Disclaimer: I think you know.
I hate Effie. She barged into my room this morning, twice as annoying as usual.
"Oh, you two! You are just adorable!" She squeals. Karma wakes up from her position- her head being curled up in my chest- and flushes red.
She scrambles out from under the covers and runs past Effie, not saying a word to me. Well, not unless you count her saying "Oh, crap."
I raise my hands above my head, looking at Effie with the rudest glare I can manage.
"Sorry?" Effie says.
"Sorry… sorry?" I yell. "Unless you can create some kind of time machine and then not barge into my room, then 'sorry' isn't going to cut it." I go under my covers. Effie whimpers and walks out of my room. I take a shower and go over to the dining room for breakfast.
"Morning." I say, grumpily.
"Hey, Casey!" Karma says, "I saw the Opening Ceremonies this morning- we looked good! They even filmed some of the Capitol girls who were obsessing over you." She gives me two thumbs up and nods.
"They weren't obsessing," I say, defensively. "They're Capitol girls- I bet if they see bread pop out of the toaster they would pass out with joy."
"Oh, shut up, Casey," She replies. "They almost jumped out of the stands to tackle you. And I saw about twenty girls tell their parents to sponsor you. You're the best looking tribute since Finnick Odair."
I feel my face flush a violent shade of red. "Thanks." I say. I'm holding back a grin, but I think my face might shatter to pieces if I try any harder. I grab some eggs and bacon and take huge bites of each. Right after I swallow them, I burp.
"'S'cuse me." I say. Karma starts to chuckle, then she lets out the loudest, longest burp I've ever heard.
"Aah." She says. She pats her stomach. "That… felt good."
Effie looks at her in disgust. Karma and I exchange glances then burst out laughing.
"That's disgusting." Effie mutters.
I watch Effie as she leaves and give Karma a high five.
"Nothing is more fun than making Effie angry." Karma says. "Like this one time, I followed her down the hallway and made all these arm-farts behind her. She kept squealing and grabbing her butt. It was hilarious!"
We both burst out laughing. When the laughter dies down, Karma suddenly gets serious.
"Hey, Casey. Thanks for yesterday." She says, looking down at her fingers.
"Oh, no problem." I say. "You don't even need to ask. Just come in if you don't like your room."
"Really?" She says. "Thank you."
"Your welcome." I say. I smile at her, trying to reassure her. There's a long silence, and I notice that we're the only two people in the dining room when I hear Effie's heels clacking in the hallway.
"Oh!" Karma yells. "Quick! Hand me that plastic spoon!" I do as she says, curious at what she's doing. She puts a wad of mashed potatoes in the spoon. When Effie walks in, she holds the neck of the spoon and pulls back the top part. She lets go right as Effie opens the door, getting a spoonful of mashed potatoes in Effie's face.
"Run!" She yells at me. We dash around both sides of Effie and to my room. We close the door and lock it behind us, laughing hysterically. I high five her again.
"You two open the door this instant!" Effie yells, banging the door with her fist. "NOW!"
"No way!" Karma yells, still laughing, "Over my dead body!"
"Oh, I would so kill you!" Effie yells.
"Ha! I doubt you could catch me in those high heels!" She shouts back.
"Ugh! You two are just- augh!" Effie cries, storming off.
I'm laughing on the floor, holding onto my stomach and trying to breathe. "Did- did you see her face?" I say.
"Yeah! Oh my gosh, she's so-" Karma breaks off, unable to talk through the laughter.
We laugh for a good twenty minutes, when Effie comes back. "You two!" She yells though the door. "Get out here! It's training day!"
Karma opens the door and I'm right behind her. We're both still holding back our grins. We walk down the hallway, Effie behind us. I steal a sideways glance at Karma at the same time that she does and she both start snickering again.
"Okay," Karma says, "In front of the Gamemakers, we have to be serious. On the count of three, we have to stop smiling. Okay, ready?" She asks. I nod. "One…two… three!" She yells. We both hide our smiles.
"You know what we should do?" I ask, stopping Karma from opening one of the doors in entrance to the training center.
"Nope. What?" She says.
"We should each open one door and walk in at the same time and make a loud noise so everyone can hear us." I say. "Just for fun."
"Okay. On three-"
"I want to count this time." I whine, purposely. "One…two…three!"
We push open the double doors and walk in at the same time, indeed making a loud noise with the doors. The tributes and the Gamemakers all look our way. Karma, being the teasing person she is, flutters her fingers in a wave at a big group of Careers who are bunched together. They look her up and down. I can tell they wish they had her attitude.
"Carry on." She says, pretending to be annoyed by everyone. The noise slowly rises again as people go back to what they were doing.
"Nicely played, my friend." I say to her.
"Hey, it was your idea. It got everyone's attention. Including the Gamemakers'." She says. We high five, low so that nobody can see. "So, which station do you want to go to first?" She asks.
"…There are some dummies over there." I point to the pile of untouched dummies near the back.
"You mean the Careers?" Karma asks. I look at her face and see that she's serious. I smile a bit
"Nope, there's a pile. Here, I'll show you." I say. In one swift movement, I grab Karma's hands and pull her on to my back.
"Whoa!" She yells. "What are you doing?" She's laughing. She crosses her legs around me, making sure she doesn't fall.
"We're going on a journey to the land of Stuffed Dummies That We Use To Practice Killing People." I say.
"Okay," She laughs, "I've always wanted to visit that place. I hear it's amazing!"
"Oh, it is!" I say, then dash to the dummies "Look! We're here!" I say.
