I woke up to Galaria pounding on my door, saying how big the day was going to be. I rolled out of bed slowly and drug myself out into the hallway, still half asleep. I followed the annoying Capital accents to the dining room. The door opened, revealing a large glass table and five green chairs. There were tables all around the room filled with food. I walked over to the table, which already had a plate of eggs and bacon with a glass of orange juice waiting for me. I sat down in one of the green chairs next to Galaria. For something that looked plastic, the chair was quite comfortable.
"I see that you didn't bother to get dressed this morning," Galaria said in her snooty accent. I looked down at the silk pajamas that I slept in. I shrugged off the comment and proceeded to eat the food on my plate.
"Good morning!" a very chipper Jeremy said, walking into the room in his pajamas. I could see the look of disappointment on Galaria's face. I held in a laugh as I continued eating the delicious Capital food. Jeremy sat down across from me, smiling from ear to ear.
"What are you so happy for?" I asked, still groggy from sleep.
"Today is the start of training," he replied, already digging into his plate of food.
"And you're happy about this?"
"I find it easier to look on the bright side of training than to be a downer about it." I nodded, knowing he was right. We quickly finished our food and waited because Galaria had told us that she needed to go over the schedule for the next couple weeks. The two of us sat patiently, waiting for Galaria to finish.
"Okay, we have group training every morning between now and the Games. During the afternoon, you two have personal training. You will have full reign of the training center," Galaria started going through the list. "Now, you can either choose to train together or by yourselves. You do get more time if you train together."
"Not to mention the motivation," I commented.
"You also have interview training after personal training." This made me raise my eyebrows in question.
"Interviews?" I felt Jeremy's eyes jump over to Galaria, also questioning the statement.
"You have to do interviews to get sponsors to get supplies in the games. Interview night is the night before you leave for the arena. So, you don't have to worry about that for another week." I felt my stomach turn as the thought of talking in front of cameras hit my brain. Jeremy gave me a look that basically said that I wasn't going in this alone and that I'll be okay. Galaria dismissed us so we could go get into our training uniforms.
When I walked back into my room, there was a gray pair of pants with red stripes down each side and a shirt that matched. I put them on, noticing there was a number 9 on the left sleeve and the back. There was a pair of black training boots sitting on the ground. I quickly slipped these on. I pulled my hair back into it's usual bun that I wore back at home.
I left my room, seeing Jeremy in the hallway as well. The two of us walked to the living room. Galaria hasn't come to get us for training yet, so the two of us sat on the couch. We sat silently for a few moments.
"So," I broke the silence. "Do you want to train together during personal training?"
"We would accomplish more if we work together than try to train alone," he answered.
"It would be easier on the two of us. We get double the training and double the motivation than working on our own."
"Do you always plan everything?"
"I find that a good strategy comes in handy. Especially when it comes to training." Galaria walked into the room, wearing all purple today. The two of us stood and followed her to the elevator. She pressed a button with the letter "t" on it and the elevator shot downwards. In just a few seconds, the elevator stopped and opened it's doors.
The training room was huge. Different stations from weapons to survival skills formed a giant circle. In the middle of that circle, a platform sat with a lady in the middle of it. A few tributes were there, but not many. Jeremy and I walked to the center, mesmerized by the variety of stations to choose from. The tributes from 1, 2, and 4 were already here. They were more threatening up close than they were the night before. I was by far the shortest of them all. The boys were twice my size and each of the girls had at least ten pounds on me. Jeremy seemed to fit in with them height wise, but not weight wise. Let's face it, Jeremy was a bean pole. Tall and skinny.
As the time drew closer to begin, the more tributes drifted in. The majority of the tributes were bigger than me, minus the two twelve year olds. Out of everyone, I was probably the third smallest person there. When all the tributes had arrived, the lady in the center began talking. She named off all the stations, telling us that there were trainers at each to help us get the fullest out of each one. She advised us not to ignore the survival stations, as they could be useful to us winning the games. Then came the rules. The rules were quite simple, don't fight with the other tributes. After her speech, she sent us on our way.
Naturally, tributes from Districts 1, 2, and 4 all ran to the weapons. The rest of us seemed to disperse evenly. Jeremy and I agreed to stay away from each other during group training to try to keep tabs on the other tributes. Out of instinct, I went to the weights and stamina portion of the training room. Jeremy went off to the survival skills, hoping to pick up something he didn't know.
