Albany Rosewood- District 2 Victor

Chapter 15

  After Maylee and Cael get home, we eat dinner. Maylee and Cael are quiet. I think they're thinking about the Games. I know it didn't really hit me until about now that I was going into a death competition. I hope she can win. I have to believe she can because if I don't, I'll fall to pieces.
  The following morning, I wake up and it is still dark out. Today is a big, big day. I have individual training with Maylee and Cael, then they have their individual sessions in front of the Gamemakers, and then this evening is their interviews. And tomorrow... I can hardly bear to think of it. I haven't prepared Maylee enough! She could die tomorrow and it could be all my fault! I could be responsible for my best friend's death!
I take a deep breath and force myself to think of today, not tomorrow. I won't be able to help Maylee at all if I think like that.
I walk to the shower and randomly turn a knob. The water gushed out, freezing cold, but I don't care. I quickly undress and hop in. I take a fast shower, and by the time I step out I'm shivering and covered in goosebumps. I walk over to my massive wardrobe and pull out a pair of black, stretchy leggings, a gray tank top, and a white windbreaker. I zip up the windbreaker, put my dark hair up into a high ponytail, and pull on a pair of black combat boots.
When I go out into dining room, Maylee is already sitting at the table with a cup of tea in front of her. She looks pale, and for one of the first times that I've ever seen, scared.
"Albany," she says in a quivering voice. "I... I'm so worried about tomorrow. I only just really thought about it...how I'll have to actually kill people. And how people could... ki-ki-kill me!" Her voice breaks at the end of her sentence and her blue eyes fill with tears.
  "Oh, Maylee," I begin as I give her a hug. "Please don't cry! You have a better shot at winning than anyone else! You're so talented and so smart. And as long as you watch your back and never let your guard down, even for a second, you'll be fine. And as for killing other people," I pause. "That's just something that you have to do. You have to think of it as either you or them. Whose life so you value more? It's sick, but there's no backing out now."
  Maylee sobs again. "I never should have volunteered! I can't do this," she wails.
  "Yes, you can! You are so strong, Maylee. You can do it. And I'll be there to help you when you get out," I say. She sniffles and gives me another hug.
  "Thanks, Albany. I guess you're right, I'll just have to do it." She dries her eyes on her sleeve and sits up straight. "Now, how is training going to go?"
  "Well, the training session is six hours, and since you each wish to be trained individually, you each get three hours. Would you prefer the first or second session?"
  "I'd like the second session, so you can tell me how Cael does and then I can do even better," Maylee says.
  "Good choice," I say. "Now, what do you say we have some breakfast. You'll need to be strong for today."
  Cael walks into the room and sits down at the table.
  "What time am I training?" Cael asks without any prelude.
  "In just a few minutes," I say. I'm definitely not looking forward to training him. I quickly eat some waffles and sausages and then I stand up. "Are you ready to go?" I ask. He nods sullenly. I wave goodbye to Maylee and Viyla, who has just walked in.
Cael and I walk in silence down to the Training Center. When we arrive, I see that only about a dozen tributes and their mentors are there. It looks like everyone asked to be trained individually. I glance around at all the other mentors and I see Haymitch Abernathy, the drunk from District 12, leaning against the wall and watching without interest as Willa tries to hit a rubber dummy with a sword. A sallow woman with sunken eyes and stringy hair is watching Zeke throw knives. She must be the District 6 mentor, the one that turned to drugs to escape her pain. Cecilia, who is only a few years older than me, is watching Ophelia throw knives, very poorly, at a target and trying to give her tips.
  "Where do you want to start?" I ask Cael. He shrugs.
  "Aren't you my mentor? You decide," he says sullenly. I roll my eyes and walk over to the spear throwing section, Cael trailing in my wake. I gesture to the spears and wait for him to throw one. He picks a large one up and hurls it at the target. It lands a several inches from the center of the target.
"Square your shoulders to the target," I say. He nods curtly and picks up another. Cael throws it again, this time it hits the center of the target. "Much better," I say. We practice for another 15 minutes before moving on to hand to hand combat. I watch Cael wrestle around with the instructor for a while before he finally pins him down to the ground.
  "Good, just make sure you always make the first move. That gives you the upper hand," I instruct.
  Following the hand to hand combat, we move around to every one of the weapon stations, then to the obstacle course, but Cael refuses to do the survival courses.
  "I did my mandatory ones yesterday!" he protests.
  "You're putting yourself at a serious disadvantage," I say. He doesn't seem to care. So, we revisit all of the weapon stations. I give Cael little pointers and tips, but he is already very good.
