Hello once again! Thank you so, so much for reading. This chapter was really short for a while and then ended up pretty long. If it's choppy, I apologize but there are a lot of things happening in it. The training and chariots should be next but I keep rewriting them. You get to actually meet the other tributes and get Tate's observations of everyone. I also love the chariots. I hope you aren't too mad at the twist I threw in at the end. I have a plan and everything happens for a reason in this (well, most of the time anyway). What do you think of their plan? Do you think it will work?

There is a ton of character interaction in this chapter. Bryson is definitely growing on me as a character and he's really getting fun to write- I hope you love him as much as I do, and the same with Tatum. Hit that awesome little review button and let me know. xo-prettypinkcheer5

One-on-One

Bryson and I sat there for a couple of minutes. Cordelia, Gage, Damien, and Lionel (another Victor) were full on screaming at one another. The four of them were arguing about what I had done, what everyone's next step should be, but beyond me, I think they were fighting for a piece of themselves. I couldn't imagine not only winning the Games, but then having to send two kids from your home district, just to watch them die. I think they were fighting for pieces of themselves.

"Still want to train?" Bryson asked me, calling my attention away from our mentors and victors that were falling apart. He had gotten up and was now standing.

"Yeah," I said getting up. We walked over to a mat, away from all of them. They were still arguing.

"If they can't keep themselves together, how are they going to keep us alive?" I asked.

"Maybe we'll just keep ourselves alive. Come on," He stated. We walked to the center of the mat.

"Hand-to-hand combat?" I asked.

"Sure," I smiled at his response. He stared at me.

"Something tells me this is going to be fun." He added.

"Alright, bring it." I told him, waving him towards me. He smiled as he charged me. As I ran and jumped kicked towards his chest, he slid down on the ground, so he went under me. I landed and he was already up. He grabbed me from behind. Why was everyone always trying to do that? I jumped up and with all the force in me fell backwards. The two of us fell to the mat. I quickly rolled over to get on top of him. He threw me off of him. The two of us got up, waiting for each other's next move.

"You're quicker and stronger than I thought." I admitted.

"I like to have that element of surprise." He replied. I jabbed my fist and round-house kicked him in the shoulder. He fell to the ground. I dove on top of him but once again he tossed me off of him.

"How do you keep doing that?"

"Why do you keep doing that?" He asked. He lunged for me but I did a back handspring and kicked him in the process. He held his jaw. Bryson kicked me, square in my stomach. I had to catch my breath. He also rammed his elbow into the side of my head. I fell to the mat. While I was there, I swiped the floor with my leg, kicking his legs out from under him. I jumped up, as did he. We both stepped back a couple of feet, making the distance between us greater. I ran and did an aerial to throw my momentum forwards. We were heading straight for one another.

"Stop!" Someone yelled. Raven and Lionel grabbed Bryson while Damien grabbed me by my hair and yanked me backwards.

"What the hell?" I screamed. Going for the hair was totally uncalled for. I was tempted to kick him in the balls.

"We can't have the two of you killing each other." Cordelia stated. I threw Damien's hands off me. Raven and Lionel also let Bryson go.

"You really do move fast." I told him.

"You're tricky." He told me.

"How so?" I asked.

"Not tricky so much as unexpected. When I thought you'd go for one shot, you'd hit me from another. When you kicked, I could have sworn you were going to punch." He stated.

"You two should be a force to be reckoned with." Lionel stated.

"So, how about you train together and not fight each other, but fight together instead." Damien said. They made us run drills together. We put everything on display for each other. I saw how truly scary he was with a spear. At one point I threw up a coin and while it was still flipping he hit it. With a rope, he set up a snare and various other things I didn't know a rope could turn into. Then, it was my turn to be on display. I showed them everything I had.

"You're deadly with those things." Bryson has referring to the trident and knives.

"I had a good trainer." I said, looking at Gage. I sat down at the table we were all sitting at now that we were finished showcasing our skills.

"He was your trainer?" Bryson asked, shocked.

"Yeah, for the last couple of years. I just don't want to come off that prepared. I want to catch the Careers off guard. Come off as strong but kind of a ditzy, cute girl who happens to be good with a trident and decent with knives." I admitted.

"There it is. That's my entire strategy." I laid it out for him.

"I want to be the strong guy that people expect from 4. I want to be charming in front of the camera when I get interviewed." He said. He was going to act like the typical Career.

"I think it'd be smart to present them together, as a united front?" Cordelia asked.

"They can be 4's golden pair. Bryson, the charming, daring Career, and Tatum, the beautiful, feminine survivor." She said, conjuring up a story.

"Survivor?" I asked.

"You're bred from a line of Victors. It doesn't matter if you didn't know your great*grandfather or not. Which, I suspect you did since you were * when he died. You're a second generation tribute."

"And on top of that, your father died. They have to know you were close to him by now. Play up the survivor mode with you, to give an edge. You can play up the girly part or whatever it is you want to play up." Gage stated. We sat around talking strategy for a while. We ate dinner together that night.

