The blood on these hands (Clove Kentwell)

Chapter 5

     The next day Iris woke up bright and early so she could take a shower and get ready for her day. She once again used her favorite soap because it smelled the best. As she was standing in the water letting it get all the soap off her she started thinking. What if she won, what if she was able to go home to her mother and max. Little Max would be so happy to see Iris especially if she won the games. As she was lost in thought she heard someone banging on her bathroom door. "LETS GO YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE ON YOUR FIRET DAY IF TRAINING!" Iris instantly recognized the voice as she rolled her eyes in annoyance. "NO I WONT JUST CHILL OUT PORTER!" Iris yelled back. Iris took her time getting ready and then went and sat down to eat breakfast. Porter stared at her as if he was surprised by her attitude. "Better get that look off your face. It's not a good look on you." Iris said with a smile. Iris caught Gabe staring at her as he looked down immediately, Iris smiled to herself and once she finished breakfast they were on their way to training. "Going to be honest this whole training thing doesn't really matter, it doesn't compare to what it's going to be like when your actually about to die and your reflexes kick in, so just relax ." Iris listened very carefully to what Porter had to say. The only time Porter wasn't being annoying is when he was actually being helpful.

When they got to the training center Iris looked around and noticed that there were more groups than there were kids on their own. There was the survival group, that's what Iris called it because they were all sitting around some sticks trying to make a fire or a shack Iris couldn't really tell. Then there was the hunting group who worked with long range weapons. At least they looked a little more put together than the survival group who didn't look like they knew what they were doing at all. Then the careers or as Iris called them the killer group. Iris then felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around and saw Gabe standing there in fear. She saw him glancing over her shoulder so she turned around to see what he was looking at and to her surprise she saw the whole group of careers walking towards them. She turned back around looking at Gabe, "Just stay calm and don't speak I will do the talking." Iris whispered as Gabe slightly shook his head. Iris turned around and was met with the eyes of a psychopath. "Clove here said that you had the guts to fight her." Psychopath said "Calm down I was the one who challenged her to a fight." Clove said in a calm voice. Iris wasn't surprised with how calm she was, they were from the same district but they were two very different people. "Yeah so what." Iris heard Gabe say from behind her. She wanted to punch him but instead turned around and gave him a look that said shutup. Gabe quickly looked down and almost seemed embarrassed. Iris turned back around "Ok let me just get warmed up first." Iris cracked her back trying to at least look intimidating but the careers didn't look very intimidated.

     A few awkward stretches later Clove finally took Iris's hand and drug her towards the ring. "What are you doing I wasn't ready yet."Iris said in almost a panic "Just stop I am doing you a favor, you were embarrassing yourself." Clove said with a smirk. After Iris finally got her feet under her and was walking next to Clove instead of behind her. "So whose psychopath?" "That's just Cato he does stuff like that to look threatening but I have to admit he is way better at it than you." Clove said while chuckling a little. Iris didn't even say anything back she she was to focused on Cloves was chuckling, it was a sound she could listen to every day all day and never get tired of it. "I like psychopath better." Iris said smiling at Clove still kinda lost in thought until Clove shoved her into the ring. Iris instantly tripped over her own feet causing her to fall over, "Hey we haven't even started yet." Iris said turning to look at Clove who was smiling. "And yet you're already on the ground." Iris got up quickly, embarrassed. "Alright let's get serious, first one to hold the other down for three seconds wins." Clove said with a smirk. "Alright let- " Iris's legs got kicked out from under her as she fell and hit the ground hard. "Oh come on that's to easy." Clove said. Iris jumped up and lunged at Clove who dodged it with ease. Once again Iris fell... hard but got up quickly just to see a Clove running at her. Iris grabbed Cloves waist and threw Clove over herself but as soon as Clove hit the ground she got back up ready for more. They stood there for a second waiting for the other one to make a move but no one did so Iris took it upon herself to try and pin Clove down. As soon as she took a step clove lunged at her legs making Iris fall over. Clove climbed on top of Iris and help her down with her hips. "One...." For once Clove was genuinely smiling not one of those fake ones where she is trying to be okay. "Two...." Iris felt Clove lighten her grip and took that to her advantage and rolled over so Iris was on top. "One.... Two.." Iris put her finger under Cloves  chin trying to be a tease but in doing so that meant that Iris had to take one of her hands off of Clove. "Thr-" Clove shoved Iris off of her and jumped on top of her but Iris used that momentum to keep rolling so that Iris was on top. "One....... Two......." Clove still had that same genuine smile that could brighten anyone's day without even trying. "Three...." She felt clove practically go limp under her so she let go but still stayed on top of her. "You gonna get off me or are you going to make me suffer with you on top of me." "I don't know I kinda like what's happening here, very comfortable." "Maybe for you but I think all of my ribs are broken." Clove said actually laughing. Iris smiled as she got up and offered her hand to Clove. Clove took it with no hesitation. "Told you princess." Iris said with a smirk. "Told me what?" Clove said as she rolled her eyes. "That you haven't even seen what I'm able to do." Iris still had her smirk on her face as she walked away.

     The rest of training went by in a blur Iris got some cuts in with a axe and felt pretty good about it. She didn't really talk to anyone after the whole fighting with clove thing she instead just kept to herself and did her own thing while training. After a little bit Iris saw Gabe walking over to her. "I didn't know you could fight like that." Gabe said smiling. "I didn't either." "Man, could you maybe teach me sometime I am not very good at stuff like that." Iris smiled and hummed "Let me think about it..............sure." "Great, can we do it tomorrow." "Yeah sure." "Great then it's a date." Iris looked at him for a second. "Wait that no what I meant, what I meant was-" "I know what you meant." Iris smiled at him as they both left the training center and went back to their floor.

     "How did it go." Porter asked happily. "I thought it went pretty well wouldn't you say so Gabe." Iris said looking over at Gabe who was looking at her but not really focused on what she was saying. "Gabe" "huh what... oh yeah, yes today went well." "That's good to hear" Porter said eyeing Gabe "Well you two go get some rest, you both still have a lot of training to do." Iris did as she was told and went into her bed room and got ready for bed but she didn't really plan on going to bed. She had other ideas.