Hope- The 18th Hunger Games
Cecelia Dawning jumped as her alarm went off, blaring Panem's national anthem loudly enough for the people in District 12 to hear it. Well, at least she was awake. Glancing at her clock, she saw that she still had an hour before Savannah and Jayce had to be at Training. Good. She just didn't trust their escort, Mildred, the toucan-lady, to get their tributes there in time. The old lady was more concerned with perfecting her makeup than in making sure that two kids would have a fair chance of surviving the next few weeks. Capitol people disgusted Cecelia. She would like to see how they would do in an Arena.
Rolling out of bed, Cecelia headed straight to the shower. She knew that, if she didn't get up, she would fall right back asleep. Besides, water always had a calming effect on her. It helped to take her mind off the Games. But now, however, she couldn't afford to be thinking about anything but the upcoming Games. Savannah's and Jayce's lives would depend on her ability to stay focused during the next few weeks.
She envied the districts like 1 and 2 that had more than one Victor to mentor. Although 4 was a Career district, she was its first and only Victor, though its tributes almost always made it to at least the final 8. Just last year, Cecelia had honestly thought that Gwenna, her female tribute, could defeat Larrisa Mazely. Well, obviously, that idea hadn't worked out so well.
This year, Savannah and Jayce looked ready for the Arena. They had both been training for years, and they were both smart as well. Cecelia only hoped that their feelings for each other wouldn't get in the way of victory in the arena. Though they had tried to hide it, she had seen the glances across the table, the inside jokes, the way they had stood as a team during the Opening Ceremonies. At least they would both have the luxury of a secure alliance with each other. The Careers were notorious for betraying each other after the first couple of days.
Speaking of the Career alliance, Cecelia still had to meet with Brett and Kaleida from 1 and Larrisa and Curtis from 2 to discuss the finer details. She would probably do that during the tributes' lunch break. Though she wanted to put off dealing with the scatter-brained Kaleida for as long as possible, she knew that it was best if she just got it over with. She certainly felt sorry for Brett- he had to put up with her 24/7 during the years he had to mentor alongside her.
Stepping out of the shower and drying herself off, Cecelia threw on a navy blue summer dress and flats before stepping out into the hallway. Her feet traced the familiar path to the lounge of District 4's apartment. She paused to ask an Avox for a cup of coffee before she sank into one of the squashy blue armchairs in the main room. Sure, she could have just gotten coffee from the machine back in her room, but she always thought that the hand-made stuff was better. Besides, she hated the idea of machine-created food zooming towards her from Snow-knows-where in the Capitol.
A few minutes later, she gratefully accepted the coffee from the servant and took a sip. She smiled. French vanilla creamer and two sugar cubes. Her Avox knew her too well. Finishing her coffee quickly, she stretched and stood. It was time to go and wake Savannah and Jayce. They needed time to eat breakfast before they headed off to training. They would need the energy. Though she had won her own Games four years ago, Cecelia still remembered how tiring these three days had been.
She stopped to wake Jayce first. Boys were always easier to get up in the morning. They didn't throw hissy fits if you dumped a bucket of ice water on their heads. Which was exactly what Cecelia intended to do. That way, he couldn't just roll over and go back to sleep. As she stopped before Jayce's door, preparing to knock, her Avox showed up, grinning, with two full buckets of ice cold water. Her Avox really did know her too well.
Steeling herself for the fury of a teenage who hasn't gotten enough sleep, Cecelia hammered on Jayce's door before barging in. She figured that she would at least give him the chance to get up before she subjected him to the ice water treatment. Jayce would have no such luck, however. He was sprawled out all over the king bed, mouth open wide, snoring loudly enough to wake the citizens in District 12 who weren't already awake from Cecelia's alarm. Shrugging, Cecelia emptied the contents of her bucket on his head. His stylist would give her hell about his hair later, but she really didn't care.
"WHAT THE HE-!" Jayce roared as the water hit his head, cutting off some very colorful swear words. He looked rather comical as he sat, purple-faced and drenched, looking up at his highly amused mentor.
