Thank you to all those who have favorited this story, put it on alert and reviewed it. It's time for the individual scoring, and I really hope what April does comes off as badass in words as it looks in my head. I personally think it's pretty legit, but I'm a little biased. And if anyone is wondering, this story has twenty eight planned chapters to it. It could end up with more, but I'm pretty sure I have the whole thing plotted out.

Disclaimer: Sadly, Suzanne Collins owns the Hunger Games and everything involved with it, but I own my characters. So, don't steal them. Please? Thank you.

Cause I know I, I was born to be this way
Every day I try and I'll do everything that it takes
To become the one I've always wanted to be
Watch right now and you will see
The champion in me

Chapter 9: Make Your Mark

"April Hylet! Your brother has given me permission to come in there and drag you out of bed myself if you're not out here in ten minutes," Cicero called through my door, his heavy footsteps fading as he walked down the hall.

I had thought that with no training I would be able to sleep in, but it seemed my escort and brother had different plans. My eyes slowly fluttered open as I adjusted to the sunlight filtering through the larger window, just peaking over the large buildings outside the apartments. It was later than my usual wake up call, but I wanted to lie in bed a little longer. It wouldn't be much longer before I couldn't sleep in at all.

"Might as well get it over with," I mumbled under my breath as I pulled myself out of bed. The floor was cold against my feet, sending a chill all the way through me, but it made me feel a bit more alert and awake. I just needed one more boost. Moving to the bathroom, I washed my face quickly before splashing it with cold water. The tingle of the wash with the water was quite refreshing.

There was no point in putting on my training uniform just yet; one look at my clock told me that our individual sessions with the Gamemakers were still three hours away from starting. I had been trying to think about what I wanted to show them since I had left the gym the previous day. Working with a trident was already unique enough; I just needed to make myself stand out with my skills.

I opened the door just as Cicero was starting back down the hall toward my door, and he gave me a stern look, telling me that I needed to hurry. Following him into the dining room, he actually pulled out a chair for me, which I promptly sat in. I looked over the table and started gathering food onto my plate. Merrick and Xerxes were talking in hushed tones at the other end of the table, but I didn't pay them much mind as I started to eat.

"Sleeping beauty finally joins us, I see," Merrick teased as he ended his conversation with my stylist. "I was beginning to wonder if you were going to join us or breakfast at all. I've got important things to go over."

I stabbed a biscuit particularly hard as I put it on my plate for me to butter. "I'm sorry if I'm moving a little slow this morning. I don't have many days to sleep in much longer." With him having gone through the Games before me, I thought he would understand that.

Xerxes rolled his eyes at our sibling antics, and Merrick waved his hand nonchalantly. "You can sleep when you're dead."

My fork clattered onto my plate, the shock of his words causing me to drop it. When I lifted my head, it was clear that he had realized what he said, but it didn't matter. The words had already made their cut. Part of me knew that he hadn't realized what he was saying, but another part of me felt like he really thought I would be dead soon. That was not a comforting feeling.

"I didn't mean it like that, Apricot," Merrick said slowly, swallowing thickly. His blue eyes that were usually as icy as mine softened, and the regret in the room was almost palpable. I stared at him for a few moments, reading the silent apology he was sending me as the others in the room looked on. There wasn't much anyone could say after something like that.

The silent void was filled after Crest cleared his throat, pulling us all out of the solemn situation we had fallen in to. "What was the important thing you needed to talk to us about?" He asked, getting us all back on track. We didn't need to linger on the fact that the Games could very well result in my death, no matter how much Merrick's words had hurt.

Merrick coughed, settling back into his seat and composing himself once more. He had to be a mentor more than a brother at the moment, something I was actually grateful for. It didn't seem like anyone was sure how he would handle training his sister for the Games, Caesar and Claudius making a big deal of it multiple times on the television, but Merrick was handling the situation better than anyone could have expected. He was a brother when he needed to be and mentor when he was supposed to be.

"Right," he said, looking between Crest and me. "After lunch time, I'll escort you down to the elevator that leads to the gym. Your individual training sessions will start then. They'll lead you all to the cafeteria and you'll sit there until you're called. It's in the order of the districts, so you'll go relatively early, which is good." It made sense to want to be one of the earlier tributes to be seen. By the time the Gamemakers got to District Twelve, they would probably think there wasn't much they hadn't seen. "They'll call you in one at a time, and you'll have ten minutes to show them what you can do. April, combine your speed and your skills with the trident, if you can. We want you to get a high enough score to attract sponsors should you need something in the arena." Merrick turned to Crest then. "Crest, make sure to tone yourself down on whatever weapon you choose to use. I want you to get a high enough score for sponsors, but not high enough to attract attention to yourself. If you're going to help April in the arena, you don't need a target sitting on your back."

