Know Your Enemy - Chapter 4
The rest of the day at training passed with no events of any particular importance. However, the Careers did focus on spreading out this time, reclaiming the fear from all other tributes that Peeta had momentarily stole from them.
When Haymitch ushered them into the dining room early, Peeta was eager to tell his mentor about the progress he had made in terms of meeting – or maybe, in his case, exceeding – the Careers' expectations.
"So?" Haymitch looked between the two tributes expectantly.
Peeta smiled as he began. "I think it went well, considerably so... it's probably safe to say I made an impression." He felt Katniss shift awkwardly beside him. "I did what you said and learned some things about rope-tying and fires and all..." He speared a piece of chicken with his fork. "And I tried my hand at knife-throwing..." He chewed the food as the thought it over. "I guess I wasn't too bad. It's definitely not my forte though." He ate some more before laughing. "Spears...that went absolutely terribly. I was afraid that people may have noticed that though, so I decided to engage in some hand to hand combat."
With this he grinned widely, and Haymitch's eyes glinted in anticipation. "Oh yeah?" He smirked. "So how were you?"
Peeta began with a "Well, I-" before Katniss cut him off.
"He was...scary." She confessed. "Even I was intimidated. I think most of the other tributes were too, especially the one that you made cry." She rose her eyes to meet his. "The way you laughed at her and the trainer, how you asked everyone so confidently if they were scared of you…" She dipped her head again and muttered, "He could've been a Career."
Obviously Katniss didn't know about any of the plan then. Peeta frowned. So what had Haymitch even told her in the strategy meetings apart from to steer clear of archery? He shrugged slightly. It didn't matter, he mused. The less she knew about Peeta's game, the better.
"Well, isn't that interesting?" Haymitch seemed to be struggling to keep his expression serious. "And how did you do, sweetheart?"
This seemed to trigger a memory in Katniss. "Well, I found out from the monstrous boy from 2 that apparently it is Peeta who should be calling me 'sweetheart'. What's that all about?" She glared at Haymitch, her icy manner still intact with him, at least. Peeta felt vaguely envious. At least he didn't have to pretend he liked her.
Rolling his eyes, Haymitch began to convince her of the good points involved in the plan. Peeta stood up. He'd heard this already, and didn't have any interest to hear it again. He went to go and get Effie – he felt like he could use a chat which didn't involve him not having to act like someone he wasn't, and Effie was so much like a mother to him it was easy for him to act himself around her.
As ever, Effie was delighted to see him, He smiled easily at her as she fluttered around him, grooming his hair into a 'better' position before finally sitting down next to him on a plush leather sofa. She smiled at him, asked him how he was, and he wanted to tell her that he was great. But Peeta didn't feel all too good.
"Effie..." He began, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth. She looked at him, concerned. "I'm starting to hate having to play a game all the time." He sighed. "I know it's the best way to ensure my survival - I mean, I thought of this whole game..." She nodded and patted his back, urging him on. "It's just hard having to keep up appearances, you know?" He sighed again.
"The only reason I'm doing all of this is that I can't bear the thought of dying. That I'd just be here one day and gone the next... like a passing wind or sudden change of weather." His voice went quieter and he felt like a child as he muttered plainitively "I don't want to die, Effie." He looked up at her, tears sparking at his eyes. She wiped a tear from her own eye before she stroked his cheek.
"Peeta, you'll be fine." He looked at her incredulously and she went on. "I know that you're strong, Well, at least that's what I've heard." She smiled at him again in attempt to cheer him up. "Also, as you might hate to hear it and I might hate to admit it, Haymitch... he's got some good ideas, and I think he really wants to help you. Just as I do." She hugged him. "Peeta, you're going to have to keep playing these games but we're going to get you home. Between the three of us, we will. I promise."
Maybe Effie wasn't as shallow-minded as he once thought. He was so glad that he gave himself the opportunity to get to know her, thanking himself for it as he relaxed into her embrace.
