𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 · 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐈

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞

~"callyn odair with a score of...?"~

The rest of training passes by basically without incident. On the third day, we get called out of lunch one by one to have a private session where we showcase our skills to the gamemakers.

Finnick and I already went over what I'm going to do.

When I go into the gym, the gamemakers' eyes are all glued to me as I approach the knife station. Carelessly, I flip a blade around my finger and into my hand. Picking a target at the archery station-about 50 yards away-I throw. A bullseye. There's several rounds of gasps as I hit a bullseye. But I'm just warming up.

I go pick out 5 shurikens and pick my next target. A human dummy. I throw them over and over again, not stopping or pausing to even aim, really. They hit exactly next to each other, embedding into the dummy's head. I don't feel particularly challenged, so I head to the spear station.

I select a light, silver spear and look at my surroundings. A light hangs from the ceiling about twenty feet high, and it suddenly looks like a target to me. I spin my spear over and across my wrist, adjusting my grip. This one I'll have to be more careful on. 

Aim. Throw.

The spear severs the cord of three straight lights.

Ignoring the cheering, I look around for something else to do. My eyes fall to the tridents.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

When I get back, all the mentors are waiting for me.

"Did it go okay?" Finnick asks.

"Yeah. They'll probably give me a nine or a ten," I answer. "How did yours go?" I ask Reed.

"It was good enough." Reed says. "I should get a decent score."

Later on that night after dinner, we go to the sitting room to watch the training scores be presented. I sit down in between Finnick and Linden.

As the opening music comes on, Finnick's foot begins tapping, which annoys me, so I kick him. He hits me over the back of my head just as the first score goes up.

"Ow!" I complain loudly.

"Shut up," Finnick says.

I roll my eyes, but stay silent.

"Silk Johanson, with a score of nine," A picture of Silk comes onscreen, a silver nine circling in front of it.

"Velevt Connor, with a score of eight!"

"Bellamy Lyme with a score of eleven!"

"Oh, no," I say. "He beat me. That's so not fair, what'd he even do?"

"Kaia Merzyn, with a score of ten!"

Both tributes from Three get a score of 4.

Reed's picture appears onscreen with a silver ten. Linden claps him on the back and we all congratulate him. Next up, my picture comes onscreen.

"Callyn Odair with a score of...twelve?" The announcer says, unsure. "Yes. Twelve."

There's a moment of silence before Andi screams in excitement.

I look to Finnick. He looks upset, but when he catches my eye, he rearranges his face to look happy. "Well, you beat Bellamy."

We all laugh.

We watch as the rest of the tributes receive their scores. A couple that catch my eye are both from Seven getting scores of 7, the girl from Six getting a 7 and the boy getting an 8, and Oak receiving a 9. As soon as it ends, Finnick and Linden begin talking about tomorrow.

"First, Callyn, you're going to work with Andi on presentation. You'll have four hours but-" Finnick begins.

"I don't think we'll need that long," Andi says.

"Yes. Once you and Andi are done, you'll come and figure out content with me. Reed, you'll do content with Linden first, and then work on presentation," Finnick says.

"And the day after that, you'll spend the whole day with your prep team getting ready," Linden says.

And then it's time for the games.

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hey loves

sorry about the short chapter

love y'all, lmk whatcha think!