  Finally, we go back to the suite, and Maylee comes out with me. We walk quickly down the road and arrive at the Training Center. A different set of tributes are in there now. I see Dexter from District 9 at the camouflage station, Darby from 11 at the fire starting station, and Jett at the archery section. Maylee and I head over to the knife throwing station. Maylee picks one up, weighing it in her hand for a moment before hurling it at the target. Her arm whips out, there's a flash of steel, and then the knife embeds itself in the dead center of the target, quivering. Then, I press a button that makes a set of moving targets pop up. They are bobbing up and down, side to side. Maylee picks up knife after knife, throwing them until she has hit every target. She beams at me.
"Who is the best now?" she asks playfully. I laugh.
"We need to go to some survival skills, as well," I say. Maylee nods, but I see a flash of annoyance darken her face. She must think I'm wasting her time. But, it must be done.
I teach Maylee the best way to start a fire, and she proves to be adept at it. Next to us is Nolan from District 5, and to my surprise, Lia is still with him. They really are sticking together. Lia gives me a small smile before returning to her task.
Next, we go to the trap section. I try to teach Maylee how to do it, but I was terrible at it when I first learned. The trainer ends up having to teach her. She is even worse at it then I was, and we end up laughing at her failed attempts.
Next, we go to the archery section. Maylee is an expert at archery, and she easily hits all of the targets, even the moving ones. After the training session is over, we walk back to the suite.
  "Now, you and Cael need to eat lunch before going back down to the Training Center to show the Gamemakers what you can do," I tell Maylee and Cael, who is lounging on the couch.
They nod and walk into the dining room, where lunch is waiting. Rolls, sandwiches, salads, soups, and desserts are laid out across the table. Maylee and Cael load their plates up with food and eat quickly. I have a turkey sandwich and a small bowl of tomato soup. After they eat, Maylee and Cael say their goodbyes and head over to the training center. I think they'll both do well, they're both skilled and talented. I hope Maylee outperforms Cael, but I know that they are fairly evenly matched.
  Viyla saunters into the room, and today she is wearing a short black dress with polka dotted tights, knee high black boots, and her hair is blood red.
  "Hello, darling! We have a couple of hours before they come home, so what would you like to do?" Viyla asks.
  "I just want to relax," I say. "Maybe read?"
  "That sounds wonderful, darling! The bookshelf is over there, and you can pick anything you'd like. I think I'll read, as well." I walk over to the bookshelf and pull off a book titled "To Save the Kingdom". I sit down on the couch and begin to read. It's about a group of teenagers that have to save their kingdom from a wide range of mythical beasts. It's nice to relax for once, and I lose myself in a world filled with dragons, unicorns, and witches.
  After a few hours, the door opens and Maylee and Cael come in. I jump up from the couch and rush over to them.
  "How did it go?" I ask eagerly.
  "It was great! They seemed really impressed," Cael says with unusual enthusiasm.
  "I showed them my archery and knife throwing, and then I ran through the obstacle course. They smiled and applauded, so I think they liked it," Maylee says with a beam.
  "Well, let's sit down and watch! The scores are about to come up!" Viyla says as she turns on the screen. Caesar is onscreen, talking about how the tributes will be scored out of 12. Then, the scores of the tributes begin to pop up on the screen.
  Jasper scores a 10, which is expected. Career tributes almost always do well. Jett scores a 9.
   Maylee and Cael tense up as their scores are shown. Cael scores a 9, and he bristles. He is not happy that Jasper outscored him. Maylee scores a 10, and she grins. I'm so relieved. That score will guarantee her sponsors.
  Mesa and Marx both receive low scores of 4. That's also to be expected. They are both pale and skinny.
  Sail scores a 3, which is very low, and Laguna scores an 8. That is an unusually high score for someone that hasn't been trained as intensely as a Career. She is one to watch out for.
  Lia and Nolan receive average scores. Lia receives a 5 and Nolan receives a 6. I don't know what they did to receive scores like that, neither one of them seemed very strong. Maybe there's more to them than meets the eye.
   Colton receives a 4, which is to be expected. Zana, however, receives a 10. My eyes widen in surprise and I can hear Maylee and Cael inhale sharply. Zana scored as high as Maylee and Jasper, which is shocking. She is definitely going to be a huge threat.
  Zeke scores a 6, which is good for District 7. Jessa scores a 3, but that's to be expected since she's only 12.
  Rex and Ophelia both receive scores of 4. Neither one of them appeared very threatening.
  Dexter from District 9 receives a 7, which is very high for a District 9 tribute. Farah scored an 8, which is astounding for someone her age. I guess Laguna's instruction really paid off.
