Trigger Warning: Bullying.

Gus

The moment we're let loose in the training Centre, Tornada and I head straight for the Careers. The four of them are at the spear station. Minaret has positioned herself at the front of the group, their leader. Tsarina is lurking further back, scowling. Sceptre is shifting from foot to foot, clearly nervous. Hephaestion is leaning against a rack of spears, trying to look casual. He smiles at me, his chestnut-brown curls falling into his eyes.

"Good morning," Minaret says.

"Morning!" Tornada says, surprisingly cheerily.

"I wasn't talking to you, Five," Minaret snaps.

"Can you be more respectful to my district partner, please," I say. "I was hoping that she'd be able to join the alliance."

"Really?" Minaret asks. "You'd think a skinny little thing like her would survive in our alliance? Do you have any weapons skills, Five?"

"Not yet," Tornada says. "I'm a fast learner, though. All I need is a knife, three days and the right teacher."

Minaret laughs, haughtily.

"I like her," Tsarina says. "I say we give her a shot."

"You can't be serious," Minaret says. "Meyer, back me up."

"We could use a meat shield," Sceptre muses.

"She's too small to make a good meat shield," Minaret protests "That's what Dell'Anno is for."

Hephaestion sighs. He seems like he's used to being treated like this. Grandpa has told me he was bullied a lot in Two, that's why he was booed when he volunteered. I can't help but feel sorry for him. What he went through seems like my worst nightmare.

"I think we should just let her join the alliance, Minaret," Hephaestion says.

"What?" Minaret spits, whirling on Hephaestion. Hephaestion starts and accidentally knocks over the spear rack with his elbow. The air is filled with the sound of spears clattering to the floor. The other Careers all glare at Hephaestion, disapprovingly.

"I'll clean up…" he says, meekly.

"I can help," I say.

I kneel down and reach for a spear. Hephaestion's hand touches mine as we accidentally reach for the same one. He gives a little gasp of surprise and pulls his hand back. There's something almost like fear in his brown eyes.

"Sorry," he says. "I'm such a clumsy waste of space."

"No, it's okay," I say. "I'm happy to help."

There's heat coursing through my veins like lightning from when Hephaestion touched my hand.

Over the rest of the morning, I try to gather as much information as I can about my Career allies. They're not as united as I thought they'd be. They're four people who have nothing in common besides training and volunteering. They all want to take the alliance in different directions. Tornada and I have both just latched onto different Careers and hoped it would be enough.

Tsarina is the Career that Tornada's latched onto. The two girls have drifted away from the alliance. Instead of moving around the weapons stations with the rest of us, they've just been at the knife station, carving up a dummy together. They only rejoined us for lunch and, even then, they sat together and ignored the rest of us. I guess whatever skills Tsarina's teaching my district partner are really useful.

Sceptre is the social butterfly of the alliance. He hops around, chatting to different groups, telling bad jokes but not making any meaningful connections. His fighting skills are mediocre compared to the Twos so maybe he's trying to compensate for that. I don't like him much. He seems really fake and obsequious, like the boring rich kids I go to school with. Every time he talks to me, I get the sense he's putting the other Careers down a little. I wonder if he puts me down when he talks to the others.

Then there's Minaret. She acts like the leader of the alliance. She is the most skilled fighter of the six of us. The problem is that she's so mean and arrogant, I don't think any of us like her enough to consider her a leader, so she just ends up giving out instructions to thin air. I think she and Hephaestion know each other from District 2's training academy. She's even meaner to him than she is to the rest of us, lashing out like his very existence offends her, and he seems scared of her. He's always shrinking back like a puppy who's scared of being kicked.

As for Hephaestion… he's the only one I like. I'd heard good things about him from Grandpa - he supports the Capitol, he was training to be a peacekeeper, he took a vow of celibacy. But it's also really nice training with him. He was a little shy at first, but then I asked him for some help with my technique and he eventually came out of his shell. He's a nice guy. He seems to genuinely want to work with me, unlike the others, who just see me as an asset.

He's the only one who makes me feel like I chose the right alliance, that we could be heroes.

We eat lunch together in the Training Centre Canteen. Our allies are at the same table as us but they're not paying much attention to us.

"Want to talk about something?" I ask Hephaestion. He hasn't actually told me that much about himself. We've mostly been talking about training. I did tell him I knew why he was booed at the reaping so he didn't have to explain it to me. He didn't really want to talk about it, which is understandable.

"Okay," Hephaestion say. "What do you want to talk about?"

"I don't know," I say. "Life in the districts. Family. School."

"I know who your family is, Gus," Hephaestion says.

