Before they reach the changing room everyone gets their sports clothes. For the woman that means a simple top and some tight leggings.
It turns out, the locker room is not divided into man and woman. They will all be changing in the same room and Effie can't help but feel a little uncomfortable at the very thought of undressing in front of Haymitch and his friend Chaff as well as many other men. To her luck, Portia seems to feel a little uncomfortable too, because her friend has left Cinna's side and is now standing right with Effie.
With all the people inside, the locker room is quite cramped. They look around and end up picking two lockers at the very left of the room. They push their way through the room, squeezing between the other men and women. Portia takes the one next to the wall.
Portia makes a great job at keeping a conversation. She giggles and talks about all the stuff Cinna told her. For example, that he used to be in a fashion school. That seems logical, given the great taste in clothes. Portia keeps giggling and Effie can't help but join in every once in a while. At least her friend seems happy about her partner.
"How is it going with Mister Rude." Portia asks, playfully hitting Effie with her elbow. "He does not look that bad." She winks and Effie gasps.
"Absolutely not." Effie hisses. That is now way of thinking about Haymitch. "He is infuriating, rude and ill-mannered. Not even mentioning the fact that he straight up ignored me the whole walk down here."
"He might be all those things, but he is handsome." Her friend says and she shakes her head. "Turn around and take a good look at him before you deny it."
Effie doesn't want to, but she knows Portia won't back off. She turns her head around rather slowly. It's hard to spot him but in a matter of seconds her eyes find him. His back is facing her. His shirtless back. That man certainly has a very good body. His back is trained. Broad shoulders and strong arms you could die for. Maybe Portia wasn't so wrong after all.
Every possible thought about him gets ripped out of her head the second she notices Chaff seeing her ogle is friend. Especially when Chaff leans to Haymitch and starts whispering something. Effie turns around to Portia faster than ever before in her life. Her face is heating up rapidly. She can practically feel Haymitch's smug eyes burning in her back. Or maybe, Chaff didn't even tell him. She doesn't want to think about it.
"So, was I right or was I right?" Portia chuckles next to her.
"Oh, shut up." Effie mutters and her friend raises an eyebrow at her. "Maybe he is handsome, so what?"
Portia doesn't answer but the grin on her face is enough to know that she thinks I-absolutely-told-you. Effie slips out of her suit and puts on the given shirt as well as the leggings. She also removes her necklace and earrings. It would be horrible if she lost or damaged one. Since Effie is rather quickly finished, she enters the huge training room as one of the first people.
The training room looks more like a huge hall. There are two large and two smaller sides making it a rectangle form. There are a few mats and punching bags all over the place. On each of the smaller sites are ropes as well as bars to climb.
Effie waits a good fifteen minutes before Haymitch finally enters the room. For being so quick in slipping out of his shirt he took an awfully long time to change the rest of his clothes. Chaff is by his side, smirking at her a little to smugly. Oh, she will never hear the end of this if he told Haymitch. Chaff gets dragged away from Haymitch by his own partner, leaving the two of them alone.
"So, what's the plan?" Effie asks enthusiastically.
"We will do the Fitness check now. It's a test. Push-Ups, Sit-Ups and Pull-Ups. After that there is a 300 metres sprint and a 1.5-mile run. You'll be rated with points. One point in each category is mandatory and in total you must have more than 12 points. We'll get into the deeper training after you pass." Haymitch explains and Effie grows a little worried.
"What if I fail?" she asks, already dreading the answer.
"You'll go home and find another job. So, you better manage, sweetheart." He says with a hard tone. "First thing is Sit-Ups."
Effie tries her best not to panic at his answer. She is sweating even though she is just standing there. This is her only try then. She looks over to the other teams. It calms her that she is not the only one looking a little worried. Portia doesn't even have a smile on her face right now. Effie hopes they both pass this test. They will certainly try their very best.
Haymitch and her walk over to a corner of the hall. He grabbed a timer and something to count as well as a page of paper. He scans it for a second and then turns back to her. "You'll have one minute to do as many Sit-ups as possible. No stopping. The second there is a pause it's over."
Effie nods and he instructs her to lay down. She pulls her hair in a ponytail while he sets the timer. One of his big hands is around her ankles, holding her firmly in place. The other holds the counting thing. The timer starts and so does Effie. Since she does work out every once in a while, it isn't that bad. Sure, her stomach starts burning and her back starts hurting because of the harder floor but she is doing great. The minute is over faster than she thought.
