Chapter 5
~Katniss~
I crumpled to the floor after falling off the rope course for the first time the next day. I slammed my fist on the floor and groaned. I was having a private training session with Brutus and it wasn't going to well in my opinion.
"Get up." he ordered. I stood up quickly and looked at him. "This is the first time you've fallen off this after doing it several times. Why?" he demanded.
"My hands are getting raw from the ropes." I retort. He looks at me and nods.
"Fine. Knives now." he said pointing to them. I walk over and pick one up, balancing it in my hand and getting a good grip. I stare at the target a good ten feet from me. I take my stance and throw it, hitting the third outer ring, bu with a good stick. He huffs behind me and steps toward me.
"Get in your stance." he says harshly, so I do, not wanting to make him anymore mad. "Widen your feet about an inch." I comply then he puts another knife in my hand. "Show me your grip." he orders and I take a grip on the knife. He slightly adjusts it before stepping back. "Now throw it." he says and I do. It lands in the ring outside the center of the target. So close. I think to myself. I turn back to look at him for any critiques and he just nods. "Now just work on your aim." he says and I turn back to continue throwing them, soon I am hitting bulls eye after bulls eye.
"Well about time." I say out loud.
"Back to the rope course. The lunch bell should ring in five minutes. Climb it in three and then we'll be done until after lunch." he explains. And I nod walking over to it. I have a two hour session with him just before lunch then three hours later after lunch, I have a four hour training session. And in the time that I'm not training with him, I am running on the track outside, doing laps in the pool to improve on swimming, or I'm in the weight room improving my strength. These skills I don't mind people seeing, because they won't help me kill anything. I stand at the beginning of the rope course and wait for my signal to go. He pulls out a stop watch and starts it and I take off, climbing up, down, around, and over different ropes to get to the finish. When my feet touch the finish panel a sound goes off in the room signaling my finish. He clicks the stop watch and reads off the time.
"Two minutes and fifty five seconds. Very good. You may go." he says and I run out of the PTR, the Private Training Room, and head to my room quickly to change out of the sweaty clothing. I pull on brown cargo pants, brown combat boots, and a dark blue t-shirt, fix my braid before I head down to the lunch room. As I grab my food and sit down by myself waiting for Luna to get here, I take notice to the TTT, which I've learned that means Top Trainee Table, where two boys and a small girl sit, just the three of them. I just know that the girl and the other boy are Enobaria's top students, while the blonde boy is Brutus's. I don't know their names, but I'm sure I don't want to if they are the Top Trainees, they could kill me easily. But some people I guess aren't that smart I think while some people come up and tease the girl about something. Luna sits across from me with her tray of food.
"Hey, what are you looking at?" she asks and follows my gaze.
"Why are they making fun of her?" I ask and she shrugs.
"Something about her family I think. I've heard stuff but nothing concrete." she says before taking a bite of her chicken. All they feed us here is stuff to bulk us up, most of it is tasteless but it's more than I would get at home so I try to eat it all without getting sick.
"So little Clovie, how's it like being defective like your family." some guy taunts her.
"Leave me alone." she says angrily gripping her knife. Her knuckles turning white as she gripped it harder and harder.
"Why do you train? You'll never be good. It must run in the family huh? With your brother the way he is, tell us, what's you defect?" they say and she storms out of the room after elbowing one of the guys in their stomachs, luckily nobody sees it so she gets away with it. Soon Luna finishes her lunch and bids me a goodbye before leaving me alone. As I sit there alone I feel eyes on me, I don't have to look up to see who is staring at me. He's been watching as much as he can when I'm in the same room as him. This blonde boy, why does he have such an interest in me? I have done nothing to him, let alone say one syllable to him, so why the interest? When I finish my food I take care of my lunch tray and walk out the door where the dark haired girl walked out of. After having Prim for a sister, it is almost second nature to help people when they might need someone to talk to.
~Clove~
I had to get away, form the teasing, judging, everything. I love Proti, he's my baby brother, but just because he has a physical defect doesn't mean I have a defect of some sort as well. So here I sit, on these steps of the Training Academy that leads to the outside track. I had to clear my head. And my silence was short lived because someone decided to interrupt it.
"You okay out here?" a voice asked. I turned to see who it was and found that it belonged to Spitfire.
"What's it to you?" I remarked.
"Nothing," she said holding her hands up in mock defense. "you just look like you have something to get off of your chest."
"Well since everybody talks about it around me, and you're bound to hear about it I might as well tell you." I said turning back around. She sat down, pulled her knees to her chest, and wrapped her arms around them, facing me.
"Is this what people say about you?" she guessed.
"They think because my brother has a physical defect then that means that I'm defected too."
"But hasn't Enobaria picked you as one of her top students? She doesn't seem to think that you have a defect." she points out.
"She's one of few who seem to think that. I just want to prove that I'm good enough. And if I win then it'll help my family and brother." I explain.
"I get it. You're doing this for family." she said and I turn to her. An idea popped into my head and I want to see how much I can get her to talk.
"What about you Spitfire?" I take a pause after saying her "name". "Why are you doing this?" I asked and she let out a chuckle.
"The same reason as you are." she said before Brutus opened the door.
"Spitfire, you're lifting today." he ordered and she nodded as he left, letting the door close behind him.
"Got something to prove?" I challenge with a smirk as she stands up. She looks down at me and lets out a heavy sigh.
"For family." she corrects and is just about to walk through the door when I stop her again.
"So is Spitfire your real name or what?" I ask her, my prying side coming out a bit.
"It is when I'm here." she comments turning back to me. I stand up to face her and look up at her, she is a good half of a foot, it not more, taller than me.
"And when you're at home?" I pry a little more. But she sees right through it and laughs.
"Nice try but I'm not gonna tell you what my name is or where I'm from." she said to me. She turns to go back into the TR when I stop her once again.
"I'm Clove by the way." I say and she nods, opening the door and walking inside to follow her Trainer's orders. She's lifting today, maybe Cato will have better luck talking to her, if he lifts some weights too. I walk back inside to see him still at the table and he's getting up to put away his lunch tray. I walk briskly up to him and demand his attention.
"Where did you go off to?" he asked curiously setting his tray down and turning to walk out of the room.
"Sit on the steps, I talked to Spitfire." I say walking next to him. He stops suddenly and turns to me.
"You what?"
"Talked to her. She wanted to see if I was okay so I told her what I was upset about."
"She say anything to you?" he questioned.
"I tried that, I asked her why she was training here and she said the same reason I was, for family. I tried prying into her and finding out her name and where she's from but she saw right through it and wouldn't tell me."
"That's all you got?" he demanded. I rolled my eyes at him and smirked.
"Yep, but I know what she's doing right now." I offered. His eyes lit up slightly at this bit of information.
"Tell me."
"While we were talking, Brutus came out and told her to lift weights today. Something tells me that it was a change of plans. Who knows how long she's gonna be there though. But maybe you'll have better luck than I did getting info from her."
"If she wouldn't talk to you, a girl, then why would she talk to me?" he questioned. Really? How dense can he be?
"Well I was thinking you could charm it out of her dumb ass." I said walking away from him, leaving him in the dust.
A/N: ok so I am really proud of myself because I may have been home sick all day but I've been productive because I have finished Mysteries Made. Don't worry it is no where near done but there is a little *cough* surprise *cough* at the end of it that I think or hope you might like. Reviews are much appreciated but I won't force you to leave them. I hope you liked this chapter though!