After the rest of training, which I leave with a hug and a promise we'll train together tomorrow to Brit, I head back upstairs for dinner. Despite the large lunch I've eaten, I'm starving again, so I pile my plate high and sit down between April and Will, smiling.
"How was training?" Sue asks, her face looking genuinely curious.
"Fine" I tell her, but before I can open my mouth again, Jesse is butting in, obviously trying to get me into trouble.
"She made an alliance, with the blonde from 8." He blurts out, then turns back to his plate.
"Is she strong?" Sue asks, in my direction. So I tell her about Brittany, and some of the other tributes I'd talked to.
"I knew you'd make friends, the minute I told you not too. You're too kind a soul. It might be your downfall." Jesse chokes out a cruel laugh in my direction before sue continues. "But it'll probably save your life in the long run. People in alliances tend to last longer than those that go off alone."
Jesse pales and stays quiet for the rest of dinner. He's obviously thinking about getting into an alliance. He'll probably try and charm his way in with the careers tomorrow.
After dinner I practically fall into bed, barely even pulling off my training outfit before I'm asleep.
The rest of training passes in a blur, me and Brit amble around the room, trying things from spear throwing to camouflage paint, which she's actually really good at. I'm right about Jesse though, he approaches the district 1 tributes as soon as we enter the room. Ass. On the final day of training, we sit in the lunch room, waiting for our names to be called. We're talking about trivial things, like what score we think we'll get, when she grabs my hand under the table. I look at her and suddenly she looks terrified.
I lower my voice to whisper to her. "It'll be okay, you'll do great, I promise." I rub the back of her hand with my thumb in soothing circles.
"Promise me you won't leave me?" She whispers back, her eyes still wide.
"I promise."
Then she's called, and she flits out of the room, and my hand is cold and empty.
After my session with the gameskeepers, I enter the lift, and as the doors are closing, an arm shoots through, stopping them. The doors slide back open and in slides Quinn, looking as intense as ever. She stands next to me stoney-faced, but her hand reaches out and presses something into mine. It's some kind of chain, and I want to look at it now, but the way she's given it to me makes me think I should wait.
The door slides open at the floor above, and she exits, muttering something that sounds like "Don't die" on the way out.
I get a 10 in my training. Jesse only gets a 6. He's furious, of course, bitching about how the trainers weren't paying attention to him and how I must have cheated. I just laugh at him. He told Sue that he'd thrown spears for his session. He must have missed his targets.
For mine, I'd scurried up the ropes hanging from the roof of the gym and thrown knifes at targets placed throughout the room below. I didn't think anyone was watching me, but obviously they were.
Sue smiles at me throughout Jesse's tirade, and when he storms off from the room, we burst into a fit of the giggles. Sue may seem overbearing, and kind of a bitch, but she's actually alright, under the tracksuit.
Brittany got a 9. Sue nods in approval, like I've made the right choice.
But I already knew that.