"Get up. There's more where that came from if you're not in the dining room in 10 minutes." Jayce blanched. He clearly wasn't fond of the prospect of more ice-cold water. "Kay, I'm awake, I'm awake! No more soaking necessary!" He said, scooting away from Cecelia. She smirked and nodded before exiting the room, grabbing Savannah's bucket. Scaring the pants off of one of the most dangerous tributes in the 18th Hunger Games was a wonderful way to start the morning.
It was a short walk from Jayce's room to Savannah's and, in no time, Cecelia was hammering on the door of her old room. A polite, "Come in," answered her. It was clear that she wouldn't need the second bucket, for Savannah was already awake, sitting on the edge of her bed, brushing her hair. Pleasantly surprised, Cecelia set down her bucket and moved into the room. It might be fun to dump water on the massive boys, but she had gotten some pretty nasty bruises from Gwenna last year. That girl had been able to throw pillows and hairbrushes almost as well as knives.
"What was that for?" Savannah asked, gesturing nervously at the bucket. "Oh, nothing…" Cecelia lied. "Just extra in case I need it for Jayce. He wasn't nearly as easy to get up as you were."
Savannah grinned. "Sure sounds like Jayce. When we were talking on the train, I went to grab some popcorn for us. When I came back, he was totally passed out on the couch. It took me ages to get him up, and then he just ate all of the popcorn. It was like he hadn't eaten in years!"
Cecelia nodded. She remembered how much her younger brother had been able to devour before he had been reaped. Obviously, he hadn't made it out. The pain of losing him had stopped stinging ages ago, though. "Speaking of eating," Cecelia said, "Breakfast should be in about five minutes. I'm going to go back and check on Jayce, so just take a right and two lefts and you'll be right in the Dining Room. Don't know if you remember it from last night. I know that I got lost on my first morning here. Somehow I ended up on the roof…" At this, Savannah laughed, looking like anything but a killer, before Cecelia left. She really did need to check on Jayce.
Surprisingly, Jayce wasn't still in bed when Cecelia barged into his room, not bothering to knock. Cecelia was about to leave, impressed, when she noticed a foot sticking out from underneath the bed. With surprising strength, she dragged the boy out from his hiding place. "Up. Now. Or it's no breakfast. And it's a long time until lunch." Cecelia said. She knew just how teenage minds worked. Hey, she had been a growing girl once, too.
From there, Cecelia headed to the kitchen and met Savannah there. Toucan-woman was obviously still asleep. Surprisingly, it only took Jayce five minutes to show up. They all ate quickly. It was traditional for all of the Careers to get to training early so that they could have a brief tactics discussion without the fear of being overheard by other tributes. Cecelia had seen some pretty stiff competition during the Opening Ceremonies last night, so this was essential.
After she had finished her plate of bacon and eggs, Cecelia stood up, with Savannah at her heels and a whining Jayce trailing behind. Apparently he hadn't had time to finish his third sausage biscuit. "Bring it with you!" Cecelia said, while leading her tributes through the winding hallways of the District 4 apartment to the elevator. Its golden doors slid open, revealing an empty compartment. Cecelia sighed with relief. She really didn't feel like dealing with any of the other districts this early in the morning. That was the tributes' problem. Two levels down, however, its doors slid open to reveal the District 2 tributes and one of their mentors, last year's victor Larrisa Mazely.
Larrisa and the tiny golden-haired girl, Natalia, were chatting animatedly, but they stopped abruptly when they saw that the elevator was occupied. The two girls and Sef squeezed into the elevator and the golden doors slammed shut. Sef murmured a greeting to Jayce and Savannah, but neither Natalia nor Larrisa spoke. Cecelia remembered Larrisa from the girl's Victory Tour six months ago. She hadn't been the most pleasant guest, so to speak. Cecelia didn't blame her for killing Gwenna- that was the way that the Games worked, after all- but had she really felt it necessary to list all of the reasons she deserved the crown more than her host's mentee?
Sighing, Cecelia made to move over to give District 2 a bit more room, but was spared the trouble as the golden doors opened once again, this time on the ground floor. Smirking when Larrisa appeared lost- after all, she had only been here for her own year as a tribute- Cecelia led the way over to the door leading into the actual Training Room. "Here you are, Savannah, Jayce. Remember what I told you last night, and good luck."
