You guys are awesome. Seriously. I can't possibly tell you guys how much your reviews make me smile; it would be like trying to tell you how much I love Peeta or how much I hate Gale :) Impossible, right? That was a rhetorical question.
ANYWAYS, this is the last day of training! I don't really know the schedule that well, and I'm too lazy to look it up, so here's mine: three days of training, Gamemaker sessions the next day, scores announced that night, then a day off to learn interview strategies, and then interviews narrated by Marjorie. Since we have no mentors to coach our delightful tributes, the day off will be filled with random tribute socialization alliance confirming and Ryan, Tea, and Keldon's party, which, I'm told, Shayna is very excited for ;)
Training scores will be determined by your tributes strengths & weaknesses, and will be at the end of this chapter. If your tribute has talent with weapons, like Sasha, expect a higher score. If they're better at being smart and know their survival skills, like Penny, expect a lower one. Careers get especially high scores. Training scores aren't really even important, since there are no sponsors, and they don't affect my plot in any way, so don't worry about it. I wouldn't even put it in there if I wasn't expected to :)
Enjoy!
Sasha
Only one more day. One more day to show Noah who's the boss, to get Jax and Ariel straightened out, to hopefully kick Anastasia out of the Pack, to make sure Sparkle knows what she's doing. But Ariel's told me that I have to make sure that Noah doesn't leave the Pack, because apparently, we need the guy.
So, in an attempt to keep him involved in group decisions, I ask him what he thinks of the Pack. He's quiet for a moment, lost in his thoughts, and then he speaks, and I have to struggle not to kill him right here and now.
"I think you're arrogant, Sasha, and I think that's going to get you into trouble. You're dumb, and you have no chance of winning whatsoever." I stay my hand, even though I'm fuming. Strategy never has been my strong point, but I know that whatever I do, I can't kill him yet. He's been upgraded to the top of my kill list, though.
"I think Jax is an idiot, too. Ariel just needs to put her brain into use, and then she might have a shot. Anastasia doesn't know what she's doing; she's here for kicks. Sparkle's brave, but she's arrogant, like you," Noah concludes. "So basically, my biggest problem is you."
"Trust me, the feeling is mutual," I growl, my hands balled up into fists.
"Hey, Sasha, let's go on in." Sparkle grabs my arm and drags me into the Center. Judging by her condescending tone, she thinks she's preventing a fight, but I don't respond. She drags me over to the swords for sanity, and I begin hacking away at the trainer. Nothing like violence therapy.
How dare he?
I'm the leader. Not him. So how can he possibly insult me like that? Is he trying to get himself killed?
He's well on his way.
Ryan
"When do we make the announcement?" Keldon asks me. "Now? Or at lunch?"
"At lunch," Tea decides. "People will just get mad if we interrupt their training."
"Thank you, Ryan," Keldon jabs. His comment wasn't meant to be hurtful, and Tea isn't offended at all.
"You're welcome!" she pipes.
"Okay, so let's go over the plan," I say, finishing up my lame attempt to camouflage my hand. If there's a huge patch of shamrocks, I could do that. Anything else…only Evangeline could help me. "We have the party start at 6 o'clock on the roof, we get Avoxes to decorate, get music, and bring some refreshments. We make sure to ask for those drinks Tea mentioned. The colorful ones. We dance and act like crazy people for two hours, then we set the other drinks somewhere Ariel and Jax will be sure to find them. They drink, thinking it's another one of those colorful drink things, you said we could get pink, right Keldon? Then, chaos ensues." I grin wickedly. "My friends, I think we are geniuses."
"I think you're right," Tea agrees, giving me a high five. Keldon grins.
I smear the paint off of one hand and then begin to absentmindedly paint shamrocks on my face. The paint is gross and sticky, but my escort took my shamrock again after I made the rather thoughtless decision of flaunting it around in her presence, and I figure that even fake shamrocks are better than no shamrock at all. Keldon and Tea laugh openly at my artistic expertise, and I proceed to paint another shamrock on Keldon's hand. He smears it off right after I finish, staining his hand green.
All too soon, Liasyma calls us to lunch.
"Ready to rock?" Tea asks Keldon and me. We nod, determined, excited.
We're the last group to enter the cafeteria. The Careers are already in their rather menacing group, and the large alliance containing Shayna, Tyler, Dante, Penny, and Thomas is having what appears to be a strategic conversation. Jezza is sitting between the girls I know to be Malia and Paisley, sighing repeatedly and playing with a tortured Malia's hair.
