….
"Kayleen! Wake up, it's a big big day!" Called Kilee through my door in that annoying accent.
"I'm up," I call back.
"All right, get dressed sweetie, something nice, please?" And then she left.
I checked my drawers and found everything from fancy dresses to old fashioned "t-shirts." I put on a short black skirt that barely covered my thighs, and a small lavender shirt that stopped before the skirt started. I then put on some makeup, just some black lipstick so that my lips are black.
I'm going for dangerous. I know a skirt doesn't scream "dangerous" or maybe it does to you, but I needed to look pretty but also look like a moderate threat. I will not go down in the Bloodbath.
I open my door, and go down the hall to brush my teeth. When I finally am finished and go to the food car, I see pancakes, made with real flour not tesserae, waffles, bacon, scrambled eggs, ham, and dozens of other breakfast foods.
"Can I serve myself?" I ask the Avox. He nods, so I take a plate and load it with toast, bacon, scrambled eggs, ham, waffles, and pancakes. I also grab a cup of coffee, or at least I thought it was coffee but when I put in my mouth, it tasted sweeter.
I took another sip.
"Mmmm…" pleasure escaped my mouth.
"That would be called 'hot chocolate'", Summer smiled gently at me.
"Well it's awesome," I smile at her.
She nods. "When I first came here, for my interview in the games, Caesar, he was new that year asked me what I liked the most about coming to the Games and I said-"
"The hot chocolate," we recited together.
Then she laughed, so I did, too. She reminds me of Shayla a little.
"So it will probably take us another day to get to the Capitol, in the meantime, we can discuss strategy and things like that," says Summer, as Jenik walks in.
He smiles. "Sounds good to me."
Once we have gotten comfortable on the velvety couch with hot chocolate in hand, Summer stares at us. I feel a little awkward as she studies us.
"Well, you guys are decently strong, nice muscles, you're pretty good looking, especially Kayleen, but what are your strengths? You can't rely all on brute force or sponsors. You need to know how to take care of yourselves," Summer tells us.
Jenik nods at me to go first.
"Umm…is this place bugged?" I ask quietly.
Summer smiles. "Nope, you can curse at the Capitol all you want."
Jenik laughs.
"Actually, it's just something illegal I'm about to say so I don't need to get arrested. As you can see, I have bigger problems," I tell the two.
They nod at me, letting me go on.
"Well…" I start reluctantly.
"My sister and I, we hunt in the woods. It's not legal, but the fence is easy to go under it's never charged. I'm decent with a knife, better at close range, though. I'm pretty strong, I know how to skin, clean, and cook animals and plants and which animals and plants are good to eat. That's it…" My voice trails off.
"Well that's more than me." For the first time since the reaping, Jenik sounds worried. "I'm strong, but besides that I don't really know anything."
Summer looks at me approvingly. "I knew less than you when I went into the Games, and that was after we trained."
Then she turned to Jenik. "You'll have to work on some skills, then. Learn which plants are poisonous, how to make a fire, and things like that. But don't completely disregard weapons. Try a hammer, you look like you could take it."
Jenik nods. Then Kilee comes in.
"Oh! Tributes, I see you're talking with your lovely mentor," she smiles at us.
"Yep," I say. "Oh, I forgot. Summer?"
She looked at me. "Yes Kayleen?"
"Well, Jenik and I, we're going to form an alliance and I don't know about the other tributes but I think we'll try to find another one if we can, to be our ally," I tell her. Jenik nods his approval.
"All right, but I'm not going to sugarcoat this," Summer says. "In the Games, there will be only one victor. When you make an alliance, you must know that either you will kill the others in your alliance, they will be killed by someone else, they will kill you, or you will all be killed."
I nod. "Well, that's the Games."
Summer smiles a little. "Yes."
Jenik nods as well. He looks strong. He looks like a Victor.
"Kay, you must be the Victor, though," I tell myself.
Hopefully someone else kills Jenik so I don't have to.
…
There's nothing much to do on the train besides eat. While I'm not eating, I head to the back of the train to look out the back, which is clear colored, because I like watching nature roll by.
I hear footsteps behind me. There's only one person who could have come after me.
"Hey Jenik," I say without turning around.
"How'd you know I was here?" Asked Jenik. I turned around.
"I can hear your footsteps. Besides, why would Summer or Kilee come here to talk to me?" I roll my eyes at him.
"Well, since we're going to be allies, I thought that I should know some more about you," he smiles at me.
Is he kidding right now?
"Are you kidding?" I ask aloud. He looks surprised.
"No."
"The more I get to know you, and the more you get to know me, the harder it will be to kill each other or watch each other die. Either we both die, or one of us dies, and it would hurt too much for the other, I'm sorry Jenik," I pause for breath.
"I just don't want to hurt you, and I'm sure you don't want to hurt me."
Then I turn away.
But Jenik persists.
"Kay, that's your nickname, right?"
I nod, sighing. He won't give this up, will he?
"So Kay, your parents didn't come, are they mad at you or something?"
I shake my head. "No, they were just glad that I volunteered, I guess. Didn't bother coming…" And the first tear comes out.
He looks shocked. "Their daughter volunteered to…. Die, basically! Why would they be glad?"
"Well I saved Shayla, my sister. They always liked her best," I say, sounding hollow. Two more tears.
"You shouldn't like one child over the other. They seem awful," Jenik looks angry now.
"Well Shayla was perfect, and I'm just me," on the last word, my voice breaks and I burst into tears.
My parents don't love me. At least not as much as they love Shayla.
The truth hurt so much.
I just sat there and let Jenik hug me, and I knew that I had to win more than ever. So I could go home to my parents, spit on them, tell them they sucked, and then go live in the Victor's Village with Summer and Shayla.
Shayla, I will come back. I'm sorry Jenik, but you're going down. Along with the other 22 tributes.
: O
Who saw that coming?
Her parents are mean and like Shayla over Kayleen. Don't worry, Shayla will beat them up about it next chapter. Not literally though. Unfortunately. So anyway if you saw that coming, have some bacon, or for you VEGETARIANS('cough' Joey 'cough'), you can have some homemade chocolate chip cookies. Any comments, or random words, feel free to write them in a review or PM me. I check my fan fiction account a lot so I'll probably get back to you after no more than a day.
Review! And I hope you enjoy!
Kate