The rising opposition against Capitol elitism has led to the establishment of an Academy which provides District children with the opportunity to have a life of comfort in the Capitol. In a world where getting chosen for the Hunger Games is an annual threat, there is nothing more a District teen can hope for, than to be accepted into the Academy. However, these chosen few soon find out that, the entrance test was the least they had to do in their journey for a better life.
It has been two weeks since Katniss's and Peeta's acceptance into the Academy. Much of these two week consisted of Katniss learning as much as possible about the Academy from the guide given to her.
She skipped the History of the Academy, due to lack of interest, and the thought that she would be told all that when she actually gets to the Academy.
Katniss was not excited about going to the Academy, but throughout the two weeks she has accepted the fact that she had to go. She was reading the guide because she didn't want to seem like an idiot who asked obvious stupid questions when she arrived at the Academy. Or so she convinced herself.
The book was useful for the most part. She learnt about the courses offered by the Academy, and was interested after reading that they had Archery classes for first year students. She kept a mental note to inquire about that when she got there.
Today was August 23rd. The day that she was schedule to go off to the Academy. Katniss finished packing her single luggage, and sat on her bed for a minute, finally realizing that this was it; That she was really leaving her family to go to some school in the Capitol; The Capitol, where she would know nobody, well expect for Peeta, but she figured soon enough he would make friends and then it would be like she knew nobody. Katniss was not good at making friends.
What the hell do I think I'm doing…I can't leave. I can't leave!, the realization hit Katniss harder than before.
Her thought were interrupted by a knock on her room door.
"Are you all set?" Prim asked as she came in.
"Yeah. I think so."
Prim gave her a smile and approached Katniss, sitting on her bed.
"You know, I don't need to go. If you don't want be to go, just say so. I'll…" Katniss started to ranted. She wanted any sign she could find that going away to this school was wrong a d that her family, especially Prim disapproves.
"No, I want you to go. I really want you to go." Prim addressed. "I just came to give you this."
Opening up her small palms, Katniss saw that Prim held a pin; a Mockingjay pin. One that Katniss gave her months before, for good luck on her first Reaping Day.
"It's for good luck, remember." Prim placed the pin in Katniss's hand. "So you'll do well at the Academy."
Katniss ran her fingers over the pin, feeling the rough,golden surface. She cracked a smile at Prim, saying "Thanks."
They hugged for a minute.
"It's time for you to go." Prim announced looking at the clock beside Katniss's bed.
Katniss nodded, not wanting to speak in fear that her voice would crack and that she would suddenly break down in tears.
Though District 12 had a train stop, it was only used a handful of time throughout the year, apart from carrying coal to other Districts,it was used for peacekeepers arriving and departing from the District, Capitolians coming in on Reaping Day, bringing the tributes to the Capitol for the Games, bringing their body back, dead or alive - mostly dead - and for the annual Victor tour.
It was the first time that a train was there for a different reason. It was actually the first time that the CA Express was there; in its 50 years of carrying students to and fro from the Academy.
The CA Express was different from most other passenger trains which travelled around Panam. It was built for function, more than for luxury; although they did find several ways to incorporate some comfort and luxury into its design.
The CA Ex, like most train in the Capitol, travelled outside of the Capitol barriers on very few occasions; At the start of a new school year or term, at the end of the year or term and on the first Saturday after the new school year.
The CA Express was currently at the train stop in District 12, waiting for the new first year students of the Academy.
When Katniss arrived at the train stop there was a huge crowd, mostly compromising of her peers. They were staring at the train in the station with awe and wonder.
Katniss spotted Peeta in the crowd, surrounded by his family and his school friends.
Katniss however just had her mom, Prim and Gale beside her.
"Last call. The train will be departing in 5 minutes." There was an annoucment from the train.
Katniss suddenly found herself in an embrace from her mother. "I am so proud of you." She mused, pulling away soon after.
"Make us proud, Catnip." Gale joked, while pulling her in for a hug.
Prim smiled and hugged Katniss at her waist, nudging her face into her blouse.
"I will miss you." Katniss admitted running her hand through her sister's golden locks.
"I'll miss you, too." Prim mumbled, before letting go and showing a small smile.
"Don't forget to write." Gale reminded.
"I won't."
Katniss then turned and made her way through the crowd towards the train. She tried to ignore the look she was getting from multiple of her peers. The look of 'You are so lucky, and you don't even know it."
Making it through the crowd, she walked toward a man at the door of the nearest train car.
She promptly took a folded paper from her jacket, and unfold it to show the man.
"Katniss Everdeen." She declared, while the man glanced down momentarily at her acceptance letter.
He dismissively demanded, "Hand."
Katniss was initially taken aback by the man's tone, but still obliged, sticking out her right hand.
