This is more of a filler chapter because I had to rewrite it after my laptop deleted it. I promise that I'll make up for it next chapter!
It's halfway through the second day of training and I'm starting to get a bit pissed at the fact that I have only worked with plants and rope. Rue and I are sitting down at lunch again. Today the room is extremely loud, so I decide it's time to tell Rue of the plan I devised last night while I couldn't sleep.
My thought was to go ahead and try to get into the alliance. I'd try to keep her safe during the bloodbath then keep her nearby afterwards. If they decide to do what past Careers have done, I could easily sneak off during my shift of watching to go check on Rue. If I'm lucky, I could also sneak some food or supplies away without them noticing. The plan is risky, but even if I end up dead, it's worth a shot.
After I explain this to Rue in whispers, she seems to be on edge, but agrees anyway. Now, I just have to figure out how to get in with the Careers. Last night, I talked with Talia and Finnick about my conversation with Cato.
The night before -
"Riley tells me that he saw you and the boy from District Two talking today. What did he want?" Talia asks in between bites of the Lamb Stew they ordered for our dinner. Being vegetarian, I ended up getting a salad and I'll probably eat some cereal later. I'm not sure how I feel about Riley spying on my conversations especially since I didn't even know that anyone was watching us. My senses obviously need to be sharpened before the games.
"Oh nothing really," I send Riley a glare. He has a smug look on his face with a smirk. I come to the conclusion that he looks nowhere near as attractive as Cato when he's smirking. I'm snapped out of my thoughts by Riley saying, "Nothing? If it were nothing, would you be blushing right now? Aw. Look who has a crush," he looks rather impressed with himself as he leans back in his chair. "Lila, is there something you want to tell us?" Katherine inquires much like a mother would. They don't know that my blushing was completely unrelated to the topic at hand, but me arguing about it would probably make it worse.
"It's not what you think, okay? He started talking to me after lunch and I guess he wants me in the alliance," I shrug as if it's an everyday thing. "He wants you in the alliance?" Riley seems angry, "Why the fuck would he want you in the alli –" he starts but is cut off with Katherine's stern, "Language, Riley! Language."
Apparently, Cato didn't invite him into the alliance. "Why would he invite you into the alliance," Finnick points at me then Riley, "but not you?"
"I don't know why. She can't do anything except sit over with her little wimp of a friend from Eleven and look at berries all day! At least I know how to work with some weapons!" comes from my jealous district partner's mouth.
"So, Lila. What did you tell him?" Finnick asks, waving off Riley's ranting. That kid is starting to annoy me. "I told him that I can't really do anything, but I'd try to pick up some more skills," I reply before dismissing myself so I can get away from the annoyance on my right.
Present -
Rue and I go back to the plant station after lunch. I don't know how much longer I can stand looking at these things. I wouldn't be surprised if I could name most of them in my sleep by now. I look around the room and see that the archery station is empty. "Hey Rue, I'll be back later. I'm going to try something else," I mutter quietly while walking towards the station in the corner. I hear her small okay from behind me.
Finnick visited me later last night and told me that getting into the career alliance was my best bet at survival. He said that I just needed to learn something. If I had no weapon skills, I'd have no chance.
This bow in front of me is similar to the ones we have back home. I think this one is fancier though. I timidly pick it up and look around for a trainer of some kind. He's nowhere to be found, but I shakily load the arrow anyway. I take a deep breath, aim and shoot. I look at the target to see that the arrow is nowhere near it, but instead lodged in the wall near the District 3 boy's head. He's looking at it with huge eyes. I barely missed him by a few centimeters.
"Oh my god! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean," I start. Instead of accepting my apology, he gives me a look that I can't quite decipher and goes to the other side of the room. If someone almost killed me, I'd be bitter too. At least I apologized. I'm sure half the assholes here wouldn't have. Well, at least I know that I can strike archery off my list of possibilities. I turn around, hopeful that nobody else saw my little mishap. Of course, nothing ever goes my way. As I look around the room, I see Cato smirking at me once again. What is with that boy and his stupid smirking? It makes him seem more arrogant than he normally would.
Arrogance is equal to stupidity, remember? He's just trying to get into your head.
Surprisingly, I don't feel my cheeks heat up. I try my best to avoid eye contact as I walk what would be known as a walk of shame back to Rue. "So," she tries to stifle a laugh, "how'd that go?" She looks up at me still trying to hold it back when we both burst into laughter. "Okay! Okay! So maybe archery is not my thing. Did anyone else see?" I ask, hopeful. "Not that I know of. Well, unless you count Cato or the kid you scarred for life," she answers with the same grin plastered on her face, "There goes my chance of getting into the alliance," I say with a shrug. Rue looks over my shoulder and mumbles a, "Maybe not."