Peeta was excited as he stepped into the training centre the following day. He gazed around the room, noticing all the stations he had not tried yet. He was itching to try out all of the ones that he had previously overlooked. Katniss, for the most part, was quieter than usual. Peeta was tired of swinging back and forth within their uneasy truce, but he swallowed the irritation down in favour of playing to the Sponsors' and Tributes' idea that he and Katniss were, if not actually together, then close friends at least and followed her to the edible plants station, where an older woman stood to teach them about plants to finally test them on their knowledge.
Katniss breezed through the plants test without even blinking, a clear result of her time in the woods. For the first time, Peeta felt a stab of envy towards Katniss at the girl's superiority in this area. He quickly changed stations to save face, heading her over to the shelter building station. Of course, Katniss followed him.
For the most part, she kept herself quiet, at least until she the little girl there, Rue, the twelve year old who constantly seemed to be scampering around behind Katniss. She became steadily more lively and animated as they began to interact, smiling and laughing with the younger girl as if they were friends, not opponents.
At around eleven o' clock, Peeta decided that she was capable of being left on her own for a while. He stepped up to decide which station to visit and scanned the room. The Careers had gone for the same tactic they had used yesterday afternoon: splitting up to cover all bases. In the corner, Foxface was trying her hand at knives. A boy from five was desperately trying to master the bow and arrow, with seemingly poor results. The only stations completely empty were the sword station and the weightlifting. He thought of how much he wanted to try the swords yesterday and nodded to himself, making his mind up easily. He would save weightlifting for a special occasion.
As he turned to leave, Peeta waved a quick goodbye to Katniss. She only glanced up briefly, nodding in acknowledgement before returning to her oh-so-fascinating conversation with Rue.
Shaking his head at her stupidity, he ambled his way over to the sword station on the other side of the room towards the hard, sharp metal instruments that hung from the rack. He only got halfway there before he sensed someone following him, from a distance at first but gradually edging closer until finally a smallish hand was placed on his arm. He spun around slowly, and wasn't all too surprised when he saw Clove at his elbow. As soon as he noticed her presence, she removed her hand. No flirting from her, then. This made him heave a sigh of relief inwardly.
"Hello… it's Peeta, isn't it?" She seemed to size him up, evaluating his worth as he nodded. After a moment she nodded back, almost imperceptibly. "Where are you headed?"
He considered for a second. She had most probably approached him to get more of an idea of who he was and how much use he could be to her. He bit his lip nervously then quickly released it, just in case she read his old nervous habit as a sign of weakness. Perhaps this was his opportunity to get in with the Careers, and he couldn't afford to screw up. What would be the best way to impress her?
"It was between the swords and the weights." He left the decision up to her.
"Well, thanks to Cato I've already had too much practice at that damned sword station." She grimaced. "By now I think it's safe to say that it's really not my type of weapon... But maybe I could use some weight-lifting." She smiled before asking in a faux-polite tone, "Would you mind if I joined you over there?"
She had asked him as if it were a question, but it was clear that she was totally confident in his answer, as if she knew that there was no chance that he'd say no to her. She was right, of course. Who would be stupid enough to turn her down? She was a Career. You don't just join them, you have to be invited; no one takes their invitations lightly. Even so, he pretended to consider for a moment, silently sizing her up.
"I guess it would be okay." He let an edge of arrogance creep into his voice. "But you'll have to promise that you won't be upset when I show you how much better I am than you are." He winked at her as he turned to head over to the station.
Letting the heavy metal boulder drop out of his sweat-slicked palm and onto the soft ground below, Peeta stretched both of his arms out above his head with a loud sigh. The vertebrae in his spine seemed to click back into place one by one, unlocking themselves from their tense stature.
Beside him, Clove raised an eyebrow. "Are you tired already, Loverboy?" she teased him gently, left slightly breathless from where a heavy iron pole was still balanced across her nimble shoulders. They had been getting on far better than he had expected them to, a comfortable silence settling over them as each of them trained with only the occasional comment or jibe flying back and forth.
