Chapter 8- Trying

A/N: Here's Chapter 8 guys! Please keep reading and reviewing

The elevator doors opened and Sparrow stepped inside, her muscles protesting. Her arms in particular were very sore from all of the knife throwing she had done the day before. She decided to stay away from those stations today and focus on ones that she hadn't yet done.

She pressed the ground floor button and rested back against the wall, alone. Everest was still finishing breakfast and she had decided to get a jumpstart on her day. She wanted to make sure she got as much practice as she could.

She was blessed with quiet solitude until she reached the third floor and the doors opened to admit the District Three tribute Lea. She walked in and pressed herself against the back wall with her arms crossed. Sparrow still didn't know what to think of this girl who was two years younger than she, but who had an unexplainably imposing presence. She knew that Everest had tried talking to her the previous day without much success, saying that she was off-putting.

"Hey, I'm Sparrow. From District Seven," she said, trying to meet Lea's eyes which were hidden by her long, straight brown hair.

"Yeah, I know who you are. I spoke to your district partner," she said, not even glancing in Sparrow's direction.

"Yeah he told me," she said awkwardly. "So how'd training go for you yesterday?"

"Spectacular. How do you think it went? I'm the smallest tribute this year," she huffed in annoyance.

Luckily, the elevators opened at that moment and Lea was out and walking down the hallway before Sparrow had even moved. Ok, that didn't go so well, she thought to herself. I guess I should give up trying to make her an ally.

She stepped through the doors of the training center and decided on the first aid station that didn't have anyone at it yet. The head trainer began showing her various salves that could be made from plants as well as how to make a tourniquet to stop bleeding. Although all of this was quite interesting, it sent her stomach into knots knowing that she might have to use this in a few days time to save her life. She wished she was back in Seven, going over safety tips for working in the forests instead.

She thanked the trainer and stood up to leave when she felt a warm hand on her shoulder and turned around to see Salton smiling at her.

"Someone got up early! Already one station ahead of me."

"Yeah well you know. I want to get as much information as I can," she said while smiling in return.

"Ok well you go on without me. I think I should do this station as well," he said, walking towards the trainer.

"Alright see you later!" Sparrow called over her shoulder, heading to where she saw Everest by the climbing station.

He turned towards her, his face plastered with a large smile. She smiled back, feeling glad that he had found something to be happy about.

"Finally, something I'm good at," he said quietly to her, indicating the rope walls.

"Yeah, this is definitely something District Seven prepares us for. How about a race?" she grinned.

"Ok," he said nodding his head enthusiastically. "Whoever loses has to give the other their desert at lunch."

She laughed and agreed readily.

They positioned themselves against the wall, two hands gripping the ropes and one foot getting ready to push themselves up.

"Ok. Three, two, one, go!" Everest yelled, and they were off.

Sparrow's arms were aching horribly already and this was like agony; she knew she'd regret this later. However, at the moment she could pretend that this was simply a fun race between friends back home.

Sparrow reached the top a half second before Everest did and she was completely out of breath. "Ok," she panted. "Never. Again."

Everest nodded while trying to catch his breath and they slowly worked their way back down the rope ladder which was, if anything, more painful than going up.

As Sparrow leapt the last few feet to the floor, she looked up to see that the two of them had gathered quite an audience. She saw Salton and a few other tributes smiling at them and a few others who were jeering, namely the Careers.

"Quite a neat trick you got there," the District One girl Jade said as she stared at them with bright green eyes that matched her name. "Too bad you can't climb someone to death," she snorted and moved away.

Sparrow gritted her teeth together to keep from saying something stupid and followed Everest to a new station.

0.0.0

Sparrow awoke that night screaming, another nightmare tearing through the few precious hours of sleep that she had managed to get. This time she remembered everything in full which was unfortunate for her. It involved Jade stalking her back in Seven and each time that she found a new hiding spot, Jade would leap at her, green eyes glittering, with a knife and Sparrow would barely get away each time.

She rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands wearily and decided that she would walk around a bit to take her mind off of things. Her whole body ached horribly from the training and her nightmare. Her arms especially felt like someone was pulling her muscles apart; she couldn't even straighten her arms all the way. It was 2:41 am. What a perfect time to be awake when she had her last day of training and interviews ahead of her tomorrow. She fought back more panic as she thought about the interviews and what was to come the day after tomorrow: the games.

She decided to leave District Seven's floor and explore the training center some more while everyone else was asleep. As she stepped into the elevator she moved to press the button that would lead her to the ground floor but stopped when she saw what was at the top of the list. Above District Twelve's floor was a button simply marked "roof." She had never been to the roof before and wasn't even sure if they were allowed to. She decided that she might as well go see what it was like.

The doors opened slowly and the view that gradually appeared in front of Sparrow made her catch her breath. She was so high up that she could see much further than any tree she had climbed. She was surrounded by buildings and there were so many lights even for such a late hour. She had never seen anything like it.

"Hello?" Sparrow had to keep herself from gasping aloud when she heard a man's voice call out not too far away.

She began panicking. What if it was a Peacekeeper and if she was caught up here they would kill her or her family?

A silhouette appeared around a pillar and Sparrow breathed a sigh of relief as she faintly made out Salton's features.

"You scared me to death. I had no idea anyone was up here," Sparrow said faintly, feeling dizzy from holding her breath.

"I could say the same! I thought I was about to get into massive trouble being up here," Salton chuckled. "Could you not sleep either?"

"I had a nightmare and just needed to distract myself somehow," Sparrow said softly, feeling embarrassed.

"Then how about you allow me to be that distraction?" Salton smiled gently at her.

Her embarrassment evaporated and was suddenly replaced with a jittery sort of nervousness that increased exponentially as he leaned in closer to her. He got so close that she could see a pattern caused by the faint light from the nearby buildings reflecting in his bright blue eyes.

Her breath hitched as Salton's lips ghosted across her own. When she didn't protest, he slowly wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her properly.

This can't be happening. No, no, no we're both going to die in a few days! Sparrow felt like laughing and crying all at once. Of course she would experience her first kiss two days before the Hunger Games were to begin. Why did she have to be feeling friendship and then some for a guy that she could never hope to be with? It wasn't fair!

She pushed Salton away as tears began streaming down her face and she turned quickly, hoping that he wouldn't see. She started blindly toward the elevator when Salton turned her back around to face him.

"What's wrong? Did you not like that?" Salton asked softly.

"No that's not it," Sparrow choked out. "We can't do this Salton. Not here, not now, not ever. We're sentenced to death and that leaves no room for anything else."

"Then why shouldn't we do this? If we're going to die anyway we might as well enjoy the days we have left right?" He coaxed her into his arms and began rubbing comforting circles on her back.

"You know what? You're right. Why shouldn't we at least try to be happy for now?" Sparrow let out a strangled laugh.

"Exactly. And you know what? When it comes down to it I will protect you with everything that I have. I don't know how or why but I feel like we've grown so close over the few days that we've known each other. And I want to keep it going until the end," Salton said, holding her tightly to him.

Sparrow nodded mutely against his chest and they stood there for minutes, hours, a lifetime.

A/N: Hey guys so what'd you think about that? I know that rooftop scenes have been done before but… ahh well hopefully it wasn't too cliché.