Children in District 1 almost always seem to take pride in competing in the Hunger Games, and are among the group of tributes who band together to pick off the weaker contestants, known as Careers.

-The Hunger Games Wiki

Copper awoke to the sound of knocking on his bedroom door. "Um, come in," he said, blinking the sleep away from his eyes.

Livia walked into the room with a black, gray, and red outfit. The number "12" was on the back of the shirt as well as on each of its short sleeves. "Your outfit for training today," she said. "You have an hour until you need to be in the underground room with the other tributes. I'd try to eat something; you'll need your strength for whatever you choose to work on."

Copper sat up in bed. "Thanks, Livia. I guess I'll see you at dinner?"

"Of course. Good luck, Copper."

Sighing, he entered the shower. The water was cold, but in a way that was a good thing. He would need to be completely awake to handle today's events.

Copper clumsily ran his gel-covered fingers through his hair. Livia had suggested doing this, saying he would concentrate better if it was out of his eyes. She also added that it "looked nice", which couldn't hurt.

The training uniform was a spandex-type material that felt quite comfortable against his skin as he put it on. I might as well be comfortable if I'm going to suffer.

Lavender was already eating when Copper entered the dining area. Her mouth was full of food, but that didn't stop her from saying, "Hey No-Soul."

Copper feigned annoyance. "Hey alliance-breaker."

Lavender's eyes grew wide with shock, but she quickly disguised it with a frown. "Oh shut up, Copper. You know I was just mad. We're still allies, okay? I mean, if you want to be. I doubt the Careers will even remember you."

Surprisingly, she was half-correct.

The underground training room looked almost like a dungeon. On a platform near the ceiling sat the Gamemakers. They stared down at the tributes with drinks in their hands. Many trainers were present. They seemed to be readying the equipment for usage.

Copper snuck tentative glances at his fellow competitors. The Careers stood against the wall, talking and laughing as if they had been friends all their lives.

The District 3 pair sat on a bench nearby. The boy was polishing his glasses and talking while the girl stared dejectedly at nothing at all.

Volant, the District 6 girl, stood alone near the exit doors. She tapped her foot feverishly. Where was her district partner?

The small Asian girl from District 7 climbed a net in the corner of the room while both tributes from District 9 watched curiously from a few feet away.

"Tributes! Please make your way to the center of the room!"

Copper tore his gaze away from the District 7 girl. A tall, intimidating-looking man in a black tracksuit was motioning for them to join him.

Copper saw Lavender amongst the others, and he quickly joined her near the outside of the circle the tributes were forming.

"My name is Fulvio," The man said. "As some of you may already know, I am the Head Trainer for the Hunger Games. Before we get started, I want to go over a few rules and share some advice with you all."

Copper's heart hammered in his chest.

"First, no fighting with anyone," Fulvio said. "You'll have plenty of time for that later. There are twenty different stations set up for your benefit. I'd suggest attending almost all of them. Everyone is eager to show off combat, but that won't be helpful if you end up dying of dehydration 3 days into the Games."

The Careers smirked. Copper felt his underarms begin to sweat.

"Lunch will be provided at 12:00. If no one has any questions, you're dismissed."

Everyone began to file slowly away. Copper was caught off guard when Fulvio said, "Oh, and don't waste any time. Some of you will need as much help as you can get."

The Careers dispersed from one another, much to Copper's surprise. Selene, Quay, and Cyan went to the hand-to-hand combat station while Flint and Pike walked confidently to the spear-throwing area.

Copper knew he should work on learning to obtain freshwater, but the station was currently packed with five other tributes, including Lavender. Instead, he decided to work on using a weapon. But which one?

His eyes landed on the bow-and-arrows lining the back wall. Targets were placed several yards from them.

They're human-shaped.

But no one was over there.

Copper slowly ran his hand over the sleek, silver bow. He tentatively picked it up. It was heavy.

Or maybe he was just weak.

He drew an arrow from the quiver and carefully aligned it. Pulling back on the string, Copper fired it.

"Ow!" he yelped. The string had smacked his hand, and the arrow was...several feet away, lying pathetically on the ground. Copper heard a laugh behind him.

Victoree.

He turned to see meet her vindictive eyes. The girl leered at him before approaching a golden bow. She grabbed an entire quiver and plucked an arrow daintily from it.

Pulling back the bowstring, Victoree fired.

The arrow landed dead-center in the middle of the human-shaped target. Copper shuddered.

Victoree turned to him. "See that?" she pointed at the target. "That's gonna be you someday."

Copper avoided eye-contact with the blonde Career as he put his bow-and arrow back with the others.