Malia. Something about that girl isn't right. She scares me. And not much usually registers with me.
After my quick surveillance of the tributes, Keldon, Tea, and I stand in the middle of the room in a line. Tea speaks first.
"Hey guys!" she shouts. "We have an announcement!"
"Oh, goody," I hear from somewhere in the Career section. Tea ignores the voice and continues.
"Us, Ryan, Keldon, and me, we're throwing a party!" No reaction.
"It's going to be on our day off, you know, the day that mentors would usually coach us about interviews," Keldon says. Still no reaction.
"It's at six, on the rooftop," I say. "Guys, seriously, it's gonna be epic. We have it all planned out, the food, the music, all of it. I mean, really, 99% of us are gonna be dead in three weeks, why not have a little fun while we can?" There we go. Some of the tributes are nodding, looking around at their friends, smiling. Ah yes, the "we're all gonna die" speech works every time.
"Good job, guys, I think we got 'em," Keldon whispers. The attention has turned away from us and back to the food and the strategies, but that's fine. We've done our job.
We're gonna party all night.
Penny
The party's a hit in our group. Especially with Shayna, which is surprising, since I had perceived her as a more, um, calm person.
"I just cannot wait for the party! Do you think they'll have cake and those colorful drinks that all feel different as you drink them? I just love those! I tried some on the train and I SWEAR to GOD, the blue one froze in my mouth a little- DO NOT DRINK THE FIREWATER! Made that mistake, thought it was modeled after the Girl on Fire and it'd taste like cinnamon or something, but it seriously hurt, like, it burned! And-"
"Shay, calm down, we get it!" Tyler laughs.
"Sorry," Shayna giggles, color rising to her cheeks. "We never really had any parties in District Ten." We laugh along with her, and it's nice to lighten up the mood, because before Keldon and Tea and Ryan came in, we'd been discussing signals and what to do if one of us gets lost. We'd been debating on whether or not, if that happens, to go look for the person, or if our philosophy will be the whole "anyone who falls behind stays behind kind of thing."
"What do you think, Thomas, are you going?" Tyler asks. Thomas shrugs and takes a small sip of his drink.
"I'll probably just have some cake," he says quietly.
"Awesome. And the rest of y'all are going?" Shayna asks us. We all nod. "Yay!"
Lunch passes by much too quickly for my taste, and before I know it, Dante is brushing up on his archery, Tyler's teaching Shayna how to shoot, and Thomas is working on his hammer skills. I'm over in the edible plant station, my virtual home.
I don't trust anyone yet, but so far, the alliance is coming along quite well. We've got Dante and Tyler on the Cornucopia, I'm running, and Shayna and Tyler both said they'd pick up a few things.
Before long, Dante comes to join me.
"Hey," I say quietly, examining a leaf.
"Hey. Can you quiz me real quick? Maybe then we can finish up your archery."
"Great," I agree. "Edible or no?" I hold a vibrant, probably genetically engineered leaf out to him. He takes it from me and inspects it carefully.
"No."
"Why?"
"It's poisonous," he says, grinning. Of course it's poisonous. If it wasn't, you'd be able to eat it.
"How 'bout this one?"
"Yes, you can eat that."
"Good. How's shooting going?" I lean over to get another plant from the display.
"Good. I'm really improving, I think. So, that archery trainer," Dante says. "She doesn't seem too bad." I freeze. He's on to me. Play it cool, play it cool.
"Oh, really? She was pretty nasty to me. Edible or no?" I hold up another plant.
"Edible. Anyways, so I asked her what tips she'd given you on the first day, and she said that by the time she was getting ready to come over to you, I was already helping you out. Capitol people, huh? " I'm done for. He knows. He knows I tricked him into helping me. I guess the only thing I can do now is apologize and act desperate and it won't even be acting. Maybe he'll take pity on me again. But he never really did in the first place, did he?
"I'm sorry!" I moan. "I was just so scared, and I needed an ally, and you were already watching me, and you seemed like a good choice, and…I'm sorry!" I'm near tears now. I don't know why losing this boy's trust has made me feel so alone, but it must be because now I know that I'm going to die without his help. I hadn't entertained the thought of dying before now, and it seems more real than ever. "I'm sorry," I whimper.
"Hey, hey it's okay," Dante says, getting up to sit next to me, horrified by my reaction. "I understand. Any other little kid would've done the same thing."
"How do you know that?" I sniffle.
"I've grown up taking care of little kids. My little sisters. That's how I knew what you were doing."
"But you hate me now. I lied."