Haymitch scribbles something on the paper. "Pull-Ups next."
They walk over to a bar and Effie seems quite sceptical. The Sit-Ups were fine but this. She has never done this. Effie starts to worry, and her partner seems to notice her sudden mood change.
"As long as you don't lay a goose egg it'll be alright." He says, adjusting the bar high to Effie's size. She looks at him confused. "Zero. As long as you don't fuck up completely it'll be alright. You only need one. They don't count to the end points anyways. It's just the minimum one-point rule that could fuck you up here." he adds.
"Do you know how vulgar and rude you are?" Effie asks, pursing her lips. Truly, how did he even manage to work here? Isn't some kind of respect necessary?
"Yes, I know because you keep reminding me, princess." He snorts back. "Go on, we don't have all day."
Effie grabs the bar over her, gripping it tightly. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. With all the strength Effie has, she pulls herself up inch by inch until her chin hovers over the bar. She goes in for a second pull but fails. It's alright with her. One is enough. One means she didn't fail. Now she only needs to focus on getting more than 12 points in general.
"Really, the best pull-up I have ever seen." Haymitch chuckles sarcastically while scribbling on his paper again. He is making fun of her.
"Do it better then." Effie snaps back, not at all amused. It's easy for him to judge. He's just standing there.
"Tell me, Effie. Do you really want to know how many pull-ups I can manage or are you just interested in starring at my back while I do it?" He shoots right back, and Effie's face starts burning. Chaff did tell him then. "Crimson suits you." Haymitch smirks. He looks way to smug. "Push-Ups next. No time limit. Do as many as you can. Again, if you pause it's over."
They stay at the same spot. He sits a meter away from her and waits. This time it is certainly harder. Her arms are aching as she presses herself off the floor over and over again. Haymitch sometimes encourages her to Effie's surprise. She is still embarrassed that Haymitch found out about her staring but at least now she can say that her cheeks are red because she is exhausted and not because it's embarrassing . At some point she can't take it anymore and collapses on the floor.
"How am I doing so far?" Effie asks while trying to catch her breath. She hates the unknowing feeling of this whole thing.
"I'll tell you when we're finished. Go drink some water. Take a short break and then meet me outside at the track." Haymitch answers, already walking away from her.
In the locker room there is another door that leads to showers and toilets. Effie gets her bottle and fills it up with fresh water at the sink. She flinches at herself in the mirror. Her lipstick is smudged, and the mascara is also not where it is supposed to be. She tries fixing it as best as possible. Effie makes a mental note that she will not be buying things from that brand anymore.
Back at her locker, she can see Portia. Her friend looks just as bad as herself. Drops of sweat cover her forehead. Her eyes meet Effie's, and they ask each other how it is going. Apparently, Cinna did tell her how she is doing. Of course, Haymitch would make a big mystery out of it. That man lives to infuriate her.
Haymitch is already waiting for her. The 300-meter sprint will be first. Effie gets ready and when he tells her to go, she runs as fast as her little feet let her. Effie thinks she is taking way to long, but it turns out it is just her mind doing tricks. Haymitch looks quite impressed while she is panting for air.
"You ran track in school or something, sweetheart?" he asks, looking at his watch.
"Would you stop calling me sweetheart!" Effie hisses back at him. "I am not and will never be your sweetheart." And right as Haymitch opens his mouth she continuous. "Don't you dare say princess. Don't. You. Dare." She makes a great job at pronouncing every word very hard.
"Alright, alright." Haymitch grins, throwing his hands up. "You are a feisty one."
"Is that a good or bad thing?" she asks not quite knowing what to do with that information.
"I like it." He shrugs, looking at his paper again. "You ready for the 1.5-mile run?"
Effie has a lot of stamina. The run is not a problem. Her calves hurt and she has to take deep breaths but altogether she is doing great. Every time she runs past Haymitch would say something to keep her going in his sarcastic way. She likes it. The banter keeps her going.
She passes the test. Haymitch says she did a good job all together. Effie can't help a weird feeling in her tummy when he says it. She even gets a high five out of him. He tells her to get a good night of sleep because tomorrow they will start the real training and then he is off.
