Chapter 6
I wake up in a panic. Where am I? I sigh and remember that I am at the capitol getting ready for the hunger games. I stand up and get in the shower and stare at the wall of buttons, hoping that I don't press a wrong button and do something horrible to myself. Luckily I press a good button that sprays me with soap that smells like cinnamon and vanilla. When I get out of the shower, I run my fingers over my short hair in obvious frustration as I think about what I will have to do in the next few days. Walking back into my room I see the training outfit that every tribute wears. I slip on the skin tight spandex pants and long sleeve shirt with a number to on the top of each sleeve. As I walk out of my room I notice that there is more food on this table then there is in my home all year. Disgust fills my soul at the thoughts that all of these capitol people having too much food and all of the districts having little to none. I grab a piece of toast and some coffee and wait for Cato to join me. After another 5mins he walks out of his room wearing the same outfit as me, although his is bigger and more revealing of his muscles.. "If I didn't know any better I would say we were twins." I smirk at him as he chuckles. "Come on we need to go before we are late." He replies.
We walk to the elevator and press the down button so we can head to training. The elevator dings and when it opens I see a girl in it. She looks to be my age with collarbone length dark brown hair and blue eyes. Like most other people she is taller than me by at least 2 or 3 inches. We silently enter the elevator and Cato reaches over and presses the button for the main floor. Once he presses it he leans back against the wall. I look over at the girl in front of me and decided to break the ice. "My name is Chromia by the way, what's yours?" She looks at me as if I am delusional. "I thought you careers cared more about district numbers than names" she says bitingly. "Yea well Mia is different than most careers." I look over at Cato and stick my tongue out at him playfully. "My name is Oleander Evanthe but you can call me Ander" She sounds slightly amused. "Nice to meet you Ander" I point over to Cato with my thumb."This guy over here is Cato. We are from District 2." She looks over at Cato and I notice that he is glaring at her again. I softly chuckle win she wins another one of the glaring contests they have. I watch as she rolls her eyes at Cato and turns back to me. "Nice to meet you Chromia" and she walks out of the elevator over to the ring of tributes. I think I might like her.
As Cato and I walk to the ring of tributes I start to take notice of the other tributes and size them up. I look over at Ander and her fellow district member. He's tall and built, with short blonde hair and warm caring blue eyes. He looks up and our eyes connect. I watch as he looks me up and down as if he is sizing me up or checking me out, and for some reason I wouldn't mind which scares me because normally I hate it when guys do that. When is eyes come back to mine I see something in his eyes but before I can try to place it the instructor steps up. "In 2 weeks 23 of you will be dead and only one of you alive how you spend your time training could be the difference between life and death, so I suggest you use it well." Somebody is in a terrible mood. I look around at where everyone is going but before I can decide myself Glimmer and Marvel walk up to me. "Hey we are going over to the swords, want to join?" I look at her and I make sure she can see my face. "Look Glimmer let's get something straight here, we aren't friends and I don't want to train with you. Her face gets red "Well…maybe I-""Leave me alone Glimmer, or you will regret it." I walk away from her to the sword station. While on my way I hear Ander and her fellow tribute arguing about which station to go to. I notice that shortly after I make it to the sword station Ander is also coming over here and is bringing her friend. I am very surprised that they are coming over here, most people tend to shy away from any station where careers go. This girl has got some guts.
"Hey Chromia" I turn away from the swords and smile "Hi Ander" "Chromia this is my District partner Peeta." I look up at into Peeta's eyes and suddenly I am captivated by the warm in them. While shaking my head slightly to get those thoughts out of my head and stick my hand out for him to shake. I don't even realize I'm smiling until it grows a little wider when his hand shakes mine; its as if a spark shot through me when we touched and I can't help but to wonder what its for. We are introducing ourselves when Peeta asks a question and before Ander can answer Marvel says "What are these rats doing over here? This is where we train." And he gestures to himself, Glimmer, Cato, and me. "Oh I guess I missed the arrogance Jerks only sign." I notice that she is snarling and I reach over to pick up a sword just in case. "We came over here to learn how to use a sword, now you can either get out of my way, or I can use you as the new practice dummy." I am trying so hard not to laugh at the look one Glimmers face. I hear Marvel mutter something about killing Ander first and my hand tightens around my sword. I look at Ander "You probably shouldn't have done that." "Well," she says "next time he should treat us with a little more respect, I'm not going to let him walk all over me, I don't give a crap what district he is from." My eyes widen slightly and my smile widens, its nice to know that someone else is willing to stand up to the careers. "I like you." I say matter of factly. She laughs"Thanks, I like you too." I silently watch as she looks at the swords, from the way she looks at them it seems as if she is unfamiliar about which to choose. I turn away and gently hold my own sword and close my eyes. The warm weight of the handle settles in my hands and relaxes me. I am broken out of my trance by the sound of a hacking sword. I turn back towards Anders and she that she is effectively chopping off the limbs of the dummy. I am surprised at how good she is when she slices the head of the dummy in one smooth motion. "Wow, you're not half bad Ander. Have you ever used one before this?" "No." I am surprised at how well she handled the sword on her first try. "Oh ok, well if you would adjusts your stance like this," I move into the correct sword stance. "then use more power from your shoulder instead of your elbow you will be even better." "Chromi-" She begins "Just call me Mia." I say while grinning. "ok Mia," I can tell she is hesitant. "why did you just help me, we are going to have to fight to the death and my being able to effectively use a sword could cost you your life." I look at her and I know that she is telling me the truth but that she is glad I told her how to properly stand. "well I don't really care, I like you. you actually stand up for yourself and don't let people push you around because you are from District 12." I say shyly. I would like to be her and Peeta's friend but I don't want to mess it up. "You're pretty strong yourself." She complements me back. "it takes a lot of guts to give your enemy advice, even though I don't really want to think of you as my enemy. In a different world , I think you and me would be friends. In fact, we are. I'm not going to keep the games from letting me do what I want to do and be friends with someone that I like." I feel so grateful and happy that she said that. I'm sure I'm grinning like an idiot but for me it's a big deal the only person who wanted to be my friend back home was Cato. "Friends?" "Friends" and I watch as she smiles while we shake on it. I am happy that we are friends, I always had a hard time making friends in district 2.