"No. I still want to help you. But I need you to be honest with me, okay? We need to be able to trust each other."
I won't trust him for a long time, and I know he won't trust me any time soon. But I guess being honest is a good place to start. "Okay," I agree, drying my eyes on my sleeve. "I guess you know I cornered you into getting our supplies, too."
"Yeah, I do. But Tyler and me, we can watch each other's backs." I look up into Dante's brown eyes and smile. Even though both of us will probably die, he's almost like the brother I never had.
"Thank you."
Jax
"Hi," I say, passing Ariel at the camouflage station. She's painting swirling blue stripes all over her arm; the ocean. "Homesick?" Her head snaps up and she quickly covers up her arm.
"No," she barks defensively.
"Hey, it's alright. Me too."
"I told you, I'm not homesick. Go away."
"No. I don't know anything about you, and this seems like a perfect opportunity to learn."
"What do you care? I know you; you're the guy all those girls back at home talk about. I know you'll break up with me in a couple days." Huh. Girls talk about me at home. That's nice. But Ariel's comment distracts me from that pleasant thought. I thought she liked me. At least a little. And to be honest, I was starting to like her too. Or, respect her, at least. I'm not giving her the satisfaction of knowing that I'm offended, though. She knows I'm going to break up with her, then fine. Might as well happen now as opposed to later.
"You're right," I sigh. "I don't care. I'm with you because I enjoy breaking hearts. You don't really have one to break though, do you? Shame, it could've been fun." The fire in Ariel's eyes flashes, white and hot.
"Well, I'm only with you because right after I volunteered, my stupid boyfriend broke up with me! He said, and I quote, 'I don't want a dead girlfriend.' I wanted to make him jealous! So there's my reason. And yes, I am homesick. Everyone is, except Sasha! Happy?"
"Very," I smirk. "Now that we've cleared the air, I have a proposal."
"Oh, do you now?" she snaps, smearing a blob of blue paint on her arm.
"Yeah." I pause and think before continuing, but it seems like a good idea, I think. I just hope she thinks so too. "I need to make the Capitol girls jealous so they'll love me even more, and we all know they love me already," I explain, "and you need to make your ex jealous on the screen for your revenge. I say we play this thing for all it's worth. I'll be in love with you, you'll be in love with me, and we're both satisfied." The fire disappears and is replaced by a somewhat evil, mischievous, and delighted twinkle.
"Deal," she agrees. "As long as we know it's fake."
"Of course." I bend in a courteous bow. Upon straightening back up, I lean into her ear. "So when do we kiss?"
Ariel
I pull away and slap him. He jumps back and holds his hand to his reddened cheek, shocked and angry.
"Save it for the cameras," I hiss. I dump a bottle of paint remover on my arm and wipe away my precious ocean. Jax was wrong. I don't regret volunteering one bit. I'm glad I did. If I didn't, I'd still be with Zane, that infinitely stupid male creature. So I'm glad I volunteered. Very, very, very glad.
I stomp away from Jax to let him know I mostly hate him, and meet Sparkle over at the knife station. She's kicking butt, as usual. Hardly anyone even comes over here anymore because they know she'll embarrass them. Even I won't throw a knife in her presence, so I grab a trident instead, piercing the dummy's heart effortlessly.
"Nice," she comments, twirling a knife in her fingers. She flicks it gently, and it flies to the center of the dummy's chest, perfect.
"Not bad yourself," I reply.
"Wanna take a break?" she asks. I nod, and we walk over to the wall, leaning against the padding.
"What's up?"
"Oh, nothing really. I was just thinking, I mean it hasn't crossed my mind since the Reaping, but we have friends in that other arena." Oh. Right. To be perfectly honest, I haven't thought about them since the Reaping either.
"Okay?" I encourage her to keep talking.
"And, well, I feel kinda bad, 'cause my friend, Jasmine, she didn't want to be in the Games until she was seventeen."
"So?"
"So I feel bad!"
"That's why you don't volunteer until you're older. They took my friend Hanna, but she's ready." Sparkle steps forward and lowers her voice.
"What do you think about the others? Their friends? I haven't heard a thing about them, but you'd think they'd remember, wouldn't you?"
"Of course they remember," I say, waving my hand dismissively. "But they're probably feeling guilty like you. If they didn't get reaped, their friends wouldn't be going into the other arena. If I were them, I'd be feeling pretty bad too. It sucks to be responsible for your best friend's death. I don't think any of us want that." Sparkle narrows her eyes at me.