Cerritulus's voice whispered urgently to him in the back of his mind.

"Yes, they have an advantage because of this, but Career tributes typically know very little about survival skills."

Survival skills. Which one should he start with?

Copper looked around the room. The edible plants station had only one other tribute there. The girl from District 8 didn't appear very intimidating as she played some kind of computerized memorization game.

"Hey," he said quietly, standing awkwardly next to the girl. "What's this?"

She didn't even look at him as her fingers danced along the touch-screen controls. "It's a memorization game for poisonous plants." Her voice was very high.

"Oh, okay." Copper looked away, unsure of what else to say.

"Would you like to try?"

The question caught him off guard. Surprisingly, the girl was smiling at him. Her warm brown eyes held no trace of hostility, but there was a tinge of sadness in them. Or was Copper only imagining it?

"You want to match up the plants that are poisonous. It takes a couple rounds before you're able to know which ones are safe and which ones aren't. Have a go! I'm Paisley, by the way. What's your name?" The girl pulled a frizzy lock of her red hair behind an ear, waiting to hear his reply.

"I'm Copper," he said, feeling heat rise into his cheeks. "From District 12."

Paisley laughed. "Obviously!" she said. "The '12' on your shirt is a dead giveaway."

Copper looked at his sleeve. He could feel himself turning even redder. "Oh, I forgot about that. Sorry."

The girl laughed again. "That's okay! Play the game. I'm going to find my district partner. But it was nice meeting you! We should eat lunch together!"

Copper tried to detect any sort of deceit in her expression, but there wasn't one to be found. Perhaps she was actually just being nice?

"Oh, er, sure," he said, rubbing the back of his head nervously. "I'd like that. I guess I'll see you then."

He really didn't want to go making friends with people who would be trying to kill him in the next few days. She seemed like a nice girl, though.

Paisley let out a "yay!" before walking over to the hand-to-hand combat station where a tall, skinny boy with black hair in a bowl-cut stood. He clutched a spear awkwardly as a trainer attempted to show him proper technique.

Copper did his best to begin matching the plants.

Horse nettle. Pokeberries. Dogwood. Nightshade. Holly. Wisteria.

All toxic.

A large "X" appeared over one of the berries he had marked as safe to eat. They were blueberries, weren't they?

NIGHTLOCK- Native to District 12. Highly poisonous. Inhibits cellular respiration resulting in the inability to create ATP. Death results in 1-4 minutes.

Copper felt a wave of dread wash over him. What if he hadn't come to this station? He very well could've eaten those "nightlock" berries in the arena.

Don't think about it, he told himself. What's important is that you won't eat those berries because you know now that they're bad.

"Whoa, nice job, Inferno-Boy! But you got the one from your district wrong. Guess you're not the outdoorsy type, huh?"

Copper whirled around. He knew that voice.

Oh no.

Arms crossed, his ivory teeth gleaming in a confident smile...was Cyan.

He stared at the boy.

"...Well, I meant that as a compliment," Cyan began sheepishly, "But judging by your expression, you didn't take it as one."

Copper turned back to the screen. He didn't say anything.

Unfortunately, Cyan didn't go away.

Copper sighed. "Shouldn't y-you be with your… you kn-know…" he said shakily.

That stupid stutter. It always comes about when I'm upset!

"My what?" Cyan said, amusement in his voice.

Copper ended the game and turned to Cyan. Not looking at him, he said, "Your allies. The other C-Careers?"

The District 1 boy's expression fell. "Oh, them." he said. "Well, they're all just showing off their skills with weapons. I'd rather not be so obvious about what I can do, plus…" he bent down, reaching Copper's height, "None of them know anything about surviving in the wilderness. I figured at least one of us should know something."

Copper met the boy's eyes and nodded. Green, just like all the other District 1 people. I hate green.

He didn't hate green. But that's what he told himself in that moment.

Cyan exhaled. "So, how old are you? I'm eighteen."

This time, Copper was determined to not look away in cowardice. "Seventeen," he muttered.

Cyan laughed. "I get the feeling that you don't like me much. Want me to go away?"

Copper didn't know what to say. Of course I don't like you! he thought. You're from District 1. You always kill my district's tributes in the bloodbath. And you don't even care.

Why was Cyan even talking to him?

Maybe District 1 people really are obsessed with bright things, Copper thought, twirling a lock of his hair nervously.

Fulvio saved him from having to reply. "Everyone to the cafeteria! I expect you all to be finished eating and ready to continue training in forty-five minutes!"

Copper abandoned the plant-memorizing station without a second thought, ignoring Cyan's question.

Hopefully he knew the answer now.