Brody, the brutish boy from District 10 scores a 6. He must have shown off his strength. Callie scores a 2, which will not earn her any sponsors and also makes her an easy target for the other tributes.
Ren, who could throw knives so well, scores an 8. He could be a threat in the arena. Darby scores a 4.
Loch, the tribute who accidentally hit Cael in the leg, scores a 3. Not a surprise. Lastly, Willa, who scores a 3 as well.
Most of the tributes scored as I expected they would. Some of them could be threats, but we already knew that. Zana is the one that I'm the most worried about.
"So, now I prepare for my interview?" Maylee asks when Viyla turns the screen off.
"Yes, you have to go to your stylist in just a few minutes. They'll get you all set. Maylee, you'll go third, Cael, you'll go fourth. For your interview angles, it's really up to you. My advice is to sound confident and light-hearted. Make sure you smile a lot, that will help with sponsors. Compliment the Capitol if you really want sponsors. I'll be in the audience the whole time, so if you're nervous pretend you're talking to me. It will only take three minutes and then you can leave the stage. Okay?" They both nod, and Maylee hugs me. "Viyla will escort you down to your stylist."
  "Okay," Maylee says. "I hope I do well!"
  "I'm sure you will," I say with a smile. Maylee waves and follows Viyla and Cael out the door.
  I turn on the screen while I wait for Viyla to return. The first channel I come to is a show called "To Wear or Not to Wear" and it is a pair of Capitol snobs educating other Capitol citizens on what is acceptable to wear in various situations.
  "Baby blue is out, sky blue is in!" the main Capitol girl with bright yellow hair chirps. "Cerulean is in, turquoise is out! Remember your blues!" I change the channel, disgusted. Next is a sappy romance movie, with a pretty blonde girl falling into the arms of a handsome, chiseled man.
  "I love you!" she whines.
  "And I you! Not even death can separate us!" the chiseled man replies with an overly dramatic flair. Yuck. I change it again, and this time it is a show about President Snow's granddaughter, who was born last week. The camera zooms in on her chubby face and the narrator rattles off some facts about her newest clothes, carriages, nursery, and pacifier. I can't believe people could care so much about a baby.
  Finally, after ten more minutes of watching President Snow's granddaughter gurgle and wave her feet around, Viyla walks back in. 
  "Hello, darling! We have about twenty minutes before we need to leave for the interviews, if you intend to get a good seat."
  "Alright," I say. "Should I change?" I ask, gesturing to my windbreaker and athletic pants.
  "Yes, I think something a bit more formal would do nicely," Viyla says with a wrinkle of her nose.
  I walk back into my suite and look through the wardrobe. Everything seems to be covered in sparkles, sequins, fringe, or feathers! After rooting around for several minutes, I finally find a navy blue dress with elbow length sleeves. It is fitted until it hits my waist, where it flares out a bit. It comes to just above my knees. I put it on, leaving my other clothes on the bed. I'm still a little chilly, so I look until I find a gray denim jacket. I pull on a pair of simple silver flats and walk into the bathroom. I quickly curl my hair and add a layer of hairspray. With one last look in the mirror, I walk out the door.
  "Well, that's much better!" Viyla exclaims. "You see, you can actually look presentable if you put some work into your appearance." I'm not sure if this is an insult or a compliment, so I just smile and nod. "Let's go, Albany! We don't want to miss a second of anyone's interviews!" Viyla says. We walk side by side down the bustling streets. There are hundreds of people crammed into the streets, all of them wanting to get tickets to watch the interviews.
  "Viyla, how are we going to get seats in this crowd?" I ask worriedly.
  Viyla rummages around in her bright blue purse and pulls out two tickets. She passes me one and says, "Here's yours. We get front row seats because of how closely we work with the tributes. Isn't that just marvelous!"
  "Very," I agree. We finally make our way through the hordes of exuberant, extravagantly dressed crowds. I have been jostled and shoved aside so many times that I end up grabbing onto Viyla's arm to keep myself upright. Once we reach the door to the building Viyla and I each hand our tickets to a frazzled looking woman with bright purple hair and blue skin. She rips off a section from the bottom and gestures for us to go inside.
  I follow Viyla through the rows of seats until we reach the first row. I sit down in my seat, which is made of very soft velvet. I look around the theater. In front of me is the stage, which is huge and made of mahogany. There are dozens of spotlights centered on the center of it, where two chairs sit. All around me are rows and rows of seats which are gradually filling up with excited Capitol citizens.