Later on, we had to meet with the prep teams again. We told them how the two of us were supposed to be presented. They worked on my hair more, adding in more blonde colors. They applied more lotion to 'smooth out' my skin color. While Calypso was smearing it all over, I stopped her.

"This isn't going to make me look orange like President Cromwell, is it? If the answer is yes, I want it off, right now." I told her. She laughed.

"I always thought he did use too much." She admitted.

"What exactly are you doing?" I asked her. This time, the assault team was gone and it was just her.

"Making you District 4's golden girl. I need to amp up your makeup and make you powerful and strong and at the same time glam and feminine. Essentially I'm making you the perfect combination of sexy and cute." She explained.

"What do you think of me?" I asked her. She had no reason to lie to me.

"You're a lot stronger than the other tributes we've had from 4. Something tells me you have a couple tricks up your sleeve. I think you'll go really far. I don't know any of your strengths or anything like that." She stated. She was brushing out my hair.

"Personally, I'm pulling for you." She stated, pushing me out of the bathroom. I met the rest of our growing crew in the hallway, outside of my chambers. Bryson and I were shown where we could go, and the basic layout of the area, and how to use the elevator. Eloise loved showing us 'the ropes'.

After another ridiculously good meal, as a team, we gathered and watch previous Hunger Games. I got to see Finnick, Gage's three-times-great-grandfather. I had only seen pictures of him, but seeing Finnick in action was something else entirely.

"You look so much like him." Bryson told Gage.

"You fight like him." I told him. Gage caught my eye. I wasn't sure how to take my comment. Just two years later we watched Annie's. She was a tragic, little girl. You could actually see the moment she snapped. I stopped watching, she was just too sad to watch. A couple of years later we watched Katniss and Peeta's. They were the two that set off the revolution. He didn't kill a single person, no one had died by his hand. There was a girl who grabbed a bunch of berries from a pile he had, neither of them knew the berries were poisonous.

"I need to go to the eatable plants station." I admitted. Katniss was a powerhouse to be reckoned with. She was crazy with a bow. I'm not going to lie; I had a girl-crush on Katniss. I want to be her in the arena; she was so fierce. You could tell she really loved Peeta. We watched the Quarter Quell, which caused an uproar at the time. There were very distinct packs and teams for this one. The ending of the Games was edited, but Gage had found out the truth because of his family. We watched two more but I ended up passing out before the last one was over. I woke up and I was moving.

"What's going on?" I asked, rubbing my eyes.

"Put me down." I demanded.

"You fell asleep and they don't particularly like you sleeping random places here." Damien said.

"Put me down." I repeated. He nearly dropped me.

"Why didn't you wake me?" I asked him.

"You were actually sleeping, that's something you won't get a lot of in the next couple of days-slash-weeks." He stated. I opened my room.

"Tatum," Damien said. I caught the door.

"What?" I asked, just so ready to fall on my bed and sleep. He took a step in my room, more than that; he actually leaned in close to my ear.

"I know about you and Gage." I grabbed him and pulled him into the room.

"How and when did you find out?" I asked. He pulled me into the bathroom and turned on the shower.

"What the-"

"They can't hear us through the rain." He stated.

"I suspected something between you two on the train. The way you two act around each other isn't anything out of the ordinary, but there are little comments and little looks you two exchange." He paused.

"The loaded gun when I knew for sure, I had the room next to yours on the train." He stated. I had to think back then I realized our last night on the train together. My eyes got wide. I wanted to say something but I was embarrassed and slightly scared.

"I'm not going to say anything. He's going to do everything to bring you home, and I'm scared what he may face because of that. But more important, you can't worry about him when you go into that arena." He told me.

"I know." I said.

"That night, that was it. We're done. It's done." I told him. I looked at the floor, convincing myself that we were in fact done. I hadn't realized that we had been exchanges looks, minus the one from earlier. There was a banging from the door. I looked at Damien.

"Turn that off, I'll get it." He commanded me. I shut off the shower and walked out to find Gage, Lionel, and Cordelia.

"What are all of you doing here?" I asked, confused.

"We need to talk about what Cromwell told you." I sat on the bed. All I wanted to do was crawl under the blankets and pass out. I didn't want to analyze what Cromwell told me, in what tone, what I said, and how I was going to act around him, in front of camera, etc. Damien and Gage sat on both sides of me.

We went over the tiniest details, which didn't seem like a big deal to me. I guess any exchange with President Cromwell was a big deal.

"Will he go after my family?" I asked. I thought of my sisters and mother. Moira was my rock, we always fed off of each other. The twins (Bianca and Lela) two of the strongest girls I know. Then, Violet and Eliza. I would be devastated if I made it out of the Games just to have any of them taken from me.

"I don't know." Lionel said. None of them really seemed to know.