The stamina building stations were rough. There was one with six platforms. You had to jump from one platform to the next as quickly as possible without getting hit by the trainers swinging foam bats at you. There was a rope section to increase your climbing skills. There also was a conveyer belt that you could run on while dodging different things getting thrown at you. I stuck with these stations for thirty minutes, improving my skills with each task and with each word of advice from the instructors.
Next, I went to the survival skills. Most of them I knew, like the edible plants and cleaning water supply, from being with the rebellion. I quickly went over to the rope tying station to find a little comfort in something that i could do relatively well. Sitting cross legged, I picked up a piece of rope and started tying it into different traps and knots that my brothers had taught me when I was little. It was one of their favorite things to do with me since I was too little to do anything else with them. I had just finished learning how to tie a noose. I held up my rope to examine the product.
"Nice knot, Green Eyes," a boy's voice said behind me. Now, only one person ever called me Green Eyes. It was Alder Mextel from District 4. He and I had met during the rebellion. His father was a part of it as well as mine. We used to be in the same camps and play games. He taught me how to swim when we were stationed close enough to water. I taught him about different plants from what my father and brother had taught me to keep myself alive. We were the best of friend until about four years ago.
I turned to find the boy tribute from District 4. He was tall and had tan skin. His reddish blonde hair was cropped short to his head. The only thing that tipped me off that it was Alder was the ocean blue eyes that jumped and danced when he spoke. "Never thought I'd see you here, Alder." He laughed at his name.
"Well, I guess the odds were as much in my favor as they were in yours." Alder sat down next to me and picked up a piece of rope. He started twisting it into a fishing net. "You recognize anyone else here?" I looked around at the other tributes.
"Not really."
"The District 12 boy is Darius Steel. You remember him?" I found Darius at the wrestling station. He was just as big as Alder and extremely strong by the way he was fighting the instructor. I finally got a good look at his face. There was something that looked familiar.
"He looks familiar."
"Well, him and four others besides us were all a part of it." Now I saw it. Not only was there Darius, Alder, and me, but both tributes from District 7, the girl tribute from 9, and the boy from 11 were all a part of the rebellion. "You know why they brought so many of us here, right?" I put my noose around my neck and pretended to choke myself. Alder chuckled at this and nodded. Both of us knew that they brought us here to kill out any hope of starting the rebellion again.
The two of us talked our way through the rest of training, bouncing from station to station. We laughed about different things and kept tabs on the other tributes, spotting the threats. At the end, Jeremy and I caught up and went back to our floor for lunch. We knew that personal training would be soon. This would be our time to come up with a strategy for survival.
"I see that you didn't bother to get dressed this morning," Galaria said in her snooty accent. I looked down at the silk pajamas that I slept in. I shrugged off the comment and proceeded to eat the food on my plate.
"Good morning!" a very chipper Jeremy said, walking into the room in his pajamas. I could see the look of disappointment on Galaria's face. I held in a laugh as I continued eating the delicious Capital food. Jeremy sat down across from me, smiling from ear to ear.
"What are you so happy for?" I asked, still groggy from sleep.
"Today is the start of training," he replied, already digging into his plate of food.
"And you're happy about this?"
"I find it easier to look on the bright side of training than to be a downer about it." I nodded, knowing he was right. We quickly finished our food and waited because Galaria had told us that she needed to go over the schedule for the next couple weeks. The two of us sat patiently, waiting for Galaria to finish.
"Okay, we have group training every morning between now and the Games. During the afternoon, you two have personal training. You will have full reign of the training center," Galaria started going through the list. "Now, you can either choose to train together or by yourselves. You do get more time if you train together."
"Not to mention the motivation," I commented.
"You also have interview training after personal training." This made me raise my eyebrows in question.
"Interviews?" I felt Jeremy's eyes jump over to Galaria, also questioning the statement.
"You have to do interviews to get sponsors to get supplies in the games. Interview night is the night before you leave for the arena. So, you don't have to worry about that for another week." I felt my stomach turn as the thought of talking in front of cameras hit my brain. Jeremy gave me a look that basically said that I wasn't going in this alone and that I'll be okay. Galaria dismissed us so we could go get into our training uniforms.
When I walked back into my room, there was a gray pair of pants with red stripes down each side and a shirt that matched. I put them on, noticing there was a number 9 on the left sleeve and the back. There was a pair of black training boots sitting on the ground. I quickly slipped these on. I pulled my hair back into it's usual bun that I wore back at home.
I left my room, seeing Jeremy in the hallway as well. The two of us walked to the living room. Galaria hasn't come to get us for training yet, so the two of us sat on the couch. We sat silently for a few moments.