We both decide to stay in the sword area for now and I watch as Peeta picks up a sword but I can tell that he is struggling with how to use is effectively. "Hey, do you mind if I help?" I reach my hand out to him. He stares at it and for a second I can see that he wants to reject my offer but he nods slowly and hands me the sword. "Umm, well first off you might have picked a sword that's too heavy. You need to think of the sword as an extension of your arms and how well would your arms work if your hands were too heavy." I smiles sheepishly at me "That makes sense." I smile and pick up the next heaviest sword. "Here, try this one and stand with one foot slightly in front of the other." He nods and quickly moves himself into the stance. I watch as he quickly slices and jabs at the dummy in front of him. "Its not all about strength, Peeta. If you waste all of your strength and energy on attacking how do you plan on defending yourself?" He looks up at me and says "If they don't have a chance to attack then I don't need it." He then grins at me and chops away. I laugh and turn away so I can start to practice on something. I look at the swords and decided not to work with them, I have practiced my how life with swords and knives and now I want to learn something new. I take a quick look around and walk over to the camouflage section. There are some leaves and a net along with some paints. I look around the training center and see some fake trees. I look back at the net and leaves and decide to create a blanket made of leaves so I can hide within the trees. I quickly start to work on weaving the leaves into the net. After 10mins I have almost half of it done. "Wow that looks pretty authentic." I jump in the air and grab my chest. "Peeta! You scared me!" and I lightly smack his shoulder while he laughs at my reaction. I sit back down in my seat while leaving some room for him to sit down beside me. As he sits down he picks up some leaves and starts to weave them with me. "So, why exactly are you doing this?" I look up into his eyes and I can tell he is honestly curious. "Well once I finish weaving the leaves into this net I can use it as a blanket of sorts and ill still have room to move if need be." He stares at the net and looks lost in thought so I don't bother him. After a few seconds he looks back at me and says. "I could work but the only problem is the color of the rope, its light enough to stand out in the fake trees in here." "I know, I plan on paining the rope a dark green color so it will blend." He grins "You only said that so I wouldn't be right." I laugh "No I really thought of that!" He pokes my side which causes me to giggle. "Did you just- I just made you giggle? Didn't I?" I fake glare at him "No you didn't I just..coughed." "Oh so if I were to poke you again you wouldn't giggle?" "Nope" I say with a faulty grin. "Well in that case.." The next thing I know he is poking my sides and I'm giggling like a school girl. Suddenly the poking turns into tickling. "Mercy! I call Mercy!" He laughs and let's go of my sides. My face is flush from the lack of oxygen and I am trying to catch my breath. He lifts up my face. "Hey are you okay?" I don't get the chance to answer because my breath is caught in my throat and I'm lost in his eyes. I take in a deep breath and answer with a soft, "yes." All the while my eyes never leave his.
"Listen here!" My head turns away from Peeta's captivating eyes and I look towards the knot station. I watch as Ander and Cato argue about god knows what. Peeta mumbles. "This isn't going to be good." We watch as Ander and Cato get toe to toe with each other. "You need to get your head out of your butt and actually consider what you are saying. I have more experience hunting than you could even wish to have. You have absolutely no room to scrutinize my snare when yours looks like a 5 year old made it." I look at Ander with worry and watch as Ander takes a step closer to Cato. "And I'm sick and freaking tired of your little glares that you constantly give me! I haven't done anything to you!" I know from the face that Cato makes that he is about to blow. "Your snare is completely wrong from what the instructor told us to do and also the glares are because your pure existence irritates me." He spits. We watch as Ander stalks away from him to go the knife station.
