Chapter Six
"Up, up, up! The sun is shining, the day is bright, the Capitol is awaiting, and we've got lots to do today!" Eudora's daily greeting is already wearing thin. Instead of throwing a pillow at her head today, I get up and take a shower. I experiment with the buttons more this time, mixing all different types of scents and pressures. I find a lilac scent, and pick it almost immediately.
Once I'm out and dried, the closet is open and there's an outfit waiting for me. I guess the designers design our training outfits as well. Tight black pants, a sleeveless and tight grey top with an average sized black number '4' on my back, and black leather boots. I make the large window in my room into a mirror by simply stating it. It's amazing. Sitting crossed-legged on the floor, I braid my hair from one side of my head to the other and finish it off in front of my shoulder. A few pieces spring loose, but I don't find the use in fixing them. I've found that braiding hair, much like tying knots and making nets, is incredibly relaxing.
When I stand and look at my reflection, I see that, though practical, the outfit is revealing. The top is slung around my breasts to show cleavage, and my pants hang low on my hips, leaving a thin strip of skin showing at my waist. I guess that's their plan. No matter if I'm handy with a trident or not, the District 4 team is banking on the hope that someone will find me attractive enough to keep alive for a while until I can veer off on my own. I'd put money on it.
Putting my necklace on, I simply walk out of my room without the instruction to do so because I'm quite hungry. When I make it to the dining room, I see Finnick already sitting down and eating. "Good morning, Finnick," I chirp, not entirely happy, but I'm still in a tranquil state from earlier. I slide into the seat in front of him, filling my plate with food. He responds somberly and continues eating. I suppose we have to wait for Mags and Mason before we can talk about strategies.
When I'm finishing a bowl of stew, Mags and Mason both walk in. His outfit and mine are mostly the same. Except his shirt is loose and sleeved halfway from his shoulder to his elbow with a black four on each of his shoulders. I take a roll and slowly chew it, breaking it off in bits and dipping it in the remainder of the stew. As I chew, I grow increasingly nervous about training. What will Mags and Finnick want my strategy to be? What am I supposed to show the people in the training? Does he want me to try my hardest at the end of the three days when I perform for the gamemakers? Or does he want me to only do a mediocre job?
I must have been picking at the roll for a while because I'm only finishing when Finnick looks at Mason and me and says, "If either of you don't have an objection, I'd like to train you separately. Mason, you'll mostly be working with Mags. Starfish, you'll mostly be working with me. Is that good with the two of you?" Mason and I look at each other for a moment before nodding at each other and then Finnick. "Alright, Starfish, come with me," he gets up and begins walking to the balcony.
I sit on the ledge, sure that there's a force field on our balcony just like there's one on the roof. I had noticed it last night when I had been out here before dinner. I wonder why Finnick would want to train us separately. And then I practically slap myself for being incredibly dim-witted. Mason and I are completely different, just as Finnick and Mags are. They're playing with our strengths. There's a reason that they're our mentors. They're smart.
"Alright, Starfish, you said you were good with a trident. You don't need to show anyone that until you get in your private session with the gamemakers. Show them how good you are with a trident, and they won't be able to keep themselves from putting one right in front of you at the cornucopia. You need to ally with the Careers. They'll protect you for long enough until you can get on your own." I knew it.
"We also want you and Mason to stick together as long as possible. About as soon as you walk in there, Districts 1 and 2 will approach you about an alliance. Say yes. But you can't ignore the survival skills. Or the other tributes. If that means that half the day you're working on plants and snares and shelter while watching the others and the other half you're with them, that's what you do. And don't leave Mason alone with them. Understand?"
I nod. "Whatever it takes to stay alive."
"Go get 'em, Starfish," Finnick claps me on the back as I walk back inside. Mason is waiting on the couch for me, and we ride the elevator down together. We're extremely early, but probably not early enough for our allies. One and Two are waiting for us as soon as we step off the elevator and into the enormous underground gymnasium filled with sections filled with various weapons and obstacle courses and outdoor stations.
Ceaser looks me up and down. His gaze drowns me. It does more than that though. It pulls me under the waves of a storm and every time I break the surface for air, his gaze takes my head and forces it under. It takes everything within me not to squirm. To the Capitol, I have to be kind and gentle. To them, I have to prove myself as a killer. I have to prove myself worthy to be in their alliance. This was the purpose of the outfit. To draw them in. To make me so desirable that Mason is just part of the deal. My job was to keep Mason safe as long as possible in the arena.
Suddenly, I doubt Finnick. He doesn't want me to make it through. I'm just the tool to be used to make Mason win. Like hell I'm just going to give up and let him win. Now I'm enraged. Surely it shows in my appearance because Ceaser is less than a foot in front of my face saying, "Welcome to the alliance, Four."
"And Mason?" I raise an eyebrow. No matter how furious I am with Finnick right now, I have to trust him. There's no other way to make it through.
"What the hell," he mutters to himself as he shrugs, "why not? You're in too, kid."
I've never seen Mason more mature. He simply nods his head once with a blank face. He seems far too comfortable. He knows that out of the two of us, he's the one going home. It makes me sick.
When the rest of the tributes congregate in a circle, Atala, the head trainer, states the rules and shows us what each station is designated for.
