I circle around the Training Area, looking for something. Something… useful, I guess, easy enough to learn but good enough to use in the arena. Being from Twelve, well, no one really had high hopes for me, poor little Jessica Skybird. I remember standing on the platform, everyone looking on with pity. Edward didn't look to upset; he was a little bit of an odd bird, though.
He stands next to me, watching everything with a hazy golden gaze and a crooked smile. As always, he looks like he owns the place and everyone in it. "Why don't we go play with some sharp objects?" he asks, turning his gaze to me.
"Why don't I wander off over here to be alone?' I mutter under my breath, heading towards a station with edible plants and berries. I can feel him following me, and I brush off the feeling of disgust creeping over me. The berries look delicious; but as I am about to eat a couple bright red, juicy-looking fruit that looks a bit like a pear, the trainer knocks it out of my hand and glares at me.
"Haven't you been listening to one thing I've been saying?" he hisses, gathering up his array of fruits and berries. Obviously I hadn't, as I was about to chow down on an apparently extremely deadly fruit. He turns his back on me and busies himself with the plants, and I take that as my cue to leave.
The other stations are just as bad, maybe worse. I discover I'm useless with a spear, a sword, and don't get me started on archery.
"C'mon, could you really be that useless at [i]everything?[/i]" Edwards says, chuckling under his breath. He's been heckling me all day, making fun of pretty much everything I do, and suddenly I can't stand it anymore.
"Can you go off and bother someone else?" I snap, well aware that any threats I made now would not be taken very seriously.
He shrugs and runs a hand through his hair. "But no one else is as bad as you are."
Thinking back on it, his insults were lame. It was his mannerisms that made me want to rip his head off. "I believe you've mentioned that already," I say, my voice cool and collected. I decide to pretend he doesn't exist and spend my time searching for something I was good at. Where hadn't I been yet? I wander to the section where they are teaching us tributes how to climb trees. Edward, of course, follows me.
I scale the trees in record time, and by the time I reach the ground, everyone is staring at me. Even Edward. "Wow," he says, though his voice is still a little snarky, "looks like the little ugly duckling found her skill."
My mouth twists into what could only be described as a smile—and I know he's right. Who can kill me, if I can't be seen?
But, it would be just my luck if there were no trees at all in the arena.