CHAPTER 3! :D please review guys. :)
Also, thanks again to Vampireninja101 for proof reading this. GRAZIE!
Hope you guys enjoy! :P
Chapter 3: Training
Knock-knock-knock. What's that sound? Knock-knock-knock. I rolled over in my bed and put the pillow over my head. Knock-knock-knock, but this time harder. What now? I rolled out of bed and fell face first on the floor. I got up holding my nose and walked to the door. KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK. "I'm coming!" Gosh, impatient much, I thought. I opened the door and saw Al and Katey.
"Jay, you're not even dressed yet? We have training in 10 minutes!" Katey said. "Wait, what?" I said, still waking up. I rubbed my eyes. Why is Katey wearing a jumpsuit? "We have training in," Al looked at his watch,"9 minutes." "Shoot! One sec." I rushed into the bathroom and started brushing my teeth. I then put on new clothes. Wait… I don't have any clothes, I thought. Where did Katey get that jumpsuit? I opened my closet and saw the same black jumpsuit with a red stripe going down from both shoulders to the waist and the number 12 on the left arm. Okay… apparently we get these weird jumpsuit things.
I put the jumpsuit on and went into the living room to see Al and Katey waiting. "Ready?" Al said. "Yea." We all got into the elevator and went up to the 15th floor. On our way up, Al said, "So, do you guys know what you're going to do?" "I think so," I said. "Not really. Maybe I'll just do what Jay does, if that's okay with you," Katey said. "Yea, of course," I said with a smile. The doors opened and we walked into a huge room with weights in one corner, a place where you can practice setting traps, an archery section, sword lessons, and a lot more.
Wow. This is amazing… what should I do first? I thought. "Alright guys. Good luck on your training and if you need me, I'll be with the other mentors," Al said. Katey and I both nodded. We started off going to the traps first. We learned which type of trap is best for an animal and what type of food you put into the trap. After about 3 hours of working on building and dismantling traps, the teacher was satisfied, and he said that he didn't have anything else to teach us. We then walked around and looked at all of the other training areas. We passed a tribute from District 1 who was lifting a 150 pound weight. We passed the javelin throwing area, and the District 4 tribute nailed the dummy through the chest easily. Wow, these guys are good, I thought.
We then got to a training area that no one else went to, probably because they didn't think that it was important. The area was to teach the tribute about plants and berries that you can and cannot eat. I thought that it was important because I remember my mother telling me that there were berries that she and Dad picked and someone from another District stole them and they had poison in them so the tribute died. At least with this knowledge, we will know what plants will be good for healing and what fruits we are able to eat.
"Jay, why are we doing this? Shouldn't we work on our strength or sword fighting?" Katey asked. I looked at her and hugged her. I buried my head in her hair and whispered, "Because I don't want the Capitol and the other tributes to know what we can and cannot do. I want them all to be surprised." I pulled back and smiled. She nodded and we continued learning about the plants and leaves. After about another 3 to 4 hours, the teacher was satisfied and he dismissed us.
We looked around and no one was here. "I wonder where everyone went," Katey said. "Yea." "What time is it? Maybe everyone's at lunch or something." "It's…. there's no clock around here. Really?" I walked to one of the instructors and asked her where everyone went. She said, "Everyone went to get lunch and to get cleaned up. Training ended a while ago, but you can stay here as long as you want." She came closer and whispered, "Not that many tributes and mentors know that."
I looked at Katey and asked, "Do you want to do real training now?" "Yea." We walked to the sword fighting lessons and practiced with the instructor. We learned how to parry each other's blows easily, and how to twist our wrists a certain way so that the swords go into a different direction than they were intended to go. This time we just stayed for 2 hours because Katey and I were getting hungry and tired.
We first went down to our rooms and washed up. We then tried to find the floor that served lunch, but we failed miserably, so we decided to go down to the lobby and ask the manager where lunch was. He said that lunch ended a while ago and dinner will begin shortly. Katey and I went back upstairs.
