Amber Scott- District 3 Tribute

The Private Session

  Shanna, Kilee, Annora, Myron, and I walk out of the building along with the rest of the tributes. Lilla smiles at me as I pass her, but the Careers are giving stoic glares to everyone. The girl from District 12, Katniss, seems to be mad at the boy from her district. She is glaring venomously at him, and her escort is looking worriedly at the two of them. Their mentor, who is an infamous drunk, is slumping along behind them.
We reach the suite, and Shanna says, "Well, do the two of you know what you'll be doing for the Gamemakers?"
"Yes," I say. "I think I'll do alright."
"Brilliant, darling!" Shanna exclaims. She is beaming as she asks Myron the same question.
"No," says Myron with his trademark sneer. "I do not know what I'm doing. And if I did, I wouldn't be telling you."
"Well, darling, you don't have to be so hostile about it, I'm just trying to help," says Shanna.
"You shut up! You have no idea what I'm going through!" Myron exclaims angrily. "I had to leave my family, my home, to come and fight and kill other kids! I'm facing almost certain death, and so is everybody here!" Now, he rounds on me. "And you! I've seen the disapproving way you look at me! Don't you get it? The only way I have even a tiny shot at staying alive is by getting into the Career pack! They almost always win! If they turn against me, or even don't value my skills enough to want me in their pack, I'm dead! I want to go home alive, not cold and stiff in a wooden box!" He draws a deep breath, and breaths out, obviously trying to control himself. "So, no," he says. "I do not know what I'm going to do, and I am going to my room." With that, he slumps off to his room.
"Well, he's right," says Kilee with a grim look on her face. "The only way to win is to get in with the Careers, otherwise they'll kill you."
"Well, now, I'm sure that's not true," says Shanna reproachfully. "There was that one girl, Joannie or something, she pretended to be a weakling, and then where there were only a few left, she killed them!" says Shanna.
"Johanna," corrects Kilee. "And she was an exception."
"There have been plenty of tributes that have won without teaming up with the Careers," I say to Kilee. "Beetee and Wiress both won without any help from the Careers."
"Whatever," Kilee says with a roll of her eyes. "My point is, teaming up with the Careers increases your chance of surviving."
Now it's my turn to roll my eyes "That's not what you said. You said that that was the only way, implying that all other tributes are weaklings, and that the only way to win is to team with with the powerful ones. Is that how you won your games? Let the Careers protect you, and then betrayed them? What a great show of honor and integrity."
Kilee glares at me with hate in her bright blue eyes. "I'm going to my room," she says in a tight voice. "I'll be out for breakfast." She walks to her room quickly, and Shanna looks after her regretfully.
"You know, darling, you should provoke her like that. She just wants to help you." she says.
Lies. No she doesn't. She doesn't care whether Myron and I die. She just wants to survive herself.
I don't reply to Shanna, but I go to my room to take a shower. I always thought that the arena would be the stressful part, not being in the suite with the people that are supposed to support and help me.
I shower and change into a soft blue shirt and brown leggings. I wander back into the kitchen, and see that there's dinner on the massive table. There's nobody in the room except a couple Avoxes. I sit down and help myself to a roast and some soup. I'm halfway through my soup when Kilee waltzes in and makes her way to the door, wearing an extremely short, extremely sparkly blue dress. She is wearing very tall high heels. Her long hair is pulled back into a sleek bun.
"Shanna went to a party, and I'm going too. If you need something, tell an Avox," she says on her way out the door. "They won't let you out, so don't even try." With that, she slams the door behind her and leaves. What a fabulous mentor.
The house is eerily quiet, the only noise is my spoon clanking against my bowl. Suddenly, Myron's door opens. I glance up at him, to see if he is still mad, but his face is expressionless. He sits down across from me, and helps himself to the food. We eat in silence.
Myron breaks the silence by saying, "Look, I'm sorry." I look up at him in surprise. That was the last thing I was expressing him to say. "I don't mean to be such a prat, I know you're going through the same things I am, it's just I'm so scared, and so angry. I'm scared of dying and not going home, and I'm angry at all the Capitol people, for making us do this. For sentencing innocent kids to death for the sake of their enjoyment."
  "It's okay," I say. "I get it, it's sick how they act like they care, but they have lived pampered lives, and have always had everything they've ever wanted."