"Won't a target be on my back if I get a high score?" I asked, feeling like the answer was obvious. A target wasn't something I needed with half of my alliance not being in my favor.

Merrick waved off the thought. "The first two districts already want you in their alliance, so you'll be fine until we get to a lower number of tributes." Part of me thought I should tell him about my problems with District One, but I knew he would start questioning our entire strategy. There was always the backup plan of teaming up with Katniss; I just wasn't sure if he would need convincing of it or not. "Depending on how fast things move once you're in the arena, you may want to break off from them earlier than I did. I'll leave it up to you to assess that situation once you're in it."

Xerxes reached over, taking my hand in his for a moment and squeezing it comfortingly. "I'm sure you have nothing to worry about, dear. We all know you're capable of doing this."

The gesture wasn't something I had realized I needed until I felt the weight of his hand over mine. The weight of what I was getting into was slowly pressing down on me as the hours passed. Focusing on all of the individual aspects had kept me from seeing the big picture. My mind was always on training or listening to what Merrick said I needed to do or drifting off to think about what I least needed to be thinking about: my connection with Cato. The big picture was that all of those things were coming together to determine where I would finish in the Games. I was pretty confident that I would survive the Bloodbath, but the score that the Gamemakers gave me would truly determine how far the Capitol wanted me to get in the arena.

The feeling was daunting enough to keep me quiet for the rest of our meal while Merrick explained how the rest of our days would go until it was time to enter the arena.

Crest and I sat on the bench that had been labeled with our district number. Looking over at him, I could tell that he was completely focused and knew exactly what he was going to do once he went in. I had tried to come up with what I wanted to show the judges while we had eaten our meal in the apartment, but all I drew was a blank. It was hard to pretend that Merrick's remark hadn't knocked me for a loop, and it was still getting to me. That wasn't something I could focus on. I had to have some kind of game plan before I showed myself off to the judges. That was easier said than done with Cato looking at me over his shoulder every couple of seconds.

The benches were set up in the room we had eaten in during training with the odd numbered benches in one row and the even numbered benches in a separate row. That placed the District Two bench only three feet in front of me. If I reached out with my feet, I could easily kick it. That thought passed through my head multiple times as Cato kept meeting my eyes. Having him so close to me wasn't doing anything to help me focus, and I could tell he knew what his affect was by the customary smirk on his face. I had that feeling deep within me once more that all I wanted to do was wipe it off. Despite the infuriation I felt toward him, there was that physical pull in the air that I was unable to deny. Part of me wanted to find out at some point if it was mutual. Even with the night we had spent together in his room, he was hard to read at times.

My heart sped up as the door keeping us in the room hissed open and Glimmer's name was called. The blonde stood up confidently and waltzed toward the opening, sending a smile over her shoulder with a flip of her hair as the door closed behind her. I had half been hoping the door would malfunction and close on her, but the Capitol was too careful with their tributes to let anything happen to them before putting them in the arena. All the bloodshed had to be caught on camera; we would all make it there unscathed.

There was a steady interval of fifteen minutes between each tribute, Marvel following his district partner and then Clove not long after. I assumed the extra five minutes that wasn't allotted to the tributes for their session was to clean up whatever mess they made.

"Have you decided what you're going to do?" I leaned over, asking Crest, trying to take my mind off of my turn coming up soon.

"Like I'm gonna tell you," Crest glared at me. His reply shocked me until I remembered where we were. With every tribute around us, we were still acting like we weren't in an alliance together.

Collecting myself, I rolled my eyes, looking toward the door that was closed. I wondered if Clove was doing well with her session. I was sure she was. "I was just seeing if I could trip you up."

Crest scoffed, sitting up straighter. "Hate to break it to you, sweet cheeks, but I'm smarter than that."

I gave him an incredulous look at the nickname he had used but admitted to myself that it was better than him fake mocking me with my brother's chosen moniker for me. His shoulders moved up in a shrug before he was looking forward once more. I could see Cato chuckling in front of us, signaling that he had indeed heard our conversation, which I was fine with. Even if the idea of not telling Cato about the backup plan with Crest bothered me, it meant that he was buying the act. I hoped that meant everyone else was buying it, too.

It wasn't long before the first three benches were cleared of their occupants, leaving me to be the next person to go. Cato had shot me a wink as he had left for his turn, causing me to be even more flustered than I already was. I didn't like that I wasn't fully in control of how I felt, most of the day since I had woken up felt like an out of body experience. But I had been trained well by some great people, and I hoped that once I was in there, I could come up with something to impress the judges. It was my chance to shine, and I couldn't afford a mistake.

My name was called over the speaker and the door rose. I took as deep a breath as I could, trying to slow my heart down as I stood and walked to the opening slowly. The hallway that was usually so short during our lunch breaks seemed to stretch on forever, and I could feel my throat drying up. I stopped for a moment, taking another deep breath, trying to calm myself once more. The Gamemakers had already seen me in action before during training, so all I had to do was think of it as any other training day. That thought would be the thought that would get me through.

