Storm: A Hunger Games Story {Book One of the Storm Trilogy}

Three

The next morning, I woke up from Wes shaking me gently.

"Ophelia, it's time to get up." I stretch and rub my eyes, which makes Wes chuckle.

"Are you laughing at me?" I ask with a small grin.

"Me? No, absolutely not. You're just gorgeous when you wake up." I snort.

"Oh, I know. It's a lovely sight." I laugh.

"I mean it." He puts his hand on my face and rubs my cheek softly with his thumb.

I put my hand over his as we just look into each other's eyes.

"Do you want breakfast?" he asks. I nod.

"I'm just gonna take a shower first." he nods, and gets up.

"Wes?" He turns and looks at me.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you for last night." I tell him. When he smiles at me, I can feel the heat in my cheeks.

"Of course, Ophelia."

The shower was calming. The showers here are magical compared to the ones back home. When I stepped out and dried myself off, I threw some clothes on and made my way to the dining room. Everyone was already at the table. I sat down and filled my plate; I was hungry this morning.

"How did you all sleep?" Anastasia asks us. I look down at my plate to hide my blushing cheeks.

"I slept alright, thank you." Wes says.

"Me as well." I reply.

"So, today is the second day of training. Make sure you still practice survival while also trying to learn weapons. Ophelia, leave the knives alone today and try and work on your hand to hand combat. You too, Aaron. Why don't you both try spears and archery today?" Aaron and I look at each other and nod at Wes.

I finish my breakfast and excuse myself to get dressed in my training outfit. I put my hair up in a simple ponytail, and I was ready to go.

The first half of training went by fast. I trained Aaron on edible and poisonous plants again, and also practiced fire making with him again. I also taught him how to find water.

Then, we moved onto hand to hand combat like Wes instructed. The careers were over by the knives. Diamond picked one up and launched it over her shoulder at the dummy, hitting it right in the chest. If she comes after me, I'm done for. I remind myself to grab something, and run with Aaron when we're in the arena.

We both did great at hand to hand combat. The instructor was surprised by how good I was. For a girl from an outlying district, I had a good chance of winning. On our way out of the main training center for lunch, I looked up at the gamemakers. The head gamemaker, Morian Lefia, was staring at me. I stared right back, showing him I wasn't intimidated by him. He smirked and looked away from me.

Aaron and I got our food and sat at a table together.

"What should we do next?" he asks.

"We move on to spears and archery, like Wes said." He nods. The careers were at their own table, throwing food at each other and laughing. A voice from beside me startles me for a moment.

"They're such pigs." It was Hazel again, the girl from District Seven.

"Exactly." Aaron replies. Hazel walks away with the boy from her district, and they sit at a table by themselves. Aaron and I eat quietly, every so often glancing over at the careers, who were hollering like animals.

After lunch was over, we were all told we had to complete an obstacle course. I was in line behind the boy from ten, and Aaron was behind me. Cael went first. He zipped through the course within two minutes. He probably trained a lot back in District Two.