Disclaimer: The Hunger Games belongs to Suzanne Collins!

Fourth chapter! Unfortunately, school has just started so I don't have a lot of free time to write…but never fear! I shall do my best to not abandon this story.

Also, you know the scene in the movie where Rue steals the knife from Cato? I love that scene so much, I included it in here. I hope you guys don't mind!

SO SORRY ON THE LONG WAIT, I THOUGHT I PUT THIS CHAPTER UP BUT IT HADN'T BEEN UPDATED! SORRY!

Coming from a district where the most expensive thing is a TV with one clear channel, the Training Centre is something that seemed to have been brought from the future. Not only does it have a fabulous Training Rooms, but it also has a giant floor for each district. And travelling to them is very easy. You step on this thing called an elevator and you're zoomed, up or down, into the floor that you want.

And then in those huge floors, every person gets their quarter. Mine could fit my house in it and still have a fair bit of space left over. There's a big fluffy bed, cupboards full of clothes and if I speak into a mike, I can order whatever food I want and it appears in less than a minute, fresh and hot, before you. And the showers! It has millions of buttons for soap, shampoos, massaging oils; almost everything that I need is at my disposal. I order some cake, which I have never had, and I eat it as I examine every single place in my quarter.

Stella knocks on the door and I follow happily. The meal is possibly more luxurious than the one on the train. We are served with a prawn entrée, stuffed beef with gravy, salad, a basket of rolls, and apple pie. It's funny, because I spent the first 15 minutes drooling over it rather than actually eating it. Then my senses come back and I begin to eat. I imagine having all these stuff at home. How full would our stomachs be! How we would go to bed with a satisfied body! How the young's smile would be stretched across the faces, threatening to rip! It was a sight we all dreamed of, but never got. I stare at my food, and a pang hits my stomach, as I think of my family. I blink hard as small drips of tears began to crawl down. I look around – no one seems to have noticed.

Eliza stutters. It takes a while to form a speech from her mouth but it is a helpful one, as she tells us what to do in the coming days.

We train for a couple of days in the Training Rooms, then we show our abilities to a group of Gamemakers. They mark our ability from 1 – being terrible at whatever we were trying to do – to 12 – being absolutely amazing. There are 3 districts, District 1, 2 and 4, whom we in District 11, the Lapdogs. Because that is what they literally are. Lapdogs to the Capitol. They are fed much better than us, trained from a young ages (despite the rules against it) and are much bigger and stronger than us. They are the ones who get at least more than 7 in their scores. The rest of us usually average a five.

'S-Scores are v-very h-handy.' Eliza stutters to us. 'B-Because w-when they are a-announced, s-sponsors take in-interest in the ones w-with the b-best s-score.'

Eliza tells us that when we being to train, we go around to every station, learning every tip possible. Then when it comes to showing the Gamemakers, show what we are the best at.

'W-what c-can you g-guys do?' Eliza asks.

I look at Thresh, waiting for him to answer first. He simply shrugs.

'I dunno,' he says. 'Fighting, maybe.'

'A-and you, Rue?'

I think, and my mind instantly comes with jumping around trees.

'Jumping around trees,' I say.

'V-Very handy. W-What best f-for s-someone with that a-ability is that they s-should try to gain i-information. C-can you do that?' Eliza asks.

I shrug. Can I? I guess I do know a lot of about District 11 and other areas than other people do. I'm not nosy. But it's funny how much you can hear when you just listen.

'Maybe. I guess.' I answer.

'E-Excellent. So, w-what I w-want you g-guys to d-do is…' Eliza goes on. For the rest of the afternoon, Eliza tells us what to do.

Eliza wants us to go around every single station, not matter what the popularity status of the stations are. Then, when it's time to show the Gamemakers what we've got, we show them thoroughly on what we can do.

I'm grateful because our mentor is a good one. I thought back to how we watched the reapings from other districts. District 12's mentor got me feeling sorry for them. He was drunk, very drunk, and he tried to hug their escort, and then fell off the stage. Will he be any use for Katniss and the boy tribute?

I crawl into bed, my body practically sinking into the mattress and the quilt gave me instant warmth. I fall into a deep sleep, not waking up until a sharp knock on the door got my eyes opening, slowly.

'Come on, come one! Training Day, you can't miss it! Wakey, wakey Rue!' Stella somewhat shrill voice fills my ears.

I jump and take a long shower, then pull on the same outfit I had on the night before, but instead of the running shoes, I put on running boots.

Stella escorted Tresh and me to the Training Rooms below, hisses good luck into our ears and leaves. I look around – there are some tributes around, as well as a tall, athletic woman, who introduces herself as Atala. I look around the equipment, my eyes glinting into joy when I found fake trees and other things to climb up and jump around on. The last people arrive, who happens to be Katniss and the boy tribute.

Atala explains the rules about the Training Rooms. I can tell the Lapdogs are itching to try out the huge weapons, most of them about as big as me. I look at those Lapdogs, and see how huge and muscly they are.

That is when a thought struck me. Thresh is huge and muscly. Thresh is strong and powerful. What is Thresh joins the Lapdogs? No, he wouldn't. He has the sense not to. Or I hope.