"So," I broke the silence. "Do you want to train together during personal training?"
"We would accomplish more if we work together than try to train alone," he answered.
"It would be easier on the two of us. We get double the training and double the motivation than working on our own."
"Do you always plan everything?"
"I find that a good strategy comes in handy. Especially when it comes to training." Galaria walked into the room, wearing all purple today. The two of us stood and followed her to the elevator. She pressed a button with the letter "t" on it and the elevator shot downwards. In just a few seconds, the elevator stopped and opened it's doors.
The training room was huge. Different stations from weapons to survival skills formed a giant circle. In the middle of that circle, a platform sat with a lady in the middle of it. A few tributes were there, but not many. Jeremy and I walked to the center, mesmerized by the variety of stations to choose from. The tributes from 1, 2, and 4 were already here. They were more threatening up close than they were the night before. I was by far the shortest of them all. The boys were twice my size and each of the girls had at least ten pounds on me. Jeremy seemed to fit in with them height wise, but not weight wise. Let's face it, Jeremy was a bean pole. Tall and skinny.
As the time drew closer to begin, the more tributes drifted in. The majority of the tributes were bigger than me, minus the two twelve year olds. Out of everyone, I was probably the third smallest person there. When all the tributes had arrived, the lady in the center began talking. She named off all the stations, telling us that there were trainers at each to help us get the fullest out of each one. She advised us not to ignore the survival stations, as they could be useful to us winning the games. Then came the rules. The rules were quite simple, don't fight with the other tributes. After her speech, she sent us on our way.
Naturally, tributes from Districts 1, 2, and 4 all ran to the weapons. The rest of us seemed to disperse evenly. Jeremy and I agreed to stay away from each other during group training to try to keep tabs on the other tributes. Out of instinct, I went to the weights and stamina portion of the training room. Jeremy went off to the survival skills, hoping to pick up something he didn't know.
The stamina building stations were rough. There was one with six platforms. You had to jump from one platform to the next as quickly as possible without getting hit by the trainers swinging foam bats at you. There was a rope section to increase your climbing skills. There also was a conveyer belt that you could run on while dodging different things getting thrown at you. I stuck with these stations for thirty minutes, improving my skills with each task and with each word of advice from the instructors.
Next, I went to the survival skills. Most of them I knew, like the edible plants and cleaning water supply, from being with the rebellion. I quickly went over to the rope tying station to find a little comfort in something that i could do relatively well. Sitting cross legged, I picked up a piece of rope and started tying it into different traps and knots that my brothers had taught me when I was little. It was one of their favorite things to do with me since I was too little to do anything else with them. I had just finished learning how to tie a noose. I held up my rope to examine the product.
"Nice knot, Green Eyes," a boy's voice said behind me. Now, only one person ever called me Green Eyes. It was Alder Mextel from District 4. He and I had met during the rebellion. His father was a part of it as well as mine. We used to be in the same camps and play games. He taught me how to swim when we were stationed close enough to water. I taught him about different plants from what my father and brother had taught me to keep myself alive. We were the best of friend until about four years ago.
I turned to find the boy tribute from District 4. He was tall and had tan skin. His reddish blonde hair was cropped short to his head. The only thing that tipped me off that it was Alder was the ocean blue eyes that jumped and danced when he spoke. "Never thought I'd see you here, Alder." He laughed at his name.
"Well, I guess the odds were as much in my favor as they were in yours." Alder sat down next to me and picked up a piece of rope. He started twisting it into a fishing net. "You recognize anyone else here?" I looked around at the other tributes.
"Not really."
"The District 12 boy is Darius Steel. You remember him?" I found Darius at the wrestling station. He was just as big as Alder and extremely strong by the way he was fighting the instructor. I finally got a good look at his face. There was something that looked familiar.
"He looks familiar."
"Well, him and four others besides us were all a part of it." Now I saw it. Not only was there Darius, Alder, and me, but both tributes from District 7, the girl tribute from 9, and the boy from 11 were all a part of the rebellion. "You know why they brought so many of us here, right?" I put my noose around my neck and pretended to choke myself. Alder chuckled at this and nodded. Both of us knew that they brought us here to kill out any hope of starting the rebellion again.
The two of us talked our way through the rest of training, bouncing from station to station. We laughed about different things and kept tabs on the other tributes, spotting the threats. At the end, Jeremy and I caught up and went back to our floor for lunch. We knew that personal training would be soon. This would be our time to come up with a strategy for survival.