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Unfortunately, I knew that my little speech at the end wouldn't be enough to save me. I had failed miserably; I had tripped, I had missed every target, and I had looked like a total fool with the giant. When I emerged from the double doors, everyone was standing there waiting: Ash, Dianna, Ty, Thomas, Thray, Naevius, Cinna, and Tatiana were all standing there. They grinned widely when they saw me, and my stomach sank. I didn't want to talk to anyone.
"How did you do?!" Tatiana asked, burbling.
"Did you scare their socks off?" Ty asked, his grin lopsided.
"Who even wears socks anymore?" Dianna arched an eyebrow.
"I do," Ash said, jumping up and down. "I totally kicked butt, Rosa! I was like PEW and like THIS and like SCADOOSH and-" he was kicking and miming his actions.
"That's nice, Ash," I said, smiling weakly.
"It's true, I heard some serious THUDS coming from behind that door," Tomas said. I scanned the faces around me. They were all happy enough, but many eyes had a sort of sunken sadness to them that they couldn't shake. The only one that wasn't smiling was Naevius. Naevius was watching me with narrowed eyes, and I couldn't quite shake the feeling that he knew precisely what had happened. Naevius elbowed Cinna lightly, and whispered something in his ear.
I walked past them, gently sliding between Ty and Cinna's shoulders.
"Wait, where are you going?" Thray asked, following me a few steps.
"The bloke I was fighting was pretty wicked," I replied, reaching for an excuse. "I'm going to get some bruises tended to so that I don't wake up sore tomorrow."
"Fair enough," Cinna said. "I'll come with you and escort you to the medical wing. I opened my mouth to protest, but I didn't have the energy.
"That would be lovely," I conceded. I turned and continued walking, Cinna taking long and easy strides to catch up with me.
"What did you do?" he breathed, once we were far enough from the others. "Now isn't the time to be making enemies out of the Game Makers, Rosa."
"I know," I snapped. "They sabotaged everything. They needed a good lecture."
"Did you at least do well before then?" he asked. "Then they would at least remember that instead..."
"No," I cut him off. "I did horribly. It was a nightmare. Everything was weighted wrong. And then they sent this gigantic man after me and laughed every time I fell, and -"
"You let your anger get to you?" Cinna said, gentle.
I looked up at him, suddenly very tired. "Yeah."
"Your mother was the same way, you know," Cinna said.
"That's what they said," I snapped, suddenly angry again.
"But she won anyway," Cinna continued. "It's not a bad thing to be like your mother, you know."
"But I don't want to be her," I groaned. "I am my own person. I don't want to be punished for my mother's actions, I don't want to be treated like my mother, I don't want to have to die because of my mother, I don't want people to look at me and say 'Katniss Everdeen's daughter', I just want to be Rosa."
"Would you rather that she had done nothing?" Cinna asked solemnly. "Because that was the alternative."
"Well, no..."
"Then do not blame your mother. Just as this is not your fault, it is not hers. Blame no one but the game Makers and those in charge." Cinna watched me quietly.
"I blame them, trust me. They make me so damned angry..."
"Language," Cinna reminded me gently. "There are far more eloquent and powerful ways to express that you hate something, cursing is so minimalist and limited."
"You're right," I said, and then I proceeded to string together every angry, hateful word I could think of. "Better?"
"Do you feel better?" he replied.
I thought about it for a moment. "Yeah, actually. Not much, but... it's manageable," I sighed.
"Well, I tell you what. Do you actually need medical attention, or did you just need away?" he asked, giving me a once-over.
"I actually do," I said. "I've only got one day until the arena, which won't be enough time to heal." I gestured to the large, angry purple bruises already coming out on my arms, and my back burned from where the lumbering trainer had thrown me to the ground.
"Then I'll take you up there. After, will you join us in the central part of the District 12 floor? Everyone wanted to watch the scores together."
I thought about it for a moment. I really didn't want to, but I also didn't want to let the judges control my last few days. "Yeah. Sure."
"Good," he grinned. "I'll go get you checked in at the medical bay, then."
After the time I spent in the medical bay getting my bruises and sprains taken care of, I went back to the District 12 apartment. When the elevator doors opened up, everyone was sitting inside, waiting. The TV program was splayed across the wall, and a gigantic pause symbol hovered over Nero's frozen face.
"You're here!" Naevius said, standing up an clapping his hands together. "Take a seat, and we'll get started."
I nodded and sat in the only available spot, which was in between Ty and Dianna. As soon as I was settled, Naevius clicked 'play' and Nero's frozen face reanimated.
"Welcome people of Panem!" Nero said, and the camera panned out to show both him and Kit. "Kit, would you mind telling the people what they can expect from the Game Show tonight?"
"Absolutely, Nero!" she said, spinning her chair around once and tapping her papers on the desk to organize them. "Tonight, we will be hearing the scores for all of our tributes!"
"Is it like the Hunger Games scores?" Nero asked with false sincerity.
"It's similar, but this year it is a little different," Kit said, and launched into an explanation of how the scoring was going to work. "This year, each tribute will get not one, not two, but four different scores. They will get a score for Cunning, a score for Skill, and a score for Diversity. Cunning will consist of the candidate's intelligence and ability to come up with ways to defeat their opponent. Skill will refer to their ability in the given field, and Diversity refers to the number of different skills that the tributes have shown not only today, but throughout the training week. The final an fourth score is their Danger Score, which takes all of the above into account and a few other variables, which describes how much of a threat the tribute poses to other tributes. Each of these scores are on a scale of 13, to honor the number of Districts competing today."
