𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐓 𝐒𝐄𝐃𝐔𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 | 𝑭𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝑶𝒅𝒂𝒊𝒓

𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐘.

Salty Sand and Algae

Before the Tributes got onto the train Rosie and Kit made a plan—Kit would mentor Kai, Rosie would mentor Jacqueline. That way, Kai would hopefully have less time to pester Rosie.

That night, when the lights turned out, Rosie lay with Jacqueline, rubbing her back whilst she cried until her eyes ran out of tears. The little girl spoke of her family, Rosie nodded but chose not to bank anything in her memory. Jacqueline would die, that was a given. She was so small and had only aged in a few days before the Reaping. But the little girl was terrified, so Rosie comforted her. Pretending she was anywhere else.

The day following was mostly spent playing games with Jacqueline, mainly ones with which they could use items around the train. They created a chess board and a noughts and crosses board. Rosie spent so much time with her not only to comfort the little girl, but also to avoid Kai who would be constantly staring at her. Practically begging her to give him a shred of attention, but Rosie refused to; she'd given him enough attention. She'd taught him how to kill, surely that was enough for him? He'd had training in most of the things Rosie used to keep herself alive, and he'd use it on the little girl Rosie sat with.

She couldn't pinpoint why she felt betrayed, but she did feel that way.

Rosie couldn't count how many times she'd asked Kai why he wanted to learn, he'd either brush it off, or give her a vague answer of him wanting to know so he could protect himself. He claimed it was just in case.

He lied, clearly. This had always been his intention. Rosie couldn't think of why he'd do it to get her attention. Surely he'd had enough of that, so what other reason did he have for doing it? Victors in District 9 weren't highly regarded, Lois, Kit and Rosie had all been almost entirely shunned within their communities. And it wasn't like Kai Mansfield needed the money, he was from one of the richest families in all of District 9—sure, it didn't mean much in terms of Panem as a whole, but compared to everyone else, he had no troubles.

Rosie thought until she gave herself a headache. When she excused herself to take a nap in the hopes of ridding herself of the thumping, she heard Jacqueline giggling at something Zavir had said. The woman was great with the little girl, it gave Rosie comfort that when she disappeared to the Loft with Finnick, someone would be there to comfort the girl.

Walking down the train someone swung open a door right in Rosie's face, the hard wood smacked into her forehead.

"Fuck," Rosie winced. Blood instantly dribbled down her forehead, the crimson drops clinging to her eyebrow. It stung and worsened her headache tenfold. It felt like her brain was about to explode out of her temple. Rosie hadn't ever had headaches, until the night with Valencia; with all the knocks to her head, Rosie assumed one of them gave her some kind of concussion that had lasting effects.

Cold, rough fingers pinched her chin. When her face was manipulated up, she caught the icy eyes of Kai. "Sorry, I didn't see you there," he apologised with a complete lack of sincerity.

"The doors have windows," Rosie scoffed, swatting Kai's hand away. "I'm gonna lay down. There's dinner."

Kai didn't let her sneak past him, his hands grabbed her waist, the unexpected—and thoroughly unwelcomed—touch made Rosie jolt, causing an elbow to smack into Kai's ribs. "What the fuck?" He coughed. "You're a Mentor," he began what he had waiting to say since the day before, Rosie let him speak, "You're meant to be helping me win–"

"Seems like I've done quite enough of that, hey? I've helped you for over two years," she didn't bother hiding how angry she was. "Not to mention that Kit is here and perfectly fine as a Mentor—actually, I haven't had a Victor, he has. It seems like you got the better draw."