Chapter Eight
Plan
We trained for about an hour more before we were escorted back to our apartment. I didn't really think about it before, but I'm glad that there are two dorms in our apartment. One dorm full of bunk beds is for boys, and one if for girls. I would hate to change in front of boys. We were left alone to choose beds and partners, and I got the top of my bunk to share with a typical Amity girl, 13 years old called Daisy. She's kind, very pretty, with strawberry blonde hair and bluey green eyes, and really quite clever, but you can see that she's struggling to maintain the usual Amity cheer.
We all change into our pyjama clothes, giving each other privacy by turning the lights off and turning around to face the walls. One by one I can hear the girls climbing ladders and shuffling under duvets to go to sleep, and I follow in their footsteps, closing my eyes and imagining a scenario where I'm back with my mother and father, or how I imagine them to be anyway. My father has ginger hair, and brown eyes, and a kind hearted smile, and always seems to be wearing a suit, although I do not picture him as a formal man. My mother wears a sweeping red gown with gentle streaks of sunshine yellow, and long blonde hair that is brushed back, and falls down to the floor. She wears a gold necklace with a red ruby in the centre, and has sharp, slanted green eyes to give her an intelligent look. She is beautiful, and my father is handsome. I find myself smiling with my eyes closed, though I am not in any way closer to sleep. Of course, realistically, my Mum wouldn't have hair that long, and neither parent would be rich enough to afford a suit, or gems or a gown or posh shoes that point a little at the tips.
My smile fades, and I open my eyes, looking at the large wall clock across the room. The pillows are softer than I have ever had, and the bed sheets are velvet and warm. I just can't stop thinking about the Games, and Max. By now he will have gone to bed, according to curfew, and he will know that I am a tribute for the Games. Does he feel betrayed that I didn't tell him? He knows that those are the rules, I'm not allowed to tell anyone if I am reaped, but I didn't know anyway. I thought I had a chance when I met Felix, but looking at my wave hasn't helped. I'm not anything special myself, and the only teen with potential in our group is probably Jared, if he ate enough to work up some muscle. Still, compared to the Dauntless boys that I've seen in the past, he's still nothing special, he's not even standard if he were put next to them. What's more, the first wavers usually all die before the second wave arrives, in Amity anyway, and the final team to win would most likely be from the second wave and the last tribute sent.
I have to stop letting the thoughts get to me. I'll never sleep with all this negativity drifting hopelessly in my head.
I can't hear any heavy breathing either, the sound of people sleeping, so I sit up and speak.
"Is anyone actually asleep?"
Every girl in the room tilts their heads up to look at me, and I take it as a no.
"We should make a strategy then, so we can win the Games and go home to our families!" I say enthusiastically, and some girls across the room sit up and nod their heads in the darkness.
"I don't even know your name though." A girl with frizzy hair in the bottom corner bunk speaks up, nearest the door.
"I'm Grace, and I'm fifteen. Who're you?" I reply, and climb down the ladder to walk towards her bed. I wonder if there is a curfew in the Capitol, and I shouldn't be awake? But I doubt it. The Capitollans like parties, to live extravagantly and have fun. They wouldn't put a limit on the hours in the day.
"I'm Eva, I'm thirteen." she says, and stands up to hug me. The floors are carpeted, and the room is warm, but I decide to take my duvet, mattress and pillow down to sleep on the floor.
"Are you going to sleep down there?" someone asks me, to which I nod.
"I want to sleep where I can be nearer you all. It comforts me. And the beds are quite far apart." I explain, and see Eva having trouble pulling her mattress out of the frame. I smile weakly, and stand to help her, and she moves her mattress next to me. Eventually everyone is sleeping on the floor together, some even sharing a duvet just to feel a sense of protection. Now this makes me smile. I know that none of the other factions would be doing this right now, but we're Amity. And this year it's all going to be very different to the usual.
We talk in a circle, saying our names and ages, and once we've done that, Eva blurts out a weird fact about herself.
"When I was younger I had to share shirts with my brother, because of course we didn't have enough money to buy shirts for me. So to this day I prefer to wear boy's shirts, because girl's have the buttons on the wrong side." which made some girls giggle. Someone else says something too, and soon we're all telling stories and facts just to comfort ourselves.
