Since the last couple weeks of the school year for me are going to be extremely busy, it might take me a while to update. Normally, I would update at least once a week, but that simply can't happen until summer break arrives. Therefore, this may or may not be the last chapter you get for two or so weeks. Sorry for the inconvenience!
"Remind me why you guys are making me do this again?" I question, as Anna ties a red fabric belt around my waist. Several tributes have gathered around us, looking very impatient and excited for something that's about to happen.
"I told your allies how you nearly killed me on the train ride here," Erlend responds. I forgot why I let him tag along with my allies and I for the last hour of training.
"And why exactly did you do that?" I ask.
"Because the amount of physical strength that you harness can really save your ass in the Games," he tells me, as if it's the simplest thing in the world. "Once they see how strong you are, they'll consider you a better ally."
"I already thought she was the best ally," Emma assures me with a grin. I ignore her.
"Who do you want me fighting, anyways?" I inquire. Erlend grabs my hand and pulls me over to a sickeningly familiar group of tributes. The leader of the Careers, Vinny Swift, turns to look at me, and a charming grin spreads across his tanned face, one that would have most girls on their knees in an instant. But not me. I remain standing straight, my arms folded neatly across my chest and my gray gaze cold and filled with disgust.
"Oh, hello," Vinny greets politely, bowing his head respectfully. I pay him no mind, and glance at Erlend, asking him once again who he wants me to fight.
"One of the Careers," Erlend whispers, as if that's some big secret. I've fought the Careers before. Well, at least one of them, and that was the girl from 2, Dani. I've fought her several times, and to be honest, she has great physical strength as well as I do. I don't see why Erlend would want me to take her on martial arts-style in front of the training center. At least, I think that's what he wants me to do. I'm wearing a straight up karate suit, anyways.
"Why?" I whisper back.
"Because you can," Erlend responds simply. Of course he would say something like that. "Just choose someone to fight. Prove to them that you're better than them, which is why you aren't joining their alliance."
I suppose he has a good point. Sort of. I scan the Careers, trying to decide which one I should "challenge". I've fought with Dani too much already, and even when I glance at her for a single second, she glares at me with such hatred that I feel just a tiny bit threatened. Liza and Kekai are the two tributes that I definitely won't fight; they're the Careers that I actually like, for several reasons I'm not even sure about. And then there's Kiersten, who is too nice to attack in my opinion. That narrows it down to Vinny and Oli.
"Vinny or Oli?" I ask Erlend.
"I would say Oli," he replies. "You haven't interacted with him much yet."
I shrug. "Okay." I point to the male from two, motioning for him to come forwards. He walks up to me with a bored expression on his face. "Uh, yeah?"
"You wanna… uh, fight?" I ask stupidly. Oli glances at me with a little confusion in his eyes.
"…Why?"
"To see if I really should join the Careers or not."
Vinny hears this, and he runs over, who smiles at me before clapping Oli on the shoulder. "So does that mean if you win, you join us, Julia?"
"No," I say, "If I win, it means that one of the supposedly best Careers actually sucks and you guys aren't worthy enough to be my allies."
"Ooh, feisty," I hear Erlend say. I look at him and roll my eyes.
"Oh." Vinny pats Oli on the back. "Well, in that case, you kick her ass, bud!" He walks back to the rest of the Careers, his gaze never leaving us. I turn to Oli.
"So," Oli begins, while grabbing a nearby sword. "What weapon are you going to use?"
"Have you even seen my retarded outfit, Oliver?" I gesture to the karate-style suit Erlend made me put on over my training outfit. "This is a martial arts fight… battle… thing," I say. "Fists and feet only."
"Very well." Oli throws the sword down and doesn't even hesitate before lunging at me. His hands lock onto my shoulders and he kicks me in the shin, although I barely feel a thing. I pry my shoulders away from him before crouching lower to the ground and elbowing him roughly in the knee. He takes a step backwards, stopping for a quick breath, then running up to me once more. This time, the moment he leaps into the air I dodge to the side, and he crashes onto the floor. I bend down next to him and start repeatedly hitting him on his shoulder blades, making sure I do it hard enough to the point where he might surrender but also making sure I don't do it hard enough to make him bleed.