  He nods, and continues eating. I do the same. Once I finish, I get up and go to my room. I fell back onto my bed. It didn't hit me until now how tired I am. I'm not used to such intense physical activity, so I'm sore in addition to tired. My arms, legs, and stomach ache when I move. I turn the lights off and climb into bed, even though it's early. The bed is soft and I sink into it. I fall asleep almost immediately.
  I wake up the next morning to Shanna rapping on my door and saying, "Amber! Get up! Breakfast is ready, and then you need to go and have your private session with the Gamemakers." I groan and throw the thick blanket off of me. I stand up, and walk stiffly out of my room, muscles aching. My legs are not in the mood for walking. I flop into a chair- which is a bad decision since the chair is very hard and it hurts my already sore back- and dish myself some pancakes and oatmeal. I'm eating it slowly when Myron slumps in, looking about as bad as I feel. He sits down across from me gingerly, I'm sure his muscles are sore, too.
Kilee shuffles in, looking hungover from her party last night.
Shanna comes bustling in, wearing a lime green glittery dress and matching hat, and says to Myron, "Darling, you need to eat something. You won't do well if you don't!"
"And then you'll die an painful death from lack of sponsors!" says Kilee helpfully.
Myron rolls his eyes at them and pours himself a cup of water. Shanna sighs, but bustles off to boss an Avox around. Kilee pours herself a cup of coffee, and slops some on the pristine white tablecloth. She looks like a wreck. Her hair is disheveled and tangled, and it sticks up in a huge clump on the back of her head. She's wearing the same thing she was last night, only now it's wrinkled and stained with who knows what.
Now that Shanna has left the room, she says, "I hope you don't expect me to give you any advice. I'm sooooo not in the mood."
"No, why would you? You're not our mentor, you're not responsible for helping us survive or anything," Myron says sarcastically.
"I'm glad we agree," says Kilee with a snide smile. We all go back to eating in silence. Myron has a brooding look on his face, I'm sure he's thinking about what a marvelous mentor we have. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have my escape plan. Kilee is giving us absolutely no help, and I know I couldn't survive. I probably wouldn't survive even if I had advice, but nevertheless, she is our mentor.
Kilee finishes her cup of coffee and gets up, swaying slightly as she does.
She shuffles off to her room, saying as she does, "Go get ready or something. And don't make noise. I have a massive headache." The second I hear her door shut, Myron and I exchange a glance, and proceed to clank out forks on our plates. I stand up and knock my chair over, and then pick it back up, making sure to scrape it loudly on the floor. Myron 'accidentally' knocks his water glass onto the floor, where it shatters with a loud crash.
An Avox rushes over to help clean it up, and Myron says, "Sorry about that, we're trying to make a lot of noise." The Avox nods and gives him a small smile, I'm sure Kilee is rotten to them.
Myron and I go to our rooms, slamming the doors loudly as we to. I hear a loud groan from Kilee's room, and she bellows, "SHUT UP OR I WILL MURDER YOU BEFORE THE OTHER TRIBUTES DO!" What a great person.
A training outfit, identical to the one I wore yesterday has been laid out on my bed. I put it on, and go to the bathroom to do my hair. I comb it out and put it into a French braid.
When I walk back out of my room, Myron and Shanna are waiting by the door, and Shanna is prattling on about the party she went to last night. Myron looks bored, and he's looking at Shanna with a vacant look, it's apparent that he is not paying attention.
"And then, Octavia, one of the stylists for District 12, was telling me all about their tributes, Katniss and Peeta. Apparently, Peeta has loved Katniss ever since he was young, and she feels the same way! And now they have to go into the Games and die! It's so tragic! The doomed lovers!" Shanna is saying, obviously proud of her piece of gossip.
"That's so fascinating" says Myron. "But Amber is here, so we'd better go to the training center!" He looks relieved to see me, Shanna has probably been talking to him for a while.
Shanna walks out of the door, and Myron and I follow. I make sure to slam the door, so that Kilee can hear it. We walk over to the Training Center, and go a back room. There are several rows of benches. About a dozen tributes are already seated. All four of the Careers are seated in the front row, conversing in low voices. Lilla is in the corner, looking nervous. She is bouncing her leg up and down and twirling her hair on her fingers. Her eyes are darting nervously around the room, and then she sees me. She smiles, looking relieved. I was over and sit next to her.
