The Bender Games

Chapter Thirteen

The Bender Games

Chapter 13: Into my own hands

    The minute I woke up in my room, I realized that today is my last day in the Capital. Tomorrow, I would be in the arena, fighting for my life. It will be me against the world, and no one will be able to help me. No amount of advice from Benjamin or beautiful dresses from Flavius will be able to aid me once I enter that arena. Even if I had a bazillion interviews, it would never help me.

I throw the covers off of my bed and clutch the sides of the mattress. For the next few minutes I just sit there on the edge and think to myself. I need to think of what I am going to do as my next move. I know I need to blow everyone away at the ball, but Flavius apparently has that covered, so I try not to worry about that right now. What I am worried about is the time between now and the ball. I don’t want to just sit here and do nothing. I need to somehow prepare myself. I need to practice. Yes, that is what I’m going to do. I am going to practice my skills for the time being.  

    Once I have my objective in mind, I head to the closet and try to find something that I could wear while I practice. But these clothes aren’t exactly made for jumping-jacks and sweat. They were made for glamor and style. But I continue to shuffle through the racks, trying to see if anything suits my purpose. Eventually, I find a tank top and some sweats. Perfect. I yank them out of the closet and throw them on my bed for the moment. Then I pull off my pajamas, and put on my new outfit. Since my hair is already woven into a  braid, I decide to leave it like that for now.

    I make my way to the door, and turn the knob once I am there. Then I take a few short strides to the kitchen from there. I grab a bottle of water, and quietly tiptoe my way to the elevator. No one has noticed me yet, and I hope to keep it like that.

    I make it to the elevator and hit the button as soon as I get inside. I managed to sneak into the elevator unnoticed. Part One is now complete. Now to get to the roof, and have no one else up there, that won’t be as big of a challenge. The last few times I was on the roof, there was no one else there.

    And it looks like I will have the same luck here.

    Once I have entered the roof, I take a quick look around to see that no one is in sight whatsoever, so I have the whole area to myself, and no one will be able to know what I am doing up here. This could not have worked out more perfectly.

    I make my way to the center of the roof, where there are a few plants that designers placed for decoration. And with those plants, comes the water. Over near the plants, there is a large hose in which you can water the plants with. But the water will not be used for plant nutrients today.

    I loosen the hose just a bit and then I can feel that the water is not being trapped inside the hose any longer. I then use my bending to take out the water, until there is a long strip of water being woven around my arms.

    After I had finished off with my exercises, I did some yoga to cool me down, and then back into the elevator I went. Sweat drips down my back, and once I am inside the cooled elevator, I begin to refresh myself down, until I am chill to the bone. I think a nice cold shower would be nice right now. I grab my towel and wipe the sweat off of the back of my neck. As I do this, I gulp down some of my water. It is no longer cold, but it is still refreshing.

    The elevator dings, and then the doors slowly open. I emerge from the doors, and enter the chaos that is the apartment. Monica is pacing back and forth, as well as screaming into a small device that is pressed against her ear. Jo is on her airball, and is flying all over the place, knocking papers over in the process. Dean is just sitting on the couch and mowing down on some weird food. I don’t even know where Axel is.