Love in the Arena

Chapter Seven- Lea

I awoke and reached for Marvel. All I found was air. He must've left while I was asleep.

I got up and showered before getting dressed into my training uniform that Finnick had so nicely laid out for me. It was black, red, and grey, with a 4 on it, for my district.

"Good morning sleepyhead," said Eclipse, "It's about time you got up, today's training day. You'll only have three days to prepare for the games."

"I know, I know," I grumbled.

I ate breakfast and jogged to the elevator with Axel. Thankfully, we were early, only my fellow Careers were there.

When everyone arrived, Atala, one of the trainers, gave us a lecture on rules, and how we should use the survival stations as well as the weapons.

I joined Clove at the station with the throwing knives. She was really good, hitting the bullseye with every throw.

I took a knife and took my position at the next station and copied her stance. I threw the blade. It flew and hit the bullseye.

"Wow, that was good, you're sure this is your first time handling weapons?" asked Clove.

"I'm one hundred percent positive."

I threw knives for a little bit, then switched to spears. I tried, and did not succeed.

"Here, let me help you," said a voice. I turned around. It was Marvel.

He positioned himself directly behind me. He was close, really close. I turned red. He guided my hands so I was holding the spear correctly.

"And you just let go," said Marvel. I did as he said and I almost hit the center.

"That was better, but if I were you, I wouldn't trust my luck with a spear unless I had to," he said.

"I agree with you in that," I said.

For the rest of the morning, I worked on weapon training. I wasn't bad, but knives just seemed to me man something to me.

At noon, a gong rang, signaling it was time for lunch. I had sandwiches and apples with the rest of the Careers.

After lunch, I practiced survival training. I built fishhooks and nets, like all of the women in District 4 did, myself included. That was nothing new.

I learned how to build fires, as well as how to tell which plants were poisonous.

At the end of the day, I went back to my floor and showered then lay down on the bed. Finn came into the room.

"You tired? You have one more day of training, then tomorrow afternoon, you will have a one on one evaluation with the Gamemakers. The next day, you'll have lessons with Eclipse about manners for the interviews, lessons with me and Mags about your angle for the interview, and then there will be the interviews," he said, "So you'll be very busy until the games."

I let it all sink in. That was a lot to think about, but all I could think about was how comfortable my bed was looking, and how tired I was.

"I'm going to bed Finn, good night," I said.

"Good night, see you in the morning," said Finn as he kissed my cheek.

I fell into a deep sleep, not a care in the world.