You know Suzanne Collins? I'm not her. Shock. Horror. I noticed something when reading my story through. It. Is. Too. Short! Honestly! From now on I promise longer chapters, though I don't know if anyone's even reading this anymore.
The Trainee
The dining room is larger than my entire house, including the garden. A table, the size of the bedroom I share with my sisters is groaning under the weight of sausages, kippers, toast, bacon, eggs of every variety. I stare at it, mouth open, until I realise how stupid I must look, and I close it. At home, breakfast is usually just what we had for dinner the night before, or if it was one of our birthdays, a loaf of green-tinted bread. I take a seat opposite a smirking Kai, who is stuffing his face with as much food as he can, as Gaia looks on, traumatized.
"Didst cho o ay nover tem tum, ray gurl?" He asks me, mouth stuffed with scrambled eggs, which sprays everywhere as he speaks. Gaia gives a little sob. I raise my eyebrows.
"I don't speak pig Kai, empty your pie hole and then I'll speak to you" I say this with as much sarcasm as I can muster, which isn't a lot. Kai rolls his eyes and takes an enormous swallow, gulping down more food in one mouthful than I normally eat in a day. He coughs slightly.
"Did you throw another tantrum, rage girl" He gestures towards my T-shirt, which I ripped the sleeves off this morning.
Gaia gasps in shock "You didn't!" she cries in dismay at me, looking forlornly at my previously long-sleeved T-shirt. Me and Kai do some synchronised eye rollings. I turn back to Kai, leaving Gaia to her unhappiness. "No, I didn't have a tantrum!"
Kai raises an eyebrow.
"Well, OK, sort of." Kai grins through a mouthful of kippers, which seem to have appeared there mysteriously since I was distracted by Gaia.
"Anyway, we're gonna meet the rest of the volunteers today!" He says this with such vigour; it's hard to say no. But I made myself a promise yesterday that I would do it on my own, so I say
"Actually, I sort of work better on my own." He looks somewhat upset and angry, so I add "Anyway, I've got an appearance to keep up, for the sponsors right?" Kai snorts milk everywhere. "Rage girl. That your angle? I'd say it didn't suit you if I didn't see you last night."
I nod "What about you?"
He shrugs "Smirky and sarcastic I think".
I laugh "You should play the stupid, mindless thug angle; you wouldn't even need to act!"
Kai puts a hand over his heart "You really think that! I'm shocked! This stupid, mindless thug has feelings!" He then pretends to sob. While he does that, I grab some toast, and butter it up with Jam (A/N Jelly for you Americans!) He then sits up, smirking. "Well you should do the angle of smelly, t-shirt ripping bully!" This causes him to throw my toast at his face. Laughing, he ducks, and the toast soars over his hair like an eagle, straight towards the door to Lyna's room. Which is open. Where Lyna is standing. The toast hits her square in the face. This creates peals of laughter from Kai, as Lyna stands there, Jam (Jelly) from her face, making her look like she's stayed in the sun too long. She does not look amused about the whole situation. She stalks towards the table (Causing Kai's laughter to stop almost instantaneously) and picks up a napkin. She removes the majority of the Jam (Jelly) from her face, and looks like she's trying hard either not to punch me in the head, or not to rip my head off whole. Lyna snarls at me, and bends down, her head now at my level. I can see some Jam (Jelly) up her nose, slowly making its way down, like red snot. This causes me to hold my breath, to stop the laughter that is trying hard to escape from my lips.
"What are you laughing at, Lotty?" She said the last word with such venom; it's pretty obvious the word is an insult. I feel like mumbling incoherently and turning red, but I can't do that now. I'm the raging fury girl.
I keep my face free of all expression and say coolly "Only the funniest thing I've seen my whole life".
My heart is pumping faster than it has ever done before, and I see her visibly shake with fury. The little bit of Jam (Jelly) trailing down her nose vibrates indignantly for a few seconds, then escapes, falling onto my plate with a sad 'phlat'. Lyna has blanched like an overcooked cod but still keeps her face close to mine. I can smell what she had for dinner yesterday as she breathes over me, telling me "You be careful. I'm in charge of you, while you're in the death-pit they call the Arena" She smiles a sickly sweet smile, which makes me wonder whether my breakfast will be making a reappearance soon. She continues "It would be so, so sad if I forgot to send you that water, or that food when you needed it most. So remember that. Though if I was sending you what you really needed, I'd better send you some high-concentration spot cream." One final breath in my face (causing my stomach to lurch violently. I hold it down; I don't think vomiting on Lyna will help me right now.) She stands up and grabs the meatiest, bloodiest thing on the table; and proceeds to tear it to pieces throwing large chucks down her throat. My voice is shaking somewhat, but somehow I make myself say "Really? I thought Hydrao was my mentor. I was *ahem* too weak for you."
