"Hey!" the boy from one calls. He's pretty tall, almost my height, with dark hair and eyes. "I'm Marvel, and this is Glimmer."
"Hi," the girl, Glimmer, purrs. She's the one who was being flirtatious during the parade. "And what's your name?" She's twirling one of her blonde curls and batting her eyelashes at me. Honestly, she looks ridiculous.
"Cato," I answer. "And this is Clove." My eyes dart over to Clove as I introduce her. If she's nervous, she doesn't look it. If anything, she seems bored.
"Cato…" Glimmer repeats. "I think this could be fun," she says with a wink.
"Hey, Glimmer, you can cut it out now. There's no sponsors anywhere near here," Marvel snaps, sounding annoyed. Glimmer shoots him a pouty expression. He scowls, and she bursts out laughing. These are our allies? I can only hope four turns out better, but judging from the size of the boy, we are only getting one tribute from district four this year.
Slowly, some of the other tributes trickle in, but still no sign of district twelve. The tributes from four arrive shortly after us. The girl walks over to us, while the boy quickly walks away to the other side of the room. So I was right. He can't be older than thirteen, and even that's pushing it.
"I'm Tara," the girl says when she reaches us. She has red-brown hair and hazel eyes. We all introduce ourselves. I don't think Tara volunteered like the rest of us, but she seems pretty capable.
I find out that Tara is the youngest, only fifteen, and Marvel is the oldest at seventeen. Most of the careers are encouraged to wait until we're eighteen. That's the last year we are eligible, but as you might assume, we aren't very patient people. I can remember the conversation I had with my mom a couple of weeks before the reaping. You don't have to go this year, she had said. There's still two more after. You'll be better trained… But we both knew there was no backing out. After all, my father had deemed me fit, said I was ready. Not to go would be the same as not trusting his judgment.
"So, what's the deal with your district partner?" I ask, glancing at the kid standing shyly by himself.
Tara just shrugs. "No guys volunteered this year." Neither did the girls, I think, but don't say anything. I assume she's a career who was just reaped a couple years early. "So," she starts, bored of the subject, "What's the strategy?"
I recognize an opportunity for leadership, so I answer. "I was thinking we could finish off the weaker tributes-"
"Like twelve," Glimmer interrupts. Clearly I wasn't the only one who was annoyed last night.
"-to get then out of the way, and then finish off the bigger targets," I finish, ignoring Glimmer.
"Like Thresh," offers Clove.
"Sounds fine to me," Tara says.
"It's as good as an plan we're going to come up with," Marvel agrees.
Atala, the head trainer, calls the tributes to the center of the room to go over the rules. Just then, I notice twelve slip in late. Must be too scared to come down and face the rest of us. From some of the looks that go around the room, everyone is annoyed by them outshining everyone.
Atala goes over some of the rules - no fighting with other tributes being the major one. There's a few compulsory exercises, and the rest are optional. She says something about not ignoring the survival stations. That's so funny it almost makes me laugh out loud. I can guarantee that the five of us will be living at the weapons stations.
When Atala finally releases us, the five of us gather around in the center of the training area.
"Where should we go first?" Clove asks, eyeing the knife station.
"Weapons are a priority. We never know which ones will be in the cornucopia. Remember the year with the maces?" Glimmer says. Maybe she does have a brain after all.
"Let's start with the more common weapons they almost always have, then get into the more unique ones." I answer. "Why don't we start with sword?" I push slightly, hoping they'll go with it.
"That seems smart," Tara agrees. I can see Clove raising her eyebrows at me, but I ignore her.
"Yeah," Marvel mumbles. I think he thought he'd be calling the shots since he's the oldest. Too bad for him, I think.
Tara goes first, and I have to admit she's pretty good. I step up to go next, and I show off everything; every skill, every maneuver I've every learned. Even the trainer seems impressed by the end. I can see Marvel looking at me with a mix of awe and envy. Clove isn't bad, and neither is Marvel, but neither can hold a candle to me. As for Glimmer, it's obvious this isn't her weapon of choice, although she's still better than any of these children.
"Let's do spears next," I suggest, and no one argues. In fact, Marvel seems to light up a bit. As we wait in line, I watch the boy from six throw a spear. Or I should say attempt to throw one, as he fails miserably. Our little group is a mix of chuckles and smirks, and when the boy turns around and sees us, he blushes and rushes off in the opposite direction.
This brings on a real laugh from everyone. As Glimmer does some damage on the practice dummies, I look around for twelve and find them at a survival station. Painting. Seriously? At least try learn a weapon. They are making this almost too easy. I mean, it's obvious that most of the tributes have accepted their impending deaths, but at least put up a fight.
I turn back around in time to see Marvel spear a dummy from 20 feet away and looking pretty proud of himself. So naturally I congratulate him, then step forward and throw one from 25 feet away. Marvel's expression turns from awe and envy to anger and fear. The fear is good, but maybe I shouldn't make them too angry. Sure, they wouldn't dare fight me, but they can still kill me in my sleep.
"Can we go to the archery station next?" Glimmer asks me. I'm about to say yes when I notice Clove staring longingly at the knife throwing area. For some reason, I'm compelled to let her show off. I'm not sure if it's because of what she told me in the elevator or the fact that she's half Glimmer's size, but I find myself deciding to go to the knife station. Besides, I'm curious to see just how good she really is.
"Actually, I was thinking we could work on knifes. They are the most common weapon, so they'll be the first ones we pick up at the cornucopia. We should make sure we can get the most damage done that we can," I say, trying to sound rational. Glimmer merely nods her head.
From the corner of my eye, I see Clove cock her head and give me a questioning look. I slow down and walk beside her.
"Since when do you like knives?" she asks under her breath.
"What? I just don't like bows and arrows," I whisper innocently. In return I get one of her signature smirks.
I watch her strut over to the throwing mat and grab a handful of knives. I'm expecting her to be good, but I am in no way prepared for what happens next.