I stormed my way back into our level of the Training Center, angrily wiping sparkles off my face. Marvel trailed in behind me, looking fairly unconcerned. "Hey, Glimmer, it's okay," he started.

"DON'T tell me this is okay!" I shrieked. He leapt back, and I realized I must look fairly deranged. But at the moment, I didn't even care. "I need those sponsors, Marvel! And now they're going to go to District 12, the shithole of all the Districts!"

"I'm not so sure about that." Cashmere breezed into the room. "About a hundred people came up to me after the Ceremonies, asking about you, and a lot more looked like they wanted to. I'd say at least half of the potential sponsors are rooting for you."

"Oh," I said, slightly mollified.

Cashmere cocked an eyebrow. "Now, don't get me wrong, that's not an excuse to be second-best. You need to outshine the District 12 kids in every way possible until the Games start, and that starts with performing well in training."

"She's right," Gloss added, sitting down at the dinner table. I sat down as well and helped myself to some cream and rose-petal soup; I hadn't eaten all day to prepare for the Ceremonies, and it smelled amazing. "Show off your best skills tomorrow. Marvel, for you that would be spears and swords, and Glimmer, knives and quickness. The Gamemakers are always watching, even during the three training days. Start off strong. Oh, and make alliances quickly. The Careers need to bond over the training days."

We nodded, then drifted off to our separate rooms. I took an extra-long shower, scrubbing hard to remove all the glitter from my body, the remnant of what I considered a disastrous night. After putting on beautiful silk pajamas, compliments of the Capitol, I got into bed, twirling my ring with the poisoned spike. It was my focal point, the thing that both reminded me of home and the fact that I had to focus all my efforts on the task at hand.

The next morning I got up, feeling well-rested and sure of myself, ready to put last night's little episode behind me. I slipped into my training suit (black spandex with red and gray piping, perfect for showing off my body) and headed down to the Training Center, ready to get started.

The other tributes trickled in as I warmed up, and as soon as they had all arrived I let my skills loose. I picked up several knives, then spun around quickly, hurling them at the target. They hit the bulls-eye, of course. Next, I ran straight for a dummy and leapt clear over it, slashing it's head off in the process and landing cleanly on my feet. I then motioned for one of the fighting instructors to come over: I needed to show my quickness and dodging abilities. Putting my weapons down, I faced her empty-handed. "Give me all you've got."

She pulled out a sword and took a few hesitant swings at me, which I dodged easily. Then it got more intense. She thrust the sword at me and I had to backflip into the air to avoid it. I could tell she was impressed, and I smirked. This seemed to irritate her a little, so she pulled a knife out of her pocket and threw it at me. I went into a full-on split to evade it, then jumped up and ran after the knife. I dove for it, somersaulted cleanly back onto my feet, and ran at her. Panicking a little, she backed up, and I used the top of her head as a springboard to cartwheel over her. I gently pressed the tip of the knife into her back, careful to not even rip the fabric of her clothing. "Gotcha."

The instructor seemed stunned. Smirking, I handed her knife back to her, then turned to gauge everyone else's reactions. The Gamemakers were nodding, impressed. The other tributes watched me with wide eyes, then turned back to their station, eager to make as good of an impression as me.

A ding sounded from the elevators, and everyone paused as the District 12 tributes stepped into the room. "Late," I muttered to myself.

"No surprise there, though, right?" a deep, arrogant voice sounded from behind me. I turned to see Cato smiling haughtily at me, his eyes canvassing my body.

"True," I shrugged, then went back to work.

I passed through all the stations that I found necessary: the offensive ones, how to survive best in any terrain, etc. However, I steered clear of the supplies and food stations. I was a Career, and we always got all the food from the Cornucopia.

The whole time I was working, I kept Gloss's words in mind about needing to make alliances. Putting my reading skills to the test, I watched all the other tributes to see who would be of most use to me. Other than the District 2 and 4 tributes, only a few stood out in my mind.

First, there was Thresh, the District 11 tribute. Strong and powerful, he looked like he could rip through metal with his bare hands. There was also his district parter, the little one, whatever her name was. I didn't want her as an ally, by any means, but she looked quick and smart, and hard to catch. We would need to take her down early. There was also the District 3 boy. He wasn't very physically imposing, but he aced every logical question thrown at him. He was smart, and smarts might come in handy in the arena.

The last one that caught my eye was the District 12 girl, Blueberry or whatever plant she was named after (they had such strange names in that district). She and her district partner stuck together the entire time, working on the most boring stations. However, she looked restless the whole time, and her eyes kept flickering towards the rack of bows and arrows. She's hiding her talent, I thought to myself.

At lunch, Marvel and I met up again. He had been quite impressive with the spears, but nothing compared to me or Cato, who was wicked with swords and just brute strength. "Time to make alliances?" I asked him. He nodded, and we headed for the District Two tributes.

"Hi," Marvel said brightly to the tributes. I wanted to roll my eyes at his cheeriness. "I'm Marvel, District One."

"Cato," Cato said, shaking his hand. The girl followed suit, introducing herself as Clove.

"And I'm Glimmer," I offered, crossing my arms (I didn't like shaking hands; it had always seemed formal and awkward).

"I know," Cato replied, winking at me. I raised a questioning eyebrow at him, then turned to Clove. She nodded hello at me, grimacing slightly.

I motioned for the District Four's to come over, and they joined our little group. The boy's name was Marlin and the girl's Nettie.

"So let's cut to the chase," I said bluntly. "We're the Careers, the strongest six of the bunch. Are you guys up for an alliance?"

They all glanced at each other, then nodded. "Great!" I chirped, smiling my prettiest smile. "Then let's go get some lunch."

It continued that way for three days: training and showing off, eating with the Career pack, training, going over the day with my mentors, sleep.

We talked over who else to form alliances with, and in the end, the only one we all agreed on was Thresh. I kept my mouth shut about the District 12 girl and her hidden talent, wanting to see how it would play out. We asked Thresh to join our group at the end of the second day, but he not-so-politely declined. I was a little offended at first, but brushed it off. Thresh being by himself would just make it easier for us to kill him.

At lunch every day, Cato made a point to sit next to me. He also somehow always ended up at a station near me, flexing his rippling muscles whenever he thought I was watching. I thought this was a little weird — I was fine with flirting in front of the cameras, but there was no audience to watch us during our training sessions, so I didn't understand what he was doing. Marvel and Clove noticed Cato's behavior as well — more than a few jealous glances were thrown at us throughout the training days. To me, it was all ridiculous. Yes, better men then Cato had succumbed to my beauty and charm, but surely everyone realized that no emotional attachment should or could be formed between tributes.

At last the time came for the evaluations. I wasn't nervous, though, just ready. This was my chance to prove to the sponsors that looks weren't the only thing I had going for me, that I was actually a fighter. Plus, I really wanted to show Blueberry or whatever her name was that she would need more than her stylist to get her through these games.

Against me, she would need a miracle to make it through just a few days.