"Hey, would you like to come to my room and hang out before dinner?" "Sure." We walked to her room and sat down on the couch. "So… how's it goin'?" I asked. "Good. You?" "Good so far." "So… tomorrow we're going back into training, right?" "Yea." "Maybe we should practice on sword fighting again, maybe even archery," Katey said. "Yea, maybe…" "Why the hesitation?" "What? Oh, sorry. I'm just out of it right now. Plus what we talked about before, they are probably already watching us do stuff anyway, so I guess there's no point wasting our time…" "Yea."
We sat there for a while and someone knocked on the door. Katey got up and answered it. It was Al, coming to tell us that it was time for dinner. YES! FOOD! I thought. We went to the 14th floor and went into a big ballroom. The table already had food on it and some tributes were already seated. We sat down at the end where the number 12 is designated. Apparently they wanted the seating as boys on one side and girls on the other, so I sat across from Katey. We all ate in silence, no one wanting to break it. Krystine came in and sat at the head of the table near District 1. "Hello everyone." "Hi," everyone said. "Why so quiet guys?" No one answered. "Alrighty then... so, how about I tell all of you a story about the Capitol?" No one said anything or argued. She started off talking about how the Capitol was created and everything the Capitol did for us. Then about the destruction of the US and the creation of Panem and the Districts.
For about an hour we listened to her talk and one of the tributes, a 12 year old from District 8, fell asleep on the table and the two guys next to him started to write on his face with a pen. She finally finished her story when she saw all of us bored to death. We were finally dismissed and we all went to our rooms. We passed a clock on the way to the elevator and it said 12am. Have we really been listening to her rambling on about the Capitol for more than an hour? I thought. Maybe I slept too… but like a smart person, with my eyes opened.
I walked with Katey to her room and she said, "You know, surprisingly I'm not tired." "Me neither." I thought about it and said, "Wanna go to the roof and look at the stars?" "I don't know… are we allowed to go up there?" "Who cares?" I said with a smile. "True." And we went back to the elevator laughing. Truthfully, I didn't think that there was going to be a button that said "Roof" but apparently there was. The elevator took us up and opened. We walked to the ledge and sat down, looking at the moon and the stars. The wind started to pick up and Katey shivered. She snuggled closer to me and put her head on my shoulder. I put my arm around her to keep her warmer. We stayed like that for a while, and to enjoy this moment I closed my eyes. This is nice, I thought. I opened my eyes and looked at Katey. She's sleeping, I looked so beautiful… so peaceful. I leaned in and gave her a kiss on the forehead. I was going to bring her to her room, but I was too tired. So I put my head on Katey's head and closed my eyes. Goodnight, Katey…. I love you. And I went to sleep with Katey in my arms.
The next day:
"Guys! Wake up!" I heard someone yelling. "Breakfast starts in 15 minutes! GET UP!" Where's the snooze button? I thought. "GET… UP!" I opened my eyes with a snap. Wait… how did I get here? I thought. Then memories of last night came back. I looked down and saw that Katey and I were wrapped around each other. Our legs were tangled and her head was on my chest with my arm around her. "Katey. Wake up," I said. "Hm?" "Wake up." "I'm up," she mumbled. No you're not, I thought. I then tickled her and she got up with a squeal and she started laughing, trying to make me stop. "Now you are," I said.
"Guys! Hurry, we have 10 minutes until breakfast." I realized that the voice was Al. "Nine! Come on. Get up you two. What are you even doing up here anyway?" "Nothing," I said. I helped Katey up and we ran to our rooms and got changed in the usual suit. When we got in the dining hall we had two minutes to spare, and thankfully four tributes weren't there yet. Al left the room and went to eat with the other mentors. Katey and I ate pancakes, eggs, toast, French toast, waffles, and bacon. By the time we were finished we were full. Al came back and said, "Ready for training?" "How are we supposed to train on a full stomach?" I asked. "Then do something that's easy, like learning how to cook different animals and how to camouflage your gear." "True. Thanks." "No problem."
