The Boy With The Bread

Chapter 12

Prim's POV
Today there will be a mandatory viewing relating to the Hunger Games. The games that my perfect sister volunteered for in my place. I think it will be either the training scores or the interviews. It is fourth period in school right now, and the viewing will be played during lunch. Lunch is fifth period and I can hardly wait to see how well Katniss is doing. Time ticks away slowly.

The old teacher dismisses us and I run to the cafeteria. Most of the students cannot afford to buy hot lunch, including me, so I sit down at a rusty table by the cheap T.V. The Capitol symbol flashes on the screen and a man with an ample frame and equally ample hair appears. The man introduces himself as Caesar Flickerman. Caesar has orange hair, a matching orange suit, and thick, bushy orange eyebrows. I wonder how much he paid for his hair to stand so tall and wide. His hairstyle must be at least a foot and a half in diameter and three feet high.

"Good afternoon, Panem. Thank you all so very much for tuning in to see our amazing tributes scores." Someone squeezes my shoulders. It is Peeta, apparently all better from his cold.

"Hi Peeta."

"Hi Prim," he smiles and plops down next to me, which causes the old table to bounce. Then, to add to the bouncing, Rory Hawthorne, looking very sharp and put together sits on my left.

"Hi Rory." I say. Rory's face is very mature for a twelve year old. He has sharp angular features like Gale, dark hair, and is probably one of the tallest boys in our grade.

"Hi Prim. Wonder what Gale and Katniss got." He says flatly.

Caesar Flickerman speaks again. "Most of these tributes received excellent scores! It was very surprising to see. And I am sure you all will be surprised too. Here we go with District One. Our male tribute, Marvel Astenes..." A headshot of a boy flashes on the screen, revolving around and around Caesar's head. "Received an eleven!" The number 11 lights up next to his vicious face.

All I see are faces, looking either fierce or petrified, revolve on the screen. Everyone gets high scores, even little Rue. Except I can't really say that she is little, because I am most likely smaller than her. Rue gets an eight! I would have gotten a two or three, at the most. No one scores higher than eleven. The male Career tributes all snag an eleven, and the lowest score I have seen today was a seven. Which is horrendous, because this means Katniss has lower chances of winning. I wonder what she will get.

"Gale Hawthorne, from District 12..." I feel Rory tense up beside me. I see Gale's terse face show no emotion in the picture. "...earns an eleven!" Peeta and I smile to eachother, although I can see the pain in his eyes. Rory jumps up, but no sign of feeling crosses his naturally stern face.

"And finally, for our last tribute, Katniss Everdeen, the girl on fire!" Caesar exclaims. Girl on fire? What is this?

Peeta nudges me. "During the opening ceremonies, Katniss made a huge splash with her fiery debut. Her costume was amazing..." Peeta trails off. Hmm. Were the ceremonies a mandatory viewing? Because I sure don't remember seeing it. Anyway, I glue myself to Caesar and his Capitol accented words.

"And our Girl on Fire scores a ...."

Katniss POV
Today is the day of the private sessions with the Gamemakers. The Gamemakers are basically the people who make your life in the arena as hellish as possible. They give you a score based on the private session and previous days of training, which will be displayed to the public. THese scores truly mean nothing. Besides the faact that sponsors will be watching closely to your score. These sponsors, from the Capitol, from your district, from anywhere, may decide the matter of your life or death. I wonder if I have any sponsors. Perhaps during the Opening Ceremonies, I gained a few.