"Okay, stop," Oli begs. Smiling triumphantly, I rise to my feet, and in that instant, Oli jumps back up and his hands fly to my throat. "Oh, so you're really going to choke me to death during training?" I ask.
"No." Oli removes his hands and I punch him in the stomach with a little too much force. He collapses to the floor, sighing and leaning back. "You win," he says. He pulls up his shirt a little, and I gasp when I see the small amount of blood smeared along his stomach.
"Woah," I whisper. "I'm sorry, Oli, I didn't mean to-"
"Wait!" Vinny interrupts. He runs up to us. "You can still join the Careers if you fight another one of us and lose, right? You've lost a fight to Dani before, you can fight her again!"
"Uhm, no," I say. "I'll fight somebody else, just… not her."
"Then what about me?" Vinny asks after a few seconds. "I'll fight you. I'm strong. Look." He punches me in the shoulder.
"Ow!" I yelp.
"See? I'm strong." He kicks me, and yeah, it hurts. Usually, when someone attacks me using their hands or feet, it doesn't really put me in pain, but Vinny is actually stronger than most people. At least that proves that I'm not a muttation that doesn't feel certain types of pain or anything.
"Yeah, you're strong," I agree. "Fine. I'll fight you." I slap him in the face, and that's how my second fight of the day begins.
Vinny barely looks fazed as my hand comes in contact with his face. He simply kicks me in the side before punching me in the chest nearly at the same time. He tries to bring his fist to the side of my head, but I'm able to avoid the blow, and I put enough force into my leg to be able to kick him to the ground. He immediately scrambles back up to his feet and pushes me up against a wall. He hits me a few times on the face, and the only way I am able to get away from him is by headbutting him and quickly darting out of the way during those couple of seconds that he is a tad distracted. He runs up to me and literally kicks me in the ass. I topple over and roll over onto my back. I try to prop myself up on my shoulders when Vinny places his foot on my chest. He catches his breath before saying, "Are we good?"
"How about no?" I reply, wrapping my arms around his leg and yanking it forwards, causing him to lose his balance and slam onto the floor. At this point, the battle has gotten popular enough for the Peacekeepers to notice it, and they're rushing towards us. I make the mistake of looking at them for a few moments, and Vinny gently grabs my throat in one hand and balls up a fist in the other, putting it just several inches away from my face. "I'll ask again," he says coolly, "are we good?"
"Whatever. Sure." Vinny lets go of my throat and grins happily. "Great! So that means you're one of us now?"
I roll my eyes. Now back to the same old cheerful Vinicius Swift. "Yeah, I'm a Career." A lump forms in my throat after I say those words, but Vinny seems convinced. I guess you could say I'm an okay actress.
"Awesome!" Vinny shakes my hand. "Training is almost over, so there won't be much time for you to practice with us, but you're perfect Career material, anyways. I'll see you later!" With that, he runs off, and my allies take his place, staring at me with utter disbelief. Wes looks angry, while Anna appears devastated and Emma is trying not to look at me. I don't even know where Erlend went. "What the hell, Julia? Why did you agree to join him?" Wes demands. "Even though you lost to him, you could've said, 'Oh, Vinny, you don't control my life, I don't have to join your stupid alliance'!"
"Calm your tits, Wes," I say. "I let him win, and I'm just letting him think that I'm a Career. I partially did that so he would quit bugging me about joining him."
"And what's the other reason?"
I look around at the tributes that are still gathered around us. I grab Wes by the arm and drag him away from them, and Anna and Emma follow us uncertainly.
"I have a strategy," I say.
"Which is?"
"Let me tell you," I hiss. "You impatient bitch. Look, since I'm technically a Career, the others won't try to attack and kill me when I'm running towards the Cornucopia. I'll grab a few things and meet up with you, and that's when they'll realize that I was lying about being a Career the whole time – but by that point, we'll hopefully already be a safe distance away from the bloodbath. Okay?"
Wes purses his lips and nods. "Okay."
