Love is not a game (Hunger Games Fan Fiction)

Chapter 5

Author's note: 

I know that I missed out on  like the tribute parade, it wasn't important to the storyline and would've just been boring if I had included it. Sorry, I hope you enjoy this chapter. :) 

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Chapter 5:

I sat on my bed with my head in my hands, attempting to brace myself for the events that will take place once I step into that training room. The Game makers will be studying every move I make. The tributes will be judging me for every mistake that I make. I can't mess up; my life depends on how well I perform in that training room. 

'What will the other tributes be like? Will I even stand a chance against them in the arena?' I ask myself, sighing loudly. A knock at the door breaks me from my thoughts. I look up to see Avalius leaning against the doorframe. 

"It's time for training, Cato." He tells me, causing my stomach to erupt into butterflies. I shakily stand and make my way to the elevator, following closely behind Avalius. As we step into the elevator, I notice that Clove has joined us. She catches me staring at her and gives me a nervous smile. 

"Are you nervous?" She asks me with a shaky voice. I open my mouth to speak but my nerves prevent any sound from escaping. I nod my head and look towards the elevator doors. The floors zoom by in a hurry until we've reached the last ten. 10...9...8...7...6.... I can't help but be reminded of the countdown that takes place at the start of every Hunger Games, the bloodbath that follows soon after.  

'Will my blood be spewed onto the Cornucopia in the first ten minutes?' I shake my negative thoughts away. I have to win for Xavier, Rico and for mum. I hold my breath as the elevator doors slowly open at the first floor. My eyes stare around in wonder at the training room and all the tributes within. Slowly, my gaze settles onto a gleaming silver sword that stands alone on a rack near the back of the training centre. 

'That sword is here for me, and me only, to use.' I think to myself before jogging over to it, all nerves lost. I pick the sword up off the rack slowly and dramatically, completely oblivious to everything happening around me. I hear a throat clear from behind me and turn to see Clove holding a large knife. 

"Here try one of these before you show off too much." Clove said with a smile, handing me one of the knives that she had picked up from the racks. I smiled back and followed her to the training dummies that we were to practice on. We weren't allowed to fight the other tributes. Not yet, anyway. I watched as Clove threw knife after knife into the bullseye on the training dummies head. Attempting to imitate her movements, I raised the knife above my head and threw it as accurately as I could at the training dummy. The knife sliced the training dummies neck straight off and it fell to the ground with a thump. 

Clove stood there in shock, mouth agape. "Have you ever thrown a knife before?" She asked, clearly amazed at how quickly I had picked up the skill. I nodded my head in response. "Well, be sure to grab one of those in the arena then." She said as she turned back to throwing knives at the training dummy. I grinned before turning back to the knife throwing. My grin faded as soon as I realised that the knife was gone. I spun around, searching for my missing knife. I saw a guy that I didn't recognise, poised and ready to throw it at the training dummy. 

"Hey!" I yelled, pushing him aggressively to show my anger. "That was my knife!" The boy gave me a surprised look which soon turned to anger. He pushed me back just as hard, increasing my rage. Someone came to break us apart from our fight, I didn't know who though. I was too angry to notice. 

"Just get another knife!" The boy yelled at me as he dusted himself off and headed to the spearing section. Get another knife? Clove gave me that knife, though! Why do I care if Clove gave it to me? Frustrated and confused, I headed over to the rack that held the sword. My sword. Picking it up, I stabbed it into the nearest dummy. Stabbing objects always calms me down when I'm angry or confused. I continued to stab objects until I heard somebody clear their throat from behind me. Turning around, I saw a girl that seemed strangely familiar. I swear that I've seen her from somewhere before, although I know that I haven't. She isn't from my District. I backtrack to the reaping videos, still not being able to place where I've seen her from. Visions of my nightmares pop into my head. Of course! The glimmering green eyes, the wavy blonde hair... She was the mutt from my nightmare. Strange...  

I realise that she is awaiting a response from me. Crap, what did she say? 

"What?" I asked her, still trying to escape from the visions of my nightmare. 

She lets out a laugh before responding, "Hey, I'm Glimmer. District 1's female tribute. You're Cato from District 2, right?" How did she know my name and District? 

"Yeah..." I trailed off, feeling slightly confused. Noticing my confusion, she let out another laugh. 

"I know your name and District from the reaping videos. Your District is also written on your training uniform." She answered me, smiling amusedly at me. 

I looked down at my shirt and saw 'District 2' printed onto the material. I must have been too nervous to notice that.  

"Oh." I responded, dumbly. She took a few steps closer to me until we were standing about thirty centimetres apart. 

"By the way, the guy from my District is really sorry for taking your knife. He had no idea that it would be so important to you. His name is Marvel." She told me. I had a feeling that he hadn't wanted to apologise at all. "Do you want to form an alliance?" She asked me.  

"Uh, yeah. Sure." I responded, smiling at her. Avalius said to team up with the District 1 tributes, after all. She let out a squeal and wrapped her arms around me in a hug. I hugged her back and chuckled, she seemed very bubbly and flirty. As we broke apart from our hug, a knife came flying towards Glimmer. I quickly pushed her out of the way and she landed on the ground, safely. I looked up to the direction that the knife came flying from. 

"Oops. Sorry." Clove snarled at Glimmer. What just happened?

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Author's note: 

Ooh, someone's getting jealous :) Sorry that I took so long to upload, I had writers block... Next chapter will hopefully be up before the weekend ends :D 

-Emily :)