Atala lets us go and the Lapdogs race to the station where huge weaponry is kept. Thresh looks bored and he begins to walk from station to station, not really trying in any of them. Despite what Eliza told us. Or maybe, this was a secret strategy? So that no one can find out his abilities until it hits them.

I start on the plants station. The lady smiles at me and asks me what I know about plants.

'Uh…' I say 'I kind of know how to which are edible and which aren't…'

The lady smiles and pulls out a large box full of assorted plants and other things form nature and a stopwatch.

'What I want you to do is,' the lady says 'to sort these out from edible to non - edible. First we'll see your best score. Then we'll see how much you can sort out in a limited amount of time. '

It's far too easy. I know I' m sounding modest but I got that box sorted through within a record time. The lady squeals and brings out a bigger box. And another one. We've gone through four huge boxes before I leave to go join another station. The lady waves good bye with her voice sounding extremely happy, and I feel satisfied on the inside.

I try weaponry next. Only I don't got and try out the maces or swords. Instead, I pick up a slingshot and stand back, shooting the target. I get it each time and I feel proud, despite the fact that if a Lapdog got hold of a slingshot, they will probably crush it with just their index finger and thumb.

I shake my head of that thought and look around. That's when I see Katniss, who quickly whips her heads back round when our eyes meet. I faintly smile, moving on.

I sneak around, swinging by every station, but mainly gathering information about my opponents. Their strengths and weaknesses. Once, for the fun of it, I stole a knife from the horrendous boy from District 2, then raced off with it and climbed up and watched from a whole lot of ropes tied together (where climbing is practised). The boy blamed on another boy and a fight aroused, before it was broken off by some Peacekeepers. I giggled while lying down. Thresh looks up at me, smiles (first time I have seen him do that) and shakes his head. I also catch Katniss smiling at me too.

When Katniss and Peeta (the District 12 boy – I finally found out his name) were practising throwing spears, I couldn't help but watch them do so. Katniss is quite good and Peeta isn't bad either. I stand there, watching them, until suddenly Peeta turns around, sees me, and then turn back to Katniss. He says something into her ear but I can hear it.

'I think we have a shadow,' he says.

Katniss turns around and looks at me for a second, before she faintly smiles at me. My cheeks turn slightly red and I quickly walk away again.

The days of training eventually ended and the day I have been dreading for a while came. The day when we show the Gamemakers what we can do.

Eliza gives us all the advice she can give, yet that doesn't stop me from getting nervous. Something kept gnawing away on my stomach and nothing was helping to get rid of it.

Thresh and I sat in the waiting rooms on the day. We were silent, but if the thoughts in our heads were audible, it would have been incredibly loud in the room. The order that the 'presentations' go from starts at district 1, boy first and then girl, down to district 12. Thresh and I sat there for quite some time, before Thresh's name was called.

'Good luck,' I say quietly. Thresh nods.

Now I'm alone, and that is getting me a lot nervous than I was. Ten, twenty, thirty minutes pass before my name gets called. I begin to walk into the room where the Gamemakers are seated, trying not show how shaky I was.

But when I enter, no one even looks at me. They're bored, having seen twenty one others performing. But I took this ignorance as an advantage.

Fake trees were lined up against the back of the room. I climb up one of them, then swing from one tree to another, until the little podium were the Gamemakers are were in better view. And then I sit there, watching them and gathering all information I can get.

It was about fifteen minutes later when one of them wonders aloud where I was. The rest of them of shrug and look around, and I decide to speak.

'I'm here,' I say mysteriously.

The Gamemakers look around in confusion and I resist the urge to giggle. 'I've been here for quite some time now. I've been watching what you've been doing. Seneca, you were talking about how you tried to cook and you failed. Blico, you were talking about how your mother refuses to let you live by yourself despite your age and your achievement. And then, you, Truanna, you were talking about how…'

I told them everything I had heard and some of them blush, the others nod in approval.

'I think my strengths are, apart from what I just showed you, is climbing and swinging around trees, quietly.' I say, when I finish telling them what I had heard.

'Demonstrate,' Seneca Crane (head Gamemaker) says.

So I do. Very quietly, I swing, climb and jump from tree to tree. Then, I finished my performance by landing neatly in the middle of the floor.

Some of the Gamemakers clap and I couldn't stop the huge smile that was now stretching on my face. They dismiss me, and I skip back down to our floor.

'H-How did you go?' Eliza stutters to me.

'Really good,' I answer back, still smiling.

I practically gulp down my dinner, because all I wanted to do was to see my score. It feels like forever, but finally we all sit in front of the T.V and I'm slightly jumpy, nervous and excited.

Thresh scores a ten, but I'm not surprised. With his huge body and power, of course a ten would come his way. But what about me? What scores is going to be given to me?

I'm surprised when my score is shown. I score a seven.

Stella squeals, and Eliza stutters, 'W- Well d-done!' to me. And thresh talks, for the second time.

'Good one,' he says, smiling.

'You too,' I smile back.

When I go to bed, all I'm thinking about is my score. And home. The scores were broadcasted to the whole of Panem, so my family would have seen it. Were they proud of me? I hope so. Because I'm pretty proud of myself. I never would have expected that seven. The precious seven.

And there you are guys! So sorry if that was a bit rushed. Don't forget to review!