After Larrisa had bade farewell to her tributes, she raised an eyebrow at Cecelia, clearly lost as to what mentors were supposed to do while the tributes were in training, but too proud to actually ask for help. "Come on, Larrisa. Mentors have an observation room that's just around the corner," Cecelia said after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence. A ghost of a smile crossed the girl's lips as she nodded, following Cecelia.
The black-haired woman led the younger mentor up to a colorful display of flowers. Pulling a vase to the side, she revealed a touch screen, to which she pressed her palm. A door disguised to look like part of the wall slid open, and the two women hurried into the Observation complex. Brett and Kaleida from District 1 were already there, with Kaleida talking animatedly about what she planned to wear to the interviews and Brett looking miserable. His face brightened when he saw Cecelia, however. "Hey, C, how are ya?" He asked, talking over his dimwitted partner.
"Pretty good, you?" Cecelia replied, sitting down in one of the comfy rolling office chairs provided for mentors. Brett rolled his eyes in return.
"Could be better…" he said, with a meaningful glance at Kaleida. Cecelia smiled. Brett wasn't always the ruthless Career he appeared to be. Then again, Cecelia wasn't either. As for Larrisa, well…
Speaking of Larrisa, Cecelia could see that her best friend Natalia seemed to be taking charge of the Career meeting. Each of the Observation Rooms in the complex had one giant window looking into the center of the room as well as dozens of screens focused on each of the stations so mentors could always keep an eye on their tributes. When Cecelia pointed out that their tributes' meeting had started, all of the mentors hurried to gather around the window so that they could watch and make sure that things went smoothly.
Inside the training room, the Careers were gathered, sitting in a circle at the center of the room. Natalia from District 2 spoke first. "So, we all know why we're here. To form the Career alliance. To crush those weaklings from the outlying districts. I assume we're all in?" The rest of the Careers nodded solemnly, except for Jayce.
"Wait, we're forming an alliance? I thought this was an old ladies' sewing circle…" he muttered sarcastically, earning himself a death glare from Natalia. Cecelia smiled. It was good that Jayce wasn't letting District 2 take over the alliance.
Sparkle clearly hadn't understood that Jayce wasn't serious. "Of course we're forming an alliance! We always do! Don't you know that?" She said, her voice shrill and piercing as she leapt to her feet. Even Kaleida winced.
"No, I'd never heard about a Career alliance before now. Have any of you?" Savannah asked sarcastically, catching on to Jayce's game and exchanging a meaningful glance with him. They both burst out laughing, causing Sparkle to match Natalia's facial expression.
"No, seriously guys, we have to be serious!" Sparkle whined, putting her hands on her hips and looking to her district partner Sterling for support. He rolled his eyes.
"Yes, Sparkle, we know. Okay?" He said to her, speaking slowly as if to a small child. She nodded, appeased, as she sat back down. Brett nodded in approval.
"It's good that he learns how to deal with District 1 bimbos early. If not, well, dying in the Arena might be kinder than living out the rest of his life with them…" he said to Cecelia. He really didn't care if Kaleida heard him. But, of course, she was too busy applying an extra layer of lip gloss to notice that anything out of the ordinary had happened.
Back in the Training Room, the tributes returned to their discussion of tactics, this time with Sef leading. "I take it that we're following the standard Bloodbath strategy?" This time, all of the tributes nodded and said in unison, "Grab a weapon, kill the opposition, loot the Cornucopia." The same phrase that had been drilled into each of their minds since birth. The same strategy that had gotten all of their mentors through their own first days.
Jayce then took the lead. "After that, it really depends on what the Arena is. For a typical environment, we'll hunt that night and return to guard the Cornucopia at dawn. Everyone good with that?"
"Yes, District 4, we know. We aren't quite as dumb as fishmongers are," Natalia said coldly, clearly not pleased about not leading the discussion.
"I think that Natalia's actually right for once," Savannah piped up, surprising Cecelia. The girl hadn't seemed like the type to suck up to people. "We all know the standard Arena strategies. The only variables in the Games are the tributes and the Gamemakers. Seeing as we have no way of predicting what the Gamemakers will do, I think we should plan around the different tributes. How we should take down the stronger ones, who we should invite into our alliance, things like that."