Katey and I walked into the training center and we headed to the camouflage area. We learned which type of mud and leaves to use for camouflage and which pattern and what pattern to use for any type of scenery. The instructor was really impressed because Katey and I got every single pattern and which type of mud to use easily. I looked around and everyone was doing something, except for the tributes from District 4 because they weren't here. Why aren't they here? Do they think that they don't need any training? I thought.
Katey and I went back to sword fighting. The instructor was glad to see us again and she taught us more advanced moves, and also moves that no one else knows. After 2-3 hours of holding up the sword and practicing, my arms were like jelly. We thanked the instructor for everything and we walked around. "I don't think that there is anything else that we can do. We did all the useful stuff with the plants and everything and we know how use a sword, so I'm guessing there really isn't anything else to do," I said. Katey and I already know how to use a bow, thanks to Mom, and how to use knives, thanks to Dad, so there really isn't anything to do, I thought as I looked around. "Yea. Maybe we should go back to all of the areas we went to and make sure we know all of them by heart." "Good idea."
We went back to learning the plants and everything that we did. By the time we were done reviewing, it was time for dinner. This time the table was set with candles and trays of food of all different kinds. There were mashed potatoes, turkey, chicken, hamburgers, fish, and much much more. Are they trying to make us get fat? I thought with a silent laugh. Everyone ate like pigs, filling their plates 5 times. By the time dinner was over, everyone was stuffed, and then the servants brought out a huge chocolate cake. Everyone was looking at it. When the servants cut the pieces, you can see that it was a 20 layer cake. What, are they going to fatten us up and eat us? I thought.
Everyone couldn't finish the cake because they had way too much food. Everyone sat in their chair for 10 minutes and one by one, everyone took a bite of the cake. I can't really describe it but everyone practically melted in their cake, savoring each bite. I took a bite of the cake and…. OMG! THIS CAKE IS SSSSSOOOOO GOOOOOOOOODDD! I thought. I took small bites so I wouldn't finish it too quickly. I wish that I can describe the taste of it, but no words can describe this cake. Katey and I looked at each other and she said, "I know right!" We sat there staring at each other and we started laughing. "Mind connection," we both said at the same time. "Jinx. Jinx. Jinx. Jinx. Jinx!" We kept trying to jinx each other but no one won and we started laughing. Everyone was looking at us like Are these two nuts? Yes. Yes we are, I thought.
Dinner finally ended, but no one got up from their seats. "Can we have someone roll us out?" I asked Katey. "I know right. I'm so full I'm gonna die!" We both laughed. After ten minutes of sitting and talking, people got up and headed for their rooms. I tried to get up and sat back down. "Too much effort." And Katey laughed at me. "Come on. I wanna go and look at the stars again." "Ugh… can't get up… going to die." And I pretended to die. Katey came over and started to drag me. "Come on."
She dragged me to the elevator and I said, "Why don't we get a blanket so we'll be warm? It was cold the last time." "Yea. Good idea." We went to Katey's room and got a giant blue blanket that had an intricate flower pattern on it. We went up to the roof and sat down were we were the night before. Luckily, there wasn't any wind, so we weren't cold, but Katey came closer to me and put her head on my shoulder. We sat there calling out the names of constellations that we saw. "Orion." "Big Dipper." "Little Dipper." "Taurus." And we kept going until we couldn't name anymore. We started laughing hysterically because some of the constellations I said, she was going to say, too. We both looked at each other, and I saw something different in her eyes… What is that? I thought. We both leaned in closer to each other, forehead-to-forehead, and we….
Don't you just love cliffhangers? XD
STAY TUNED AND FIND OUT IN THE NEXT CHAPTER WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN! XD