I wake up for the 2nd time as tribute. An avox, a criminal, whose tongue has been cut off, who now serves the tributes of the Hunger Games, has laid out an outfit for me. I shower, experimenting with the hundreds of buttons, until I get a luxurious experience. I put on the outfit; it's a gold tunic with comfy black pants and running shoes. Today is the first day of Training. We get three days to go to different survival stations to prepare for the Games. I head in to the dining room where I find the pill on my plate. I smile at Seeder, saying a silent "thank you". I eat even more than I did yesterday; I have to gain weight…and, again, I don't like Chaff laughing at me. It's really irritating. I eat bacon, sausage, eggs, fruit, toast, and hot cakes; a little bit of each really. I see Chaff smiling into his breakfast. I feel a small hint of pleasure and finish breakfast on a happy note. Seeder tells us to meet Tibithia at the "elevator" at 10. I go to my room and freshen up. I take my precious necklace from another safe drawer that I had put it in last night. I put it around my neck with pride.

Like we were told, Thresh and I meet Tibithia at the elevator at ten o'clock sharp. As we step in, Tibithia confidently presses the button that will take us below ground to start our training. As soon as we get out, someone tries to pin the number 11 on my back. I am alarmed and jerk around and the pin pricks into my flesh.
"I am so sorry!" both the attendant and I exclaim the same time.

"It's okay," we say simultaneously. I laugh and turn around, allowing him to pin it. He smiles and says goodbye. I rub my back and turn my attention to the head trainer, who introduces herself as Atala. She ticks off the different stations that we can do and reminds us not to fight with the other tributes. I won't have to remember that; any tribute that fights with me will have me curled up in a ball before they even lay a finger on me. As soon as Atala dismisses us, I get the ball rolling with the fire-starting station; no one else bothers to come over, for they are too occupied with weapons. I stay there for about half an hour and master every technique to making a fire: flint, matches, and a magnifying glass (surprisingly, they will have those in the Games). After a while, I take a look at what the other tributes are working on; Katniss and Peeta are an insperatable team. They are at the knot-tying station and look like they're even having a good time! All of the Careers: Cato, Clove, Glimmer, Marvel, and the girl from 4, Dendra, are working with the weapons with ease. Thresh is also with them. I see the girl from 5 working on codes and things and 7 is actually trying at the edible plants station.

I get bored of making fires and head to the climbing station to stretch my legs. I scramble up and down the netting, swing from the ropes, and hope from a top of a wooden post to another. I see the girl from 1, Glimmer and the boy from 1, Marvel smirking at me. I read Marvel's lips, which say to Glimmer, "How cute." I scowl his way and he pretends to be intimidated. I decide to try something new; I go to a slingshot station and start firing. Glimmer has lost interest in me, but Marvel keeps watching me out of the corner of his eye. I hit the bulls-eye with the pebble every time. Of course, doing this might be useless, but if I had something different to fire…things might change. I see that 12 is over at the edible plants station, so I go join them quietly. I work silently and pass the test with out a sweat.

On the second day of training, I do something like I did yesterday. I do the obstacle course with ease, leaping over things, melting into shadows, and crouching down or jumping up to avoid things being fired at you. It's helpful and I'm very good at it. I notice some of the districts, where they work in factories and workshops, looking at my skills in envy. I try not to take pride, but it's hard. I may be small, but I'm more of a survivor than tributes years older than me. After lunch, I start to follow Katniss and Peeta around, because I am starting to admire Katniss. I try watching some of her strategies at the survival stations. I even follow her to spear-throwing, where I've been seeing a lot of Marvel. This is where Peeta points me out. I freeze and do what I always do when I'm nervous, stand on tiptoe and extend my arms slightly at my sides. Peeta whispers something to Katniss and she says something harshly back. As they go back to throwing spears, I see her give me a sad look, like I remind her of something. I keep joining them in various stations from time to time. We never talk, just sit and practice. At dinner with 11's crew, we tell Chaff and Seeder about our day. After a couple of drinks, Chaff is absolutely useless, muttering to himself things that don't make even slight sense. For a while I'm distracted, thinking about home. Then, Thresh tells Seeder something that jerks me back to reality.

"The Careers asked me to make an alliance with them."

"Did they now?" Seeder asks. He nods. "What did you say," she asks.

"I said no," he replies.

"That's good," she says, "You can't trust the Careers." She turns to me, "I've been told you're pretty darn good at climbing around and doing the obstacle course.

"Yeah, I guess," I reply meekly. She smiles

"I can work with that," she confirms.

As soon as we're done with dinner, I return to my room. Tomorrow is private sessions and I'm very nervous. What should I show them? I remember how Seeder said that she could work with my climbing. I'll just let her take care of it; she is the mentor, after all.