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Chapter 6: Training
Cato's POV
I took a shower, being more careful with the buttons this time, got myself dressed in the suit they provided for training and went to the living room where Brutus, Enobaria and Clove were waiting for me.
'Finally!' Brutus said, clearly annoyed. 'Now, today's your first day in the training centre. I expect you to form an alliance with the District one tributes. District 4's tributes aren't so strong this year so I advise you to not recruit them for allies.' Enobaria advised, or more like ordered us. I see Clove's expression sink at this, I wonder why.
They escorted us down to the training centre. The District 1 tributes were already there. The girl was definitely pretty enough to gain us sponsors; I'll have to wait for the training to start before judging the boy.
I let my gaze shift to Clove who remained silent since this morning. She was eying the knives that were arranged neatly on the shelves. Knives of all sorts some had smooth ends, some had jagged ends, and they were polished until they shone in the light.
'What do you think about 1's tributes?' I asked her, snapping her out of her little knife daydream. 'Do we have to?' She asked me. 'Well, unless you'd like a nice scar from Enobaria's teeth I guess we should.' I answer back jokingly. She stiffed a laugh. Will Clove ever laugh outside the woods? I think not.
'Well, you've already got the girl's eyes on you.' Clove said coldly. I looked at the blonde; her green eyes quickly shifted their gaze away from me. 'Someone's jealous.' I teased Clove. 'Well, I doubt she'll be able to throw a knife.' She snapped at me.
The training begun after Atala the head trainer finished her lecture and blew her whistle. I headed straight for the sword training section. The swords they had were sharper than those at home, and have better quality, but they'll do. I removed one from the shelf and started practicing with the dummies. After I strike all the dummies, I looked up at the game makers. Most of them that were eying me nodded. I smiled proudly.
I started observing the District one tributes. The boy was quite good with a spear; The girl wasn't very talented with any weapon. The arrow she shot missed the dummy by what? Three inches? Next I looked over at Clove, who happened to be eying the girl as well, smirking at her miss. At least she's happier than this morning.
At lunch I went straight to the table where our soon to be allies were eating, Clove following me. 'Hello handsome.' The District 1 girl said, clearly flirting. Tell the truth she's literally disgusting. 'It's Cato.' I said coldly. 'Someone forgot about my presence.' Clove hissed at me. 'And this pretty girl here is Clove.' I added smiling at her. The girl tribute's feelings sank almost instantly, while Clove brightened up a bit.
'I'm Marvel and that's Glimmer.' The boy tribute said. Ugh, the names people give their children in District 1. 'Here to call for an alliance?' Marvel asked. I nodded. 'Well sit down then!' Glimmer said enthusiastically. We sat down and ate lunch. Clove was careful to sit in between me and Glimmer, I couldn't be happier with our sitting arrangements.
This went on for the next two days, Glimmer flirting with me, Clove keeping an eye on her. I was relieved when Glimmer was finally called by the gamemakers for her private session. Leaving me and Clove for the first time in three days, out of her presence. Thank God. Glimmer was really getting on my nerves. Getting on Clove's nerves was an understatement.
'I can't stand her.' Clove said under her breath once Glimmer had gone into the room. 'You're not the only one.' I told her. 'Well that's a surprise.' Clove said, genuinely surprised. 'You really don't think that I enjoy being in her presence do you?' I told her. This brought a smile to her face.
We sat in silence until Glimmer came out and a gamemaker called me into the room. When I went in, the very first thing that I noticed were the swords, as brightly polished as ever. I looked up to find the gamemakers's eyes all on me. I walked to the shelf and choose a sword. Then I showed the gamemakers all that I've got until they said I could leave.
'How did it go?' Clove asked the moment I got out of the room. 'Great, you throw straight.' I told her. 'You know I will.' She said with a smirk.
That night we ate a quick dinner and hurried to watch our scores. I sat on the sofa, Clove's head resting on my chest, my arm wrapped around her waist. Brutus didn't look very pleased with our sitting positions but I couldn't care less.
After they flashed Marvel and Glimmer's scores on the screen, I felt my heart thumping faster than ever inside me as Caesar Flickerman read 'Cato Ludwig from District 2, with a score of 10.' Relief washed over after that. Clove also got a score of ten, our stylists squealed in delight, our mentors were beaming. They left the television on as they toasted. The joyful atmosphere didn't last long. Before we know it District 12's girl tribute- Katniss Everdeen's score was flashing on the screen.
An eleven.
Let's just say the night didn't go quite well after that…
A/N: I hope to finish this before February, because February will be chaotic. Four more to go :D I think
feel free to tell me :D