I emerged into the gymnasium and looked up to see the Gamemakers all looking down at me, looks of something almost akin to anticipation on their faces. That made me feel slightly better that they already thought I was capable of showing them something great. I just had to decide what that something great was going to be.

As I walked toward the spear rack where the trident sat, I scanned the rest of the gymnasium for anything I could use to show off my skill sets. Merrick had suggested that I show off my speed as well as my skills with the trident. Next to the multiple targets that moved and lit up to indicate which target was to be hit was the rock wall we had been required to navigate during our obstacle course. The rock wall was one of the toughest parts of the obstacle course by pulling the handles into the wall and out of the person's grasp or pushing them out away from the wall, trying to knock the person off. A thought entered my mind as I neared the trident that was waiting for me, and I hoped and prayed that it was enough to impress the men up in the balcony.

Grabbing the trident, I turned toward them and bowed my head for a moment, hoping that showing some respect, no matter how undeserved, would win me some brown nosing points. "April Hylet. District Four," I said.

"You have ten minutes," Seneca Crane, the Head Gamemaker called, starting my timer.

I took off toward the wall, hitting the button on the wall next to the targets and bringing them to life. As soon as I pressed it, I heard the sound of them turning, their positions moving every few moments, but I didn't look back to see them just yet. I turned on the mechanism for the rock wall on before collapsing the trident and sliding it through one of the belt loops on my pants to keep it from falling. I looked up the rock wall and found my destination in the form of the usual starting platform for that section of the obstacle course. I had been one of the quickest to navigate the rock wall section of the obstacle course, and I knew I could do it again.

Brimming with a new confidence after coming up with an idea to impress the men that held my fate in their hands, I began my rapid ascent up the rock wall, listening to the mechanisms behind the wall as best I could. If I could pinpoint when handles would disappear or push out, I could keep my momentum going and make it up to the platform in enough time to show my trident skills. A near fall scared me when I misinterpreted a handle and it pushed me out. I held on tightly until the wall pulled the handle back in, and I gathered my footing once more. The platform was within spitting distance, and I knew if my run was clean the rest of the way, I would make it through the individual session with flying colors.

With one last big push, I jumped from the handles onto the platform, pulling myself up quickly. The trident was out in seconds, extending to its full length as I watched the targets move about, waiting for one to light up. After a few moments, I could see the red of one moving, took a quick aim, and launched my trident toward the targets below. When the target turned back toward me, I saw that the trident had hit right where I had wanted it to, right through the chest. Smiling brightly, I looked up at the Gamemakers, many of whom looked impressed by my actions, and the weight that had been sitting on my shoulders all morning lifted away.

I climbed down from the platform the safe way, not wanting to deal with the rock wall once more. Deciding to leave the trident where it was, I made my way to the elevator that would take me back to the apartment to wait for Crest to get back and our scores later in the night. When the doors closed, I pressed the button for the fourth floor and waited for the elevator to move. It had only moved to the lobby of the building before it stopped, the doors opening to reveal none other than Cato. It shouldn't have surprised me to see him out of his apartment after his session, but it did.

"Impressive show," he said casually, stepping into the elevator with me. He pulled out the stop lever to keep it from moving. I was quite surprised when Cato stepped in front of me without fully invading my personal space. It was the first time he had truly kept the distance between us. "I'd say you have a chance at double digits tonight."

"I would say it's hardly fair that you got to see what I did for the Gamemakers, yet I'm in the dark when it comes to your performance," I countered. I assumed that he had seen my session the same way Merrick had seen me pin Cato to the wall during the first day of training. "Although, I'm pretty sure I can guess it had to do with swords."

Cato shrugged his shoulders, taking the smallest step toward me. With me leaning up against the back wall of the elevator, I had wondered how long it would take him to start to close in. It was times when he acted like he did in front of me that made me think the pull between us wasn't just on my end, making me feel more at ease about it and worry more about it at the same time. If it was mutual, it could cause trouble for one or both of us in the arena. It was already getting harder to think about being in the arena at all with him. I knew how dangerous that line of thought was.

"What can I say? You work with what you know, right?" He asked, reaching out to tug at a strand of hair that had fallen from the tie holding it up. "That more than proved your stunt on the first day wasn't just dumb luck."

"Or maybe I just got lucky all over again," I said with a playful smile but ignoring the tug on my hair. I had found that any time I was alone with Cato, if I didn't stay on top of the situation, it would easily be in his control. That wasn't something I needed in any sense.

"We both know that's not true." Cato paused for a moment, studying me carefully. It was almost like he was taking in every single detail of my face, my expression, my posture, anything he could physically read on me. I suddenly felt like I was on the train again, pushed up against the wall with Cato seeing straight through me. It was strange meeting someone who could read me as well as my friends could without knowing me for the years that they had. I would have to find a way to use that to my advantage.

