"Up, up, up! We have a big, big, big day!" Effie chirped.

I sat up groggily and looked around. It took me a minute to remember where I was. The memories of the parade, coming into my room, and just going to bed came back to me. I jumped out of bed and threw a simple shirt and pants on and ran down the hall to the dining area.

Gale was sitting at the table sipping coffee from a mug. "Morning Katniss," he greeted me. "What's the rush?"

"I-," I stuttered. "I don't know."

He smiled. "Have you tried the coffee?" He asked. "It's nasty stuff if you ask me but I want your opinion."

"Ok?" I said. I poured myself a cup and took a sip. I started to choke. "That's disgusting!" Gale was laughing hard across the table. "You jerk!"

"Yep," Gale smiled. I threw a napkin at him.

Haymitch and Effie joined us. Avoxes came in with trays of wonderful breakfast foods. When I was reaching for the bowl of fruit I knocked over my glass of orange juice. I saw a red haired, female avox come over and after a moment I said, "Hey, I know you!"

Everyone stared at me. "You couldn't have seen this woman before Katniss! She's an avox!" Effie chirped disapprovingly.

"No, I'm sure of it. I know you from somewhere," I whispered. I looked over toward Gale and I could tell he knew her too but he looked extremely alarmed. Then suddenly I remembered too. She was the fugitive we had seen captured in the woods about a year ago. I remembered that the boy she had been with had been killed.

"You know what," Gale said. "She looks exactly like Delly Cartwright."

"Yeah," I whispered. "I think you're right."

As the avox walked away Haymitch eyed us carefully. "Anyway," he said slowly. "Today you start your training. You also get in close proximity to your competitors. Don't pick a fight. Try to keep your distance and don't hit any of the training areas you excel at. Save those for the judges."

Gale and I nodded.

"Good," Haymitch said. "Now change and get down there!"

Gale and I went back to our rooms to change it to our training suits. I took a real look around the apartment as I went. The sitting room I passed was larger than my house alone. I walked into my room and realized for the first time that it was bigger than the sitting room. The bed was gigantic, one wall was covered by a television screen, and the couch was twice my body length.

I wanted to scream so much. I was probably going to be dead in a week anyway, and with all the money spent on this room alone Prim could live comfortably the rest of her life and still have a fortune left over. How dare the Capital have the gall to spend all this money on such worthless things when for years we were starving!

I quickly hurried into my suit and left the room. I stood fuming by the elevator.

"Hey Katniss," Gale said to me. "What's up?

"Hmm?"

"You look like you'll kill the next person who even glares at you," Gale said nonchalantly. "I know you're not a people person, but something tells you're not just nervous to meet our competition."

"I'm in a city overflowing with rich people that I can't stand," I snarled. "Every person I see I want to kill."

"Really," Gale said. "You feel that way too?"

I took a deep breath, "Yeah." We stepped into the empty elevator. "Isn't that wild Gale?"

"What?"

"That she's here," I whispered.

Gale scowls as he answers, "I couldn't believe it. It took everything I had not to say anything."

"You don't think she'll say anything!" I gasp.

"I doubt it," he said. "She shouldn't have anything against us, and she looked she had been a fugitive. She has no reason."

"We hadn't even tried helping her. What doesn't she have against us?" I glance at him.

Gale scowls again, "But she has nothing to gain."

"Revenge."

The elevator opened and we stepped out into the training center. Everyone else was already there.

"Alright listen up," the head trainer called. "I know all you want to do is get your hands on a weapon, but there are other things you need to know if you want to survive. Purify water, start a fire, tie a knot. Learn as many skills as you can. You may move to station to station as you wish. The only rule is that you may not practice combat with one another. There are trainers prepared to do that with you. You may disperse.

Immediately the Careers headed over to the weapons and started throttling dummies anyway they could. Gale and I watched as the other tributes slowly started to make their way to different stations.

"So," Gale asked. "Where do we start?"

"Archery, knots, and hand-to-hand combat are out for you."

"Why combat?"

"Not completely," I clarify. "You just can't be there a lot. Just long enough to pick up a few tricks. I can't do archery either, so let's start with something easy."

"Like what exactly?"

"Edible plants," I say over my shoulder as I start to walk toward the station. With Gale and me together we pass that station in under ten minutes. I tell him to go to the hand-to-hand combat station for a little bit and to meet me at the knot-tying station later.

The trainer is impressed with how much I know already, so she shows me a simple snare that hangs your opponent from a tree and leaves me to figure it out. I complete it easily.

After she teaches me a few more sets of snares I look over to Gale just in time to see him upper cut his opponent straight in the jaw so hard it sends him flying. I call him over because he knows what he's doing and it's attracting too much attention.

He watches as I complete each snare and copies each one flawlessly. The trainer is practically fawning over having such a talented tribute and teaches him such advanced knots so fast I give up and just watch him. He learns a good five new hunting snares, seven snares to incapacitate your opponents, and two knots that are good to help stanch bleeding when we're called for lunch.

"We've refreshed our strengths," I say to Gale. "After lunch let's learn something new."

"Right," he responds.

After lunch we head to the spear throwing station. Gale gets the hang of it quick enough, but I can't figure it out. My muscles seem to automatically reject my movements and try to flex in a way that I would draw a bowstring.

"How the hell did you get this?" I snap at Gale.

"How the hell are you not getting this?" Gale asked. "Here let me show you."

He came up behind me a wrapped his hand around mine that was holding the spear and pressed my back into his chest. "You hold it like this," he changed the position of my fingers. "Draw it back like this," he drew my arms back and shifted my shoulders. "And throw it like this," he detached my fingers from the spear and threw it, landing close to the bulls eye of the target. "Now you."

I got closer using his method, but I still couldn't get it. "That's it!" I snapped. "You stay here if you want but I have to move on."

"Ok, geez," Gale chuckled. "Always so hasty."

I tried throwing knives, but that turned out worse than the spears. I was getting ready to head to the swords when training was ended.

I groaned, "I'm screwed if I don't get a bow."

"We'll get you a bow, calm down. And you'll not be screwed," Gale flashed a smirk. "I happen to have many fortes."

I cuffed him over the head and stepped into the elevator.