Chapter Four: House of Training

Jerome's POV:

The Capitol wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. At least Vivian and I were treated somewhat decently in the Training Center, even though I felt like an animal ready for slaughter.

"Jerome, you're an idiot," she snapped, her dark blue eyes narrowing. "I still don't understand why you decided to come along with me to the Games in the first place."

"It's because I love you, Viv," I answered honestly. "I volunteered as Tribute to protect you. I know I'll die trying, but your life is more precious than mine."

"But we both can't win this thing! You know it!" She was very upset; she had been ever since we left Nine. Vivian and I had been in a love/hate relationship since we were small, and when she was picked at the Reaping, I gladly volunteered to go with her as Tribute. My logic was infallible, but she found problems with my reasoning: The fact that I would rather risk my life for another human being was somewhat uncalled for, as my personality stated otherwise.

She was right, though. I'd never wanted to protect anyone other than myself. Not even my little sister, who I didn't have the best relationship with. Viv was different, though; she had a controlling manner about her, like I did. She also didn't take crap from anyone, which was another quality I adored about her.

Maybe volunteering as tribute wasn't the best idea after all. But I could never let her go it alone. I would never be able to forgive myself.

"What's on your mind?" she asked suddenly. "Not that it can process much anyway."

Snarky. I liked that, too. "Just thinking about how twenty-four of us go in and only one comes out," I answered nonchalantly.

Her expression fell. "Stop it," she spat.

Just then, our District Escort showed up.

"Time for your first day of training," she said. She was way too happy about the entire ordeal. I think it was because she was raised in the Capitol, therefore… well, you got the idea.

One of the Gamemakers explained the rules of training: No harming other tributes, as we'd have plenty of time to do that once in the arena, we were to go to different stations and test out our strengths, etc. I started off with archery, while Viv trailed off and went to go throw knives with the annoying redhead from Six. It looked as if her District partner were there with her, but he was mainly observing instead of actually participating. I scoffed.

Out of nowhere, the girl from Three came strolling over, casually plucking a bow that seemed to be bigger than her. Her hair was curled slightly, and she was over a head shorter than me; the top of her head went to about my upper arm.

"I'm Mara," she said curtly, turning to face the target and releasing an arrow that amusingly flew past the target and bounced off the far wall. "And, you are…?"

"Jerome," I answered, narrowing my eyes. You'll be dead first, I thought. You won't last a second once the Bloodbath starts.

She kept staring at me. Ignoring her, I shot a few arrows at the different targets, hitting the bullseye each time. From the glance I stole at the Gamemakers, they looked impressed.

So did Mara.

"Is there anything you want?" I prodded. "Or are you just going to continue staring at me?"

"Oh." She cleared her throat and rubbed the back of her neck, looking down at her feet. "Er, nothing."

After she finished mumbling to herself, she placed the bow back with the other archery equipment and went over to the knot-tying station. Cocking my head to the side and narrowing my eyes, I spotted Vivian talking with the tributes from Six.

I almost threw down my equipment in exasperation as I stormed over to my district partner and grabbed her by the wrist, pulling her away from the redheaded girl and smart-looking brunette boy.

"What are you doing?" I spat at her as I led her away from those idiots.

"Scoping out the enemy," she shot back, roughly taking her wrist back and crossing her arms over her chest. "Plus, they're a lot nicer to me than you've been recently."

I was outraged. "They want to kill you, Viv!"

Her facial expression went from looking neutral to being a vicious scowl. "Don't tell me what to do, Jerome," she snarled, jabbing a finger at my chest. "You're not the boss of me."

And with that, she sauntered off to join the tributes from Six without giving me a second glance back.

The rest of the day went by horribly. I ate lunch alone because Viv decided to team up with the tributes from Five and Six. She and the girl from Five, Joy, seemed to be getting along fairly well. Fabian was the name of the boy from Six, and he kept staring at Joy with this light in his eyes… almost similar to how I stared at Vivian.

But no, I was mad at her. And we couldn't both win the Games. It was unheard of.

One thing was for certain, though: Mara, the girl from Three, and Nina, the girl from Twelve, wouldn't last too long as soon as I got into the arena. They both seemed annoying as all else, and Mara was too soft-spoken to actually seem as if she could kill someone even if she had to. But, she was from Three… and Three was where they produced electronics for the people of the Capitol. Maybe something she was taught as a child, something technology-related, would end up helping her survive at least for a little while in the Games.

Nina, on the other hand, looked as if she had no hope at all in lasting, and if I could bet, I'd bet she wouldn't make it through the Bloodbath.

As the training session for the day came to a close, I found myself walking back to the elevators alone to go up to the ninth floor. Vivian finally caught up with me just as the door was about to close, and the look on her face almost made me want to snap someone's neck. She looked so happy, but I knew it was because she had a great time with the other tributes, instead of it being me who was the one making her feel that way.

There was no point in me telling her that we'd have to kill one of them at some point, or that not everyone can win in these Games. Twenty-four of us go in; one comes out. That's how it's been ever since the Dark Days ended.

And it looks as if that's how it's gonna be for a long time.