Marvel went into the room 8 and a half minutes ago. He'll be done any time and then the speaker will read my name. I sit on the bench next to Cato, who could not be any calmer. I, however am shaking my legs; nervous habit that I've yet to grow out of.
It feels like a lifetime before the speakers crackle to life and the robotic voice reads; "Clove Carlisle." When I hear my name I start to stand up and I pause for half a second when I feel Cato squeeze my hand and whispers "Good luck." I just smirk and start towards the doors.
I walk into the training room. It seems so much smaller than before, most likely because there is only me alone in the room with the gamemakers watching me. The room is small. I am small. I stand looking straight at them and say in my most mature voice I can muster, "Clove Carlisle, District 2"
Seneca Crane smiles at me and nods once. I have never felt so proud. I head straight towards the knife wall and fill up an entire tray with an array of throwing knifes and daggers. I throw many knifes at the targets, the woman from the training making them light up.
Next, I choose to show off my combat skills by cutting off mannequins' heads and stabbing them straight in the heart. I continue doing that and more throwing until my 10 minutes are up.
When one of the other gamemakers told me my time was up they all stood up and clapped for me. I gave them my signature smirk, turned, and headed out the door.
When I got back to the apartment I wasn't aware of how tired I was until Enobaria told me to rest up until the scores are shown. Now realizing how exhausted I am, I go to my room and immediately fall asleep.
What Others Think
At 8 o'clock sharp I find myself in the living room of the apartment on the couch with Cato, Enobaria, Angel, Randy, and Arnold waiting for Caesar Flickerman to come on the screen and tell us what we scored.
We sit on the couch and I realize that I am shaking the entire couch. Angel grabs my hand and squeezes it and looks up at me in the most comforting way possible. I become very relaxed.
Next thing I know, I see Caesar –blue hair, twinkle suit and all- on screen ready to announce the scores. I am so nervous that I don't even realize I completely blocked out the scores of the District 1 tributes.
I am jolted back into reality when I hear Caesar announce Cato's score: a 10. We all scream and hug and are so excited until the TV we completely forgot about in the background announces; "and Clove with a score of…" He pauses to look down at his sheet. It was only a few seconds so there would be a dramatic wait, but it very well could have been my whole lifetime. My eagerness is cut off by a number. The number that changes my whole life. "A score of 10."
My heart stops. I don't feel present in the room until Angel wraps her arms around me jolting me back into reality.
The whole room is chaos; Screaming, cheering, hugging, and crying (Arnold). Randy brings in a tray with 6 mugs of hot cocoa and chocolate covered strawberries, and everything is perfect in the world. Everything's perfect until district 12.
"And lastly," Caesar begins, "Katniss Everdeen, with a score of: 11." And the world halts. It stops spinning, time pauses and all that is real is Cato and I sitting on the couch, clenched fists, ready to take out The Girl on Fire.
Cato looks over at me, blank face, a smirk on my own and we make an unspoken pact that no matter what happens in the arena Katniss Everdeen will not win. We will kill Katniss Everdeen if it is the last thing that we do.