Snapshot (Alexbelle)

Chapter Ten

"Remind me to tell you the superman joke when this is over." Jennifer tells me as she jogs behind the Cornucopia.

I nod my head and stand at one end of the Cornucopia. There is a small black wrestling mat about 10 feet in front of me and another one propped against the Cornucopia.

"Ok, Isabelle, as soon as she runs out you pretend to throw the knife. Then as soon as she throws her head back, you tackle her but need to tumble over. She's going to try and get on top of you. Grab her arms and pretend to flip her over. Just like we did in the gym, just a little bit more. I will walk you through. Ready, go!" the stunt trainer says.

I don't even have time to reply before Jennifer runs out from behind the Cornucopia. I pretend to throw my knife, and she throws her head back. Then, she pretends to shoot me with the bow. I have to dodge it to the right and make myself tackle her. We land on the mat with a thud, and I somersault over her.

I lay flat on the mat and wait for her to run at me. When she gets near me, I reach up and grab her arms. She flips over and back on the ground. She pretends to punch me, but I dodge her fists an am told to straddle her.

I move on top of her and press her hand down with my foot. I look at the stunt coordinator, and he grins in approval.

"Great job. Now, stay put. Dayo!" he calls to Dayo, who is doing a bloodbath routine.

I stay in the awkward position on top of Jen. I try to balance on my knees a little so I don't crush her under my weight, but they give out and I can't.

"It's okay, you can use your full body weight. I won't break." She says when my knees fall. I'm confused a little. I just stopped trying to do that.

"This is my whole body weight..." I say.

"Oh. You're like a chihuahua." She says with a laugh. I nearly die out of laughter.

The stunt coordinator snaps our attention back as Dayo arrives. He throws the plastic scythe on the ground and stands back.

"Alright. I will walk you through this routine if you need it. Ready?" the coordinator asks. We nod our heads, and he says go.

I take my knife and press the tip against Jen's face, and Dayo rips me off of her body.

I have to try and punch his face, but he grabs my other wrist and pushes me back against the mat on the Cornucopia. His fist is locked loosely on my throat. I put my hands up by it, pretending to struggle.

"Say your lines." I hear Gary's voice. I was hoping this was just going to be stunts.

Dayo gets a blank expression, and then remembers. "You kill her?"

"No!" I say, out of breath.

"You said her name. I heard you." Dayo says. He really gets into character.

"Cato!" I scream. He looks surprised at how panicked I make myself sound. "Cato!"

"You said her name!" he says before bringing me back and slamming me against the mat. I fall against the ground.

Dayo stands back, and I sit up along with Jen.

"No! Keep going!" Gary commands. I lay back down.

Dayo pretends to grab a bag, since we have no props for the feast. Jen sits up on the mat and stares at him. He points at her.

"Just this time, 12." He says harshly. "For Rue."

He runs back behind the Cornucopia, and Gary claps his hands. "Yes!"

I smile. I feel good that we got that right.

"Now, I feel like we didn't have enough action there in Katniss and Clove's fight." The stunt coordinator says. "We need to do a little something more."

"Okay." Gary says. "You think on it. Isabelle, Jennifer. We need to go work on the action for the tracker jacker scene. Come on."

I groan and then walk behind Gary. Jennifer gets up as well and walks beside me.

We get a few feet into the woods before we get to a cleared area. One large structure sits in the middle. It's just a synthetic tree that they are going to use for this scene.

Alexander and Jack and Leven all stand in the middle. Josh jogs up behind us.

Gary tells the six of us to follow him. We get to a small pond of water, which he just tells Jennifer to sit by for now. Then, he tells the rest of us to go behind the trees.

Alexander twirls the fake sword in his hands we wait for Gary's command. When he says go, the five of us jog out from behind the trees.

We pretend not to notice Jen until Jack points at her. "Look! There she is! There she is!" he says excitedly.

I quickly make myself get in character and get excited. We let out little chants of enthusiasm as we approach Jennifer. She stands and jogs into the woods.

"Where you gonna go?" Alexander asks as we follow her. We go into the woods after her and find the fake tree. Jennifer has the rope connected to the vest that she was wearing and begins to climb.

Alexander has another stunt person clip a rope to his vest. He then takes his sword and begins to climb up after her.

My lines of "Kill her, Cato!" and "Get her, Cato!" are mixed between Leven and Jack's lines. The stunt coordinators put a mat down for Alexander to fall on.

I watch him grab for the faulty branch and tumble to the ground. He hits the mat with a thud and looks to us.

Leven takes the bow in her hand and pretends to shoot. Jennifer hugs the tree as if she was actually almost hit.

Alexander stands, looking frustrated.he takes the bow and pretends to shoot as well. When he "misses", Jennifer pokes her head out.

"Maybe you should throw the sword." She calls down. I look back and forth between us on the ground.

"Let's just wait her out." Josh says. We all turn to him. "She'll have to come out sometime. It's either that or starve to death."

Alexander looks to all of us, and then back at Josh. "Okay." He says while shoving the bow at Leven. "Somebody make a fire."

He walks away for a minute, then turns back around. Gary stands by the tree with a large grin on his face. Jennifer climbs back down the tree and takes the rope off.

"That was amazing!" Gary says. "I actually felt like I was in the book for a few minutes. That was perfect. Great job, guys."

We high-five each other before following Gary out of the woods. Gary sets a ladder against the side of the Cornucopia and makes Xander, Josh, and Jennifer climb up on it.

The rest of us stand back, since most of our fight scenes include one of them. Apparently they have gone over this fighting sequence before.

When Gary says go, Alexander takes the back of Josh's shirt and slams him against the Cornucopia. The three of them fight for a minute before Xander stands at the edge of the Cornucopia with Josh in arms. One of the coordinators places a mat on the ground below them.

"Go ahead. Shoot. Then we both go down and you win." I hear Xander say.

I listen to him say his other lines there and then watch Jen pretend to shoot him. He flings his arms back, and Josh pushes him over. He slams against the mat on the ground.

About 10 seconds pass before Jennifer raises her bow and pretends to shoot Xander. Gary claps his hands.

"Good job today, guys. Guess what we do tomorrow?" he asks. "Move into base camp! Pack your stuff! See you tomorrow!"

I pour contents of the water bottle into my mouth. Alexander gets up off the ground and walks over beside Jack, Amandla, and I. Gary begins to give a speech just as Jen and Josh come over to us.

"So...." I begin while Gary is still talking. Jennifer looks at me as she pours water over her face. "About that joke?"