The man placed a rectangular device on her index finger. A brief second later, Katniss felt a small prick of pain.
She looked down to see that her finger had a drop of blood on it.
A hologram then protrude through the device, showing all of Katniss's stats before the word "Verified" came up in big red letters.
"Welcome to the Academy." The man smiled, temporarily changing Katniss mind about his hostility.
Katniss smile back, stepping into the train cart.
The train cart compromised of two aisles and beside them were several compartment seats each around its own rectangular table. Walking down the first aisle, Katniss took the seat at the back next to the window. She could see her family and Gale.
Wondering if they could see her, she waved at them. They waved back, and so did some of her classmates.
A minute later, Peeta entered the train. Seeing Katniss at the back of the train, he walked towards her and sat in the seat across from her. Only a table separate them, however they did not say a word to each other.
The train compartment door was then shut. Katniss looked behind Peeta to see the man who pricked her finger approaching them.
"I guess you are the only two student from District 12." He stated while coming nearer.
Not knowing how to reply to that statement, Katniss just gave a faint smile.
"How long will it take to get to the Capitol?" Peeta asked.
"Usually it would take about 5 hours for a train from District 12 to get to the Capitol, but since we have to go around and pick up students from the other District it would probably take 8 to 9 hours."
Katniss let out a groaned.
The man looked at her, smiled and then added, "And that's not considering the boarding time within the Districts."
Katniss looked at his face for any indication that he was just joking or bluffing, but she could not find any.
"You may want to get comfortable.' He suggested. "The food cart should come by soon."
He started to walk away but turned to say, "You might what to put your luggage in the upper compartment, to make space when we get to the other districts." With that he walked through the connected door towards the other train car.
Peeta was the first to move to place his luggage overhead.
"Do you want me to put your luggage up here too?" He offered standing up, and pointing to Katniss's bag beside her.
"No, I'll do it." Katniss replied, standing up to place her bag up.
She underestimated how hard it would be lifting her bag overhead, and in the process, almost dropped it, however Peeta caught it and then helped her put it up beside his.
"Thanks." Katniss murmured looking away.
"No problem."
They both sat down, in silence. The silence stayed for the following 45 minutes.
"So your the new District 12 students everybody has been talking about." A woman approaching with a cart, stated.
People have been talking about us, Katniss wondered.
"You are the first District 12 students we ever got on this train." The woman whispered like it was a secret.
The two teen smiled while eyeing the food on the cart. The woman realizing this, suddenly exclaimed, "Oh I'm sorry for my blabbering. You must be so hungry. Take all you need. I'm Celeste, by the way."
"Do you work for the Academy, Celeste?" Peeta asked, grabbing two buns off the cart, while Katniss reached for a muffin and a bottle with a tag marked "Water".
"Only on the train." She replied.
"This is so cool, I never meet anybody from District 12 in person before." She stared at them as if they were somehow from a different planet.
"Is this your first time on a train?" She continued.
Katniss and Peeta looked at each other, waiting for the other to reply first.
"Yes." Katniss spoke first. "It's my first time…"
"Aww, well I'll leave you two, to enjoy it." The women replied in a sweet voice.
And the silence enveloped them again, only the noise of them eating their food in the air.
15 minutes later, the train was in District 11 waiting to be boarded. However, no one entered the compartment where Peeta and Katniss were sitting
Katniss wondered for a second if nobody from District 11 attended the Academy,but suddenly remembered that there were other train cars.
The same thing happen, 45 minutes later in District 10. There were a crowd around the train but no one came in to their train cart.
Peeta glanced some people getting on train cars behind theirs.
He started to worry that each District had their own train compartment, and since he and Katniss was the only students from District 12, that he would have to endure the painful silence for the entire trip.
However, he was relieved in District 9, when a blonde-hair girl came into their compartment.
When the girl spotted them, she walked towards them, placed her bag in the overhead compartment then sat down beside Peeta.
"I was so scared that I would be the only one in here." She exclaimed. "I'm Sarah."
"I'm Peeta."
"Katniss."
"Are you guys from 10 or 11?" Sarah asked.
"12,actually." Peeta corrected.
A surprised look appeared on Sarah's face.
"Oh my God, are you like the first District 12 Academy students?"
"Apparently so. We just found out." Peeta replied, with a small smile.
"Wow. I bet you're like legends in your District." Sarah mused looking between Katniss and Peeta.
"Not really. She is more of the legend, that me." Peeta motioned to Katniss.
Katniss looked at him sharply. Why would he say that?
Sarah gave her a smile. Looking down at the unfinish muffin in front of Katniss, Sarah asked, "Where did you get that?, I'm starving."
"The food cart. It should come by again soon. Unless they forgot about us." Peeta answered.
Peeta and Sarah continued their conversation, both talking about a variety of topics from Districts to food to the Academy.
