Jake's POV

I see Marley a few hours after getting my makeover. She was always pretty in my eyes, but now after getting polished by the Capitol she was beautiful. Her eyebrows were perfectly matched and her hair was re-braided. We wore the same outfit again but this time there was no resentment in her eyes. She looked closed off and I wondered what she had been through to make her shut off like she was. She doesn't look like talking so I follow her to the lower levels of the building until we are inside the training center. I watched as Marley looked around the room and then settled on the knife throwing area. I sit on the floor behind her watching as she picks out a set of knives. Her first couples of throws aren't on target and something about not being perfect sends Marley into her competitive mood. Her eyes light up with a new fire that erases any hint of the melancholy I saw earlier. Her next few throws are a little higher and she finally sinks one into the center. She turns to me and I smile at her. She offers me the knife but I shake my head no. She doesn't know it, but I can throw a knife pretty well.

My friends and I always dared each other to throw knives at a target. My friends learned pretty quickly not to bet me I couldn't hit the target, but I still managed to get a pretty good amount of money.

"Jake you have to practice for the arena. You don't know what'll be in there for weapons and you need to practice with all of them." she gesture to the weapons all of which were pretty impressive. "Fine if you won't practice for yourself, will you at least practice for me? I don't want to be in that arena on that first day and have to watch you get beat to a pulp just because you don't know how to throw a knife".

My first response was to laugh but then I realized she was serious so I took the knife from her. It has some good weight to it but it's nothing fancy. I flick my wrist and send it sailing into the center of the target. Marley openly stares at me and I don't want to brag so I just shrug.

She moves onto the next station which was occupied by the girl from 1 and the boy from 2. I decide to throw first this time and have little success throwing the spear. It's large and bulky compared to the knife's thin blade. Finally I manage to get one spear into the target. It sticks out of the dummy's abdomen and I cringe thinking of how painful that would be in real life. This station makes me realize my impending death is coming soon. I may be okay with a knife but if all I can get is a spear, I'm screwed.

I sit behind Marley knowing she might need more time to hit the target. I look around at the other tributes and see the boy from 1 and 2 are watching Marley. The boy from 1 looks bored but the boy from 2 looks like he's studying Marley. For some reason this ticks me off so I glare at them hoping they get the memo. Apparently they don't get the message and the boy from 1 walks over to Marley.

"I'm Cato," he says holding out his hand to Marley, "you're Marley right?" Something about his tone makes my skin crawl and I resist the urge to pull Marley away from him. She nods but doesn't accept his outstretched hand.

Cato begins showing Marley how to throw a spear and I can't help but feel jealous about how well she pays attention to him. She picks up another spear and makes a few adjustments with the help of Cato. The spear hits its mark and I glower at Cato.

We start trying to build a fire and I try not to laugh at the expression on Marley's face. She struggles with the matches and I gently take them from her hands. Within two matches I have half the kindling lit and a small branch is starting to smoke. Marley pulls out a bunch of poles and some canvas. Together we construct a really ugly looking tent- because I couldn't bear to tell she had some of the poles in the wrong place. The tent doesn't look like it would even stand a little bit of rain let alone wind.

I feel like someone is watching me so I turn around to find my least favorite person standing there watching us. Cato is standing there with his arms crossed over his chest.

Marley turns sensing someone watching her. She sees us and a startled look passes over her eyes. She turns back to the tent and leans against the center pole. The tent gives way and finally tips over. Someone behind me chuckles and I turn to see the girls from 1 and 2 watching us as well. Maybe that was what the startled look of Marley's was. The girls see me looking at them so they turn away still chuckling.

"What's the matter with you?" she asks turning toward me with sudden hostility.

"There's nothing wrong with me," I say looking down at the ground. She tries to look into my eyes but my head is bowed, obscuring her view.

"You know the Game Makers wouldn't let you fight and even if you wanted to you couldn't take Cato. I watched him beat up one of the trainers this morning." I don't say anything and she storms off.

Marley walks over to an older woman with a bunch of grey boards. I look at the older woman and see she has one side of her head shaved and the other in kinky waves. The lady startles as Marley sits down but quickly recovers. She welcomes Marley as I made my way over to the table hoping Cato doesn't follow. It appears his attention has been drawn away to the girls from 1 and 2 who are getting covered in oil for wrestling practice.

The lady slid a couple of boards toward Marley and I knew she wasn't expecting it because a few went just beyond her grip. I quickened my pace and caught the board before it clattered to the floor. I placed it beside Marley and sat down.

Although Marley and I are supposed to help each other, I know Marley is pretty independent but I chance a glance at her face. She looks like she wants to say something but she doesn't.

"If you'll take a look at that first board I slid toward you…" The old lady pauses as some kind of commotion happens behind us. Apparently both Marley and I turned around at the exact same time because our knees brushed. Marley looked me in the eyes again. What is it about her eyes that make me so helpless? I'm like a puppy. Marley could probably ask me to jump off a cliff and I would do it. Slowly she turned away from me clearly trying to not look me in the eye.

I looked up to see Cato accuse the boy from District 8 about stealing a knife from him. The boy from 8 swore he had never taken a knife but that answer wasn't enough for Cato. Cato swung at the boy but the boy easily ducked and struck back at Cato. His fist made contact with the side of Cato's nose and blood started to pour down Cato's face. Something above the fight caught my eye.

Hanging from the ceiling was a small figure that couldn't have been older than Marley's sister, Katie. She was holding onto the cargo net above the fight watching it all unfold. She must have sensed someone watching her because she looked up, saw me, smiled, and waved a shiny metal object that I guessed was the missing knife. I smiled and she pressed her index finger to her lips. I nodded and watched as she tucked the knife into the carrier around her waist and continued to climb higher on the net. I watched as she scaled the net like a squirrel I had once seen in District 12.

I refocused on the ground where Cato was holding his face in his hands as Peacekeepers rushed forward to contain the fight. There were two loud pops and then Cato and the boy from 11 were on the ground. They remained there unmoving until two of the Peacekeepers began to lift the two boys onto stretchers. Cato was rushed out of the room while the boy from 11 was removed more slowly out of a second door.

"Oh my god they killed them!" I heard Marley gasp loudly.

"Oh no silly. They didn't kill them; they only knocked them out so they could get medical attention. We wouldn't want all of you to go out on camera in front of all of Panem with bruised faces now would we?" The older woman smiles at Marley like it's the most obvious thing ever.

"I guess not," She says glancing at me. The older woman quickly recovers and resumes talking. I pay close attention for Marley's sake because I can't have her accidentally poisoning herself.

We are dismissed for lunch early due to the incident. I hope Marley comes to sit with me, but judging from the tension in the room something was about to happen. As Marley entered the room with her lunch tray, everyone had stopped talking and was staring at her. I saw Marley's eyes dart over to the Career's table and with a look of surprise she noticed Cato wasn't sitting there. Just then I saw Cato emerge from the side of the room and he walked directly over to Marley. Cato rests his hand on her arm and Marley visibly jumped. She turned around to face Cato who had an amused expression on his smug face. This guy's really starting to get on my nerve.

Cato offered Marley a spot at his table but when I glanced over at the table there wasn't an open seat.

Would Cato really kick someone out of their chair just for Marley? Apparently the answer was yes. I felt happy as Marley rejected Cato's offer and then mad when Cato didn't look defeated.

Marley sat down beside me looking visibly shaken and I wanted to tell her not to talk to Cato anymore but the other tributes were still staring at us so I remained quiet.