  After about half an hour, all of the seats are filled and the room is abuzz with excited chatter. The lights around the seats dim down, and the lights centered on the stage brighten. Caesar Flickerman walks out, beaming at the crowd. His hair is a brilliant shade of turquoise and his suit is lime green with glitter covering every square inch. Caesar waves at the crowd, who goes wild. I applaud politely. Caesar sits on one of the chairs and the applause dies down.
  "Hello!" he says cheerfully. "Tonight is an extremely special and exciting night! It is the last night before the Games, and we are about to get to know a little more about the tributes! First up is Jett, from District 1!"
Jett flounces onto the stage. She is wearing a white dress with ruffles on the skirt. It makes her dark hair look like a blot of ink against the dress. She answers Caesar's questions confidently, and the crowd loves her. Definitely a solid interview. Jasper is next, and he is wearing a gray suit. He is cocky and arrogant, exactly how a Career should sound.
Maylee is wearing a striking red dress. It falls in soft ruffles down to her knees and her hair is pulled into a intricate braid. She smiles throughout her interview and talks lightheartedly with Caesar. She gets a louder applause than both Jett and Jasper, and I'm relieved. Cael walks onto the stage wearing a bright yellow suit. He looks determined and solemn. His interview is not as successful as the other Careers because he doesn't look happy or excited. Oh well, he can handle himself in the arena without an abundance of sponsors.
Mesa and Marx are both pale and scared. They speak in quivering voices and I'm glad when they're off the stage.
Sail is timid and scared, but Laguna is confident and happy. She speaks of her life back in District 4, and of how excited she is for the Games. She does very well.
Lia and Nolan are quiet, but they don't sound scared. I think they could be a threat.
Colton is boisterous, but he doesn't sound very smart. Zana is cunning and sly, she talks about how confident she is in her abilities. I hope that Maylee decides to ally with her, because she is not one that I want going against Maylee.
  Jessa is quiet, but she is adorable. Her stylist obviously tried to play up her youth and innocence; they put her hair in pigtails and she's wearing a frilly pink dress. She will get some sponsors, if she makes it past the bloodbath. Zeke is reserved, and he talks about how he would do anything for Jessa. That will make him an easier target, but I don't think he cares.
  Ophelia is pale and she seems to have a hard time catching her breath. She must be really nervous. Rex also looks scared, it's a miracle he manages to squeak out an answer at all.
  Farah is happy and bubbly, and her bright purple dress reflects her personality. She gushes about how much she loves the Capitol and how many great people she's met. She is sure to get some sponsors. Dexter is sullen and he glares the whole time, which isn't very smart.
  Callie talks about how she really misses her family. Her eyes tear up and her lower lip quivers. Another easy target. Brody sneers at Caesar and gives one word responses to his questions, cracking his knuckles and flexing his biceps.
  Darby looks petrified to be in front of such a huge crowd, and it takes a lot of coaxing from Caesar to get a word out of her. Ren is cool and distant, giving vague responses.
  Willa sounds defeated, and she flat out tells Caesar that she knows she is to going home. He looks taken aback, and not sure how to respond. Loch talks about his life back in District 12, and how he hopes he can return.
  With that, Caesar stands up. "Thank you all for coming to see the interviews! I'm sure you all want to go home and get some rest so that you can be wide awake for the Games tomorrow! Good night!"
  Viyla and I are led by one of the employees to a small backstage room. We meet up with Maylee and Cael, who look exhausted.
  "You both did wonderfully!" I say. There's no point telling Cael the truth, there's nothing he can do at this point. We go back to the suite, and I turn to face them. "Tomorrow you'll go into the arena. I should be able to tell by the outfits what kind of arena it is. You two just remember; be careful. Trust no one and never underestimate anyone. I have faith in both of you, and I wish you the best of luck." Cael nods solemnly and goes to his room, but Maylee lingers behind.
  "Albany... I'm so scared. I can't do this. What if I won't get sponsors?! What if I'm killed in the bloodbath?! What if...what if I don't come home?!" She sniffles and wipes away a tear.
  "Maylee, it's true. Anything could happen. But I have more faith in you than in anyone else. You are so talented, and you're smart. You can and will do this. You have to take out as many people as you can in the bloodbath, and then watch your back. Don't trust Jett or Jasper, or even Cael. You'll get sponsors, and I'll try to convince them to send you anything you need. Honestly, you can do this." I hug her tightly, tighter than I ever have in my life. She hugs me back, and eventually we pull away. "Get some sleep. You'll need it."
  "Okay. I'll see you in the morning," she says with a small smile. And with that, we head to our separate rooms.