The rest of the Careers nodded in agreement before Sterling spoke up. "So, let's go through who the threats are. I'd say that big ones from 3 and 10 and maybe the one from 7 are the only ones who could possibly stand a chance against us."
"Don't be dumb, Sterling. Power isn't always determined by size, you know. Did you see the little one from 10? I don't think that throwing up on Snow's shoes was exactly an accident," Savannah said. Now that Cecelia thought about it, the girl could be right about Gray from 10. She was sure that a girl who had grown up on a ranch would have a little more willpower than that. The only question was, why would she be dumb enough to anger the President of Panem?
"I know exactly what I'm saying!" Sterling retorted. "I could squash 10 into a pulp with my bare hands. Size makes might. Simple as that."
"Excuse me?" Natalia said in a cold, deadly voice. Though the girl was indeed tiny, she looked dangerous. Personally, Cecelia was very glad that the glass in the window was both bullet-proof and knife-proof. District 2 was notorious for its female tributes' skill at ranged weapons. She had seen the deadly accuracy with which Larrisa had thrown her knives at Gwenna last year. One in the heart, one in the gut, and one in between the eyes in a matter of seconds. She was dead before she even knew what had hit her.
"Okay, sorry, your highness," Sterling said, throwing his hands up in defeat. "So, who do you think we should watch out for?"
"Hmm, let's see… Claude from 3, the girl from 5, boy from 7, both from 10, and the boy from 12," Natalia replied, ticking them all off on her fingers.
"What about the boy from 9?" Savannah asked in a friendlier tone. "He's nearly as big as Jayce. No offence, but he could probably do some damage if he got into close range."
"He won't get near me. No one will." Natalia said, her eyes flashing with anger. "Besides, didn't you see him during his reaping? Looked totally dead. He will be on the first day."
"I'll make sure to get him during the Bloodbath if that'll make you feel better, Savannah," Jayce said, grinning and elbowing her playfully in the side.
"I'd like to see you try," Savannah challenged, smirking. "But really, we do have to focus. The others will be here soon. We know who we're watching out for. Do we want any of them in our alliance?"
Natalia started to speak, but Sparkle cut her off with a cheerful greeting. "Hi, Rosalie!" She said, her voice as high-pitched as ever. District 5 had just entered the Training Room, with a beautiful 15-year-old girl leading and a taller boy of the same age trailing behind. Natalia leaned over to whisper something to Sef, who nodded. Whatever she had said had been too quiet for the microphones to pick up, but her words soon became clear.
"Hey, District 5, over here!" Natalia called. "No, not you, just the girl." The boy, Vince, hurried off to a corner, scowling, while the girl, Rosalie smiled and walked over. She plopped down right in between Savannah and Jayce, earning herself glares from both of them.
"So, I know we don't have much time before everyone else gets here," Rosalie said, keeping her voice low so that Vince couldn't here. "Do you want me in your alliance or not?" The girl sure had guts to talk to the Careers like that. She could be making some very powerful enemies. But Natalia seemed to approve.
"Yes. You in?" She asked, not even bothering to look for consent from the other Careers.
"You bet!" Rosalie said, grinning.
"Good," Natalia said, nodding. "But you'd better be useful. If you're dead weight, then you'll be just that. Dead. Get the picture?" Rosalie nodded in return, not fazed in the least. She seemed to be fitting right in with the Career pack. Cecelia wondered just how long that would last in the Arena.
Just as Natalia started to fill Rosalie in on what they had discussed earlier, the tributes from 3 and 9 entered. Glancing at her watch, Cecelia saw that training was officially due to start in about 10 minutes. The Careers wouldn't be able to get anything more done. But they had the basics covered, so that would just have to do. Getting up from her chair and stretching, Cecelia walked out of Observation Room 1 and headed down the hallway to the vending machine. She needed to use this opportunity to stock up on snacks before the real fun of Training began.
A/N: I know, I know, you all thought that Training would be this chapter. To be honest, I thought that it would be, too. But then I decided that I needed to fill you in on what the Careers are doing and it ended up waaay longer than I was expecting. Hope you liked it anyways! Thanks so much to all who have reviewed. The next chapter will be up soon .
~ Lily