Peetas pov hunger games

Ch. 5

The knot-tying station doesn't have a lot of tributes, so the trainer is pleased to see us, and even teaches us how to form a good trap, which really benefits me, since I've no other way of hunting. I look around the training center. The archery station has several tributes. I watch and try to stifle a laugh when I see the big, burly district 1 and 2 tributes trying to shoot an arrow. None of them hit the targets, some can't even shoot it correctly. I look to Katniss, but she's paying close attention to her trap. Part of me wants her to go over there and show them how it's done; but I stop myself from mentioning it, probably best if they don't know how good she is.

The camouflage station is my personal favorite. I've decorated, and iced, so many cakes in the bakery, that camouflage is second nature to me. I know which colors work together, and I know which are vibrant hues. I even know which colors seem to "pop" more than others, so camouflage is a benefit to me in the arena. If I can't kill, I can sure as hell hide. Katniss seems to be wondering why the trainer enjoys my precision with this so much, and how I know how to do this. "I do the cakes," I tell her. She asks me then, "What cakes?"

"At home, the iced ones for the bakery." Katniss looks annoyed at me, though I don't really know why. "It's lovely, if only you could frost someone to death." Ouch. Though, it's kind of funny. I decide to give a smartass comment back. "Don't be so superior. You can never tell what you'll find in the arena. Say it's actually a giant cake..." I say, until she interrupts me by saying "We should move on." Somehow, the way she is acting makes me love her even more. Maybe it's because she is honest. I've spent my whole life seeing my mother put on a façade. The honesty is intriguing to me. And if you can't trust someone who has always been honest, who can you

Haymitch instructed us to appear mediocre, so for the next three days of training, we avoid weightlifting and archery. However, I do tire of being the weak one that doesn't seem to have a skill, so in hand-to-hand combat, I give it my all, and excel. Katniss does really well with other survival skills-she's been using them so long, it's second nature to her.

For lunch, all tributes eat together. Career tributes eat together, but everyone else, even tributes from the same district, eat alone. Katniss looks like she wishes to be alone, but under Haymitch's orders, we "are to appear as amiable as possible," so she struggles to find a topic. I ease her pain by bringing up the fact that each district has different looking bread. Sometimes, although rarely, we'd have delegates from other districts visit our mayor, and the mayor always asked my dad to prepare some bread from their district to make them feel welcome. District 11 has a crescent moon shaped bread, district 4 a sea green bread, and so on. She seems utterly bored, and who can blame her? Bread is not the most exciting of topics. I can't help but think that she and Gale would have much more to talk about if he were here instead of me. He may even be able to coax a smile out of her, something I try to achieve but never can.

I tell her to talk while I smile pleasantly, to fool the other tributes into thinking we're having a great conversation, which couldn't be farther from the truth. Katniss really doesn't have anything to say to me, and I don't have the courage to tell her the things I want to say. She tells me she was once chased by a bear, and I tell her I find that fascinating. I am not lying, I do find it fascinating; Not that she was chased, but how she dealt with it. I'm sure she had some genius plan she put into action, and may have had help from Gale. I erase the thought of she and Gale and keep smiling. I ask her questions about the event just as I should, and most importantly, I keep smiling.

The second day of training, I suggest we try spear-throwing, as the career tributes seem to be good at it, and it scares me quite a bit, she doesn't argue, and we head over to that station. We are overshadowed by the career tributes, who get better at it with every throw. Speaking of shadows, I notice a small girl from district 11, watching us. "I think we have a shadow." Katniss throws her spear before paying attention to what I said. She isn't too bad actually, much better than I am, just not as strong. Her aim is incredible though. Then she turns her attention to the small girl. She looks as if a memory is replaying in her head, and I tell her, "I think her name is Rue." She looks worried, like I suggested it for a reason. "What can we do about it?" She says. I think she is expecting me to say something to the girl, which bothers me because really I don't mind at all. I wouldn't even mind helping her out, giving her a slightly better chance in the arena than she has now. Anger fills my heart again as I think about the danger the Capitol is putting this tiny girl in. It's unfair. I turn my attention back to Katniss. "Nothing to do, just making conversation." I try to sound as indifferent as possible, even though my mind is filled with hatred for the Capitol. But again, I have to pretend like everything is fine, and put up a fake façade of being the nice guy. It's then that it hits me: Maybe my uncanny ability to pretend everything is as it should be, maybe my ability to be friendly and polite even when I don't want to be, maybe I get that from my mother. I wince, then throw another spear, imagining President Snow's face as the target. The spear hits dead center, and it hits strong enough to almost knock the target to the ground. I am proud of myself for a split second, before realizing that no one was looking. The careers were talking to each other, and Katniss is watching Rue work with a slingshot. It's better that no one saw anyway. I don't need anyone targeting me.