Chapter Seven: Yeah, I'm the Stupid One

"Finnick Odair did what?"

Glimmer and I burst into laughter as Star smiles smugly. "Enobaria took testing her tributes a little too far this time," she confirms. "And Yoh was just along for the ride."

I double over in my chair, sure that my face is red by now. "But that's –"

"I know," Jasper smirks.

Evidently, I was right about Shell and Zen – they were trying to mentally unhinge Cato and Clove. I just didn't realize that the means by which they were attempting this were so… well, ridiculous.

Star laughs. "I heard them talking about it today, while we were all meeting with potential sponsors. You know how Enobaria and Finnick are – always trying to make fools of each other. Well, Enobaria seems very confident in Cato and Clove, because she made a bit of a stupid bet with Finnick the other day."

I grin. "And they actually followed through with it…"

She nods, smirking. "Shell and Zen agreed to pretend to be cousins, as well as the niece and nephew of Finnick Odair. You know how much influence Finnick has in this country," she says, suddenly scowling. "How many sponsors he's always able to gain for his tributes. Most tributes would almost die of horror if they thought he was related to another tribute, because he'd do everything he could to get them out of the arena alive... even more than he does as just a mentor. And Enobaria seemed to think Cato and Clove are smarter than that."

Glimmer shakes her head. "Not even close, actually."

Jasper raises his eyebrows. "What happened in training?"

"I only heard the part about them being cousins," I volunteer. "Zen didn't mention that he's supposedly Finnick's nephew. And Cato didn't hear any of that – he was off throwing spears that whole time."

"Clove must have told him, then," Glimmer says. "Shell told us everything when we were at edible plants and knots. Seemed pretty upset by it, too."

I frown. "There was no reason to be."

Glimmer shrugs. "People from Four are crazy. There's really no point in questioning it… you never know what might be going on in her head."

"How did Clove react when she heard?" Jasper asks, leaning forward.

"Not thrilled, obviously," Glimmer says. "She didn't really say much after that, but she was really fidgety for the rest of training. As soon as we were all dismissed she ran over to Cato, and they disappeared."

"She must have told them everything on their way up," I say. Then I chuckle. "They're going to be so dead."

Star smiles viciously. "Enobaria… will definitely not be happy if her tributes are freaked over this."

"They will be," Glimmer says confidently. "It's not hard to tell. Clove looked really uncomfortable towards the end of training, I could tell she was dying to get out of there and run to Enobaria and tell her everything."

"This has actually given us an advantage as a district," Jasper says. "If Enobaria really lets them have it, Cato and Clove will have to be extremely careful in the next week, and they'll probably question every move they make. That can be a safe tactic for some tributes, but not for someone in the Career alliance."

"And District Four won't be at their best either," Star adds. "They might be right now, but Enobaria will undoubtedly do something to get back at them."

I laugh and shake my head slowly. "I gotta say, it'd be a pain to have her as a mentor."

Jasper frowns. "Maybe, but I have a lot of respect for Enobaria. She may be a bit… well, bitchy at times, but she's fierce and strong willed and has a lot of talent for getting her tributes out of the arena alive."

"How encouraging," Glimmer says sarcastically.

Star laughs. "No worries, she won't succeed this year – that much I can say confidently. Cato and Clove have probably just had a major setback, and I think both of you will be just fine once the Games start."

That's the closest to a compliment I've ever received from Star, and it brings a smirk to my face. "One of us will be, anyway," I can't resist saying.

Jasper rolls his eyes and Star scowls. "Oh, grow up," she mutters, but my grin just widens as I laugh.

"Why don't we eat?" Jasper cuts in wisely. As he speaks, I notice Lumina enter the room with Glimmer's stylist.

"Great," I say enthusiastically. I wave to greet Lumina, and she smiles briefly back at me. I have to say she's growing on me – the initial impression of a cold-hearted stylist who couldn't care less about helping me has faded.

We all sit around the table, and an Avox comes to serve us. A short blonde girl walks around the table and sets a cup of cheesy noodles in front of each of us and a large loaf of bread in the center of the table, and I feel my stomach rumble.

While we're eating, it's as if the idea of the Games all but disappears. No one is fighting or making cutting remarks – through I do have to throw in a few stupid ones to keep up the appearance of being a moron. Everyone is laughing, just talking about things like other tributes or life at home. Even Star isn't as bad as usual – she and Jasper spend some time telling us about past tributes they've mentored, both the alive and the dead.

When it briefly crosses my mind that this would be more fun with Diamond here, I want to slap myself. No it wouldn't, dumbass, I tell myself. Because then she'd end up dead. I know I would never kill her, but… someone else would. I'd do everything I could to bring the two of us to the final two and then kill myself, but chances are someone else would reach her… and I'd rather not think about what would happen then.

And there lies the beauty of volunteers.

"Right, I'm tired," Glimmer announces after a couple of hours. "I'm going to bed."

"Me too," I yawn, standing up. All the food – the Avox kept bringing more, it never seemed to stop – has made me tired, and I'm having trouble keeping my eyes open. Better go to sleep now… I'll have to get up early in the morning for training.

"Okay," Jasper says, taking a sip of the wine the Avox brought out after the last course. Glimmer and I both refused the drink, knowing we'd pay for it tomorrow, but the adults don't have anything to worry about, it seems.

Glimmer and I turn and leave the dining hall together. We walk in silence until we get to her room, where we both pause.

"'Night," I say to her, barely stifling a yawn. She nods at me sleepily and disappears through the door.

I trudge on until I reach my own room, where I stumble through the door and collapse on the bed, exhausted. It's been a long day, longer than any other I can remember. Except maybe the day my parents died.

I yawn again and take off my shoes, throwing them to the opposite side of the room. They hit the wall with a clunk and drop to the floor.

Despite my exhaustion, my brain feels the need to run through today's events before allowing me to fall asleep. Training with Glimmer, and then with Cato and Zen. Finding out about the bet between Districts Two and Four. Laughing at other people's stupidity. Dinner without anyone's head getting bitten off.

I have to smile. I'll have a lot to tell Em and Di when I get back home.

Finally, I'm able to close my eyes without any unwanted thoughts bothering me. It takes me about eight seconds to finally fall asleep, knowing that I'll have to get up early for training.

The last thought I have before losing consciousness is one that shows me their faces, the ones I care about the most, the ones I've got to get back to.

Sorry I haven't updated in a few weeks. I've had a lot going on - you'd think teachers would lay off a bit in the week before spring break, but they've been completely burying us in work... I swear, this research paper is making me hate writing. -_-

Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter. I want to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter, especially Litprof, who really helped me to change my perspective. Guys, updates are going to start coming less frequently. I have a ton going on, school, swimming, getting ready to move... it's quite a bit to handle, and I haven't found a lot of time to write recently. Besides that, I'm starting to move away from fanfiction a little bit... I've been working on some original stories now that I finally have ideas. I can promise that this story will be finished, but updates will probably be every other week or so from now on. It just depends on how much free time I have.

Okay, I think that's all. Review if you can? :) I'll try to update soon - the next chapter features the second day of training. Marvel ends up working with Clove, and if you read Winning is Everything, you know what happens there. xD I'm really excited to write that. Hope to hear from you, but either way, I'll post Chapter 8 as soon as I can. :)

~What the Quell