"When I was nine, Archie Davidson went in the Hunger Games, and I had a little girly crush on him, so every time he came on the screen I kissed the T.V." someone giggles, and everyone makes ooh sounds and kissy noises. Of course, Archie was a very handsome fifteen year old boy when he was reaped, and it was slightly upsetting because he was dead now, but almost everyone had a crush on him at the time, pretty much apart from me, when I was eleven. He was reasonably strong for the amount of food that he received, and we all thought he might win us our second ever Hunger Games, but he died at the hands of a Dauntless boy, twice the size of him and wielding a knife.
"Hey, do any of you have boyfriends?" the oldest girl, a seventeen year old asks us all, and two girls put their hands up shakily.
"I have a boyfriend back at home, does anyone know Cory Spense?" the same girl, Stella, asks, her voice wavering a little. I nod.
"He's in the same class as my brother for Advanced Maths." I tell her, and she smiles.
"Max Hertford?" she asks me, and everyone in the circle listens to our conversation.
"Yeah."
"You look a little like him." she laughs, but it's an empty laugh that splutters and dies, like an old car engine. I feel sorry for her, because she clearly loves him quite a lot, and I bet she wants to see him.
"If any of you make it out, can you tell Cory that I love him and I'm sorry, I tried." she sobs, and the girls nearest to her rub her back.
"Don't think like that Stella. We'll be the different Amity group. The one that wins. And if we really try hard, we can all win." I say to her. I think she's beautiful, and she's clearly quite different to the average Amity girl, since she doesn't appear to have ever had any cheer in the first place. But that's probably not the best thing. She has dirty blonde hair and warm chestnut eyes that at the moment are brimming with tears, so I move from my place with Eva and squish down next to Stella, resting my head on her shoulder as her tears fall, and her whole body crumples up under her duvet. The other girls are looking bewildered and helpless, and I know I need to get Stella happy and hopeful again or they'll all drift further out of the circle and start crying about their own loved ones. I can't think about Max. I was angry about him before, about how he didn't support me and Jared, and he acted like he controlled my life. For god's sake, I'm my own person, he doesn't get a say in who I'm in love with!
Be calm. I have to remain calm and Amity, I'm sounding like a Dauntless ruffian.
I dig under the covers and hug Stella from behind, and pull her back up to the surface, and the girls pass along a tissue for her to wipe her eyes with.
"We'll fight." I say strongly, and immediately realise it was a bit too soon to say. The girls in the circle give me scared and shocked looks, and no one seems very happy with the idea. I decide that it's time to explain it, give a little speech maybe.
"Look, we all have loved ones at home that we want to get back to. Parents, siblings, boyfriends, etcetera. Amity have always had the worst around here, the Capitol know that our principles are peace rises over all, and positivity should always be maintained. And these Games are about fighting for entertainment. Why should we bend to their will? Why should we just lay down and die?" I say, my blood starting to boil as I feel myself getting angry. But I'm happy to let my opinion out into the air, I don't really care what they think. This is so...unAmity of me...but I just want, more than anything, to be with Jared forever. And now that I've finally got him after two years, it's not fair to take him away from me suddenly, with the death and destruction of those around me. Some of the girls are looking open, whereas others are clearly disturbed and very unhappy with the idea. Stella definitely looks interested though, and I am about to say more, when Eva pipes up.
"Can't we just hide? We don't have to hurt anyone. It's against everything we stand for!" she protests, and I feel uncomfortable.
"I don't know if we could all make it through that way.." I start to say, but ideas are popping up from all over the place.
"We can be as smart as the Erudite, make a base and set traps around it!" one of the youngest, Ella, says.
"We can gather all the resources in our area and have a food supply." Stella sniffs.
"And if it comes down to it we'll fight." a girl called Alice says, and there is a chorus of approval.
"How about, we build inventions and make a moat, or one made of fire even!" Ella screams with happiness at the idea, and everyone laughs.
"But they're not going to kill themselves," another girl called Lily points out. "It's kill or be killed."
"We can go on regular patrols if we feel strong enough, or ambush whoever comes into our territory." I suggest, and get a positive reaction.
"Either way, everyone try and focus on the berries, one weapon in particular, and agility in training. They're going to have a shock back at home when they turn on their TVs." I smile. We have hope.
