Drew's POV

I kick the dummy for maybe the thousandth time today, trying to get it to hit Owen, who is standing a foot away, watching me.

"What value does this idea of yours have?" he asks, sighing.

"The value of entertainment," I spit out between heavy breaths. I kick again, not missing a beat – I mean, it has been a few days. The private sessions with the Gamemakers is tomorrow.

Basically, Iris, Wiley, Owen and I have stuck together during the training process. We've become friends and all, but we're not so open that we can't dispatch in the arena and kill each other in a second. We'd just prefer not to.

I decide to rest my leg and hit the dummy for a while. It starts moving backwards because of my eminent force and Owen has to come over and stop it from going any further. "You get entertainment from hitting me?"

"I get entertainment from hitting anyone," I laugh, stopping for a moment. "Spar?"

He smiles. "And beat you again?" He then makes it look like he's in deep thought. "Well, since you're such a good sport!"

I laugh and help him pull a few cushioned mats together – just in case one of us falls. Most people notice that we're getting ready to fight once again – we've been doing a lot of that over the past few days – and stop what they're doing to watch us. We've become a real source of entertainment for the tributes recently.

Owen and I take our stances at the end of the mats. "Come at me!" I say, egging him on.

He gets this mischievous look on his face, and I immediately regret choosing to say that. "As you wish, milady!" he yells, like the real gentleman he is.

Before I know it, Owen's foot crashes into my leg, knocking it right out from under me. I jump up, seeing as I've done this several times in the past days and I've grown used to being knocked off my feet, and respond by means of punching him in the stomach and then kicking him in the same spot. He is forced back several feet, pained and aching. I use this opportunity to rest a bit.

He finally chooses to get back into his beginning stance, and I laugh a bit before doing the same. This time, I run at him before he can even make a snide comment. I knock him to the ground with a blow to the chest – I seem to hit there a lot – and he groans in pain. I smile triumphantly, since I'm finally the one who is up and on their feet instead of on the ground.

I look at the gathering tributes and beam at my victory. To dress it up, I place a foot on top of Owen's chest and put my arms in the air. "Victory is mine!" I bellow, and they cheer.

But then I'm on the ground faster than I can process, with a searing pain in my butt and all the positive feelings I just had vanish.

"Looks like I've kicked your butt," Owen says, standing up. "Ha! You have no idea how funny that was, Drew!"

I sigh. "Oh, ha ha. What a jokester."

Owen celebrates his victory with the crowd before they all disperse, and a small girl with red hair and a freckled face kneels over me.

"You okay?" she asks in a sweet tone. "I'm Kitanna."

"I'm fine, thanks," I groan as she helps me up. "I'm Drew."

"Like I don't know," she laughs. "I doubt there is a person in here that doesn't enjoy watching you and Owen fight."

"Well, it's nice to know that people enjoy my agony," I say. "At least I'm going before Owen in the private training sessions."

"Lucky, lucky you. I have to be the third person overall to go."

I do the math in my head. "District Two?"

She nods. "You bet. I could be like every other tribute from District Two and be perfectly trained and cruel, but I'm thankfully not."

"Thank the lord," I say, twirling my finger in the air. "I thought everyone was trained in District Two…?"

"Well, I used to be. I actually wanted to be in the Games, as weird as that might sound," she says. "But then when the time came and I was just about to volunteer, I grew some brains and realized that it wasn't worth losing my life. District Two may have a high chance of being the victor, but there are two tributes. It would definitely not be me if I was in this."

"How do you feel about this year?" I ask.

"A little nervous. Anxious, if you want a nicer word. I mean, my district partner? Just one look can tell you that he's wanted this for a long time."

I look at him from across the room. He has light blonde hair and is shooting arrows at a target, not reluctant to use any arrows that aren't his. "Do you like him? Like, is he nice?"

"Oh, I guess you could say that," she says, a little melancholy. "I've known him forever. We even had a little thing for a while, but that came to an end due to a friend of mine…." She trails off and stares at the floor.

"Your friend did what?" I ask, making her look up.

She looks a little embarrassed to talk about it. "She basically stole him from me and got the whole school to hate me in the process."

"Ooh," I say. "I don't have that, so we obviously can't bond over enemies."

She shrugs. "I'm over it. Anyways, see you later, Drew!" She walks away and goes to the sword-fighting station and picking up a sword that is about half of her height.

Well, she seems nice.

And that's really suspicious for her district.

oOo

Scarlett's POV

When Drew tells me about her time in training, I burst out laughing.

"You're kidding! She's kidding, right?" I ask, turning to Owen. "Hand-to-hand? And a nice District Two girl?"

"It's true!" Drew says, exasperated. "She was pretty nice, which is pretty freaking suspicious."

"Watch out for her," I warn. "And apparently watch out for Owen, too. Since he can kick your butt while lying down and you can't."

She rolls her eyes. "Like I can't take Owen. Right, man?"

"Oh, yeah, totally," he says in a humorous voice. "Drew can kill me and burry the evidence so well that the Gamemakers won't even be able to find me!"

I start laugh uncontrollably, and so does Drew. Owen takes a bow and says, "Thank, thank you. I'll be dead by next week!"

This sends another round of laughter around the room. My room, to be exact. I haven't seen much of my little tributes, so I decided to invite them in before they are critiqued beyond comprehension.

"So, guys, this is where things get serious," I say when I calm down. "I want to talk to you about sponsors. They're already pouring in from the opening ceremonies and I'm sure there will be several more after tomorrow. I have no idea what I'm supposed to get you with them and when, so I want you guys to give me some sort of signal when you need something, alright?"

They both nod. "We could have a secret form of communication!" Owen exclaims, and we laugh. "Let's just stick with simple signals, Owen," I say between the laughs.

"What are you guys doing for the private sessions?" I then ask.

"Hand-to-hand," Drew says, looking happy. I nod.

"Something completely random," Owen says. I look at him weirdly before asking, "What?"

"Well, I've been trying to help Drew this whole time, but I need to do something on my own. Something that's different. I'll probably come up with something off the top of my head and just do it on an impulse."

I nod. "That'll either win you lots of points or get you killed."
He shrugs. "It was probably going to happen anyways."

That goes through my mind and I find it to be really weird. Has he already given up hope?

"Well, that's all, guys. You can leave," I say, shooing them out.

Drew and Owen collect themselves, walking irritably slow just to spite me. I laugh a little at them.

"Good luck!" I say right before they can close the door.

Oh, my loyal readers, I have sad news for you.

I shall be vacationing over spring break – which is from this Saturday to probably next Sunday for me. So, unfortunately, there shall not be any posts during this week from any of my stories. [Insert crying noises]

Buuuuuuuuuut! (There is always that glimmer of hope that I will have good news…) I shall be writing over break, so I'm expecting to have another chapter up next Monday (so…far…away…)

And I still need tributes! It's pretty obvious who I need and who I don't right about now, so feel free to submit and I'll attempt to incorporate them in the story!

Thanks for reading!