"Now, let's go look for something to do," I suggest. "There are fifteen minutes of training left and you guys have barely done anything." We start wandering around the training center together, and my allies start to turn into their real selves again, knowing that becoming a Career was all just an act. This is the first time we've done anything as a group since the group actually formed, and it's good to be hanging out with them. Emma is extremely hyper, which (although slightly annoying) is actually very entertaining, Wes is truthfully a really funny guy, and Anna is so nice, thoughtful, and smart – and when I'm around them, I actually forget that I'm probably going to be sent off to my death in a few days. They're my friends. I know yesterday I told them that they were only allies, not friends… but I take that back. These guys are my friends, as much as they are my allies, and I know this will hurt me when I watch some of them die in the Games, but that doesn't matter at the moment. Because right now, we're just a group of weirdos, having a little fun before the real stuff begins.
Wow. Damn, when did I get so soft?
My thoughts are interrupted when my allies and I run into the girl from 3 (whose name I haven't learned yet). She's Asian, and has medium length dark brown hair and eyes, and a panicked look on her face. "Hey!" I say.
"Oh, hi," the girl grumbles. She obviously doesn't seem very happy. "You're, uh, Julie or something, right?"
"Julia," I correct. "And you are…?"
"Annie," she says. "Annie Tveit, District 3."
"Annie!" someone calls. "Oh Annie, where are you?"
"Who was that?" Anna asks.
"My district partner," Annie says, rolling her eyes. As if on cue, a male around 15 with black hair and brown eyes pops out of nowhere. He takes a handful of Annie's hair and sniffs it.
"Smells like pineapple," he comments stupidly.
"Shut up, Justin!" Annie yells. She pulls her hair out of his hand. "And the shampoo I used this morning supposedly smelled like oranges, not pineapple."
"It still smells like pineapple."
"Leave me alone!"
Justin ignores her and pokes her cheek. Annie hisses like a cat and elbows him in the face.
"That hurt," Justin whines.
"Good," Annie snaps. "Now go away."
"Alright, fine!" Justin slams his foot defiantly against the ground like a little kid, before walking away. Annie sighs and looks at us. "Sorry about that. He's a bit… strange."
"He reminds me of my district partner," I say. "His name is Erlend. He started flirting with me the day he saw me on the train ride here."
"Okay," Annie replies. "But I've actually known Justin for a while. He was my classmate back in District 3, and he's had a crush on me for a while."
"Do you like him back?" Emma asks.
"Hell no!" Annie crosses her arms. "He's so annoying, I swear. But for some reason, everybody thinks we would be the perfect couple. One of my friends back home even made a ship for us."
"A ship?" I ask slowly.
"A relationship," Annie explains. "Like, a relationship that someone wishes would happen. My friend calls it Jannie. Half of District 3 supports it."
Justin runs back over at the mention of their "ship". "We only have a few minutes left of training," he says. "You wanna spend it together?"
"I've had enough of you," Annie says simply.
"Very well." Justin kisses Annie's cheek before running away again. That's when Emma and Anna start giggling uncontrollably.
"He's so sweet!" Emma cooes. "I totally ship Jannie."
"Me too," Anna agrees.
"Me three," says Wes.
"I don't," I say. "Annie obviously doesn't like him. Give her a break."
"Thanks, Julie," Annie says.
"Julia."
"Right."
That's when the bell rings (I have no idea when or why they added a bell, but it reminds me of the one they used back at my school in District 5), which signals the end of training for that day. Annie waves to us and walks off, while my allies and I join several other tributes in a nearby elevator.
"So," Emma says. "Private training sessions are tomorrow."
"I know," I groan, absolutely dreading it. I didn't do well at most of the stations during training, so I'm a bit worried. If I get a low score, I'll probably be kicked out of the Careers, which will ruin the plan that I had.
I see Kekai in the middle of the crowd of tributes cramped together in the elevator. He meets my gaze and comes over to me. When Emma sees him also, she winks at me before turning to Wes and Anna, leaving me alone with the odd boy from four.
"Hey," he greets me with a smile. I don't respond. I just look into his eyes – those bright, fire-colored eyes. And somehow, I feel calm. Maybe I'm still a bit worried about the private sessions tomorrow, but whenever I think of Kekai and his golden eyes, I feel like nothing could possibly go wrong.
Tomorrow is when I'll find that out for sure.
