Day 5- Final Training Day and Training Scores

The next day we start off with weapons training again, before concentrating on fire and shelter making for most of the morning. I excuse myself from the girls at about 11:30, wishing them luck for their individual session with the gamemakers, and wanting a bit of time alone before mine. I finish the training experience with a quick once-over of some wrestling and hand-to-hand fighting techniques, that I'll never master, but could be useful to at least have an idea of.

I sit alone for lunch as the tributes are steadily called away for their sessions, boy then girl, in district order. The scores are from one to twelve, and can help determine how much of a threat you are in the eyes of the opponents and also how attractive you are to sponsors. People have occasionally deliberately underperformed to get a low score so people don't think they're a threat, though this can be a risky tactic as sometimes the careers like to start off with the easy targets and work their way up.

As I pick at my food I glance up and see Tamla and Fern chatting away. I'm sure they're talking about me; I just hope Tamla's not mentioned our conversation last night. Eventually Fern is called out, and we acknowledge each other as she passes me with a nod that says 'good luck'.

I'm next, and give Tamla what I hope is a reassuring smile as I leave. The head gamemaker says hello and tells me to just get on with whatever I'm going to do- I'll be dismissed when my time is up or they've seen enough. I immediately head over the weapons station and grab a staff. Seeing as I'm not allowed to fight with anyone, I just try and show off, twirling and spinning the staff, switching it from hand to hand, a trick that I have been known to mess up, but pull off here, and giving the dummies a few good whacks too. After I few minutes I'm dismissed, not feeling like I've done anything special, but not knowing what more I could have done.

I head back upstairs and Tamla soon joins us. Rogellus, Marius, Iulia and even Woof seen eager to hear what we did and how we think we did, and I get the feeling that I'm only just understanding how important these scores are. Tamla reveals that she concentrated on showing her agility with climbing and the obstacle course, but is worried that she's really cost herself by falling a couple of times.

That evening the scores are televised live, flashed up below a picture of each of us and called out by Claudius Templesmith, the Games' announcer.

"Here we go…" I whisper before the scores start appearing.

Silver scores 10

Jade, 11

Varro, 11

Cleo, 10

Nothing so far to surprise anyone, I think.

Alecto scores 5, which makes me wonder what he showed them.

Coulette, 4, not as bad as I might have thought.

Perrin, another 10

Shayla, 9- I almost feel sorry for her. She's been marked as the weakest career, and will lose sponsors for that. The other careers will also probably be waiting to ditch her as soon as the field is weakened sufficiently.

Barr, 3, unsurprisingly

Kyla, 5- I again find myself wondering what she did. 5 is pretty average, and I certainly wouldn't have been generous enough to call her average in my own analysis.

Mitro, 7- decent but not amazing

Zianna, 5

Grove, 9! Wow! I knew he was big and strong, but he'd have to have shown more than that to get that score.

And suddenly I realise it's Fern's turn. She scores 6, and I allow myself a smile. That's alright; she's scored better than anyone else who didn't use a weapon at least.

I'm so busy, silently congratulating Fern I completely forget it's me next, and almost miss my score. It's 8. It's 8! Everyone is excitedly congratulating me and patting me on the back. Eight! It's only one less than a career! I might just get some sponsors yet.

Suddenly the mood in the room plummets. Tamla has scored 4. She gives a cry of disappointment and appears to start to get up, but I grab her arm and pull her back down. Feeling a surge of concern and sympathy for her I put my arm round her shoulders. "It'll be okay," I say.

"I really shouldn't worry too much," says Marcius. "The difference between a lower scores isn't that big. As long as it's not a one or a two they tend to get lost in all the attention given to the top scores."

She sniffs, and nods, forcing a smile onto her face. "Thanks," she says, mainly, I think, to me.

The scores don't relent. Jonathan gets 4 too

Clarissa, unsurprisingly scores 1. "Poor girl," Iulia comments and we all nod in sombre agreement.

Carson gets 7, and I feel a surge of hope that I've scored more than him, considering how much brawnier than me he looks.

Poor little Amelia gets 2

For a second I think someone else has scored 1, before I look properly. It's Jeremiah, the tall boy from district 11 who didn't go near a weapons station the whole time. He's scored 10. I think back to our talk with, or more at, him earlier- if we could get him as an ally we might stand a real chance of one us winning.

Cinnamon scores 5

Syme gets 5 too

And Daisy gets just 2

And it's over. Everyone's been scored. I count quickly in my head. I'm 9th out of 24. Maybe just high enough to attract some attention from sponsors.

We head to bed soon after eating dinner, though Rogellus and Iulia want to keep drinking toasts to my excellent score, in reality I think they just want to drink, and mainly out of sympathy for Tamla, I head off to bed early too.