"Just let me sleep already Gardenia, please?" She's making us all eat dinner before we go to bed. We only got fifteen minutes to change when we got in, so I'm stuck in the black trackies and t-shirt that I threw on. I'm so not hungry, not after the lunch I had on the train. I consider myself lucky to have avoided a reappearance of that caviar during the Opening Ceremony. But I scoff down as much food as I can while the adults talk at me. I try my best to ignore them, but when my name comes up, I'm forced to tune in.
"Jinx, Silk." We look up together and I notice Jinx try to swallow his mouthful whole so he can speak.
"What?" he gargles.
Gardenia looks us each in the eye before continuing. "Tomorrow training starts. So you'll decide now. Are you in this together?"
"Yes."
"No."
We look at each other. I glare at Jinx and he stares back at like I've slapped him. And then his face changes. To anger.
"Are you kidding me Silk? I thought we were past this!" he slams his fist onto the table, hard enough to knock his glass into the remnants of his dinner and send me jumping out of my seat so quick my chair clatters to the floor. He stares me down until I involuntarily step back and almost collide with the avox that was righting my chair. Suddenly his face falls and he sits back, meeting Gardenia's shocked eyes.
"I'm sorry" he mumbles.
I straighten my shirt and look at Gardenia.
"My answer is no." I spin on my heel and march straight to my room, shoving an avox out of my way as I go.
My dramatic exit was somewhat tainted by the fact that the stupid Capitol doors don't slam, but I think I got my point across. I fling myself onto my plush rug and scream into the floor. Stupid Jinx. Stupid Capitol. Stupid games.
"Silk! Get out of bed!" So apparently sleeping on the floor is not a good idea when you have a full day of training to do when you get up. I groan as I stretch out the sleep in my stiff limbs and roll my head, checking that my neck still functions. It does. I ruffle through the draws in the closet until I come across what looks like a training outfit – white tracksuit with black racing stripes down the sides. I yank it on, snatch my hair back into a ponytail and go out to breakfast. Thaliana shakes her head at me when I sit down across from her. As an avox dumps food onto my plate, she pops out of her seat and flits over to fix my hair into a sleeker version of itself. Jinx isn't around, so I assume he's already left and hurry my food down. I will not give him any more advantage over me than he already has.
The elevator ride down to the Training room is just as bad as the one to the stables, and I have to take a moment to compose myself before I step out. I'm one of the first Tributes here, and the few others all turn to stare at me for a moment before returning to their activities. Jinx isn't one of them. Huh. He must still be in bed.
I notice one of the adults calling me over, so I wander towards her. She gives me the speech. You know, don't attack each other, don't leave out survival skills, you're probably going to die. Total bullshit, the lot of it. The first thing they teach you at the Academy back home is to ignore the Capitol trainers. So I smile and nod and wait for her to finish, then walk straight past her and pick up a bow and arrow. I could never save my life with one of these, but I should at least practice, and I figure I should get the more pathetic stuff out of the way before too many Tributes arrive.
And it is truly pathetic. I hit the target at least, but I'm miles off from the bullseye. I've just skewered a dummy's left ear when somebody grabs me by the shoulders. Not in the friendly, hey how's it going way, but in the slightly painful, move and I'll dislocate your shoulder way. I lower my bow, lift my chin and turn my head towards the face which is resting on my shoulder, breathing down my neck.
"Hey honey." The boy from 9. Skinny, but strong. Or at least, his hands are. I can feel the bruises blooming under his fingers.
"Nine." I keep my voice even, my head high. This boy will not know how terrified I am. This boy will be the first to die. He seems to guess what I'm thinking, and leans in even closer to breathe in my ear.
"Just you try." His hands disappear, and the rest of him with them. I turn around slowly and see that Jinx has shown up. And seen my little conversation with Nine. He takes a step towards me when I met his eyes, but I turn and quickly take a shot with my final arrow. I hit the dummy to the right of mine and flinch as I hear laughter echoing around me. Boys. After all these years, it's still the boys that get to me.