Lyna grins nastily "Accidents can be arranged…"
Hydrao turns a mixture of red and white, and then seems to alternate between the two. The effect is actually rather interesting. If only I could have worn a dress that colour yesterday, I might not have become the bloody rage girl. (A/N No pun intended!) He sees me staring at him ; and shrinks into the shadows. Now I understand how he won the Hunger Games. As I glance back at Lyna (who's stabbing the bacon with a little bit too much vigour to be natural) I wish I could do the same thing. Hydrao seems overwhelmed by the attention he's received so far (please note my sarcasm) and stands up to leave, even though he hasn't eaten anything so far. He murmurs "9 o'clock, training. Aalgae don't…. just don't…. doesn't matter" He goes quiet and leaves, mumbling slightly. As I look back to Lyna, (who's teaching Kai how to kill someone with just a ribbon, string and a rubber duck) I wonder whether we have any sane tributes. There's the mental Lyna, Mumbling Hydrao, Pyrax, the victor from the 10th games or something, who 'buys' young girls, not to mention the one who refuses to talk to anyone anymore after saw someone killed by having their tongue ripped out, and suffocating on their own blood. My Dad refused to let us watch that moment, and took me and Raym away from the TV. I yawn slightly, and grab what seems to be a shrimp (but dyed purple for some reason) and begin to eat. No matter what the Capitol tries to make us do, fight to the death or whatever, you can't say they don't have the best food.
Gaia takes us down to the training centre, though I know Hydrao or Lyna is supposed to. But Hydrao has locked himself in his room, and I don't think Lyna can trust herself in my presence at the precise time. But as Gaia bounces up and down with excitement, I can't help thinking I'd prefer the risk of death to her continually twittering on about clothes, as well as making comments about the T-shirt I ripped this morning. (She still looks shocked.) I have just worked out how to ignore it when we arrive at the place we were going to. The training centre. There are around 20 stalls arranged in rows in the room, each with its own trainer as well as different items. The trainer at the stall with all the ropes looks upset, so I'm thinking that no-one ever goes there. I make a mental note of this so I can go there if I need alone time. The biggest stall is at the back, full of weapons of all varieties. A hundred different types of knives, swords with blades so sharp I'd be scared to go near. Some weapons I have never seen before, let alone knowing the names for them. A mini-bow and arrow with a weird stick thing on it, like a handle. I make another mental note to go there to see what it even does. So many weapons. It's like we're at a market, except all the stalls are selling the same thing. Death. I hear Kai exhale with anticipation and excitement. He probably knows what the stick-bow thingy is. We are ordered into lines, District 1 at the touch, 12 at the back. We are somewhere near the front so I can look around, to see all the stalls and wonder about how many of the skills offered are already known by Loki , Copia, Kai and the other 'teers. I know the fishing skills, which means I'll do fine if there's some form of water large enough to fish from in the arena. That isn't for certain though, and even if there is a source of water, say a lake, in the games, the 'teers will probably be guarding the source so unless I joined them… No. I will not become like them. I'll just have to try to learn other skills. I'll avoid the spears, just so I can save it for the gamemakers. Not that it will be much of a surprise if someone from District 4 can use a spear, it's like District 7 and axes. They can all use axes. I could learn a new skill, like spend all my time with the bow and arrows to show them something different, but am I really likely to become that good at weaponry in 3 days? I guess I'm doing spears then.
The person in charge, Thetis, gives us a talk on basic health and safety (wouldn't want us to get hurt would they). He tells us all not to fight each other (he gives our district and 1 and 2 a stern look) He then tells us we can go wherever we want now, and that lunch is at 1. Loki, Copia, Camulos and Kai immediately go over to the weapons, the larger the better. Nyx and the other tributes (me included stand around aimlessly for a bit, before wandering off to different stations. I stand around, watching Kai chuck a sword at a dummy (the head falls off and is promptly kicked at another tribute, who squeals in shock as it hits them in the face. Thetis drones again about not fighting each other before going off, probably to find some food or something. He looks well acquainted with food in general in my opinion. After that incident, almost everyone goes to the survival stations, giving the 'teers a wide berth. I'm in a good mind to do the same thing, and I'm halfway to the edible plants station when I remember who I am. Or more precisely, who I am pretending to be. I veer left, towards the weapons furthest from 'teers, who are currently taking it in turns to stab the centre dummy in the groin with various different weapons. Nyx stands awkwardly around them, before picking up a pick-axe and swinging it so hard into the groin that is splits the dummy in two. This causes all the watching boys to flinch, and Copia to whoop and clap Nyx on the back. She smiles modestly and joins in, slightly less awkward.
