a super rich family."
"What else?"
Marvel placed his weight on the floor next to his feet. He gave Cato a funny look. "Well, Glimmer's different. Keep an eye out for her, man. She uses people. Girl knows exactly how to play her cards. She normally keeps to herself unless she wants something. Like I said, her parents are loaded, so it's not like she has to worry about not getting what she wants. Still, she never uses her their money. Finds a way around it. In fact, she actually never really accepts help from others. Been like that ever since we were kids. I remember one time I-"
Cato groaned. "Get on with it, jackass. I didn't ask for your life story."
"Alright, alright. As I was saying, she likes laying low. Take this, for example. In the Academy, most of the girls were loud and obnoxious. They always challenged each other, trying to establish dominance," Cato nodded. The girls at the District 2 Academy were like this, too. It was fucking annoying; they constantly tried to prove themselves as tough shit. "but she was different. Trained privately and ignored the other girls' threats or the guys' catcalls. The only times she was around us was when the Academy held the Trial Games. Never was victor, but she came pretty damn close sometimes. Everyone would hound the trainers about her personal regime, you know, like what she did during her sessions and how well she was doing, but they never said. She had all the guys in the palm of her hand, though. Bats her eyelashes and gets real handsy, then next thing you know she's got free lunch for a week. Anyways, I got better things to do than talk about Glimmer." Marvel stopped speaking and continued to lift weights. He admired himself in the mirror.
Cato realized Marvel wouldn't say anything else, so he decided to work his own angle on her. He got up, left Marvel at the station, and walked over to Glimmer and Clove.
"How's training, Glimmer?" He wanted to sound as nonchalant as possible. Not that he didn't know what he was doing; gathering intel on others was only one of his many strong suits.
Glimmer gestured at Clove who was still focused on throwing knives at the dummies. "I've been watching your district partner for a few minutes now, and girl's a vixen. The little lady knows how to hit a target. I can't believe she's only 15. Does she have any other weapons in her arsenal? She's so talented I wouldn't be surprised if she was an expert at anything else," Clove looked up, saw Cato, and smiled at him. A frown spread across her face when she noticed Glimmer with him. She angrily chucked another knife at a dummy. "Looks like she has a little crush on you. Well, I'll get going. Don't want her to get any ideas about us, right, Cato?"
"Woah, woah, woah. Where do you think you're going? I didn't ask about Clove. The little brat is always talking to me. I asked about you. How are you doing? Haven't seen you training much. Best to do it now with everyone watching. You know, for sponsors and to scare the other kids shitless."
"Ha, you think a girl like me has trouble finding sponsors? I'm a gold mine, darling. Not like it's any of your business, though. But for your information, I'm not completely useless. I was raised a Career, remember? I can handle myself. If you spot a bow and arrow in the Cornucopia, let me know, alright? I'll find a way to make it up to you." She bit her lip lightly and grinned at him.
"I''ll keep it in mind. How good are you exactly? As good as Everdeen? I don't know if you heard, but she turned down our invitation to the alliance. What an idiot. She'll get what's coming to her."
"You worry about your own strengths. I don't go around asking all the other pretty boys in this place about you, now do I?"
Cato crossed his arms and snorted. "Hell if I know what, or who, you do in your free time, Glimmer. I didn't know you liked being acquainted with the lower class. I'd never peg you associating with some loser from a lower district. Thought you had standards."
"You don't own me, jackass. I talk to who I like. There's plenty of interesting people around here. District number means nothing now that we've been all marked for death. You know, now that I think about it, that boy from 12 seems especially interesting. Really cute, too. I think his name's Peeta. To be honest, honey, this conversation's gone dry. I bet blondie might be better company. See you later, stud."
Before she turned away, she glared at him. Holy fuck, she was even more hot when she was pissed. After walking away, she cornered the boy at the camouflage station. What a pussy. Only the weak needed to hide.
"Wow, your arm totally looks like a tree. You're so good, I'm seriously jealous. It's Peeta, right?" She grabbed his arm softly and drew closer to him.
He stood uncomfortably. "Uh, yeah. And thanks. My parents own a bakery, so I decorate the cakes back home."
Her eyes lit up. "Oh my God, that's so cool. You must be really artistic then. You'll have to teach me sometime. Not baking, the whole camouflage thing. I'm hopeless. My best bet at blending in is running into the bushes and hoping to God no one sees me, like little kids when they play hide-and-seek."
"Ha, that's pretty funny. I mean, I guess I can fill you in on the basics. It's not hard, really. Hey, I never caught your name. What is it?"
Cato watched, annoyed, as she smiled sweetly and placed a hand on Peeta's chest.
"Glimmer."
AN: Please review! And if any of you were wondering, I do actually ship Clato, but I felt like writing about Glimmer on this one. x