Portia passed too. Her friend came in running to her the second she stepped foot in the locker room. They talk and make jokes while changing clothes. Cinna informed her friend that the rest of the training is completely up to the partner. Sure, there are basics they need to cover but it doesn't matter in which order or how much they focus on it. That means they may not see each other much while the training process is going on. Effie is a little sad about that. She likes chit-chatting with Portia. But then again, they should really be focusing on themselves right now. They can spent as much time as they want together once they pass the training phase.
At home, Effie takes a long shower. The hot water washes away the sweat and relaxes her too. She gets in bed early. After today she deserves a good night of sleep. Haymitch's words repeat over and over in her head. She did great. She really did.
It takes nearly half an hour to get out of bed the next morning. Her muscles are aching, and they probably will do that for the next few days. She chooses light makeup since it would smudge anyways. Today she walks to the FBI building without Portia at her side. Since all of them passed the test, they get new workout clothes. A dark navy-blue shirt and matching pants with the FBI logo stitched at the back.
Haymitch thinks it's best if they start with basic punches and kicks the first day. He shows her how to hold her arms and what to avoid. The punch bags look softer than they really are. Her knuckles are hurting after just a few minutes. She does her best but Haymitch frowns a little, not saying anything though. Effie is quite surprised when both of his hands are suddenly on her waist.
"You need to keep tension in your stomach." He says, squeezing her sides a little. "It'll give your punches more strength and you certainly need that." He winces a little at his own sentence. "Because of your size. No offense meant, princess. Don't bite my head off."
Effie just rolls her eyes. There is a small smile on her lips though that she can't stop. By now she is getting used to his constant pet names. She doesn't snap at him anymore if he calls her one. Maybe, a small part of her even likes getting called that way. Not that Effie would ever admit that of course. She would never hear the end of that. It's already bad enough that Haymitch still hasn't forgotten the changing incident and keeps reminding her, laughing every time her face heats up yet again.
The next day he teaches her how to handle a gun. The FBI has a huge room just for shooting targets. Haymitch explains her how to hold it and how to aim. They train on her reloading skills because she needs to be able to do that blind as well as she has to reload with just one hand. Shooting the targets is a weird feeling for Effie. She knows it is not a real person but still she has to take deep breaths sometimes. She has to practice shooting in the dark too. One hand with a flashlight, the other on the gun. Her aim is not the best but it's not bad either. Altogether, Haymitch seems satisfied with her.
Outside there is a whole parkour. Effie has to climb walls, run up stair sets as fast as possible and crawl through things. It actually is kind of fun to do that. Haymitch would show her ways to make it easier climbing walls, since she is not the tallest person and can barely reach the top to push herself up. They would banter the whole time, Effie not backing down at any of their arguments.
Effie has to shoot at targets again after she completes the parkour. Haymitch tells her it is necessary for her to have a steady aim even when she is out of breath. In most cases the people they try to arrest will either fight back or run. They have to run after them and still able to fire if necessary. She learns how to arrest people and put handcuffs on a person who struggles to get free. It takes her a few tries, since she hasn't that much body weight, but with Haymitch's instructions she manages just fine.
One morning, on the way to training, Haymitch meets her in his usual clothes and not the sport ones. His face looks serious, and he doesn't answer her question on why they aren't training. Effie grows a little bit worried. Did she do something wrong? Is he going to kick her out? Yesterday they were doing just fine. He told her she was holding up great. Effie's heart is speeding up. She mentally prepares herself. He's gonna kick her out. He finally had enough of their bickering. All those thoughts fly through her mind.
Then he starts chuckling. Straight up laughing, his head falling back. "Truly, princess. I can basically hear that brain of yours." he is holding his tummy by now. "Here." He says and gives her a folder. She didn't even see he had something in his other hand.
"What is that?" she asks, taking it with shaky hands and instantly opening it.
"You're first case." He replies and Effie's eyes widen the same moment her mouth drops open. "Don't look so shocked. Did you think I was gonna send you home?" he shakes his head. "I'm keeping you."
I hope you enjoyed the second chapter of AGOD. I will be updating this story every wednesday and i can already tell you that all the further chapters will be much longer. I hope that's not a problem for you guys. Anyways, let me know what you think of this story so far. 33 :D