Evelyn:A Hunger Games Fanfiction

Chapter 4

That night, many thoughts rummaged through my head.

By the river, under the rock, kept on echoing through my mind.

And I thought about Evan.

I needed to keep him safe.

What did I have to come home to?

A family where I didn't fit in? A school where my teachers couldn't even remember my name? Evan had so much more. He would come home. I would make sure of it.

Tomorrow, we started training. I still hadn't made a plan with Rayna yet. Maybe she'd discuss it at breakfast?

I could feel my eyes begging to close.

The bed was just a place where your body could rest, but your mind couldn't.

I closed my eyes and drifted off to the land of dreams.

~*~

I wake up in a forest, with the sun shining ever so brightly. Then I see the silhouette of a person holding an object emerging. I couldn't quite make out who it was. Then, as they got closer, I could see the perfect baby face and amazing hair. It was Evan......he was holding a knife.

"Evan! No!" I yelled for my life.

My eyes opened as I saw Evan rushing into the bedroom.

"Evelyn? Are you okay?"

"Just a bad dream, nothing to worry about."

"Oh. Well, breakfast is ready. We're discussing what to do during training. Come on."

"I'll be down soon."

I'd taken a shower the night before, so I put on a maroon oversized sweater and black leggings with dark brown combat boots. I braided my blonde hair down my back and brushed my teeth.

I went downstairs greeting Rayna, Amira, Evan, and Dani.

"Evelyn. Glad you could join. We're talking about training today." Dani said.

"Cool. So what are our strategies?" I asked, popping a grape into my mouth.

"Evelyn, you're the strong one. Make allies, but not too many. Develop new skills and show them off, but don't show off your speed and aim. They'll get a taste of that in the arena." Rayna explained.

"What is Evan's?" I asked, concerned about him.

"Same thing. Make some allies, learn new skills, and don't show off your best skills. Understand?"

"Yes." Evan and I answered.

"Good kids, good kids. Nobody deserves this. No one." Amira said under her breath, and only I could hear her.

She cares.

~*~

Rocks.

I knew much about them.

When Mary and I were five, we'd use rocks as balls because our parents couldn't afford to buy us any. I knew where to find the ones that were the fastest.

In the time that my family and I were really stressing, I made sling shots to shot rocks at things like rabbits and squirrels.

At the time, I was 13 and hadn't learned how to carve a bow and arrow yet, nor had I learned how to aim.

But I was our last hope of having dinner those nights.

At the time, my parents couldn't work due to my mom being injured. They had friends in other districts, and even though they thought I couldn't hear, they were always talking about sending Sarah and I to another district and just dying off in district 9. That's illegal.

Luckily, my mom finally got better and they began harvesting again.

After that, I learned to carve my own bows and arrows, because I never wanted my family to be like that again.

"Interesting, isn't she?" a girl asked in my ear.

I turned around to see a girl with blue hair.

I'd just realized I was staring at a girl with a huge scar on her face.

"We call her scar-face. Career. She's psychotic. One of the best ones in here. Looks like she's pretty fascinated with you, too."
another guy said.

I realized she was staring at me, really intently.

"Who are you guys?" I asked.

"Well I'm Hadley and he's Jace. District 6. Best friends since third grade, volunteered for him at the Reaping. Figured I might as well die with him." she joked, as Jace punched her in the arm.

"Who are you, Rocks?" Jace asked.

"I'm Evelyn."

"Eh, we'll call ya Rocks." he said.

"So, ya got any skills? Ya can't study rocks forever." Hadley pointed out.

"Well, not really."

"C'mon, show us somethin'!" Jace said.

"I really shouldn't d-"

"What could go wrong?" Hadley asked.

"Fine."

There was a huge running course.

Basically, you could either race with a computer programmed shadow, or a real person.

"I'll race ya." Jace insisted.

We waited for the signal, and ran.

It wasn't hard at all to get in front of him.

Sooner or later, I was at the finish line.

"Oh wow, Jace! You let a girl beat you!" Hadley mocked.

"No, Hads, you don't understand....the girl is fast....shes fast..."

"He's probably exaggerating," she giggled.

"I'll race you."

Waiting for the signal, we ran again.

I got a huge lead on her and made it to the finish line.

"Oh my god....he wasn't kidding.."

"Well, Rocks.... you're really fast. I'm good with knives, Hadley's amazing at just fighting in general. Before we ask to be allies, got anything else ya good at?" Jace asked.

"Well... I can shoot a bow and arrow, but I'm going to let you see that in the arena."

"Fine. Since training is almost over for today, we'll show you our skills tomorrow. Oh and are we allies?" Hadley asked.

"Definitely."