Chapter 8

I make my way back to my floor and decide to wait in the sitting room for Katniss. When she walks out of the elevator, she's in tears. We try to call her back to us, but she rushes onward and ignores us, slamming the door and bolting it behind her. I've never seen Katniss cry and right now her tears worry me. What did she do? I know the Gamemakers had been drunk, so maybe she's worried that their ignorance of her would hurt her score, hurting her chances. That's definitely something to worry about. I can hear her muffled sobs coming from her room as Haymitch and Effie knock on her door. After hearing her shout for them to go away, they do.

I spend the next few hours until dinner going over my own private training session with the Gamemakers in my mind, wondering what my score could be. Considering my drunken audience, I'm not sure it's going to be very high. When Effie calls me to dinner, I'm grateful for the distraction.

When I arrive at the table, everyone except Katniss is there, even Cinna and Portia. I take my seat and a moment later Katniss arrives, her face still red and splotchy from crying. The adults begin some chitchat about the weather forecast, but I look over at Katniss, her eyes meeting mine. What happened? I ask silently, hoping she understands me. She only gives her head a small shake. I let my eyes drop after that.

`As they're serving the main course, Haymitch finally speaks. "Okay, enough small talk, just how bad were you today?"

"I don't know that it mattered. By the time I showed up, no one even bothered to look at me. They were singing some kind of drinking song, I think. So, I threw around some heavy objects until they told me to go." I say, remembering how they ignored me. I glance at Katniss and see that there's some relief on her face. Haymitch turns to Katniss. "And you, sweetheart?" The nickname seems to irritate Katniss and she begins to speak at once. "I shot an arrow at the Gamemakers."

Everyone stops eating at her comment. "You what?" asks Effie, with a look of horror on her face.

"I shot an arrow at them. Not exactly at them. In their direction. It's like Peeta said, I was shooting and they were ignoring me and I just… I just lost my head, so I shot the apple out of their stupid roast pig's mouth!" she says defiantly. I was wrong, her lack of confidence in her abilities won't get her killed, but her impulsiveness when she's angry might. And while I'm worried about what the Gamemakers might do to her, I can't help but be impressed with what she did.

"And what did they say?" says Cinna carefully.

"Nothing. Or I don't know. I walked out after that." She answers.

"Without being dismissed?" gasps Effie.

"I dismissed myself," she says, and after a moment, her expression changes from one of defiance to one of guilt. After a moment Haymitch speaks again. "Well, that's that," he says, and then he begins to butter a roll.

"Do you think they'll arrest me?" she asks.

"Doubt it. Be a pain to replace you at this stage,"

"What about my family? Will they punish them?"

"Don't think so. Wouldn't make much sense. See they'd have to reveal what happened in the Training Center for it to have any worthwhile effect on the population. People would need to know what you did. But they can't since it's secret, so it'd be a waste of effort," Haymitch says. I can see his words are beginning to comfort Katniss. "More likely they'll make your life hell in the arena." He finishes.

"Well, they've already promised to do that to us anyway," I say. And they've already done that for me now. I think to myself. "Very true." says Haymitch.

Katniss's face begins to brighten at what he said, his words not only calming her down, but cheering her up. We watch him grab a pork chop with his fingers and dunk it in his wine (which makes Effie unhappy). He rips off a hunk of meat and starts to chuckle. "What were their faces like?" he asks, obviously enjoying the idea of the Gamemakers' attention being demanded this way.

The edges of Katniss's lips tilt up just a little as she answers. "Shocked. Terrified. Uh, ridiculous, some of them… One man tripped backward into a bowl of punch."

Haymitch guffaws and we all start laughing, except Effie, although she seems to be suppressing a smile. "Well, it serves them right. It's their job to pay attention to you. And just because you come from District Twelve is no excuse to ignore you." She says, and then her eyes dart around as if she's said something outrageous. "I'm sorry, but that's what I think," she says to no one in particular.

"I'll get a very bad score," Katniss says.

