Ariabella: The Tribute Who Danced (A Hunger Games Fanfic) Book 1

8.

"Ariabella, up darling," says Chrysanthemum. I groan and roll over.

"I don't want to," I whine.

"Ariabella, up, now," Chrysanthemum says a bit more sternly and pulls off my covers.

"No," I say and pull the covers back up.

I hear Chrysanthemum sigh and she walks out of my room. Did I win? Suddenly more footsteps come in the room and I hear them walk over to the side of the bed I'm facing. They kneel down and block the sunlight coming in from the window to my face.

I open my eyes and see Grayson.

"Chrysanthemum told me to get you up," Grayson says. I giggle a bit.

"Well, I'm not getting up," I say and roll over the other way. Suddenly I feel Grayson's arms underneath me and then I'm lifted off of the bed. He carries me to the middle of my room then drops me. Luckily I catch myself.

"Thanks for dropping me," I say with a laugh.

"Get dressed, we have training in half an hour," Grayson says then leaves my room.

Oh, training. My dad. Great.

I walk over to my dresser and take the pair of training clothes off of the dresser that are fresh and clean. I quickly get dressed then pull my long, loose curls into a high ponytail.

I walk out to the dining room to find everybody already seated.

"Looks like you finally decided to get up," Chrysanthemum says.

"Well, it was more like being forced out of bed. Grayson dropped me," I say then Grayson and I laugh. Soon Grace joins in then I hear Chrysanthemum giggle a bit.

"Ok, well, it's time for training," Chrysanthemum eventually says.

"I don't want to go," I complain.

"Ariabella, you have to come now or we'll be late," Chrysanthemum says.

"No," I say then cross my arms over my chest.

"Why are you so stubborn today?" Chrysanthemum asks.

"I honestly don't know, I guess I'm just in a mood," I say.

"I don't know either but it's kinda funny," Grayson says then walks over and picks me up from my seat just like he did earlier. He carries me to the elevator before putting me down.

"Thanks," I say with a laugh then the elevator doors close.

Suddenly I remember where we're going. I stop laughing and start to panic.

"It's ok, I'm here for you if you need anything, and I've got your back" Grayson says, as if he's reading my mind. He then takes my hand as the doors open. I squeeze his hand for support as soon as we step out.

"Ok, where should we go?" Grayson whispers to me.

"We?" I ask.

"Yeah, I figured we should train together today, because of what happened yesterday," Grayson replies.

"Oh, ok then, let's go over to the knot tying station. I kinda want to talk to somebody about what's going on, and I trust Ginger. I talked to her the other day," I say.

Grayson nods and we walk over to the knot tying station, still holding hands. I want to let go because I don't want to give people the wrong idea, but it's comforting.

We approach the station and I stand next to Ginger.

"Hey, can I tell you something?" I ask her.