Glory And Gore--Clove's Story, Hunger Games

(3) Training

I whipped a blade into a dummy's heart. I spun and did another. It's training day, and I'm trying to get allies. I got here twenty minutes early, so no one else would touch the knives. The Gamemakers were here, evaluating everyone. But they're not supposed to until Thursday, which is when we do our private training to get scores. The elevator clicked open, and Cato came strolling out. Glimmer and Marvel, the boy from District 1, followed. I rolled my eyes. There's no way I'm going to be a Career! I'm tiny! I took a bigger blade and threw it at the target Glimmer was shooting at for archery. I laughed. Not in an evil way, but a friendly laugh. She laughed too. Cato and Marvel were by the knot tying station, talking. About me? About how they're going to kill me? I pursed my lips and grabbed a knife. I threw it at a dummy, hitting it right in the heart. I let out a loud, cliche "eyuh!" as I threw it. Marvel looked impressed. But it didn't last long.

He was talking with Cato again. Then, the doors opened and District 12 came into the gym. They did nothing. Probably because of their poor skills. Katniss was eyeing the archery station with what looked like a burning temptation, but she never went. Instead, she followed the survival skills and fire making. No surprise there.

"Come on," Glimmer said and motioned for me to follow her. I did, and she was headed straight for Cato and Marvel. Marvel and motioned for Glimmer to go over to him. "Clove, this is Marvel." She said. I smiled.

"Are you kidding? She can't be on our team! She's way too small to do ANYTHING!" He said. Apparently, he wasn't looking at me. He was looking at the spears behind me when I was knife throwing.

"Shut up, Marvel! Don't be so rude! She's the best knife thrower I've ever seen." Glimmer said. I smiled a tiny smile. Marvel scoffed. "As if. I bet I can do better than this 3'2" freak show." He said. Glimmer glared. So did I. "Since you think you're so much better, how about we have a contest? Winner is in the Career alliance. Loser is out; for good." I said.

"Deal." Marvel shook my hand to prove he was indeed serious. We walked to the knife station. "The goal is to get five knives in the heart in a row." I said. It was super easy, but not to Marvel. I want to 'challenge' him. He grabbed the biggest knife. I laughed at his poor choice. Everyone knows that when you're throwing knives, you pick the smallest ones so they're lighter and easier to hit the target with. But if you pick one the size of a cement block, its going to be too heavy. He threw it, and hit the dummy right in the thigh. I laughed at his awful aim.

He scoffed again. "Go ahead, I'd like to see you even get close to where I was."

I smirked and grabbed the smallest knife. He laughed. "That's a tiny knife! You're supposed to pick the big ones, genius."

I laughed out loud. "And why do you say that?"

"Because big knives are scarier."

"Which would only make your opponent squirm, and you don't hit them at all." I said. His cheeks burned and Glimmer high-fived me, even though what I said was a well-known fact with any skilled knife thower and not at all clever. I grabbed all the small knives, and threw them each in a row without enough time between to even catch a breath.

Marvel rolled his eyes and went to the spears.

"Wait. We had a bet. You're not a Career anymore." I said. He glared.

"Clove, please let him be a Career. I know he's a big pair of douchepants, but I knew him really well." Glimmer pleaded.

"Fine." I said, still glaring at Marvel. Who does he think he is? He's horrible at knife tossing. Marvel apologized and said how he had a horrible night's sleep, and I forgave him. The rest of the tributes showed up, trying to throw my precious knives. Not one person got it in the heart. Glimmer, Marvel, Cato and I stood around, intimidating everyone. Well, except for me. I'm too small to intimidate people. The boy from 12, Peeta was climbing up a rope when he fell on the floor. He groaned, and we all laughed at him. Katniss walked up to him and whispered something. He stood up and grabbed a big, black metal ball with spikes coming out of it and threw it at a display of spears. We all stepped back, shocked. Peeta breathed heavily. He's really, really strong.

Maybe we can have him in our alliance.

"Cato, maybe Peeta could join us." I said. Cato snickered, like I was joking. I played along, so I wouldn't get on his bad side. I walked to the knife station, alone. The girl who was in front of the line tried throwing a giant butcher knife, but almost hit a Peacekeeper. She was forced away from that station and to the camouflage area. I laughed.

I pushed my way to the front. "Hey!" Said the boy from District 5.

"You should see a pro throw a knife that's not aiming for your skull before you die." I said. I smirked, and chose the smallest knife. "Light the ones up that you want me to hit." I said to the supervisor. She played around with a remote, and a dummy glowed. I hurled the knife at it, grabbed another big handful of knives, and hurled one at the glowing dummy. I did this for the entire time and 5 was really mad. "You're going to be my first victim!" He yelled.

I just laughed in his face. "Yeah, victim of not having enough time to kill you." I said and sauntered off with Cato. It always felt amazing to diss someone.

"Clove, I was by the weight lifting station and saw a huge, muscular guy. I think he's from 11. I didn't have enough time to ask him, but we can ask if he wants to be part of our alliance tomorrow." Cato said. I still think things are pretty awkward, but he seems to be over the fact that we shared a bed only the previous morning. Glimmer walked up to me.

"Why do things seem so...weird between you two?" She asked. I stiffened.

"I can't say. I swore I wouldn't tell." I said. I meant it.

"Don't keep secrets right before the Games, Clove." Glimmer warned. I could tell she was serious. So I leaned really close and whispered what had happened. But I can't tell you, I don't know you. I'm just a narrator, and you're just a reader. Glimmer's jaw dropped.

"Ohmigod!" She exclaimed. "You can't let Cato know I told you. I promised to never tell, and he could kill me for telling you. And then he'd kill you so you wouldn't tell anyone." I said.

"Then I'd scream it out while he's killing me." She joked. I sighed. We walked to the elevator and Valentina was waiting inside. "Oh, goodie. You made a friend! Now let's go to the apartment for dinner." She said.

"Dinner?! How early do you people eat?" I exclaimed. She laughed.

"You've been down here for at least six hours."

My eyes widened. I spent six hours throwing knives...people that watched must think I'm insane! But I don't care. She pulled me and Glimmer into the elevator and we rode up. The doors clicked open and I stepped out. "Bye, Glimmer." I said and waved. She smiled and said goodbye. I sat next to Cecilia at dinner, and we were served lamb stew with plums.

It was good, and then I was reminded about how much I hate Katniss when Brutus brought up her arrival at the parade. Valentina was talking with Cecilia about their costumes. This soup is delicious, but I hope Katniss hates it.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Sorry, I took kind of a long time. But I spent the whole day on it! I'm trying to slow this one down, since my last clove story I posted was ten chapters long. And my first story was eight chapters long....she went into the arena and the next chapter she won.