  "Hi," she says. "I'm so nervous."
  "What are you going to show them?" I ask her.
  "I'm going to show them my archery skills. I think I'll do fine, but what if I don't? Then I won't get a high score, or any sponsors, and the other tributes will see me as a weakling, and then they'll kill me and I will never get to go home!!" Lilla says hysterically. The boy from 6 gives her a strange look, and I sneer at him. He turns away and faces the front of the room.
  Just as I'm about to reassure her, a cool, automated voice says, "Glimmer Finch. District 1." The beautiful blonde girl gets up, and with a cocky grin at the rest of the Careers, walks out of the doors at the far end of the room. The room falls silent, now that tributes have begun to be called.
  After about 10 minutes, Glimmer comes back through the doors, and walks towards the exit. She walks confidently, slamming the door behind her.
  The automated voice says, "Marvel Pell. District 1." The malicious boy from 1  gets up and lopes over to the door. He walks through it without so much of a second glance back to the Careers. After about 20 minutes, when he is finished, he saunters back through the door, looking pleased with himself.
  Next come the small girl from 2 and her huge, muscular district partner. When the huge boy, whose name is Cato, walks out of the doors, my stomach does a huge flip.  I try to calm my nerves, but it's not working. My heart is pounding, and I start to tap my foot nervously. Lilla gives my arm a reassuring squeeze, and smiles at me.
  "Amber Scott. District 3." the automated voice calls out. I get up and walk through the door that the Careers walked through. There is a Peacekeeper waiting for me on the other side of the door. He gestures at the door on the far side of the hallway that I am standing in. That must be the training room. I walk hurriedly to the door, not wanting to seem like I am procrastinating, the Peacekeeper right behind me. Once I reach the door to the training room, he opens it, and I walk in. The room is empty, except for the Gamemakers, who are milling around on a large balcony that overlooks the room.
  They fall silent when I enter, and the head Gamemaker, who I have seen before, giving interviews during the Games, says, "Whenever you are ready." I take a deep breath, and walk quickly over to the poisonous plant identification screen. When I was here yesterday, the screen was projected onto the wall, so that everybody could see what I was doing. I didn't like it then, so I switched that function off. Now, I need the Gamemakers to be able to see what I am doing, so I set it to project into the wall opposite their balcony. They all look up from their conversations, and focus on the screen. I select the test, and begin. I race through it with ease, and I make no mistakes. Yesterday at training, I took the test in about 3 minutes and 45 seconds. This time, I complete it in just over 2 minutes. The ending message pops up, and it says 'Exam complete. 100% accuracy. Time taken: 2 minutes 2.3 seconds.'
I thank the Gamemakers, and walk out. I hope that was enough to get me a decent score. I go back down the hallway, escorted once again by the silent Peacekeeper, and he leads me out the door and to our suite. When I walk in, Annora, Kilee, Shanna, and Fletcher are waiting in the living room, all of them focused on the screen. They look to be watching the Reapings across Panem.
As I walk in, Shanna is saying, "Ooh she is very pretty! And the boy is strong! They look so striking together!"
Trust her to focus on the tributes' appearances rather than their skills in the arena.
"Oh, good. You're here! I hope it went well. Take a seat. We are watching the Reapings!" Shanna says.
I sit down on the couch next to her and turn my attention to the screen. It's the petite girl and huge boy from District 2. They look thrilled to be entered in the Hunger Games, they are both waving to the crowd, who are going wild. They are cheering and clapping and stomping their feet. Their reaction is so different from that of District 3. In District 2, they seem to think of being reaped as an honor, and something to celebrated. In District 3, we think of it as a tragedy, and an unnecessary loss of life; definitely not something to celebrate.
We watch a couple more Reapings, and then Myron comes in.
"How did it go?" asks Fletcher.
"Fine. I'm going to my room," Myron says as he stomps off to his room.
"Oh, dear. Do you think he needs someone to talk to?" Shanna asks worriedly. "Amber, you're close to his age. You go talk to him!"
"Um... I really don't think that is necessary," I say, but my protests are cut short by Shanna.
"Go on dear!" she says, giving me a little shove. I get up reluctantly and walk over to his door. I give Annora a pleading look, which she ignores. I knock on his door.
"Go away!"
