It dawned on me when I woke up that this is the final day of training, and that tomorrow I will have my private training session with the Gamemakers. The reminder that I have nothing to show makes me shiver. I guess I could throw a knife? My only real skill is evasion, but there is no way I can show the Gamemakers that with only me in the training centre. I decide to think about this tomorrow and go straight to the regular training session, hoping in the far corner of my mind that I could gain something today that will help me get a high score.
I trail into the training centre, feeling embarrassed by actions yesterday. Panther girl raises her eyebrows at me, widening her feline eyes and turning up the corner of her mouth into a cynically sweet smile, making my stomach churn. Caspar calls me over, but after what happened, or didn't happen yesterday, I simply ignore him and make my way to an unoccupied station, which happened to be fishing. The hooks themselves were extremely problematic to create, but that had no comparison to the actual reeling of the fish. I made a hook out of a thorn by carving the end with my sharp nails. The leader of the workshop was quiet, but once I made my hook he nodded happily at me. When it came to the fishing, I was not as skilled. By the time a fish had bitten the hook, my mind had already wandered. After two or three times I concentrated out of sheer frustration. I managed to catch an insignificant fish about the size of my finger. I sigh, thank the helper and wander off.
I decide to try using a spear next. I'm unsure whether to throw the spear, or keep it in my hand for practise of arm to arm combat. The second option sounds more feasible as I am already quite handy with the throwing knives. The helper at the station advises me to try and stab the spear as far within the dummy as possible. I raise my eyebrows at her, wondering why she is trying this tactic with someone as feeble as I am. I turn around and walk back anyway, ready to charge at the densely padded dummy. I position my toes and start to sprint, my feet padding across the soft floor; I raise my arm then force the spear forwards, as I feel strength ripple through my arm. As the spear enters the manikin I hear a crunch, my elbow throbbing. I shake out my arm, feeling my face going red. As I inspect the spear I see only half of it has gone through the dummy, but still it's better than I expected.
"Ouch 12!" Shouts a Career from a few metres away.
"I do have a name you know!" I snap.
"Alright, I'm Griffin and you are?" He laughs.
"Pippa."
"Nice name." He replies.
He's mocking me, I know it. I turn away from him and bite the inside of my lip, unsure why everyone is making an enemy of me. I haven't accidently killed anyone yet, I'm obviously number one on most of their target lists though. I won't last five seconds.
I look around the tedious training centre, seeing if there are any more workshops I feel I can face. None come to mind so I decide to go back to the throwing knifes. I'll only stay briefly, I tell myself. The rest of the crowd of tributes seem busy, paying no attention to me, so this was the perfect time to practice.
I briskly walk over to the blades, selecting a knife slightly bigger than last time. It is heavier, so if used, it would do more damage. I position my feet one in front of the other and pull my arm back. With a flick the knife flies, my heart skipping a beat, anxious about the outcome. I hear a slicing sound, the knife landing perfectly in the manikin's forehead. Exactly where I aimed. I look around to check nobody is watching me, nope, I can move on. I pick up a large sword, curved at the edges. It is much heavier than the last one so my arms cannot find a comfortable position for the sword to lie. I lunge forward, sending it flying, but at a peculiar angle. The sword starts to curl, as if the air is pushing it away from the dummy, it misses and hits the back wall. I decide that I'll stick with the smaller knives.
We are then instructed to go to dinner; I start to regret missing those crucial hours of learning survival skills, although I just hope I've done enough. I sit with the same people at dinner: Caspar, Austin, Eilish and Gracia, although we are joined by a new boy, from District 7 I think.
"Hi, I'm Storm." He says.
He is very odd, but somehow good looking, with silver hair and bright blue eyes. He has a gentle smile, with deep dimples on each side of his cheeks.
"Pippa," I reply and I can't help but grin, he is so endearing.
We sit and eat dinner, together instead of with our mentors, chatting as if we are all good friends. I gorge myself on the delightful food, filling myself up until I can't eat anymore.
After dinner I say goodnight to everyone and make my way up to my room with Caspar. We stand in the elevator; this is when I bring up the topic that has filled my mind for the last day or so.
"So what's going on with Azure?"
Caspar tenses, his eyes directing to the floor.
"Not much, why?" He replies, anxiously.
"Oh. Well it's just that I heard you two whispering outside our rooms the other night, anyone would think that there is something going on." I say, looking him directly in the eye.
The corner of his mouth turns up and Caspar laughs.
"What are you jealous or something?" He replies, coldly.
"You really haven't changed a bit have you?"
"Listen Pippa, why would I make something happen between me and Azure? I mean come on, we might be forced to kill each other, it's just tactics, you know." He replies, but then his eyes flicker as he realises how evil that sounded. "Wait. I didn't mean it like that."
"That's exactly what you meant Caspar."
The elevator doors open and I sprint into my room, Caspar shouting behind me. I then slam the door. I decide to make nothing of it, he hasn't changed and so I need to stop thinking that he will.
I climb into bed and lay facing the ceiling. My eyes don't feel heavy, so I find it hard to close them while I am thinking so much. I block out the bad thoughts and decide to think about home. My parents, my sisters and I, all happy before any of this happened. A small smile forms as I think of the times of telling them stories, the happiness on their faces when I managed to get us a loaf of bread. Between all these happy memories, my eyes slip shut and I fall asleep.
