The next point in the games would be the training sessions. Mama had taught mea bit about how to use the main weapons, however I still wanted further teaching. It was a large room, with many stations dotted around it. What I liked about it was that it was a good time to observe other tributes and noting down their strengths and weaknesses. We are already people to envious of, Lola and I, after the success in the opening ceremony, however not really of us, of our stylist, Cinna. Cinna had done an amazing job with my outfit, I was beginning to wonder what my interview outfit would be like. But for now, my training outfit was tight, but flexible black leggings with a loose, purple top, which of course had a rose on it. I liked being the rose, they are a bit like me. I may look shy, timid, and incapable of defending myself, but I have my own thorns to prick others.

I decided to do each station with different people, to know what each of them was like. Lola and I didn't see each other, I thought this was because she was still mad at me about Colin. But I really wanted to know him better, and so we did most of the stations together. It was ubsurd how good he was with camouflage. He could paint himself into a tree, and I would walk past him and then scared by a tap on my back. We did an exchange, one hour of me teaching him spears and traps and one hour of him teaching me camouflage and martial arts. I was pretty hopeless at camouflage, my worst subject in school was always Art. I never thought it really mattered, until now.

As we were practicing making a decent knot, a girl came over to our station. She was really, really pretty, with sandy blond curls and fair skin. She walked over to us and stared us down. There were only two wooden posts to practice the knots on. She looked at us with big eyes, as if it was obvious, we were mean't to immediately step away and let her have a go. But we didn't, we carried on as if she wasn't there.

"You know, you can get rope burns from them. And this time they won't be able to cover it with makeup to make it look pretty." it was ironic for her to say that, because she wore so much make up for the opening ceremony, it looked like she had plastic surgery multiple times. "It's also not good to do things that don't suit your style. You know the plants station? They have plenty of dead plants over there!"

I was beginning to burn up, and she could see that, only using it to her advantage. "Wow, they'll try and put on blush and red lipstick, only it will just blend in with it's background.

I was about to let it all out, like a volcano waiting to erupt, but then Colin put his hand on my shoulder. After that, all the rage just melted away, it was very strange. He seemed very calm about the whole thing.

"Aphrodite," he said, "you may want to try out this station, however we were here first, and we can only leave in our will. You can't take it out on other people. There are many other stations, you can try them until we leave. And then, you don't waste time negotiating with us, when you could be learning how to set traps or even wrestle."

I looked at him in admiration. I wished I was as mature about everything as he was. Even if he was very modest about his outfit for the opening ceremony, he looked a little proud of himself after saying this, as he should've been. Aphrodite tried not to lose her cool, however she looked furious. And that was when I realised, it wasn't anything to do with having a go with the knots, she just wanted power over us. When she was about to throw a fit, another girl came over to us, acting very defensive over Aphrodite.

"Why would she be wasting time? She could be learning to wrestle right now, with you two as her dummies, however your weakness against us is too pitiful." I could feel Colin starting to boil, like I did, so I quickly put my hand on his shoulder.

The girl took out her hands into a claw-like pose and dug her arm into Colin's chest, causing him to fall backward. I rushed to him, as the girl giggled an innocent but evil laugh and took hold of a rope. I wanted to kill her, but it was illegal to harm tributes before the games, however clearly she had already just done that. I threw his arm over my shoulder, dragged him into a toilet cubicle and shut the door. He immediately sat on the toilet, as in using it as a chair, not in the way most people would think. He was holding back tears, so I immediately knelt to his side.

"How hard did she punch you?

"She didn't punch me hard, but her nails are sharper than knives!" he was trying so hard not to groan and wail, I felt bad for him.

I would have to nurse him slightly, but the pain he had was in the chest, and I found myself quoting my prep team. "I apologise if this makes you uncomfortable, but could you please take off your shirt."

I could tell this surprised him, but he did as he was told. Then I wished I had never asked him to do so, his wound was bad for just a shove. The punch would fade into a harmless bruise, but where her nails had dug in, there was a chance of there being a large scar. He clearly saw my face, and then watched it turn into pure embarrassment.

"It's okay, Kayla. It'll be fine. You should get back to training, though, there's only about thirty minutes before they'll send us to our rooms."

"I'm not leaving!"

There was a sudden sound of a door opening, footsteps entering the bathroom and the sound of two voices coming in, they were the ones of Aphrodite and that other girl.

"Why did you bring us here?" we heard Aphrodite say.

"No one will hear us here." and then of the girl.

The door slammed shut.

"What do you want, Angelina Fierce?" Aphrodite spoke with clear annoyance, but then I knew her name, Angelina."I could be painting my nails right now!"

That's right. Not training, not making allies, not getting your way, but painting your nails. That's the kind of person you were.

"I came to speak about something that's on my mind. You see, you and I are very similar. We both are really pretty, we both are in all the boy dramas."

"I don't chase drama, it chases me." I could hear her tone getting more aggravated.

"Same! Exactly! That's why we'd make good allies, don't you see? Look, I can already see that literally all the men have crushes on me."

Colin mouthed, "Heck, no", to me. I had to stifle a marathon of laughs.

"So we could use it to our advantage! We'll have so many male allies, and then we can just stab each one as they sleep. They'll be so lovestruck, they won't see it coming!"

"Mmhm." I could tell Aphrodite was considering it.

"So, what do you say? Me and you, against all of these idiots in the arena, we'll be unstoppable."

There was a pause before she made a decision.

"Fine." she said. "I could use an ally who wasn't a freak."

I heard their footsteps following out the door, until we heard it slam shut.

"They're the idiots in the arena." he said, a small sense of anger in his voice, however we have both learned the remedy to drain it. "They're semi-decent in battle, I've seen them in training, however they can't assume that all the men will immediately ally with them. I wouldn't over my dead body." he began to imitate them. "Oh, Coooolin, I feel so weeaaak, let me killll- I mean, kissss you!"

We started laughing so hard, I swear a tear rolled out of my eye.

After we came out of the bathroom, the training was closed and we were expected to go to sleep. Although he repeatedly assured me he could handle a night, I immediately lead him to the medic. I wanted to stay with him, however the nurse kept telling me over and over again that he would be fine and that I should go to sleep until I had to leave. As I left the room, I saw a brief shadow of a girl wearing a beanie, and watched it fade quickly. Lola now knew I had taken him to the medic! I rushed to my room to ask myself, why can't she just accept him for who he is? Why does friendship have to be so complicated?

But, was it? I couldn't sleep in my room, I kept tossing and turning around in my bed, longing for Colin to be there.

Longing for Colin to be there?

Colin...

I had feelings for Colin!