"Are you implying that I'm responsible for Jasmine's death?" she sneers.
"No. I'm just saying that I talked it over with my friends before I volunteered, they were all ready, and maybe you should've done the same. That's really all I have to say on the subject, Sparkle, I'm sorry." Actually, I didn't talk it over with Hanna and Lilly. I don't need permission to risk my life, do I? They're both talented, and Hanna got picked, and now she has to win. We did talk about it on the train ride here, and she's fine. It's her last year to be in the Games anyways.
Sparkle walks away angrily and throws another knife. It lands right on target. Again.
I'd really hate to be the dummy.
Jezza
So, Paisley has better aim than me. It's official. But I'm getting better! I will beat her at some point! Besides, I totally let her win on purpose…totally. You know, if the definition of totally is not at all.
Sparkle moves from the knife station to the archery, and I grab Paisley and drag her over, picking up a knife and aiming it at the dummy.
"Paisley!" I call. "Is this how you hold it?" Reluctantly, and with a scowl plastered over her face, Paisley looks at the knife in my hand.
"No, Jezza," she says, irritated. She leans over and repositions my fingers into some awkward position. I look at the target and back to my hand in dismay. How can I throw with my fingers like this? I can barely hold the frickin' knife! What am I, some kind of superhuman? No, I'm not.
"What is this?" I ask her, exasperated.
"That's the position you need to throw correctly, which is, I believe, what you asked for," Paisley snips.
"Oh. Are you sure?"
"Positive." Not believing her, I aim the knife at the target as best I can and fling the knife. Well, then. It's a little off, but it's one of my better throws so far.
"Hey, thanks," I tell her.
"Whatever. Just don't ask me to show you again."
"Alrighty!" I'm tired of knife throwing after about five minutes, so I seek out Malia, who's at the fire-building station.
"Jezza, go away," she says before I can even open my mouth.
"Hi, Malia!" I say in a singsong voice. "What's up?"
"Oh, nothing, Jezza," she says, looking up and giving me a poisoned smile. "But if you don't mind, I'd like you to kindly leave me alone."
"Oh, silly Malia," I chide, sitting down beside her and grabbing some twigs. "So what do you do, rub these things together?"
"Why don't you ask the trainer?" she suggests, her voice cold and unfeeling.
"Alrighty! Mr. Trainer, what do you do with this?" Mr. Trainer goes on to explain the exact science of making a fire, and I get bored again. Before he can finish, I say thank you and rejoin Paisley. I'm thinking I need to talk to her again about that alliance. Otherwise, I'll be on my own, and that is not a good thing. I need someone to talk to or I will go crazy.
"Paisley! I'm back!" Paisley rolls her eyes, and I think she's glad to see me. But just to confirm, I ask, "Did you miss me?"
"Oh, yes, Jezza, I was completely lost without your ever important figure beside me," she says, sarcasm shining through. I ignore it.
"I knew it! Anyways, are we going to that party? You know, that those happy people are having?"
"I don't know."
"Fine. I'll decide for you." I stroke my chin in mock thoughtfulness. "You're going. Maybe we can find a nice boyfriend for you!"
"Jezza, we're all going to die. What am I going to do with some stupid boyfriend?"
"Well I don't know," I huff, crossing my arms over my chest. "Maybe he could serenade you. When you die."
"That's lovely, thank you."
"You're welcome!" I'm bored again, but that's okay, because Liasyma has stepped in, informing us that the day is over. Well, I guess I get to show of my killer knife-throwing to the Gamemakers tomorrow. And then, the next day, PARTY!
Hope you guys liked it! Here are the tributes' training scores:
D1:
Sasha Hoycota- 10
Sparkle Tristan- 10
D2:
Noah James- 9
Anastasia Rein- 8
D3:
Zephyr Bryant- 4
Paisley Braun- 7
D4:
Jax Lucas- 10
Ariel Penn- 8
D5:
Conan Ledger- 5
Malia Blakely- 6
D6:
Thomas Mcaw- 4
Isabella Vay- 6
D7:
Keldon Peak- 7
Tea Whythers- 8
D8:
Ryan Parrish- 6
Carolyn Grisha- 3
D9:
Jonathan Knit- 8
Wysteria Marshon- 2
D10:
Wendel Hasby- 6
Shayna Rogers- 6
D11:
Tyler Wynters- 8
Penny Quinn- 5
D12:
Dante Lupin- 9
Jezza Time- 4
R&R, and keep a lookout for the next chapter! We're having a party!
~IceTigers