"I see," Nero said, stroking his chin. "Well, it's a good thing we've got all these scores right here, haven't we!" He gestured to the papers on the table in front of them. The screen behind them flickered to life, and Crystal Pierce of District One flashed up on it, along with four numbers off to the side.
"Crystal Pierce is a wonderful girl from District One who has charmed her way into the heart of the Capitol with her white hair and dark eyes. She earned a Cunning set of 7, a Skill set of 10, and a Diversity set of 10. Her over-all Danger Score was 9," Kit read from the papers in front of her.
"That is very impressive, isn't it?" Nero declared.
"Not quite as impressive as Blaise Donnel," Kit replied. "Blaise, a bulky teen who says he absolutely loves kittens -" she gestured to herself and winked at the camera "- scored a Cunning Score of 5, but a Skill set of 10 and a Diversity set of a whopping 11. That's one of the highest scores on the sheet, giving him a Danger Score of 10."
"Quite amazing. Next we have Dianna, I believe? She's a lovely character to talk to," Nero replied.
"Indeed, Dianna Janson of District One. She earned a Cunning set of 10, a Skill set of 9, and a Diversity set of 8. Her over-all Danger Score was 9."
"Many of the folks back home don't know how truly spectacular these scores are," Nero said. "Perhaps some of the later scores will give perspective; District One is maintaining its Career reputation."
"Next is Onyx Cardenian," Kit said, settling back in her seat slightly. "With a Cunning set of 6, a Skill set of 7, and a Diversity set of 8. His over-all danger score was 7."
"Even that is above average, and he's the lowest from his district!" Nero exclaimed. "The average Danger Score was 6. On to District Two, eh?"
"Let's see if the Careers have maintained their step ahead," Kit replied.
"Maroon Ison of District Two had a Cunning set of 8, a Skill set of 11, and a Diversity set of 9. Her overall Danger Score was 10."
"C'mon, hurry up and tell me what I got!" Ty said, frustrated. He slammed his fist into his thigh, which made me flinch slightly.
"Ty Hawthorn... This was that striking lad who made the alliance with the Mockingjay's daughter! And his scores definitely match. He has a Cunning set of 7, a Skill set of 10, and a Diversity set of 10. His Danger Score was 9!"
And so they continued, but as the numbers dragged on I started to only focus on the ones who I knew.
Cir, the guy who flirted with Dianna and got a much deserved smack, had a Cunning set of 9, a Skill set of 5, and a Diversity set of 4 for an overall Danger Score of 6.
Maris, the Career from District 4 got a Cunning set of 7, a Skill set of 9, and a Diversity set of 6 for an overall Danger Score of 7.
Kiki, the tiny blonde girl from District 5 who was barely old enough to compete earned a Cunning set of 7, a Skill set of 4, and a Diversity set of 5 for an overall Danger Score of 5.
Mirabella Mason, the graceful girl from District 7, earned a Cunning set of 6, a Skill set of 10, and a Diversity set of 5, for an overall Danger Score of 7.
Thomas, who was very excited for his scores, earned a Cunning set of 7, a Skill set of 8, and a Diversity set of 7, for an overall Danger Score of 7. Considering that the other people from his district only had a Danger score of 5, he was pretty proud of himself.
Thray was perhaps the most interesting set of scores. His photographic memory earned him a Cunning set of 12, but he must not have done much as far as skills were concerned because he only earned a 3 for Skills and a 5 for Diversity. Maybe he just got in front of the judges and started reciting everything he had memorized about the games and plants and whatnot. His over all Danger Score was 6.
So far, most people had gotten a Cunning score of 6-7, and then others (with the exception of the Careers and a couple others) got a Skill set of about 5, with a Diversity set of 4 and an overall Danger Score of 5 or so.
Then, it was our turn. Allie's face flashed up on the screen, and she sat forward in her seat.
"Allie Fitswitch," Nero read, tapping his long finger against his paper. "This girl was quite determined to win, you know. She's got a lot of confidence, particularly after spending so much time with the Mockingjay's daughter. I like her. She got a Cunning score of 7, a Skill set of 6, and a Diversity set of 8. She's got a Danger Score of 7, according to the judges."
"Let's see... The Mockingjay's son. The one who is supposedly going to win, eh? He earned a Cunning score of 8, a Skill set of 6, and a Diversity set of 8 for an overall Danger Score of 8. Pretty good for a 12 year old, don't you think?" Nero glanced up at Kit, looking for feedback.
"I agree, he did better than some people twice his weight. He also did better than people who were six years older than him."
"Alright. Now the score everyone's been waiting for, the dangerous contestant... Drum roll please," Nero said. Kit obliged by smacking her hands on the table, a smile on her face. "Her scores are actually odd. You know, up until now the Danger Score had been more or less the average of the first three scores. But... Well. Her Cunning Score was a 12, he Skill set was a 2, and her Diversity set was a 6. By my line of thinking, that should have put her Danger Score at around 6 or 7, right? But she must have done something to show the judges she was terrifying. Her Danger Score is 12."
Kit and Nero looked at each other for a long moment, and then at the camera. They continued talking, but I had stopped listening. My score just kept running through my mind... Danger Score of 12. Skill set of 2.
Of course, I knew what the game makers had been thinking. That made everyone pay attention. Now, everyone was going to remember my score. That's why they had written Nero's script like that, and that's why they gave me such weird scores. Now everyone was going to remember me. Everyone was going to look for me. And everyone was going to want me dead, because a Danger Score of 12 was a serious threat.
I wasn't going to last very long.