"Scores only matter if they're very good, no one pays much attention to the bad or mediocre ones. For all they know, you could be hiding your talents to get a low score on purpose. People use that strategy," says Portia.

"I hope that's how people interpret the four I'll probably get," I say, voicing my thoughts on what I think my score will be for the first time. "If that. Really, is anything less impressive than watching a person pick up a heavy ball and throw it a couple yards. One almost landed on my foot." I say. Now I know the Gamemakers will forget about me, considering that the girl after me shot an arrow at them. But that's what I had hoped for wasn't it? That they'd pay attention to her? Katniss grins at what I said, looking over at me. She then cuts off a piece of pork and begins to eat. But I'm still focused on the way she grinned at me and the warm feeling in my chest that briefly followed it.

After dinner we go into the sitting room to watch the scores announced on television. First they show a photo of the tribute, then flash their score below it. The other Career tributes naturally get in the eight-to-ten range. Most of the other tributes average about a five. Surprisingly, Rue from District 11 comes up with a seven. I'm now wondering what she showed the judges. It must have been impressive, considering her size.

District 12 comes up last. I'm surprised again; I end up scoring an eight, so I guess some of the Gamemakers weren't too drunk to notice. Katniss tenses as they show her picture. Then they flash her score. Eleven.

Effie lets out a squeal, and the rest of them are all slapping her on the back and cheering and congratulating her. Her only reaction is confusion. "There must be a mistake," she says. "How… how could that happen?" she asks Haymitch.

"Guess they liked your temper. They've got a show to put on. They need some players with some heat."

"Katniss, the girl who was on fire," says Cinna, hugging her. "Oh, wait until you see your interview dress."

"More flames?" she asks.

"Of a sort," he answers somewhat mischievously.

Katniss and I congratulate each other, another awkward moment. We've both done well, but what does it mean for us? Especially her, since she's now the highest scoring tribute in these games. I do know one thing, if she wasn't a major target of the Careers, she's a target now. They'd never forgive her for outscoring them. Katniss quickly retreats to bed when the show is over and I soon follow.

For the first time since I arrived at the Capitol, I think of my family, and what they're doing without me. What did they think of my score? Does it help that I now match the score of the average Career? Or do they think I'll be dead by the end of the bloodbath? What will they think when they see me with the Careers? Our district hates the Careers. For their brutality, their dominance in skills and training, and the fact that some of them seem to revel in the Games almost as much as the people of the Capitol do. To keep the people of my district from hating me, they would have to know my real motive. The Careers can't know, but the audience has to. The only opportunity I have left to give the audience some idea of this is the interview in two days…

I wake up early again, another plan in my mind. I get dressed and leave the room, waiting in the sitting room for Haymitch. When he finally comes out of his room, I stand up.

"Morning." Haymitch growls.

"Good morning. Listen, I want to talk about how you're coaching us together…"

"Yeah," he answers, waiting for me to finish.

"I changed my mind. I want us to be coached separately."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"Ok, then. I'll tell her at breakfast." He says nonchalantly, walking off toward the dining room. I soon follow him, serve myself, and sit down. Effie walks in and sits with us. Haymitch tells her about my desire to be coached separately. She's just asking me why I changed my mind, when Katniss walks in and we all fall silent. She stares at us for a moment, but then shrugs and begins to load a plate with her breakfast. She sits down and begins to eat. None of us talk, and Katniss notices, taking a gulp of orange juice and wiping her mouth.

"So, what's going on? You're coaching us on interviews today, right?" she asks.

"That's right," says Haymitch.

"You don't have to wait until I'm done. I can listen and eat at the same time."

"Well, there's been a change of plans. About our current approach." Haymitch says. He looks over at me for a moment, but I look down at the table, strangely feeling like I'm betraying Katniss by asking Haymitch to do this. "Peeta has asked to be coached separately."

Author's Note: Sorry for the shorter chapter, but chapter nine is almost ready to go and will be posted shortly.

Almost done with part one! Thank you to all who have subscribed so far.