"I call that one!" She points to the dummy that has a surprised expression on it's face and jumps off my back. At first I wonder why she wants it so bad, then I realize it has the same facial expression as Effie when Karma flung the mashed potatoes at her. I laugh and run after her.
She pinned up the dummy and took ten steps back, grabbing a knife. She squints her eyes and positions herself. She thrown the knife and hits it in the exact spot where the heart would be.
"Oh yeah!" She yells. "You try." She tells me, pulling the knife out of the dummy's chest and hands it to me. Ignoring my protests, she grabs my shoulders and positions me in the same spot that she was in. Then, she gets behind me. "Okay, go."
I bring back my arm and throw the knife. It lodges itself in the head.
"Nice!" She yells. "Do you want to go to the station to build fires?"
"Sure." I say. We walk over there, ignoring the Careers that are staring at us. Karma grabs logs, a rock, and a twig, getting straight to work.
A boy from District Two walks up to Karma. He's about thirteen or fourteen. "Hey, pretty." He says. I don't like the tone in his voice… it's not very clean. Karma stands up and puts her hands on her hips.
"Hi." She says, taking no interest in him. He gets closer and plays with her bangs. She clenches her right fist, her punching fist.
"You had a pretty dress at the Ceremonies." He says. He leans in, his mouth by her ear. "Especially the cut in the front. That was my favorite part."
"Hey, back off!" I yell.
The boy looks over at me. "And if I don't?" He says in a menacing tone.
"Then a certain boy from District Two is going to get tragically injured soon." I say. I'm lying. I can't injure him! He's the biggest fourteen year old I've ever seen!
"You little b-" He says, raising his fist, but he's interrupted.
"The Public Training Session is over. Please take your seats in the hallway to begin private training. Thank You." Says a voice over the intercom.
"Tay!" A girl- I'm assuming from District Two- yells. "Let's go!"
"You got lucky, Twelve. Don't think I'm going to leave you alone." He threatens. I keep a blank, bored look on my face, even though I'm screaming on the inside. I've just made an enemy… one that's probably going to try his best to kill me.
"Later, Pretty." He says to Karma and winks. Suddenly, anger rises in me. Unless I kill him first.
"Come on, Casey." Karma says to me, grabbing my arm. She pulls me into the waiting room and to the farthest seat from the door. One by one, tributes go into the training room, the applause from the Gamemakers getting quieter each time. Hours later, it's Karma's turn. She gives my arm a squeeze and leaves me alone.
I'm about to fall asleep when I hear a menacing scream coming from the training room, then loud applause. I'm scared to death, thinking that she got hurt, but she comes out of the room, looking fine. Pleased, even. She gives me a huge smile and a thumbs up before a man makes her leave.
I get up and walk into the training room.
"You may begin." A Gamemaker says. I nod and go straight to the knife throwing, mimicking Karma's position and shooting every dummy in the "heart" or the "brain". Then, I got to starting fires, lighting them, and using my jacket to hide the smoke. Last, I go to camouflage, not making any noise.
"Did he go already?" One of them asks. I snicker, then stand up from the "bush" that I was lying down in front of. There's a murmur between the Gamemakers, then excited applause. "You may go now."
I peel the leaves and branches off of myself and run out.
A man escorts me all the way to my room before leaving me alone, assuring that I won't try and escape. I'm about to open the door when Karma comes running down the hallway.
"Casey! They're going to show the scores! C'mon!" She grabs my hand and pulls me to a room with a TV. Katniss, Peeta, Effie, they're all on couches, looking at the TV. The boy from District Two shows on the screen. He got an eleven. Karma and I sit on a couch besides each other, both sitting cross legged. As the scores pass, finally it's time for District Twelve.
Karma squeezes my hand as her face appears on the screen. A big ten shows up next to her face. "Haha! Yes!" She yells.
My picture shown up on the screen, and I wait. Then, a big nine shown up. "Yeah!" I yell. We high five and stand up, both doing some kind of happy-dance.
"So, Karma," I say. "What was that screaming in the training room?"
"Oh," She says and laughs. "The Gamemakers looked bored when I just stabbed things, so I grabbed a dummy- the special one- and I screamed and ripped it's head off. Then I grabbed another dummy and showed different ways to break the neck and spine."
"Nice! I'm surprised you didn't get a twenty!" I say. We walk down the hall, forgetting about everyone else.
As we near her room, she looks like she wants to ask me something. I think she still doesn't like her room.
"Do you want to sleep in my room?" I ask her. She lights up and nods yes. I open the door to my room and sit cross legged on the bed. She does the same, like on the first night on the train.
"So," I say. "The special dummy- it's the one that made the face like Effie's, right?" I say.
"Yep, that's the one." She laughs.
For the next hour or so, we talk about things like school. It turns out Karma loves school and has the best grades in her class.
"Yeah, but I don't like people that much." She says. "But you're different… you're better. Much better." She yawns.
"Should we sleep now?" I ask.
"Yes. Tomorrow's the interviews. Ugh." She says.
I lay down on the pillow, and she does the same. She doesn't sleep with her head on the other side now. In fact, she curls up next to me.
"Good night, Casey." She says.
"Good night, Karma." I reply. Wow. I never thought I would get to say that.
A/N: Aww that's just nice. This A/N isn't going to be long because I spent forever on the computer and I didn't eat for like eight hours. Tomorrow's Easter! Yippee! I've been Lenting off doughnuts and naps for 45 days and tomorrow I get a whole bunch. Yes! Okay, well I don't want to bore you with one of my rants about doughnuts, so I'll just see you next update. Bye!
~Telling Time Backwards
P.S. If I don't remember what I'm forgetting, I'm going to explode.
just thought you should know.