"Oh, well," I say to Shanna. "Guess that didn't work."
"No you don't! Go in there, and talk to him," Shanna says sternly. I roll my eyes and turn the doorknob. I expected it to be locked, but it opens. Myron is slumped back against his headboard. He is staring dejectedly at his lap when I walk in. He glances up at me, and then looks back down. I sit down on the edge of his bed.
  "So..." I say. "Do you want to talk about it?" I know he doesn't, but I have to try. If I go back out, Shanna will just send me back in.
"Not particularly," he says in a flat voice. We sit there in an awkward silence for a few minutes, and then he bursts out, "I just feel like such a failure! I know I didn't preform well, and I won't get a good score, and then I'll die! I really don't want to die! I want to go home and live a long life, not die a violent death at the hands of other kids!" He takes a shaky breath, trying to compose himself.
"I can't promise that it will be fine, because odds are it won't," I say to Myron. "But I do know that you're smart, and you're good with mines. That's got to count for something. If you team up with the Careers, and they find you valuable, you'll have a much better shot." He nods, and looks at me hopefully.
"You really think so?"
"Yeah, I do," I say.
"But what about you? What are you good at?" he asks, suddenly worried.
"Well, I'm good at gathering food, I know what's poisonous and what's edible, so I figure I'll hide as long as possible, and then see what I have to do," I say. He looks dubious, but doesn't press the issue anymore. I leave, and then we have dinner.
After dinner, everybody gathers around the screen. Shanna turns it on, and Caesar is just beginning to speak.
"And now for the scores," he says with a huge smile, his abnormally white teeth glinting in the lights. He looks down at a sheet of paper and says, "From District 1, Marvel, with a score of 9." That's a very high score. The highest you can get is a 12, but nobody has ever even gotten an 11. "From District 1, Glimmer with a score of 8. From District 2, Cato, with a score of 10," that must be the huge, muscular boy. "From District 2, Clove, with a score of 10." Those are typical Career scores. They rarely score below an 8.
  "From District 3, Amber," Caesar continues, and my stomach gives a huge flip. "With a score of 6." I breath a sigh of relief. That's the best I could have hoped for. It's not too low; its average. Annora gives me a nod of approval, and Shanna smiles at me. "From District 3, Myron, with a score of 7." Myron looks shocked; that's a lot better than he thought he would do. Shanna and Fletcher congratulate him, and then we focus back on the screen.
  The tributes from 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 all have normal scores, most of them scoring from a 5 to an 8. The only standout is the girl from 6, who receives a 4. That's not a good score, in fact it's abnormally low. She can't be happy. Then Caesar is announcing District 9, Lilla's district.
  "From District 9," Caesar says. "Greyson, with a score of 5." I was not expecting that. He seemed so shy and odd when I saw him in training center I didn't expect him to do anything except stare at the Gamemakers. "From District 9, Lilla, with a score of 8." That's very good, and I'm happy for Lilla. She tied with the beautiful blonde, Glimmer. Glimmer has had training for the Games since she was little, so it's a huge achievement for Lilla.
The tributes from District 10 get scores of 5 and 7. The huge boy from 11 gets a 9, which is high for an outlying district, and the tiny girl, the one who said she didn't want to learn how to kill
people, gets a 7. The boy from 12 gets a 8, which is also good for an outlying district, but the real shocker is the girl from 12, Katniss, the one who was on fire at her interview and the parade. She gets an 11. Caesar seems surprised himself, that's the highest score that anyone has ever gotten.
The screen goes black, and Shanna stands up she flattens down invisible creases in her frilly skirt.
"Well, very good job, darlings. Those are respectable scores, and I think the both of you will preform terrifically," Shanna says enthusiastically. She is completely ignoring the fact that at least one, probably both of us will not make it out alive. I have my shock device, but she doesn't know that. As far as she knows, both of us are untrained kids going into a televised fight to the death. She honestly seems excited to see how we do. I can't tell if she doesn't care about us- any of the tributes- of if she is just shallow.
  I turn to Myron, and say, "See you tomorrow."
  He gives me a small smile, and says, "See you tomorrow.
  I go to my room and climb into bed. I lay there for hours, just thinking of all the ways that tomorrow could go wrong. My shock device could malfunction. I could get killed before I have a chance to use it. So many ways it could go wrong. So few ways it could go the way it's supposed to.