In This Together (The Hunger Games Fanfiction)

Chapter 5: Training

I want to dedicate this chapter to SweetDreams_Angel! She has helped me a ton with this story, so you guys should go check out her book 'Me, my twin, and the Robertson Boys' if you love a good comedy! She's actually on a bit of a break right now for exams, but if you start reading now you'll be caught up when she starts posting again in a little over 2 weeks!

I woke to Blooming Rose banging on my door. "Celia! Wake up!" She called. "It's day One of Training!" Although it wasn't exactly a welcome way to begin the morning, I was surprised at the good sleep I had enjoyed last night, considering the circumstances. Either way, no morning could be considered bright and cheery when you were going to spend the day training for the Hunger Games.

When I finally decided there was no point in putting it off any longer, I rolled out of bed and changed into my training clothes, tight black pants with a black short sleeve top. The sleeves on the shirt had a red stripe and a number one.

Minutes later, I joined the rest of my team for breakfast. "Celia, your curls washed out," Tally commented.

"Ya, that's kinda how it works," I laughed and grabbed some toast, already learning that no luxury was permanent, except for maybe the Capitol citizen's exuberant surgeries.

"But it looked so nice like that! Come here, I'll do it for you again," Blooming offered. I obliged and sat down in front of her while she heated up the curling iron, a strange device that I still hadn't gotten used to.

"Isn't this supposed to be your job?" Blooming directed to Sona, laughing suddenly. "I'm not a stylist!"

"Well I think you are doing a glorious job, Bloom," Sona replied, making it clear she would much rather enjoy her breakfast than do my hair.

Blooming didn't complain further, and the rest of breakfast was filled with laughter and teasing; it's easy to forget about the Games when you're surrounded by people like this. But after Bloom fastened my now curly hair in a side ponytail, the talk quickly turned to strategy.

"Don't go straight to your strengths. Learn some new skills. Save the grand finale for the Gamemakers at the private sessions," Grim advised.

Meet some new tributes," Tally added. "We'll need to talk about adding people to the alliance soon." Tristan and I nodded.

"Okay, well, good luck!" Blooming called as the elevator doors closed behind us, always needing to have the last word in every situation.

It was a short ride down to the training area. We were the first District pair there. Slowly but surely, the other pairs came trickling in. No one spoke to one another, and it was clear that nobody was going to go out of the way to start small talk. There seemed to be little point; in less than a month, all but one of us would be dead, our blood on the other's hands. I shivered at the thought of it, thinking at the back of my mind that I was too young to have to worry about this.

One of the trainers, a stockily built 6-foot tall man, came to open the locked doors for us.

"A couple rules first," He said. "Number one, no fighting other tributes, just trainers. You'll have plenty of time for that in the arena. Secondly, try to visit all the stations. Take advantage of the little time you have. Finally, take care not to injure yourself. The last thing you need is to get hurt." All the tributes nodded, including me and Tristan. Seeing that we were all in agreement, the trainer opened the doors with a flourish.

"Let the Training begin!"

"Where do you want to go first?" Tristan asked me.

For a moment I didn't answer. I was overwhelmed by the huge room that was available to us for training.