A/N: Here's Chapter 4!(:
"Get up Madge! It's your first training day!" Effie shouts through my closed door. It can't be 8 already, I think to myself. I groan and slip out of bed to find the training outfit. As I slip it on, I notice that the material will be very easy to move in and I'm thankful. I'll need all the help I can get.
I look in the bathroom really quick and notice I have circles under my eyes. Great, I think to myself.
Slowly, I walk down the hallway to the dining area. Once again, I'm last to show up. Haymitch seems oblivious to the fact that we had a conversation about my love life on the roof. I ignore Gale's eye and start to get my plate.
When I sit down, Haymitch starts to discuss our strategies.
"So, Gale, what are you going to do?" He asks Gale in a gruff voice.
"Snares, bow, weights, I don't know." He replies. I get the feeling he knows I was listening last night.
"And you, sweetheart?" Haymitch asks me, smirking.
"I don't know, I can't do anything really." He looks at me as if he knew this already.
"Well learn something," He says, and then points to Gale, "You don't leave her side, you hear? You help her learn something new, got it?"
"What was I going to let her do? Go join the Careers? Yeah, she's not leaving my sight." He finishes, looking at me. I guess that's starting now then. I shift uncomfortably in my seat, not knowing what to expect. Cinna reaches over and squeezes my hand. He nods, which I took as 'its ok'. I have decided to trust him fully. I'm glad I did.
We all sit in silence eating with only the clinks of silverware on plates to fill the silence. That is, until Effie realizes what time it is.
"Oh! You two will be late!" She shrieks and then grabs me by my wrist and drags me to the elevator. At the last second Cinna throws something into the elevator and I catch a glint of gold before it comes and hits me in the eye.
"Ow!" And then I say a few more choice swear words as Gale just looks at me in awe.
"I didn't know the mayor's daughter could curse." He says, trying to keep the laughter out of his voice.
"Shut up." I say, but not in the joking kind of way. I totally mean it this time. He seems to realize that because he does shut up. My eye is still watering and I can't find the pin. I'm looking frantically around for it, hoping it isn't broken or lost, when Gale reaches down and picks it up. He hands it to me.
"Thanks." I say quietly, as I'm trying to focus on putting the pin on my shirt.
"No problem." He says before he shuts up.
"Good Lord, you two need to warm up to each other if you want to be presented as lovers. At these words, I totally stab myself with the pin part and curse some more. Gale looks amused until he realizes what Effie said.
"Wait, what?" The elevator dinged.
"Just act like you like each other!" She whispers before she practically throws us into the room.
"That's convenient." I mutter to myself before looking around. My eye is still throbbing so it takes me a while to focus on the room. We aren't the last tributes to show up, but we aren't the first. The Careers are all here and they seem to be laughing at something the boy from 2 said. The other tributes seem to all be standing alone. Then I hear more laughing from the Careers. They are all looking at us and laughing about something. I side-step further away from their little group and closer to Gale.
"What?" He asks, looking down at me.
"N-nothing." I tell him, unconvincingly.
He crosses his arms and looks at me. "Really? You're going to lie about something as simple as this?"
"Fine, they were looking at us and laughing and the boy from 2 was creeping me out. Happy?" I ask, exasperated.
"Not really." He says, and I look at him, urging him to continue.
"About?"
"This whole set-up. It's sick. Totally sick." He says, and I raise an eyebrow.
"Are you trying to get yourself killed? If the Gamemakers heard that, they could blast you out of the arena the minute the Games start." I say, worried. He couldn't die. He needed to go home to his family... And Katniss, I guess. No one would care if I died or came home besides my dad, really. My mom would probably kill herself by using too much morphling at one time to bury her grief from Maysilee and then me. Yeah, that wouldn't be good.
The lady named Atala starts to tell us about all of the stations and how many tributes will die from natural causes and such. I'm half paying attention because I felt a pair, no, two pairs of eyes on me. One was the little girl from 11. I smiled at her, because I thought she was so darn cute, and she smiled tentatively back. The second, I wasn't so happy about. It was the boy from 2, and he was half glaring, half smiling evilly at me. I looked away quickly, and I saw out of the corner of my eye that he was smirking. He was really creeping me out.