"I'm the only one this year from my District. " Sarah declared. "There are other Academy students from District 9 in other years though."
By the time, the train left District 6, there were 10 other people in the compartment.
Clementia Udush and Bron Brandee from District 8.
Sarah asked them if they were the only ones from their District but they replied, "No, the others are in a different train cart."
Then there was Azazel Anton, Artemis Adam, and Cailin Daniel from District 7, who just introduced themselves to the rest of the people in the cart and then sat separately starting their own conversation.
There were 5 people from District 6. They however, did not introduce themselves, sitting and talking among themselves when they got on.
"Wait until we get to District 5." Sarah declared while chewing a piece of her rock cake she picked up from the food cart earlier. "There will be about 10 more people in here and I bet you that they are all Nouses."
Seeing Katniss and Peeta's obvious confusion, she proceeded to clarify, "Nouses are the people who got in the Academy because of their intellect."
"Dreys are skillful, and the people with the best characters are Epons. It's all Academy slang. I learnt it from Dalton and Heather, they are both second year Academy students from 9." She added.
"That's ridiculous." It was the first time that Katniss inputted in the conversation. "How can people categorize each other if they don't even know why they got in? The Academy did not tell me why they accepted me."
"Ohh, They don't tell you in your acceptance letter. The CAET is only a test after all, a test that is purely theoretical and pretty predictable. Who's to tell that some students were just high on luck the day of the test or just drilled so hard for the exam they passed? From what I heard, the real test is when we get there. I heard that it is crazy. After the first week, a quarter of the incoming class if not more, usually get sent back home." Sarah lectured.
That was enough to scare Katniss, but also gave her hope.
In a week time, she was going back home. She was so sure that there was no way that she would past the 'real test'. So she decided to focus on the bright side; She was going to see Prim, Gale and her mom really soon.
"Anyway, I need to pee. Do you know where I could find a bathroom?" Sarah declared oblivious to the fear that she stroke into the two District 12 teens.
Sarah was right. By the time, they were leaving District 5. The compartment filled up with 15 more students.
But that was a small number, compared to the number of students in there after District 4. The stop into District 4, cause the addition of 30 students in the train car. Yes, Thirty.
If this was just a portion of students who just happened to be placed into this compartment , Katniss could imagine how many of them they really were.
The number dropped significantly to only 10 students from District 3.
"Hi. Do you mind if I sit with you?" A small,kind voice asked.
Katniss turned to see a boy. Small in stature, with black hair and light brown eyes.
"Sure." replied Sarah.
Peeta got up to help him with his luggage.
"Thanks."
"I'm Brandon, by the way. District 3." He mumbled avoiding eye contact with the others as much as possible.
Sarah and Peeta introduced themselves, followed by Katniss, sharply stating her name.
Katniss wondered why the boy did not sit along with the others from his District but refrained from asking.
In District 2. The number raised by such great amount that Katniss stopped counting once it surpassed thirty. Did every child in this District get accepted into the Academy?, Katniss inquired in her mind.
By the time the train got to the last stop before the Capitol, District 1, the compartment was buzzing with conversations and laughter, all of the seats filled.
Ignoring the activities inside the train, Katniss gazed outside her window, observing the landscape. It was the afternoon now, with the sun beginning to set behind the skyline.
"Word around the train, is that the first District 12 Academy students are in this compartment. Do you know if it's true?"
"It's probably a rumor. I heard that was going around last year too."
"If it's true, I would like to meet them. See if they are actually Academy-worthy or if the Academy just picked them to seem fair."
"Probably they had an easier test than the rest of us. So that they could make it in. "
"If that's the case I would like to see them try to make in pass Cutting Week."
"Probably the Academy would make it easier for them then too."
"That would be so unfair. It's not the rest of us fault that they are so dumb and poor, they couldn't get in for the last 50 years."
Peeta, Sarah and Brandon was so involved in their conversation, that Katniss was sure that they did not hear a word of the snotty conversation taking place nearby.
But Katniss heard it;loud and clear. The words spoken by whoever the students were made her felt a gleam of desire. The desire to make it through Cutting Week. The desire to prove to them that she too deserve to be on this train, and in the Academy. Even though she did not know why, Katniss knew that she had every right to be here as they were.
Promise me that you will try.
Make us proud Catnip
I am so proud of you.
These were the words that echoed in Katniss mind as she drifted into a light sleep, her head pressed against the train window.
Next chapter is definitely the Academy. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Favorite and Follow this story if you aren't already. And I would really, really, really appreciate it you leave a review telling me what you think about the story so far. Thank you for all those who have reviewed, favourited and followed. You guys are my inspiration.
P.S. So happy. I met my 3000 words in a chapter goal. I will consistently try to make longer chapters in the future, if they make you happy.