Songs & Seas | Hunger Games

V.

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EVALUATION DAY HAD ARRIVED. The day when their skills would be tested and ranked. Maria sat beside Archer while they waited to be called up. 

"Maria, I don't know what I'm going to do in there," Archer leaned in to whisper in her ear. 

"Well, I saw you making a fire yesterday with that District 6 girl," Maria responded. "You could do that. Or how did the knot-tying go?"

"I've always been good with knots," Archer nodded. "Mom works at the peacekeeper factory so she taught me how to do all sorts of things."

"Great maybe give that a shot," Maria smiled softly at him.

District after District. Finally, they were in District 7 and it was their turn next. It's always boy girl so Archer would be up first. Tear from 7 had just finished and Narcissa was in there now.  The door swung open and the auburn-haired girl walked out with a fearful expression on her face. She brushed so quickly past Archer and Maria that they felt a light breeze on their faces. 

"Archer Deane!" The automatic voice called out.

Maria squeezes the boy's hand before letting him go as he walks off into the room. She left there with Districts 9-12. They all sit in unsettling silence. 24 tributes in total and only one gets to leave alive. Unsettling is putting it nicely. 

Soon Archer comes out of the room he throws Maria a soft smile as if to say "good luck" and then her name is called. She walks into the Gymnasium. There are more viewers than before around twenty or so men and women with colorful outfits and hair all conversing above her. 

"Maria Covey, District Eight!" The young girl announces. She receives a nod from one of the men in a suit who was seated. Taking this as the go-ahead she began. 

Maria grabbed two knives from the rack. Placing one in her mouth she climbed up the rafters skillfully. Taking the knife from her mouth she hung herself off of a beam upside down by her legs and threw the knife at one of the target dummies hitting it in the shoulder. She flipped off the beam landing on her feet and quickly threw the other knife this time hitting the dummy in the middle of the chest. 

She then turned back to the on-lookers who were staring at her with perplexed almost stunned expressions.

"Thank you, Miss Covey," a man said bowing his head. "You are dismissed."

With that, she left the gymnasium and walked straight past the other tributes that would be going after her. She went straight to the elevator throwing a smile to the avoxes who stood beside it. She pressed the eight-button and waited to arrive on her floor. 

Maria walked to her quarters changing into something more comfortable. She knew the scores wouldn't be unveiled until all tributes had gone. Yawning she flopped down on her bed pulling the covers over her and allowing herself to rest until someone came to tell her the scores were up.

"Kid." A voice whispered in her dream. "Kid, wake up." It wasn't a dream. When she barely opened her eyes she found Rhett crouching beside her bed shaking her awake. "Time to see those scores."

Groaning she rolled over. The older man walked out of the room leaving the door open and flickering on the lights as he left. She groaned again now sitting up with squinted eyes. "You suck!"

"Get up!" Rhett called back and she could just tell he was smirking. 

After about five minutes of contemplation, Maria emerged from her quarters. She plopped down on the couch grabbing a pillow to hold to her chest. Devina was sitting beside her attempting to discreetly tame the younger girl's hair. Maria swatted her hand away making the pink colored woman pout.

"As you know the tributes are rated on a scale of 1 to 12," Ceasar spoke on the TV. "After three days of careful evaluation. The gamekeepers would like to acknowledge that it was an exceptional pool of tributes this year. That being said let us begin."

For District 1 Crystal and Ryle pull an eight and ten. District 2 Pandora and Everest score an eight and nine. Careers usually get high scores it wasn't a surprise that this year wasn't any different. For District 3 Blair and Trench get a five and a six. Weak links, unfortunately.

District 4 Poppy and Arlo received a 5 and 10. Poppy's young maybe 12 or 13 so her score isn't surprising. Arlo was older probably about 17. Hopefully, he'll look out for her.  Tasha and Lip from District 5 scored six and seven. Hopefully, Lip is good enough to go up against Ryle. 

Both Archer and Maria sat up in their seats when District 6 came onto the screen little Nora only scored a four but Titus her district partner got a ten. Impressive for a non-career district.
Next was Narcissa and Tear of District 7 who got 8 and 9. 

Finally, it was their turn. District 8 flashed on the screen in bold letters. "From District 8. Archer Deane. With a score of six." 

The group released a breath. Maria smiled at the boy nodding her head in approval. "Also from District 8. Maria Covey. With a score of nine." The group gasped as they jumped up from their seats. 

"Wonderful," Devina clapped her hands excitedly. 

The tribute scores finished out with District 9 Clodagh and Percy both receiving sevens. District 10 Eponine and Orion getting five and eight. District 11 Dorcas and Curran scored eight and five. And finally District 12 Ruby and Gil both received a score of six.

The sun was setting and Maria found herself in front of the mirror with Nessa behind her fiddling with her hair in an attempt to make it act right. The gown she was wearing was a blue gown that went past her feet. She was worried she trip over it but Nessa said once her heels were on it wouldn't be an issue.

"What if I trip?" Maria said nervously picking at her nails.

Nessa swatted her hands. "You won't trip."

"What if my voice cracks?"

"It won't," Nessa responded.

"What if-"

"Enough!" The older woman shouted spinning the girl around to face her. "You are going to go out there. You are going to be yourself and you are going to nail this interview. Do you know how I know that?" 

Maria shook her head. 

"Because I believe in you," Nessa said sincerely. "And I know you are going to kill it tonight. Now be quiet and let me fix your hair."

Maria stood there for another few minutes with Nessa pulling, tugging, and curling her hair until it looked the way she wanted. Nessa moved on to makeup leaving Maria to her thoughts. Was this going to be her last day on earth? What if Ceasar doesn't like her? What if she's the first to die tomorrow? What if she doesn't get any sponsors? How did her grandmother do this?

She has thought about her grandmother a lot these past few days. She missed her. She missed the way she'd kiss her goodnight. And the songs they would sing together. She missed dancing barefoot in the streets and her wonderful friends. She missed singing at the pub. Hell, even a part of her missed that old factory. 

She needed to make it back to her home. But then again she was sure every kid in the games was thinking the same thing. She wondered what it was like for her grandmother in the games. Did she have to do an interview and get poked a prodded until she was deemed visually respectable? Did she get scored? What was her score? How could she have kept this part of her story a secret for so long?

Maria just had to get back home to find out.

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