I spend the first half of the day with our allies, faking my skill with a trident and attempting to use knives under the instruction of Gem. She's a lot scarier than she was in her reaping. She tells me all the best places to stab someone and the "proper location" to slit someone's throat. By lunch, I'm almost positive she thinks we're the best of friends or something. Our entire alliance drags two tables together at lunch.
They talk about who they want to kill. They're incredibly barbaric. With a sick smile on his face, Ceaser –who had purposefully sat between Mason and me- tells me how he'd love to take down Birch and Piers. He tells me exactly how he wants to kill them as well. It makes me sick, but I have to continue to eat so as to look like it doesn't bother me. I fake interest and tell him how "invigorating" that sounds. He tells me who he bets will get offed in the bloodbath, mostly by him, but by our entire alliance in the end. He thinks that I'll end up killing Three and the girl from Seven. He wants us to take out the pair from Seven together. It sickens me, but he has faith in me, which is good.
Lunch ends, and I convince Ceaser with a few batted lashes that Mason and I should practice survival skills for the rest of the day. I told him they should keep "intimidating the other tributes" with their "brute strength". He liked that. Walking away, I almost burst into laughter about the fact that I already had him wrapped around my finger.
I guess they don't teach manipulation at the academy in One.
While attempting to start a fire with a flint, I force conversation with Mason. Only about the Games. I find myself no longer caring what his life was like in Four. Our mentors told him that they were voting on him coming home, and he can't even tell me when we're on our own. I'm just the pawn, and that makes me furious.
I try not to focus on that and try to focus on the other tributes as I'm now mindlessly knotting a net. Birch is with an axe. I was right. He is frightening and incredibly good with an axe. I spot the girls from Seven and Nine, Cheri and Evella, working at a survival skills station. They are both so small. Eleven and Twelve have stayed with their district partner all day. They're at the snares station and not succeeding.
I find my own alliance dominating the weapons station. Valarie and Ceaser are both great with swords, each having a "fight" with an instructor because they're not allowed to fight one another. Rory is a mastermind with a bow and arrow, which is rivaled only by Piers, the frightening boy from Nine. Gem is a whiz with knives. She throws them with an incredible precision and accuracy.
Before I know it, Atala dismisses us for the day. Somehow, Mason and I end up in an elevator with Ceaser, Gem, and the tributes from Nine, Evella and Piers. Piers' gaze is frightening, but I try to focus on Ceaser, who is whispering in my ear that he needs to give a sword lesson tomorrow. I force a giggle to escape from my throat and nod at him. He smirks at me, and then sends a threatening glance towards Piers as he walks off the elevator with Gem.
As the elevator rises to the fourth floor, I'm remembering how much I despise Finnick. I despise him for favoring Mason, and thinking I was too idiotic to figure it out. I despise how he just expected me to be the tool to Mason's victory. When the elevator reaches our floor, I keep myself from sprinting off of it.
However, as soon as the doors close and Finnick's voice reaches my ears, my hand is around his throat and his body is slammed against the wall. He looks surprised. Mags looks frightened, and Eudora looks like she's about to burst into tears. I guess it's not normal for tributes to attack their mentors.
"How stupid do you think I am?!" I'm shouting at him. He looks exceptionally calm for being against a wall with my hand at his throat. That just pisses me off more. He doesn't think I can do it. That's why he favors Mason. He doesn't think I could kill someone. "You really didn't think I'd figure it out, did you?!" I tighten my hand around his throat and press him harder into the wall. "You thought you would just use me as a tool so Mason can cruise by, and no one would even notice! Didn't you!?" He stays silent, but he looks angrier now than he was moments ago. "Answer me dammit!"
I drop my grip and he slides down the wall. His throat is red where I had been grasping at it. I'm pleased, but the anger far outweighs any pleasure I feel right now.
"Yeah, Starfish, I did." He stands a few inches taller than me, and backs me into the other wall, but I duck under his arm that's resting against the wall and free myself. Him admitting it makes it worse. "As soon as you told me why you volunteered for that girl, I knew you wouldn't last if you were faced with killing someone or being killed. I knew you wouldn't. And after talking with Mags and Willa last night about the two of you, I knew he could do it."
My eyes are burning. "You're wrong." And I leave. I go to my room and I sit because there's nothing else I can do. I'm sure this is what prison feels like. I prop myself against the door so no one can get in. The window is still a mirror from how I left it this morning. He's right. I'm weak. I'm not muscled. I'm just in the way.
If I hadn't been staring at myself in the mirror, I wouldn't have noticed the tears pouring down my face. I'm never again going to see Henry. I'm never again going to rest in his arms as we lie on the beach. I'm never again going to see my father. I'm never again going to feel his beard tickle my face as he hugs me tight. I'm never again going to see Paige. I'm never again going to sneak out in the middle of the night to walk to her house and help her finish her homework.
I'm screwed. Or I could prove them all wrong and do all of those things the moment I win the Games and return home.
A/N: Once again, I hope you all are enjoying this story. Thank you to everyone who commented, favorite, and followed since the last update. I'm sorry it took so long, but I was mulling over things that happen later in the story. I really needed to decide if I wanted to keep Ceaser as I have him in this chapter. I finally –as in like two hours ago- decided that I might as well just keep it around.
If you don't like something about my story, I would love to know what it is. Please leave a review about what you do and don't like about what I'm writing so that I can get better. Thank you and have a splendid day!