Suddenly and shockingly, Cato took a step away from me and turned back to the panel of buttons. He pressed the number for the second floor and pushed the stop lever back in. The elevator moved with a sudden jolt, and in the blink of an eye, we were already stopping at his floor. He had started to step off the elevator without a second glance toward me but turned to lean in the doorway for a moment. The silence continued to envelop us, and it was strange at how comfortable it was. I chalked it up to the fact that Cato's gaze was no longer scrutinizing and examining but rather curious and determined. I couldn't linger on the thought long before he was turning on his heels and walking into his apartment.

"See you tomorrow, Four," Cato called over his shoulder.

An exasperated sigh left my lips. "It's April!" I yelled as the doors closed.

I accepted the cup of tea my brother handed to me as he sat next to me on the couch in the living area. It was nice to see that my brother knew me well enough to know that tea still calmed me down when I was nervous about something. In a matter of moments, Caesar Flickerman would be on our television, announcing the scores for our individual sessions with the Gamemakers.

"You have nothing to be worried about, April," Merrick said, ruffling the top of my hair. The gesture was just as comforting as it was annoying. "From what I heard, you did a pretty excellent job. I would have stuck around to watch, but you already had sponsors interested in you, and it was the only chance I had to talk to them."

Lucky for me you weren't there, I thought. Otherwise, I would be trying to explain what the hell is going on between me and Cato. The thought of even mentioning anything about the boy from District Two to my brother made me want to run and hide. Merrick was extremely protective of me, and if he thought there was something standing in between me and leaving the arena, he would freak out more than I knew he already was. "It was better knowing that no one but the Gamemakers were watching. It made it easier to convince myself it was just another day of training."

"Well, it technically was," Crest said as he walked up the stairs to the elevated living room. His hair was still wet from the shower he had taken, and he ran his fingers through the damn strands. "It was just a little more important."

Crest sat down next to me, and I couldn't help but scoff after taking a sip of my tea. "Just a little more important?" I asked, raising an eyebrow in his direction. "I'm pretty sure this fall under the 'extremely' category."

"What?" He asked, feigning ignorance. "It only determines whether or not we get potential lifesaving gifts from people that get joy out of watching children kill each other every year."

"Play nice," Xerxes said jokingly, taking his own seat in a chair by the couch. "We're not around the others anymore. No need to pretend to hate each other here."

I opened my mouth to reply, but the sound of Caesar's show coming from the television cut me off. Cicero and Echo hurried to their seats as Caesar flashed his signature smile to the camera. "And now, one of the most anticipated moments before we get to the arena. I have all of the tributes' scores right here in my hands. Each of them was rated on a scale of one to twelve, twelve being the absolute best and one…well, one being not so great." The smile never faded from his face, and I wondered what kind of work one had to get done to have a smile that big. "Here we go. From District One, Marvel, with a score of nine."

Marvel's face appeared on the screen, a nine moving around his face. Glimmer was next, receiving the same score as her partner. I found myself hoping that Cato was right about me getting double digits. I wanted nothing more than to beat both their scores. Cato was next with a ten, not uncommon for his district. Clove received a nine, surprising me. She was lethal with her throwing knives, and I couldn't imagine her doing something wrong enough to garner a nine. Both tributes from District Three scored a four, and I couldn't help but grimace until Caesar moved on.

"From District Four, Crest Bane, with a score of eight," Caesar said with a slightly smaller smile. "And from District Four, April Hylet with a score of…ten."

Merrick yelped in excitement as I felt him clap his hand on my shoulder, pulling me in for a hug and almost spilling my tea. I couldn't bring it in myself to care if he broke the damn cup. I had made a ten. The Gamemakers had been impressed and that was the final push I had needed. The morning's comment from Merrick was almost completely forgotten in the afterglow of that announcement.

"And finally, from District Twelve, Katniss Everdeen, with a score of…" Caesar paused long enough for us all to calm down and hear what the television was saying. "Eleven."

We all looked toward the television in shock. Never in my time of watching the Games had I ever seen anyone receive an eleven. In the past seventy three years, I was sure someone had gotten one, but not in recent enough history for it to matter. Our cheers were completely silent as the television turned off, and I knew Katniss had to be celebrating that victory.

One thing was for sure, Katniss Everdeen could prove herself to be a better ally than I had originally thought.

CATO OC CATO OC CATO OC CATO OC CATO

I would also like to apologize that this update took forever and a day to get out. Like I said, I recently started working two jobs, and it's hard to find time to myself. I've been trying to write on breaks so that way once I'm off work, I have less to do at home. I should be able to get an update out at least once a week, though. Twice if it's a good week. Once again, thank you all for being patient and reading and enjoying. Reviews are appreciated :)