SECRETS━ F. ODAIR

TRAINING CENTER

When she woke up she decided to take a shower and sort out her thoughts. The hot water pouring on her head calmed her and the scent of oils made her slightly dizzy. The girl decided it was best to apologize to Alistair so she kept that in her mind. She had a love-hate relationship with her tribute partner. She hated the narcissistic side of him but other times he would be caring and affectionate towards Juniper.  Today was also the first day they would go to the training center and wanted to spend the day observing the tributes. Juniper didn't want to be an ally since they could end up backstabbing her or she would be forced to kill them. But a friend by her side wouldn't hurt.

Juniper didn't want to live a painful death but then she remembered her family. They would be devastated and everything would change for them. She could just let someone easily kill her but she knew she wasn't going down without a fight and that there was still hope. When the girl finished cleaning herself, she went to eat breakfast where she saw Alistair and Cedar chatting. As she went to take a seat, all eyes were on her that made her feel uncomfortable and she finally spoke up.

"Uh, I'm sorry Alistair for calling your hand musty. Well, my mom taught me to not lie but anyways, I lost control of my temper and threw an unnecessary tantru-,"

"It's fine," he chuckled

"So today I want you guys to talk to the other tributes and practice tying traps or plants. Only go to the weapon station when no one is looking and don't call out attention. Lastly, please do not make people hate you, you don't want to annoy the other tributes, or else they would want you gone," Cedar explained as Iris and Lamina walked into the room.

"Good morning everyone! I hope you are all prepared today!," Lamina exclaims as she takes a seat next to Alistair. She looked like a colorful human doll.

"I'll lead you guys to the training center soon," Iris explained. The two tributes nodded as they chewed on the delicious breakfast food.

When they were all down devouring the well-served food, the avoxes came to clean up their mess. A wreck of pity hit Juniper and she felt bad for them so she helped them, receiving a sympathetic grin from them.

Iris dropped them off at the training center as if she was dropping her kids off at school. She wished them luck and walked away. Juniper followed Alistair inside the center where other tributes were gathered around a woman with dark hair. The woman was a trainer who looked petrifying. She glared daggers at everyone with her fearless eyes and didn't start talking until all of the 24 tributes showed up.

"Hello everyone. In two weeks, twenty-three of you will be dead and only one of you will be alive. That depends on how well you pay attention over the next four days. There are some rules you must listen to first. First; no fighting with other tributes, you will have time to do that in the arena.." the frightening trainer said as the Careers to chuckle.

"There are four compulsory exercises, the rest will be individual training. My advice is that you don't ignore the survival skills. Everybody wants to grab a sword, but most of you will die from natural causes, ten percent from infection, twenty percent from dehydration. Exposure can kill as easily as a knife." she continued as Juniper tried to store all this information in her head.

When the woman was done, they all split up into different training stations. She decided to study the plants and berries first which would be helpful for later. "Nightlock is a red wild plant with extremely poisonous berries," Juniper read in her mind. Don't eat nightlock berries Wait what are they called again? Okay let's just not eat anything red

June read and studied about all different berries and plants for about half an hour until she came across a girl about her age right beside her. Juniper gave the girl a soft smile and introduced herself, "Hi, I'm Juniper Black, District 5, and I despise President Snow,"

The girl laughed and replied, "I'm Vera Mason, District 7, and I want President Snow to go in cardiac arrest"

Juniper giggled and already knew she was going to become good friends with Vera. "Do you want to become allies," June asked Vera

"Of course, I was just going to ask you that,"

The young girls switched and went to the snares station. They both talked and found out they had many things in common such as being the same age or both having a big family. Vera spoke highly of her younger sister Johanna and said that we would get along. The girls would stick to each other like magnets, observing the other tributes. It looked like they were the youngest ones out of all 24 tributes. Vera explained how hated her tribute partner and wanted to stab him in the eyeball. And the girl in District 6 looked 13 and was very kind to them. It was clear that the tributes from District 1,2 and the girl from 4 were in a cult. The six teens looked like natural school bullies and they knew how to fight. As they passed the weapon stations, throwing a dagger felt so tempting but as her mentors said, she didn't want to show off or else she could become a target. Juniper and Vera both learned how to make a trap and tie snares by the end of the day.

When she was done saying her goodbyes to Vera, she found Alistair and they started walking back to their District floor. "So, anybody catch your eye?" June asked the teenage boy.

"Erm well I talked to the Careers and they asked if I wanted to join them," he admitted as Juniper looked at him wide-eyed

"But your not even a Career why would they even want you to join"

"Well, I kind of went to the weapon station while I thought no one was looking and threw some spears but apparently the Careers were watching," confessed the guy while Juniper rolled her eyes

"Well? Did you accept the offer," she asked with annoyance in her tone while they stepped into the elevator

"I asked them if you could join too but they said no and I told them I would think about it,"

"It is your choice after all but I do not want to be in an ally with a bunch of spoiled dumbasses, but if you really want to join them I don't give a shit," Juniper concluded

♕ ✦ —• 

They eventually reached their District floor where Iris, Cedar, and Lamina were all on the sofa in a deep conversation. "So how was it?" Iris asked the two children who sat next to them on the soft couch.

"Well this ass showed off his skills in front of the Careers and now they want him to join them only if he doesn't bring me," Juniper said as she rolled her eyes

"And what about you," Alistair questioned

"Well, I met this girl from District 7, Vera Mason. She is my age and we got along pretty well, I'm planning on just having her as my only ally," she responded. Juniper just wanted to go in and out of the arena but that is not how the game works.

"Well good job both of you, tomorrow you will have your individual assessment so make sure to get some rest," Iris told the tributes.

Juniper ate a quick dinner then went to shower. She changed into a nightgown that was left on her bed and observed her room. There was a remote by her side and decided to play with it since she was wide awake and didn't feel tired. Juniper pressed one button and a bunch of the Capitol people were chatting around on her wall and scrunched her face in disgust. The young lady pressed the button again and it showed a forest with thick green trees scattered around. She pressed it again and it showed pear-shaped drops of water plunging to the ground. Juniper was a pluviophile or in other words, lover of the rain. The sound and image of droplets raining from the sky calmed her and she easily found peace. At District 5 in the morning, the sky would be filled with dark grey clouds and it would sometimes rain, continuous drops of water pouring on Juniper as she played and danced in the rain.

The girl smiled as she stared off into nowhere. June kept thinking about her family back home and what stunt she would do for her individual assessment. 

♕ ✦ —•

𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬

thank you so much for reading and make sure to vote! also, do you guys prefer long or short chapters?