I arrive at the throwing knives station to find one other person there already, one of the farming districts I think. He's standing in front of one of the walls near the dummies, trying to tug a knife out of the wall. I open my mouth to tell him it was a good throw (most of mine don't stick in anything) when he sees me, jumps and walks off towards the fire making station. This annoys me somewhat, so I try to forget him and start chucking knives at the target. My aim is good, after years of practicing with my spear, but I have no strength with my throw, I'm lucky if the knives stay in! I keep practicing though, and after an hour or two of working on my power, all my knives stay in the dummy. No-one approaches either this station or the station with the 'teers. They still haven't moved. Kai catches me staring at him and grins at me. He picks up a massive club and proceeds to shatter a dummy to pieces for my entertainment. He smirks at me and I raise my eyebrows. I'm not entirely sure why but it seems to make Kai happy. I return to the knives, now learning how to use them for close combat. This, I suck at massively, I am overpowered by all but the smallest trainers. The shortest one teaches me what to do if someone bigger than you tries to jump you, which is a sort of roll flip thingy, but you hold your knife behind your head, to prevent attacks or something. Another couple of hours of this and I have mastered knives. Sort of. (By that I mean not really compared to any of the 'teers. Except maybe Nyx, but I don't think I could kill her anyway. She didn't want to come here.
At lunch, I sit on my own, but so do most people. A alliance has arisen between District 10 and 11, As well as this group, the 'teers sit together, chatting loudly and making comments (loudly) about the other tributes, while each one mentioned turns red and tries to disappear. Only the district 11 girl and me are left alone, for different reasons though. The girl from 11 is massive, and could probably kill me by sitting on me. I, on the other hand, am seen as an unknown, and I'm sure Kai's told them all about my invented skill with a knife (he was asking about my 'trick' with the apple I did on the train, and lying seemed the easiest option. As usual) Talking of the girl from 11, she is currently lumbering over to the boy from 9, Dou, who is alone on his table. His sister refused to come downstairs this morning, and so he's on his own. She walks over to him, and Dou becomes aware of the thing in front of him. He seems to lose a couple of inches off his height as she towers over him.
"Give me the bread" she says calmly "or bad things will happen".
Dou turns red and picks up the basket of bread to pass over to the girl. This makes me angry. She might be twice his size, but that doesn't mean she can just steal his stuff! I want to do something about this, but I can't… wait a second! Yes I can! I'm rage girl, right? Smiling grimly to myself, I pick up my porcelain mask and put it on, before walking over to the behemoth in front of Dou, currently holding his bread. I storm over there, no, I am the storm. I stand behind the girl, (I must be around 1/3rd a foot smaller than her) and tap her smartly on the shoulder. She turns as menacingly as possible, ready to crush the person behind her.
"You do know stealing's illegal, right?"
She sees it's me and I can see the cogs working in her brain, as she recalls who I am. I see a look of horror begin to spread across her face and I smile so widely, I look demented. Just the look I was aiming for.
"I'd give that back to him if I were you" I says sweetly, but slightly too sweetly, making me sound slightly mad.
When she does not react, I pick one of the loaves out of the basket, and crush it in one hand, before tearing it with my teeth as violently as possible, while still smiling pleasantly. I always was good at drama, which comes in handy now. I never really paid attention in Biology though, which is maybe why I'm finding it easy to ignore the fight or flight reflex. She turns around and passes me the bread, and walks away slowly, facing me, as though I might pounce on her and attack. I take the basket and put it gently down in front of Dou, and leave. I think I might have scared him for life already. And how long will his life be? I think sadly He has no chance in these games. Dou seems to feel the same. He's looking up at me with a look of awe and fear, though the fear seems to be most intense. He looks worried that I might hit him. I move away from him and sit down on my table, alone. Everyone is staring me, while still trying to back away from me. Copia whispers something to Kai, who shakes his head and shrugs. Copia look slightly peeved. I can guess what they're talking about, Kai has probably told Copia about my not wanting to be one of the 'teers, and Copia is none too happy about that. I thank myself for my mask, if I didn't have it; they'd probably be coming over now and threating me. Then again, if I didn't have my mask would they even want me on their side? Everyone is still glancing over at me and the girl from 11 (general chatter tells me her name is Pomona) and I pretend that I am on my own. After some time, the talking stops and everyone returns to staring at their plate and attempting not to make eye contact with anyone in the vicinity. I glance over to Dou and see that he is still staring at me. I catch his eye and he turns red. I glance around to make sure no-one else is looking, and flash him a smile, my first genuine one for days. He blushes slightly and waves back.
The end! Yay! Sorry I'm a day late! I spent all the time planning for Mandarin exchange tomorrow! Because of this, I cannot update until Wednesday, not next week, but the week after! Please, please do not un-alert! Also, please ALERT if you like this. PLEASE. REVIEW TOO! Please! Thank you for your reviewing in advance!