"Can you send them a message? You have to make sure they're okay." I told Gage. I knew he could get it to them. He nodded his head. I thought about what Bryson had told me about Bianca, how smart and funny she can be. All of my sisters were strong, but I don't know if they could survive anything that President Cromwell throws at them. I hoped they would never have to find out. They started talking again; I tuned them out.

"I have a question." I stated in the middle of Lionel and Damien talking. Not caring what they were talking about.

"Why did you react the way you did when you saw him?" I asked Cordelia. Her eyes met mine. All the guys looked at her.

"Act like what?" She asked.

"Now you're the bad liar." I stated. "Your hands immediately went into fists and the look in your eye looked like you were about to pounce on him and start beating him. Don't get me wrong, I would have liked to see it, especially after what he said after me, but why?" I asked her.

Cordelia's nostrils flared as she took a deep breath. She looked at the others.

"He took away the one thing I wanted most. That's all I'm saying." She admitted.

"What was it?" I asked, curiosity got the best of me.

"I'm not sharing that with you. Nor will anyone else." She threatened the rest of her fellow Victors. This, of course, only made me want to know more. They exchanged looks and I saw a sadness fill Lionel's eyes. I rubbed my eyes and simultaneously yawned at the same time. I put my head down on Gage's shoulder. While they started talking about training tactics for tomorrow.

"Could you pay attention?" Cordelia snapped at me.

"I'm exhausted. You are the ones that barged into my room. It's not like I'm really even involved or being included in this lovely meeting your conducting. You are all just talking about what I should do, what I shouldn't do, how I should act, what might happen tomorrow, what may happen in the Games. Honestly, you can have this little meeting in one of your rooms while I sleep." I stated.

Before I knew it Cordelia's hands were wrapped around my throat. Since I was nearly sleeping, it took a minute for my senses to kick in. I punched her. It didn't loosen her grip around my throat. She was digging her nails into my skin now. I grabbed her by her hair and threw her where I was sitting. I grabbed her head and as hard as I could slammed her head into the wall. It must have discombobulated her long enough for her to loosen her grip. Gage ripped me away from her. He was holding me back; knowing I wanted to go back after her. He had snaked his hands under my armpits and locked his hands behind my neck. I could flail my arms all I wanted but I couldn't slap him to let me go. Damien and Lionel had to control Cordelia. Her eyes were wild with rage. She reminded me of a junkyard dog, seething at the mouth. This is what she must have been like in her Games.

I was surprised at Lionel, out of everyone. Gage was the youngest Victor, and seemingly obvious the strongest. Damien was more the calculated one. It was Lionel who literally close-lined her and grabbed her before she could react again. I'm not really sure where that came from. He went from being a mild-mannered, graying, older man to nearly body slamming a girl, more than half his age.

"Get her out of here." Gage yelled. Lionel grabbed her by the neck and dragged her out of the room. Once the door was shut, Gage released me. Damien just stood by the door.

"What is wrong with her?" I screamed.

"You can't say stuff like that," Damien started.

"Say what? I didn't call her a crazy bitch even though that's what she is. I told her I didn't see the point in this. I'm tired, I want to sleep; well, I did before all this anyway. You don't need me to have a conversation about me, you all weren't even talking with me or to me. You should have just let me pass out." I snapped.

"You need to calm down." Damien told me.

"Oh please," I rolled my eyes at him. I was now by the mirror, surveying the damage Cordelia had caused. She really had dug her nails to the point where it would bruise before morning. Maybe Calypso could work some magic to get rid of the red marks and bruising.

"You should calm down." Gage said, looking in the mirror, as well.

"Don't you start too," I told him. Damien gave me a cup of water. It hurt to swallow. I touched my neck tenderly. I handed the cup back to Damien while still looking at the wounds in the mirror.

"I am surprised at how quickly you fought back." Damien said.

"For someone half asleep on my shoulder, you punched her, almost as soon as her hands were around your neck." Gage added.

"You think well on your feet, that's a good thing." Damien stated. "It should really help you in the Games."

"Just go," I paused. "Both of you, I'm tired." I sighed. The two started for the door.

"You want to go check on Cor?" Gage asked Damien.

"Check on her? What for?" I asked with a huff.

"You did smash her head into the wall. It is possible you gave her a concussion." Gage stated.

"Good." I replied. Without another word (thankfully), Damien left.

"You going to be okay?" Gage asked me. I could tell he was trying to be considerate and that he was concerned. Most times he acted like this, I found it adorable. Now, I found it annoying.

"I'm fine." I shook off his hand on my shoulder. He awkwardly crossed the room, for the door.

"Damien knows." I said, sitting on my bed, Indian-style.

"Knows what?"

"He knows." I repeated.

"About us," I mouthed. If Damien pulled me into the bathroom and turned the shower on for people not to hear, then I certainly was not going to let the cat out of the bag.

"Oh," He said, surprised.

"Talk to him about that." I told him.

"Right. Get some sleep minnow." He said opening the door.

"You too shark," I called as he left the room.