Finally, Atala finished her speech and dismissed us. I stood there awkwardly for a few seconds until I realized Gale was standing there too, looking at me.
"What?" I asked.
"Haymitch said to help you learn something so I'm going to help you." He said simply. Oh, yeah, I forgot about that.
"Well, I don't know what to do." I muttered. I honestly didn't know, considering I was no good at anything.
"Come on." He said, grabbing my wrist and dragging me to the edible plant station. My insides flipped again. I guess I'm going to have to get used to that feeling if I'm not going to be leaving Gale's sight for the next three days.
I start out with simple plants and learn those quickly. Then I start with the berries. I see one that looks like a blueberry and am about to eat it when I think I should examine it first. I break it in half only to find that the insides are blood red. Not blueberries. I consult the plant book and find out that its nightlock. Apparently, nightlock would kill you before it even entered your stomach.
I put the berry down and looked at Gale. "Glad you figured that out." He said, and I know he was talking about the berries. I nodded thinking that if I was in enough misery in the Games; I could eat one of those and end it quickly. I would rather that than some painful death by the hands of the Careers.
"Now what?" I ask Gale, not knowing where to start.
"After lunch we're all supposed to run through the Ropes course. So I guess maybe teach you how to use a weapon?" He says, and I am really hoping that the Careers are not over at the weapons stations. I nod and we walk over.
Thankfully, they aren't over there, but they are close by. We start off at the spears and quickly learn that I'm no good at that. I nearly take the instructors head off with it. I keep apologizing over and over again after that. Gale rolls his eyes playfully at me. I really want to tell him to shut up, but since I've told him that several times in the last 2 days, I decide not to.
Then, we try to swords, but I can't even lift those up.
"Nope." I say, after trying to lift it for the 5th time.
"Yeah. Try the knives." Gale says, as he hands me a knife. It feels pretty easy to use, and the ridges on the handle fit my hand perfectly. I chuck it at the dummy and it skewers it in the thigh.
"Pretty good. Try it again." He says, and hands me another knife. I try again and again, and the knives get closer to the target every time. After the 6th try, it hits the center of the target. I smile, knowing I have some skill. I will never be as good as the girl from 2; she hits the target every time. I keep throwing and throwing and eventually, I hit every target without missing.
"Nice." Gale says, laughing. Oh, I love his laugh.
"Thanks." I see his looking at the bows. "Oh, go on. Go shoot some arrows."
"But Haymitch said not to let you walk-"
"I know what Haymitch said! I'll be fine, trust me. I'm just going to stay here and keep practicing." He stares at me for a minute and then nods and walks over to the bows and starts shooting. I keep throwing the knives, and don't realize when the boy and girl from 2 come over. I pretend not to notice them at first, and when they make it clear that they aren't leaving until I address them, I turn to them.
"Yes?" I ask innocently.
"I'm Cato." Says the boy.
"And I'm Clove." Says the girl.
"Madge." I say, starting to wonder why they are talking to me.
"We saw you throwing the knives and wanted you to join our pack." Cato says, his eyes scanning my body. Oh, God, this is what I was afraid of.
"I-I um, I." I begin, but don't get very far when Cato drapes his arm around my shoulders.
"Come on, sweetheart. Join us. It would help you!" Somehow, hearing Haymitch call me that is ok, but Cato, no, it's not ok.
"Get your arm off before I stab it." I say, mustering all of my hidden rage into the sentence.
"Oh, feisty!" Cato says laughing. Clove laughs too, except it seems forced. His arm is still on my shoulders.
"So what do you say?" Cato asks me again. I know what i want to say but I know if I say it, they'll target me in the arena.
"Thanks, but no thanks." I reply, quickly slipping out from under his arm and start working on the knives again.
"Come on, Madge," He says, his voice dripping with fake longing, "Please, join us. You'll live longer if your with us." he grabs my wrist, and all i feel is anger.
"I said no, now let go of me." I growl, as i shake his arm off. I set down the knives and stalk away from them. I walk to the camoflauge station where the little girl from 11 is.
"Don't let them bother you," she whispers, "They all turn on each other in the end." I nod, knowing she's right. I glance back at them and now they are stationed behind Gale at the archery station. He suddenly tenses, and leaves the station, his eyes searching frantically for me.