"Not really." He shrugged back. "I have to go and pee, though. You know, nature calls and all that."
Clove seemed unfazed by this declaration. "Whatever. Just make sure you don't go where I can see you." She laughed dismissively, turning away from him as if she expected him to just let loose on the spot. He blinked back at her, utterly bemused.
"Wait, what? I wasn't planning to go right here! That would be weird. I just meant that I was heading over to the restrooms."
"Oh, right." She smiled at him over her shoulder. "Back home, when the guys say they need to pee during training it usually means 'avert your eyes now or get an eyeful of genitalia'. We don't have much time for toilet breaks."
She'd been telling him little things about District 2 as they trained, just small and insignificant things like that. Although Peeta knew that he was under her careful scrutiny the whole time, he couldn't help relaxing a little in her presence. He liked her. She was simple, straightforward, easy to read, friendly and threatening all at the same time. It was nice to know that there was someone here that he could have a civil conversation with and still know that he'd be willing to kill them when the time came.
"Yet people see the outlying Districts as the uncivilised ones… If only they knew." Peeta feigned a wistful sigh, grinning at Clove when she laughed. "Seriously, though, my bladder feels like it's about to burst, I've gotta go. See you later!"
He waved to her as he jogged away, a pleased feeling settling in his stomach when she waved back.
In hindsight, he realised that perhaps he shouldn't have refused the help of the Trainer who had offered to guide him to the Tribute's bathroom. After relieving himself, he had managed to waste a good fifteen minutes roaming the corridors in search of the correct path back to the Training room.
By the time he finally made it back there, he was disappointed to note that Clove was no longer standing by the weightlifting station. Instead she had taken her place beside Cato and the rest of the Careers once again. They stood in a huddle on the far side of the room, not far from the deserted edible insects station. After a brief moment of consideration, Peeta decided to head over to them.
He strolled over casually, not even looking at them as he began to talk to the Trainer at the station. The woman seemed to be delighted that she had finally found a Tribute who expressed any desire to learn about her bugs. Before he had time to blink, she was pulling him towards a cabinet full of dried insects, enthusing about each of them with an alarming amount of passion. Luckily for him, this took him a few precious steps closer to the Careers and he smiled at the woman gratefully as she described the 'soft, crunchy taste' that one of her favourite specimens offered. He quickly tuned her out, merely nodding in the right places and pretending to look interested while really, he focused his attention on the conversation to his right.
Clove's voice was the loudest, carrying over to him easily. "Cato, stop being ridiculous. Just because you don't like him, doesn't mean he wouldn't be useful to us in the arena…"
At this, the blond boy glared at Clove accusingly. "No, he wouldn't be useful to us in the arena! He can't do anything apart from throw a few things around. So what? Anyone could do that. I could do that. We don't need him."
They were talking about him. Peeta looked straight ahead at the shrivelled remains of the insects, a desperate attempt to keep his emotions in check. They were actually talking about him, he couldn't believe it. Their plan was actually working. He hoped desperately that no one could see the faint traces of a smile that tugged upwards at the corners of his lips.
"He's right," Glimmer declared after a moment, smiling at Cato adoringly. He ignored her, acting like she hadn't even spoken, but for some reason she didn't even look slightly perturbed by his dismissal. "I'm with Cato on this one," she clarified.
"We heard you the first time and yes, of course you are." Clove snorted, somewhat disgusted by the other girl and her pathetic attempts to capture Cato's attention. It was pointless. He was there to fight, not to flirt. "Look, Cato, all I'm saying is that you shouldn't be so quick to dismiss the idea he could help us. You saw him fight that trainer, and I know you were impressed. You should at least consider it as an option, you know that."