"Do you want to talk to Ander?" I ask Peeta. He looks at me and nods. "I'll talk to Cato and maybe we can resolve this by lunch." "I hope so; I was looking forward to poking you." I blush and smile at him. "Wouldn't you like that?" I sarcastically reply. I watch as he gives me a big grin and nods. I get up and walk over to the knot station to talk to Cato. I can tell as I walk up that he is still angry and frustrated from the shouting match. I sit down next to Cato. "Why are you so angry with Ander?" Cato looks up at me from his seat. "I don't know, she is just so frustrating! When I first looked at her, during the parade, I wasn't glaring I was just looking and trying to understand their costume. When she looked up at me I think she mistook my look for judgment against her. Ever since then I have been trying to figure her out." I can tell by the look on his face that he regrets what he said to her. "Maybe you went about this the wrong way." "Yea I think I did." "I'm going to talk to her and explain why you acted the way you did. Why don't you think of a good apology." "Thanks Mia." I pat him on the back as I walk to the knife area.
"Hey, can I talk to you Anders?" "Sure" I notice that she doesn't plan on moving from where she watches as the instructor throws knifes at the targets. "I know that Cato said a lot of stuff and has been looking at you but I would like to explain Cato and his mindset. Cato has a bad habit of looking angry. When he was first looking at you he wasn't trying to glare at you but he was just confused by your costume. You confuse him more than anyone he has ever met. I think that you might have mistaken how he was watching you as a glare but it was just Cato's thinking face." She looks confused and asks. "Then why did he say that he was glaring at me because my existence angered him?" "Cato is kind of a rage head, especially when he is confused. When Cato gets angry he says the first thing that comes to his mind even if he doesn't mean it." "Anders? Is it ok if I talk to you in private? Cato asks quietly."Sure" They both walk over to the camouflage area because it is the least crowded. I turn around and hope for the best out of my stubborn headed friends.
I watch the knife instructor and silently fume. She is horrible! Her technique is worse than mine when I was 5. "Now would anyone like to come up here to see if they can try?" I grin to myself at the chance, but before I can walk up Peeta grabs my arm and keeps me from going. "Peeta, what are you doing?" "Keeping your talent hidden. Do you really want everyone to know how strong you are, you would become the number one target for every tribute." "Shouldn't you want that?" I can see the inner turmoil on Peeta's face. "I know, but I don't want you to get hurt. Haymitch told use to hide our strengths until we are ranked." "Good idea, thanks." He grins and says. "You're welcome"
The lunch bell goes off and Peeta and I drop our knives and head towards the tables. While walking up I notice that the careers have taken a whole table for themselves while all the other tributes are scattered within the 2nd table and the last table is empty so I pull Peeta by his sleeve to the empty table. I see Ander and Cato walking towards us and they both look happy. Ander has a rare smile on her face and Cato looks dare I say calm. "Well it looks like they made up, doesn't it." "I know!" "I'm glad we can all get along so well. Maybe we can team up for the games?" I run my fingers through my hair. "I'm up for it but we have to check with those too." I say while jabbing my thumb in Cato and Ander's direction. "Check with us about what?" They both slide into the seats across from us and grab some food. "Well, I was wondering if you guys would want to team up for the games." I say curiously. Suddenly Ander's face pales and her eyes mist over, but before I can ask what's wrong she face and eyes harden. "No." She picks her tray up and walks over to the next table. I stare at her as she walks away. "She won't team up with anyone," Peeta explains "her brother and sister rely on her for everything. She is all they have." Cato nods and says "I understand, I'm practically in the same boat." Peeta looks at me but I look away. "I'm not going to team up either then."He says quietly. I can't understand, we were supposed to be friends!" "Is that all this is to you Chromia? A fun place to make friends?" Cato yells angrily. I don't answer because I realize that it has become that for me. I never planned on surviving the games so why not, but I realize now that everyone else wants to win. "I'll take your silence as a yes. I won't partner up with you anymore Chromia, it's obvious that you don't care about the games and if you survive them." I feel the tears well up from his harsh words. Of course I care if I survive but I have to be realistic, I won't kill Cato and even I could I have no one once the games are over. "OK Cato," I glance at him. "Peeta good luck you guys." I don't even bother picking up my lunch. I walk over the knife station and grab the 2 knives that feel the closest to mine at home. Once I find them I walk into the simulator room and shut the door to signal the start. I don't leave the simulator until the final bell rings to let us know that training is over for the day.
I slowly make my way to the elevators and by the time I get there I am alone in the training center. "Always alone." I softly mumble to myself. I get on the next elevator and walk to my suite. Once inside I walk straight to my room without looking at anyone. When the door closes I finally let the walls fall down and its all I can do to hold in the sobs that are threatening to escape my mouth. I remember the harsh words and the false hope that came with today's training. I shake my head and force myself to control my emotions, just like I have done every day before I was reaped into the games. I pick myself up off of the floor and head into the bathroom for a quick shower. I avoid the mirror because I don't think I can take looking at the pathetic person I have become. What happened to the girl who didn't care what people thought? For one who used to be so strong you sure have fallen into weakness pretty fast. NO! I won't be weak, not any more. I will fight as hard as I can in the games to make sure Peeta, Ander, or Cato come out on top. Even if it means killing myself.