Chapter 3
~Katniss~
After a few days on stopping at the other Districts we finally made it to District 2 and this place was huge. I would definitely have to explore this place sometime. I walked with Effie and the rest of the students and their Escorts inside the Academy to the cafeteria where they gave us a long lecture about the place.
"Good evening new trainees, I am Head Peacekeeper Tag. Here at the Academy we are none for turning even the weakest student into a top Career. There will be blood and there will be tears but we do not want to see any of it. If you cry we will only work you harder until you stop crying. If you bleed, you will bleed until you are done for the day unless it is a threat on your life. The only fighting we allow here is in the Hand-To-Hand combat station. Any fighting of any other sort will be punished in immediate termination and sent back to his or her own District." he explained pausing for a moment to see the reactions on everybody's faces. When he was satisfied he continued.
"In a few moments we will give you a tour of the Academy, showing you where you will be training and where you will be living in your time here. After that you will be split off into groups to meet a trainer, that Trainer will decide based on an evaluation whether they want to take you a their own personal Trainee. If they choose you, you have a choice to train with his or her other Trainees or in private sessions. When we are on this tour you will see other students in their training session. They will try to intimidate you, do not let that happen. Because then they will see you as something to pick on, they know every well about the no fighting rule and their punishment for it, so they tip-toe up to the line but never cross it. Do not let them get under your skin. Are there any questions?" he ended finally and nobody speaks up. He turns and gestures for everybody to follow him so we do, not wanting to make him mad.
He shows us the main training room where students practice with swords, knives, spears, hand-to-hand combat, and many other exercises. Next he takes us outside to show us the Dome. This is where they will train us to climb, hunt, swim, and any other outdoor activities that we might need to know. I saw an archery station in the Dome and in the Training Room that he called the TR that I was itching to get my hands on. Lastly he showed us the dorms where the students live during their stay. Avoxs come in weekly to get our clothes to watch them and clean out rooms. We were told that we would have a dorm room partner and it would be somebody from this group of students.
To get the rooms where we would meet with the Trainers we had to go back through the TR, when we walked back through there was different students in there, one particular one kept his eyes on me the entire time, he was tall, almost six foot and still growing, with blonde hair and piercing blue eyes that, if they were knives, would cut you through your heart, I rolled my eyes at the fact that he was trying to get under my skin and turned back to Peacekeeper Tag but not before seeing the glare of confusion mixed with anger cross the boys face. But now we were split up into groups to meet with a Trainer. And soon they called my name.
I'm in a lonely room in the Academy, the walls and floors are all steel, or rather look like it. I had changed into black pants, shirt, and boots on the train here. Now I wait for a man named Brutus to walk in and as if he was called, he does. He's a tall man with short hair and a thin mustache. He circles me as I stand there, being physically evaluated.
"Where are you from?" he asks coming to stand in front of me.
"Twelve sir." I say strongly. But he only makes a noise of disgust.
"A Twelve kid actually made it here? Are they desperate? A District Twelve rat." he comments which makes my blood boil.
"Don't insult my District." I say through gritted teeth, trying to control my temper. My father always said it would get me in trouble someday. Maybe that someday is today.
"Well what do you have to offer huh? Twelve is full of rats and thieves so it probably isn't much at all." That finally does it. He continues with insulting me and my District. My eye catches a glint of silver of a knife in his jacket pocket and I reach for it.
"Ah!" I scream as I grab the knife, shove him to the wall, and hold it at his throat, catching him by surprise.
"So you are a fighter." He says hoping that I will lower the knife, but I don't. "What's your name?" he asks calmly and I finally lower it.
"Katniss Everdeen." I say and he wrinkles his nose.
"That is in no way intimidating." He says stepping away from me and paces the room. "You need something to go with your spitfire attitude."
"My spitfire attitude?" I question with sarcasm in my voice but he simply ignores me.
"That's it!" he says with a snap of his fingers. "Spitfire."
"So that's what you'll be calling me from now on?" I ask for clarification.
"Yeah why?" he replies with a raised eyebrow.
"Well I don't want people knowing where I'm from so maybe they don't have to know my name either."
"Why don't you want them to know?"
"I will not sit there and let people ridicule me and my District and walked all over me because of where I'm from." I say with anger etched into every word like a carving on a wall. He nodded and starts walking around the room, running his hand across the wall.
"So if I were to pick you as my new student, which I haven't taken one on in a couple of years, would you train with my other students or in private?"
"In private sir." I respond.
"Why?"
"It's easier to intimidate someone and make them fear you if they don't know what they are up against." I say and he lets a grin play across his lips.
"Very true, I wonder why no one has figured that out yet." he says more to himself than he does to me. "You're quite smart aren't you?" he asks and I just nod. "Well that concludes the evaluation. I need to meet with other students and with the Board of Trainers and they will call you in one by one to tell you what will happen." he says and allows me to leave the room. I nodded and went back out into the room with the rest of the new students. Some of them were in separate rooms talking to different teachers so I sat down and just waited.
~Brutus~
"Trainer Brutus," The Head Peacekeeper Tag started and I looked up at him. "pick your new student from the shipment." he ordered. I look at the list of faces, see the one I want, smirk, and lean back in my seat.
"Katniss Everdeen." I say boldly.
"The Twelve Seam rat? Why?" they all said in disbelief.
"That Seam rat has the attitude of a fighter, she could be a survivor, and I want her." I demanded.
"Bring her in." Tag ordered another Peacekeeper.
~Katniss~
I sat there with my head in my hands as I sat with the other new trainees. And I only looked up when the doors opened to reveal a Peacekeeper who pointed to me.
"Twelve, come with me." I stood and followed him into the room with all of the Trainers sitting at an arched table. Peacekeeper Tag sat in the very middle.
"Katniss Everdeen, Brutus has chosen you as his new student. Do you wish to train with the his other Careers or in private session?" he asks.
"In private sir." I stated and he nods.
"Okay, it will be entered into your file, you may go." I am about to turn to leave but Brutus speaks up and stops me.
"Hold it," he commands me so I turn back to face everybody. "I would like to point out that Katniss doesn't want anybody to know where she is from or what her real name is, we have decided that her new name is to be Spitfire, for personal reasons." he says to everybody leaning back in his chair with his hands clasped together.
"Why would she want that?" another Trainer asked, I believe her name in Enobaria.
"Katniss?" Brutus says to me, allowing me to answer the question. So I repeat what I said to him.
"I will not sit there and let people ridicule me and my District and walked all over me because of where I'm from."
"And why do you want to Train in private?" She asks me with a raised eyebrow. I look to Brutus to see if he wants me to answer and he just nods so again I repeat what I said to him.
"It's easier to intimidate someone and make them fear you if they don't know what they are up against." I reply and she nods.
"Very true, how has nobody else figured this out yet?" she says surprised and looks to everybody else.
"Because nobody else has, that I've seen, has as much determination as her. They just want to kill, she wants to survive." Brutus says with an approving smile on his face.
"Okay that will be entered into her file as well. Katni- I mean Spitfire, you may go." I nodded and left the room with a small satisfied smile on my lips, which when the other pupils saw it gave them a piece of hope.
A/N: Again I am really sorry for not updating any sooner. But life happens, school starts, and sports practice is mandatory. I will try to update again as soon as I can. Hope u enjoyed the chapter. I feel that it was a short one and for that I apologize, the next one should be longer.