"But Clove, I…"
"Would you like to try a bite?" the weird bug lady suddenly piped up from next to him, waving a skewer of colourful looking cockroaches under his nose. He recoiled slightly in surprise, shaking his head quickly. He'd forgotten that he was supposed to be learning over here, too transfixed by the Careers. Oblivious to his lack of attention, the woman still brandished the bugs, a hopeful smile stretched wide across her face. He considered for a moment, not wanting to disappoint her, but they looked rancid. There was no way that he could bring himself eat those.
"Maybe… maybe later? I'm not feeling too hungry right now, and I wouldn't want to train on a bloated stomach." He made his excuses easily, pretending to be disappointed that he couldn't eat the snack she offered to him. The woman gave an understanding nod, seeming convinced as she set the skewer back down before turning back to her glass display, instantly launching into a rant about some sort of genetically modified grasshopper. He tuned her out again.
"…Get the hell off me, Glitter!" he heard Cato snap, ignoring her when she corrected his mistake over her name. Glancing in their direction, he had to try not to laugh as he watched the bulky boy push the girl away with an indignant huff. "Did I tell you that you could touch me?" He demanded angrily. She shook her head. "Then keep your damn hands to yourself!" he snapped.
Clove laughed and Peeta sighed, realising the conversation had moved on without him ever finding out the verdict on whether or not Cato would accept him. Briskly excusing himself from the station, he strode back to Katniss' side. He couldn't help feeling a little dejected. "Let's get lunch."
"Okay, fine. Wait a minute while I finish this off." She looped a piece of string back around itself in a complicated fashion, creating a small noose that she then twisted tighter. Peeta frowned as he watched her, barely able to follow her movements as she created a complex knot in the rope.
He let his mind drift back to the conversation he had previously overheard, running back over the most important things he learnt. Clove wanted him in with the Careers. He was a little surprised by this. He hadn't expected any of them to take to him so quickly, but she had. That being said, Cato still didn't like him. This was hardly noteworthy news, though. The other boy had made his issues with Peeta pretty clear from the very start.
As for Glimmer, she appeared to Peeta to be nothing more than a dizzy-eyed bimbo who hung from Cato's every word, no matter how moronic they were. He wondered what her skill would be in the arena because so far, he saw none of the real strength in her that the other Careers seemed to have. Maybe her and Foxface could team up and flirt people into an early grave between two of them, he thought with a snigger.
"Something funny?" Katniss asked, snapping him back to the present as she rose to her feet and wiped her messy palms on her trouser leg. He shook his head and she rolled her eyes, not even bothering to pursue the matter. "You coming?" she directed to Rue, who still sat on the floor by the knotting station.
"No, that's okay, I'm fine enough here. I'll let you two be alone." She shot the two of them a suggestive smile as she said this. Rumours sure do spread fast. Peeta sighed. In all the excitement, he had almost forgotten the other side of the plan, the part where he and Katniss were supposed to be star-crossed lovers.
With a sugar-sweet smile to cover up his bitter resentment, he reached over and laced their fingers together, leading her towards the canteen to get lunch. Katniss looked nervous at this but she didn't resist. He had left her no real choice. How could she resist without breaking their illusion when every pair of eyes in the room followed their progress out of the door?
A lone wolf whistle rang out from the Careers' corner, followed by a giggle, probably a product of Cato's dull wit and Glimmer's desperation. Letting his eyes scan over them quickly in an attempt to confirm his suspicions, his eyes accidentally locked with Clove's. She shot him a quick wink as he walked by and he smiled at her. He felt so much more confident now that he knew she was on his side, now that she was there to help him win over Cato.
Maybe this small sense of alliance would dwindle and die as soon as they set foot in the arena, perhaps even sooner but… Well. She was on his side at least for now.
It made him feel like he could survive.
A/N: Hello to all of our readers-thank you so much for the lovely reviews and constructive criticism we've got-it's really helped us continue to write. If you could continue doing so, it would be fantastic! Thanks for reading.