I turn away from him, and continue working on the camoflauge. Rue and I sit together, quietly, but not awkwardly. She's very tiny, it's a wonder that she's actually twleve. She looks eight.
I heard footsteps behind me, and i tense, worried it's Cato again. I turn around slowly, only to find that its Gale. I breathe a sigh of relief.
"Madge, come here." He says frantically. I raise an eyebrow and follow him.
"Did they try to recruit you?" He asks, getting to the point
"Yeah."
"What did you say?" His eyes are studying me intently.
"I said no, but they kept trying, and eventually i walked away." I say, bracing myself for what Gale's about to tell me.
"They were talking about you when they were behind me. The girl from 2 said that since you refused that when she finds you in the arena she's going to make the end of your life living hell." He says, looking concerned.
My eyes go wide. "Did she say what she would do?"
"Yeah, uh, just stay away from her in the arena." He mutters, his eyes leaving my face.
"Then what did she say?" I ask, scared to know the answer.
"It's not important," He mutters again, "Just stay away from her."
"Gale it is important! She's out to kill me!" He just shakes his head, and i'm about to protest when it's time for us to eat lunch. All of the Careers sit together and the rest of us sit awkwardly with our district partner.
The Careers are laughing like they are all big friends that have known each other for years. Rue and her partner, Thresh, act like they do know each other, and they make quiet small talk. Rue occasionally makes Thresh smile, and when he does smile, he doesnt seem so scary.
I pick at my food and push it around my plate to make it look like I'm eating, but the truth is, I'm absolutely terrified at what Clove could do to me. It could be anything. I've seen how bad it could be in past Hunger Games. In one, someone had their insides removed. That would be awful.
"Eat." Gale says as he pushes a strawberry onto my plate. I smile at it before eating it. It's sweet and I remember all the times I sat at my kitchen table and ate strawberries.
Lunch passes fairly quickly after that and then we all line up to run through the Ropes Course. Because I'm the girl from District 12, I will be going second to last, behind Thresh from District 11. We're all standing in line and the Careers go through it like it's a piece of cake. From 5 to 11 everyone does ok, and one boy twists his ankle near the end. Most likely, I'll break my neck. Rue flies through it, faster than all of the Careers. I'm impressed that a 12 year old girl could do better than them. Thresh does good and then it's my turn.
"Margret Undersee, District 12." I slowly walk to the start. "Begin." The voice says.
I race up the first rope ladder and then end up on top of it, so I use the ropes to swing across to the next rope ladder. I do various things like this until I manage to get to the end unscathed. Rue looks at me and smiles, which I take as I did well. I smile back.
I realize that I want Rue as an ally. I'll have to make sure to talk to her. Gale then goes through the course and finishes with ease. He smiles at me after he finishes and I smile back. The day ends, and I'm wondering how the next day is going to go.
We are sent back to our floor one District at a time. We are sent last. I'm leaning against the railing in the elevator thinking about to today and everything that had happened. I wonder what Haymitch would say to me almost being recruited by the Careers. Gale and I are both standing in silence when the elevator comes to a stop.
Gale walks out before I do and then he freezes when an Avox comes into the room. Her eyes go wide and she scurries off the other way. He immediately walks into the dining room to find Effie.
"Where's Haymitch?" I hear him ask Effie. Her reply is quiet, so I just walk away to my room to change.
Dinner is an uneventful time until Haymitch speaks up.
"So I hear you were almost recruited by the Careers?" He asks me, and I am really wondering if he knows how to read minds.
I nod and he speaks up again. "It's good you said no." Dinner passes quickly and then it's off to bed. The next two days repeat in a cycle. Wake up, go down to training, train, lunch, train more, talk to Rue, end training, go to bed, repeat. I think Rue wants me as an ally, but we haven't decided anything.
The next thing I know, I'm waking up and remembering that today is the day that I have my private session with the Gamemakers.
A/N: This is by far the longest chapter I think. Sorry if the ending is really rushed, I really wanted to get to the private sessions(: Also, I really do appreciate the reviews and such(: it really makes my day a lot better(: Hope you enjoyed!(: