Out if the corner of my eye, I can see Alek's knee jumping up and down. Julien does the same, and I find myself wondering what he, and Willow, are doing right now. When the tributes from 10 finally arrive in the cold, grey room, the trainer from the first day of training speaks,
"Today you will have your private sessions. You show the gamemakers something and they give you a score out of 12, 1 being the worst and 12 being the best. You will each have 15minutes to demonstrate anything to the gamemakers and will be dismissed once time is up. When you are called enter the room and state your full name, age and district before commencing. The district 1 male will go first, then the district 1 female, and so on. You will be called by the speaker over there," she gestures to the corner of the room, "Good luck." With that, the trainer leaves thorugh the door everyone came from, and after a moment of silence, a loud, robotic voice calls,
"District 1, male." The boy, who I believe is called Copper, stands up and smirks at the other careers, before entering the steel doors.
"District 1, female." Star, the girl who volunteered for her sister and always looked uncomfortable during training stands up, shaking, and enters through the steel doors, following in Copper's footsteps. The boy from 4 rolls his eyes; clearly, the careers don't care for her. The process repeats over and over again.
"District 4, female."
"District 7, female."
"District 9, male."
"District 10, male."
"District 11, female."
"District 12, male." Alek stands up and smiles nervously at me. I smile back in an attempt to comfort him and he makes his way to the chamber, leaving me alone with my thoughts. Not long after, the speaker booms out,
"District 12, female." I stand up and am surprised to find my hands shaking. This, and the interview tomorrow, decides my fate in the arena. Get a bad score, it's over. You're already forgotten even before the interview. I take a deep breath, and enter through the steel doors like 23 others did before.
I am met with game makers staring at me boredly. At least they aren't drunk, like Katniss described them during her session. Walking towards the middle, I bow my head down slightly and state,
"Almond Lin. District 12, 12 years old." The head game maker, Lucius, nods at me.
"You may begin." With that, I head over to the archery station and grab a full quiver, which I sling over my shoulder, before grabbing a bow. It feels much more sturdy than the one I have back home, and slinging an arrow through the bow, I position myself a few metres away from a dummy. As I pull back my arm, I can almost hear my father from six years ago whispering in my ear,
Pull your arm back. Aim carefully, remember, steady arm. Now, release.
I release my arm. The arrow seems to fly through the air in slow motion, and I watch it carefully. Thunk. The arrow has landed exactly in the head, what would of been a fatal shot. I do the same thing, this time aiming for the heart, and do it quicker and call out what I'm aiming for.
"Heart."
"Hand"
"Shoulder." Then I move on to the actual target range.
"Third ring."
"Bullseye."
"Outer ring." Every time, I shoot the arrow exactly where I state I will. Then, I put down the bow and throw a few knives at a dummy. I am not extremely confident in them, but I am pretty sure I will score higher if I can do more than one weapon. I throw them mainly in their chest, until a game maker interupts me.
"Miss Lin, your archery skills seem to be quite advanced. Would you be able to shoot exactly where I tell you to?" A bit surprised, I nod, picking up the bow again and walking over to another dummy.
"If you will, the dummy's left foot." I load the arrow in and shaking slightly from the pressure, I shoot. Thunk. Despite my shaking hands, the arrow has landed right where they asked me to shoot it.
"And the dummy's right eye?" I load another arrow in and aim. This is slightly harder, with a smaller target and on the other side to my dominant hand. But when I shoot, the arrow lands right in the middle of its eye.
"Impressive, Miss Lin. What about the dummy's right ear?" I inhale sharply. The ear? But nonetheless, I load yet another arrow in and aim, taking my time. Staring as the arrow flies through the air, I pray that I shot straight.
Thunk.
The arrow has landed in the back wall, a few centimetres from the ear. I stare at the arrow for a few seconds, as do the gamemakers, before I look down in disappointment and the gamemakers start to jot down notes. After a few tense moments, the head gamemaker looks back up and nods to me.
"Thank you, Miss Lin. You are dismissed." I bow slightly again and after placing the bow, quiver and knives back into their respective places, I walk out. Reaching the elevator, I walk in and jab the number 12, and the elevator lifts up. When I reach the floor, I find Alek sitting at the table eating a weird, yellow tart and talking with Katniss and Haymitch. Dean, again, is nowhere to be seen. And Lara-Rose is probably out doing whatever it is weirdly dressed people do on a daily basis.