I turn to see Cato walking towards me. If I were like any girls back home or if we were in a different situation, I'd probably be frantically asking Rue if my hair looked alright or if my eyeliner was smudged. However, now is not the time. I was going to try to play it cool, but all that goes down the drain when a squeaky, "Hi," escapes my mouth.
He chuckles a bit and mocks me with his own, "Hi." Rue seems to feel uncomfortable and leaves without saying anything. "Why are you chatting it up with Eleven?" he gestures back towards the small figure. "Oh, her? She just looked lonely," I say as I silently pray my acting lessons at age nine paid off, "Plus, it's not like I can really be doing anything else besides looking at plants." I decide to change the subject as quickly as possible.
This makes him actually smile - not a smirk or even a cocky grin. It was an actual smile. I like his smile. He should do it more often. It gives me a little push to continue the conversation. "Don't give me that look. It's not my fault! He clearly should have seen me at the station and fled to put at least ten miles between us," I shrug. The smile is still there which makes it harder to keep the corners of my own mouth from turning up.
"Yeah, I'm sure that would be my first thought. Run in terror of the hundred pound girl with an -," I cut him off with a brave, yet playful, smack on the arm, "I'm a hundred and two. Thank you very much," I state defiantly. Normal people probably wouldn't have ever smacked Cato. I can see something in his eyes, but it fades as fast as it came. He looks back at me to see me standing in front of him with my arms crossed and rolls his eyes. "Whatever. Back onto the issue at hand. You know, I talked with the others last night about you. If you keep up what you did over there," he points to where my arrow is still lodged into the wall, "I'm going to be humiliated. What are you okay with weapon wise?"
At this point, I'm not sure if I should lie or just flat out run away. "As far as I know, I have no talent whatsoever," I say plainly. This makes him let out a frustrated sigh as he runs his fingertips through his hair. I'm surprised that he's not getting pissed off. "Alright. Meet me here after training today," he says it as if I have no choice in the matter and walks away before I can question it.
"Why the hell can't I go?" I yell across the room to Finnick. He seems to have his mind set on me not going to the training room with Cato tonight. "Because," he says with a tone that I could easily remember my mother using. "Because isn't an answer, Finnick!" I throw my hands up, "I just want to learn how to use a weapon. He could teach me. It could help me live!" I draw out the last part. He looks as though he's thinking but his expression changes back. Before I can even hear him say no, I look over to Talia who seems to have conveniently found an interesting article of some sort on her tablet.
With all hope gone, I rush back to my room where I slam the door and bury my face in my pillows like most teenagers have at one point or another. I don't care if you're not supposed to be down in the training room. They can't punish me anymore than they already have. I don't like this version of Finnick. He's protective and demanding. I guess it's because he feels responsible for me now. If he were really being responsible, he'd let me go train! Cato is a killer. Everybody knows he is, but he seems to be going through a lot of crap trying to get me into the alliance. Why, I'm not sure. I'll take what I can get anyway. I don't even want to think about how angry he's going to be once he sees me not there tonight. Finnick may have just signed my death certificate.
I get up and walk into the bathroom to take a shower. Showers have always calmed me down. Before Mom died, I would take hour long showers to just stand under the warm water. I go for the vanilla scented shower gel once again and let the water run down my back. I would shave my legs too, but I guess the avoxs were afraid to put anything sharp near the tributes.
I get out of the shower to realize that I was only in there for about 45 minutes. At least I was calmer now. I wring out my hair and let it fall on my shoulders before wrapping a towel around my body. Then, I take a moment to inspect myself in the mirror. My eyes are slightly red from what I'm guessing were angry tears from earlier. I put on a small amount of mascara on which helps some and walk out the bathroom door. I close it behind me and turn back towards my room.
"Holy shit!" I scream as I fall against the wall after jumping. I make sure to keep my towel around me tightly so the blonde boy sitting on my bed doesn't see any more than he already has.
Well wasn't that just majorly predictable? The next chapter is my favorite so far. (;
Any ideas as to what's going to happen next chapter? Also, for the next few chapters, would you guys rather have more playful Lila/Cato conversations or a deep conversation? Put them in a review (along with criticism or suggestions which are appreciated).