"Then tell me about yours," I say.

"Okay," Hephaestion says. "My parents weren't involved in the academy. They were both miners. They both died in an accident when I was eight. After that, it was just me and Iolaus."

"Oh," I say. "I'm sorry about your parents."

"Don't apologise," Hephaestion says. "After the accident, everyone was looking for someone to blame. I hated it. At least I've still got my brother. I'd do anything to protect him. Can I tell you a secret?"

"Sure," I say.

"I was thinking about chickening out," Hephaestion says. "I knew I'd be a disgrace to my district if I did but… I was scared I'd be even more of a disgrace if I volunteered and then did something embarrassing. I didn't believe I was good enough to change their minds. But then Iolaus got reaped and I couldn't just let him go into the games."

"You are good enough," I say. "You're really strong. You're really good at fighting. You're loyal to the Capitol. They should be proud of you."

I reach across the table to squeeze his hand and give him some comfort but he pulls his hand back.

"Sorry," Hephaestion says. "I don't want Minnie to think I'm turning you gay."

My breath catches in my throat. We've been avoiding talking about the rumours that Hephaestion is gay all morning. I wasn't quite sure how to approach the topic. I had no idea how Hephaestion would react. Would he tell me the rumours were true? Would he lash out?

"Hypothetical scenario," I say, "What if I was actually gay? Would Minaret kick me out of the alliance?"

"Probably," Hephaestion says. "It's the District 2 Way. Elites are supposed to be straight. Otherwise they end up like Régine Maurin."

I decide not to let it slip to Minaret that I used to have a crush on Manel Lobos.

"What about you?" I ask. "Would you kick me out?"

"No," he says, immediately.

"But it's the District 2 Way."

"I don't care about the District 2 Way. They hate me already. I've got nothing to lose," he lowers his voice, "I don't think Régine automatically became a rebel because she was a lesbian. I don't think a guy like you would magically become a rebel if you were gay. I don't think that's how it works. Besides, I like you. I'd still like you if you were gay."

"You like me?" I ask. My heart skips a beat.

"As a friend," Hephaestion says, quickly. "I'm not gay. I'm one-hundred percent straight. I've just… never been in the mood for a girlfriend. Maybe it's because all the girls in the academy are like Minaret. I don't know. Are the girls in Five worth dating?"

"No," I say. "All the girls in my class are like Sceptre. The boys, too. They're all… fake nice. Then there's Tornada. She's… got her own problems."

"What kind of problems?"

"She stole my watch and licked it."

"Germ warfare?" Hephaestion asks. "Why are you keeping her around?"

"She said she's sorry," I say. "I believe her. She's just a scared kid and she's my district partner. Protecting her… I guess it's the District 5 Way. Why are you tolerating Minaret?"

"She's a good fighter. I'd rather have her on my side than against me."

"You think she's on your side right now? I've seen how she pushes you around."

Hephaestion shrugs. "It could be worse. She could be trying to murder me. I also know how to defeat her if I have to. Minnie's kinda dumb. I've heard she failed her biology exam."

"You studied biology at the academy?" I ask. "Did you learn about photosynthesis?"

"What the heck is photosynthesis?"

"I guess you didn't. It's how plants use sunlight, carbon dioxide and water to feed themselves. Did you do any plant stuff?"

"There were some lessons on edible plants," Hephaestion says. "Mostly, biology was just about medical stuff, how to treat a wounded ally, that sort of thing."

"That sounds really useful." I say. "We'll see who the real loser is when Minnie gets an infection and dies."

"Yeah, she never paid attention in biology. She said it was for loser nerds."

We both burst into laughter. I can't remember the last time I laughed so much. I laugh so much, I start crying.

"I guess I'm a loser nerd, then." I say. "I was going to study biology at university if I hadn't volunteered."

"Really?" Hephaestion asks. "I didn't think you were a biology type. Were you planning to be a doctor?"

"No," I say. "I didn't really have a plan. It was just my favourite subject from school and I didn't know what else to do. I guess I'm lucky Dynamo got reaped. I feel like I have a purpose now."

I'm lucky for another reason. If I hadn't volunteered, I probably never would've met Hephaestion. I never would've made friends with him. I've never had a friend like him before, someone who never cared about my fame or my money and just wanted to be my friend.

If it hadn't been for him, I would've probably left the Careers by now.

We finally get to meet all the Careers. They're not an ideal alliance for either of the Fives but both of them seem to have found friends. Gus and Hephaestion have only known each other for one day and they're already besties. I've wanted to write a Career Bromance like this for years and I finally have the opportunity.