"Hey there, kiddo. How'd you do?" Haymitch asks. He seems surprising sober again, and gestures for me to sit down. I sit in the vacant seat in between Alek and Katniss.
"I shot a few arrows, and threw a few knives. Then they told me to shoot exactly where they tell me to. I shot at the foot and the eye almost perfectly, but then, I messed up and hit the back wall rather than the ear," I say, frowning slightly, "How much lower will my score go?"
Katniss smiles.
"Don't worry, it won't by that much. Besides, for your age, having too high of a score means you get targeted by the careers. And by what Alek has told me," she glares playfully at Alek, "You guys haven't listened to my orders." I giggle a little bit.
"At least you didn't shoot an arrow at the gamemakers," Haymitch glances at Katniss.
"Well, it played out in my favour, did it not?" Katniss says, putting up her hands. Haymitch rolls his eyes. We chat for a little bit longer before Dean finally comes back a little bit before the announcing of scores.
"Wel, well, well, Pretty Boy has come back," Haymitch says. Dean glares at Haymitch before taking a seat at the couch as well.
"You guys think your private sessions went well?" He asks us.
"Yup," Alek says.
"Kinda," I say.
"That's alright, time will tell. Scores aren't everything,"
"They kinda are," mutters Haymitch under his breath. Dean doesn't hear him.
"Besides, I didn't do very well in my private session. But look where I am?" Dean says this part a little emotionlessly, but I don't ask about it. Neither does Alek. Nobody does, but almost on cue, the Capitol Anthem blares out from the hologram, and the head gamemaker and interviewer appear on screen.
"Hello, people of Panem! It is mine, and Lucius' pleasure to announce to you all the training scores of the tributes for the 94th annual Hunger Games! Lucius, please start us off."
"Thank you, Cecilia, now onto the scores. From district 1, Brilliant Casworth with a score of... 10!"
Star Bonli with a score of... 7."
"7?! Interesting from a career district." Lucius hands the paper over to Cecilia, and she proceeds to read the scores for District 2.
"Slate Amos with a score of... 6. A bit disappointing for him. And Valerie Lopez with a score of... 10!" They alternate reading out the scores. Then they reach District 12.
"From District 12, Alekzander Greenwood with a score of... 9!"
"Quite impressive from this 15 year-old boy, a score on par with some from the career districts." I high five Alek and everyone else gives him a thumbs up, before we turn back to the screen.
"And finally, Almond Lin, with a score of... 7! District 12 are doing well this year, aren't they?" Alek grins at me.
"Thank you everyone, be sure to come back tomorrow for the tribute interviews! An overview of the tribute scores will now show on your screens, and we'll see you all tomorrow!"
"Good job you two, those are great scores? What were you talking about, Almond, you had nothing to worry about!" Katniss exclaims.
"Looks like we have to deal with sponsees this year," sighs Dean in fake disappointment.
"Rude, much?" I say.
"You don't have to deal with them! You'll see, Almond, you'll see."
"I think it's off to bed for you guys, to let the adults talk. Tomorrow are the interviews, and before them you'll spend a few hours prepping for them," Haymitch tells us.
"By that, he means eight hours," Katniss warns us. Feeling rather proud of ourselves, Alek and I listen to Haymitch and head off to bed. But I find myself wondering what Julienne is thinking right now. Would he be proud? Or worried? With hundreds of thoughts filling my head, I fall into a dreamless sleep.
District 1:
Brilliant Casworth, 10
Star Bonli, 7
District 2:
Slate Amos, 6
Valerie Lopez, 10
District 3:
Osmo Elrond, 6
Amelie Whitlock, 5
District 4:
Flynn Viotto, 9
Coral Callisto, 9
District 5:
Eddie Knight, 5
Lyme Zinc, 8
District 6:
Dion Keln, 10
Lexi Brown, 4
District 7:
Cedar Undergrove, 6
Blossom Undergrove, 7
District 8:
Jasper Crawford, 5
Skylar Sinders, 3
District 9:
Ceres Alford, 6
Mazie Indra, 6
District 10:
Dalton Frong, 7
Eve Gallio, 5
District 11:
Martin Clover, 4
Apple Livi, 7
District 12:
Alekzander Greenwood, 9
Almond Lin, 7
YOU ARE READING
Innocent Girl - A Hunger Games Fanfiction
FanfictionIt's been twenty years since the infamous Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark won their game together, twenty years since the flame of rebellion was stomped on. But the 94th games might bring change, when a young girl's name is called across the squ...
