Sharp Objects

chapter nine

The next day of training I'd pretty much the same, except to attempt to lean new skills that might be useful in the arena.i am accompanied by Marvel at the snares station, where we construct a rather questionable animal trap from a few pieces of rope. Then cato and I take a shot bludgeoning with/throwing axes. Cato manages to decapitate a few dummies,but we conclude that he is better with a sword  and I'm better with knives. Although, if I did find an axe laying around, I would just abandon it, I'd hurl it at my nearest target and hope that it hits as well as my knives do.

The rest of the second day is uneventful.

By the third day of training, we have our alliance pretty much sorted. We initiate a new member,zafira, the girl from 4, who is a career and is a crack shot with a spear.her district partner is only 12, and not a career, so it would be pointless even asking him.

We decide that it would be good to go around to each combat station and watch each other with the different weapons, so that is why I am stood in front of a large target with a bow, loaded with sharp silver arrow. Pulled back with the string next to my eye. Glimmer says it is her best weapon. Well, we're about to find out.

She pulls back the string,and releases the arrow. It slices through the air, almost whistling because of its speed. Then it lodges into the dummy would be ribs.
" what's gotten into me lately?" Moans glimmer, obviously frustrated " I can't shoot like I usually do! What's happening.

I have to try my hardest not to laugh. Let's just say that, over the past few days, glimmer is always' not as good as usual'.
Basically meaning that she is just genuinely rubbish and doesn't want people to know. She has also become much more annoying. She follows either me or cato around constantly. I think that she wants me to be her friend. Ha,fat chance district 1. Never going to happen.

One reason: the impending fight to death staring at the end of the week. And she has also,  much to my dismay ( and angry) taken a rather 'too friendly' liking to cato. It's not like I like him or anything. It's just that I don't want him to get taken over by her spell of beauty.

"Try again glimmer I'm sure you will be able to do it" says zafira, patting glimmer on the shoulder.

" I do hope so " says glimmer, straight back to her bouncy self, she aims a second arrow at the target.and this time,she hits the heart.

After around an hour of stepping up to a podium, failing at hitting a target, and then watching the other rotate around and shoot,strikes or throw perfectly, we are at the knives.

Glimmer goes first through, and she hits two of the dummies on target, causing her to go into a whirling celebration. She cheers for around 2 minutes, and then goes over to zafira, who is talking to Cato about spears, Marvel picks up a few knives and attempts to throw them, leaving me at the front of the queue. I stand casually biting my nails, as I wait for my turn with the blades. Marvel doesn't hit any of the dummies properly, only catches on in the ribs and other in the thigh.he sighs and he walks away,dropping the knives that he didn't bother into my hand.

I step up to the podium, and every career turns towards me.

They want to see clove kentwell throw knives? Well,good, cause that's what I'm going to do.

I throw my first knife at the dummy at my right, hitting the heart with ease. Then I send two more flying through the air into another hear,and a skull.then, for my last one, I spin the knife around my hand for a few seconds,then hurl it right at the dummy right in front of me. It hits the square on the chest, the centre of the red circle. My knife,and the dummy, shake and quiver from the force,and every mouth Is open. Except Carol's. He just smiles, shakes his head and laughs.

"Wow!" Breathes zafira "I heard you were good but I didn't expect that!that was amazing!"

"Sure was!" Says Marvel,clapping "I wouldn't want to be your enemy!"

"No way!" Says glimmer,shaking her head.

To late district 1,you're already on my list of people who are going to end up with knives in their heads.

"Seen it all before " says cato,laughing. I elbow him in the ribs: I don't want them to know. Nobody asks for an explanation of it,probably just presumes that he's seen in he academy- which he has,butbim pretty sure he was referring to something else.

Then,before any further questions can be asked,atala,the head trainer,call us out of the room to line up outside,in preparation for our private display to the gamemakers.

Each tribute gets around 10 minutes to show the game makers what they can do. The gamemakers give you a score between 1 to 12, 1 being awful and 12 being pretty much impossible to achieve. Me, being the district 2 female ,will go third out of everyone.

I get into line between Marvel and cato just as glimmer struts her way into the gym.

She comes back around 5 minutes later, with a big smile in her face. " I think I did pretty good." She tells me,giving me a big thumbs up " good luck clove!"

Right clove, focus. You have to focus, you can't do anything stupid. Concentrate, ignore the fact that the gamemakers are watching you, and throw straight. I can't afford to show them anything bad: failure is not an option.

All to soon, Marvel emerges from the door,also smiling. "Good luck clove!" He says, going the same way glimmer did. My name is called, and I take a deep breath, and begin to walk. But a hand on my shoulder stops me,I  I'm swivelled around to find myself facing cato. " focus clove, show them just how good you really are. good luck." He says, staring hard at me with those blue eyes. I can only manage a nod in thanks, before I turn around and proceed onto the gym.

It seems so empty, without the 23 other tributes fighting in the centre.i loom up towards the gamemakers balcony, and find there eyes trained on me. Every single one of them.

"Clove kentwell, district 2" I shout up towards them.they nod,and gesture for me to begin. That's when I get the idea.

I walk over to the knives, and take a handful of them from the rack. Standing right in the middle of the knife-throwing dummies and the archery training dummies, I take a few deep breaths. Maybe what I'm planning isn't such a good idea. But cato told me to show them what I can do. What better way to aim at targets not even meant for me?

I throw my first knife at a normal knife throwing dummy,then I swivel around and hurl my second over my head to a archery target behind me. Then I realise another two into a pair of side-by-side knives targets and hit both in the hearts. My final knive is in my hand. Where to throw it? Where to throw it? hell, what do I do?

I twil the knife in my hand attempt to calm myself. And then I see a net. Hanging from the ceiling. And just waiting to be served by my trusty blades. And then I notice one of Cato's sword practice dummie stranding  underneath it.

I run, I pelt, across the gym, sprint up a large ramp, and launch myself of the end, spinning around mid-air and sending the knife soaring towards the rope.juat when I'm about to hit the floor, I plant a swift kick on the dummies chest, which it sends it toppling over. When it hits the floor I roll over on my shoulder just at the net for the ceiling crashes down behind me. I stand up swiftly, attempting to stand on the way out of the roll to make it look better. It works, and I can feel the happiness building up inside of me as the gamemakers nod to each other with terse smiles.

"Thank you clove kentwell, you are dismissed." Says one of the gamemakers,pointing to the door that I came in with. I nod my head quickly, then run towards the door.

I hope that it was enough to get me a good score